Great Doctor Ling Ran

Yun Hua City at four o’clock in the morning.

As the noise gradually subsided, the world became one occupied only by drunkards, and the hospitals that treated drunkards. They became the only two things that kept up some semblance of the liveliness of the world during the day.

Lu Wenbin yawned and entered the Emergency Medicine building. He greeted the people softly, then went to the operating field, to the shower, washed himself, put on his scrubs, cleaned himself, and then entered the operating theater. He saw the energetic Ling Ran, and Ma Yanlin who was crazily downing his coffee.

“I’m here.” Lu Wenbin sat down next to Ma Yanlin and took a can of Nescafe from behind him. He pulled the can tab and poured the coffee into his mouth.

“You owe me for that,” Ma Yanlin said tiredly.

Lu Wenbin scoffed. “Can’t you just buy a cheap one or just make yourself a cup of instant coffee? It’s all coffee anyway, how big a difference in taste can there be?”

Ma Yanlin glanced at him and said, “The difference between coffees can be big. Acidity, aroma, mellowness, and aftertaste; each has its own differences.”

“You’re talking about the taste of coffee at”—Lu Wenbin glanced at his watch—”04:18. Really?”

Ma Yanlin firmly said, “I don’t have time. Nescafe is my last resort.”

“What a waste of money.” Lu Wenbin fulfilled his coffee cravings and calmed down.

He was no longer thinking about ostracizing Ma Yanlin—even if he tried, he could not. Most importantly, the number of Ling Ran’s surgeries had increased dramatically in the past week. He had to do practically four surgeries and above every single day. Even if Lu Wenbin was the one operating the retractor, he was also drained and worn out. At present, he would very much like to share some of his workload with Ma Yanlin.

In fact, performing five surgeries alone was as easy as breathing for many surgeons. Everyone they knew who were surgeons might be performing five surgeries per day, but if one added an attribute before the five surgeries such as ‘hand surgery’, ‘neurological surgery’, ‘cardiothoracic surgery’ and so on, five surgeries would be terrifying. A capable doctor who could perform five surgeries in these fields in one go can brag for a long time.

Of course, if it was the Ophthalmology Department or the Stomatology Department, any single one of their average surgeons would be able to perform five surgeries per day, and it was especially so for the Ophthalmology Department—the place that gave birth to the nouveau riche. They could easily perform at least ten operations a day, and an ordinary attending physician could usually earn up to thousands of RMB in a day just by performing surgeries alone.

Lu Wenbin had envied the income of the Ophthalmology Department, but now, when his own income could reach a standard of a thousand RMB a day through performing surgeries alone, Lu Wenbin suddenly did not feel so envious anymore.

He was too mother f*cking tired. Moreover, there was no time to even spend the money.

In the past, even if it he had to work overtime until it was late into the night, Lu Wenbin could still go home and play with his phone for a while before falling asleep.

Ever since Ling Ran made arrangements and pushed the time for his operations to be scheduled earlier, Lu Wenbin had become more and more afraid of sleeping late.

The first surgery today was even brought forward to four-thirty in the morning. It was the last straw for Lu Wenbin!

Ling Ran wiped his hand with a steamed towel and routinely asked his two assistants, “Can both of you go on with the surgery? Are you tired?”

“Not tired,” Lu Wenbin replied loudly.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Ma Yanlin sounded a little weak.

Ling Ran nodded. “Okay, there are only three sets of surgeries today, all of which are lacerations on one finger or two fingers. Let’s try to finish before seven, and no later than eight o’clock.”

Lu Wenbin and Ma Yanlin nodded quietly.

Planning three surgeries within three hours was already considered quite generous with Ling Ran’s speed. Even that extra hour should be enough to cover up any accidents that might occur during the surgeries.

Lu Wenbin could not help but yawn and forced himself to chat. “The Yun Hua Emergency International Medical Forum starts at nine in the morning. Wyndham Hotel is just nearby. There would be plenty of time if we left by eight.”

Ma Yanlin signalled at Lu Wenbin desperately with his gaze. The latter noticed this, and stopped talking about this subject.

After Ling Ran went ahead of them, Ma Yanlin expressed his fear, “Are you crazy? You actually told him that there was plenty of time? If you mention again that we have ample time, you’d better believe that he will arrange to perform another surgery.”

Lu Wenbin opened his mouth—perhaps to yawn—and carefully slapped his cheek with his hand. He said, “Oh, I think I’m lacking so much sleep that my IQ is dropping to the negatives.”

“Didn’t you go back earlier yesterday?” Ma Yanlin passed Lu Wenbin half of his leftover coffee.

Lu Wenbin finished it in one gulp and said, “Thirteen pounds of pig trotters, two chickens, eight pounds of chicken feet, and gizzards of chicken and duck were delivered to me yesterday. I cooked two pots and took a nap. I ended up sleeping for only a couple of hours.”

Ma Yanlin silently expressed his sympathy and asked, “You haven’t forgotten my pork leg, right?”

Lu Wenbin glared at Ma Yanlin. “You’re so small and skinny, and can still eat pork leg… It’s cooked, and there’s a lot of meat.”

“I’ll write an IOU later.” Ma Yanlin laughed happily before he entered the operating theater. He saw that Ling Ran had already drawn the surgical lines.

Lu Wenbin did not say much and only went up to pull the retractor.

If one had been a first assistant for a long time, one would also gradually gain some knowledge. One would have a basic and clear understanding of what one needed to do, and what the chief surgeon would do.

Although it was earlier than usual and his actions were a bit stiff, Lu Wenbin still completed his work with steady hands.

After the surgery ended, Ling Ran moved to another operating theater, and Lu Wenbin was left with the suturing, as usual.

In another operating theater, Ma Yanlin was just finishing up with the surgery preparation.

Ling Ran performed three operations in one breath.

All three patients had accidents after yesterday afternoon. They had injured their flexor tendons and were sent to Yun Hua Hospital early in the morning. Under normal circumstances, these patients would usually be scheduled for surgery the next morning, but Ling Ran went a few hours earlier to skip queue time for surgeries.

The three cases were all completed, and then another check was performed. The nurses wheeled the patients out. Ling Ran went to the toilet, fully satisfied. He looked at the time and found that it was still early. He slowly washed up and cleaned himself, and then put on some casual clothes and went to have breakfast.

At this time, his task progress for ‘Practice the M-Tang technique’ jumped to [50/10]. Ling Ran had also accumulated twelve bottles of Energy Serum.

The four Basic Treasure Chests that were opened later did not bring much surprise. However, Ling Ran was satisfied with the Energy Serums.

In fact, in the past two weeks, Ling Ran was most delighted with the steady stream of patients brought by Huo Congjun.

If he was in a smaller hospital, it would be difficult to perform one surgery per day, let alone four or five operations in a day. The smaller hospital’s Hand Surgery Department would also be vying for these patients with hand injuries.

Ling Ran was quite satisfied with the current state. He had surgery to perform and could actually help patients. He lived a regular, systematic, and orderly life, and that truly made him happy.

…

Wyndham Hotel.

A large poster was placed at the door of the conference hall. On the poster were several golden characters: The Yun Hua Emergency International Medical Forum. It was extremely conspicuous. In front of the starry background, there were many emergency doctors with their hands folded over their chests.

There was a Photoshopped picture of Yun Hua Hospital’s Huo Congjun, a Photoshopped picture of Department Director Bai, and more Photoshopped pictures of the board of directors of Yun Hua Hospital. They were all arranged in a conical shape, and the photographs at the top were much bigger. At the lowest position was an image of a relatively unfamiliar young doctor.

Dashing. Handsome. Stylish.

“Is this the star that was invited? What was his name again? Let me search…”

A female doctor who came to the meeting smiled and brought out her mobile phone. She had already decided what to share as the highlight of her day among her circle of friends.

The staff of Changxi Medical Company who was in charge of the meeting responded smilingly according to instructions given to her by the management. She answered, “Hello, the poster features all the doctors who are engaged in Emergency Medicine. The one you are inquiring about should belong to the Emergency Department of Yun Hua Hospital.”

“He’s a newcomer in Yun Hua Hospital’s Emergency Department?” The female doctor was surprised and happy.

The staff from the medical company nodded with a smile, giving a positive answer to her question.

“Is he really a doctor?”

“Yes.”

“He doesn’t look too bad, but isn’t his picture Photoshopped a little too much?”

“This doctor’s picture was not Photoshopped.”

“Impossible.”

“There are other photographs of him in our introductory booklet about the committee members for this conference. You can take a look.” The staff took the initiative and gave the doctor a magazine-like booklet.

Medical companies would not survive by only giving doctors rebates, because it was difficult to do so, and also not plausible in the long run. In truth, holding various academic conferences and academic forums had long since been one of the duties of medical companies, and their arrangements for the conferences were as detailed as possible.

At the same time, in order to maximize the company’s interests, inviting and retaining as many doctors as possible as to come to their conferences also became one of the goals of medical companies; the attitudes of the working staff were better than the hotel staff.

The female doctor opened the booklet under the guidance of the staff person. And lo and behold, at the end of the booklet, she saw many pictures and introductions of the handsome doctor. Some of the pictures were photographs of his everyday life.

“He has participated in the completion of dozens of cases using the M-Tang technique, but he is still Huo Congjun’s apprentice? When did Huo Congjun start doing hand surgery?” the female doctor asked while taking a picture with her mobile phone. Then, she opened her WeChat, but she did not tap into her circle of friends, instead she opened the tab labeled ‘Sister’.

She sent the pictures in one go, then pressed voice chat button and said with excitement, “Sister, did you see the photos I sent you? Doesn’t our eldest niece have a high criteria for men? Ask her if this man is suitable for her. If she finds him attractive, ask her to come to Wyndham Hotel. This guy is a young doctor, maybe he can be tricked.”

Almost at the same time, two female doctors walked into a clothing store of the commercial district in the hotel, and a shop attendant stepped forward immediately.

“Help our Doctor Li choose something that would show her body.” The female doctor who came along said with a smile, “Who would have thought of attending an academic conference and meeting your Mister Right?”

The shop attendant got the message and procured a few new clothes for the season in one go. The two female doctors did not even look at the price tag. They posed in front of the mirror as soon as they were dressed.

Twisting and angling their bodies, Doctor Li asked curiously, “Sister Yun, are you ready to buy the clothes as well?”

The other female doctor was stunned by the question, she thought hard for a while and said, “The quality of the men today are very high, what if I meet the right one?”

Doctor Li laughed and said, “What about your boyfriend?”

“What kind of boyfriend is he? At most, he’s just like a fitness card.”

“A fitness card?”

“If you lose one boyfriend, just get another. Once you get tired of him even when you see him, you’ll get annoyed. It’s exactly the same as fitness cards, right?”

The two laughed together, their smiles exuded a fakeness that was like plastic.