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by Little Merger

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9. Great Doctor Ling Ran 33-64

Read Great Doctor Ling Ran - Chapter 33 - The Recklessness of the Young online free - Novelfull

Chapter 33: The Recklessness of the Young

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Doctor Ling, thank you." The several young people surrounded Ling Ran as they thanked him one after another.

The expression on Ling Ran's face did not change. He asked, "Where did you see the video?"

"Patient Group, City Forum. It's all over my friend circle as well. It was even forwarded in Weibo." The thin and tall young man was trying to butter Ling Ran up with some immature techniques as he said, "Doctor Ling, you're handsome and your medical skills are good. You're standard material for internet celebrity status. Everyone's sharing it. It wouldn't be logical if you're not famous, unlike us…"

"You guys don't seem like internet celebrities either." Ling Ran could never be able to accept such a crude way of flattery. He only thought of ending the conversation as soon as he could.

So, the conversation was killed off, as expected.

The tall, skinny young man coughed and awkwardly said, "Our appearances are indeed a little disappointing to the audience. Oh, I forgot to mention this. We're all from the Summit of Clouds Club."

He waited for a moment. When he saw that Ling Ran did not respond to the name at all, he was little disappointed. He then said, "The Summit of Clouds Club is an eSport club that was founded by our team in Yun Hua City. Our coach used to be a civil servant of the sports committee. If it weren't for him pushing hard for this idea to come to fruition, our club wouldn't have formed in the first place."

"That's right. Coach has given a lot for the club."

"He had to drink with government servants every single day. We thought he would die of drinking…"

"Hey, cut the nonsense." The tall, skinny young man felt a little embarrassed and stopped the others before he said, "Our club is focusing mainly on dominating King of Glory this year. My name is Dong Zhizhuan. Do you play mobile games, Doctor Ling?"

Ling Ran could not help but take a quick glance at the few of them. Then he said, "I've played King of Pesticide[1] back in school."

"Haha! That's great! We can add each other as friends and bring your rank up when we're all free." Dong Zhizhuan seemed to have cheered up again and said with a chuckle, "While we may not be able to bring you up to king rank, it'll be easy as pie for us to bring you up to diamond rank."

"I'm free now." Ling Ran did not hold back as he took out his phone.

Indeed, he was free. It was about time for him to get off work.

Dong Zhizhuan probably seldom met people who were as straightforward as Ling Ran. He was stunned for a moment before he quickly added Ling Ran on WeChat. He smiled and said, "I forgot to ask, how do you rank in this game, Doctor Ling?"

Ling Ran lifted his head slightly and said, "Bronze Level 3."

Dong Zhizhuan's expression suddenly froze a little.

As a professional eSports player who practiced more than twelve hours a day, Dong Zhizhuan acknowledged that he was capable of killing all amateur players in an instant.

However, if he was supposed to talk in terms of partying with these amateurs, then as the lowest ranked players in the entire ranking system of the game, the Bronze Level 3 players constantly played a miraculous role in dragging the entire party down.

"Doctor Ling, you must seldom play games, right?"

"Definitely."

"It shouldn't be possible to be Bronze Level 3 even if you're a casual player."

The players from the eSports club were consoling each other.

Ling Ran put on a smile on his face and explained. "I should have played a total of more than one hundred hours. It's just that I lose more than I win."

"No worries. We can help pull your ranking up. You can win," Dong Zhizhuan gritted his teeth and said. At least he was able to get the doctor's WeChat.

In current times, even if you pushed money gifts to the doctors, you might still not get the doctors' WeChat.

"When are you getting off work? Let's play one round, shall we?" Dong Zhizhuan decided to push the "money gift" even more firmly into Ling Ran's hands. The coach had bled a lot. It seemed that he would need to stay in the hospital slightly longer.

"A little while more… Two minutes. I'll start the match when I get into the waiting room. Doctors aren't allowed to play games in the patient's room." Ling Ran appeared to be very particular when it came to following rules.

Dong Zhizhuan repeated his promise as he sent Ling Ran out through the door. He got back to the coach's side and turned on his phone. Then with a serious look, he said to the others, "We shall work together to act as mentors to Doctor Ling. Just treat it as a mission arranged by the coach."

"For the coach!"

"For the coach!"

"Let's give it our best."

Everyone looked at their pale coach while he lay on the hospital bed. They could not help but clench their fists.

…..

Ling Ran spent two pleasant hours after that.

His ranking had improved. That was not the source of his joy though. The greatest source of his joy was no matter how he played and how badly he played, he was always able to rain down a massacre.

Truth be told, he could have lasted for two more hours if it were not because Dong Zhizhuan and the others had other things to attend to all of a sudden.

After the game ended, Ling Ran did not rush back home. He just started to browse through Weibo.

As expected, he was able to find the video after he keyed in a few keywords.

There was a Weibo thread titled "Handsome Doctor Stops Bleeding with His Bare Hands". It was the most forwarded and most commented on video. There were about three thousand comments for that one Weibo thread.

Ling Ran clicked it to have a look at them. The first ones that appeared were pointless copy pasted comments: [Doctor, I scraped my knee. Please help me take a look at it.]

Ling Ran scrolled the page down in silence.

It was only when he was farther down the comments section did the serious and also non-serious comments gradually appeared.

It did not take long before a long comment link caught Ling Ran's eyes.

[As a doctor who's been fighting on the frontline in the medical field, I have seen many young doctors' reckless acts. If the video I saw today was not a staged recording, that could be considered one of the most reckless incidents I've seen in my life. Would it be possible to control the bleeding on a patient with your bare hands without setting up a surgical field? It may be possible, but the doctor would require a wealth of experience combined with outstanding theoretical knowledge. As far as I'm concerned, there are only a handful of surgeons in the country who could have been capable of doing it, and I believe there's none who would dare do such a thing. Why? Because one mistake is all it takes to create a standard case of medical malpractice. It is possible that the young doctor in the video does not know what kind of risk he took while he was doing it. If I was the person in charge of that hospital, I would have suspended the doctor's license immediately and conducted the strictest medical investigation on him…]

Ling Ran became a little more serious and read the comment one more time.

The number of views and shares for that comment were also increasing very quickly. Judging from the current trend, it would just be a matter of time before it would surpass the views and shares of the original post.

Ling Ran took a look at the information about the Weibo commenter. His introduction was very impressive: Doctor of Medicine, specialist from Changxi Provincial Hospital, Qi Zhenhai.

Ling Ran rubbed his head.

In terms of scale and fame, Yun Hua Hospital was the leading hospital in the Changxi Province. However, provincial hospitals should not be underestimated as well. The specialists there also had quite the influence within the medical field.

Ling Ran suddenly realized that perhaps the research paper that Department Director Huo wanted him to write was not to serve solely as training. Perhaps it was because he wanted Ling Ran to have an SCI research paper under his belt.

Research papers were a weapon for surgeons.

Research papers were also a powerful weapon in the medical community. It was used to provide an introduction to the doctor, to provide an explanation for his actions, to attack others, and to fend against attacks from others.

When he thought about this, Ling Ran stopped scrolling through Weibo. He packed up his things and headed back to his hostel.

In the hospital hostel was a small library with physical books and free e-library service. It was also used as a study room.

Only large-scale tertiary grade A hospitals like Yun Hua Hospital would have such good facilities. The other tertiary grade A hospitals, which had slightly lesser funding were considered to be well off if they had a hostel. As for study rooms in the hospital, their existence entirely depended on whether the hostels were located far away from the hospital itself.

"Ling Ran, over here!" once Wang Zhuangyong saw Ling Ran, he immediately shouted.

After hearing his voice, the interns and resident doctors in the room lifted their heads at the same time, as though they had trained to be part of a flash mob.

"Ling Ran…" Chen Wanhao stared at Ling Ran, and he looked as if he was filled with indignation.

"Are you being bullied or something?" Ling Ran laughed without sympathy and put down his laptop before he began to search through the web.

One could only have access to unlimited searches and downloads of e-journals if they used the network provided by the hospital. This was an essential feature for writing a research paper.

But Chen Wanhao only took out his phone and passed it over to Ling Ran as he asked, "Where did you learn this from?"

Ling Ran lowered his head and took a look at it. He only saw a picture of him kneeling on one knee on the gurney while having one of his hands plunged into the abdomen of the patient laying there.

"Is that you? That's you, right?!" Filled with envy, Chen Wanhao clenched his teeth so tightly that his teeth were practically chattering.

From the perspective of an ordinary person, the picture actually appeared to be a little strange and terrifying.

But from the perspective of an intern, it was truly something to be jealous of…

Ling Ran, in the most literal sense, had thrust his hand into a human's body.

"Barehanded bleeding control. The patient was bleeding non-stop at that time. He already went into shock from losing too much blood," Ling Ran answered casually as he scrolled through the internet page on his phone. Then he came across a post. [Newborn Calves Are Not Afraid of Tigers, Behold the New Interns of the Present Age.]

The post had been posted on the Hyacinth Forum [2]. Initially, it was a professional website that provided some medical information. But currently, it had basically become a portal for medical practitioners to communicate with each other.

Ling Ran deliberately cast a glance at the time the post was uploaded and the number of views it had. Two hours ago, ten thousand had read it. It seemed to be trending a little.

However, it appeared that the people's main focus was not on whether the post was trending or not.

"Did you touch the liver? A live liver? How did it feel?" Perhaps Wang Zhuangyong's questions would have sounded a little perverse from the perspective of an ordinary person. However, this was the norm for interns.

Honestly, Wang Zhuangyong had obviously conveyed the heartfelt wishes of the interns.

At least thirty to forty percent of the students in the study room were looking in Ling Ran's direction.

Ling Ran was rendered speechless by the questions. He mulled over the questions carefully before he said, "It felt rather soft when there was a glove between my hand and the liver. It felt just like a pork trotter that's just been cooked."

"Disgusting."

"Never going to eat pork trotters again."

"Cooked, even. Gosh."

Many of them simultaneously showed that what Ling Ran just said was too far beyond the limits of what they could accept.

At that moment, Wang Zhuangyong stroked his chin before he curiously asked, "So… was it… bouncy?"

Translation Note:

1. King of Pesticide is a nickname for the game King of Glory. Because the game's name was influence by Chinese slang and the way they pronounce the chinese words are similar enough, they just conveniently call it that. Here's the Chinese pinyin comparison:

King of Glory (Wang Zhe Rong Yao) and King of Pesticide (Wang Zhe Nong Yao).

2. Hyacinth Forum – This is a mobile medical application (Apple Store) launched by the China Obstetrics and Gynecology Network based on 17 years of professional services for doctors working in the obstetrics and gynaecology industry. The aim is to enhance the efficiency of Chinese obstetricians and gynecologists through the use of mobile products, optimize the effects of continuous education, and promote the interactive experience of doctors and patients.

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Chapter 34: Determining Bleeding Sources

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After staying up for a whole night, Ling Ran finally managed to write the outline of his research paper.

For an undergraduate who had only received a few weeks of training on how to write research papers, having a renowned specialist willing to guide him to write a research paper was practically a blessing from heaven. Because of that, Ling Ran used up another Energy Serum without hesitation.

His reserve of Energy Serums was reduced from six bottles to five bottles, but Ling Ran believed that completing the challenge was more valuable for him.

Huo Congjun was quite shocked when he saw the research paper outline Ling Ran brought out.

He read the introduction, and then glanced in astonishment at Ling Ran. "You stayed up last night?"

"Yes."

"Make sure that staying up doesn't affect your work performance."

"No problem." Ling Ran looked rather relaxed.

"Isn't it nice to be young?" Huo Congjun laughed out loud. He turned and said, "Only the young are able to stay up all night and still be able come for work in the hospital with no problems while still making time to write a research paper."

After he said that, he lowered his head again to read the outline carefully. He whipped out the gel pen he always carried with him and examined it.

After hearing their conversation from the side, Doctor Zhou said with a smile, "Department director, should I arrange a shift for Ling Ran?"

"Give him a shift and let him learn a lesson for saying that he can still work perfectly after not sleeping for a night. Hmm… Don't give him a shift tonight. Start giving him shifts tomorrow," Huo Congjun answered without raising his head. Being a doctor was a job that required one to be on night shifts all year round, especially for those in the Emergency Department. Their biological clocks were reversed to the point that their endocrine secretion was all messed up. It had been quite some time since he encountered anyone who dared to say that they could stay up late.

Doctor Zhou chuckled and said to Ling Ran, "See, the department director is still fond of you and is worried that you can't hold out for working two days in a row. Alright, report for work tomorrow night then.

Ling Ran agreed nonchalantly. Even though the doctors hated being on night shifts, the medical interns did not mind doing them. It was even more so for Ling Ran, who did not find it taxing at all.

The young rookies were still in the period where they were excited by their work. It was practically an honor for them to get the chance to perform patient consultation and even surgeries, because in reality, medical interns did not usually have the chance to work on shifts as they would be of no help.

Huo Congjun finished reading the research paper. He nodded slightly and said, "The outline is quite well-written. It is very well thought out."

The moment he said that, Ling Ran knew that his guess was correct.

Huo Congjun wanted him to write a research paper not just to let him practice writing these things, but also as a precaution against anyone who gossiped about him.

Because of that, he deliberately included his observations done before he performed the barehanded bleeding control and made it an independent section for it: [Determining Bleeding Sources without a Surgical Field.]

Creating the desired surgical field by exposing certain parts of the patient's body while they performed a certain type of surgery was also something that needed to be learned. It was said that surgery took five years to learn, and setting up appropriate surgical fields took ten years to learn. It was very important for a doctor to learn how to obtain the surgical field he desired during surgery.

The purpose of cutting a patient open was to create a surgical field. Microscopes were used so that the surgical field was clearer. Sometimes, a completely fine kidney would be temporarily removed from the patient's body so that the desired surgical field could be obtained.

However, a perfect surgical field could not be obtained all the time, especially in the Emergency Department. Even when there was no surgical field, whatever had be done MUST be done.

By adding [Determining Bleeding Sources without a Surgical Field] as a section, Ling Ran not only provided legitimacy to what he did, but also made the research paper more more up to standards in an instant.

Doctor Zhou said with a smile, "Our department director seldom praises anyone. May I have a look at the research paper?"

"You should indeed have a look at it. How many years has it been since you became an attending physician? And how many research papers have you written?" Department Director Huo was never that pleasant when in front of Doctor Zhou. Attending physicians were the core presence of a department, and Doctor Zhou, who took every opportunity he could to slack off, naturally could not avoid being scolded.

However, Doctor Zhou pocketed insults well. It could be because he was used to being scolded by the department director. He did not take the scolding seriously and took Ling Ran's research paper outline to read it while swaying his head.

Once he heard the commotion, Attending Physician Zhao Leyi immediately joined them. After observing for a while, he said to Ling Ran, "Not bad, indeed. Not even accepted at the hospital, and already writing a research paper."

Compared to the somewhat unattractive Doctor Zhou, Attending Physician Zhao Leyi's appearance was more befitting of the large white robe. His most defining characteristic was his fair skin, which was smooth and hydrated. He was also thinner in build and could pass as a little puppy.

And when it came to life in the department, Zhao Leyi also acted like a little puppy. He was fiercer than the others when it came to snatching surgeries. He had to compete with doctors of the same rank every day. After being promoted to a attending physician, he was naturally harsher towards the junior doctors. At this moment, his gaze as he stared at Ling Ran was also very oppressive.

Zhao Leyi immediately found something wrong with it. "Ling Ran, this research paper of yours uses a surgery carried out by our department director as a case example. Shouldn't you include our department director's name in it?"

"Doctor Zhao, do you want your name to be included?" The fact that Ling Ran was not good at interpersonal relationships made it easier for him to see through other people's direct motives.

Huo Congjun was already an experienced department director of the Emergency Department and did not care about having his name in a short research paper. Zhao Leyi was the one who coveted the opportunity of having his name in the SCI.

Zhao Leyi did not expect Ling Ran to be so straightforward, and quickly explained, "I don't really care if my name is in it. I just feel that, as the chief surgeon of the case, our department director—"

"The research paper has not even been written yet. There's no point in discussing this now." Huo Congjun helped him out of his predicament and changed the topic. "Young Zhao, you're still young. Try to write a research paper outline by next month and hand it to me, as well."

Zhao Leyi gasped and quickly said, "Director, I have been getting a lot of shifts lately."

"It's good to have a lot of shifts. Deal with patients when there are patients, and you can utilize the time when there are no patients to be productive in the hospital."

Zhao Leyi did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Are there times with no patients in the Emergency Department?"

Huo Congjun answered, "If you deal with the patients quickly, whatever time is left would be the time with no patients."

Zhao Leyi grumbled under his breath, "Even if they were quickly dealt with, Emergency Medical Care could send even more patients over."

"Then, you have to be faster than Emergency Medical Care! When I was in the army in the past, I couldn't just blame the enemies for injuring too many people or our comrades for sending too many wounded people to me, right?" Huo Congjun's forcefulness was beyond words.

Zhao Leyi thought, 'You didn't really participate in any war, anyway.' But he would be seeking his own doom if he said that out loud. Department Director Huo had been proud of his identity as a military doctor for forty years.

"Enough with this, pack your things and make the rounds."

Huo Congjun felt that they had spent enough time chit-chatting. The moment he made the order, all the doctors in the office got into action, like an organized hunting team.

When they were out of the door, the doctors had already moved into a cylindrical formation with the department director at the front, associate department directors at the side, the attending physicians behind the department director, and the resident doctors behind the attending physicians.

On the other hand, Ling Ran and the other medical interns walked behind the resident doctors while holding the medical records.

This was the moment when the senior doctors got to flaunt their knowledge, and the junior doctors get tested. Of course, their dear department director was always the most glorious one; he was the absolute star in any ward.

In the hospital where there was a strict division of class, discipline was emphasized at every moment. The doctors always moved in an orderly fashion, and acted as neatly as their white uniforms.

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Chapter 35: Single Skill Book

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Yun Hua Hospital's Emergency Department occupied its own small building which was connected to the ward building.

Huo Congjun slowly made his rounds from observation room to observation room in ascending order. He listened to the reports from the resident doctors in charge while providing suggestions or treatment plans.

Every now and then, Huo Congjun would remove the patients' dressings to take a look at the recovery progress of their wounds.

Yun Hua Hospital's Emergency Department was beginning to assume the manner of a smaller Department of Internal Medicine and Surgery.

The beds in the observation rooms were basically fully occupied. It was only under this kind of situation would doctors be relatively willing to transfer patients to other departments.

Huo Congjun lifted up the dressing on a patient's waist and turned to ask Ling Ran, "You performed the suture?"

"Yes. The patient is twenty-eight years old and was stabbed by a reinforcing bar at a construction site. I debrided and sutured the wound…" he spoke for half a minute as if he was reciting from memory.

This was how it was like when they made ward rounds. The department director and the associate department directors responsible for the treatment groups rarely came into contact with the patients. Unlike what ordinary people imagined, they did not know everything about the patients. The resident doctors and the junior attending physicians were the ones responsible for all the trivial tasks.

If medical interns such as Ling Ran were to participate in the treatment of patients, they also had to assume the corresponding trivial jobs, and explain things to the senior doctors as they performed ward rounds.

In short, the junior doctors' time was worth wasting so that the senior doctors can focus all their energies on nothing but diagnosing and treating patients. For the Department of Surgery, the surgery itself would be performed by higher-ranked doctors while preoperative preparations and the patients' prognoses were left to the junior doctors.

Of course, if conflict appeared between doctors and patients, junior doctors would be the ones to take the bullet.

Similarly, Huo Congjun would not look at the medical records. He only learned about the situation by listening to it with narrowed eyes before pressing on the patient's caudal vertebrae and asking, "What do you feel?"

"Nothing." The patient was a young farmer-turned-construction worker who was staying in the hospital for the first time. He was rather worried when he saw the group of doctors.

Huo Congjun hummed in acknowledgement. He shifted his hands to the side and pressed a few more times. "How about now?"

"Nothing." As he spoke, he glanced at Huo Congjun's expression and asked softly, "Should I be feeling something?"

"It's good to feel nothing." Huo Congjun flashed a pleasant smile. From his perspective, he felt happier if the patient's prognosis was good. Because of that, he even went out his way to provide an explanation. "When this part is injured, and local anaesthetic was administered, patients would often feel soreness and tenderness over here. Sometimes, some of them experience weakness and pain in the waist, hence affecting their lives and ability to perform physical labor."

Huo Congjun pressed the patient's caudal vertebrae a few more times and said, "Since you don't feel any pain and soreness right now…"

"No, not at all." The young farmer-turned-construction worker nodded firmly, while beside him, his family members flashed relieved smiles.

Huo Congjun hummed in acknowledgement and said, "This shows that the debridement and suturing were done well, and that you're recovering quickly. It's a good thing."

"That's wonderful. Thank you, doctor. Thank you." The patients and his family members revealed happy expressions, and the atmosphere was harmonious and loving.

At the same time, Ling Ran heard the familiar voice of the system providing him with a notification.

[New Achievement Unlocked: Patient's sincere gratitude]

[Achievement Description: The patient's sincere gratitude is the biggest reward to a doctor]

[Reward: Basic Treasure Chest]

However, Ling Ran could not help but feel rather emotional. After debriding so many wounds, he had only obtained 'sincere gratitude' twice, and both were from cases that were validated by Huo Congjun.

It might be because the patients did not know whether the medical treatments they received were the best, and could only judge it based on information received from chief physicians like Huo Congjun.

Or was it because patients, too, needed other people's analyses to be able to thank their doctors with all their hearts?

Ling Ran was rather deep in thought and his expression had turned somewhat frosty. To other people, he appeared rather arrogant.

Doctor Zhou liked Ling Ran a lot. He coughed a few times and said, "Young Ling's suturing was indeed done quite well."

Doctor Zhou was an experienced attending physician and had quite the powerful support behind his back. When he heard that, Huo Congjun nodded and said in agreement, "Ling Ran's suturing is not bad, indeed."

"He's a talent that our department needs," Doctor Zhou said with a smile.

In front of so many people, Huo Congjun only hummed and said nothing on that topic.

The biggest question involving all medical interns who came and went every year, was the number of people allowed to stay.

The medical interns were not the only ones looking at him. The skilled personnel of the hospitals were also watching him. Even though Huo Congjun wished to keep a talented intern like Ling Ran, he would not say it in front of other people before he was certain about it.

This was a typical example of a sensitive topic.

Even so, for a while, Ling Ran became the focus of everyone's attention. The medical interns who stood at the back of the group were especially having mixed feelings.

These days, it was already quite hard for undergraduates to stay in the hospital after their internships. With Yun Hua Hospital's particulars, they could theoretically raise their explicit requirements to take in only doctoral students. However, they still retained a passage for undergraduates to enter the hospital. On the surface, they claimed that it was because they did not limit themselves to only one type of talent. In reality, it was reserved for those with special relations to people in hospital.

Of course, if Department Director Huo was to find ways to retain Ling Ran who had no backing, with his position as a department director and a hospital administration committee member, he would naturally be seen as Ling Ran's backer.

Ling Ran quietly returned to the back of the group.

He was not qualified to be in charge of any beds at the moment. Because of this, the patients he dealt with were placed in empty beds that belonged to other resident doctors. When making ward rounds, he would have to go forward to give his reports whenever it was his patients' turns. He would then have to return to his position after he was done with his report.

'Open the box.' Since Ling Ran now knew that other people would not be able to see whatever came out from the box, he became more and more nonchalant when it came to calling out to the system.

"Opening Basic Treasure Chest," the system responded.

An animation of a chest being opened immediately appeared before Ling Ran's eyes.

The little white box's lock catch slowly unfastened, the box's cover lifted up, and bright light spilled out of the box. An Energy Serum—

'Eh?' Ling Ran suddenly stopped in his steps.

'It's not an Energy Serum this time?' Ling Ran saw with delight that a book was vibrating within the light.

"It is not an Energy Serum." The system's reply was so stiff that it sounded as if it was trying to cheat Ling Ran for payment.

"Open it, open it." Ever since he performed the Turing Test on the system, Ling Ran's behavior became rather straightforward. It was an emotionless system anyway, and there was no point in being polite to it.

As for the question of whether the system had the ability to outsmart the Turing Test? It was of course possible, but what could Ling Ran do under that situation? He could only feign obliviousness.

The system said nothing else. It only flipped open the skill book which shone with a silver light. There were a bunch of words printed in a small font on the title page.

[Single Skill Book. A skill branch is obtained: M-Tang Technique (Master Level)]

[Introduction: A multiple-strand intratendinous suturing technique raised by Jin Bo Tang, a lecturer of China's Nantong University, in 1992. It comes in various forms such as two-strand and three-strand. For the first time, there was a breakthrough from the limitations by Brunell, the founder, and the difficulties of flexor tendon repairs in Zone II was solved. The technique was hailed as the M-Tang Technique.]

[Function: The flexor tendon suturing technique is used to repair lacerations in the flexor tendon. For Master Level, the success rate can be up to 85%, and the odds against problematic tendon adhesion formation can be lowered.]

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Chapter 36: Reasonable Division

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

'This is a technique specifically used to suture tendons?' Ling Ran lifted his hand and looked at the center of his palm as he recollected the pleasant feeling of having a large amount of knowledge flooding into his brain. "A technique specifically used to suture flexor tendons, huh…'

"Yes," the system answered.

Ling Ran silently evaluated the value of the Single Skill Book.

Even though the flexor tendon was just one of the many tissues in the human hand, it was the most difficult to heal once damaged. In other words, the suturing of the flexor tendon would also be the hardest among all other surgeries in the Hand Surgery Department.

For doctors, mastering such a skill was already enough for them to make a living.

'Is the system forcing me into the Hand Surgery Department?' At the moment, the skills in Ling Ran's skill tree were mostly related to suturing. Along with the barehanded bleeding control technique, he could easily survive in the Hand Surgery Department.

The bigger a hospital was, the higher its elite departments demanded from their employees in terms of their mastery towards certain skills, and the demand the departments had for its surgeons to have a wide range of skills would also lower significantly.

Ling Ran could even thrive in Yun Hua Hospital's Hand Surgery Department with his one-trick pony—the suturing of flexor tendons. Even if he did not reach Jin Bo Tang's level, the Master Level M-Tang Technique was enough for him to make a name for himself in Yun Hua. By then, he could care about nothing else and suture torn flexor tendons every day…

"Ling Ran, go with Doctor Zhou to the resuscitation room today." Huo Congjun was done with his rounds in no time. He turned to Ling Ran and decided to give him another order.

The doctors' working schedules were fixed, and as a rule, medical interns were only restricted to the observation rooms and treatment rooms. They could only enter the resuscitation room for learning purposes when led by a senior doctor.

Ling Ran immediately responded. Compared to the treatment room where there was endless debridement and suturing to be performed, the resuscitation room was a far more welcoming side.

Doctor Zhou was even happier than Ling Ran was. He chuckled and said, "It'll be great to have Ling Ran with me. I get to lay back a little."

"Can't you be more ambitious?" Huo Congjun groaned, exasperated that Doctor Zhou simply refused to live up to his expectations.

"I just don't have it in me. I didn't realize it before this, but Ling Ran being here has shown me much," Doctor Zhou mumbled listlessly.

He lacked the ambition. Or at least, the ambition to climb up to the pinnacle of medical science. In the hospital, Doctor Zhou did what was required of him and nothing more. He even had the luxury of engaging in playful banter with his department director after working in the hospital for some time.

This did not sit too well with Huo Congjun, but it would not be good to appear too reproachful. He merely said, "As the experienced one, you should always keep an eye on Ling Ran. You can leave non-critical cases and all bleeding cases to Ling Ran, but he's not allowed to take matters into his own hands like the last time."

"You're too kind to Ling Ran. You're giving me all the heavy work!" Despite saying that, a smile remained on Doctor Zhou's face.

There were medical interns in the hospital every day, and even without Huo Congjun telling him, he would definitely check on the interns and delegate tasks to them. When it came to experienced attending physicians who often goofed off and allowed the medical interns, housemen, and resident doctors to take over his tasks, Doctor Zhou was the master of them all.

Huo Congjun let out a few snorts. "As a doctor, you'll have to shoulder responsibilities. Get busy, everyone."

Like dhloes that were being chased off, the doctors dispersed.

Ling Ran put down his things and went into the resuscitation room with Doctor Zhou.

The resuscitation room was still rather quiet in the morning. There was only a single group of pitiful resident doctors who were passing work on to the next shift.

As the attending physician, Doctor Zhou assumed command and sat at a corner once he entered the resuscitation room. He was even more relaxed than he was in the treatment room.

Ling Ran still harbored the excitement of a rookie. Even though there was nothing much to do, he walked around the resuscitation room to familiarize himself with the equipment and understand the status of the patients.

As they looked through the large glass panes into the resuscitation room, the other medical interns who did not manage to get a chance to perform started to lament greatly.

"This is just too unfair. I don't mind them showing favors, but they can't just give every opportunity to him."

"Ling Ran sutures very well indeed, but we know how to suture too."

"That's true. And not every case in the resuscitation room requires expert level suturing, right?"

"Ling Ran managed to get Department Director Huo's attention because of that barehanded bleeding control stunt of his."

"Barehanded bleeding control is way too unconventional. The risks just don't justify the attempt. Good luck may have saved him once."

The medical interns discussed among themselves in dissatisfied voices. However, as their discussion progressed, their voices faltered.

They may have been denied several opportunities to work in the resuscitation room, but they more or less understood the flow of events there.

The Emergency Department of Yun Hua Hospital was a typical large Emergency Department. With four operating theatres, it was comparable to the standards of tertiary grade B hospital. Many types of treatments were carried out there. Common conditions such as acute appendicitis, fractures involving the limbs, and the dislocation of joints would be treated within the department without having the patients transferred to other departments.

Due to these circumstances, work in the resuscitation room was not easy, and the standards of the doctors there were above average.

Ling Ran was able to cut a prominent figure in Yun Hua Hospital's Emergency Department by showing to everyone that he was a master suturer, complete with the ability to perform barehanded bleeding control. The other medical interns would not be able to reach those heights, even if they tried.

Nine-thirty in the morning.

As if rehearsed beforehand, three consecutive ambulances arrived at the hospital.

Those in the resuscitation room immediately got to work.

"One has a myocardial infarction, one was in a car accident, and another broke a leg while climbing over a wall." Calm and composed, Doctor Zhou circled the resuscitation room together with Ling Ran and said with a sigh, "It'll be a little busy here today."

Ling Ran looked at the busy resident doctors, and then at Doctor Zhou, who was sipping water from a cup, and asked, "What do we do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"If the one with a myocardial infarction is resuscitated, he'll be transferred to the Cardiology Department or the Cardiovascular Surgery Department. If resuscitation fails, he'll be sent to the mortuary. The one who got into a car accident has been sent into the operating theatre. As for the one who broke a leg, if his condition isn't serious, we'll keep him in our department. If his condition is serious, he will still have to be transferred to the Orthopaedics Department." It had been a long time since Doctor Zhou rushed off eagerly to perform physical labor like the resident doctors.

However, a department needed patients and income in the form of medical expenses to survive.

This was why the Emergency Department kept adding on to the types of treatments they carried out, all so that they could try their best to retain the patients.

It took some time, but Ling Ran had finally understood some of the hospital's circumstances. He asked, "A broken leg is within the range of expertise for the Orthopaedics Department, right?"

"The Orthopaedics Department will look for our department director if they have a problem with it. We just have to secure our surgery quota," Doctor Zhou said calmly, "The Orthopaedics Department in our hospital is constantly under a heavy workload. With emergency cases like this, they won't be too keen on the patients if their problems aren't complicated enough. Forget about how low those medical bills would be. The Orthopaedics Department wouldn't even have enough operating theaters to operate on those patients. So, the Orthopaedics Department wouldn't come seeking trouble even if we retained the patient."

"So… we are scrambling for patients bound to be rejected by the Orthopaedics Department?" Ling Ran quickly concluded.

Doctor Zhou was no longer able to keep a straight face. He explained, "There's a reasonable division of resources among everyone. Things like scrambling for cases, accepting cases, and rejecting cases is out of the question. This is only for our hospital. When it comes to smaller hospitals, even their Orthopaedics Department itself rarely get to perform surgeries. That's when they would really have to scramble for cases."

Ling Ran nodded a little, but it was unclear if he took those words to mind.

Doctor Zhou gave him some advice.

"You're still a medical intern. When you're really looking for a workplace, you should look out for the large hospitals. Large hospitals would never run out of patients, and all the doctors are put to full use. Small hospitals don't have enough patients, and it would be most difficult for rookies to improve their skills.

"Yes, I should head for a large hospital." Ling Ran agreed.

His family ran a small clinic, and the most severe conditions they encountered were similar to that of the laceration that befell the knife-cut noodles restaurant's Boss Yang. Moreover, Boss Yang was only there to temporarily stop his bleeding before going to the hospital. However, in a large hospital, such an injury could only be considered minor.

"Department Director Huo's words carry wisdom. When you have time, you should walk around with Department Director Huo more." Doctor Zhou shared another thing that he had learned from work. Both his father and grandfather were doctors, but his medical skill points were wasted on skills that were rather… useless.

Ling Ran nodded with a smile as he thought about how even the plain-looking Doctor Zhou had a cool side.

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Chapter 37: Research Paper Ready

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Department Director Huo, I've completed my research paper." Ling Ran had been an assistant in the resuscitation room during the day. During his breaks, he searched up information on how to write his research paper. He only used two days to complete the article.

His speed was considered fast, so fast that Huo Congjun furrowed his eyebrows and gave him a reminder, "You can write the research paper slowly. You don't have to rush."

"The words just flowed." Ling Ran's explanation was short but solid.

"You shouldn't underestimate research papers. Regardless of how short a research paper is, you have to be serious when you write it." Huo Congjun opened up Ling Ran's research paper and started to read it.

He read it extremely fast. He took a quick glance at the title of the research paper and only scanned through the paper, selecting the important parts. He also just glanced through the medical case mentioned.

But when he reached the end of the research paper, Huo Congjun could not help but go back to the top of the paper and scanned through it one more time.

Huo Congjun commented, "This is interesting. This is much more complete than the outline of your research paper."

He had very high standards. It was quite difficult to get him to say "interesting" at a short research paper with only one case.

A few doctors in the office, who were sitting by their desks writing medical records and filling in forms, could not help turning around.

The layout of Yun Hua Hospital's Emergency Department was designed in the style of a large office. Everyone worked in the large office, including the director of the department and the chief physicians. The surface area of the office was about the size of two classrooms.

However, it was different from the workplace of private sectors. There were not many office staff in the Emergency Department. Everyone could be assigned to spots that faced the window. The only side that faced the corridor was filled with various filing cabinets full of medical cases, and coffee tables.

As for the empty middle part of the office, it was occupied by a large conference table. The departments of the hospital would hold three to four meetings a week in their own departments. They would either discuss cases, reflect on clinical death cases behind closed doors, or convey the will of the higher-ups to the others in the department.

There was no way that anyone could keep a secret in such an office.

As the person standing at the pinnacle of power in the department, Huo Congjun served as the center of attention for everyone there.

Right after Huo Congjun gave his comment, an associate department director walked over with a smile on his face and said, "Department Director Huo, did you just see a good article?"

"Young Ling has very good comprehension skills." Huo Congjun was twiddling with the printed paper. He flipped it up and down while he scanned through it two more times. He then passed it to the associate department director and said, "Doctor Du, you're our department's research paper expert. Come have a look too."

He was called a research paper expert simply because he wrote a lot of research papers. The quality of his research papers were not high, or else he would not have been stuck being a mere associate department director.

The patients demanded doctors to perform good surgeries in the healthcare system, while the medical field demanded doctors to write good research papers.

However, Doctor Du was already very contented with being crowned with the title of "research paper expert". While he commented modestly about how he was just lucky to receive that title, he took Ling Ran's research paper.

Due to Huo Congjun's comment, Doctor Du was very serious when he read the research paper.

Doctor Du merely used a few minutes to finish reading the research paper, which had more than a thousand words. This included the abstract in the beginning and the data listed afterwards. After he was done going through the last page, Doctor Du could not help but look at Ling Ran as well. He stared at his handsome face, his clear jawline, and his features. He scrutinized him for a full ten seconds without shifting his gaze away.

"How is it?" Huo Congjun seemed a little proud by the look on his face. He looked like he was showing off a prized possession in his house.

"It appears that Ling Ran really does have experience with regard to barehanded bleeding control. It's just that his style of writing is a little coarse. The English abstract is also slightly not in line with the norms of academic journals." Doctor Du's mentality when it came to research papers was a little strange.

He was able to become a research paper expert mainly because he spent a long time researching and practicing the writing style as well as manner of composition. In simpler terms, he wrote research papers so many times and so frequently—even though they lacked standard—that he became experienced in writing in the academic language.

Others would only be able to find three to five cases and write one research paper after performing a hundred operations. He would only need to do three to five operations before he found a research gap to publish a research paper.

Others would need to experience troublesome issues like getting their drafts rejected, doing major modifications, doing minor modifications, and many other problematic things, which were likely happen in writing a research paper. He would only need to do some minor modifications before he published his research paper.

Doctor Du had also trained hard in his English, and he managed to publish many English research papers smoothly because of it, making him appear very cool.

However, a medical research paper was only deemed a medical research paper because at the end of the day, it only talked about matters related to the medical field.

Currently, Doctor Du only required one to two months before he casually came up with a research article, which would be featured as the main article in a Chinese periodic medical journal. If he put a little more effort into it, he could actually be capable of publishing a standard SCI English research paper.

However, it would be much more difficult for him if he wanted to push it further to another level.

And the cause of it all at the end of the day was the limitations of his medical skills.

One would find it difficult to perform high-level surgeries if one had weak skills. It would also be very difficult for that person to create any new, groundbreaking methods in the medical world. It was easy to cough up two research papers with ordinary surgeries, but it was hard to publish a good research paper.

Ling Ran's research paper was coincidentally the complete opposite compared to Doctor Du's style of coming up with research papers.

If Doctor Du's research paper held no substance, then Ling Ran's research paper was as tough as a tree that refused to fall even after being struck by lightning.

His writing was nothing special. The language he used was considerably simple, so if Doctor Du really had to criticize it, then he could only say that the writing was crude.

But then again, the main focus of Ling Ran's paper was medical skill, and it was something that Doctor Du wished for but never attained.

At the end of the day, Ling Ran's skill was up to standard, and he had something to serve as his research purpose for his research paper. So, the written content was naturally extraordinarily valuable.

Speaking of which, the simple interrupted suture and the M-Tang technique that Ling Ran possessed were all at Master Level. Meanwhile, his Interrupted Vertical Mattress Suturing Technique was merely at a Specialist Level. Only his barehanded bleeding control was from a Level One Skill Book obtained from opening an Intermediate Treasure Chest. It had allowed him to raise the skill to a Perfect Level in one go.

Perfect Barehanded Bleeding Control was a skill unique only to him in Yun Hua Hospital. He may even be considered among the top in terms of this skill even if he compared himself to other doctors in the Changxi Province.

There was naturally plenty of research papers, which could be written if a doctor had such level of skill.

The medical field had always been an academic field where those involved in it constantly refined their skills. If a surgeon cut more or less during an operation, the prognosis of the patient would definitely be different afterwards.

There were also far too many things in Ling Ran's research paper about his barehanded bleeding control that could be written in great detail.

The research paper was more than a thousand words. If Ling Ran had been familiar with writing research papers in the academic language, he could have saved at least half of his time.

"It's true that his writing style needs some amendments. The English abstract also needs to be rewritten…" Huo Congjun revealed a smile when he said that. Then he asked, "Where do you want to publish it?"

"I've never published any research papers before," Ling Ran answered honestly.

"You can try getting it published in 'Chinese Critical Care Medicine'," Huo Congjun only said that one sentence before he continued, "Their publication fee is rather high. It's about five to six thousand RMB, I think. When the time comes, you can write up an application. Just fill in the name of our hospital in the affiliation column. You can claim the publication fee from the department."

"All right." Ling Ran did not ask any questions.

"Write it out properly. If there are more things you don't understand, find young Huang and ask him." The young Huang whom Huo Congjun mentioned was a postgraduate student he was guiding.

Many doctors who were department directors in Yun Hua Hospital also had a teaching job in Yun Hua University. For those who had higher statuses like Huo Congjun, they would even have the title of Master Supervisor hanging around their necks.

Young Huang had been working as his assistant for over three years. Truth be told, the chances of him getting to operate were not as good as a resident doctor. But when it came to writing research papers, he had surpassed resident doctors who graduated from the field.

After waiting for Ling Ran to get out of the room, Huo Congjun smiled and said, "Doctor Du, didn't you say that we're having an outpatient consultation for the burn patients from the factory explosion a few days ago? Remember to inform the Medical Affairs Department to have Qi Zhenhai from the provincial hospital join us."

"Have Qi Zhenhai join us?" Doctor Du repeated, feeling puzzled. Soon, he understood what was going on and quickly agreed to do it.

All of the doctors in the office quietly lowered their heads. All of them had the same thought. 'An entertaining show was coming up.'

Everyone surfed the net in the present. People in the field privately discussed the video where Ling Ran shoved his hand right into a patient's abdomen and how he performed barehanded bleeding control.

Of course, no one ever paid any attention to a loser in any field, but it was also difficult to determine the best in any field. There would always be someone who loved to show off. They would not be contented with private discussions and just had to comment on certain matters publicly. Qi Zhenhai from the provincial hospital had been most ferocious when it came to rebuking Ling Ran in his actions.

Naturally, Huo Congjun would not be so naive to think that the man was only criticizing Ling Ran.

The chief surgeon during that episode was Huo Congjun himself, after all!

However, even though Huo Congjun surfed the net, he did not have the habit to upload comments online.

When he wanted to rebuke others, he would normally do so during conferences or meetings where many of those in the same profession would gather together.

Striking your opponent's face directly was always better than raging on your own mobile phone or computer. After all, your enemy did not really exist on the other side of your mobile phone or computer.

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Chapter 38: Outpatient Consultation

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The provincial hospital was a large-scale, tertiary, grade A general hospital that was on an equal footing with Yun Hua Hospital.

In other words, they were both reputable tertiary grade A hospitals.

Hospitals had a siphoning effect[1].

Everyone would think of going to the best hospitals. That also included those who held positions at the top.

So, the premium provincial hospitals would be able to get the best financial support from the province's health finance department. The city's tertiary grade A hospitals would be able to get the greatest financial support from the city's Department of Health Care Finance. County-level tertiary grade A hospitals would be able to get the greatest financial support from the county's Department of Health Care Finance. If this county-level city had a tertiary grade A hospital…

Under such circumstances, the Matthew Effect[2] was particularly evident in hospitals. The strong would grow stronger, while the weak would grow weaker. Better hospitals would be able to obtain more advanced facilities and keep excellent doctors in their hospitals.

Among the 1,300 tertiary grade A hospitals throughout the entire country, there were only 44 government-funded hospitals such as Union, Xiangya, West China Center of Medical Sciences, Zhongshan, Fudan, and so on.

Based on that alone, Department Director Huo Congjun of Yun Hua's Emergency Department and Chief Physician Qi Zhenhai of a provincial hospital's Emergency Department were among the best in the medical field of Changxi.

Both of them were masters when it came to determining the degree of burn wounds, and they had 'communicated' with each other more than what other people would think.

However, procedures for formal outpatient consultation were complicated, and such events only became easier to organize if there were unique public incidents, such as factory explosions, or the entire medical cadre was required to perform health care assignments.

Qi Zhenhai was most eager for such an opportunity. He did a ward round and performed one surgery in the morning before he changed into his outfit for a journey and rushed straight towards Yun Hua Hospital.

He had been slated to become a chief physician when he was just forty years old. It was a young, early age—one that was full of promise.

He had also dressed himself in a way that made him look younger than he was. While the elder doctors donned white coats and fought to create their own empire, he got into T-shirts and dress pants whenever he left the hospital.

The only thing that worried him was the fact that the number of wrinkles on his face were increasing day by day. His body which slacked off from physical exercise had started packing on pounds. His belly would grow if he was not careful. If he wore the white coat like a department director, perhaps he could still try to cover it up. But Qi Zhenhai was not willing to fall to that.

It was too old-fashioned. He would not be able to show his young and promising side.

Currently, what troubled Qi Zhenhai the most was his department director.

Hospitals were unlike government agencies. The path to promotion was extremely narrow. A department director would remain in the same position until retirement arrived, unless he could get promoted to be the associate hospital director, or get transferred, or perhaps even get poached by other hospitals.

Some department directors were not willing to leave their positions as department directors, even once they have been promoted to become associate hospital directors. And so, some young and promising department directors remain in the same position for over twenty years, smothering the doctors beneath them to the point of suffocation.

Qi Zhenhai could not afford to wait for the Director of Emergency Department to retire. So, he had been aggressively promoting the founding of a Burn Center, thinking of stepping out independently to be his own boss.

This additional challenge was probably the reason his wrinkles ran so deep. Because of that, no one could actually tell that the age difference between him and Huo Congjun were only ten years apart.

"I was thinking of holding another case discussion when I received a consultation call from your Yun Hua Hospital. I have also brought cases from my hospital along with me. Let's have a look together." Qi Zhenhai was speaking about medical records that had been assigned to the provincial hospital.

The factory explosion incident was a tragedy to the wounded workers and a loss for the factory. For Qi Zhenhai, it was, in fact, a rare opportunity. If he could prove his position in the field of burn wounds, it would be easier for him to establish his Burn Center.

"We can discuss this in private if we still have time after the consultation."

Huo Congjin did not seem to be in the mood for politeness.

'Take a look together? That is probably him trying to show off, right?'

Huo Congjun glanced at Qi Zhenhai out of the corner of his eyes as he thought to himself. 'Let's see if you'll be this eager for our private conversation once I'm done.'

"Let's head in. It is almost time." Huo Congjun was not in the mood to talk. He only announced his arrival before he got back into the meeting room.

At that moment, the young doctors of the department were arranging chairs. Once they were done, they sat around the room, allowing the chairs around the meeting table in the middle of the room to be unoccupied.

Huo Congjun had picked the far corner that faced the door and sat down in a regal air.

The other two chief physicians and four associate chief physicians sat by his sides. The solemn atmosphere generated by a total of seven specialists in the department room started clouding up the room.

Qi Zhenhai casually picked a chair in the middle and sat down, completely unbothered by Huo Congjun's attack. Then he instructed the resident doctor who came with him to put the medical records right before him. He smiled and asked, "Hasn't Department Director Liu from the People's Liberation Army General Hospital arrived?"

"Something happened to a patient of his. But he's already on the way." Doctor Du was in charge of keeping the communication lines opened. He gave them the relevant information.

Qi Zhenhai laughed and said, "Then let's wait for a while. The factory incident is rather serious. It'll be like a three-judge trial[3]."

Huo Congjun did not make a sound. The other doctors remained silent. The atmosphere quickly became awkward.

Qi Zhenhai remained unconcerned as he straightened his clothes a little to cover up his bulging tummy and continued to wait quietly.

Hospitals the likes of Yun Hua and provincial hospitals were not fond of outpatient consultations in the first place. Naturally, no consultation session would be held in festive spirits.

Due to the difference in status of county or city level tertiary grade A hospitals as compared to provincial level tertiary grade A hospitals, outpatient consultations held by county or city level hospitals were actually organized due to their need for assistance, and it was more meaningful to them.

Of course, county-level tertiary grade A hospitals were also unwilling to engage in outpatient consultations through conventional means. They had been privately contacting and roping in foreign aid. If they were going to pay anyway, it would be much easier if fewer procedures stood in the way.

"Opps. Sorry. I'm late, I'm late." The sound of the doors flying open shattered the tense atmosphere in the office.

The person who came through the door was an old doctor with a square face. There was an old fashioned stethoscope hanging on his chest, and it seemed as if the doctor hung it there like an accessory, something like a pocket watch.

Huo Congjun stood up to greet him.

"Department Director Liu, have you handled the patient?"

"Declared him dead."

Department Director Liu's expression did not change.

Ling Ran sat in a small corner as he turned his head over and took a glance at Department Director Liu.

People dying in a big hospital was a normal occurrence. Only a handful of modern people would have their lives end quietly and peacefully in their own homes. They would usually only completely give up on hope for living after all treatments from hospitals failed.

However, Department Director Liu's casual manner of speech when it came to death was still rather uncommon, even by modern standards.

Among the doctors who were sitting in a circle with their backs facing the office table, the expressions of the attending physicians were the calmest. On the other hand, the expressions of the young resident doctors varied widely. Some of them were familiar with Department Director Liu's words, and those were the senior resident doctors. Others were unaccustomed to Department Director Liu's words—junior resident doctors who had just completed their housemanships. There were even some who were not even concerned with the conversation in the middle of the meeting room.

"Everyone is here. Let us begin then." Huo Congjun returned to his seat and opened up the medical records.

After years of improvement, the consultation system had become much more organized.

Especially when it concerned outpatient consultation. Its meticulousness was uncannily similar to the country's military education and training[5]. Its importance was also equal to the country's military education and training. Both were equally troublesome and appeared to be useful, but was in truth, completely useless. Nevertheless, the higher-ups still loved checking on how doctors conducted these outpatient consultations.

Doctor Du stood up and switched on the projector. Then he began reading the powerpoint slides.

Huo Congjun turned his chair around. His eyelids slid down while he listened. He appeared to be asleep, but was not. He paid no mind to how he appeared to others.

Qi Zhenhai was fueled with excitement. His eyes were wide open. He was relentlessly criticizing certain aspects of the medical cases in his heart.

Department Director Liu performed the routine. His eyes seemed to be both focused and unfocused, and his mind wandered. He seemed to be unconcerned, since this had nothing to do with him.

"So, this is the situation. The burn areas of the two critical patients were pretty substantial. But basically, everything is under control. The lesson of the day is to not repeat the same thing."

Huo Congjun sounded as if he was giving out medical advice to the doctors working under him.

That attitude established the tone for the outpatient consultation on that day.

Qi Zhenhai could not help but feel a little disappointed. How was he going to show off his talents if there were no critical cases?

"We still can't let down our guard when it comes to patients with 80% burns."

Department Director Liu paused for a moment before he gave his comment.

"Someone must be with the patients at all times. I suggest delegating some manpower into that."

"We have assigned Doctor Du to this case…" Huo Congjun said.

"Too old, he won't keep up," Department Director Liu said bluntly.

"For a burn patient, complications can happen at any moment. To have burns on 80% of their bodies—heart failure, renal failure, shock, toxemia, anything can happen to the patients. Assign a younger attending physician, and it'll be best if he can keep his eyes on them twenty-four seven. Assign the person on duty for a full month. See if we can save both of them."

The factory explosion was the focal point of the entire city. The doctors needed to be handling the cases cautiously and take everything that could happen to the patients into consideration. Finances should be their secondary concern.

Huo Congjun was taken aback for two seconds before he nodded and said, "Alright, we shall see to it."

Huo Congjun and Qi Zhenhai were both experts in the Emergency Department. They both achieved greatness when it came to burn wounds. However, when it came to handling details, they were no match to Department Director Liu, who had firmly sat on the throne in the Trauma and Burn Surgery Department for many years.

Department Director Liu was very indifferent.

"As more patients give up their lives for our learning, our methods grow more innovative. Today, I discovered the pulmonary embolism[6] far too late. Otherwise, I would have straightaway applied heparin, regardless of the potential outcomes… forget it, let's not talk about it now. Let's only talk about it again during the autopsy. Hmm, old Huo, if there's nothing left, I'll head back now, alright?"

"Don't mind it. It's not easy to come over here. Let's talk about another medical case." Huo Congjun let out a deliberate cough. Doctor Du picked up the remote control and started playing a video.

On the big screen, Ling Ran plunged his hand into a patient's abdomen.

Translator's Note:

1. Siphon effect: An effect where atmospheric pressure pushes the liquid up, and gravity pulls the liquid down. In the text, it means that the strong attraction of the host city (where there are hospitals) attract investment from other places, thus slowing down the development of other areas.

2. Matthew Effect: An effect where the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.

3. Three-judge trial: A scenario where highest-ranking chiefs of three departments were handling the same case at the same time and the same location. Known as public security, procuratorial, and court based on today's department. It usually is held to handle significant cases, or conventional and sensitive parts, such as a case in a royal family.

4. Military education and training: Is a fundamental form of higher learning covering defense education as required by The Military Service Law of the People's Republic of China and The Decisions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party about Education System Reform.

5. Pulmonary embolism: Is a blockage of an artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream. Symptoms are like shortness of breath, chest pains, coughing up blood.

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Chapter 39: Face-Off

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Is this… Barehanded bleeding control?" Department Director Liu stood up as he spoke. He took out his reading glasses from his pocket and put them on.

He had worked all his life in the People's Liberation Army General Hospital. Even though he had never entered the battlefield, he had participated in many drills and countless conferences regarding the army's medical system.

When it came to the army's medical system, both the treatment of trauma and bleeding control were extremely vital topics.

During surgeries, bleeding could be stopped by applying high-frequency electricity, hyper-frequency wave or lasers. All sorts of interventions could be carried out, and all sorts of drugs could be pumped in. There were also countless hemostatic forceps and resident doctors that could be used during the surgery.

However, on the battlefield, the most commonly used methods to stem bleeding were to apply pressure, tie limbs up with tourniquets, and spray drugs on the area of injury. Barehanded bleeding control was more like an advanced and mysterious technique, mastered only by certain people.

Most of Department Director Liu's time was spent on studying burns, and he did not master techniques such as barehanded bleeding control. However, he was extremely interested in it.

"The bottom of the patient's Glisson's capsule is bleeding.…"

"The bleeding has stopped!"

"Ling Ran, get onto the gurney…"

Department Director Liu looked at the scene displayed on the projector and listened as the voices in the monitor went from shrill to leisurely. He actually felt a spark of passion stirring up in his heart.

Doctors knew other doctors the best. Any doctor would be able to imagine the entire spectacle from that grainy film.

As Department Director Liu and the others looked at the video and listened to the audio, their minds started imagining just how tense that situation had been. It would only be as tense as a battlefield.

Patients in hemorrhagic shock were typical examples of Level 1 patients. Every doctor who had worked in the Emergency Department had experienced the struggle and helplessness of having blood flow on to their hands before it fell to the ground.

In the video, Ling Ran was carried onto the gurney and pushed into the operating theatre together with the patient.

As Department Director Liu watched them move away from the camera lens, he suddenly got anxious. "Oh, my! Why didn't the cameraman follow them? Follow them! What sort of cameraman is this?"

"A patient in the resuscitation room took this using his own mobile phone." Huo Congjun quickly explained.

"Such a good source material, filmed so badly. Why didn't you get someone to film this on camera? Youngsters nowadays love taking selfies or whatever you call it, right?" Department Director Liu recalled how the young nurses in his department often made various poses in front of their mobile phones.

"If you want source materials, we can film it next time. Ling Ran, have Department Director Liu and the others take a look at your research paper. It's not like barehanded bleeding control is witchcraft. We're about to go all out into spreading it." Huo Congjun gulped down a mouthful of tea, soothing his throat so that he was prepared to start scolding everyone to the left and right.

Ling Ran got up and gave a copy of the material he had prepared to all the doctors present.

When Qi Zhenhai saw the video, he was still unsure about whether he could believe his eyes.

After all, the video had been circulating in their circle for a while. He was unsure whether Huo Congjun saw his comment from that day either. Like Department Director Liu, that man was never to be found on social media.

However, when he saw Ling Ran, Qi Zhenhai became rather vigilant.

The main character of the video was way too conspicuous. Moreover, Ling Ran was easily recognizable, and it was hard for Qi Zhenhai not to recognize him.

In truth, Qi Zhenhai had commented on Weibo that day because he was triggered by terms such as 'internet celebrity doctors.'

As one of the very few young chief physicians in the country, Qi Zhenhai did not become an internet celebrity even after mingling around various social media platforms for a few years. On what grounds could a reckless doctor become an internet celebrity?

On the grounds of his appearance?

Qi Zhenhai stared at Ling Ran with a stern expression, not even sparing him a smile when he received a copy of the research paper. He only swiftly let out the breath he held, releasing all the air he held in his lungs after Ling Ran had turned and left.

He begrudgingly lowered his head to read the research paper. Qi Zhenhai thought about looking for some loopholes to gain a firm foothold in attacking Ling Ran later.

Most of the research papers out there were actually full of bullshit. They were just essays without much actual meaning.

Even if you disregarded matters such as data fraud and selective choice of samples and subjects, many of the essays were problematic in terms of their conception and direction. Logical errors were not unheard of either. It could be said that flaws could be found in most research papers out there, and this was why it was research paper authors more or less had to revise their research papers before they were published.

Qi Zhenhai's first reaction was to find some flaws to launch a counter-attack.

He usually needed only a few minutes to read the research papers of the postgraduate students studying beneath him or the literature reviews in journals. This was the basic literacy standard of medical researchers.

Huo Congjun let everyone read the research paper for a few minutes. He then stared at Qi Zhenhai and said, "Doctor Qi, didn't you want to know if it's possible to perform barehanded bleeding control without a surgical field? Does this research paper grant you a clear explanation?

Qi Zhenhai was a chief physician, not the director of a department, and Huo Congjun was not even bothered to call him Chief Physician Qi.

Qi Zhenhai made the best use of his time to read the essay while replying coldly, "Department Director Huo, what do you mean?"

"Have you forgotten about what you wrote on the internet?" Huo Congjun displayed Qi Zhenhai's comment from that day on the big screen and highlighted one of the paragraphs.

[If the video I saw today was not a staged recording, that could be considered one of the most reckless incidents I've seen in my life. Would it be possible to control the bleeding on a patient with your bare hands without setting up a surgical field?]

Huo Congjun said with a smile, "Haven't you witnessed whether it's possible?"

Qi Zhenhai chuckled, "You're standing up for the intern, huh?"

"We have an outpatient consultation today. During consultations, we should learn from each other and solve our problems… And I would like to solve this problem for you today." Huo Congjun pressed on aggressively, forgoing all manner of tact.

If a person regarded a hospital as a workplace, then they would find that its working environment was incredibly different to other workplaces.

The most glaring difference was that the doctors were neither cheerful like groups of civil servants, nor businesslike like employees in private sectors.

Every day, doctors alternated between restraining themselves and blowing up.

They restrained themselves when under immense pressure while serving night shifts, when scolded by senior doctors, and when reprimanded by patients…

When they could not restrain themselves anymore, they would blow up.

In the hospital, senior doctors scolding junior doctors and doctors from different departments berating one another was nothing new. In every hospital, there were even a few chief physicians who refused to see each other on the basis that a mountain could not contain two tigers.

The senior doctors would trade insults with other doctors in the city or province, or get a group of doctors in the country to mock a certain doctor together. The even senior ones could even hold international conferences and trade insults in front of colleagues from all over the world in both English and Mandarin…

It had been proven that not only was this not embarrassing, it could also illustrate the ability and spirit of a doctor. This was because weaklings could just giggle and take selfies in this sort of occasions.

Huo Chongjun and Qi Zhenhai were chief physicians. In principle, they had a highly-ranked job title that was equal to that of university lecturers. However, while university lecturers could see the world in a nonchalant manner, doctors could not and still had to scold other people.

Why? Because other people's lives were in their hands!

Junior doctors deserved to be scolded if they carried out a treatment wrongly. They would also be scolded if their handwriting when writing the necessary documents was not tidy.

Directors and associate department directors of similar ranking would also unavoidably insult each other. They would tell you today that you cut too much of the patient's tissue off, making it hard to come out with a prognosis, and it would affect the patient's quality of life. Tomorrow, they would tell you that you cut too little of the patient's tissue off, and that you did not clean the lymph thoroughly, making the probability of cancer relapsing in the patient high. The day after tomorrow, they would gather together and chastise the hospital for over-treating the patient…

It could be said that junior doctors treated listening to department directors insulting each other during department consultations as medicine for their souls, because they get to obtain materials for gossiping and alleviate mental pressure.

And it was not rare for doctors to be scolded badly by other doctors during outpatient consultations. There were as many medical experts who had grudges against one another as the number of dogs in the housing estate who had fought one another.

As a medical director of Yun Hua Hospital, the number of chief physicians Huo Congjun had insulted in his life was even more than the number of patients who had died under his hands. He did not give Qi Zhenhai a chance to defend himself and lashed out at him. "The type of people I look down on the most in life are those who accuse others without reason. The type of people I'm the most annoyed by are those who use their administrative positions to oppress others. So what if Ling Ran is an intern? Did you think that you have the capability to criticize him just because you're a chief physician? Do you know how to perform barehanded bleeding control? When other people talk about those who have no ability and still have a lot to say, they're referring to people like you."

His spit was flying through the air. Crystal-clear droplets of saliva that the naked eye could discern landed on the table in front of Qi Zhenhai.

Qi Zhenhai had just been promoted to chief physician for a few years and was just starting to stand a chance to become director of a department. He had neither Huo Congjun's experience nor Huo Congjun's confidence. He grew angry and anxious from the scolding. "Department Director Huo, aren't you accusing me without reason and using your rank to persecute me right now?"

Huo Congjun spat. "Haven't you seen the research paper in black and white? Accusing you without reason? If this happened when I was younger, I would have punched you until your nose bleeds and your face swells."

"It's wrong to punch other people."

Department Director Liu looked up by the side and gave out a statement to try and mediate the fight before he went back to quietly reading the research paper.

"He made unwarranted accusations at our department, so I must teach him a lesson today. Qi Zhenhai, if you were from Yun Hua Hospital, I would still let you preserve some of your dignity. But as someone from the provincial hospital's Emergency Department, who are you to talk about medical malpractice? Have you ever witnessed medical malpractice? Do you have an idea as to what medical malpractice is?" Huo Congjun spoke with plenty of force, and his saliva droplets were even bouncing off the meeting table.

Qi Zhenhai could not help but feel slightly guilty.

He had made a casual comment on a video, but it was indeed easy to get on the doctors' sensitive nerves by throwing the word 'medical malpractice' around.

In truth, he had already made the comment, and there was nothing to be done about it anymore. Qi Zhenhai was not afraid of offending Huo Congjun, but he had been caught off-guard in an unflattering posture, and the situation at hand was rather embarrassing for him.

He had been blindsided. Unable to do anything else, he lowered his head to read Ling Ran's research paper.

After all, he was a doctor who had the qualifications to contend for the position of the director of a department. Qi Zhenhai had written quite a lot of research papers and had read even more of those. He could easily find fault with the research papers written by ordinary resident doctors or even attending physicians.

However, Ling Ran's research paper was different.

It was a research paper written after he mastered the Perfect Level Barehanded Bleeding Control, and the case he used was one he was directly involved with.

Most importantly, this was Ling Ran's first proper research paper. Because of this, he did not strive for grandiosity. The content of his research paper was limited to that single case and the usage of barehanded bleeding control. A basic approach meant that the point of view was firm.

'Barehanded Bleeding Control Without Setting Up a Surgical Field by Applying Localized Pressure During Suturing of Glisson's Capsule' had over one thousand words and had even been checked multiple times by Huo Congjun. How could there be obvious oversights?

If Qi Zhenhai had a few hours to properly research relevant literature, he might be able to raise some points of objection from another angle.

But only a few minutes had passed since he received the research paper. How would he be able to come up with any arguments?

But Huo Congjun did not give him a chance. He continued lashing out at the bowed head, and he was doing so happily.

He was renowned in Yun Hua's medical scene for being a critic and had destroyed countless 'international' conferences. Why would he restrain himself during an outpatient consultation?

In the end, once he saw Ling Ran's author introduction, Qi Zhenhai decided to act recklessly, because he no longer had anything to lose, and said, "Barehanded bleeding control can be carried out. But are you supposed to let a medical intern perform barehanded bleeding control? I was putting it lightly when I said that it was a medical malpractice. All of you were acting with utter disregard for human life."

"Everyone knows how to put on a hat. Why can't medical interns perform barehanded bleeding control? Who set this rule? Is letting patients die on the gurney your only talent?"

"I watched the video. There was enough time to perform an exploratory laparotomy."

"You dare to speak after only watching the video? I'll give you ten cases. Why don't you give each of them a remote diagnosis?" Huo Congjun was scornful. A physical examination was an extremely vital step for doctors in making a diagnosis. In short, contact with the patient was a must before a major diagnosis was made. That was also the reason why errors often occurred when remote diagnoses were carried out.

Naturally, Qi Zhenhai did not dare to accept the challenge. He snorted a few times and said, "The fact that there wasn't a mistake that one time doesn't mean that all of you handled it correctly. It's true that medical interns are like newborn calves who aren't afraid of tigers. When a medical intern acts like that, the senior doctors can't just let him do as he likes, right?"

"Judging from your faculty of judgment, I don't think you're even as good as a medical intern."

"What's there to compare between me and a medical intern?" Qi Zhenhai twisted his lips.

"I don't think you're comparable to him either." Huo Congjun rested his hands on the table.

"I don't compare myself to him." Qi Zhenhai rested his hands on the table, too.

"You're not even comparable to an intern." Huo Congjun leaned forward.

"There's no need for me to compare." Qi Zhenhai also leaned forward, giving Huo Congjun tit for tat.

"You…"

"I…"

Everyone watched in terror as both of them inched closer to each other. Their reflections had fully occupied each other's eyes, and their lips were almost meeting.

"Well… Why don't we let the author of the research paper speak?" Department Director Liu really could not take it anymore.

"Ling Ran, you speak."

Huo Congjun glanced at Qi Zhenhai. He straightened his body in an extremely provocative manner.

Qi Zhenhai was unwilling to back down. He wiped his lips with force and straightened his body too, sucking his tummy in.

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Chapter 40: Healer Cells

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"I have looked through the research paper and shall ask a few questions. You're Ling Ran, right?" Qi Zhenhai was not prepared to let Ling Ran talk about the research paper or the operation all over again. Not only would it be a waste of time, he also did not expect that he could find any loopholes by listening to it one more time, since he did not manage to find any even before.

Ling Ran remained seated in the corner of the office. His spot was not obvious, but he had attracted everyone's attention. Ling Ran straightened his body slightly in his seat. He had an excellent demeanor—he looked just like an ally of justice.

Qi Zhenhai furrowed his eyebrows and quietly sucked his stomach in. He felt even more displeased when he said, "First of all, how confident were you when you decided to perform the barehanded bleeding control during that moment? Did you consider the consequences should you ever fail?"

Ling Ran straightaway skipped the first question and said, "If I fail, it would have caused the patient to die, and it may have also caused serious bleeding during or after the operation, liver failure[1, ascites[2, biliary fistula[3, bleeding or tearing in digestive tract…"

Qi Zhenhai had first thought that Ling Ran would explain himself. But after listening to Ling Ran for over half a day, what he heard from Ling Ran sounded just like the recitations of medical complications.

"Since you knew that there were so many serious consequences, you still chose to rashly perform barehanded bleeding control?" Qi Zhenhai's voice sounded a little agitated.

Ling Ran calmly looked at him and said, "Yes."

"Yes… yes what?"

"I knew that there would be serious consequences. But I have decided to carry on with barehanded bleeding control." Ling Ran repeated the details as he answered. He felt that there was really something wrong with Qi Zhenhai's comprehension ability.

At the same time, Qi Zhenhai had also confirmed that there was something really wrong with the mindset of the intern before him. He said sternly, "You do know what you just said, right? You're admitting that you have committed medical malpractice!"

"But there was no accident." Ling Ran would not get intimidated or scared because of Qi Zhenhai's sternness.

Qi Zhenhai could not find his tongue for a moment there.

Even as the 'beacon of humanity', in the great United States, medical malpractice would also require bad consequences to occur before it could be identified as one, despite the country boasting the highest number of medical lawsuits in the world every year.

Meanwhile, Ling Ran's barehanded bleeding control was neat and tidy, not to mention that the end result was great as well, so good that it could be used to promote the use of this technique, so naturally, he could use it for accidents.

Huo Congjun chuckled and said, "Well said. There was obviously no incident."

Qi Zhenhai forced a smile. He got himself some breathing space and changed his train of thought. Then, he said in a caring tone, "Let us not talk about the patient, let us talk about yourself, Ling Ran. You're so young, and your skills are also not bad. You have a great bright future ahead of you. Has it ever occurred to you that you could have possibly ended your own career that time by performing the barehanded bleeding control?"

"I have thought about it," Ling Ran answered.

"If you have thought about it, why did you still do it then? Did someone command you to do so?" Qi Zhenhai was thinking about spreading the flames of war.

Ling Ran felt strange and glanced at him. Then he said, "Judging based on the situation in that moment, it would benefit the patient the most by performing barehanded bleeding control. That's the fundamentals of medical judgement."

Qi Zhenhai did not expect to receive that kind of answer.

Unexpectedly, Department Director Liu laughed out loud and said, "Yes, yes. Young men these days are now very capable of thinking on their own. Hm, even though medical procedures remain important, but the most basic judgement like what sort of judgement we should make in an operation, and what could benefit the patients the most, all of those build the foundation of our skills. If we are to ensure that we comply to the medical procedures and give up on the best therapeutic plans, wouldn't that already be putting the 'unimportant' before the 'important'?"

Knowing clearly that Doctor Liu was talking to him, Ling Ran still refuted, "The patient had lost blood and entered shock. It was difficult to perform normal bleeding control. I believed that it met the specifications of the medical procedures to perform barehanded bleeding control."

Department Director Huo was one step slower than Ling Ran in answering, but he still said, "We are all from the Emergency Department. Honest men do not deal underhandedly. If we were lucky, we would have found the bleeding point very quickly during the exploratory laparotomy. The patient could still be rescued. If we were unlucky and we did not immediately turn the liver over, it would have been a great suspense to see if the patient would have survived or not. So, being extremely conservative or old-fashioned would be like looking upon human lives as if they were grass. You need to analyze what sort of therapeutic plans would really be the best therapeutic plans for the case. We cannot put the unimportant before the important."

Qi Zhenhai was being attacked by people in the entire room. With indignation, he said, "Ignore medical procedures and you will not be a doctor for long. That is what we call putting the unimportant before the important. One medical incident can end a doctor's career for good!"

He was looking at Ling Ran when he said that.

Compared to the old and cunning Department Director Huo, the young Ling Ran seemed more like a good way for him to get out of his predicament

However, Ling Ran's thoughts would not follow the direction that Qi Zhenhai expected. During the conversation just now, Ling Ran had carefully thought about this matter as he immediately said, "Doctors are like cells that should try their best to play their roles for as long as they could. But if one loses the basic functions of a cell in order to survive longer, that cell should only be known as a cancer cell."

Ling Ran's tone was calm. He would just say whatever came to his mind, but it sounded different to the ears of each audience member.

A few chief physicians and associate chief physicians who were older had sunk into silence after hearing Ling Ran's words. The young doctors were in quite a disagreement with those words and they glared at him, itching to debate against Ling Ran. They had even started whispering to one another.

Department Director Huo came up with a summary and took a quick peek at Qi Zhenhai as he spoke. "The old without morality are hateful. Those who would do anything to stay at the top are not decent people. If you keep thinking about how to climb higher all the time, it would be better that you transfer to administration earlier."

Of course, it was not possible that Qi Zhenhai would transfer to administration. He had advantages for being a doctor. What sort of advantages would he have if he went over to administration?

Nevertheless, that was not the important point of the dispute.

Huo Congjun's patronizing comments, which sounded threatening, and Department Director Liu squeezing him out, either by design or accident, had caused dull pain and misery to Qi Zhenhai's heart.

"We shall call it a day for now then. I still have a meeting to attend this afternoon." Qi Zhenhai was unwilling to continue arguing with them anymore, or rather, he no longer wished to be the target for scolding.

Qi Zhenhai decided that any consultation session where Huo Congjun would join in from henceforth must be arranged to be held at the provincial hospital. At least he would have a group of his lackeys to wave the flag and shout to support him.

After having fun with the scolding, Huo Congjun grinned and said, "If you want to leave, I shall not see you out then. But you should remember to do one thing though, Doctor Qi."

"Oh?" Qi Zhenhai stood at the door and looked back.

Huo Congjun looked at the table and said, "The Weibo thing you posted, or whatever it is, you had better delete it. I shall pass up the report tomorrow at this time."

There was not a trace of a smile on Qi Zhenhai's face anymore. He stared at Huo Congjun for a moment before he turned around again and left.

Qi Zhenhai was also able to roughly guess the contents of the report without Huo Congjun's explanation. Instead of saying it was a discussion, it would be better to describe today's outpatient consultation to be a struggle session[4]. When the record of the meeting went out, he was definitely not going to have a good time.

Qi Zhenhai could be completely unconcerned with what Huo Congjun said or wrote if he was the director of the provincial Emergency Department. Perhaps he would not even concern himself with whatever Huo Congjun said or wrote if he was an old chief physician who wanted nothing.

But his dream was to push the provincial hospital to work on the establishment of a Burn Center. He could not be said to have no dreams at the moment.

"Old Du, please assist me in sending Doctor Qi out." Huo Congjun smiled in the manner of a man who got what he wanted.

All the doctors there seemed like they were infected as they sported similar smiles.

But Department Director Liu was staring at Ling Ran as thoughts raced in his mind.

Translator's Notes:

[1] Liver failure: The inability of the liver to perform its normal synthetic and metabolic functions as part of normal physiology.

[2] Ascites: The abnormal buildup of fluid in the abdomen.

[3] Biliary fistulas: chronic pipe-like ulcers. They can connect the gallbladder with the biliary tree, and rarely involve the gastrointestinal tract (internal fistulas) and the abdominal wall (external fistulas).

[4] Struggle session: A form of public humiliation and torture that was used by the Communist Party of China in the Mao era, particularly during the Cultural Revolution, to shape public opinion and humiliate, persecute, or execute political rivals and those deemed as class enemies (Source: Wikipedia).

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Chapter 41: Night Shift

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After the outpatient consultation ended, as if emerging triumphant from a battle, Huo Congjun treated Doctor Liu to a meal outside. The other doctors scattered like birds and wild animals.

Nowadays, people from the same department were not allowed to gather and eat together, and no one was stupid enough to break this taboo, either.

Doctor Zhou quietly dragged Ling Ran away and quickly left the office.

After he walked down the corridor, Doctor Zhou kindly explained to Ling Ran, "I'm worried that you would have said the wrong things in the office. If you were to stay inside, there would definitely be people who would ask you all sorts of things." He added after thinking for a while. "Even though you have already said quite a lot of wrong things."

"Did I say anything wrong?" Ling Ran revealed a puzzled expression.

Doctor Zhou glanced at Ling Ran, smiled for no reason, and said, "You must speak less when it comes to topics such as medical procedures, as it is not our turn to talk about those things. As for doctor-patient relationships and so on, you can discuss those privately, but do not raise those topics for no reason. Everyone is very sensitive about that."

"Okay." Ling Ran nodded.

"Huh, don't you want to ask why?" Doctor Zhou was rather surprised. He had educated many rookies in the past, and all of them had a lot to say regarding this topic.

"No." Ling Ran's reply was unusually clear-cut.

Instead, Doctor Zhou became a little flustered from holding back his words. He had thought of a lot of things that he wanted to say. Now that he did not have a chance to say them, what should he do?

After thinking for a while, Doctor Zhou said, "Come on shift with me tonight."

"Okay." Ling Ran still replied in a very clear-cut manner, and Doctor Zhou really did not know how to react anymore.

It was the worst thing to be on shift. It was the most vexing part about working in a hospital, second only to doctor-patient disputes. Shifts usually go on for as long as twenty-four hours, and unlucky doctors may even have to be on shift for thirty-six continuous hours. This made it hard for doctors to avoid getting rid of their laziness, ruining their health and destroying their marriages.

However, medical students could not be measured by conventional standards. Doctor Zhou could not see any changes in Ling Ran's expression and could only say, "You will know how brutal it is when you are on shift tonight."

That evening…

The doctors who were not on shift left one after another. The fact that the chief physicians and associate chief physicians had left made the atmosphere cheerful and lively.

Yun Hua Hospital's Emergency Department was a lot bigger than that of ordinary tertiary grade A hospitals, with a total of six doctors who were either chief physicians or associate chief physicians. The doctors in the department were divided into five treatment groups with a resident doctor from each treatment group staying on at night as first-string doctors. Together with an attending physician on duty, there would be six first-string doctors every night.

The other chief physicians only had to be on duty as second-string doctors.

The number of first-string doctors and second-string doctors every night in Yun Hua Hospital was already comparable to the total number of doctors in the Emergency Departments of many hospitals.

Of course, the number of patients they received at night was also comparable to the number of patients the Emergency Departments of other hospitals received in a day.

Doctor Zhou first walked around the observation rooms with the plain and ugly resident doctors before going to the on-call rooms and introducing them to Ling Ran. "Our Emergency Department has four on-call rooms in total for the doctors. Two for first-string doctors, one for second-string doctors, and another for third-string doctors.

As he spoke, Doctor Zhou opened the rooms for Ling Ran to see.

First-string doctors were mainly composed of resident doctors, housemen, and a small number of inexperienced attending physicians. The on-call rooms allocated to them by the department were small quad rooms. There were washrooms, but they could not use those to shower. They had to sleep on bunk beds, and the rooms were a little shabier compared to most university dormitories.

The second-string doctors were mostly experienced attending physicians. Their on-call room was just like that of first-string doctors, but it was only meant for two people. Instead of bunk beds, there were two single beds, which made the room look less cramped compared to the ones with bunk beds.

The third-string doctors were comprised of associate chief physicians and chief physicians. Even though their on-call room was still a double room, it was a lot bigger, and its facilities were comparable to that of a standard room in a budget hotel. However, their washrooms were not equipped for them to shower as well.

After showing the three rooms—which had a strong sense of hierarchy—to Ling Ran, Doctor Zhou said, "The beds in the on-call rooms are not allocated to individuals. All doctors on night shifts can sleep on them. You just have to take your personal belongings with you the next day."

Ling Ran asked, "How about the sheets and blankets?"

"The nurses will change them along with the sheets and blankets in the wards," Doctor Zhou said.

"Sometimes when they're too busy, they'll put the new sheets and blankets beside the bed, you can also change them by yourself." A resident doctor, who looked so ordinary that other people could not even remember his name, let out a few good-natured chuckles and sincerely shared his experiences.

"Actually, you often don't get a chance to sleep when you're on night shift in the Emergency Department. There are quite a lot of emergency cases at night." As the resident doctor spoke, he pouted and said, "But Doctor Zhou might be able to sleep well."

"Bah… Don't jinx me." Half-jokingly, Doctor Zhou stopped the resident doctor from making predictions and said, "Whether I'll be able to have a good night's sleep depends on all of you. When the patients arrive, all of you diagnose and treat them first. If you are able to handle them, I won't need to go into action. Similarly, if I am able to handle them, we won't have to wake the second-string doctors up and THEY will get to have a good night's sleep. Of course, all of us must be earnest, and it's important not to trouble the third-string doctors. No matter which chief physician or associate chief physician goes into action, they will definitely scold other people."

The resident doctor nodded frantically. "Even the chief physicians who don't usually scold other people will start cursing if they have to come at night.

"Another thing. Ling Ran, you're not allowed to work on your own. You can only work when there is another doctor with you authorizing you to work." Doctor Zhou emphasized this piece of advice.

"Alright." Ling Ran was not allowed to carry out medical procedures alone as he had not obtained his medical license. There were plenty of doctors who could authorize him to work during the day, but at night, he would have to go out of his way to look for one.

"If the first-string doctors can't handle a patient, they'll look for the second-string doctors. And if the second-string doctors can't handle the patient too, they'll give the third-string doctors a call. There are a lot of drunk patients at night, and you must pay them special attention. Pay attention to both the patient's safety and your safety. Hide yourself first if anything happens. Our doors are all reinforced, lock yourself in and call someone. Don't be ashamed to do that. Your life is more important."

As Ling Ran was inexperienced, he acknowledged what he heard.

Once he heard this, the plain, ugly resident doctor said with a laugh, "It's not so scary. I've been here for three years and there were only two cases of people blocking the hospital. Most of them only yelled and made noises."

"Isn't one case of people blocking the hospital a year enough?" Doctor Zhou looked at him and said, "Even those in the army might not encounter as many clashes as we do. Okay, just be careful in everything you do. Go and get busy."

After chasing Ling Ran and the plain, ugly resident doctor out, Doctor Zhou returned to the on-call room for second-string doctors and closed the door. He leaned against the chair with his legs propped up and turned on the news broadcast. He was extremely comfortable.

For a striving doctor, becoming an attending physician was the beginning of a dream. If he was lucky, he might not have to go into action the whole night and would still get a night shift allowance which was a few times that of a resident doctor.

…..

The nurses' station.

The young nurses on night shift were pleasantly surprised to see Ling Ran. Even Nurse Liu who was older, was rather happy when she saw Ling Ran. She poured him a glass of water and said with a smile, "Starting your night shift, Doctor Ling?"

"Thank you very much. Today's the first day." Ling Ran took the glass of water. He sat down on a chair with a backrest, which the nurses offered him, and started to look left and right.

As he observed his surroundings, the young nurses around Ling Ran observed him too. They quickly lowered their heads when he looked over.

"Doctor Ling's skin is so good," a young nurse said bravely, and the other nurses instantly agreed. Someone else immediately asked, "How do you take care of your skin?"

Ling Ran thought about it and said, "My facial cleanser and soap came from my mum. She gave me my facial cream, too."

If a guy who was not handsome were to come up with the same answer, he would definitely be called a mummy's boy. However, the young nurses who were dizzy with excitement did not find any problem with Ling Ran's answer. They exclaimed in unison,

"Mrs Ling is so trendy."

"Fortunately, Doctor Ling's mum knows how to take care of skin."

There was even a nurse who whispered to her friend, "My mother-in-law seems easy to get along with."

Nurse Liu who had two blue stripes on her hat was already married. After admiring prince charming for a while, she coughed a few times, stopping everyone at the scene in their tracks, and said, "Doctor Ling, you don't have to stay here. We'll inform you if there are patients."

"How about the observation room?" Ling Ran asked.

"There are also nurses on duty keeping an eye on the observation rooms. There aren't that many patients right now, you can sleep first." Nurse Liu paused for a while. She then remembered that Ling Ran was an intern and asked, "What symptoms are you interested in? If there are patients with these symptoms today, we can reserve them for you."

"Flexor tendons lacerations," Ling Ran immediately replied.

He tried out the M-Tang technique he had just obtained on a pork leg tendon in the simulation training space, in private. It went quite smoothly, but because he did not have field experience, he still needed to try it out on real flexor tendons.

Rather taken by surprise, Nurse Liu noted it down on her notebook. "Anything else? You're not interested in patients who require normal suturing anymore?"

"There's already enough of those during the day." Ling Ran's answer was very straightforward.

Nurse Liu nodded in understanding.

This was how doctors were like. They always cared most about doing something for the first time. After that, as the number of times they perform the same procedure increased, it would feel less new to them, and they would feel bored.

Their improvement when it came to medical skills was not linear as well. Their improvement would be the most obvious during the first ten, twenty, and then fifty surgeries. Any substantial improvement in skills after that would require participation in hundreds of surgical cases.

All of Ling Ran's time in the Emergency Department these few days had basically been spent on the debridement and suturing of wounds. He treated around fifty cases on the day he handled the most patients. On other days, he treated around thirty cases. With the number of cases he had handled, it was true that he did not need to stay up at night to suture anymore. After all, he had encountered almost every type of injury found on ordinary people that required suturing, and had obtained field experience in treating them. If he were to improve his skills further when it came to treating this category of patients, he would have to encounter patients with relatively special anatomical structures, or patients who sustained relatively special injuries.

Theoretically, Ling Ran could try to obtain another wave of 'sincere gratitude' achievements. However, the following day was a Friday, and he was not sure whether Department Director Huo would make any kind of ward rounds. Moreover, 'sincere gratitude' achievements came a little too randomly, and Ling Ran did not like that.

He liked rewards, that was certain. When he thought about rewards, Ling Ran recalled the Specialist Level Interrupted Vertical Mattress Suturing Technique that he had never used and said, "You can wake me up too if there are any patients with a lacerated scrotum."

"Erm… alright?" No matter what, Nurse Liu was considerably experienced and knowledgeable with the affairs of the world, and because of it, she did not reveal her bewildered expression.

The seven or eight young nurses sitting at the nurses' station took the opportunity to feast their eyes on Ling Ran.

A kink? It would not exist. If someone ugly liked something strange, it would be called a kink. The fact that prince charming liked something strange only meant that he was of noteworthy conduct and had independent character.

"Let's go back," Ling Ran called out to the resident doctor who had arrived with him.

The plain, ugly resident doctor did not receive any attention even though he walked back and forth on the corridor in front of the nurses' station, poured himself a glass of water, showed someone the way, helped someone fill up his form, dragged a chair, and even went in front of the computer to look at the cases. When he was called by Ling Ran, he quietly went back to the on-call room with Ling Ran.

"You should grab every opportunity you can to sleep. Someone will come and wake us up soon." The resident doctor laid on the bed, fully clothed.

Ling Ran thought about it and agreed. Even though there was a total of seven people on shift including himself, Doctor Zhou was a second-string doctor and could dawdle around without going into action. If the remaining six run into a lot of casualties involved in a fight or an accident, then they would find themselves run ragged to the ground because they would have too many problems to handle.

As he thought about that, Ling Ran drifted off to sleep. In his dreams, he could vaguely hear the door being opened and closed. He seemed to hear people saying things like, "why are you waking me up again", "there's no suitable indications", and "let him sleep for a while more".

He slept well through the night. It was already early the next morning when Ling Ran woke up.

Out of habit, he went to the bed stand to look for water to drink. He noticed with surprise that there was a bottle of sealed, purified water. There was also a mug made of thick porcelain and a set of unopened toiletries.

There was even a note on the set of toiletries:

[Doctor Ling, there were no patients with symptoms such as flexor tendon lacerations yesterday. I didn't wake you up because I saw that you were enjoying your sleep. The mug had been disinfected under high temperature, please use it without worry. You still have a long way to go in your medical journey. Please make sure to strike a proper balance between work and rest. ]

Bang!*

The door to the on-call room was pushed open. With disheveled hair, the plain, ugly resident doctor dragged his feet as he entered the room and tumbled head-first onto the bed. He began snoring a few seconds later, only stopping for a moment whenever his body convulsed with anxiety.

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It was eight in the morning.

Ling Ran followed Doctor Zhou to check some rooms and fill out some lists before they got off work.

What the Yun Hua administration had was a three-stage ward round system. Those in charge of beds on the first-string performed the first stage checks. They were expected to perform ward rounds at least twice a day. Second-string attending physicians performed the second stage checks. They were expected to perform ward rounds once every day. The third-string directors and assistant directors were only required to perform ward rounds once to twice per week.

To junior doctors, when the assistant director and director were not performing ward rounds, it would be a relatively relaxing day.

Doctor Zhou did not make Ling Ran stay for long. But when he was about to leave, he specifically instructed Ling Ran. "When you return, regardless of how excited you are, you should get some good sleep, or else it'll be very bad for your body."

"I sleep very well," Ling Ran answered.

Doctor Zhou purposefully schooled his face and said, "Don't exploit your body just because you're young. Burning the midnight oil is the number one cause of cancer. You should be serious about it, don't look down on it."

"Yes." What else could Ling Ran say? Was he supposed to say that he had to sleep till broad daylight?

However, the ugly and ordinary resident doctor by the side wanted to say something. He first yawned, and Doctor Zhou waved his hand at him, saying, "If you're tired, go back and sleep. If you're not, then stay and help out."

"No, I better go back. If I stay here any longer, I might die of fatigue." The resident doctor quickly made his stand.

"You… This fellow already knows how to be a loafer." Doctor Zhou chuckled twice and said to Ling Ran, "You should also go back soon. Today's Friday. For the next two consecutive days in the weekend, you can rest. Treasure it. When your internship ends, there will no longer be such nice things."

Ling Ran stretched his body and nodded.

A rest day was still quite important. At least, he could still breathe outside the hospital and get some fresh… exhaust fumes from the back of a car.

…..

Lower Groove Clinic.

The lamp box by the door shone with red and yellow light, carrying out its duties responsibly. The little restaurant, little barber shop, and little market all used the same model of lights, and together, they illuminated the old street.

More people seemed to be having intravenous infusion in the main house's transfusion room in the Ling family courtyard. Those who could not lie in bed sat on the chairs and played with their phones to pass the time.

"Today, business hasn't been bad," Ling Jiezhou said upon seeing his son. His big face looked like a pot of porridge as he smiled.

"Has there been an influenza outbreak lately?" Based on the impression Ling Ran had, when there were many people in the clinic, there was either an influenza outbreak nearby or people falling sick due to the drastic changes in temperature when the seasons changed.

"Better than an influenza outbreak." Ling Jiezhou laughed, feeling proud of himself. "Ever since Boss Yang's incident, the neighborhood has acknowledged us more. If I had known, I would have bought and hung firecrackers at that time…"

Ling Jiezhou spoke softly as he tugged on Ling Ran's shoulders to get him to lower his head, "Some of them are from Upper Groove. They came all the way to us for a consultation."

Ling Ran originally thought it was some kind of secret, and he looked at his father askance as he said, "Upper Groove and Lower Groove are connected."

"You know how lazy people these days are. They won't even want to go the restaurant under their houses. They rather spend money on calling for delivery. The people from Upper Groove are willing to walk ten minutes all the way to our Lower Groove Clinic to get their shots. Do you know how great that shows we are? By the way, today our lunch will be claypot fish." Ling Jiezhou gestured to him and said, "That girl called Young Lu gave us a six-pound grass carp yesterday. She said that it was caught at the Tiger Leaping Gorge Dam [1]. It was still alive. I kept it in the tank and just made it into a dish"

"Did you pay her?"

"She didn't want to accept it. She said that you helped her with her business, so she wanted to repay you or whatever. Your mom gave her something in return—her hand-weaved sun hat. Girls quite like it." For the past twenty years, the couple, Ling Jiezhou and Tao Ping, frequently helped Ling Ran buy all kinds of small gifts for the purpose of returning the kindness they showed to Ling Ran. They were all quite used to this.

"Well then, I'll go play my game." Ling Ran felt relieved. He turned and laid himself down on the recliner in the courtyard.

"Be mindful of your eyes." When Ling Jiezhou saw that his son was acting normally, he joyfully went to work.

The clinic's business was almost the same as a small stall. If you wanted business to be good, you needed to be generous and liberal. You needed to chat with the customers and give them a minimal discount. Hence, when families were low on supplies of… flu pills, Xue-Sai-Tong dispersible pills [2, glastum, Shexiang Zhuanggu Gao [3, then they would think of you.

Ling Jiezhou could only feed that money-consuming wife of his by relying on his extraordinary wit and diligence. However, that was the best a stall-like clinic could manage.

Ling Ran laid down in a comfortable position and took out his phone. He pressed the icon for Kings of Glory and conveniently sent out a game invitation to Dong Zhizhuan.

After a few minutes, Ling Ran fell back to his initial 'Stubborn Bronze' rank, and then he began a new, jolly expedition.

In the afternoon…

Because Dong Zhizhuan and the others had extra training, Ling Ran followed Doctor Xiong to check on a few old patients' bodies.

Every clinic had a few regulars. They all had chronic diseases and hoped to lighten the symptoms by means of transfusion as well as medication; some were old and weak, hoping to ease the pain via transfusion and medication; some were paranoid, and hoped to rely on the means of transfusion and medication to curb the symptoms they imagined they had…

Once the regulars reached the clinic, they all chatted and laughed. Some would even guide the doctors and nurses in their prescription.

Doctor Xiong conducted his regular observation, then he helped in measuring their blood pressure. He also used the stethoscope to listen to their heartbeat and breathing. On the surface, it looked like a super weak version of a body check-up.

Ling Ran brought only his eyes and ears to observe and listen. He did not enquire or say anything.

Even if he did possess the Master Level Appositional Suturing Technique and Perfect Level Barehanded Bleeding Control, his understanding of internal medicine was still at an intern's level. He was still far behind experienced doctors like Doctor Xiong.

Doctor Xiong was very pleased with Ling Ran's attitude. He looked at him and said with a smile, "Young Ling has good character. After he went to the hospital for internship, he didn't pick up any doctors' bad habits."

Ling Ran smiled.

"I wasn't referring to you." Doctor Xiong first clarified before he smiled. "Some doctors, especially those from tertiary grade A hospitals, would always like giving commands when they come to a lower-grade hospital. It's as if they're the only ones who know how to give a diagnosis."

"Since those doctors from tertiary grade A hospitals are 'good', you know?" Juan Zi was running with her fifty-five pound legs in the little courtyard. Her stamina was extremely good.

She was a narcissistic woman. Her WeChat step counter always exceeded ten thousand steps daily, but her weight was still as heavy as mountains.

Doctor Xiong laughed and said, "There's good and bad when it comes to doctors from the tertiary grade A hospitals. There are also skilled doctors in lower-grade hospitals. Furthermore, patients are divided automatically by the medical system to doctors and hospitals in the current age. For example, a doctor good at total thyroidectomy would first consider if a total thyroidectomy can be done after he meets the patient, or other doctors would send patients suitable to undergo a total thyroidectomy to this particular doctor. Let's not talk about the doctors, even the hospital' departments are now specialized for only a few kinds of diseases. When such doctors come to a lower-grade hospital and encounter patients with different conditions, they no longer have any rights to give commands."

Ling Ran listened, nodding his head. Yun Hua Hospital actually had a similar inclination as well. There was a famous orthodontist in the Dental Department, who specialized in invisible orthodontics. His invisible orthodontics was very well done, but he cared about nothing else other than invisible orthodontics.

If Ling Ran wished to use the M-Tang Technique, he too could become a specialist, focusing solely on it.

There was a regular patient, who had back and thigh aches throughout the year. He interrupted them cheerfully, "Doctor Xiong is now a specialist for geriatrics."

"I'm now your family doctor." Doctor Xiong snorted twice and said, "If I'm overseas, I can at least charge you a few thousand USD per year."

"Well then, I need to have a few thousand USD to pay you."

Everyone started to chat and laugh once again. The grim atmosphere was gone.

Ling Ran secretly withdrew from the transfusion room. He was always teased by different patients, and perhaps because of that, when he looked at the clinic's patients, he felt a sense of closeness to them. However, he was also tired of chatting with them to the extent that he found some of them repellent.

"The king asked me to patrol the mountains…"

Ling Ran's phone was ringing and vibrating.

"Hey."

"Ling Ran, why aren't you in the hospital?" Lu Jinling's voice was clear but her volume was a little too loud.

"I'm taking a break today."

"Whoa, then what should I do? The ambulance I just bought brought a vehicle of patients to meet you." Lu Jinling's voice was a little excited as she said, "Our company's now affiliated with Cangping District Hospital. The ambulance ownership licence is here. There's also equipment and medication. I even hired a part-time doctor…"

Ling Ran went silent for a few seconds.

To be honest, he had received different kinds of gifts from many female classmates since he was young. Their gifts were all stored in the cellar, the fridge, and the Sima Guang style tank, but this girl gave patients as a gift…

The girls in the Medical Institute would at most bring him two lab rabbits so that they could dissect them together.

"Or, you could send me a copy of your working schedule. I'll send people over there according to your working hours." Lu Jinling swiftly thought of a brand new solution. She thought that her plan was perfect. 'Sending patients during working hours, dating after working hours.'

Ling Jiezhou, whose ears were always alert to monitor the clinic's situation, approached Ling Ran and said, "Can you ask her what kind of patients they are? They can come to our clinic, right?"

"Right, your family owns a clinic." Lu Jinling was instantly enlightened after hearing his father's voice.

"What kind of patients are they?" Ling Jiezhou stretched his hands and took Ling Ran's phone.

Lu Jinling was stunned for half a minute before she said, "They're all suffering from external injuries; the most severe one had his head knocked with a baton."

"And?"

"There's one with his arms hacked, one coughing blood as a result of an assault, and another with all kinds of bruises on his body…"

Ling Jiezhou remained silent for a few seconds, and he professionally said, "The one who had his head knocked with a baton needs to do a CT scan or whatever they call it. We don't have that facility here. The one coughing blood as well. You need to leave him to the Yun Hua Emergency Department. As for the one suffering multiple bruises, don't you have a part-time doctor there? Let him check if his brain is injured and ask him if he has a congenital heart defect. If he doesn't, send him together with the one who had his arms hacked over here."

After a brief pause, Ling Jiezhou added, "For every patient we accept, we give you five… twenty-five RMB. As for the ambulance fee, ask the patients to fork out their own cash."

Upon hearing Ling Jiezhou's words, Lu Jinling was pleasantly surprised. "I can still get money by sending patients to the hospital with an ambulance? Yun Hua Hospital never gave me any money."

"Yun Hua Hospital never lacks patients. Before I forget, don't send those who are bleeding severely to us. We don't have the facilities for blood transfusions. We mainly manage sutures for external injuries."

"Good, our patients all have external injuries."

The two made a deal, and Ling Jiezhou happily threw the phone back to Ling Ran as he asked, "What do you think? You should be fine suturing some external injuries, right?"

…..

Translator's Note:

Tiger Leaping Gorge: Is a scenic canyon on the Jinsha River, a primary tributary of the upper Yangtze River. (Source: Wikipedia)

Xue-Sai-Tong dispersible pills: A traditional Chinese medicine with total saponins of Sanqi ginseng as active ingredients, has been used for more than 500 years to treat coronary artery disease in China. (Source: NCBI)

Shexiang Zhuanggu Gao: A Chinese medicine made with artificial musk, used as a pain relieving plaster. (Source: Baidu)

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Wee woo… wee woo…*

The ambulance of Cangping District Hospital parked itself steadily at the entrance of Lower Groove Clinic. Two young adults got out of the ambulance, limping and putting on strong fronts. They then stood at the door. Together, they stared at the words "Lower Groove Clinic" and sank into deep thought.

"The antler mark on my brother's arm was stitched by the doctor in this clinic. All of you have seen how the mark looks like now." Lu Jinling moved past them with brisk steps and greeted Ling Jiezhou, who was at the door before she went straight into the clinic.

The two young adults then watched the red and yellow lights flashing on both sides of the door and continued to ponder.

"Going to a clinic is cheaper than going to the hospital. We're doing this for your own good." Stinky Two got down from the driver's seat.

"Fine. If you've brought us to a clinic, then so be it. I used to have my stitches done in unlicensed clinics, and it was alright." The young man spread his arms, then grimaced in pain.

When they entered the clinic, they saw a doctor laying under a tree while playing with his mobile phone. Lu Jinling moved towards Ling Ran and spoke to him while smiling.

"The patients are here, stop playing already." To Ling Jiezhou, customers were gods, hence, he called out to Ling Ran while he moved towards the two young people courteously.

This was the difference between small clinics and large hospitals. Small clinics would have repeat customers. In fact, most of the patients in small clinics were repeat customers. The frail residents of a community would practically visit these clinics almost every year. Patients with chronic diseases would also always drop by to buy medication like Amlodipine [1] or Mayinglong Musk Hemorrhoids Ointment Cream [2].

Large hospitals were different, especially when it came to the surgical departments. If a guest returned about two or three times, then it would mean that he or she was about to return to the embrace of the earth.

The background music of a game chimed from Ling Ran's mobile phone.

Lu Jinling smiled and said, "There's no need to rush. They drove all the way here without any problems. They'll be fine waiting for a few more minutes."

Injured A: (ˍ)

Injured B: (ˍ)

"I'll stop playing now," Ling Ran handed his phone to Lu Jinling and said, "You play."

"Umm… I don't know how to…" Lu Jinling suddenly regretted not learning how to play games.

Ling Ran put on his white coat and began to wash his hands before he said, "It's alright. I often lose too."

"Oh… okay." Lu Jinling looked down and began to study the game. After half a minute, she suddenly realized that she was holding Ling Ran's mobile phone! 'Ling Ran's mobile phone is in my hands! I just have to exit this game…'

"Come and sit in front of me." Carrying out debridement and suturing was now a breeze for Ling Ran. It was almost as easy as breathing, and it was especially so for common body parts such as the arm. Not only was he now extremely familiar with patients with regular anatomical structures, even if he ran into those with strange anatomical structures, he would not find them too bizarre to handle anymore.

As far as clinical medicine was concerned, those with different anatomy posed the greatest challenge to doctors. The most typical irregular type of anatomy were those with situs inversus. Individuals with this condition had their major organs positioned in reverse from that of a normal person. In conventional open-heart surgery, one would find the heart on the left side. However, when carrying out surgery for those with situs inversus, one would need to look for the heart on the right side. For a surgeon who had performed hundreds of identical or similar operations, this troublesome situation was similar to a basketball player suddenly playing on a wooden floor after getting accustomed to playing on concrete. They would only be able to get accustomed it after obtaining some experience by operating on several people with the condition. Also, they should not hope to be able to perform brilliantly just by having some experience.

Ling Ran was now looking forward to encountering more irregular anatomical structures, but unfortunately, the young man with the injured arm was just a normal human being. Even his muscles and out-turned skin tissue looked plain and normal.

"Doctor Xiong, please help the patient with the bruise." After Ling Ran finished speaking, he concentrated on the patient before him.

No matter what, even if the person before him was a regular person and even if this was just a simple wound debridement and suturing, it was still surgery.

Ling Ran carefully cleaned up the patient's wound, injected local anesthesia, and mentioned that he was going to start suturing the wound before he inserted the needle.

At that moment, the young man, who was usually as confident and fierce as a tiger, could only pretend to be very tough while he gazed into the distance.

Even if the scenery before him in the distance was beautiful enough to be written into a poem, he could not even come up with a single line.

Even if there was a needle near him, he did not want to look at it.

The needle was inserted.

The needle was withdrawn.

"Young Ran… The boy seems to be doing very well."

"His actions appear to be a bit stiff. It makes him look like he's not a doctor."

"If he doesn't look like a doctor, then what does he look like?"

"In my opinion, he looks like someone… you see selling cantaloupes on the streets. He just needs to pick up a rotten cantaloupe, cut off the rotten parts, get rid of the core, put some toothpicks in it, and voila."

Several elderly patients were standing in front of the window of the clinic, chatting. The young man with the broken arm stared at them, but there was thread in his arm, so he could not do anything to the old men and old ladies.

"Do you want a huge scar or a small scar?" Ling enquired after sewing two stitches.

The patient bared his teeth. "There's an option for having a huge scar?"

"Of course. I've run into some patients who asked for suture scars that are prominent, and the more ferocious they are, the better," Ling recounted his personal experience.

The patient was stunned for a while and asked with uncertainty, "How big would the huge scar be, and how small would the small scar be?"

Ling Ran explained it seriously, "If you want a small scar, then I'll use the surgical catgut. If you heal well, you can only see a slightly darkened suture mark, and you wouldn't need to remove the thread, but the cost is higher. If you choose to have a huge scar, your wound could be done up to the breadth of four fingers wide, and it'll be half the length of a palm. You could also use thread of a different color to bring out the incision, which makes the scar seem as if the cut had been deep enough to see the bone…"

"I choose the huge scar!" The injured young man came to a sudden realization. What Ling Ran was basically saying was that he could customize the scar to his own liking. Only a fool would not want to choose a huge scar. That was basically the same as being cut for nothing.

If Ling Ran said he could do something, then he would definitely be able to do it. In just a short moment, he completed the suture, and the hideous scar was reflected in the mirror for the patient before he bandaged it.

[New Achievement Unlocked: Patient's sincere gratitude]

[Achievement Description: A patient's sincere gratitude is the biggest reward to a doctor]

[Reward: Basic Treasure Chest]

A golden flash appeared before Ling Ran's eyes. Behind the light was a young man holding his arm and smiling in a boyish manner.

Translator's Note:

Amlodipine: A medication used to treat high blood pressure and coronary artery disease.

Mayinglong Musk Hemorrhoids Ointment Cream: A rose-colored cooling cream product to relieve hemorrhoid pain.

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Wee woo… Wee woo…*

When the ambulance's siren rang, Juan Zi first pushed the wheelchair to the door and prepared to receive the patient.

This was the third batch of patients sent by Lu Jinling, and the patients from the previous batch were still in the middle of receiving fluid transfusion.

Ling Ran stretched lazily and also prepared to receive the incoming ambulance.

He was not displeased in the least about performing sutures on his rest days. If he could monotonously tie knots tens of thousands of times just for training in medical school, he could definitely do boring debridement and suturing tens of thousands of times as an intern as well.

The study of medicine was always a kind of skill set that had to be practiced often in order to be perfected. Theory was indeed important but the value of experience could not be ignored.

For Ling Ran, playing games was a way to relax, and doing debridement as well as suturing was also considered a form of relaxation. The fun in both varied. It depended if the game started off smoothly or if the patient who required suturing had an interesting case.

"His glutes has been stabbed. The wound is rather deep…"

"The back injury isn't too serious. Lie down here for debridement."

"The foot injury is infected. Doctor Xiong, please come over and carry out the debridement."

Ling Ran did not immediately carry out first aid on whichever patient he could lay his hands on. Instead, he acted like he was in a resuscitation room. He looked and diagnosed each patient one by one and classified them respectively.

This was also a new thing he learned after he started his internship.

Even in the Emergency Department of Yun Hua Hospital, diagnosing a patient had to be done quickly. It was common for an ambulance to send four or five patients in one go, yet there were not many available doctors. The order of diagnosis and treatment naturally could not be based on a first come first serve basis. It was carried out according to the severity of the patient's condition.

After two rounds of coordinating with Ling Ran, Doctor Xiong and Juan Zi gradually became familiar with Ling Ran's rhythm. Additionally, working with them made Ling Ran feel more at ease than working in Yun Hua Hospital.

No matter how skilful the doctors were in Yun Hua Hospital's Emergency Department, they could not properly assist him. At most, they would help him a little. Over here, Doctor Xiong and Juan Zi made serious efforts in cooperating with him, and the effects of their treatment were much better.

During suturing, he only needed to pierce the needle through the patients' skin. The threading and knotting work could be done by Doctor Xiong, making work much easier for Ling Ran.

In the hospital, ordinary Level 2 surgery had the same configuration.

"Alright. The three patients are done with their stitches. There's only one last patient left. How are you planning to stitch her wound?" Doctor Xiong bandaged the last patient. He said to Ling Ran while feeling somewhat worried, "Girls are sensitive about their beauty, and she's wounded at the shoulder. If it's not easy to stitch, let's send her to the hospital instead."

After that, with a considerable amount of curiosity, Doctor Xiong asked, "Little Lu, where did you manage to get all these patients from? You even found a woman who's been in a fight?"

"She was drunk in a KTV." Lu Jinling kept her gaze forward. It was unclear if she was looking at the patient or Ling Ran. Her answer was simple and short.

Doctor Xiong was enlightened, but shook his head in confusion the next instant. "Drinking at a KTV at this hour…?"

"Afternoon sessions in the KTV are cheap now. Many people would go for some barbeque at night once they've had enough drinking and singing. Helps them save money." Lu Jinling disclosed.

The patient was a girl of indiscernible age, and her face was covered in heavy makeup. As she gradually sobered up, she looked at her wound and asked, "Can you stitch it up? How much longer will it take?"

"Ten minutes," Ling Ran looked down at the wound and said. Then, he asked Juan Zi, "Give me a 5-0 thread. Do we have catgut?"

"Wait a minute." Doctor Xiong quickly interrupted Ling Ran. "It's expensive to stitch this wound with absorbable thread."

"What should we use otherwise?" Ling Ran's judgment was very simple. For the scar to be aesthetically pleasing and less visible, using thin thread and absorbable sutures was the way to go.

Doctor Xiong had been around the clinic for a long time, so he considered more aspects. He pulled Ling Ran a few meters away and asked, "Have you thought about this thoroughly? Can you stitch it?"

"Yes." Ling Ran's answer was short and confident.

He was already a master in suturing. If he could not even manage such a simple wound, it would just be embarrassing for him.

Doctor Xiong nodded, feeling somewhat skeptical. He said, "The absorbable thread will leave a shallow scar. If you can stitch it well, we can really make some money in this small clinic. However, the 5-0 thread will be too thin. Shouldn't we use a #0 thread instead?"

The diameter of the 5-0 thread was 0.1 millimeter, which was the thickness of two or three strands of hair. The #0 thread was 4-0, which was one and a half times thicker than the 5-0 thread, plus it was less prone to tearing.

From Doctor Xiong's perspective, Ling Ran would have an easier time controlling a thicker thread. If he switched threads halfway, things would just backfire on him.

Ling Ran calmly said, "Either one will do, but the effect will be better with the 5-0 thread."

For him, any type of thread could be used to ensure a smaller scar, but since he had no idea how much a patient would move about, a slightly thicker thread would also be good to ensure the results of the suture.

Of course, the thickness of the thread mentioned here was relative. The #0 thread was the thinnest and most common thread used in the resuscitation room. Generally, doctors found it inconvenient and would not choose it.

Doctor Xiong looked at Ling Ran, but still felt somewhat uncertain. After a few seconds, he yelled, "Old Ling."

Ling Jiezhou was drinking tea with his wife on the first floor. After hearing Doctor Xiong's call, he put down his teacup, ran down, and asked, "Is it time to collect the fees?"

"Almost. Young Ran is preparing to use an absorbable thread to stitch up the patient's wound. Do tell the patient that absorbable threads are charged based on centimeters in other clinics and hospitals," Doctor Xiong said.

"I see, absorbable threads, right? Some private hospitals are really black holes for money in this regard," Ling Jiezhou said as he entered the treatment room and cordially consoled the patient for the money she was about to lose while he negotiated with her.

After a while, Ling Jiezhou came out and said, "It's done. We'll charge her the price of 1.5 inch absorbable thread for that 1.5 inch wound of hers. Let's give her a 50% discount. Son, stitch her up well. At least you didn't waste your years of studying."

The patient in the treatment room was completely awake and conscious at this time. When she saw Ling Ran, she became more nervous. She asked, "You know how to stitch with absorbable threads, right? My shoulders are often exposed to the public. I can't afford to leave any scars on it."

Juan Zi dragged her heavy legs and brought over the 4-0 and 5-0 surgical catgut.

Ling Ran then placed them in front of the patient and explained, "These two threads won't leave scars on you easily. The 5-0 thread is a little finer, and the scars will be less visible, but you'll need to pay more attention to how you move because it may affect the wound—"

"I'll go for the finer one," the patient made a choice without waiting for Ling Ran to finish his sentence.

Doctor Xiong pouted and said, "They're both very fine."

"I want the finer thread." The patient was very firm with her decision.

Ling Ran was the type who did not like to talk after he finished his explanations. He waved his hand to signal all the people sans himself and the patient to step back as he tore open the suture kit himself.

Threads below #0 were basically attached together with the pinhead. Its characteristic was that there was no eye of the needle at the end of the needle, and the thread was directly pushed into the end of the needle while it was manufactured so that damage to the skin could be minimized during sutures.

During packaging, an ordinary suture kit could be loaded with bundles of five or ten needles, and the ones with pinheads would need to be individually packed, making it very obvious that it was a standard above the other needles.

However, doctors did not necessarily like finer threads. If suturing was regarded as an examination, using thread #7 was equivalent to lowering the passing mark to 30%, and you could pass the exam easily. Using #0 threads were equivalent to pushing the passing marks up to 60%, and the test would have to be done a little more seriously. The 5-0 thread was equivalent to pushing the passing mark up to 80%. Some doctors had to have full concentration while performing the stitches to be able to pass, while some doctors failed even if they tried their best.

Of course, there were always people who scored 100 marks in whatever paper they took.

Ling Ran was an example. Since he obtained Master Level in Simple Interrupted Sutures, forget using 5-0 or 6-0 threads, he could still perform sutures easily even if someone gave him a 10-0 thread.

"Okay, you may open your eyes now. Do not let your wound come into contact with water. Try to keep activity to a minimum…" Ling Ran habitually recited the Standard Precaution for Patients. He felt that there was no difference in stitching the patient's shoulder wound compared to other people's wounds.

Doctor Xiong who was working as an assistant saw everything with his own eyes, and he felt that Ling Ran had performed the stitches effortlessly. Ling Ran had not been bothered by the thickness or thinness of the thread at all. Doctor Xiong was amazed and tried hard to suppress the shock on his face.

On the other hand, the patient seemed unaccustomed to Ling Ran's casual attitude. She spoke in a nervous and somewhat uneasy tone, "We've agreed that if I scar, you will not only give me a refund, but you will also have to pay me back another sum. If the scar doesn't stay, I'll introduce my sisters to your clinic if any of them are injured again."

Ling Jiezhou readily agreed. He did not possess any medical skills, but he knew many doctors, and in his opinion, Ling Ran's skill was no worse than those doctors who had high market value.

Once he thought of this, Ling Jiezhou thought to himself again. With the current flow of patients, the clinic could hire another part-time doctor. Then, when Ling Ran was on duty in Yun Hua Hospital, the clinic could still operate as usual.

He looked at the utility room next to the treatment room and revealed his signature honest and boyish smile.

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It was Monday.

Ling Ran woke up very early. He fried an egg, cooked porridge, and breathed in the 'fresh' morning air as he walked to the hospital.

The Ling family did not own a car because Madam Tao Ping did not have a driving licence, and to Ling Jiezhou, a car was not something essential to Madam Tao Ping so naturally it was not a necessity. Ling Jiezhou also could not afford to buy a car because the value of a car depreciated fast.

Ling Ran was fine without it. When he was in the medical institute, he did not need a car. Now, when he was doing his internship in Yun Hua Hospital, he also did not desire a car (unless the system gave him a Transformer, and it must be the kind that even a C-licence holder could drive).

"Ling Ran, get changed and get into the operating theater."

Just as Ling Ran entered the Emergency Department, he saw the sight of the somewhat bustling department and was immediately called upon.

Ling Ran swiftly put down his belongings and asked the nurse on duty, "What happened?"

"There has been an accident on the highway, the patients are on their way. It's a more serious situation, so we've sent someone to receive the helicopter." The nurse on duty had stayed up the whole night, and she looked at Ling Ran with her bloodshot eyes.

"To receive the helicopter?"

The nurse on duty purposefully explained, "It's a helicopter rescue, Jin Hui Airlines has a helicopter in Yun Hua, so some insurance companies and banks would sell their helicopter rescue services. If you meet an accident, you can just make a call and use the helicopter to take you to the provincial hospitals or our hospital. We would see this happen once every two or three months."

"Oh, I see."

"Calling for a helicopter rescue yourself is very costly. It's a few ten thousand per hour."

"Oh."

"I think it's around thirty thousand for an hour."

"Oh."

"Doctor Ling, good luck!" The nurse on duty did not have anything else to say, so she lifted her small arms and waved at him for a bit.

"Thanks." Ling Ran let out a breath. He was to take part in the resuscitation once he had arrived for work. There was a feeling like he was going for a match without warming up. He could not help having many concerns in his heart.

After he passed through the treatment room and turned at the corridor, he took the lift. After all, the dressing room of the operating theater was on the fifth floor.

The standard in Yun Hua Emergency Department's operating theater was quite high. The dressing room was two hundred square meters large, and the bathroom and other facilities were made according to a tertiary grade A hospital's standards. That standard, naturally, referred to the standard that all tertiary grade A hospitals use when they build an entire floor of operating theaters to be used by the entire hospital, not just the Emergency Department.

Yun Hua's Emergency Department could afford such a luxury because it had a large and stable source of income—the Hemodialysis Department.

In many hospitals, the Hemodialysis Departments were all independent departments, especially in some secondary hospitals. The income from providing services to patients with uremia and so on could cover a lot, especially in low-level tertiary hospitals like the grade B hospitals in Cangping District. The Hemodialysis Departments were more valuable compared to the added sum total of a few surgery departments.

However, in Yun Hua's Emergency Department, Huo Congjun, who desired to make the Emergency Department great, would never permit the Hemodialysis Department to be independent. Instead, he took the opportunity to integrate both of them, by letting the operating theater and the dialysis room have a shared dressing room and so on. This was to greatly boost the Emergency Department's surgical conditions, and to allow opportunities for expansion.

Ling Ran stripped naked in the dressing room and came out after he put on his scrubs. He heard Zhao Leyi giving orders.

"Are the personnel from the Cardiology Department and Cardiovascular Surgery Department here yet? Ask them to come quickly. Tell the General Surgery Department and the Orthopedics Department to hurry up and send someone here to take a look. And ask the Hand Surgery Department to see whether the arrangements for elective surgeries are done."

On Sundays, Zhao Leyi was the attending physician on duty. Before he could pass the shift he had received a call, so he must continue on.

The scrub nurse came to inform him, "Operating Theater 1 is ready."

"Then use Theater 1." Zhao Leyi did not have any other opinions in this regard.

Operating Theater 1 was the largest operating theater in the Emergency Department, and the facilities there were the most complete compared to the other operating theaters. This operating theater was suitable for the situation today as they had to treat multiple patients in one go. From the current information he received, the patients' conditions were very bad; there were injuries on many parts of their bodies. The doctors might need to perform many surgeries at the same time.

Zhao Leyi looked to his left, then his right, and he found that under him, there were only two resident doctors on duty plus a medical intern—Ling Ran. To patients who sustained multiple serious injuries, these were far from enough. It would be better if he had a chief resident to help him rather than two residents who just completed their standardized training.

Based on Zhao Leyi's observations, two resident doctors could only operate the retractor for this level of surgery.

Zhao Leyi quickly made his decision. "Ling Ran, you'll be the first assistant."

Although he did not like Ling Ran, he could not afford to be picky now. Doctors were never blinded by their emotions. Regardless of the grudges they held, they had to restrain themselves when lives were at stake.

"Alright," Ling Ran replied. He went and stood opposite to Zhao Leyi, where the first assistant's position was supposed to be. The two resident doctors looked at each other briefly, but they did not say anything.

After a few minutes, a patient who had an infusion bag attached to him was pushed in by a few people. Then came a voice quickly reciting information about the patient, "The patient is still conscious, his pupillary light reflex is normal. His spine, abdomen, and four limbs are injured and bleeding. We suspect that there is internal bleeding in the abdomen…"

"Lab team, check his blood and perform an X-ray scan. Ultrasound team, push the CT scanner over here…" Zhao Leyi was organizing the team for the surgery calmly. He then immediately said, "Are the personnel from the other departments here yet? If they are, then just let them in. Judging from this situation, there's no way to transfer the patient, so just let them perform the surgery here."

Car accident patients were the Emergency Department's most common patients, but they were also the ones with the most complicated injuries.

With a population of nearly a hundred million in Yun Hua City, there were on average five car accidents every day, and out of these five accidents, there would be one dead and five injured.

Such a high frequency caused Yun Hua Hospital to receive at least one car accident victim nearly every two or three days. The patients' injuries varied, some were light, but others were severe. The lightly injured could be discharged after applying some iodophor. On the other hand, the severely injured would require joint treatment from multiple departments.

Yun Hua Hospital's Emergency Department was very good, but they did not have the ability to perform a thoracotomy.

The General Surgery Department could operate on pretty much everything up to the duodenum, but they could not perform surgery on their own when it came to the liver, the gallbladder, the pancreas, and the spleen.

The Orthopedics Department could do relatively much more. They could independently perform Level 2 surgeries and a small number of Level 3 surgeries, but they only performed these surgeries because they wanted the patients to pay to their departments.

But as of right then, the patient was in such a grave condition that the Emergency Department had to call for the other departments to help them. That meant that they could no longer care less about which department would receive the patient's payment; this was an emergency surgery organized by multiple departments. Zhao Leyi was just temporarily occupying the main post. He needed to ensure that the patient's vital signs were stable so as to make sure that the patient had the physical strength to undergo the surgery.

"I will now prepare to cut open the leg's tourniquet," Zhao Leyi shouted on purpose to remind Ling Ran after he had confirmed that the blood and liquid transfusion, along with the medicine at hand, were prepared.

Ling Ran hummed his acknowledgement without lifting his head.

The patient's condition was indeed complicated, but if they just focused on one single injury at a time, the patient would not be that difficult to deal with.

Ling Ran had analyzed the patient's condition with his mastered Perfect Level Barehanded Bleeding Control and he did not think that it was complicated. Indeed, the patient did meet a severe car accident, but it was only a common type of car accident.

Ling Ran stared at the patient's injuries while looking at Zhao Leyi's operation and asked in his mind, 'System, who is the best in the world at Barehanded Bleeding Control? To what extent can his skill achieve?'

"Adam Rhys Davies is the best in the world at barehanded bleeding control," the system only answered the first question.

Ling Ran remembered that when he was reading some research papers, he had read about this man. While he was recollecting his memories of the past, he asked, 'Is the Perfect Level Barehanded Bleeding Control further divided into sublevels? If there is, what is his?'

"There are no sublevels in perfect level. Adam Rhys Davies' groundbreaking barehanded bleeding control technique is considered to be at Legendary Level; he is the best in the world."

'There's a Legendary Level…' Ling Ran was a bit surprised. He stopped asking questions for a moment before he resumed them. 'Well then, what is my ranking for barehanded bleeding control?'

"The level of your barehanded bleeding control ranks 126th in the world, thirteenth in China, second in Changxi Province, and first in Yun Hua City."

'There's someone better at barehanded bleeding control in Changxi?' Ling Ran did not expect that.

"Ling Ran, get ready," Zhao Leyi cut the tourniquet, and at once, blood gushed out while making squirting sounds from the patient's leg injury. It sounded like the Baotu Spring[1, but a Baotu Spring that was about to die out.

Ling Ran only looked at the injuries without saying a word.

"Ling Ran, apply pressure on the gauze," Zhao Leyi said.

When Zhao Leyi did not immediately receive a reply, he quickly shouted, "Ling Ran!"

"Coming." Ling Ran's tone was bleak and weary. He sounded like an old sage sighing.

At the same time, his hands moved past the injury like lightning. He grabbed the patient's upper thigh, and then he observed the upper thigh meticulously. This was to allow him to make a better judgment.

In an instant, the pressure of the gushing blood went down immediately. Then, the blood immediately stopped flowing.

Using the Perfect Level Barehanded Bleeding Control to deal with the injuries sustained by a common car accident victim was actually overkill.

There was no need to apply pressure on the gauze.

[1] Baotu Spring: Baotu Spring is a culturally significant artesian karst spring located in the city of Jinan, Shandong, China.

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Ling Ran slowly adapted to Zhao Leyi's rhythm.

As the surgery progressed, the difficulty of suturing increased slightly. But Ling Ran's proficiency improved at a much faster pace.

Debridement and suturing work were all too familiar for Ling Ran.

Speaking in terms of surgical methods, if you could carry out a surgical method about thirty times, you would be considered to be quite proficient with that method.

For example, if an easy operation like an appendectomy was done three or five times, the general practitioner would then be able to do it alone. If he did it a hundred times, then one could say he was skilled. Many attending physicians who had performed appendectomies could even do it without a laparoscopy. They only needed to operate with a small opening in the patient's abdomen, reach out, hook, and they could already find the appendix.

Although the Master Level Simple Interrupted Suture Ling Ran had mastered only allowed him mastery over interrupted sutures, he had done similar work like debridement up to hundreds of times. He could already handle it well, and he did not need the system to give him that particular skill.

The practical operations since his internship days had all turned into wonderful experience for Ling Ran. Not only did his experience provide him flexibility and competency in his operations, but they allowed him to accurately match up with the chief surgeon, Zhao Leyi.

Ling Ran could already got a handle of Zhao Leyi's operating habits just after stitching a few wounds. Now, he could even guess Zhao Leyi's thoughts when his hand turned to another direction.

On this basis, Zhao Leyi only felt working with Ling Ran was even more comfortable than having a massage.

To put it bluntly, Zhao Leyi was initially not very fond of this intern, Ling Ran.

'He's too proud! Too tall! Too handsome! And he learns too fast!'

In short, Zhao Leyi was very unhappy with a tall, handsome and arrogant intern who picked things up too quickly.

However, after Ling Ran joined him at the operating table, Zhao Leyi felt indescribably at ease.

The operation had gone way too smoothly.

As his eyes looked at the bleeding points being controlled one by one, with each and every wound being sutured and the patient's blood pressure getting stabilized, Zhao Leyi's heart was simply bursting with a sense of accomplishment.

It was especially so when several colleagues from other departments were around to watch them. Zhao Leyi felt much more delighted than having a beautiful woman or expensive cars around him.

In medical terms, his secretion of dopamine right then could even fill up the creases of his cerebral cortex.

Zhao Leyi looked up and snuck a glance at Ling Ran. He still looked unwelcoming, but he did not seem so unpleasant to the eye anymore.

"The whole arm will be yours to stitch, can you do it?" Zhao Leyi was also tired from carrying out the surgical operation. Concentrating all the time took up a lot of energy.

Moreover, the injuries of this patient from the car accident were mainly concentrated in his lower body. The wound on the arm was not relatively serious, but it would take much more than an ordinary debridement and suturing. The operation could be sped up and the other departments would not have to wait too long if two people stitched the wounds together.

Ling Ran was as calm as ever. He nodded and said, "Okay."

Then, he called out to the surgical nurse, "Tissue scissors."

A pair of surgical scissors instantly fell into his hands.

Zhao Leyi always felt that the speed at which the nurse gave the medical instruments to Ling Ran was faster than for himself.

If there were not so many people present and watching, he could have begun telling a saucy joke.

'Refresh your mind. Strengthen your heart.'

"Gauze.

"Suture scissors."

The rhythm in Ling Ran's hands did not change at all even though he had obtained the opportunity to operate independently.

The general surgery resident doctors who were waiting in the operating theater were envious and surprised when they noticed this, but did not make a sound.

It was a rare opportunity for ordinary resident doctors to operate independently. However, for Ling Ran, that was not considered that rare.

In fact, the chances of Ling Ran getting such opportunities were much more than that of the resident doctors.

In the case of open wound treatment alone, during the three years of standardized training for an Emergency Department resident doctor, they only had to complete, as an assistant, ten cases of surgical debridement and suturing.

Of course, an Emergency Department resident doctor needed to master more than just debridement and suturing. In theory, they were required to carry out five cardiopulmonary resuscitations, two gastric lavages, five defibrillations, five tracheal intubations, and so on.

However, in terms of local standards, there were only a handful of hospitals that could allow their residents to complete that quantity and ensure the quality of all operations.

"Curved scissors."

Ling Ran looked up and exercised his neck for a while.

The scrub nurse handed the curved scissors to Ling Ran and took the opportunity to stare at Ling Ran for a few seconds. Her little heart was fluttering and palpitating.

Ling Ran looked cool, seemingly unaware of her stare.

He liked to be a doctor, and his favorite thing about being one was the environment in the operating theater.

If he was a civil servant, he would be considered by his colleagues to be nitpicky; if he went to do engineering work, it would be likely that he would not be liked by the people; but here, even if he was doing the simplest surgery, no one would urge him to be faster just because he wanted to do one more check on the bleeding points.

Ling Ran clearly called out the name of the instruments he wanted while he operated.

"#0 Thread… Forceps… Gauze…"

Zhao Leyi found it somewhat hilarious.

Normally, doctors would not yell like this, especially senior physicians above the level of attending physicians. Most of them would be gossiping away. Some of the fat, middle-aged doctors would start cracking dirty jokes or would have already cracked a few dirty jokes while they reached for the surgical instruments and simply take the instruments themselves.

Surgical nurses who were cooperative would naturally hand the correct instrument to the doctor without needing the doctor to call out the name of the devices.

The nurses in the operating theater were more familiar with the surgical methods than doctors; they knew what the doctor needed next.

However, Ling Ran did not have that kind of experience and he was not familiar with the nurse, so he would naturally call out the instruments he needed.

"Hemostatic forceps… Toothed forceps… surgical magnifying glasses…"

The more Ling Ran called out for the surgical devices, the more Zhao Leyi found him interesting, but his smile did not last long.

"What are you going to do with the surgical magnifying glasses?" Zhao Leyi was still minding his own part when he heard this and quickly looked over.

The patient's hand was seen getting straightened by Ling Ran, and he was already busy stitching the patient's wound.

"Arm is lacerated. Blood vessels are anastomosed and the tendon is sutured," Ling Ran replied solemnly, the movements of his hands did not stop as the little nurse steadily handed the instrument to him.

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Chapter 47: Drama

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Who allowed you to suture the tendon?! You just needed to handle the wound! The Hand Surgery Department was supposed to perform elective surgery on the patient's tendon!" Zhao Leyi frowned tightly. Debridement and suturing were within the job scope of the Emergency Department, so it was fine for anyone to stitch up the wound. But theoretically, it was unacceptable for them to perform tendon suturing and anastomosis because both were beyond their job scope.

"You just said…" Ling Ran paused for a moment before he continued as if he was quoting a certain someone, "'Stitch up the entire arm for me.'"

"I said 'stitch up the entire arm?'" Zhao Leyi was slightly perplexed. He then immediately said, "Even if I mentioned the entire arm, it doesn't include the hand!"

"The hand's not included?" There was a puzzled tone in Ling Ran's voice.

"Of course it doesn't include the hand," Zhao Leyi said in agitation. "I wanted you to perform debridement on the wounds, not stitch up the flexor tendon."

"Ah… But I've already started to stitch it, though." Ling Ran stopped speaking for a moment, but he did not stop moving his hands. He still carried on at that familiar pace, and his movements were stable.

"You did it on purpose, didn't you?!" Zhao Leyi was a little angry, but his panic outweighed his anger. After all, he was the chief surgeon of the surgery, and he was also the one who ordered Ling Ran to perform the suturing. If anything happened, he would be responsible for it. He did not want to bear any consequences, which could result from this.

His instincts as a pale, skinny, middle-aged man, who was a fake and a despicable suck-up of an attending physician, told him that Ling Ran must have done it on purpose.

This was because, if Zhao Leyi had suturing skills that were basically cheats, he would also try his best to look for opportunities to perform tendon sutures and anastomoses.

Doctors knew how hard it was to fight for opportunities.

When he was an intern, he served tea to his clinical mentor, helped him write his medical records, ran around doing his chores, and bought food for him. He obeyed everything his mentor said, remained obedient, and always had a smile. What was his reward for all of this? An opportunity to perform abdominal closure.

No one would just let you get your hands on a surgery like how they would let you live your life—they would not let you perform surgery without guidance like how they would throw you out into society and let you experience the world on your own. When Zhao Leyi first attempted an appendectomy, he took three hours. One hour was utilized for cutting open the abdomen to look for the appendix. Two hours were used to look for the gauze. To be more precise, the last hour was utilized by his clinical mentor to help him look for the gauze.

Zhao Leyi was greatly impacted by that surgery. On that day, his clinical mentor did not get mad. At least, not as mad as he usually got when Zhao Leyi made mistakes. This was due to the fact that his clinical mentor had foreseen arising complications when he decided to let Zhao Leyi be the chief surgeon for the appendectomy. It was better to have gauzes missing from the operating theater than to have an entire caecum missing.

Zhao Leyi's next appendectomy was much smoother than his first. He was even slightly more experienced when it came to looking for the gauze. He did not take as long as he did in his first operation.

The key was, as long as the junior doctors seized their first opportunity well, there would be a second chance and a third chance for them to perform surgeries. Then, there would be countless surgeries of the same type thrown at you until you grew tired of them.

The first surgery was always the most challenging surgery. Patients would not want to become your lab rat, and your clinical mentor would not trust you entirely either. However, the hospital also needed you to prove their worth before they allowed you to perform surgeries.

Every patient, every leader, and every hospital wanted such a doctor…

They wanted a doctor who was nearly forty years old, and an energetic PhD graduate from a prestigious university. He had to be well-versed in his theories, have thirty years of background in research, and have a broad point of view. He should have more than forty years of clinical practicum and a lot of experience in the field. He should be reasonable and have more than fifty years of studies in humanities. He had to have the curiosity of a ten-year-old child; the determination of a twenty-year-old youth; the reliability of a thirty-year-old adult; the wisdom of a forty-year-old, middle-aged man; the maturity of a fifty-year-old quinquagenarian; the calmness of a sixty-year-old old man; and not be bald.

Zhao Leyi had managed to enter Yun Hua Hospital with a lot of help on his side. This outside help allowed him to clear many of the technical obstructions, which would have otherwise prevented him from performing his first abdominal closure and appendectomy.

He always performed better than his other classmates in surgeries. And after that, when he became Yun Hua Hospital's doctor, he really did become better in surgeries compared to the majority of his classmates, especially those who went to city hospitals, district hospitals, and even provincial hospitals. He was definitely better than those classmates of his who gave up on becoming doctors.

Zhao Leyi knew the value of opportunities, hence the reason why his anger was even more prominent.

He was not willing to be like Doctor Zhou, a kind old man who always gave medical interns opportunities. He was more concerned about the consequences and he was more ambitious than Doctor Zhou.

'I didn't expect that the moment I let my guard down…

'This Ling Ran would go straight for the tendon!'

Zhao Leyi thought, 'Even I've never performed sutures on tendons before!

'Where is my respect?

'Where is the servile disciple?

'Where is the obedience?'

"I've taken care of the wounds. There are a few bleeding wounds that don't need suturing for now," Ling Ran was in the middle of his operation when he demurely said, "I'll try my best to get the hand tendon sutured to preserve hand function. I won't delay…"

Zhao Leyi needed to spend a long time to deal with the wounds on different parts of the patient's body anyway. There were also two resident doctors acting as his assistants, so Ling Ran's act of suturing the tendon would not delay the operation in any manner. As for the patient, the sooner his primary recovery was, the better his hand function could recover.

"I…" Zhao Leyi was so agitated that he could not speak. Was he worried that there would be a delay?

'Yes, I'm worried!

'But I'm more worried about bearing responsibility!'

No matter how well the flexor tendon was sutured, he would not get any bonuses. But if complications arose, he would get into trouble.

As for hand function recovery… that was the patient's own problem.

To Zhao Leyi, Ling Ran was absolutely getting his priorities mixed up.

"Ling Ran, you should stop first."

"I'm using the M-Tang technique. If I stop halfway, the patient's tendon will definitely be damaged."

Zhao Leyi's eyelids twitched, and he said, "You know how to use the M-Tang technique? No, I mean, who gave you the permission to use the M-Tang technique?"

"The patient's Zone II flexor tendon is ruptured. It's the best place to use the M-Tang technique," Ling Ran explained reasonably. He had thought about it carefully before he sutured the patient. If the condition of the patient's flexor tendon was not suitable for the M-Tang technique, he would have used simple interrupted sutures. After all, both of these skills he had in his disposal were at Master Level.

The flexor tendons of a person's hand were divided into five zones. Zone II was the area from the middle phalanx to the distal palmar crease. It was the most complicated area known as no man's land. The name was given because no one could recover well from an injury there during the early days until Professor Jin Bo Tang from Jiangsu Nantong University invented the M-Tang technique.

It was the true results of a master of his craft. The technique could almost perfectly solve the problem in no man's land. But based on Ling Ran's experiments in the simulation training space, he did not even need to use the Master Level M-Tang Technique to solve the problem. He could achieve an excellence rate of about 70% to 80% with just Specialist Level skills.

Nevertheless, compared to other techniques, the M-Tang technique had an obvious advantage.

Ling Ran was very confident. His reply was extremely brief, but he stunned Zhao Leyi with one sentence.

Even though he was the chief surgeon and also a chief surgeon whose rank was far higher than Ling Ran's, Zhao Leyi could not continue the conversation.

Doctors earned their money through their skills.

On the surface, senior doctors had great control over junior doctors. That control was not built purely based on their titles, but also their skills.

If a junior doctor made a mistake, the senior doctors would point it out, and naturally, he could reprimand the junior as much as he wanted to.

Once they were done reprimanding the junior doctors, the senior doctors could also correct the junior doctors' mistakes. They could also cut down on the junior doctors' responsibilities by taking over their work. The junior doctors would have no other choice than be f*cked when the seniors chose to do so.

In other words, the power that senior doctors had over junior doctors was built on their skills and the responsibilities they had at hand.

When Zhao Leyi could not take over Ling Ran's operation, he lost his control of the operating table.

When Ling Ran saw that Zhao Leyi no longer opposed his actions, he lowered his head and continued with the operation.

The nurses, resident doctors, and doctors who were waiting to enter the "battlefield" could not help but lift their heads to look at Ling Ran and Zhao Leyi. Their need to gossip was piqued. They felt entertained like they were watching a drama series. They were as delighted as someone who just had a snowball thrown in his face on the hottest day of summer, and that snowball was later stuffed against his chest.

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Chapter 48: This Guy is Still an Intern

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The M-Tang technique was also known as the multiple strand intratendinous suturing technique. Just as its name implied, it utilized many strands, usually three strands of full set nylon threads to suture the tendon. Its tractility far surpassed that of the Kessler suturing technique and the double Krackow suture technique. It would not destroy the blood circulation on the dorsal side of the tendon as well.

But the fact that the M-Tang technique required the use of three strands of full set nylon sutures for a tiny tendon made it an obviously harder technique compared to other suturing techniques used to suture tendons.

This was also the reason Ling Ran said that he could not stop. Ling Ran had completed one-third of the suturing process. If he were to stop now and suture the two other strands later, the surgery would become even more difficult. Other suturing techniques may also not be suitable anymore.

Similarly, this was also the reason Zhao Leyi could not take over.

He could suture flexor tendons too, though he could only do so with great difficulty. However, he had never come into contact with the M-Tang technique at all before this.

Unlike the run-of-the-mill simple interrupted suture, the M-Tang technique was both a suturing technique and a surgical method. It was a suturing technique used only on Zone II flexor tendon injuries. It had an extremely narrow field of application and was only useful for one-fifth of the human hand. Even though the technique was extremely difficult, the results it produced were outstanding.

As the Emergency Department's training strategy was more towards producing all-rounded doctors, Chief Physician Zhao Leyi had never even come into contact with the M-Tang technique. He had only heard about it.

At this moment, when Ling Ran said that he could not stop because he was halfway through the surgery, Zhao Leyi found that he could not say anything to object to his statement.

What should he have said? Should he have forcibly ordered Ling Ran to stop?

Zhao Leyi looked around. The operating theater was not a lawless land. While chief surgeons possessed supreme power in the operating theater, they also had to be responsible for their choices.

He could forcibly order Ling Ran to stop, but then what would happen next?

What if the patient filed a lawsuit in the future because he could not recover hand function after receiving surgery at the Emergency Department?

At that time, even though Ling Ran would definitely get into trouble, Zhao Leyi would not be able to avoid disciplinary action as well.

He could not help but grumble internally, 'Interns have no sense of priority.'

After thinking for a while, Zhao Leyi finally decided to look for doctors from the Hand Surgery Department and ask the experts to save the day.

The operating theater was extremely quiet.

Even though everyone's minds were raging with gossip, they were a lot quieter on the surface.

"Skin retractor… surgical magnifying glasses… Forceps."

Ling Ran put on the surgical magnifying glasses again and continued to call for each surgical instrument in a precise and unconventional manner.

Zhao Leyi could not restrain himself anymore. He turned and said, "Ask Department Director Huo to come to the operating theater."

He had to first ask the expert of their own department to come. This was considered the fundamental law of saving the day, or the fundamental law of the workplace.

At the same time, the doctor from the General Surgery Department, who was watching the surgery in excitement, took two steps back and stepped on the lock screen at the bottom right corner of the door. He slipped out before the airtight access door was completely opened.

"Hou Kang, do you know the M-Tang technique?" The experienced resident doctor who was dispatched to the Emergency Department from the General Surgery Department made faces at Hou Kang.

The General Surgery Department and Hand Surgery Department were of the same category. It was just that the Hand Surgery Department was of an even narrower classification of general surgeries. All the resident doctors of both departments knew each other rather well.

Hou Kang raised his head, puzzled. "Why are you asking me this question all of a sudden?"

There could be applications for emergency consultation from the Emergency Department every day. Sometimes, there would be two or three applications a day. If the other departments were to dispatch chief physicians or more capable associate chief physicians every time there was such an application, those departments would not need to do anything else but wait all day for the Emergency Department's applications.

Most of the time, upon receiving an application for consultation from the Emergency Department, other departments would first dispatch a resident doctor to take a look at the situation. If the resident doctor could deal with it on the spot, they would do that. If they could not deal with it on the spot, they would usually transfer the patient back to their own department's operating theater. Or else, no matter how many pieces of equipment the resuscitation room had, it would not be enough to save the patient.

Today's surgery was an emergency surgery where doctors from the General Surgery Department had to quickly take over from the Emergency Department. On the other hand, the doctor from the Hand Surgery Department could wait for a while before he had to handle the patient, since his injury to his hand could be considered an elective surgery. Hence, one of them waited inside the operating theater, and the other waited outside the door.

The resident doctor from the General Surgery Department said with a grin, "The M-Tang technique is being used inside.

"Impossible. Department Association Director Pan went to Japan for advanced studies." Hou Kang immediately shook his head.

The resident doctor from the General Surgery Department immediately caught the main point. "Department Associate Director Pan is the only one in the Hand Surgery Department who knows the M-tang technique?"

Hou Kang corrected him. "Department Associate Director Pan is the only one who would use the M-Tang technique."

With the advancement in surgery today, countless methods could already be used to achieve the same aim. Admittedly, the M-Tang technique was the first one to make a breakthrough in no man's land [1]. But almost twenty years after the breakthrough had been made, other skills had also been developed. It would depend entirely on the patient's condition as for which method wielded more advantages during his or her surgery.

Laymen thought that doctors ought to learn widely from other people's strong points and learn all sorts of methods. But in reality, even though doctors usually became acquainted with various methods, they would only concentrate all their efforts on one method.

It was the same when it came to how students studied and solved problems. There were various ways to solve the chicken-rabbit math problem [2, but most students only knew one or two of them. Many years later, they would continuously and ceaselessly solve problems with the solution they were used to.

It cost doctors even more to practice a new skill. Hence, they would rarely learn skills that guarantee the same effects.

And when patients could only be treated with certain surgical methods, they would usually either enlist the help of "freelance surgeons" or simply recommend the patient to go somewhere else.

Department Associate Director Pan was the only doctor in Yun Hua Hospital's Hand Surgery Department who was skilled in the M-Tang technique and often used it.

The resident doctor from the General Surgery Department let out a few chuckles and said, "Go in and take a look. From now on, Department Associate Director Pan won't be the only one in Yun Hua Hospital who uses the M-Tang technique anymore."

Hou Kang gathered his things, and in doubt, entered through the open airtight access door into the operating theater.

Shick…*

As a resident doctor from the Hand Surgery Department, Hou Kang went quickly to a corner and stood, knowing full well what his place was in the operating theater for this surgery. He craned his head to look inside.

The surgical field was really clear while under the illumination of the surgical lamps. Hou Kang could see that the patient was receiving surgery on Zone II in his hand.

Hou Kang naturally recalled all sorts of details regarding the M-Tang technique in his mind. A series of thoughts then surged into the forefront of his head.

'Who am I?

'Where am I?

'What am I doing?'

Shick…*

Huo Congjun, who was dressed in green scrubs, walked into the operating theater.

"What's the situation?" Huo Congjun had already received the news. His voice was low and deep.

"Ling Ran went beyond his boundaries and performed surgery without permission." Zhao Leyi immediately complained.

"Is that so?" Huo Congjun looked at Ling Ran.

With his head lowered, Ling Ran said as he operated, "Yes."

Zhao Leyi arched one of his eyebrows. He did not expect Ling Ran to own up to it immediately without arguing about whether he performed surgery on the entire arm or not.

Huo Congjun was also rather surprised. He lowered his head to look at the patient's hand.

Zone II of the patient's left hand was cut open. The two ends of a broken tendon were already cleaned and tightly bound together by a suture, which was looped around them. They fit together perfectly…

Huo Congjun marveled internally. He then coughed a few times, put on a stern expression, and said, "The chief surgeon has absolute authority in the operating theater. Other than working according to the chief surgeon's requirements, you also have to inform the chief surgeon on what you want to do and obtain permission from him before performing any procedures, especially unconventional ones. Do you understand?"

"I understand." Ling Ran did agree that procedures should be followed.

"Do you know what to do the next time you enter the operating theater?" Huo Congjun stared at Ling Ran with his hands behind him and asked stiffly.

Ling Ran contemplated earnestly for a few seconds and said, "Become the chief surgeon?"

"Let the doctor from the Hand Surgery Department take over." Zhao Leyi felt like he was going to explode on the spot due to anger. He glanced at the onlooking doctors and asked, "Is the doctor from the Hand Surgery Department here?"

Hou Kang stepped forward and said in a soft voice, "I'm here. But our Department Associate Director Pan isn't around."

Translator's note:

[1] No man's land: Zone 2 in the hand.

[2] An ancient Chinese math problem. An example: there are 100 chickens and rabbits in total. The chickens have 80 more legs than the rabbits. How many chickens and how many rabbits are there?

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Chapter 49: Picking On Him

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Doctor Pan is not here… Where is Department Director Jin Xi?" Huo Congjun asked for Jin Xi, the Director of the Hand Surgery Department.

If a person had been a resident doctor for a long time, he or she would eventually be able to read another person's thoughts through the expressions on that person's face. Hou Kang immediately understood Huo Congjun's intentions. He then spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, "The M-Tang technique is Department Associate Director Pan's speciality. Department Director Jin wouldn't normally perform it."

Even if a doctor were a chief physician, that doctor would not recklessly employ a technique they were unfamiliar with in actual practice.

Huo Conjun hummed in acknowledgment. He arrived next to the operating table, put on his surgical magnifying glasses, and examined the patient's fingers meticulously.

He had never performed a hand surgery, but tendon suturing was not beyond the boundaries of an ER doctor's skillset. Their naked eyes could instantly deduce if the edges of the tendon had been aligned neatly, whether the suturing was firm, and whether the damage during the operation was minimal.

Naturally, the flexor tendon that Ling Ran had sutured using his Master Level M-Tang Technique was above average standards.

At least, Huo Conjun could see no problems from his end.

Huo Congjun's eyes gleamed through the microscopic lenses. After a long time, he exhaled and said, "Continue on."

Zhao Leyi, who had just made way for Huo Congjun, was stupefied. He asked urgently, "Department Director Huo, do you still want him to continue on?"

"What else could I possibly mean?" Huo Congjun asked rhetorically.

Zhao Leyi went blank for a few seconds. He snorted in his heart and thought to himself, 'As long as you are willing to bear the responsibility, then by all means, let Ling Ran continue. I don't want my name on this, especially when the patient ends up with a disfigured hand in the future.'

Huo Congjun retreated and handed over his spot back to Zhao Leyi.

Ling Ran exercised his neck slightly and said to the nurse, "Glasses."

The scrub nurse immediately went forward and helped Ling Ran put on the surgical magnifying glasses.

"Needle holder… straight forceps."

Ling Ran immediately trained his eyes on the patient's hand. He was no longer concerned of the thoughts and expressions of others.

Zhao Leyi was so upset that he felt his skin crawling. He operated on the patient for a while and finished suturing another injury. While he stepped aside so that his assistants could take over to handle the sutured injury, Zhao Leyi took the chance to whisper into Huo Congjun's ears, "Department Director Huo, when Ling Ran is done with this tendon, let's just leave the rest to the Hand Surgery Department."

"If my men can do it, why should I let someone else handle the operation?" Huo Congjun replied softly and shot a look at Zhao Leyi. The animosity was clear.

Realization struck Zhao Leyi. His mind became clear.

'That's right. This is Huo Congjun. He is the first doctor in our country who campaigned for larger emergency departments. Because of this, he published papers and delivered even more speeches at different conferences. His core values are all based around the idea of upscaling and professionalization. By that, he definitely intends to upscale the Emergency Department and also professionalize the Emergency Department.'

In the words of the other doctors from other hospitals, Huo Congjun wanted to build a subsidiary Department of Surgery and a small Department of Internal Medicine in the Emergency Department itself. For that, he had started to perform appendectomies and ectopic pregnancies for the past decade.

During the age where expensive medicine was used to help provide for the doctors' income, the Department of Surgery was always left starved of fundings. Surgeons could not earn much, so when Huo Congjun fought for the right to perform surgeries on patients, no one stopped him.

But times were different now. The aim of the Changxi Province Medical Health Care Reform had been to increase the medical service charges significantly and to decrease the price of medicine.

Because of that, the price of medicine in the province became closer to the market price, and surgery charges instead rose to nearly tenfold. The income of a typical junior doctor in the Hand Surgery Department rose from around 10 RMB to approximately 100 RMB, so all doctors started fighting to perform surgeries. Now, it was difficult for the Emergency Department of Yun Hua Hospital to launch new programmes.

If Ling Ran were just performing a tendon repair surgery, Huo Congjun might tell him to stop, but Huo Conjun's thoughts were different when Ling Ran had already achieved the M-Tang technique to such an extent.

Zhao Leyi was fuming inside. After he fiddled with the patient's thigh for a while, he subconsciously darted a look at Ling Ran.

Ling Ran's movements were clean and smooth. They were not too quick, but were methodical, and there were no unnecessary actions. If Zhao Leyi did not look at his face, he would think that Ling Ran was an old monster who had performed hundreds upon thousands of surgeries of the same kind.

'What an insensible medical student.' Zhao Leyi was disgruntled. He watched while thinking, 'So what if you have a pair stable hands? If I were the department director, I would have sent you back to your school and left a black mark in your record so that you will have a hard time looking for a job in the future. Son of a b*tch.'

Zhao Leyi cursed Ling Ran in his heart, and instantly felt more gratified.

Zhao Leyi's operation was tedious but simple. As he worked, he would intentionally look at Ling Ran a few times, wishing for him to make a beginner's mistake and have all hope placed on him by the department director abandoned.

Ling Ran tied the knot swiftly…

He did the separation…

And the suturing…

The time Zhao Leyi spent watching Ling Ran's operation became longer, and he felt as if two tiny Zhao Leyis had popped up in his heart.

Tiny Zhao Leyi A: Anastomosis, huh? He seems to have completed it carelessly, that son of a b*tch!

Tiny Zhao Leyi B: Son of a b*tch.

Tiny Zhao Leyi A: He avoided the blood vessels and the plexus in an instant. His movements are so quick and accurate. Son of a b*tch.

Tiny Zhao Leyi B: Son of a b*tch.

Tiny Zhao Leyi A: The position he selected for suturing is very particular. Son of a b*tch.

Tiny Zhao Leyi B: Son of a b*tch,son of a b*tch,son of a b*tch,son of a b*tch…

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Chapter 50: Eyes Glistening with Tears

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"The operating theater is getting a little too congested. If you're not from a related department, please wait outside for a while." After watching Ling Ran work for a while, Department Director Huo became calmer, but his spirit also became even more excited. Hence, he began picking on his surroundings.

They should have limited the number of people in the laminar flow operating theater they were using, anyway. However, doctors simply did not tend to act according to rules.

Now that Department Director Huo had spoken, the resident doctors from other departments who came here to take over work—should the opportunity arise—immediately vacated the area.

While they enjoyed watching Zhao Leyi make a fool of himself, they absolutely did not dare to go against the director of a department, especially when it was the infamous Rebuker Huo Conjun.

The few doctors from other departments obediently left the operating theater. Huo Conjun stretched his body comfortably, grabbed the anesthetist's chair, and sat down.

Su Jiafu, the anesthetist, was short and weak. At first, he had only stood up to look over the patient upon seeing Department Director Huo arrive. It was an act to display his apparent diligence. He had not expected even his chair to be taken away.

At that moment, Su Jiafu saw Department Director Huo gently lifting his chin three times.

He immediately started putting his logical thinking to work, which scored him around six hundred points in his college entrance examination. 'If a person lifts his chin once, it's because of an itch. If that same person lifts his chin twice, it's to greet someone. If the person lifts his chin thrice…'

"I'm going out for a while." Su Jiafu nimbly stepped through the airtight access door and left the operating theater without even looking back.

Anesthetists often roamed between different operating theaters. Sometimes, it was because there were not enough of them to go around, leaving no choice except to have one anesthetist to manage multiple operating theaters. At other times, it was purely because they were bored.

Instruments in modern hospitals were highly automated. Instruments that automatically monitor vital signs, adjusted the dosage of IV drips and so on were already very common in secondary grade B hospitals. Besides, chief surgeons, first assistant surgeons, and nurses who would automatically shout things like "Skelaxin", "blood pressure" and "heart rate" came with their uses. An anesthetist would be able to fulfill most of his duties simply by not wearing earphones and listening to various calls from instruments and doctors.

The great invention that truly kept the anesthetists in the operating theaters was the mobile phone. Before this, anesthetists, bored of reading theses and novels and free of the worry of upcoming exams—for the time being—often gathered in the corner of an operating theater and played games such as chess and fighting the landlord[1]. They would then go to the operating theater of the anesthetist who had emerged victorious. There were no cases of anesthetists playing mahjong yet.

Department Director Huo watched the doors of the operating theater swing shut. He cleared his throat and said, "Alright, we are only surrounded by members of our own department now."

The doctors and nurses were staff members of the department who received performance-related pay from the department and followed the department heads' orders. On the other hand, anesthetists belonged to the Department of Anesthesiology, just like man-made hip joints—not a natural part of the person's body.

"I'm calling a meeting now." Even though he was only leading dozens of people and they were not wielding guns, Department Director Huo still had exuded great leadership over his people.

Zhao Leyi and Ling Ran went on with the surgery.

Zhao Leyi had participated in many such 'small meetings,' and knew that he did not need to stop. Ling Ran was simply unconcerned. He had always been conscientious at work and would be neither overcautious and indecisive, nor raise his head to look around. He would only try his best to do whatever he was tasked with.

Huo Congjun's voice rang in a leisurely manner. "Ling Ran, first of all, I'm going to have to call you out on this. Take a look at how you acted on your own accord, with no regard for discipline. Twice. Do you know how grave the consequences could be?"

Before Ling Ran could reply, Huo Congjun went on sternly. "If this were to happen in another hospital, and other doctors were to deal with it according to official procedure, forget about just having a tainted record, you can kiss goodbye to your graduation certificate!"

Zhao Leyi stole a glance at Ling Ran, feeling slightly pleased that Ling Ran was reprimanded.

Ling Ran was carefully looping the suture around a tendon. His focus and earnest intent were like that of a child making loops in a park.

The nurse in charge of handling machines and equipment moved in a similarly quick, light fashion. She looked at Ling Ran as if wishing that she could steal him away to a quiet corner and claim an autograph.

The angel and devil inside Zhao Leyi's mind had almost staged an insurrection.

"All in all, you have administered treatment against medical advice twice, you must take this as a warning." Huo Congjun continued sternly. "Ling Ran, it's still your internship period right now, but even though the purpose of an internship is for you to learn through practice, you'll have to be punished for those severe offenses. Do you accept this?

"Yes." Ling Ran naturally accepted the fact that he had to be punished after committing offenses, while also admitting his mistakes. This was how he got through his student life. As Ling Ran spoke, the needle holder in his hand remained as firm as ever.

Huo Congjun deliberately paused for a few seconds before he said, "In light of the fact that you bent the rules when performing treatment twice—which is a serious offence—in less than a month, I will have the Medical Education Department extend your internship period in the Emergency Department. Your total internship time would also have to be longer than any other intern. Do you have any objections?"

"No." Ling Ran was looking at the patient's hand, his head lowered. His posture was quite ordinary, similar to any other doctor in the operating theater. However, it was particularly pleasing to the eyes.

Huo Congjun hummed in satisfaction and said, "That's it. Now, for the second matter…"

"Department director?" Zhao Leyi felt as if he was about to explode.

'Could this be counted as Huo Congjun raising the plank up high up, as if he was about to strike a naughty student as punishment, only to gently lower it? Ha! As if! Huo Congjun had indeed raised the plank, but he did not even lower it!

'An extension of internship period? What sort of punishment is this? Obviously, Huo Congjun wants to keep him in the Emergency Department.'

Huo Congjun ignored Zhao Leyi and waved his hand slightly. He continued, "I asked the head nurse to look through the records. In the past three months, the Emergency Department had transferred around thirty patients with flexor tendon injuries to the Hand Surgery Department. This is equivalent to one case for every three days. This is not a small number."

Huo Congjun looked at Ling Ran and said, "Do you still want to perform surgeries using the M-Tang technique?"

Ling Ran lifted his head and asked, "Can I?"

"If this surgery goes well, you can just do it with the authorization of an attending physician next time." Huo Congjun flashed a smile typical to that of a department director's before turning to Zhao Leyi and the others. "Surgeries for flexor tendon injuries can either be big or small. If we do it for some time, we should have handled quite a lot of cases and have them recorded under our belts."

Zhao Leyi suddenly calmed down.

Yes, his patient was receiving surgery. Surgery that used the M-Tang technique on his Zone II flexor tendon.

No man's land!

Sure, doctors who could perform surgeries on Zone II flexor tendons were not unheard of. But they were highly uncommon when compared to the number of doctors who could operate on other parts of the body. Right now, in Yun Hua Hospital, the top hospital in the Changxi Province, there was only one person who could operate on that part of the body!

Ten cases of surgeries performed using the M-Tang technique every month in the Emergency Department of Yun Hua Hospital?

This was not a Level 1 or Level 2 surgery like appendectomies or caesarean sections. It was a very high-ranking surgery, even by the standards of Yun Hua Hospital. If this were to be carried out, this sentence could be added to the Emergency Department's year-end summary: The Emergency Department strove hard to perform a new kind of treatment and performed more than 120 cases of surgery using the M-Tang technique throughout the year, creating a new record in the country's emergency medicine scene…

Perhaps, half of Huo Congjun's dream of establishing a subsidiary Department of Surgery could be achieved.

Zhao Leyi wanted to tell him that they did not even know the patient's condition right then. They could not even determine his upcoming prognosis either. Something urged him to attempt telling Huo Congjun that they might be pushing the boundaries if the Emergency Department attempted this sort of surgery.

But Zhao Leyi knew better than to actually mention it. He could also guess that Huo Congjun would never listen to him.

They could always look at the patient's prognosis later. In the worst case scenario, they could just screen patients according to Ling Ran's mastery of the M-Tang technique and reduce the number of cases. As for their boundaries… All the hospitals with large Emergency Departments were constantly pushing theirs. This was almost common practice. The Department of Orthopaedics was a hotspot when it came to other surgeons from other departments snatching their surgeries, anyway. After all, everyone knew that all the doctors in the Department of Orthopaedics were wealthy.

'If we really managed to establish a larger Emergency Department!

'If we really managed to establish a larger Emergency Department…'

In spite of himself, a scene started playing out in Zhao Leyi's mind. He pictured his wife loftily swiping her credit card to purchase a handbag in the LV store, and still having enough money left to buy him two 150 RMB T-shirts from the global trade retail store at the square beside the LV store.

As he thought about that, he was so touched that his eyes glistened with tears!

Translator's note:

[1] A card game under the genre of shedding and gambling. It is one of the most popular card games played in China. (Source: wikipedia)

[2] A flat ruler with a widened end, formerly used in China to beat children.

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Hum…*

Huo Congjun stepped out from the door of the operating theater, humming as he made his way to the dressing room.

"Blue skies, clear water, green fields…"

As he sang, he peeped into the other operating theaters, like a rancher looking at his flocks of sheep.

The doctors in the Emergency Department knew that when Huo Congjun sang Tengri's song, it meant that he was in a good mood. However, one would rarely hear him sing this particular song—Heaven.

"I love you, my home… My home, my paradise…" In Operating Theater 4, as Department Director Du listened to the climax of the song, he also sang it out gently, guiding the resident doctor under him.

"Push the patient down, the abscess is deeper. I will be doing a puncture biopsy to find out…"

The anesthetist, Su Jiafu, simply filled in a few medication data on the computer and saved it. He smiled and said, "Department Director Du, I will go to Theater 1."

"Alright." Department Director Du inserted a long needle into the patient with full concentration and did not even lift his head.

Su Jiafu chuckled, walked out of the operating theater, and thought, 'The hospital should issue a compulsory psychological intervention for surgeons every six months.'

After he kicked open the door to Operating Theater 1, the imagined aggressive atmosphere did not appear.

Su Jiafu gently let out a breath. There was no quarreling in the operating theater. The anesthetists were all already overloaded with work, and they would pass out all of a sudden due to working too much and working too hard. It would be even harder on them if they were to be in a quarrel.

At the same time, Su Jiafu secretly praised Huo Congjun. He did not expect the infamous Rebuker to have done such an comparable ideological work [1].

He sat comfortably in his chair, turned on the computer, and began to write medication records.

"The suturing here is done. All that's left is this one last thread here." Ling Ran let go of his devices and yelled, "Wipe sweat".

The nurse who had long waited for this moment immediately wiped the sweat from Ling Ran's forehead with a clean white gauze. The serious look on her small face was something rarely seen on her.

Zhao Leyi's face was green with envy as he took the opportunity to sneer, "When I was a resident doctor, I had to ask courteously when I wanted people to wipe my sweat."

He was a quick-witted man. He had been working in the hospital for a long time, so it was only natural that he would not fume in silence like a child. Hence, he inconspicuously said something sharp to mock Ling Ran.

Not knowing how to be polite was how Zhao Leyi wanted to label Ling Ran.

Ling Ran did not say anything, but the nurse was not happy and said, "When you were a resident doctor, the Chinese economic reform had not happened yet. In our generation, you can speak however you like to. Doctor Ling, don't learn all that fake politeness schtick from him."

Zhao Leyi, who had been self-confident and strong, was startled. He swayed, then tried to argue, "I am only in my thirties this year. When the Chinese economic reform was announced, I was not even born yet."

"Did the Chinese economic reform happen that early? I didn't know." The nurse pouted, turned away, and ignored him.

The nurses in the department were managed by the head nurse. In the hospital, the Nursing Department had its own structural organisation. Even if the doctor had become a chief physician, he could only give some comments and advice to the head nurse, but could not directly interfere with the work and management of the nurses.

Therefore, an attending physician like Zhao Leyi could tell a dirty jokes if he had too much free time in his hands. Similarly, nurses could choose not to care about him.

Zhao Leyi had no choice but to cough a few times. He lowered his head and resumed tending to his own part.

"Hemostatic forceps… Scissors…"

Only Ling Ran's voice was heard in the room.

This time, Zhao Leyi was convinced that Ling Ran really needed to call out the devices. Otherwise, the scrub nurse, who had never been exposed to the M-Tang method before, would not know what to hand over.

Thinking of this, Zhao Leyi sighed to himself.

He knew why Huo Congjun valued Ling Ran. In fact, even though his heart was raging, if he were to be the department director, he would also value such a doctor.

In hospitals, the most valuable existences were doctors, and the least valuable existences… were also doctors.

There were nearly 150,000 clinical undergraduate graduates in the country each year. Approximately 20,000 were graduates of clinical master's degrees, and they all want to enter the tertiary grade A hospitals, which the country had more than 1,300.

Each year, they only took in a few undergraduates not related to any other the higher-ups in the hospital. For the hospital, the interns came and went, just like fast-moving consumer goods. Resident doctors and even general attending physicians were not rare either. If one left, it was easy to hire another, and you could even earn some sympathy from people because you opened your doors to these people.

However, a doctor who could make quite a name for himself in a region, and was able to attain great achievements on a single disease was very welcome and popular in all hospitals.

To express it crudely in monetary terms, an intern's subsidy was 600 RMB to 1,200 RMB a month, and resident doctors—before undergoing their housemanship—got about 2,000 RMB each month. After the housemanship, the resident doctors would only be paid a few thousand. For attending physicians, getting around 10,000 RMB was already considered a lot, unless they worked in lucrative departments that can make the surgeons rich overnight like the Orthopedics Department or the Ophthalmology Department, then perhaps they could hope to get 30,000 RMB.

In comparison, if a doctor who had already made a reputation for himself went to another hospital to perform an operation, that operation itself would cost more than 5,000 RMB, and that was calculated based on mates' rates.

If the operating duration was longer, or the demand for the operation was larger, it was normal to ask for a price of 10,000 RMB or 20,000 RMB for immediate and urgent surgical operations which required the surgeon to travel. A slightly more competent doctor would even ask the local hospital to prepare two or three operations at a time, then finish them all at once to save time and energy from traveling.

As of the present, doctors could only switch to other hospitals to work based on their market value as well. If a surgeon was good at a certain skill and had performed 1,000 surgeries using that skill, then there were plenty of hospitals who were willing to pay the one million or two million RMB penalty for the surgeon's breach of contract and get him to join their hospital. After all, every single surgery cost about 500 RMB to 1,000 RMB, and if a surgeon operated 1,000 cases, the cost of it would far surpass that one million or two million RMB penalty, which meant that paying the penalty was much cheaper than the hospital itself cultivating a skilled surgeon.

Because of this, for doctors such as the deputy director of the Department of Hand Surgery at Yun Hua Hospital, the contractual penalty generally rose to five million RMB. Even so, there would be various rumors about them leaving for another hospital every year, and after two or three years, the rumors would be found to be true.

By looking from this perspective, the medical field and professional sports possessed some similarities.

When interns and housemen were at the novice stage, their monthly income would just be enough to survive. Senior resident doctors and attending physicians were likened to entering the lowest level of the professional league. They must train as well as improve themselves, and simultaneously exhaust themselves on the field to only earn a meager living for their family in the end. It was only once they became chief physicians or associate chief physicians that the doctors may talk about status in the medical profession. But even then, they would still be in a somewhat sufficient but still lacking stage in their career. If the players left the former sports team, they might completely leave the circle of profession.

Only the doctors who made a name for themselves, and were at least the best in their industry, would have the flexibility of choice and a relatively generous income, and in response to that was a very high fee he had to pay if he chose to transfer hospitals…

Zhao Leyi bent his head down and looked at the numbed patient who was anesthetized, and thought that this guy would be the department director's touchstone, and he reckoned that he would get the best treatment.

Once his hand functionality recovered to the expected rate of recovery, Huo Congjun could at least build another operating theater.

"It's all done." Ling Ran began to perform some examinations as he spoke.

At this time, the doctors who had returned to the operating theater one after another were also unable to suppress their curiosity and went to surround them.

Ling Ran was unbothered and went off his merry way to check the surface of the wound that he had sutured.

For Ling Ran, who would check if the windows were closed before leaving the house, it was all too natural to look and check more carefully before sending the patient out of the operating theater.

Zhao Leyi also pressed on with the operation work. To begin with, his work was quite simple; as long as the places where they should not be exposed were covered well with dressing, the organs that should not be spilling out of the body were sealed up properly in the body, and the places that should not be pressed together were separated, ensuring that the physiological indices were relatively stable, then they could send the patient out of the operating theater.

Finally, before Ling Ran left, Zhao Leyi put the forceps away and said, "I have finished my work here."

"Great, you can rest now." The nurse raised her fist in excitement and jumped off the step stool. As she looked up again, she found that her forehead was only up to Ling Ran's shoulder. She blushed involuntarily and immediately started to giggle.

The nurse also incidentally glanced at Zhao Leyi who was still standing on the step stool.

Translator note:

[1] Ideological work: A common term to mean Chinese dialectical approach towards conflict management or contradictions (conflicts) among the people.

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Chapter 52: Inspection

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Chief Physician Wang, thank you for taking the trouble to come all the way here." Huo Congjun greeted Chief Physician Wang Haiyang of the Hand Surgery Department at the elevator doors.

Wang Haiyang was an old man of slight build. His face was gaunt, his arms bony. He weighed about eighty-eight pounds, which was the ideal weight for recent online celebrities.

He was a former orthopaedic surgeon, but he was basically forced in the Hand Surgery Department due to his weight. If a 220 pound plump patient required amputation, he would be helpless, because he could not even lift the patient's leg.

A well-practiced smile appeared on Wang Haiyang's face, which had not gone through any facelift surgeries before. He smiled at Huo Congjun. "I am not used to this courteous, amicable version of you. Who knew that Rebuker Huo would look so charming when he smiles?"

Several attending physicians came over to Huo Congjun, if only so to make Huo Congjun not look as if he was alone. One by one, they lowered their head, grinning.

Huo Congjun chuckled and said, "It's because you came here. I'm in a good mood today. Don't rush home when you're done with your shift, we need to sit down and have a drink…"

"Oh please, you're making me feel guilty instead with all your flattery. Alright, forget the conference room, let's just head to the ward." Wang Haiyang could see that Huo Congjun had really taken the current case to heart.

"Oh boy, what a shame. We invited you over for a consultation, and you didn't even take a sip of water…" Huo Congjun's false pretense could be picked up three meters away.

Wang Haiyang chuckled and said, "Be more direct when we're in the ward. It'll save everyone time."

"Okay, let's go." Huo Congjun was just as unwilling to head to the conference room and have powerpoint slides shine in his eyes. He turned and said, "Call Ling Ran, tell him to wait for us at the observation room."

The observation room of the Emergency Department was like the wards of the Inpatient Department. The observation room typically accommodated patients who needed to be under observation for a short period of time, but in practice, it was not so easy. The most common patients were the 'three could nots', the ones who could not be cured, could not get better, and could not return home. Some would stay in the resuscitation room for a long time, sometimes up to two years.

Huo Congjun had always been frustrated by the patients who treated the Emergency Department as a nursing home. This time, he took full advantage of this situation and quietly opened up several resuscitation rooms. On paper, they were used to expand the bed space in the observation room, but in actuality, they were used as additional wards.

The Medical Affairs Department pretended to investigate this matter once, but they collectively turned a blind eye and let him use the resuscitation rooms this way.

As Wang Haiyang entered, he saw four beds in a ward and several simple rehabilitation products that were exactly the same as the Hand Surgery Department, and almost laughed out loud.

"Goodness, are you glad that I came. If Department Jin were to see it, he would probably explode in anger."

Wang Haiyang made no attempt to water down his mockery of the two directors.

If a chief physician sought no progress in his professional career, you would have a very casual, lackadaisical chief physician in your hands.

In fact, if Wang Haiyang was an associate chief physician, then it would be impossible for him to step into the Emergency Department. For doctors in the Hand Surgery Department, Wang Haiyang would be seen purely as helping the enemy if he were to help the greedy, opportunistic Huo Congjun diagnose his patients.

However, Wang Haiyang could not care less.

His relationship with the department director, Jin Xi, was bad. The department directors and chief physicians of each department were often fighting against each other, although the arguments were unknown to other doctors. Wang Haiyang hoped that he would never step into the shoes of a department director, neither did he hope to get transferred to another department again. Also, he was not very proficient at improving his own skills either. Therefore, Wang Haiyang, who led his own treatment group, lived as free as a bird.

Huo Congjun had stayed in Yun Hua for many years. He knew all too well about the silent quarrel between the doctors. He smiled and said, "Your Hand Surgery Department still has some patients lying in our resuscitation room. What about it, can't I treat the patients that Jin Xi won't take? You intend to handpick them first? That's unreasonable, right?"

Wang Haiyang chuckled but remained silent.

Selecting patients had been a long-term malady between the Emergency Department and the specialist departments.

According to regulations and regular hospital operating models, the patient would need to be transferred to another department after receiving emergency treatment or basic treatment from the Emergency Department.

Rules were rules, but the execution of those rules was another thing. When better hospitals started experiencing clogs in their patient pipelines, specialist departments would stop taking in all patients from the resuscitation room, and they would start listing various requirements to tell them exactly what sort of patient they looked for.

A referral system easily ended up into becoming a selection system.

Specialist departments were not willing to accept patients who were hard to cure and dying. For example: patients who were at terminal stages of cancer, patients you could not operate and were constantly at death's door. Specialist departments were also reluctant to accept elderly patients with chronic diseases such as elderly patients with infection and recurring illnesses. Once they were cured, they might relapse, and then when they were cured again, they would refuse to leave, and then they could take up a bed until the department's bonuses were depleted.

In the top departments such as Yun Hua Hospital's Hand Surgery Department, the patients received were not limited to just Yun Hua or even the Changxi Province. They took in patients from all over the country who heard of their fame, and when the volume of surgeries was sufficient, the Hand Surgery Department would also be unable to avoid the bad habit of choosing patients. Patients who met the requirements of the department director's research direction would be given first priority, followed by patients with effective therapeutic plans and could receive timely treatment. They also took the patient's cooperative level and the ability to pay into condition.

From the department's perspective, the amount of money that can be split among them for treatment was truly minuscule. The average medical case only cost 1,000 to 3,000 RMB. Those that were above 10,000 RMB were few in number. However, if they ever came across a patient who had outstanding medical bills, the deficit may cost several hundred thousand RMB. The doctors in a department who had their performance pay deducted would start to doubt themselves, and any normal, sane person would avoid suffering through these sort of mental trauma.

Patients who did not meet the interests of the department and the hospital would not find any department willing to take them in anytime soon. Some patients would leave for that reason, and some patients would continue staying in the Emergency Department for other reasons.

The mess that Huo Congjun had to sweep up for other departments then became his greatest chip.

As per what he said to Wang Haiyang, if the Hand Surgery Department could select patients, then Huo Congjun could choose not to transfer these patients. Everyone held on to their own arguments, and hence, there were no right or wrong.

"This would be the patient, I presume." Wang Haiyang broke the silence and went up to the hospital bed.

The patient's family got up to greet the doctors, only to be persuaded by Doctor Zhou to go to the corner of the ward. A group of doctors wearing white coats from the Emergency Department surrounded the hospital beds.

Grandeur was not to be missing when a department director was out doing ward rounds. Doctors could also gain some experience from it. Of course, everyone was now most curious about whether Ling Ran's M-Tang technique was successful or not.

"Patient Ma Wenhua, 42-year-old male, sent to our hospital for emergency treatment due to a car accident, negative head CT, different degrees of fracture and intra-abdominal hemorrhage in cervical vertebrae and four limbs. The first stage of the operation was performed over a period of three hours. Left flexor tendon was injured, and M-Tang technique was used to suture…" As Zhao Leyi spoke, he looked at Ling Ran before he continued to talk about the patient's past medical history and medication.

Wang Haiyang listened silently without any expression.

For him, these were all contextual factors. Huo Congjun had invited him here to examine the stitches of the arm.

Therefore, Wang Haiyang's gaze quickly flickered to Ling Ran.

He had not seen Ling Ran before, but Huo Congjun had described him as "the best-looking lad in the ward," and that was how Wang Haiyang remembered it. It was easy to find his target.

Zhao Leyi noticed that nobody was really listening to him, so he obediently ended the introduction and retreated behind Huo Congjun.

"How did you stitch this? Run me through the steps." Wang Haiyang knew that Ling Ran had not received any systematic training and deliberately prevented him from using the lines he had prepared.

Ling Ran did not think much about it. He went two steps forward and said, "For the first looped suture, I chose to lock the first suture loop knot at 0.3 inch near the proximal dorsal of the hand tendon before I inserted the trocar vertically through the hand tendon and withdrew the needle at 0.2 inch near the distal dorsal…"

He explained while pointing and gesturing at the back of the patient's hand.

Wang Haiyang had never actually performed the M-Tang technique. He would normally use Kessler and double Kessler suturing technique, and he specialized in Wilms tumor surgery. He would also perform arm amputation and replantation normally, and his success rate was rather high. He was rather confident with his skills.

Relatively speaking, Wang Haiyang did not enjoy employing the vastly more complicated M-Tang technique. Statistics claimed that it would increase the success rate of the surgery by 10% to 20%. The hand function assessment score could be 10% to 20% higher as well, but the burden on doctors would be more than double.

However, Wang Haiyang understood the Hand Surgery Department's popular M-Tang technique fairly well. He had even seen Jin Bo Tang carrying out the operation in person.

Wang Haiyang listened to Ling Ran's explanation and cross-referenced the steps to the contents of his memory. After listening to Ling Ran's explanation, he seemed to have gained more knowledge of the surgery himself as well.

After a while, while gazing at the handsome young intern, Wang Haibo suddenly returned to his senses. 'Son of a gun, Old Huo asked me here to nitpick on the surgery, not to listen to a lecture…'

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Chapter 53: It Would Be a Good Thing if He Could Move His Hand

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Huo Congjun had been paying attention to Wang Haiyang's expressions. His heart immediately skipped a beat when he saw that Wang Haiyang's expression had changed. He quickly asked, "Chief Physician Wang, is there a problem?"

After staying quiet for a few seconds, Wang Haiyang said while feeling a little embarrassed, "No."

He was embarrassed because he was unable to raise a problem. This was obviously rather embarrassing for a chief physician who was authorized to look for flaws.

However, in the Hand Surgery Department, the suturing of tendons had always been a straightforward surgery with high requirements for skills and low systemic requirements. Ling Ran stated the steps of the surgery in a clear and logical manner, and he really could not find any problems with it.

As for how the suturing was specifically like, it was not like Wang Haiyang could pull out the patient's tendon again just to look at it.

Huo Congjun was instead rather unhappy. He said, "Old Wang, just say it as it is, you don't have to cover it up for us. This was a delicate surgery carried out during the rescue process anyway. Aren't we having this consultation with the Hand Surgery Department's experts now so that we can see if we left anything out?

After he said that, the patients' family members, who were hiding in the corner of the room, revealed grateful expressions as expected.

When it came to car accidents that occured on the highway, even if the patients were not smashed into four or five pieces, half of their bodies would be battered. The patients' minimum expectations would have been fulfilled if their lives were saved. The fact that Department Director Huo showed concern for the patient's hand function would lead to nothing but gratitude.

Wang Haiyang let out a few bitter chuckles and said, "Let us do a hand function assessment. Of course, since the patient had just gone through surgery and might not be in a very good condition, we'll do it for reference first."

The hand function assessment was often carried out in the Hand Surgery Department to gauge a patient's postoperative hand function.

Wang Haiyang held the patient's hand first, and gently guided him through a few passive movements. When he realized that the patient could perform those movements quite well, he asked, "Can the patient move his hand by himself yet?"

"Doctor Ling already asked Wenhua to move his hand the day he regained consciousness." The family members rushed to answer and asked, a little unsure. "Is this a good or bad thing?"

Wang Haiyang arched an eyebrow and coughed a few times before saying, "It would be a good thing if he could move his hand. It he couldn't, it would be a bad thing."

The family members were extremely encouraged and quickly said, "He can move it. He can move all five of his fingers. But the range of movement isn't big, and he could not clench his fist yet."

Another family member of the patient who was older quickly asked, "It's okay if he can't clench his fist now, isn't it?"

"It's okay." When he heard that, Wang Haiyang was a little stunned. He turned to glance at Ling Ran before saying, "There are still some advantages to the M-Tang technique."

Ling Ran smiled and nodded in agreement.

As the group of resident doctors beside him watched the scene, they felt uncomfortable, as though they had walked into the wrong film set.

Wang Haiyang stared at the patient and made him move each of his fingers. The patient, who had just undergone a round of surgery and was waiting to go through another, was rather dizzy. Still, he still tried his best to move his fingers according to Wang Haiyang's instructions.

He could move his fingers, which were ugly and slightly swollen. But he could really move them.

"Doctor, how is it?" His family members were still worried.

This time, Wang Haiyang spoke with certainty, "It is already really good that he can move his fingers. It means that the tendon was not ruptured after surgery. Um, try clenching your fist. You definitely would not be able to clench it completely, but try your best…"

With half of his body wrapped up like a puppet, Ma Wenhua laboriously made a large 'C' shape with his left hand under Wang Haiyang's instructions.

"Is this the most you can do?" Wang Haiyang asked.

The patient nodded.

"How is it?" This time, the patient's family members were not the only ones asking, Huo Congjun was asking as well.

"It's still good." Wang Haiyang coughed a few times and said, "Try pressing the tips of your thumb and forefinger together… Press the pulps of your thumb and forefinger together… Press your thumb with the side of your forefinger."

Wang Haiyang performed a round of tests. As he proceeded, he became more and more surprised.

The two most troublesome and important aspects to look out for when it came to the prognosis of sutured hand tendons were the adhesion of tendons and the splitting of tendons.

The adhesion of tendons would limit hand function. The rupturing of tendons was even easier to understand. If the already sutured tendon had split again, the patient, naturally, would not be able to perform any relevant hand functions.

Neither of those two aspects were troublesome for the doctors of the Hand Surgery Department. The trouble lay in the fact that those two aspects had diametrically opposite requirements.

It was very easy to solve the problem of the adhesion of tendons alone. The earlier a patient could begin moving his hand, the smaller the problem of adhesion would be. This was because adhesion happened progressively, and the longer the patient waited, the more serious the adhesion would become.

It was also very easy to treat the splitting of tendons. The later a patient could start moving his hand, the lower the odds of the tendon splitting would be. This was because tendons grew progressively, and the longer the patient waited, the sturdier the tendon would grow.

Hence, the adhesion of tendons and the splitting of tendons became two contradicting sequelae.

If the patient were to start moving his hand early, even though the problem of adhesion would be solved, the risk of splitting would increase. If the tendon were to tear, the patient would have to undergo another surgery to have it sutured again, and it might not even be done well.

If the patient were to start moving his hand late, even though the odds of the tendon splitting would be lower, there would be a serious problem of adhesion. Many of the patients in such cases could no longer use their hands normally.

To solve this trouble, hand surgery experts tried two approaches at full pelt. In the beginning, a lot of doctors of the Hand Surgery and Foot and Ankle Surgery Department envisaged finding a drug that can prevent adhesion just like in organ transplant surgeries, or creating a surgical dressing that can reduce adhesion, and thus reduce the risk of tendons splitting without causing the adhesion of tendons. However, a decisive drug never appeared.

Hence, after many years, moving the hand early and increasing the strength of the suture became the only approach.

Among all the suturing techniques, the M-Tang technique was the one that brought this approach the furthest.

The usage of three strands of suture thread increased the strength of the stiches, allowing the patients to start moving earlier.

After undergoing surgery performed using the Kessler suturing technique, and the double-modified Kessler suturing technique favored by Wang Haiyang, patients usually began performing passive movements after forty-eight hours, or thirty-six hours at the earliest. They would begin attempting active movements after three days. Even so, 20% of the sutured tendons would still split.

On the other hand, the M-Tang technique emphasized starting active movement after twenty-four hours.

Wang Haiyang had seen surgeries performed using the M-Tang technique but had never observed the prognosis of the patients.

From what he could see right now, the prognosis of the patient whom Ling Ran performed the surgery on using the M-Tang technique was obviously a lot better than those who received surgery performed using the Kessler suturing technique and the double-modified Kessler suturing technique.

"In the Hand Surgery Department, we always emphasize early movement," Wang Haiyang explained to the patient and Huo Congjun at the same time, "Based on our experience, the more capable the patient is of early movement, the better the recovery of hand function is. But we are unable to tell exactly how well it is, either."

He gave the patient a vaccine injection as he said the last sentence. He then continued. "You must listen to the doctor's orders because the final recovery is not only related to the existing condition of your tendon and how well the suturing was done, but also to your rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is especially important."

"Then, how well was his tendon sutured?" The older family member was rather skeptical about Ling Ran from the beginning to the end. After all, from what he remembered, older doctors were better, just like the expert in front of him.

Wang Haiyang smiled. Then, in a very experienced manner, asked in reply, "What level of recovery do you hope for?"

After hesitating for a while, the patient's family members said in a rather unsure manner, "Of course we hope that it can be better. We hope that he would at least be able to take care of himself." This was because they recalled the sight of the patient's hand before this: almost broken into pieces.

"There's no problem, then. This request of yours is achievable." The moment Wang Haiyang said this, all the family members of the patient became happy.

Wang Haiyang flashed an arrogant smile. For a patient whose tendon he sutured, if he could achieve this level of recovery in only three days, then the patient might be able to cook and even play ball games, let alone take care of himself.

In the blink of an eye, Wang Haiyang suddenly felt that something was not right. He did not suture this patient!

When he turned to look at the young medical intern with the solemn expression who did the surgery, Wang Haiyang's gaunt figure suddenly trembled. He suddenly found this inspection extremely flat and uninteresting. 'The guy is still a medical intern…'

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Chapter 54: Praise

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The newly-opened ward still seemed to carry the bleakness of the storeroom it once was. Even the light that shone inside through the glass window seemed to carry around the air of a weak patient after it was reflected off the window.

But the arrival of more and more doctors unexpectedly chased away the chill shrouding the patient's family members.

The skinny old doctor whom they crowded around especially gave them a long-awaited feeling of relaxation.

"Department Director Huo, please print the hand function assessment form. Let us do it on-site. You can find the form on the intranet in the Hand Surgery Department's folder." Wang Haiyang did that out of curiosity more than anything.

He had worked in the Hand Surgery Department for a very long time. Barely ten years ago, the M-Tang technique sent tidal waves through the field of hand surgery when it first emerged, especially among the hand surgeons in China.

After all, it was a Chinese person's world-class achievement. He even won the 'National Science and Technology Progress Award' for it.

Nowadays, the M-Tang technique would definitely be mentioned whenever the PowerPoint slides in hand surgery lectures talked about the development of hand surgery in the nineties.

However, understanding and mastery were two different things.

Wang Haiyang did not choose to learn the M-Tang technique at that time, and had even lesser motivation to do so after that.

Of course, even if he wanted to learn the M-Tang technique at that time, he might not even had been capable of it. You would know it just by looking at Department Associate Director Pan who prospered in the Hand Surgery Department. At least twenty or thirty percent of the fact that he became associate department director at such a young age could be credited to his mastery of the M-Tang technique.

When he thought about this, Wang Haiyang became even more interested in Ling Ran and his skills.

A resident doctor was sent out to print the hand function assessment forms.

Not long after that, he came back with a stack of assessment forms and gave everyone a copy.

"We'll just take this as a test." Wang Haiyang chuckled. He gave each of the patient's family members a copy of the assessment form too and said, "Just do it according to the form, and I'll give you a score. The patient has already done the first item just now—pushing his fingers together. Let's start from the easiest one, press the tips of your forefinger and thumb together… Try to draw away your fingers, then bring your fingers together… Next, rotate your wrist…"

Wang Haiyang scored everyone item by item. It could be seen from the form that the patient did not score highly for any of the items.

For example, the patient could not even reach the fifty-degree benchmark when it came to wrist rotation, and only got one mark as consolation.

But even so, Wang Haiyang was already extremely shocked.

Tendons needed time to heal. Usually, a patient could only be discharged sixteen weeks after the surgery. The first postoperative stage itself took between three to four weeks.

This was the best result a patient who just finished his surgery three weeks ago could achieve in this test.

"It's very rare that patients get to retain their hand function after such a serious injury." Wang Haiyang had made countless ward rounds and talked many times to the patients' families in his life. He comforted the patient's family members again and gave them a few words of advise. "The next few days will be very important. The tasks can be allocated among the family members. Please make sure that not all of you are here constantly; arrange the time among yourselves, only one person needs to be here at one time."

"Alright."

"No problem."

The fact that they had something to do put the family members a little at ease.

Wang Haiyang shifted his attention away from the patient. He turned slightly and said, "Doctor Ling, from what I remember, the M-Tang technique requires the surgeon to do some repairs to the tendon?"

"Yes," Ling Ran said. "Slicing the tendon would stimulate the tendon's growth and enhance its ability to recover instead."

"The recovery is going very well indeed."

"The patient is still young after all."

"Is the recovery going better than what you expected?"

"I don't really have an accurate judgement in this regard. After all, I have not done many such surgeries."

"Doctor Ling, you have done it very well." As Wang Haiyang spoke, he naturally used the term 'Doctor Ling'.

Even though Ling Ran and Wang Haiyang did not really feel anything, the few resident doctors and many attending physicians beside them could not help but cast them a sidelong glance.

For surgeons, all the senior doctors were very fierce and domineering beings.

In short, higher ranking doctors who did not hurl all kinds of abuse were already considered good doctors. Most of the time, first-grade chief physicians would not formally address someone by the term 'doctor'. At least, they would not address medical interns this way.

"Chief Physician Wang, let's sit in the office." Huo Congjun felt that they no longer needed to talk in front of the patient and his family.

Wang Haiyang readily followed that good advice. He tapped Ling Ran's shoulder softly and asked Ling Ran to walk beside him to make it easier for them to talk.

The group of young doctors quietly walked behind them.

Buzz…*

A notification appeared in Ling Ran's mind again.

[Achievement: Praise]

[Achievement Description: A colleague's praise is the greatest reward to a doctor.]

[Reward: Basic Treasure Chest]

The first thing Ling Ran did was remember the description of the previous achievement he received. He asked in his mind, 'When I obtained my previous Sincere Gratitude achievement, it was said that a patient's sincere gratitude is the greatest reward to a doctor. Now, a colleague's praise is also the greatest reward?'

"Yes," the system answered quickly.

'There can't be two greatest rewards, right?' Ling Ran felt slightly uneasy.

The system said, "It is allowed in the context of the Chinese language."

For a while, Ling Ran actually had nothing to say in response.

…..

After sending Chief Physician Wang Haiyang off, the resuscitation room returned to a state where people were either busy working, or pretending to be busy working. There were people who teased Ling Ran, but no one deliberately looked for Ling Ran to chat or ordered him to do any work again.

The doctors were probably still digesting the new points of knowledge they obtained during the past few days.

Ling Ran felt very comfortable, though. He had never got on well with others since he was young. Even after entering university, there were more girls than guys among those who always spoke with him.

Ling Ran even found the peace he had lost for many days rather enjoyable. He went to a corner, took out his mobile phone and tapped on the game icon on the screen. He then selected the Basic Treasure Chest floating at the corner of his eye while he was at it.

'Ah, it's an Energy Serum again.' Ling Ran raised his eyes and saw that the box emitted a familiar green light.

But Ling Ran was rather looking forward to obtaining Energy Serums nowadays. Contrary to his expectations, the system neither issued missions frequently nor gave frequent rewards.

It had been a while since the last time he got a Basic Treasure Chest. Together with the Energy Serum he had obtained that time, he only got eight bottles of Energy Serum in total. He used one bottle and had seven bottles left.

Seven bottles of Energy Serum was considered very precious for a doctor who might need to stay up late up to ten times a month.

Ling Ran quietly tucked away the little green bottle which other people could not see. Before his game started, he asked in his mind, 'System, who's the best in Yun Hua when it comes to the M-Tang technique?'

"It's you," the system answered.

Ling Ran nodded in satisfaction and began his journey as a Bronze player in the game again.

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Chapter 55: My Mother Cooked Delicious Food When I Was Not Home

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The waiting room of Yun Hua Hospital's Emergency Department was approximately one hundred and thirty square feet big.

A few old office tables had been casually pieced together to form an uneven pattern in the middle of the waiting room. Everyone usually sat by those tables to eat from their lunch boxes or takeouts.

A few green plants were placed in the middle of those office tables and around the waiting room.

Over ten chairs were scattered around the waiting room. There was also a stool in the corner, standing there like that of a barbeque stand on the sidewalk.

The waiting room faced south. It allowed a sufficient amount of sunlight to enter the room, but it was not too glaring to the eyes either.

Two resident doctors opened the door and chatted and laughed as they entered. What first entered their eyes was the sunlight that had reflected off the tables, and Ling Ran who was sitting in the corner and earnestly playing a game.

The two chatting resident doctors stopped talking in unison.

They quietly went to sit in another corner that was far away from Ling Ran. They suddenly felt a strange sense of uneasiness.

"Hey, why don't we go outside and eat?" When Lu Wenbin, the muscular resident doctor looked at Ling Ran, he felt as if he was looking at a senior doctor.

The resident doctor who had followed Lu Wenbin had just settled down to unwind. But when he raised his gaze to look at Ling Ran, he felt an enormous pressure pressing down on his shoulders. He could not help but nod and said, "Sure, let's eat outside."

Both of them rose in unison. As they were about to exit the waiting room, Lu Wenbin subconsciously excused himself.

"Doctor Ling, we're leaving first."

"Sure thing," Ling Ran replied, still focused on his mobile phone screen.

The two resident doctors left the waiting room. After walking for a distance, Lu Wenbin suddenly stopped in his tracks and asked, "Why did I have to tell him that we're leaving first?"

"Yes, why?"

"Why indeed?"

More than one young doctor had asked this question as the waiting room was the young doctors' refuge.

The attending physicians, associate chief physicians, and chief physicians either stayed in the office or the operating theater. As a matter of fact, given a choice, most surgeons preferred to stay in the operating theater as they found the environment more comfortable. The act of slicing, cutting and saving other people's life filled their bodies with purpose.

The young doctors and medical interns liked the operating theater, but they did not have many opportunities of entering it. As for the office… Well, ever since the hospital started using the Electronic Medical Record System, the young doctors derived no pleasure at all from sitting in front of the computers. Electronic medical records needed to be ten thousand words long in average. Even with the ever-reliable copy and paste method, twenty to thirty patients a week on average turned the task of writing medical records nauseating. Apart from writing medical records, young doctors also had other important tasks such as prescribing medicine, giving medical advice, making daily ward rounds, assisting in surgeries, while continuously learning and preparing for exams. They also had to maintain smiles to please the chief physicians, associate chief physicians and attending physicians.

Hence, the young doctors in the hospital enjoyed the waiting room the most, since middle-aged doctors rarely set foot in it.

That was until… Ling Ran started bringing pressure on all the young doctors.

Surgeries performed using the M-Tang technique were Level 4 surgeries. Of course, surgeries were not classified purely according to their levels of difficulty. However, those who could perform Level 4 surgeries were still almost certainly elites among doctors.

Such a surgery was actually a young doctors' dream surgery.

Theoretically, a surgery performed using the M-Tang technique could involve one experienced attending physician as the first assistant, and two more resident doctors as helpers…

Once they thought about this, any resident doctor or medical intern would go to the balcony for fresh air, rather than sit in the waiting room. Adding on to the pressure was Ling Ran's earnest expression as he gazed upon his screen, reminding others of stern senior doctors.

Ling Ran was not aware of this at all, and stuck to happily playing his game.

Dong Zhizhuan's coach recovered very well indeed. Even though he was already transferred to another department, he was still very grateful towards Ling Ran. He specially let Ling Ran add a few of the club members' secondary characters' accounts so that whenever their gaming interns were practicing, they could invite Ling Ran to join in and help him level up.

Even though they always said things like "we lost the gamble" and "raise the difficulty" in the voice chat, Ling Ran never took it to heart.

"Ling Ran." Someone pushed the waiting room door open, producing a loud creak.

Wang Zhuangyong, the medical intern from the Medical Laboratory Department entered the waiting room.

Wang Zhuangyong's large white coat was sparkly clean from washing. It was incredibly smooth from ironing. He looked squeaky clean. Instead of a doctor, he looked more like a car or property salesman.

"Can you get off work on time today?" Wang Zhuangyong asked.

"Yeah. You asked me on WeChat just now, right?" Ling Ran's expression was serious. His Cheng Yaojin[1] was trying hard to escape the enemies' pursuit. He slid the left side of the screen nonstop with his right hand's index finger to provide assistance to his left hand's thumb. As an excellent surgeon, he had perfect control over every single finger of his.

"You were working overtime whenever I asked you before this."

Wang Zhuangyong urged him to hurry up.

"Let's head out, Chen Wanhao is waiting for us outside."

"I'll go out after I die in-game…" Ling Ran suddenly stopped talking. He stood up quietly and slid his mobile phone into his pocket.

…..

Ling Ran took the bus home only after eating outside with his roommates.

His mother, Tao Ping rarely cooked. She would not cook more than once a week, even when she was in a good mood.

On the other hand, Ling Jiezhou was very hardworking. But there really was no correlation between how hardworking someone was and how delicious his or her cooking was. Despite studying in the same city where his parents lived, Ling Ran did not often go home to eat.

Ling Ran alighted from the bus at the alley's entrance. The alley grew darker and darker as he walked down it.

The street lights installed a few years ago were starting to flicker and buzz. The workers from the city council came to fix them at regular intervals, carrying out maintenance work such as the changing of light bulbs. During the time in between maintenance, stretches of the street would be bright, only to be separated by equally darkened stretches.

Fortunately, the lightboxes on both sides of the alley were lit up well enough. Red, yellow and green lights weaved together to form the skyline. It was rather magical, rather modern and looked just like how night in the city would look like.

When people gathered during the day, Lower Groove was actually a very busy place. The young white-collar workers in the office building nearby also had their meals here. They would occasionally buy small trinkets or get minor injections in this part of the city.

The atmosphere quickly became eerie after the crowd dispersed, and only the light from street lights and LED signboards were left. It would get even more unsettling after all the small shops in the alley were closed.

Ling Ran padded through the alley, his hands in his pockets. Soon, he saw the red and yellow light of his family's clinic.

The clinic's main door was already closed, and there was a small door at the side for people to enter and exit.

The clinic stopped providing fluid transfusion services after evening. There were also fewer and fewer people buying medicine from them, and they had basically stopped offering that service. This was because there was a twenty-four hours pharmacy a hundred something meters away from their alley, which had a complete stock of medicine and a membership bonus points system. The clinic could not compete with that.

There was a faint aroma in the courtyard.

Ling Ran wrinkled his nose a little. He was certain that this was the smell of his mother's cooking.

'Homecooked?'

Ling Ran could not help but feel surprised. He took a few quick steps forward and opened the door on the northern side of the house. As expected, the table was full of food.

"Why are you back?"

Tao Ping was rather surprised to see her son.

Ling Ran remained silent for two seconds. "Nothing much went on today."

"Have you eaten?"

"Yeah."

"That's good, then."

Tao Ping heaved a sigh of relief and started setting the table again. "I made vegetarian food. You can sit down and have some soup. Dong Sheng just came down from the mountain and has not eaten anything."

As she spoke, a young novice monk who was about ten years old entered, bringing a gush of steam in with him. When he saw Ling Ran, he saluted Ling Ran and said earnestly, "Young patron, how are you?"

He then saluted Tao Ping and said, "Thank you, lay Buddhist. The bath water was very comfortable."

The young novice monk looked strong and honest. His head was smooth shaven and looked almost like a small football.

His gray robe was clean, and it looked like the proper attire for ceremonies.

Tao Ping was very happy when she saw the young and honest novice monk. She pulled him over, rubbed his head and said with a smile, "Dong Sheng is so polite."

Dong Sheng, the young novice monk's face stiffened, and he said softly, "Lay Buddhist… please don't touch my face. I just put moisturizer on it."

"Alright, alright, alright. You do need to take care of your face well to look cute for a few more years, just like our Ling Ran." Tao Ping sighed as she spoke. She tiptoed to touch her son's head and said, "It's not as fun anymore after he grew up too much."

Ling Ran quietly sat down and took the opportunity to rescue the young novice monk from his mother, touching the young novice monk's bald and smooth head while he was at it. He asked, "Are you here to get medicine for your master?"

"Yes."

The young novice monk came down from the mountain at set intervals to buy medicine. Someone else would come along with him in the beginning, but he had been coming back and forth by himself these days. He weighed the pros and cons between having his face or his head rubbed in his mind for a while, then sat obediently beside Ling Ran and said, "When master was making pills for the lay Buddhists this morning, he suddenly felt an ache in his stomach and suffered an indigestion. He asked me to buy a couple boxes of antacids to standby for emergencies."

"Ah, the abbot is having stomach aches?" Tao Ping asked in surprise, "I ate the pills the abbot made when I had stomach aches in the past. Doesn't he take his own pills?"

"Master said that his pills only solves the root of the problems and cannot meet urgent needs."

The young novice monk bowed slightly.

"Makes sense. Oh, yeah. I took an excellent Tibetan medicine two years ago. It solves the roots of the problem and also meets urgent needs. I'll go and look for it. You can bring it to your master later." As Tao Ping spoke, she went back to her room to search through her stock.

The young novice monk hesitated for a few seconds before chanting the name of the Buddha once. As he looked at the back of Tao Ping's figure, he said, "Thank you, lay Buddhist."

Translator's note:

[1] A Chinese general in the early Tang dynasty. Also a character in 'King of Glory'.

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The vegetarian food Tao Ping cooked tasted quite good as well.

She tried her best to retain the original taste of the ingredients. She also tried her best to create different flavors while controlling the level of oil she used. Her meticulous cooking and ingenious fire control made even the most common of dishes like Chinese cabbages and potatoes tantalizing.

Ling Ran tasted a few dishes of stir-fried vegetables, vegetable stew and steamed vegetables, constantly fighting down his growing appetite. It was not long before he drank the spinach soup, mushroom soup, and bamboo shoot soup before lying on the couch as if he had no bones. He touched the young novice monk's head before turning the television on to a random channel to watch it.

Dong Sheng sat crossed-legged on the sofa with his body held upright in a respectful manner. He suddenly smacked himself on the head and said, "I forgot to bring incense sticks here."

"Incense sticks?"

"Yes. You can burn them to soothe your spirit and mind. I gathered all the materials on the mountain myself. I even added angelica roots," Dong Sheng said earnestly. "But I just started learning how to make them, and they might not be very effective…"

"It's the thought that counts." Tao Ping happily sat down on the young novice monk's other side and caressed his head.

Dong Sheng said, "My master says that since you gave me a place to stay, I must accept it with a pious heart and cannot see it as a given, lay Buddhist."

Twelve Fountains Temple was located on Twelve Fountains Mountain at the outer suburbs of Yun Hua City. The journey between Twelve Fountains Temple and Lower Groove Clinic took three hours by bus, and it was very laborious for Dong Sheng to head forth and back. This was why Tao Ping had allowed Dong Sheng stay for a night before going back the following day with the medicine.

Ling Jiezhou had no objections either. On the one hand, it was because Dong Sheng really was cute, and was also facing some real difficulties. The house also had guest rooms to spare.

On the other hand, it was because the small clinic operated a lot more flexibly, compared to that of hospitals. Throughout the couple dozens of years the Ling family had run Lower Groove Clinic, they had allowed their customers to pay on credit, and also allowed customers to submit valuables as deposit. In the earlier years, some residents had even carried furniture over to pay for their medical bills. The Ling family had no choice but to take them.

As WeChat had started offering a payment system during the past few years, Lower Groove Clinic also applied for a QR code of their own, and aptly timed too. Similarly, they had also been supporting credit card transactions, which required transaction fees on their part, for quite some time.

Ling Jiezhou was even prepared to accept it if banks started implementing credit card services that allowed on the spot approval for installment payment—just like in Korean dramas—one day.

Tao Ping's thought process was a lot shallower. She only rubbed Dong Sheng's head happily and said, "Then, I'll also accept your gift with a pious heart."

"I made matches too. You can use them to light the incense sticks up." Dong Sheng was full of smiles, since his work was recognized. This made him look even more obedient, like an Alaskan malamute.

Tao Ping went by herself to fetch the accessories used to burn the incense sticks.

It was a very Chinese style enjoyment to let a trail of incense smoke hover in the room. It was also a very befitting behavior of a scholar. Tao Ping would also light an incense stick and enjoy it with all her heart when she was drinking tea, toying with her pearls, toying with her chinaware, reading or pruning her potted plants.

The incense burner she used the most on ordinary days was a decorative piece, made of ebony. It was carved into the shape of a small cello, and where the strings were supposed to be had been hollowed out, allowing the incense sticks—which were placed horizontally inside—to burn at the right intensity when lit.

Tao Ping lit a match. After the flame stabilized, she slowly drew the lower end of the flame near to the upper end of the incense stick. She lit the incense stick with the inner flame. This way, the incense stick would burn slowly instead of burning all at once and causing wastage.

"It's a lot better than the ones I buy myself." Tao Ping wrinkled her nose delightedly.

Ling Ran and Ling Jiezhou looked at each other. Clearly, they did not share her passion.

But this was a common occurrence in their lives that was not worth worrying about.

The young novice monk put his palms together and said, "Master said that I'm very gifted when it comes to making incense sticks, too. If you like it, I can bring more next time, lay Buddhist."

"Yeah, you can make different flavored ones."

Tao Ping rubbed the young novice monk's head and said, "But you don't have to bring too many. I only light one every few days."

"Alright." The young novice monk yawned slightly as he spoke.

"It's your bedtime already, isn't it? Do go and get the room ready yourself." This was when Tao Ping did not act like a host.

The young novice monk thanked her smoothly, as if he was used to this sort of situations. He went to the guest room upstairs by himself, took out the sheets, put on the sheets over the bed, and the pillowcase…

He was already rather familiar with the Ling family's guest room.

The following day.

The moment he woke up, Ling Ran heard someone sweeping the courtyard. He craned his neck to take a look. As expected, he saw Dong Sheng in a small Buddhist robe, sweeping the courtyard diligently. There was also a basin of water beside Dong Sheng, which was used to block the dust from getting to him.

Dong Sheng waved the broom, which was the same size as him at a moderate speed.

He woke up early every time he stayed with the Ling family to clean the place. He performed tasks such as scrubbing the railings and door frames, just like when he stayed at Twelve Fountains Temple.

Ling Ran went downstairs after washing his face and rinsing his mouth. He went to the breakfast shop in the alley to buy deep-fried dough sticks and soybean milk, after rubbing Dong Sheng's head, of course. When Ling Ran returned and called Dong Sheng over to eat, Dong Sheng came over as obediently as a normal child.

Compared to the vegetarian food Tao Ping made, Dong Sheng preferred the greasy deep-fried dough sticks and the tofu pudding which was laden with flavoring.

"Take it slow. If it's not enough, you can have some of Uncle Ling's tofu pudding."

Tao Ping smiled.

Ling Jiezhou froze mid-way while he was enjoying the food.

"Why don't you let him have yours?"

"You can drink mine if you want more."

Ling Jiezhou instantly flashed a satisfied smile.

Dong Sheng did not understand what had just happened at all. He pondered for a while and said, "Master said that I will receive a salary after I study in the Institute of Buddhist Studies. Then, I will treat all of you to tofu pudding.

"Alright, alright, alright," Tao Ping said happily. She then nudged Ling Ran and said, "You have already graduated from university. Why aren't you treating us all to tofu pudding?"

Ling Ran slowly set down the ladle and said to his mother, "I was the one who went to buy the bowl of tofu pudding you are eating right now."

"Ah…" Tao Ping's face froze for a moment. She then started shouting, "I didn't take a picture of the first gift my son bought me since getting a job!"

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Chapter 57: Someone to Operate the Retractor

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ling Ran left home ten minutes earlier than usual and gave the young novice monk a packet of antacids, a packet of Nifedipine, and a box of Ma Ying Long Hemorrhoids Ointment before he sent the novice monk to the bus.

Dong Sheng found an empty seat in an adept manner. After waving Ling Ran goodbye, he took out a copy of 'Knowing Words'[1] and read it quietly.

Ling Ran stood across from the road. He waited for the bus to depart before walking towards Yun Hua Hospital.

Doctors felt the most at ease in the early mornings. Before they made ward rounds, they did not need to shoulder all sorts of responsibilities from the hospital. After they left their houses, they were not tied down by the yokes known as their responsibilities from home. They could be a free person for an hour every day.

Even though Ling Ran had not completely integrated into hospital life, he still very much enjoyed the time wasted during the journey.

Ling Ran only started focusing when the words 'Yun Hua Hospital', which were made of steel, appeared in front of him.

Ling Ran entered the hospital, got changed, and made his way to the waiting room, since all the interns usually gathered in the waiting room before being called out one by one.

"Doctor Ling," Nurse Wang Jia called Ling Ran. She seemed to have run here as her nose was slightly red and there was a drop of sweat on it.

Ling Ran stopped in his steps and looked at her.

"The head nurse asked me to work with you," Nurse Wang Jia said excitedly. "From today onwards. I'll follow you as you perform surgery using the M-Tang technique."

"Oh, alright," Ling Ran paused for a moment and said with a smile, "I'll be troubling you in the operating theater, then."

Wang Jia shook her head nonstop and said happily, "It's no trouble, no trouble. I will strive to learn."

A brand new surgical method was a challenge not only to doctors, but also to nurses. For a team to work perfectly together, apart from the doctors, the nurses must also be familiar with the surgical method. This was so that she could pass the doctor the right equipment at the right time, and fill in the gaps when the doctor focused his attention on one aspect to help him check if he had missed anything.

Before maturing into experienced resident doctors or even attending physicians, most doctors had experienced getting scolded by scrub nurses, told off by the surgical nurses, and told to hurry up by the circulating nurses. This was especially true for minor surgeries such as appendectomies because young doctors used these surgeries to practise. It was very possible that the nurses had assisted in almost a hundred cases of such surgeries. Very few of them could restrain themselves and say nothing when they saw a young doctor with clumsy hands who was unable to remove the patient's appendix even after trying for a long time.

And when it came to major surgeries such as those performed using the M-Tang technique, nurses could not just rely on familiarizing themselves with the technique over time. There were not many surgeries for the nurses to practice, either.

Therefore, many hospitals required nurses to participate in preoperative discussions of major surgeries so that they could learn the steps of the surgeries. Those who had other intentions would even familiarize themselves with and get to know the chief surgeon.

At this moment, Wang Jia already wanted to get to know Ling Ran while her eyes sparkled. Wang Jia followed him and asked, "Doctor Ling, you can tell me about the exact equipment and people you need, and I'll write a report."

"I don't really have any special requests." Ling Ran thought carefully. The M-Tang technique did not actually require any special equipment. Yun Hua Hospital could use at least three surgical methods when it came to the suturing of flexor tendons, and had launched at least ten new surgical methods in other fields. The M-Tang technique was naturally among them.

As a matter of fact, the suturing of flexor tendons had been carried out in Yun Hua Hospital's Department of Orthopaedics, General Surgery Department, and Emergency Department. The difference between them was simply a question of frequency and success rate.

A lot of the time, in hospitals, especially large-scale tertiary grade A general hospitals, the surgical methods launched were not decided based on the departments or the name of the departments, but by high-ranking doctors of the departments.

On the one hand, this was because various evaluations of professional titles and annual accreditations required doctors to launch new surgical procedures and surgical methods. Meanwhile, the skillful, prideful doctors often had new ideas and new interests. The hospitals would not only not stop them, but also provide support. You could also say that the hospitals would not be able to stop them even if they wanted to.

The Emergency Department was a large department in Yun Hua Hospital. Other departments would only cooperate with Huo Congjun to snatch business from the Hand Surgery Department. The only department who would not cooperate with Huo Congjun would be the Hand Surgery Department itself, of course.

Wang Jia thought that Ling Ran did not understand, and specially said, "It doesn't have to be special requests. You can raise any request. It'll be hard to raise those requests later if you don't bring them up now."

"Let's wait for there to be patients before making exact arrangements," Ling Ran said.

"If you want, there will be patients within a day. It's better if we arrange first—"

"Department Director Huo found patients?" Ling Ran cut Wang Jia off.

The source of patients was the biggest obstacle when doctors launched new surgical methods. Because they could not make patients by themselves, they could only wait. This put many medical researches in very complicated circumstances.

For example, one of the achievements of Wu Jieping, an Einstein level medical scientist from Peking Union Medical College Hospital, was to confirm the existence of a new disease—adrenal medullary hyperplasia. For there to be solid evidence of this disease, he took sixteen years, starting from 1960, to gather seventeen cases, with only one case per year on average. This sort of passive waiting made medical research similar to astronomy research.

Wang Jia could not understand what Ling Ran was thinking. Stupefied, she said, "There are a lot of people with flexor tendon injuries. There would be one in our hospital every few days. If you're in a hurry for one, we can call Emergency Medical Care and ask them to send more patients with flexor tendon injuries over. Besides, we can also ask Department Director Huo to notify the district and county hospitals. We'll probably be able to get a patient on the day itself if we're lucky."

With that sudden realisation, Ling Ran asked again, "How about my assistant? Who will be my assistant?"

"Department Director Huo." Wang Jia paused for a moment and added. "Because you don't have the qualifications to become a chief surgeon, it would be written in the surgical records that Department Director Huo is the chief surgeon and you are the assistant. However, you will take on the role of the chief surgeon during actual surgeries."

She stuck her tongue out as she spoke. "I reckon that Department Director Huo will talk to you when the time comes. Don't tell him that I told you about this beforehand.

Ling Ran nodded to show that he understood.

Not long afterwards, Department Director Huo summoned Ling Ran, as expected, to talk about the matter of who would be the chief surgeon and who would be the assistant.

Ling Ran did not care one way or another. He only requested, "I need a second assistant, just in case."

It was very ridiculous to have a department director as an assistant. Department Director Huo had a lot of work to do, and it was not possible for him to stay in the operating theater every day to run errands for Ling Ran. In reality, a lot of department directors were used to being the chief surgeon only in name and letting doctors under them perform the actual surgery.

Huo Congjun would probably only pay more attention to Ling Ran in the beginning stages. What Huo Congjun wanted was a larger Emergency Department instead of a large pair of shackles.

"I would have given you one even if you didn't ask," said Huo Congjun cheerfully. "Hmm… I'll arrange for Lu Wenbin to become your second assistant. He just finished his housemanship. Let him follow you and learn."

He would actually prefer to send an attending physician to learn from Ling Ran because an attending physician would be able to master the M-Tang technique in a shorter time. However, Ling Ran's status as a medical intern was too jarring and he had no choice but to send a resident doctor.

Ling Ran was even more indifferent towards this. What he needed was just someone to operate the retractor.

Translator's note:

[1] A book by Hu Hong, an influential Confucian scholar during the Song Dynasty. There is no English translation of this book.

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Chapter 58: Department Hunk

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ever since he assumed his duty as a doctor, Lu Wenbin had been deemed one of the department hunks in the Emergency Department.

His body was in good shape, and he could be as tall as five feet nine if he wore shoes. Even though he did not slim down enough to reveal his abs after years of training, the thickness of his chest muscles was enough to prevent the hemostatic forceps from clipping on his aorta. The hardness of his gluteal muscles was enough to break the needle for injection.

Other than having rough skin, lots of hair over his skin, a possibly asymmetrical face, a not-tall-enough nasal bridge, not-big-enough eyes, and having a slightly higher hairline, he only had a few other flaws: slightly bent legs, slightly stinky feet, prominent ears, a short neck, thick lips, a submissive personality, low salary, no car, no house, and no money in his bank account.

Regardless of that, in accordance to the Emergency Department's standards, anyone under the age of thirty-five without any signs of disability and who possessed some degree of skill was considered a department hunk. Therefore, everyone in the department took care of him as much as possible. Whenever the attending physicians were slacking off, they would always ask for Lu Wenbin.

Lu Wenbin was also full of enthusiasm all the time, he could use the retractor in the operating theater for a minimum of two or three hours.

During surgery, one needed to cut across the skin in a straight line using a scalpel. One would need to further pull the muscles apart using a special flat hook to either one side or both sides in order to expand the surgeon's field of view into the patient's body.

Using a retractor was deemed to be very tiring physical work as muscles were active components in the body. Hence, the patient's muscles would contract back towards the middle of the incision when the retractor was used on them. Therefore, resident doctors and interns who used retractors often had strong arms after being in the operation theater for a long time.

The results of Lu Wenbin's efforts in keeping fit were not only acknowledged in the operating theater. When he showed himself in the emergency room or in the treatment room, doctors and nurses often asked for his help as well.

Wandering around like a tumbleweed between different departments was originally Lu Wenbin's fate as a young department hunk. What made him the happiest now, was that the torturous standardized training was finally over. There was no need for him to wander between different departments anymore. Finally, he could be rooted in the department like a normal department hunk and grow under the glorious care of the chief resident, attending physicians, the associate chief physicians as well as the chief physicians.

Lu Wenbin took a deep breath as he carefully distinguished the smell of Povidone iodine and eighty-four other different scents. As the sun's ray shone on his face, every fine hair on his face became clearly visible.

"Lu Wenbin." Department Director Huo beckoned him over.

Lu Wenbin looked like a cheerful reindeer running towards Santa. "Department director."

"From today onwards, you shall learn the M-Tang technique from Ling Ran. Whatever you learn counts." Huo Congjun turned around and left after he was done talking. He did not give Lu Wenbin the slightest time to react.

When Lu Wenbin returned to his senses, his direct supervisor, Associate Department Director Du had already come face to face with him. Smiling, he said, "Young Lu, congratulations. The M-Tang technique is a huge project in our Emergency Department. Even within the entire province, it is also a high-end project. It will be something very promising in the future. For you, being selected by Department Director Huo at this time, is considered a challenge and a stroke of good luck as well. You have to maintain a good attitude, work hard, and obtain the true essence of the technique."

There seemed to be confusion in Lu Wenbin's eyes. Still not fully sold, he asked, "Department Director, am I going to assist an intern?"

"The chief surgeon is Department Director Huo, Ling Ran is only the first assistant surgeon. You're the second assistant surgeon," Associate Department Director Du corrected Lu Wenbin.

"But-But, this is just too strange."

"What's so strange about it? Society today no longer judges a hero from his or her academic certificate. So what? You think you should be the first assistant surgeon and Ling Ran should be the second assistant surgeon just because you're already a resident doctor while he's just an intern?" Department Director Du was very keen to add that Marshal Tian Peng[1] was only able to be the second fellow apprentice to his Master. However, in order to avoid agitating Lu Wenbin too much, Associate Department Director Du firmly resisted that urge. He decided to keep this secret until the card game in the evening.

Lu Wenbin seemed dazed as he said, "I don't care about whether I'll be the first or second assistant surgeon, but…"

"Then everything should be fine." Associate Department Director Du patted Lu Wenbin on the shoulder and said, "You don't need to feel burdened. You are still young. You are at the stage of learning new skills. You need to think like this: if you should master the M-Tang technique, do you think you'll need to worry about being promoted to an attending physician? This is a good opportunity that the other doctors won't ever get to fight for even if they want to."

Lu Wenbin whispered softly, "Then, give it to the other doctors."

Associate Department Director Du coughed twice and said, "Department Director Huo has taken a fancy to you, and I have no choice in the matter. Let's just leave it this way."

The moment he finished talking, he turned around and vanished without a trace.

Lu Wennin had nowhere to go to ask for help or anyone to listen to his complaints…

Wherever he went, the resident doctors avoided him like the plague.

As for the attending physicians, Lu Wenbin did not dare trouble them.

"Lu Wenbin, we've been looking for you." Nurse Wang Jia rushed in and grabbed Lu Wenbin. Then she asked, "You weren't in the office or the operating theater. Where did you go?"

"I-I don't know either," Lu Wenbin spoke these few words weakly, and he quickly asked, "Do you know where Department Director Huo is?"

"Department Director Huo went to contact the Patient Flow Management Center."

"The Patient Flow Management Center?"

"Yes. There's a case of a patient having ruptured tendons in the thumb in Lan Tai County. The original plan was to perform an amputation. However, the department director heard about it and contacted the patient. He wanted the patient to come over to our Emergency Department to receive the M-Tang technique surgery instead. Now he's trying to persuade the patient," Wang Jia answered the question raised by Lu Wenbin, and she continued to say, "Doctor Ling is in the old storeroom. He informed me to ask you to get over there and practice when I see you."

"Wait… Hold on a second, you talk too fast. What is Department Director Huo trying to persuade the patient into?" Lu Wenbin was a little confused.

Wang Jia pouted and quietly called him a newbie in her heart. Nevertheless, she continued to say, "The patient planned to have an amputation surgery mainly because of financial considerations. The cost for an amputation surgery in the local tertiary grade B hospital is about 3,000 RMB. The cost will become around 6,000 if the M-Tang technique is performed to stitch up the tendons. Department Director Huo proposed to reduce the cost by half in hopes that the patient will accept the invitation to receive the M-Tang technique surgery."

"The patient agreed to be amputated in order to save money?" Lu Wenbin, a young doctor who had just finished the standardized training, was very shocked. He thought to himself, then said, "Since Department Director Huo has offered to reduce the fee, the patient should be very eager to come over, right? Why did he need to persuade him?"

"Medical expenses are not the same as surgery." Wang Jia had been a nurse for several years. She had seen more patients than Lu Wenbin, so she simply said, "Patients have to rent a car for 1,000 RMB just to travel from Lan Tai County to Yun Hua. Not to mention, the cost of medical treatment will be higher compared to his local treatment expenses. In addition, after amputation surgery, the patient can be discharged from the hospital very soon and get back to work. But the recovery period for getting a flexor tendon repair will be longer. The patient has neither medical insurance nor a permanent job. Now, his medical cost will increase but his income will reduce. Therefore, Department Director Huo went to persuade him."

Lu Wenbin had a lot of questions, but he could not get them out of his chest.

"Hurry up, Doctor Ling is waiting." Wang Jia urged.

Lu Wenbin had no choice but to follow her to the old storeroom first.

The old storeroom was located at a place where the Inpatient Department had previously piled up their goods and materials. Currently, it was used to store some crude benzenes and old goods, which were not moved around frequently. Lu Wenbin had been in the Emergency Department for a few years but he had only been to the storeroom to grab supplies twice.

When they got to the place and pushed the door open, the first thing reflected in his eyes was a row of pig legs.

The white, raw pig's legs were hung underneath the lampshade. Ling Ran was standing right in the middle of the room. Along with the old, gloomy atmosphere in the storeroom, the scene appeared like a bizarre ritual in motion.

"Doctor Ling, we've arrived," Wang Jia shouted to dispel the strange thought materializing in her mind.

Lu Wenbin's face turned pale a little before he asked, "Are the pig's legs also from the storeroom?"

"I bought them." Ling Ran lifted his head and looked at Lu Wenbin as he said, "Doctor Lu, I'm going to use the flexor tendon in the pig's hind foot as experimental material. Shall we try this out as a team?"

Actually, Ling Ran was more eager to let Lu Wenbin try it out. Otherwise, it would spell trouble for him if he took an assistant who did not understand anything about the M-Tang technique.

Lu Wenbin could not help but feel slightly hesitant.

"I've cut the deep tendon in the metatarsophalangeal joint[2] in a horizontal manner." Ling Ran was holding a scalpel while pointing at the pig leg in front of him. "It's basically equivalent to the injury for flexor tendon repair found in Zone II of the metacarpophalangeal joint[3]. I will now demonstrate by performing one set of stitches for you."

Ling Ran did not ask for Lu Wenbin's opinion. He just started to explain his prior preparations to Lu Wenbin.

Soon after, Ling Ran put down the scalpel and picked up the needle holder.

"So, what should we do if Department Director Huo fails to persuade the patient?" Lu Wenbin asked out of the blue.

Ling Ran's movements did not show even the slightest sign of hesitation. He only said, "Since we've started to look for patients, there's no way that we won't be able to find any. We'll just wait in peace and everything will be alright."

As he spoke, the needle he held in his hand had already punctured the flexor tendon of the pig's hind foot.

One stitch after another…

Ling Ran just kept going without saying a word. However, the direction of the operation was slightly adjusted to a pace where it was convenient for Lu Wenbin to participate.

Lu Wenbin swallowed quietly.

Translator's Note:

1. Marshal Tian Peng: Refer to as the Commander of Heavenly Naval Forces in the Chinese story named 'Journey to the West'.

2. Metatarsophalangeal joint: joints between the metatarsal bones of the foot and the proximal bones of the toes. (Source: Wikipedia)

3. Metacarpophalangeal joint: largest joints of the hand situated between the metacarpal bones and the proximal phalanges of the digits.

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Chapter 59: Practice

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Tendon repair was meticulous work. One could spend a long period of time meddling with the flexor tendons in one pig's hindfoot.

Ling Ran was not in a hurry as well. He was just going through his steps in the operation at a leisurely pace. It was an opportunity for him to practice, and also an opportunity for him to explain the M-Tang technique to the other two.

The Master Level M-Tang Technique was great indeed. But it was still far from Perfect Level. The main difference lay in the success rate of the surgery and the recovery of the hand's capability after surgery.

Of course, a typical flexor tendon injury was not that different to anyone with Master Level or Perfect Level M-Tang Technique. The probability of failure for both was extremely low if one just performed the surgery using the fixed procedure. Besides, even if one failed to follow procedure, the surgery itself would still be a success. It was just that, the degree of recovery would not be ideal. It could be 20% or 30% lower than the expected rate of recovery. However, the degree of recovery would still be higher than most doctors' successful cases.

But then again, Ling Ran could not hope for all of the cases that he engaged in to be typical cases of flexor tendon injuries.

Most failed cases happened in atypical situations.

The atypical cases were also the greatest challenge to doctors. The development of clinical medicine could be seen as a process that gradually introduced people with atypical medical illnesses, atypical anatomical structures, atypical physical conditions, and atypical injuries into typical medical cases.

Take, for example, appendicitis, which was known to be the simplest laparoscopic surgery by modern standards. The mortality rate due to this medical condition over the past hundred to one thousand years was more than poets who had their poems published. Modern medicine was capable of conquering appendicitis due to a step-by-step accumulation of experience from the doctors who performed this surgery over time. For instance, Colins collected the data of 50,000 cases regarding appendicitis back in 1995, making a summary about the position of where the appendix would be in the human body. This confirmed that the appendixes of 95.48% people were located at their lower right abdomen. Only 0.58% of people had their appendixes located at their upper right abdomen. That gave surgeons the idea to cut the lower right part first for the appendix. If they could not locate the appendix there, they would look for it at the upper right. If they still could not find it, they would just move on to the lower left. They did not need to look through the intestines in the whole stomach blindly…

Surgeons now knew that there were eight abnormal positions for the appendix, six different cases of dysplasia[1, four types of deformities, and also four types of ectopic tissues[2]. From there, these cases, which were once classified as atypical cases were categorized as typical situations.

The incision required to remove the appendix in a laparotomy had also improved from being as long as the length of an arm, to being as long as the length of a finger. Later on, it was improved to the surgeon only requiring three holes underneath the laparoscopy…

It was the same for the M-Tang technique.

Since its appearance back in the 90s, the technique had been used to target typical flexor tendon injuries. It was later improved slowly.

Ling Ran estimated that the Perfect Level M-Tang technique should be able to target most of the flexor tendon injuries in Zone II. The range for Master Level should not differ much as well. However, the success rate and effectiveness of some atypical cases, which would appear on rare occasions would show poorer results.

Anyway, doctors could not guarantee what sort of patients they would meet.

Since Department Director Huo hoped to snatch business from the Hand Surgery Department, a great number of patients with flexor tendon injuries would definitely be sent over there in the foreseeable future. Once the number of patients increased, atypical cases would definitely appear as well, and they would even need to see just how far away these atypical cases were from typical cases.

Ling Ran did not hope for the system to just send a Perfect Level M-Tang Technique to him as a gift.

Up to the present moment, he was only able to obtain a Level 1 Skill Book from opening the Intermediate Treasure Chest and acquire a Perfect Level Skill upgrade. The range of choices for the upgrade was also limited to basic skills.

The Master Level M-Tang Technique was acquired through activating a single Skill Book. It was a type of surgical method. However, Ling Ran did not even have the slightest assurance on whether he could obtain the Perfect Level M-Tang Technique or other tendon repair techniques from similar Skill Books.

Truth be told, even if the system gave him a new Skill Book, the best possible scenario was only him expanding his personal skill library. He could not upgrade his M-Tang technique—which was already at Master Level—to Perfect Level.

The value for it was too low. He would only make that sort of decision if he was stupid, and he was not stupid. Ling Ran had already tested his IQ level before.

He got the answer to what he should do once he analyzed the situation seriously. The best way for Ling Ran to become better was to actually improve the standards of his skills.

He was already the best doctor in Yun Hua in terms of the M-Tang technique. If he continued to perform the surgeries, it was only obvious that he would improve.

The gist of an article would come to you after you read it over a hundred times. The same went for performing surgeries.

If one could perform the same surgical method over a hundred times, even weaklings would be capable of reaching above average standards sooner or later.

If a doctor could perform the same surgical method over a thousand times, that doctor would definitely become excellent in that field.

Ling Ran was stitching up the flexor tendons that he cut in the hindfoot, and he was doing so in an orderly manner. He would also speak once in a while.

"After you penetrate the tendon with the needle horizontally, insert the needle on the opposite side of the tendon just enough to vertically penetrate the needle back into the tendon…

"Tie the knot near the end.

"Lock the second loop of the thread into the knot of the first loop of thread, then penetrate the tendon again with the needle.

"You can tie another knot at the very end of the tendon. It'll be better if you did it at the center of the palm."

Ling Ran was wearing a pair of magnifying glasses. He was focusing on the middle of his field of vision. He did not turn his head back.

But Lu Wenbin knew that Ling Ran was speaking to him.

Lu Wenbin's hands were also quietly moving on their own. He did not even realize it.

He was still a long way from mastering the M-Tang technique. It could even be said that he was still not very clear about what Ling Ran was doing and why he was doing those things. This was despite the fact that Ling Ran had explained the entire procedure once to him.

However, one would need to learn it step-by-step like this in order to grasp and master a surgical method.

The process of stitching was not some martial arts technique from some secret scripture. Those who wanted to learn it could easily find information about it.

However, only very few could get the opportunity to personally witness the process itself, much less be able to act as an assistant. It was the fastest way one could learn the true essence of a certain method.

Lu Wenbin was suddenly a little excited. If he could really master the M-Tang technique, how would everything turn out for him?

Since the Emergency Department was really going to snatch business from the Hand Surgery Department, the department could not possibly rely on Ling Ran alone. Ling Ran was the person who fired the first shot. People deemed him the flag bearer who stood at the front in battle. Hence, Huo Congjun would definitely search for a way to recruit new forces to fill in the gaps after Ling Ran left.

By that time, he may do things such as get doctors from other hospitals, transfer manpower from the Hand Surgery Department, or even conduct training within the Emergency Department itself for the technique.

And regardless of whichever method Huo Congjun decided to use, it presented endless opportunities for resident doctors like Lu Wenbin himself.

The most important thing was, Lu Wenbin discovered that Ling Ran was willing to teach him.

Although he was unlike some doctors who guided them orally and required them to perform the steps themselves, Lu Wenbin still had quite the opportunity, especially since Ling Ran's own skills were excellent. It was easy for Lu Wenbin to raise his expectations in this regard.

In comparison to that, the awkwardness of having to be an assistant for an intern seemed to have reduced. It was no longer as strong as it was in the beginning.

It was basically required of young doctors to be shameless in order to learn something.

"Doctor Ling." Wang Jia returned after she received a phone call. "Department Director Huo is preparing to return. It's estimated that he'll need four hours to come back."

"Oh, it should be about time to get off work by then." Ling Ran pondered for a moment and said, "We'll have to think about our dinner."

Lu Wenbin lifted his head up for the nth time and looked at the pig's foot, which was hanging in the air before he blurted, "I know how to cook pig trotters."

Ling Ran and Wang Jia both looked at Lu Wenbin.

"During my time as a houseman, I brought meals along with me quite often. Sometimes, I would also buy pig's hindfeet to cook them…" Lu Wenbin felt a little abashed while he spoke.

"Remember to remove the threads when you cook." Ling Ran smiled for a moment, causing the department hunk to feel as if he had just breathed in fresh air. He also became more enthusiastic.

Wang Jia quickly assisted him in removing the pig's hind feet. She was removing the threads when she asked, a little unsure, "Would the patients and their families turn around and run if they ever see us chewing on pig trotters?"

Ling Ran stood behind them as he languidly said, "The patients won't be running fast since they're hurt. We can catch them back."

The light from the setting sun was strong and glaring.

In the old storeroom with white walls and white ceilings, pig feet swayed freely. It cast a strange shadow in the room.

Translator's Notes:

1. Dysplasia: A term used in pathology to refer to an abnormality of development or an epithelial anomaly of growth and differentiation (Source: Wikipedia).

2. Ectopic tissue: Ectopic is a word used with a prefix, ecto, meaning "out of place.". Here it means tissues that are situated in a place remote from the usual location. (Source: Wikipedia)

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Chapter 60: Operation

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lu Wenbin wore a pair of magnifying glasses while he used the forceps to remove the hair on the pig's feet one by one.

It was a learning method that Ling Ran suggested to him. Lu Wenbin also felt that it made sense.

Lu Wenbin had never even used any magnifying glasses before this, let alone perform an operation with his own hands. Regardless of whether it was wearing the magnifying glasses to remove pig hair or plucking the hair from a patient's skin, it was all the same for him.

In Yun Hua Hospital, only the Hand Surgery Department provided training for the use of microscopes in surgery for resident doctors. The standard of Lu Wenbin's stitching skill was only ordinary. He did not get any chance to practice during his housemanship. Even though he was only removing pig hair at the moment, he was meticulously attentive to his task.

After removing the hair of three pig feet, Lu Wenbin then took them over to the kitchen in the dorm not far from the hospital and stewed them. There were many bachelors in the hospital. The dorm did not only provide a library, but it also provided a kitchen and laundry room. And because of that, doctors who had less time to rest and low annual income could survive, even though barely.

"There are still some leftovers of the seasonings I bought earlier on. I've added cooking wine, soy sauce, onion, ginger, pepper, chili, aniseed[1, bay leaves[2, cao guo[3]…" Lu Wenbin panted after he ran back. He spoke of his contribution, "It'll be ready to be served after it's stewed for about two hours. By then, each of us will have one pig trotter. It's perfect."

"When I listen to you, it really sounds delicious." Wang Jia touched her stomach for a bit. She felt a little hungry now.

Lu Wenbin looked at Ling Ran and asked, "Doctor Ling, is it alright if we do this?"

"Sure." Ling Ran's head remained low as he continued to play with the tendons.

Lu Wenbin was greatly encouraged. He smiled and said, "The taste shouldn't be bad. The pig feet that you picked are good too. The meat's thick and there are lots of collagens in them. I've cut them up a little to make it more convenient for the spices to soak in…"

The young nurse's eyes sparkled, and she said, "Doctor Ling knows how to pick pig feet… Every time I follow my grandma to the marketplace, she'd be the one to pick the pig feet."

Ling Ran lifted his head for a moment as he exercised his neck. Then, he said, "I had to pick the ones with thick and big flexor tendons so that they can be used as experimental materials."

It was an answer that never occurred to both Wang Jia and Lu Wenbin. The atmosphere in the room instantly turned a little quiet.

Lu Wenbin obediently put on the magnifying glasses, and stood on the spot as Ling Ran's assistant, observing Ling Ran's operation.

Ling Ran was repeating the process of performing the M-Tang technique step by step. Truth be told, Lu Wenbin was a little confused watching the process.

However, Lu Wenbin had at least come to know what Ling Ran was doing after Ling Ran repeated the process many times.

Lu Wenbin was not capable of distinguishing the purpose of certain steps in the procedure, but he was able to know what certain parts of the operation were about. Lu Wenbin also knew when it was time to use the skin retractor to retract the skin and when to step aside, allowing Ling Ran to step in.

"Pull the thread for me." Ling Ran finally gave him a command in yet another operation.

Lu Wenbin was stunned for a few seconds before he joyfully took a suturing thread into his hands, practically holding it as if it was something precious.

One pig foot after another…

In a situation where he did not need to consider sterilization before the operation and also the patient's postoperative recovery, Ling Ran only carried out a few important steps in the operation and swiftly used up the white pig feet.

Beep, beep…*

Beep, beep, beep…*

Lu Wenbin's phone began to ring softly.

"Umm… the pig trotters are ready," Lu Wenbin said softly.

The moment he said that, Wang Jia instantly felt hunger take over her system. She said, "Go get it quickly. We'll fill our stomachs before we continue the operation."

Lu Wenbin cast a glance at Ling Ran and asked, "Doctor Ling, shall I go get the pig trotters first?"

Ling Ran nodded and said, "Bring these with you as well."

Lu Wenbin then fixed his eyes on the pile of pig feet, which they stitched up earlier.

"Pig trotters will still taste good even when they're cold," Wang Jia could not agree more with Ling Ran's suggestion.

So, Lu Wenbin gathered them all up laboriously and went back to the hostel in a hurry.

…..

Ten o'clock at night.

The patient showed up at the Emergency Department much later than the estimated time of arrival. The people who came along with the patient were his parents, his wife, and his two brothers.

The security guard of the Emergency Department behaved like he was up against a great enemy. But in the end, he obediently allowed the people to enter.

Huo Congjun seemed slightly exhausted. He did not give Ling Ran too many pieces of advice after he met him. Anything he wanted to say could wait until after they entered the operating theater.

Lu Wenbin was nervous and excited.

He had entered the operating theater nearly hundreds of times, but most of the time, he was in there for Level 1 or Level 2 surgeries. He rarely got to join in on major operations that involved complicated techniques like the M-Tang technique.

If it had not been for Ling Ran's status, which made everyone embarrassed to work with him, the first assistant would have been an attending physician or a chief resident who was familiar with the operation. The chief residents were resident doctors who were about to be promoted to attending physicians. They usually had to endure training of high-intensity. They had to stay in the hospital 24/7 so that their medical skills could improve greatly, and they were significantly better than other ordinary resident doctors.

In comparison, Lu Wenbin was just a resident doctor with the lowest qualification. But if that had not been the case, he would not have been sent to Ling Ran's side.

Lu Wenbin put on the surgical scrub mechanically, washed his hands clean mechanically, and went to the operating theater mechanically.

The lights in Operating Theater 1 were all switched on. The brightness of the room was much higher than the brightness in the old storeroom. For some reason, it caused Lu Wenbin to be have more confidence in himself.

Lu Wenbin took the opportunity to ask a question before the circulating nurse, anesthetist and patient arrived, "Doctor Ling, the operation is about to begin. Do you have any other advice for me?"

Ling Ran gave it some thought and said, "Don't throw away the stew."

The confidence that Lu Wenbin built up at the beginning shattered into pieces with a loud crack.

…..

"Are you ready for this?"

Department Director Huo walked into the operating theater with his hands up. He also had a surgical mask as well as a cap over his face and head respectively.

Lu Wenbin, Wang Jia and the others straightened their backs subconsciously.

Department Director Huo smiled and asked Ling Ran, "Have you looked through the patient's details? What's your assessment of him?"

"Standard flexor tendon injury in Zone II. There should be a higher rate of success," Ling Ran said.

"It's a good thing that you're confident," Department Director Huo said. "It's all right for us to talk about success rates among ourselves, but never talk about this sort of stuff in front of the patient's family."

Since he knew that Ling Ran was new, Department Director Huo immediately provided an explanation, "Patients will never consider themselves to be among one of those who may not recover successfully, especially not among those who are among the low percentage of people who might not recover successfully in an operation with a high chance of success. They'll only say that their operation had a high probability of success, and you're the one who failed. Ah, let's not talk about that now. During the operation, let's just wish for the chances of success to be high. Give ourselves a good start, haha…"

In Ling Ran's eyes, Department Director Huo was the most nervous among the few people in the operating theater. While he spoke, his logic and reasoning were clearly not the same as usual.

The draping and sterilization were confirmed to be perfect once again.

Before Huo Congjun even picked up the scalpel, he said, "Ling Ran, you're the chief surgeon for this operation."

"All right." Ling Ran did not say anything else. He just turned the patient's finger around gently and took a look at it. Then he picked up a pen and gently drew out a polygonal chain [4].

The base of the patient's thumb and index finger was punctured by an iron rod, causing the flexor tendon of the thumb to rupture.

The point of rupture could not be seen from the position of the wound. Therefore, it was necessary to cut another opening.

Huo Congjun only watched on without saying anything.

He was a military doctor with a background in general surgery. He had done some research in open wounds, even though his attention was directed more towards burns in the present. He also had some experience in tendon sutures, but he had never tried suturing flexor tendons on fingers.

Once Ling Ran had a successful operation under his belt, Huo Congjun would less likely make unnecessary comments.

Ling Ran picked up the scalpel and took a deep breath. Then he slowly performed the incision.

In comparison to the Master Level Appositional Suturing Technique, Ling Ran's skills in using the blade was still that of a novice. He only managed to hone this skill recently when he performed debridement and sutures.

However, compared to the skills required for using the surgery knife during debridement, the requirement for this surgery was way higher.

Ling Ran cut open the patient's skin layer by layer. He used approximately four to five minutes to get it done. His performance was much weaker than the average standard for surgeons.

Su Jiafu, the anesthetist had a strange expression as he cast Ling Ran a few looks. However, he did not dare say a word.

Huo Congjun remained silent as well.

"The patient's hand is open." Ling Ran was also soaked in his own sweat.

At the same time, the system's voice echoed in his mind.

[Newbie Mission: Heal the patient]

[Mission Details: Suture the patient's flexor tendon]

[Mission Reward: Incision (Fiddle Bow Hold [5] Specialist)]

[Time Limit: 10 days]

Translator's Notes:

1. Aniseed: The seed of the anise, used in cooking and herbal medicine. (Source: Wikipedia)

2. Bay leaves: Is an aromatic leaf commonly used in cooking. (Source: Wikipedia)

3. Cao Guo: A ginger-like plant known as 'Amomum tsao-ko'. It grows at high altitudes in Yunnan, as well as the northern highlands of Vietnam. Both wild and cultivated plants are used medicinally. (Source: Wikipedia)

4. Polygonal Chain: A connected series of line segments. (Source: Wikipedia)

5. Fiddle Bow Hold: There is not actually a proper term for this grip. You just hold the knife like you would hold a bow.

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Chapter 61: The Needle's Glint

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ling Ran observed the exposed flexor tendon. He did not immediately get to work.

He had surveyed the patient's X-ray many times over, but he still relied on his naked eyes very much, since he was terrible at analyzing X-ray images.

Huo Congjun watched in silence. He understood what Ling Ran was doing.

All surgeons trusted their naked eyes more than anything else.

If you were to pay close attention to a surgery in progress, you would quickly find that surgeries which allowed the surgeons the ability to directly examine the patient's body—such as organ transplant surgeries including heart transplants—did would develop much faster. If you looked at it from a 21st century point of view, those surgeries were carried out under most challenging conditions. However, surgeons still sprang up one after another to take on the task. Or you could say that they sprang on the patients, one after another.

In short, performing an operation without the use of other machines to provide visual aid was the surgeons' hobby and also favorite method of surgery. To them, surgeries such as abdominoscopy and those performed using the da Vinci Surgical System were second-rate. Coronary artery bypass surgery was also preferable compared to the use of stents…

"Incision has to be bigger," Ling Ran mumbled to himself. He then got to work.

Lu Wenbin could not help but widen his eyes when he heard Ling Ran. 'Can you even do this?'

Huo Congjun had to try hard to stop himself from speaking.

It was rather embarrassing for a surgeon to even mention that he had to cut open a patient twice.

However, Ling Ran was not aware of this unspoken rule.

Most of the time before this, he had stayed in the treatment room and emergency room. He had neither been to other departments nor came to the Emergency Department's operating theater often.

He was truly green behind the ears when it came to determining incision lengths. He simply wanted to increase his field of vision, so he naturally had to make the incision longer.

This was the only way the surgery could be carried out more easily after this. The patient's scar could end up longer because of this, but scarring was obviously not the primary consideration when it came to surgeries involving ruptured tendons.

As much as he worked to minimize scarring when debriding or suturing wounds, he would not put as much thought into it at a time such as this. The scar would be there regardless, and its length would not make any difference.

Instead, the success rate in a flexor tendon suture would make a huge difference in a patient's life.

Under the best circumstances, the postoperative total active motion (TAM) would be 100%, which meant that the range of motion of the patient's finger would be no different compared to that of an ordinary person. A TAM of 100% was considered excellent, while a TAM of over 75% was decent, with the patient's ability to perform daily tasks guaranteed.

85% of patients whose flexor tendons were sutured using the M-Tang technique would achieve an excellent or good TAM. This meant that eighty-five in one hundred people whose flexor tendons were sutured using the M-Tang technique could return to normal daily living. These statistics were very hard to come by, even for tendons in other positions with a lower difficulty of suturing, let alone the no man's land.

In most ordinary hospitals, under the hands of ordinarily excellent doctors, achieving a 'fair' TAM between 50% to 75% after the suturing of flexor tendons was already a blessing. Even though patients with a TAM of this range could still use their fingers, several activities—such as sweeping the floor, holding a bowl and peeling an egg—would become difficult and almost impossible.

But even so, when it came to the suturing of flexor tendons in many hospitals, there would not be as many as 85% of patients who achieved a 'fair' TAM.

Ling Ran did not care about what ordinary doctors in ordinary hospitals did.

He aimed for more than that.

However, he was also unsure about the results of this particular surgery. So, he could only try his best to raise the odds of success.

"Pull open both sides of the skin." Ling Ran pulled open the cortical layer of the skin with a pair of forceps and passed the forceps to Lu Wenbin while he was at it.

"Oh, alright." Even though Lu Wenbin was a little anxious, he pulled the cortical layer of the skin to the side without a hitch.

After repeating the same step a few times, the entire tendon was within Ling Ran's field of vision.

When he judged it based on the Master level skill he obtained, there was now a little too much exposure. However, this would make the surgery easier and increase the fault tolerance margin.

The patient's tendon had already been ruptured for almost twenty hours. Contusion and trauma of the tendon—which would definitely lower the success rate and excellence rate—were basically unavoidable. This was why Ling Ran would rather have the incision larger.

Of course, it was also because he was too much of a beginner when it came to making incisions.

Ling Ran observed the exposed tendon again. He still did not get to work.

Flexor tendons made it possible for humans to bend their fingers. Every person had five flexor tendons that extended from their wrists to the tip of their fingers. If you looked at the anatomical diagram, they would be like rubber bands—pressed down by the wrist—then extended into the five fingers.

Even though the thickness of each flexor tendon was only around that of the wire of an iPhone charger, they were extremely elastic and strong.

And the suturing of flexor tendons was difficult because their elasticity and strength had to be retained.

They had to ensure that the flexor tendon did not rupture again, while the elasticity had to be maintained to guarantee the flexor tendon's function.

The loss of either the strength or the elasticity of the flexor tendon would result in a failed surgery.

Ling Ran gazed at the blood-coated but otherwise bone-white flexor tendon. A few scenarios ran through his mind.

It was impossible for him to think of what to do before the surgery began because he was not skilled enough. But right now, he did not have much time to contemplate either.

Very soon, Ling Ran extended his hand.

"Needle holder."

Wang Jia heaved a sigh of relief and quickly passed the needle holder—with the surgical suture attached to the needle—to Ling Ran. She would have felt worried on his behalf if he were to ask for the scalpel again.

Ling Ran found the right position and sent the needle inside without hesitation. His movements were a few hundred times more adept compared to when he was making the incision.

If you were to describe it with similes, for Ling Ran, making incisions was like rearing cows while suturing was like eating beef.

Ling Ran even felt ecstatic as he held the needle holder.

The needle flashed…

Every movement was precise…

When Ling Ran raised the needle holder, he finally showed his Master level skills—the skills that had won Huo Congjun over.

Huo Congjun stood beside Ling Ran and watched as Ling Ran worked. He was somewhat enjoying it, somewhat pleased with himself and also somewhat satisfied.

This was the level of skill that made it worthwhile for Huo Congjun to personally go to Lai Tai County.

Lu Wenbin's entire body shuddered.

He had heard about the first time Ling Ran performed surgery using the M-Tang technique, and also witnessed Ling Ran's skills when Ling Ran sutured the pig's foot in the old storeroom. The latter incident gave Lu Wenbin a more direct view, but Ling Ran was afterall, suturing a dead object, and was doing it in a very 'basic' manner so that Lu Wenbin could understand the steps of the M-Tang technique.

At that moment, Lu Wenbin was the last thing in Ling Ran's mind.

To reduce the difficulty of the task at hand, Ling Ran allowed Lu Wenbin work with him wherever Lu Wenbin was capable of doing so.

Wherever Lu Wenbin was incapable, Ling Ran took over without saying a thing. He then completed the entire process of that particular step by himself in the surgery that followed.

Lu Wenbin felt immense pressure within only a few minutes.

He already knew that he would be marginalized. But Lu Wenbin was not someone who was willing to be marginalized when standing in front of the operating table and in the face of the patient, other doctors, and nurses.

At that moment, Lu Wenbin cared even less about the fact that it was embarrassing to play second fiddle to a medical intern. It could not be more embarrassing than being marginalized on top of playing second fiddle to a medical intern.

Besides, skills were skills. This would not change because of someone's identity.

Lu Wenbin fixed his gaze on the exposed tendon, hoping to take in more details.

Naturally, Ling Ran noticed the changes in Lu Wenbin.

Having debrided so many wounds in the treatment room, he was already used to observing the movements around him at all times.

Ling Ran smiled a little and said, "It's not very different from suturing a pig's flexor tendon, isn't it?"

"Ah? Ah… it's different, way too different." Lu Wenbin did not know what to say either, and shook his head frantically.

Ling Ran hummed in acknowledgment, but dropped the topic. This left Lu Wenbin rather disappointed.

The operating theatre fell silent.

Only Ling Ran's commands echoed throughout the room, every now and then.

"Scissors.

"Forceps.

"Press on the dressing a bit."

Somewhat not used to the silence, Su Jiafu the anesthetist shifted his body a few times, and the stool beneath his body creaked.

Su Jiafu's thoughts were wandering. 'I really need to lose weight this year. I need to lose at least sixty-five pounds so that I can pretend to be a handsome young man. But this wouldn't do, because it's not good for health to lose too much weight in one go. It would be enough to lose fifty-five pounds.'

He lifted his head in boredom as he thought and looked towards the direction of the operating table.

Su Jiafu immediately met Huo Congjun's gaze.

What sort of gaze was that?

Su Jiafu quickly started analyzing with his logical thinking, which scored had him 600 points or so in his college entrance examination. 'Department Director Huo likes to chitchat when he's the chief surgeon. However, Ling Ran is the chief surgeon today, and Ling Ran doesn't like to talk. And Department Director Huo isn't saying anything either because he is worried that Ling Ran would be affected by the chitchat. So… Department Director Huo is very bored… So, f*ck this, with that fierce gaze, he definitely wants my stool.'

Su Jiafu stood up silently. He straightened his body and pretended to casually stretch.

Scrape…*

There was not even enough time for the wheels of the small round stool to roll before the stool was dragged away just like that. It gave forth a sound of friction.

Department Director Huo pounced on it. He sat on the stool and flashed an old leader's smile, which was a long time coming.

Su Jiafu sighed in agony, not even bothering to stretch anymore. He thought absentmindedly, 'If this continues, I'll probably lose more than eighty-five pounds. This wouldn't do, there will be health problems if I get too thin. Argh, next time, I'll just grovel to the circulating nurses and ask them to bring one more stool in.

"I'm done," Ling Ran said and started checking on the stitches.

Huo Congjun immediately stood up and the small round stool to the corner of the operating theater.

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Chapter 62: Medical Records

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Huo Congjun walked out of the door of the operating theater and said what the patient's family, who were waiting anxiously, wanted to hear the most. "Mister Tang's surgery was a huge success."

The patient's family immediately became happy as they stood huddled together. A few women even shed tears of joy. Huo Congjun then comforted them for a bit and gave them some medical advice before he left.

Meanwhile, as his family returned to the ward, the patient was also pushed back there on the gurney.

Huo Congjun exhaled softly and nodded at Ling Ran, who was coming out of the operating theater behind him, with a smile. Ling Ran nodded as well before walking towards the opposite direction.

All operating theaters nowadays had multiple purposes, with surgical suites of the same layout. There were also various routes to leave the operating theaters, the patient's family usually waited at the ones nearest to the wards. The doctors tried to avoid taking those routes whenever possible.

Lu Wenbin walked gladly and diligently behind Ling Ran. He felt like he was following someone to an internet cafe for the first time.

He felt rather joyous, torn, regretful, and hopeful—like a toy poodle. He really wished that there was something he could simply fiddle with right now to release all his pent up energy.

"Doctor Ling, what are we doing next?" Lu Wenbin could hardly suppress the itch in his heart. He could not wait to perform three hundred more surgeries using the M-Tang technique and become renowned in the country overnight.

"You can teach me how to write medical records." Ling Ran's reply made Lu Wenbin fall from Kepler-76b—Albert Einstein's planet—and back to earth in an instant.

"Teach you how to write medical records?" Lu Wenbin repeated what Ling Ran said before suddenly coming to his senses. "You just started your internship and haven't even started writing medical records?"

"Yeah, I haven't really written any," Ling Ran said.

"What have you done then?"

"Debriding, suturing, barehanded bleeding control, and the M-Tang technique." Ling Ran listed out what he had done one by one and said, "The Emergency Department is the first department of my clinical rotation.

Lu Wenbin gazed at Ling Ran with extremely complicated emotions. It sounded like Ling Ran had done all that a surgeon should do from his first sentence.

However, after he heard the second sentence, Lu Wenbin was certain that Ling Ran had done nothing.

"You have to write medical records even after debriding and suturing, right? The simplified type. Have you written any?" Lu Wenbin was slightly curious.

"A few," Ling Ran said.

"Only a few? How about the remaining medical records? Could it be that Doctor Zhou wrote them?" Lu Wenbin felt that with Doctor Zhou's laziness-No, with Doctor Zhou's personality, it was impossible that he would do something like this.

Ling Ran glanced at Lu Wenbin in puzzlement and said, "There were other medical interns who helped me with writing the medical records."

There happened to be a factory explosion during one of the few days Ling Ran was at the treatment room, and everyone could hardly catch their breaths. Ling Ran was naturally put to good use since he knew how to suture, and the other medical interns who were of no help were tasked to do menial things such as play second fiddle and write medical records.

Lu Wenbin felt that the world had become rather strange.

What sort of life did he lead as a medical intern? For the entire year, even the opportunity to suture a patient's skin was as rare as the times New Year's celebration happened in a year.

Of course, the supposedly talented medical interns in his batch did get more opportunities. The medical interns who quickly learned how to debride and suture wounds, did not commit errors in the operating theater, did not get scolded when retracting the skin, cooperated well with other doctors when aspirating fluid, and did not cause blood to seep out when performing abdominal closures more or less got the chance to perform procedures such as appendectomies, popping hemorrhoids, and circumcisions.

But Lu Wenbin really did not expect talent to make such a big difference.

Lu Wenbin chuckled and said, "I had no idea that medical interns can have other medical interns play second fiddle to them, too."

Beside them, Nurse Wang, who was reluctant to part immediately with Doctor Ling, looked in astonishment at Resident Doctor Lu Wenbin as he said these words.

Lu Wenbin suddenly came to his senses. 'True. Ling Ran, a medical intern, already has a resident doctor play second fiddle to him. What's so surprising about him having other medical interns play second fiddle? It's even more pathetic that I'm the resident doctor playing second fiddle to Ling Ran.'

Lu Wenbin quietly led Ling Ran to the office, switched on his computer, and logged into his electronic workstation. He pointed at the long row of words and said, "Now, we need to fill up the preoperative summary, admission record, records of preoperative discussions, operative report, and then things such as long-term medical advice and short-term medical advice.

"We can fill up the operative report section with what we did today. Click on this." Lu Wenbin made room for Ling Ran.

The top of the operative report section was made up of details such as the patient's name, gender, department, bed number and date of surgery. Next, details such as the preoperative diagnosis, intraoperative diagnosis, content of surgery, personnel involved during the surgery, anesthetics used, and the personnel involved during the anesthetizing process, were summarized in a few short sentences.

Even though the reports were digital, all their content could be printed out directly into hard copy medical reports. The content was also as cumbersome as the ones in hard copy medical reports of the past.

"This is the template. It's actually quite simple…" Lu Wenbin introduced the sections one by one to Ling Ran.

To let medical interns or housemen write their medical records was actually the resident doctors' most common way of slacking.

The resident doctors had to teach other people how to write medical records a few times a year, as there would be quite a few batches of medical interns and housemen on rotation in their departments every year.

Lu Wenbin was already quite adept in doing so. Moreover, the medical record system was not complicated to begin with, just purely cumbersome.

Ling Ran listened earnestly. He then started tapping the keyboard according to what was explained.

"The first preoperative diagnosis was the rupture of the tendon of the thumb, and the second one was the contusion of the tendon…" Ling Ran's knowledge about the diagnoses and courses of disease related to the M-Tang technique was also at Master Level. The only thing he needed to do was to familiarize himself with the documentation style of medical reports.

Lu Wenbin chuckled internally when he looked at Ling Ran and said, "You can actually copy and paste…"

Ling Ran listened to what Lu Wenbin said and copied and pasted two paragraphs. However, his whole body felt uncomfortable when he started filling up the medical record again. He only felt relieved after he deleted the two paragraphs that he copied and pasted.

Tap, tap.*

Tap, tap, tap.*

Tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap.*

The melodic sound of the keyboard echoed joyously again. Lu Wenbin felt uncomfortable from head to toe.

Was the copy and paste method good? Of course it was. You could say that it was quick and good because you only needed to edit the content once after pasting it. Therefore, even though there were stubborn old doctors who emphasized on typing medical records word by word, young doctors never listened to them.

Lu Wenbin had always believed that the 'copy, paste and edit' method was the most normal way to write medical records, that it was a new method that resulted from new technology, and that no one would actively go making their lives hard.

But he never thought that Ling Ran would, without hesitation, choose to type the medical record word by word.

…And that he would do so at lightning speed, as though he did not really need to think.

However, it would be very tiring to type a medical record which was a few thousand to ten thousand words or so in length word by word. Lu Wenbin kind of wanted to laugh at how naive Ling Ran was, but he was unable to do so.

'Ling Ran is still typing his medical record word by word even though he is talented, possesses good skills, and valued by the leader. What right do I have to laugh at him?'

Lu Wenbin watched in admiration and a tinge of emotion as Ling Ran's hands flew across the keyboard. He suddenly had a new understanding when it came to his medical journey.

At the same time, in his heart, Ling Ran was also overcome with emotions. 'Essays that are copied, pasted, then edited are totally blasphemous, just like dumplings with meatballs inside. Fortunately, it is not a must.'

Ling Ran wrote paragraph after paragraph at quite a rapid speed. Writing style was not important when it came to medical records, the medical records must just be written in a clear manner. As long as the medical records could be understood, it was alright if they were all spread out or incohesive. In fact, if the senior doctors were not strict, the medical records would pass even if they were just written simply.

Since the Single Skill Book Ling Ran obtained gave him all the skills related to the M-Tang technique, his ability in writing medical records related to the M-Tang technique was also Master Level. Together with the fact that he was the chief surgeon of the operation, he only needed to research some test data for the preface. It was very easy for him.

After completing the operative report section, Ling Ran checked it, and proceeded to the next section.

After an indefinite amount of time, Nurse Wang Jia walked over in quick steps. After admiring Prince Charming from behind for two seconds, she said, "Doctor Ling, the previous patient can already clench his fist a little."

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Chapter 63: Signature Smile

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In the Hand Surgery Department or the Orthopaedics Department, being able to furl a fist slightly was an indicator as a hand's recovery.

A slight furl was not exactly equivalent to a normal person forming a fist. The fingers were only required to touch the palm. The fingers should be slightly bent but not completely bent. Depending on the severity of tendon injuries, being able to gently furl a fist within twenty-four hours to three weeks post-surgery was regarded as an ideal result.

Most importantly, it indicated that the patient's tendon was basically healed, and the risk of the tendon splitting was favorably low.

With this, all sorts of active rehabilitation practices could commence, and the scope of physiotherapy activities available were wider.

Be it from a medical point of view, the patient's perspective towards his or her own recovery, or economic considerations, the sooner the patient was able to execute a light grip, the better.

When Ling Ran came into the ward, Huo Congjun was already accompanied by Wang Haiyang, a chief physician of the Hand Surgery Department. They were having a pleasant talk together as they performed the check-up.

The patient and his family were also in similarly high spirits.

The negative emotions brought about by the car accident had faded away. The recovery of his body had turned into something worthy of happiness.

Ma Wenhua was more than forty years old. His body was still in a rather good shape. He had also received Yun Hua Hospital's emergency treatment, which was of high standards. There was basically no serious sequelae left from his injury. The helicopter's prompt arrival had played a significant role. The sooner the treatment for the patient, the easier it was for the patient to recover, especially with regards to their hand function.

One hundred thousand people died each year in China due to traffic accidents, and five hundred thousand people would be wounded. But if helicopter rescues were made free or cheaper… The funds required to make this happen would probably send the Ministry of Finance into a mental breakdown.

Huo Congjun and others were more concerned about the patient's hand recovery. Yun Hospital's Emergency Department saved far too many people. Almost every day, someone was pulled back from death, but Ma Wenhua was the first patient they had ever treated using the M-Tang technique.

For any department in any hospital, the first instance of a new procedure mattered the most.

The first case of success proved that the doctors and the hospital could treat a particular type of injury using a particular method.

In terms of surgery, if a doctor could be the first in the country or be the first in the province to perform such a surgery successfully, their success would bring forth great value to themselves and the hospital.

Wang Haiyang gave the patient a Functional Performance Test and nodded at Department Director Huo, "The edema has basically subsided, and the hand is recovering very well."

The two people have always shared a healthy working relationship. When Wang Haiyang said that, it meant that the patient was genuinely recovering well.

Huo Congjun's spirits were instantly lifted, "Can he make it in time?"

What he meant was whether the patient's hand would also recover as quickly as the patient's other injuries, and that when the patient's other injuries had recovered well enough for the patient to be discharged, his hand injury would also have recovered to the point where he could be discharged.

Wang Haiyang said, "According to our Hand Surgery Department's standards, the patient can only be discharged when his or her flexion limit is less than five degrees of motion, when his or her hand strength returns to 75% of a normal person's hand strength, and if his or her ADL passes. ADL can be understood as the ability to perform daily tasks. As for this one, due to Mr. Ma not only suffering from a hand injury, the recovery of the other parts of his body also need to be considered. There may be a slight delay, but in general, it is still ideal."

"Thank you, doctor.

"We're already thankful that he can live a normal life."

The moods of the patient's family members rose further after they heard the good news.

Wang Haiyang smiled slightly. One reason he had selected the Hand Surgery Department was the potential for a strong sense of accomplishment every time the Hand Surgery Department pulled off yet another successful surgery. Whether it was a replanted arm or a tendon suture, when it was done well, the results were visible and tangible.

Although Ma Wenhua's operation had not been performed by Wang Haiyang, it was always a pleasure to see a patient recover and discard those bandages that make him resemble a mummy.

Huo Congjun had more reason to be happy. He left the ward and laughed. "Director Wang, let's check up on the patient Ling Ran operated on today as well."

"He just received his surgery today. The time is too short, you won't be able to see anything…" Wang Haiyang might have said those words, but he still followed Huo Congjun to the next ward to see the patient who had just finished his surgery.

The family members of the patient who sat in the room thanked them again. This time, Wang Haiyang basically said nothing.

As he had just said, the surgery had just ended. It was impossible for them to truly see the results of the surgery.

Ling Ran had his hands in his pockets as he followed Department Director Huo, following him as nothing more than a doctor merely accompanying his superiors on their checkup.

He has just gotten a Basic Treasure Chest due to the 'sincere gratitude' from Ma Wenhua's family. Ma Wenhua himself had already sent him two Basic Treasure Chest, and the other one was just 'colleague's praise.'

Although it only gave him more Energy Serums, they still had their uses.

"Pay more attention to the previous patient too." Huo Congjun reminded Ling Ran as they left the ward and sent off Wang Haiyang.

"Okay." Ling Ran quietly collected the pale green serum.

"You will be in charge of Bed 1 and Bed 5 for the next two days. If they recover well, we will operate on another case," Huo Congjun read his schedule out loud.

He was to perform another surgery using the M-Tang technique after three days. Huo Congjun had deliberately lightened the schedule, but it also meant that he had much trust in Ling Ran.

"Okay." Ling Ran still replied concisely. He showed neither the eagerness that Department Director Huo expected nor the fears he did not want to see.

"We can have dinner together at night, and maybe Hospital Director Zhou will come. Let's have a good chat together. At seven in the evening. Come with me." It was not a question.

There was no reason to refuse when dinner was on the hospital director plus the associate hospital director.

Ling Ran thought about it and said, "What about the ward rounds at night?"

"Let the second assistant of today's surgery do it." Huo Congjun thought about Lu Wenbin's name and added. "I will tell Lu Wenbin. You can leave on time."

…..

Night time.

The pharmaceutical sales representative, Xie Yihe, inspected the layout of the room as she said, "It's so easy for others to spread negative rumors about department dinners, so you can't make these dinner gatherings too grand anymore, and you can't choose fancy places because of it. You have to choose those small but beautiful restaurants. The food must be good, and you must take note of the details."

Xie Yihe was thirty-two years old and had just started as a business manager of Changhua Medical Company in Yunhua City. She was tough, and famous for being meticulous. She patiently reminded Huang Maoshi. "Young Huang, you were once the top model. You have such a great body. But please, for the love of god, learn to smile. You look so gentle when you smile, and it gives others a warm, fuzzy feeling."

"Sister Xie, I sell art, not my body." Huang Maoshi laughed. He was twenty-two years old this year and had already won several modeling competitions. He had happened to meet Xie Yihe by chance and was taken to Changxi Medical Company.

For him, there was not much difference between being a model and a pharmaceutical sales representative. As long as he relied on his face, perhaps showed off his figure a little, he could achieve much. It seemed like a pretty good deal to use his good looks to help him make a transition in his career life.

Xie Yihe glanced at Huang Maoshi and clicked her tongue. " I wouldn't dare sell you. But do smile more and talk less. Remember that."

"I'll remember that."

"Hospital Director Zhou is the one with real power at Yun Hua Hospital. There will only be benefits if you form a good relationship with her. You're a lady killer, don't embarrass me." Xie Yihe might have said all these things, but she was actually not worried at all.

Ever since she had pulled Huang Maoshi into the team, she could not help but laugh out loud when she saw the female leader in the hospital system.

Huang Maoshi was not a man with especially good looks. He also dressed like a pedestrian. However, after leaving the runway and returning to real life, Huang Maoshi grew to be the most handsome and charming boy Xie Yihe had ever seen.

That charm was especially apparent when he showed a warm smile and when he did not talk abruptly.

Xie Yihe used him as a trump card.

Huang Maoshi also lived up to her expectations. She sent him out several times just to eat and drink tea, and she had already earned three contracts under her belt. He could already be said to be the ace of all pharmaceutical sales representatives.

Knock knock.*

Knock knock knock*

Someone knocked on the door to the room. The waiter reminded them that the guest had arrived.

Xie Yihe quickly straightened her attire using the mirror, and then said to Huang Maoshi, "Remember, smile more, talk less."

Huang Maoshi nodded his head, though he seemed to be thinking otherwise.

The door opened. Hospital Director Zhou came in first, then Department Director Huo, and then… a Prince Charming.

Xie Yihe considered herself to be a person who had seen many things.

Huang Maoshi was already the most good-looking man she had ever seen. He had a good looking face, good facial features, good body figure and especially a beautiful smile. However, compared to the man in front of her, Huang Maoshi simply paled in comparison…

At that moment, Xie Yihe really wanted to say, "Handsome guy, do you want to be a pharmaceutical sales representative?'

After having her mind remain blank for a short moment, Xie Yihe snapped out of her daze.

Who was Xie Yihe? She was a professional woman donned from head to toe in Burberry and Cartier. So what if the man before her was handsome? So what if he was a Prince Charming?

Xie Yihe flashed a professional smile. "Department Director Huo, Hospital Director Zhou, welcome. We meet again. Hospital Director Zhou, you lost weight…"

"You can't greet only us. This is Doctor Ling, the chief surgeon in regards to M-Tang technique related surgeries in Yun Hua Emergency Department." Hospital Director Zhou was about the same age as Department Director Huo. They wore local business attire that were imitations of Chanel, and they looked incredibly sharp-witted. At that moment, she showed a motherly smile and introduced Ling Ran.

"Doctor Ling." Xie Yihe took the initiative to extend her hand and shook Ling Ran's hand before she introduced Huang Maoshi. "This is our company's sales manager, Huang Maoshi…"

Huang Maoshi stood opposite Hospital Director Zhou and revealed a confident smile.

"Let's sit down and talk." Hospital Director Zhou's gaze swept past Huang Maoshi's face.

Huang Maoshi's face expression froze a bit. He then hurriedly moved to the other side of the round table, then flashed Hospital Director Zhou a charming smile.

"Let's order some food for Doctor Ling first. Young people have a good appetite, so we will just have some simple dishes." Hospital Director Zhou was very friendly.

Huang Maoshi activated one of his most powerful skills: his signature smile resembling that of a sun.

Hospital Director Zhou smiled. "Ling Ran, do you like to drink red wine, white wine, or something else? We aren't going to have a drinking contest, just pick what you like."

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Chapter 64: MRI scan (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

They emptied their glasses three times, and five dishes were served.

Xie Yihe held a glass of red wine up and toasted with the others before returning to her spot. She smiled and said, "Hospital Director Zhou, Department Director Huo, the ruptured tendons must be scanned with the MRI. It will be very inconvenient if every single patient has to be sent to the medical technology building. When the M-Tang technique programme is launched in the future, a few cases in a day would be enough to clog up the queue. Don't you think we need to get our own MRI?"

Huang Maoshi almost sent the cola squirting out his nose, but he was still smiling. 'So generous?'

MRI machines' price range was large. There were cheap ones and expensive ones. Even if it was a domestically produced MRI machine, the starting price of each unit should cost at least 3 million RMB. If it was the imported ones with a superconducting magnet, the normal median price of each costing over 10 million or 15 million RMB sounded just right.

The sale of each machine earned far more than selling one's own body.

Huang Maoshi utilized all of his experiences he earned over twenty-two years to keep himself smiling.

In his mind, his smile was as charming as Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Beckham, the young Leonardo Dicaprio, Daniel Wu, Tony Leung, Kaneshiru Takeshi, Keanu Reeves, Johnny Depp, Edison Chen, Alain Delon, Nicholas Cage…

Hospital Director Zhou swiped her gaze over Xie Yihe's face. She then swiped his gaze over Huo Congjun's face and then subsequently Huang Maoshi's face. She smiled at Ling Ran and said, "If we purchase an MRI machine specifically for the purpose to use M-Tang technique, young Ling here will be a real big shot.

"If you are thinking of buying it, you should consider buying one for our Emergency Department." Huo Congjun guffawed before he continued, "An MRI machine is something I have always wanted. We couldn't even carry out a single MRI scan in the entire Emergency Medicine building. That can actually drag out the time we need to come out with diagnoses for the patients' medical conditions, which can be detrimental."

Hospital Director Zhou took a sip of the red wine and said, "Old Huo, this is no dinner gathering. It's a trap that you've set up for the invited, very expensive traps involving MRI machines… How about we settle for just a PET?"

"If you buy me a PET, I will finish this bottle of Jian Nan Chun[1]."

The moment Huo Congjun heard Hospital Director Zhou make him a promise, his annoyance at being called old flew out of the window, and his spirits were lifted.

Hospital Director Zhou smiled, "We only ordered one bottle of wine. What would young Ling drink if you finish it up?"

"I am just about done."

Ling Ran picked up the bottle and filled up his wine decanter before he pushed the bottle back to Huo Congjun. He could drink ten ounces of white wine and still be sober. So, drinking three ounces every day was fine for him.

Hospital Director Zhou showed her motherly smile and said, "You can drink what you want, but don't drink too much. A surgeon should not drink too much. How are you going to perform treatment if you suddenly receive a phone call?"

"Hospital Director Zhou is right, I hereby propose a toast to you."

Huang Maoshi smiled until his cheeks hurt. He decided to play all his cards. He knew that the term PET was referring to the positron-emission tomography machine. The offer price of a single unit was over twenty million RMB.

Twenty million!

If he could negotiate on behalf of Huo Congjun, he would have been willing to fill up his coke bottle with Old Village Chief wine[2] and drink it until his insides were filled with bile.

Hospital Director Zhou politely held up her glass and touched the red wine glass with her lips.

Huang Maoshi finished the liquor from his 15ml glass in a go. He felt the burn, and he hissed through gritted teeth. A few seconds later, he quickly put on another smile on his face.

'Smiles are my weapon.' Huang Mao Shi encouraged himself quietly in his heart.

"The fact that young Ling has completed the first M-Tang technique surgery in our Emergency Department of Yun Hua Hospital is something to be celebrated. Our hospital should support it. But to be honest, it's impossible for us to get an MRI machine, and it is impossible to add a new operating theater. But, it is still fine to buy a suitable microscope." Hospital Director Zhou lifted the cup towards Ling Ran, took a sip of red wine and let it swivel in her mouth for a few seconds before flashing a smile.

"Unfortunately, our Department Associate Director Pan from the Hand Surgery Department of our hospital has once performed the M-Tang technique as well. You can only consider this as a stroke of bad luck on your side. Otherwise, I might have been able to put aside some of the hospital's budget for you guys to improve your equipment."

"Our Doctor Ling and Department Associate Director Pan can both perform the M-Tang technique independently. However, the hospital only looks who performed the first case, which is unfair to our Emergency Department."

Huo Congjun went along her conversation and attacked.

Hospital Director Zhou smiled, but remained silent.

Huang Maoshi moved his position slightly to ensure that he Hospital Director Zhou could see him, but at the same time, was not in her direct line of sight.

Huang Maoshi smiled.

He was smiling with all his effort.

If smiling was like a bullet, Huang Maoshi was just like a machine gun; if smiling was like a cannonball, Huang Maoshi was just like the cannon; if smiling was like an egg, Huang Mao Shi was just like a mother hen…

"Only Yun Hua Hospital practices such a tradition."

Xie Yihe refilled Hospital Director Zhou's glass. Then she added liquor to Huo Congjun and Ling Ran's glasses. She smiled and said, "The hospitals that I know will provide whatever their surgeons want, be it money or instruments, as long as there are doctors who can come up with something fresh and new. As long as the project starts, they will just pay the cost regardless of the price, right? Just like MRI machines, our company's inspection fee is roughly between 900 RMB for the low-end machines and 1,200 RMB for the high-end machines. The Emergency Department can perform at least ten cases a day, right? You can earn back the cost for the machine in one year.."

Hospital Director Zhou smiled and shook her head.

Xie Yihe immediately steered from the topic smartly, "Let's set aside the MRI and focus on the M-Tang technique project Doctor Ling launched. Isn't this is a project that other hospitals would need to invest vast pools of resources before they can succeed? I remember that others have once told me that developing a new technique is similar to planting trees. When you plant a seed in a hospital, it needs a minimum of a few years to grow into a tree. But you will need to wait for a decade or so before you can find someone qualified to sow the seeds. That is just how rare it is."

"Doctor Ling can be considered a transplant, then."

Hospital Director Zhou smiled and continued speaking after Xie Yihe.

Huo Congjun immediately said, "Young Ling is a doctor who grew up in our hospital. His M-Tang technique is considered to be a family inheritance."

Hospital Director Zhou coughed and laughed out loud.

"You actually have the guts to say that the M-Tang technique is a family inheritance? Is there anyone who pass on the M-Tang technique as a family inheritance? You want to cut 12 fingers every year during the New Year, freeze them, and then get some practice each month?"

The smiling Huang Maoshi suddenly broke out in laughter as well.

"How can one person have 12 fingers, hahaha…"

"If I cut two of yours, I can make it 12, isn't that right?" Xie Yihe glared at Huang Maoshi. She was furious. 'This idiot… Smile more and talk less. Just which word from that phrase did he not understand?'

"As I recall, our Department Associate Director Pan often invited the experts of M-Tang technique to carry out surgeries in our hospital about three or four years ago. He was their first assistant, and he learned during the process. Accumulatively, Department Associate Director Pan has studied the technique for over three to four years. But he still went to Japan to further his studies." Huo Congjun clicked his tongue before he continued saying, "The money our Ling Ran saved is already worth an MRI machine. At the very least, it should be enough to install one more operating theater and one more rehabilitation room."

"Inviting a freelance surgeon is very costly these days. The minimum cost should be around twenty thousand to thirty thousand RMB. Let's not talk about the need to arrange for their transportation and prepare good lodging first, even organizing all the seminars would also cost a fair bit," Xie Yihe spoke on his behalf as a pharmaceutical sales representative.

Nowadays, hospitals preferred to invite freelance surgeons over to learn from their skills. It was easier to learn the essence of the techniques by inviting doctors who were good at surgery than to send a doctor of their own over to the target hospital for training. Meanwhile, freelance surgeons could earn money and act awesome while teaching others. Doctors also regarded freelance surgeons with respect. These freelance surgeons lived a comfortable life, and they could be their own selves.

However, that was far slower than poaching good doctors from other hospitals.

Hospital Director Zhou retained her smile and said, "Department Associate Director Pan's situation is not the same. It's not as if he only knows the M-Tang technique. I am in favor of getting a rehabilitation room. It is not impossible to get an operating theater as well. But the hospital cannot just refurbish one single department for your sake, right?"

"Wasn't the Orthopaedics Department thinking of adding another operating theater? I will look for old Li and bring up this topic in passing."

After saying that, Huo Congjun's goal was basically achieved. He smiled and said, "I could not care less about how Department Associate Director Pan sees it. Even if old Pan views this in a negative light, it doesn't matter to us. The Emergency Department should just perform their own duties. Using the M-Tang technique to suture ruptured flexor tendons can be considered to be an advanced technique in the entire country-no, the entire world. We should develop it first. At this time next year, you can come over to see our results."

"Okay, I wish you success when the moment arrives." Hospital Director Zhou got to her feet and clinked glasses with Huo Congjun. He turned to Ling Ran and said, "Let's have another glass, and we shall call it a day."

Ling Ran did not want to let the good wine go to waste. He looked at the remaining one-third of wine in the wine decanter. That volume should just be equivalent to the amount of three glasses. He was too lazy to pour them out. So, he picked up the wine decanter and clinked it with the glass that Hospital Director Zhou held in her hand.

Hospital Director Zhou's smile was so wide that she almost squished out the hyaluronic acid injection she had on her face last year.

Huang Maoshi imitated Ling Ran and filled up his wine decanter to the brim. He held it up with shaking fingers, mustered his courage, and closed his eyes before gulping it all down in a go. He did not forget Xie Yihe's teachings as he flashed his mouthful of neat, white teeth, tongue, and tonsils right at Hospital Director Zhou.

Everyone left the place one after another. Before getting into the car, Hospital Director Zhou spoke to Xie Yihe, "You should consider performing an MRI scan for that boy who came with you."

Translator's Note:

1. Jian Nan Chun: Is a product of Jiannanchun Winery in Mianzhu County, Sichuan Province. Basically, it is a famous brand of wine in China.

2. Old Village Chief wine: A wine that is produced in Heilongjiang, northeast China, and is a high-quality brand in the low-grade liquor of the Northeast. The taste of the wine is soft, sweet and smooth. After drinking it, one will not feel their heads painful, and their mouths will not feel dry. And there is a very comfortable feeling. It is a good quality wine.

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