Great Doctor Ling Ran

The assistant Tian Qi brought along with her was wearing a pair of pointed heels, and they made clicking sounds as she walked on the floor. She looked like the White Bone Spirit. [1]

She discussed something with Tian Qi in a soft voice for two or three minutes before noting down a few things in her notebook. She then left with a solemn expression.

Ling Ran could tell that Tian Qi seemed to be really busy.

“I’m sorry.” Tian Qi sat down again and apologized. “The company that I have just acquired isn’t running well, and there are many decisions that I need to make.”

“It’s okay. Since your subordinate has already raised the problem to you, it’s better if you solve it immediately.” Ling Ran did not seem to mind. In the hospital, department directors had to treat every single problem raised by their subordinates earnestly even if they were unhappy about it. This applied even if the person who raised the problem was merely a resident doctor. This was especially true for night shifts. No one would happily make a call to seek his superior for help. Similarly, those superiors would also be reluctant to pick up calls.

Tian Qi flashed a sweet smile, and she’s obviously pleased that Ling Ran was being understanding. She looked at the sunset outside the window and the way the evening sun illuminated Ling Ran’s face. Her heart was bursting with joy.

There was so much sweetness in her heart that even chocolate could not compare.

*Click, click, click*

The clicking sounds of high heels rang out again. Tian Qi’s assistant was back.

Tian Qi looked over and saw that her assistant was gesturing at her. They had agreed upon this gesture beforehand.

Tian Qi immediately waved and called her assistant over. She leaned in and whispered, “Is it true that someone happened to get injured?”

“Yes, one of the crew members seemed to have injured his hand. He went to see the doctor working on the cruise ship, but the doctor only gave him some painkillers. He isn’t satisfied and plans to get off the ship to see a doctor. I immediately came over to tell you about it once I received the information,” Tian Qi’s assistant said in a hushed tone.

“Someone got injured, and tried to seek treatment from the doctor working on the cruise ship but failed?” Tian Qi nodded slowly and deliberately asked, “Isn’t this too much of a coincidence?”

“I feel so too. But the Security Department thinks that the risk of the secret being leaked out is low, and they had also run a background check on the injured crew member…” Tian Qi’s assistant explained the situation carefully.

“Got it,” Tian Qi answered. She did not ask her assistant to leave before she asked Ling Ran, “Doctor Ling, there’s an injured crew member on the ship. Are you interested in treating him?”

Ling Ran was full already. He put down the spoon he was using for dessert and asked, “What are his symptoms?”

“His index finger has turned black from the fingernail to the middle part, and the fingernail of his middle finger is also a little blackish,” the assistant replied. “He had gotten it checked out at the cruise ship’s clinic. The doctor prescribed some painkillers for him and suggested that he get it checked out at the hospital at the harbor.”

“Painkillers?”

“According to the crew members, the doctor working on the cruise ship prescribes painkillers all the time no matter what illnesses they are suffering from. This applies to colds, injuries, stomach pains, and headaches.” The assistant had obviously done her research.

Ling Ran was starting to take an interest in the case. “Where’s the patient now?”

“I came over here together with him in a buggy, and he had to pass by the restaurant anyway. I asked him to rest in the waiting room for a while.”

Ling Ran nodded. “Since he’s here already, I’ll go and take a look.”

Ling Ran then rose and looked at Tian Qi.

Tian Qi smiled before Ling Ran even said anything. “Since you’re done with the dessert anyway, you can go and check the patient out if you want.”

“Sure.” Ling Ran did not bother to hide his interest. After leaving the hospital for a few hours, he did miss the feeling of treating patients and performing surgeries quite a lot.

Tian Qi smiled and walked behind Ling Ran. Ling Ran was walking at a moderate pace.

The waiting room was attached to the restaurant, and its interior was beautiful and spacious. There were even a few couches in it.

Several crew members in uniforms were sitting on the couch near the door. One of them had one of his hands propped up, and he looked rather uneasy.

“Don’t be anxious. If I can’t treat you on the spot, the nearest hospital isn’t that far away.” Ling Ran looked at the patient and walked over. He sat down and explained the situation to the patient.

As expected, the crew member calmed down.

“Are your fingers injured? Let me take a look.” Ling Ran whipped out a bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizer from his pocket and washed his hands. He then turned the patient’s wrist gently and observed the fingers that had turned black.

Both the patient’s index finger and middle finger had turned kind of black, but they were neither swollen nor damaged.

“I don’t know what’s going on either. They were fine in the morning, and then they suddenly started turning black. And they’re getting blacker and blacker…” The crew member’s hand trembled as he showed Ling Ran his fingers. He then continued, “I searched about it online, and it seems that it’s quite a serious issue. Some say that it might be a heart problem, and some say that it might be a liver or kidney problem. There are even some that say that I might need to get amputated…”

Ling Ran did not continue the topic. He looked at the other party and asked, “Do you remember injuring your fingers?”

“No.” The crew member thought about it and shook his head slowly. “But I’ve been to the warehouse a few times today, so I might have accidentally touched some machines. I was very busy today and I have been running everywhere, so I might not be aware that I have injured myself.”

“Hm.”

“Is my condition serious?” The crew member carefully observed Ling Ran’s expression.

“Let me make sure of a few things and come out with a conclusion.” As Ling Ran spoke, he rotated the crew member’s wrist. He then continued, “I’m going to touch your fingers. Tell me if you feel pain.”

After he said that, Ling Ran carried out a physical examination and started inspecting the crew member’s finger bones.

He possessed a Master Level Physical Examination skill, and he had performed a few hundred finger replantation surgeries. He could detect problems with other people’s fingers without any issue.

The crew member furrowed his brow a little, but he did not scream in pain.

“You’re not feeling any pain?” Ling Ran asked.

“It hurts a little like a needle is poking it,” the crew member said hesitantly.

Ling Ran hummed in acknowledgment. He stood up and said, “It’ll be fine, then.”

“Really?” The crew member was pleasantly surprised. The rest of the crew members could not help but breathe a sigh of relief too.

“Really,” Ling Ran confirmed.

“Then… is there anything he needs to do to deal with it? Does he still need to go to the hospital at the harbor?” one of the crew members who was also in the waiting room asked. Tian Qi and her assistant, who arrived later than Ling Ran, also looked over in curiosity.

Ling Ran thought about it for a while and said, “To deal with it, you can try washing it with soap first. If it doesn’t work, you can try washing it with gasoline or alcohol… As I don’t know what the colorant is, you might need to try a few methods.”

“What do you mean?” The crew members did not understand what was going on.

Ling Ran explained things in another way. “The black thing on your finger is just colorant, and you just need to wash it off. There’s nothing else that you need to do.”

“Colorant? I’m not injured?”

“No.”

The crew member anxiously said, “But I still feel a bit of pain when I press these fingers. They feel different than my other fingers.”

“It’s because the colorant is corrosive. This is why you’re feeling a slight burning sensation which amplifies when you touch it.” Ling Ran paused for a moment and said, “It would have hurt a lot more if you were injured.”

The crew member’s fingers trembled a few times.

The people around him also smiled, and all of their smiles meant something different.

“Okay, let’s go back.” Ling Ran rubbed his belly. He decided to return to the hospital to take a look. This patient whose fingers were only dyed with colorant was not enough to satisfy him.

Tian Qi covered her mouth as she smiled. “I’ll send you back, then.”

…..

Most of the doctors at the Emergency Medical Center had already gotten off work.

Lu Wenbin, Ma Yanlin, and Zuo Cidian were still in the hospital, though.

Now that Lu Wenbin and Ma Yanlin finally had the chance to act as chief surgeons, they treasured it very much. They were unwilling to let go of any opportunity.

In tertiary Grade A hospitals nowadays, attending physicians definitely had so many opportunities to perform surgeries that they could barely finish it. However, it was extremely hard for resident doctors to get a chance to act as chief surgeons. Many young doctors who had just started working in the hospital had to wait for a long time for such an opportunity. Sometimes, even after their girlfriends broke up with them, their s*x dolls were damaged from overuse, and they had to get a new large white coat because their old one was dirty, many of them would still not get the chance to act as chief surgeon.

That was also the fate of many doctors working at the Emergency Medical Center. If it were not for the fact that Lu Wenbin and Ma Yanlin were part of the Ling Treatment Group, they probably would have had to continue acting as the first assistant for a year or two before they could act as a chief surgeon in so many surgeries.

By that time, Lu Wenbin would be an attending physician already.

Even Zuo Cidian was extremely envious right now.

Of course, he did not go home not because he wanted to participate in surgeries. It was mainly because his house was empty and quiet, and there was nothing he could do at home.

“Whoo!!”

A cacophony of cheers rang out from the operating theater’s corridor.

“Doctor Ling’s here.” Even though Zuo Cidian was inside the operating theater and he could not hear what the people out there were shouting about, he could tell what was happening from the noise and the cheers.

Soon, the door of the operating theater was opened.

“Doctor Ling.”

“Doctor Ling!”

All the medical staff members who were operating on the patient greeted Ling Ran.

The patient, who had received brachial plexus anesthesia, turned to look at Ling Ran in curiosity. Right after that, he sucked in a sharp breath.

The tired anesthetist raised his gaze and realized that the figures in the monitor were skyrocketing. He was calm as he educated himself about the situation. ‘It’s okay. The patient is a guy. I’ll just wait for him to calm down.’

“Is the surgery going smoothly?” Ling Ran walked over to the chief surgeon.

“Finger replantation surgery. It’s going quite smoothly so far. The patient is a thirty-seven-year-old carpenter,” Lu Wenbin gave Ling Ran a brief introduction.

Ling Ran nodded when he heard that and took a look without disturbing Lu Wenbin. He then turned and said to Zuo Cidian, “I’ve read the records you sent me when I was in the car just now. Lu Wenbin was carrying out M-Tang surgery at that time, and Chief Physician Tao and a few other people were watching him?”

“Yes,” Zuo Cidian replied, “I specially invited Chief Physician Tao over.”

“Was there anything special about the surgery compared with when other doctors were watching?”

“I guess Chief Physician Tao is more talkative,” Lu Wenbin answered.

Zuo Cidian agreed. “Indeed. Chief Physician Tao even explained things to the medical interns and the doctors who were doing their in-service training. He said that Doctor Lu is good at M-Tang Surgery and that he is one of the best at it in the hospital. Young Lu was smiling from ear to ear.”

Lu Wenbin cleared his throat a few times. “Chief Physician Tao is good with words.”

“I know, right? There are only two types of surgeons who are good with words: those who aren’t good at surgery and those who are retiring soon…” Zuo Cidian said meaningfully.

Ling Ran nodded when he heard that. “If that’s the case, do invite Chief Physician Tao to watch Ma Yanlin operate.”

“Chief Physician Tao explains things pretty well during surgeries.” Zuo Cidian knew what Ling Ran was implying. “Since he’s good with words, we’ll let him talk more.”