Great Doctor Ling Ran

“Doctor Ling…

“Doctor Ling!

“Doctor Ling…”

Whenever he walked through the ward, Ling Ran would always be the doctor who was easiest to remember.

Lu Wenbin had his arms crossed while he followed Ling Ran on his ward rounds. He watched the patients and their family’s attitude towards Ling Ran. His envy made Lu Wenbin train until his muscle fibers were damaged to induce muscle growth. Plus, the circumference of his arms had also increased. His arm circumference had recently snuck past the 15.3 inches mark. It was Lu Wenbin’s proudest achievement and also the biggest gain after he came to Shanghai.

Since he lived next to the stadium, even if work was hard, the intensity of work was high, and time was tight, as long as he was willing to train, he could always find a few minutes to do so. For example, when he passed through a corridor with no one around, he could put away his gel pen and do a set of one-arm handstands. While he wrote his medical cases in the room, he could pick up the dumbbells and do several sets of Dumbbell Flyes. When he had spare time during lunch, he ran to the stadium as his warm up, then tried to do a few sets of barbell squats.

“Doctor Lu,” the patient shouted again. After a few seconds, Lu Wenbin was jolted out of his stupor.

‘He called me first?’

Lu Wenbin was inexplicably surprised and turned around to look. It was the discus thrower athlete, He Xiufang, who just had a surgery the day before yesterday.

“How has your rest been?” Lu Wenbin was very amiable. In this day and age, girls who did not go after boys for their looks were good girls.

He Xiufang nodded. “I slept well, ate well, and I’m comfortable. Do you want some braised eggs?”

She lifted the lunch box beside her, and it was a box full of braised eggs.

“You eat so many eggs?” Lu Wenbin let out a surprised bark of laughter.

“They’re braised eggs. When we train, the coach usually gives us hard-boiled eggs.” He Xiufang pointed at the table and said, “There are also drumsticks and shrimp, but they’re not as tasty as the eggs.”

“Can shrimps be braised too?”

“The coach said that they’re fresher than the ones sold in the market. But they won’t taste as well if they’re braised.”

Lu Wenbin felt as if a burden had been released from his shoulders [1]. He took up a braised egg curiously and put it into his mouth. He took a gentle bite and immediately flashed a wry smile. “Is this even a braised egg?”

Eggs that were not properly braised were like bad sequels to good movies, like dying a chow chow’s hair to make it look like a panda. Would it taste like a panda when it was eaten? Lu Wenbin gave it a bad rating, and another one, and yet another one with a picture to show how angry he was.

“My coach’s culinary skills are only up to this level.” He Xiufang grinned and bore the insult. Then, she turned around to put down the lunch box. She twisted her 176-pound waist and made the bed creak.

After Lu Wenbin heard that the coach was the one who cooked it, he disliked it even more. “It’s not as good as the ones sold outside. The braised eggs made by a bumpkin would taste better than this.”

“Our athletes can’t simply eat anything outside. Furthermore, the things in Shanghai are also quite expensive. We save whatever little bit we can,” He Xiufang replied naturally and handed the lunch box to Ling Ran. She asked, “Doctor Ling, would you like one?”

“No thanks.” Ling Ran shook his head slightly. All the yoghurt he brought on his person had been handed out as he did his ward round.

“I’ll go back and cook some braised eggs for you to try. I’ll also have your coach look at how it’s done. With the way he cooked these eggs, he’s just wasting the hard work of the hens.” Lu Wenbin became quite emotional. He was very passionate about the matter.

He Xiufang laughed. Her mood became much better after her operation.

The number of beds in the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center was fewer, but the area was not small. A whole single room was given to He Xiufang. It was brightly lit, the interior was clean, the ventilation was especially good, and the room was odorless. The facilities there were also extremely convenient.

Zhu Tongyi originally wanted to learn from foreign countries and turn his research institute into one where family members were not required to provide nursing care to the patient. However, he quickly failed due to national conditions. The equipment were still there, though, so it made the patients quite comfortable.

He Xiufang also felt more relaxed than when she was in the sports team. After she went through the torturous phase, which inevitably arrived post-surgery, her mood improved. She did not need to get up early for training, and she also enjoyed the high-protein diet that was requested of her after her surgery.

“I’ve seen your MRI scan. You’re recovering very well. If you follow the requirements of the rehabilitation process strictly, it’s very likely that you can continue training after four months.” Ling Ran based his medical advice from Liu Weichen’s recovery, which served as his chief source in this case. If, under similar circumstances, Liu Weichen could recover up to 92%, then He Xiufang would not be any worse. Plus, she was now only in the third day after her surgery. She still had three to four months worth of rehabilitation. She would not completely recover to the state before she was injured, but it would not be too dangerous for her to continue her high-intensity training.

Most athletes would often not pay much attention to warming up their Achilles tendon before they suffered from Achilles tendon ruptures, especially young athletes who often competed without adequate warm-ups due to a variety of reasons. Even so, their Achilles heels could still withstand high pressure until the day their bodies grew old and their muscles were exhausted…

The athletes who had their Achilles tendons ruptured before would generally warm up their Achilles tendons when they were about to utilize them. Therefore, even if their Achilles tendons did not fully recover, without overburdening it, they could still function with an Achilles tendon that had recovered up to 90%. In fact, an Achilles tendon that had recovered up to 80% was already enough for them, especially for non-confrontational competitions such as discus throwing, sprints, and the lot. In those competitions, the players would not suddenly increase the pressure on their Achilles tendons because of their opponents, hence, the safety level was relatively higher.

Once she heard what Ling Ran had to say as a doctor, He Xiufang was naturally very happy. Her coach who went out to wash the dishes came back and also gave him numerous thanks.

After they went out of the ward, Lu Wenbin asked, “Will there be any problems if you tell them so directly that she’ll recover well?”

“If there’s no problem with rehabilitation, there’ll be no problem,” Ling Ran gave an affirmative answer.

He performed the entire surgery. Hence, he had the confidence to say such words.

“But everyone’s playing it safe nowadays,” Lu Wenbin reminded him.

Ling Ran hemmed as a reply and said, “There wasn’t any problem with the surgery, and there’s no problem with the prognosis. If there’s no problem with rehabilitation as well, she’ll be fine.”

Ling Ran’s certainty stunned Lu Wenbin. When Lu Wenbin first graduated from medical school, he seemed to be the same as Ling Ran. Later, he gradually adopted the ways of the world.

“Next is Room 9 and Room 10. Both house the two athletes we operated on yesterday. One is a high jump athlete, and the other’s a basketball player. Room 13 houses a short basketball player.” Lu Wenbin looked at the notebook in his hand and introduced them to Ling Ran at the same time.

Ling Ran hummed again as an acknowledgment. He put away the Sincere Gratitude Treasure Chests he just received from the system, and with the smile of a doctor, he walked into another room.

“Hello, how do you feel today?” When Ling Ran smiled, he gave others a refreshing feeling, and it seemed to improve the drop rate of the treasure chests.

The high-jump athlete obediently provided the Treasure Chest. The tall basketball player had more problems because he could not feel at ease. The short basketball player waited until Ling Ran stepped out of the door before he gave his Treasure Chest…

After finishing the ward round, Ling Ran’s total number of Treasure Chests reached eleven. Ling Ran was satisfied with the number and was prepared to continue accumulating more of them before he opened all of them in one go.

Ling Ran then looked at the overcrowded corridor in the ward and said, “Since there are no more problems, let’s pack up and get ready to go back.”

“Oh, all right.” Lu Wenbin had seemingly expected it.

The four athletes who were sought out by Academician Zhu Tongyi were all treated, and the results of their surgeries were also good. If they had to wait for the next wave of patients, they would most probably have to wait for quite some time since they would definitely not arrive in the next few days. It would be better to go back to Yun Hua Hospital and wait until there was a chance to perform surgeries before coming back again.

The skills Ling Ran currently mastered still allowed him to stand in a strategic position. Academician Zhu Tongyi had previously not been able to hire surgeons who had his level of skill, regardless of whether they were from the country itself or from overseas. For a short period of time in the future, he would still not be able to hire them.

Plan A had to receive a certain degree of recognition, and someone had to want to promote the surgery. Only then would Zhu Tongyi have the opportunity to reach out to surgeons who were easier to manipulate than Ling Ran but whose skills were not necessarily better.

The Surgical Department’s pyramid was absolutely deformed. It had multiple tips. When one reached the tip, there were often only a few masters of that particular surgery. If the person in the front did not leave, the people behind him would not even find a sufficient number of patients to practice their skills.

Ling Ran was currently the only doctor who had performed Plan A. Ling Ran would always be the best choice for Zhu Tongyi unless he rejected the surgery or had a very excessive request.

Therefore, Ling Ran could safely leave the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center without worrying about being replaced.

The most important thing was, there were only one hundred and eighty beds in the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center. Now, they had added fifty-five extra beds, and there was no room for him to stay. Ling Ran stopped after he performed a total of eleven operations yesterday and the day before yesterday. There were three extra beds for patients by other doctors.

The number of beds in the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center had reached its limit.

Even if it was a general hospital with extra beds throughout the year, if there were one hundred and eighty beds in a department, the department could only add a maximum number of one hundred extra beds. Only a few extremely-crowded departments could double the number of extra beds. Once he considered how patients who had Achilles tendon ruptures, flexor tendon injuries or severed fingers would need to be hospitalized for a long time, Ling Ran felt embarrassed about using up all their extra beds too.

“Book a night flight, and we’ll leave after we’re done with the patient who’s coming in today. We’ll carry through to the end,” Ling Ran said in a very responsible manner.

Lu Wenbin got the message. “I’ve bought a ticket for nine o’clock at night. We’ll arrive home at about twelve. If we sleep for a while, we can start performing surgeries in Yun Hua Hospital tomorrow morning.”

Ling Ran’s lips twitched, but he still nodded. “All right, let’s just sleep for one night.”

Lu Wenbin let out a gentle sigh of relief. He was not afraid of Ling Ran performing an overnight surgery. He was afraid that Ling Ran would do an overnight surgery and give himself a holiday the next day. After all, Yun Hua Hospital had two more assistants, Ma Yanlin and Yu Yuan. He had finally widened the gap between them and himself. His efforts could not go up in flames just like that.

Translator’s Note:

[1] Because it means he doesn’t have to braise shrimps now, which means less work in the kitchen, more time evrerywhere else.