Chapter 229: The Young Doctor Wants to Go Back to Yun Hua

In the operating theater, the circulating nurse broadcasted a piece composed by Franz Liszt, and performed by Li Yundi[1].

The notes from the classical piece lingered in the air, showing how extraordinarily elegant the piano was as an instrument. The atmosphere was so classy that Lu Wenbin dropped the surgical drape.

“Are all hospitals in Shanghai so classy nowadays?” Lu Wenbin pursed his lips. He knew that the nurse broadcasted the piano music for Ling Ran. Nurses who did not know Ling Ran well always simultaneously broadcast classical music in the operating theater for him. It was quite a mystery.

The circulating nurse smiled with her usual expression. She then turned to the left, revealing the left side of her face—it looked better than her right—and asked, “Doctor Ling, what type of music do you like?”

“I’m fine with anything.” Ling Ran swayed his body slowly. He tapped the patient’s calf with his hand and pushed it with his fingers. Even though he looked a bit like an old practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine when he did that, he was actually doing a physical examination.

Ling Ran examined the calf quite meticulously. Even though his Specialist Level Physical Examination Skill was enough for him to do it well, it was not perfect. To be confident of the results, he still needed to carry out the physical examination earnestly, and perform a few more auxiliary tests while he was at it.

Of course, different doctors had different definitions when it came to being confident in something. There were weirdos in local hospitals who performed appendectomies without even checking the patients’ blood sugar levels. In tertiary grade A hospitals, there were also chief surgeons who made incisions in the wrong places.

A doctor had to be extremely meticulous when operating in other hospitals. This was what Wang Haiyang taught Ling Ran based on his experience when he brought Ling Ran along for the freelance surgery, and Ling Ran totally agreed with that.

In other hospitals, the layout of the operating theaters were different, the manufacturers of the equipment were different, and the manufacturers of the drugs were also different.

Plenty of preparation was required for a doctor operating in another hospital to be able to handle special situations. The more highly-skilled a doctor was, the more preparation he would require. After all, doctors who lacked skill would be at a loss even in their own hospital’s operating theaters, and they would not even be able to handle normal situations. For doctors like that, every single situation was a special situation.

As someone who possessed the Perfect Level Achilles Tendon Repair Technique, Ling Ran should, theoretically, be able to handle most situations.

However, as the old saying went: “The more you know, the less you understand.” The more countermeasures he knew, the more considerations he had to make.

“Alright, let’s get started.” After he completed the physical examination and glanced through the MRI scans again, Ling Ran reached out his hand and asked for the scalpel. He made an incision in one stroke before he put down the scalpel in his right hand, and extended his left index finger into the incision. He then moved his right hand towards the incision and pulled the wound open, thus revealing the operating field.

Lu Wenbin immediately operated the retractor. He stood opposite Ling Ran as his first assistant, and helped pull out all kinds of tissues.

There was a smile on his face. He, too, had been craving to perform surgery for a while.

At least Ling Ran got to be a chief surgeon for Liu Weichen’s surgery today. Lu Wenbin was extremely antsy as he only got to act as second assistant. He only felt better when he cut off a portion of the tendon with a pair of scissors.

With a smile, Lu Wenbin said, “Finally, I get to cut something off.”

“Hm, his condition is slightly better than Liu Weichen’s.” Ling Ran commented, which was rare for him. He was in such a good mood that he swayed his body.

It was really too tiring to converse with people like the leaders of the bureau, and the rehabilitation specialist. That was practically dirt compared to the joy of being in the operating theater.

Besides, the underwear sold beside Fuyuan Stadium was very comfortable indeed. Even though the price was fifty percent higher than the underwear sold in Yun Hua, Ling Ran did not care at all—he was rolling in cash.

Although Ling Ran rocked back and forth to the music, when it was time for him to pull the Achilles tendon out, his hand was as steady as that of a fat person who took out mutton slices from a hot-pot.

The Achilles tendon hung in the air and had blood on it. It was pinkish and looked a little cute. After Ling Ran yanked the Achilles tendon twice, he could see the patient’s calf muscles move along with it. Ling Ran held the needle holder and gestured in the air for a while before he found a spot that was relatively suitable for him to begin suturing.

When a surgeon was pressed for time, he could just find a roughly suitable position before he started suturing. This was because during the recovery process, Achilles tendons did not grow according to the positions the doctors want them to. This was why adhesion of the Achilles tendon happened.

So, Ling Ran’s act of trying his utmost to find the best position to start suturing was a waste of time in the eyes of some surgeons. Even though it took a lot of time, the patient would not benefit much. However, each surgeon had their own personalities, and Ling Ran was the kind of person who wanted to try his best to find the perfect position before he began the suturing. Even the assistants and nurses in the operating theater could not interfere with it, let alone the senior doctors in the demonstration room.

“I’m anxious just by seeing it.”

“I think it’s enough already.”

“Is he trimming the Achilles tendon’s ‘brows’? This is more like a cosmetic surgery. Isn’t it too much to carry out cosmetic surgery on an Achilles tendon?”

The senior and junior surgeons in the demonstration room were stealthily watching Ling Ran’s surgery. They had a lot of fun doing that.

It was the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center’s rule that all surgeons could be subjected to a spot-check if they performed surgery in operating theaters that had camera systems in it. Hence, they requested all their surgeons to follow standard operating procedures so that they could always be ready for a spot-check.

The rule was executed in such a manner: any doctor who was an associate chief physician or higher than that had the right to turn on the demonstration room and the camera systems.

Since they were in this kind of environment, all the surgeons in the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center tried their best to avoid the four operating theaters with camera systems in them while meticulously operating on their patients. As long as there were other empty operating theaters, ordinary doctors would avoid the four operating theaters which can be connected to the demonstration room.

Nevertheless, they would be left with no choice when there was an emergency surgery, or when all the operating theaters were taken.

Ling Ran did not care if anyone observed him while he performed surgery. He was already quite happy if he got to use an operating theater whenever he wanted to. Thus, all his surgeries were pretty much done in operating theaters with camera systems inside.

Even though they did not talk about it, some of the surgeons liked to watch Ling Ran’s surgeries. Surgeons were able to enrich their experience or learn lessons as they watched the surgeries carried out by other people. Surgeons were always able to garner inspiration by observing how other surgeons operate when it came to surgical methods that they were familiar with.

Unless they were totally uninterested in the Achilles tendon repair surgeries, even senior doctors were willing to watch Ling Ran operate. Apart from his smooth and seamless operation, Ling Ran also employed different surgical techniques when he encountered different types of Achilles tendons, and this was really an eye-opener for all the doctors.

There were many Achilles tendon repair methods, and the number of improvised methods, and improvised methods of improved methods, was even greater.

Surgeons usually only learn a few of them, and there were even many doctors who only learned one Achilles tendon repair method so that they could use it when the need arose. But when the surgeons who specialized in practicing the Achilles tendon repair surgery saw Ling Ran’s variety of surgical methods, the sort of burning itch they felt to try out those surgical methods was indescribable.

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It was just like when a primary school student had to do four tests that involved the chicken-rabbit math problem[2] in one day. For the first test, they could solve the problem by treating it as if all the chickens stood on one leg, while the rabbits stood on two legs[3]. For the second test, they could solve it using the ‘whistle method'[4]. When they encountered the same problem again in the third test, they could only use the ‘leg-severing method'[5]. If they were to encounter a strange variation of the chicken-rabbit math problem in the fourth test, where each animal had nine heads, they would have no choice but to solve it by chopping off all their heads!

This showed that, compared to surgeons who only knew one surgical method, surgeons who were skilled in many techniques had greater mental health; they could hardly be defeated by repeated problems or conditions. They could freely utilize their thoughts to choose the most suitable surgical method, and the freedom to use whatever surgical method they want was a joyful thing indeed.

All the doctors who had the chance to work in the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center—even those who were not as highly-skilled—all shared a thirst for knowledge.

It was very hard for those who made no effort to seek progress to survive here, for the research center was even more demanding than tertiary grade A hospitals, and it had lower pay and burdened its staff with great responsibilities. Aside from that, career advancement was also very difficult here. Even Doctor Qu who sat beside the few leaders from the Sports Bureau right now, stared at the screen with unblinking eyes.

“Doctor Ling has quite the character,” Chief Ma commented. Internally, he was actually quite fed up with Ling Ran.

This type of person who relied solely on skills and did not know how to handle politics was the type he hated the most.

“It seems like Doctor Ling is enjoying the surgery quite a bit?” The reporter’s question was more sentimental, and he felt rather excited.

lf such a handsome doctor were to possess some positive characteristics, even the news article produced would be more well-received.

Before Ji Tianlu and the others could answer, a female doctor who watched the livestream in the demonstration room said, “Doctor Ling is a doctor with extremely good mannerisms. He always finishes what he starts, and is earnest and meticulous. You should be happy for the patient that he has the chance to be treated by such a doctor.”

Reporter Wei was stunned when he heard that. ‘Why do I feel like I’m interviewing a multi-level marketing organization?’ He gingerly asked, “What is the basis of your judgment?”

The female doctor grinned. “Don’t you reporters want source materials during an interview? Aren’t you satisfied now that I have given you some?”

Reporter Wei did not know how to react anymore. “Were those baseless statements?”

The female doctor sat up straight and spoke earnestly, “You should think about it like this: If you were to have a ruptured Achilles tendon, which doctor in this demonstration room would you choose as your surgeon? Let me tell you first: associate chief physicians don’t usually carry out such minor surgeries.”

With that one sentence, she excluded the possibility of associate chief physicians, and even higher-ranking doctors who performed Achilles tendon repair surgeries. The remaining attending physicians and resident doctors were like boiled mutton that had all traces of blood washed off, and Reporter Wei could simply fish for any of them from the pot.

Reporter Wei found this train of thought quite interesting. He could not help but think about it earnestly, and he even casually wrote a few lines in his notebook.

“Doctor Han, if you have any questions, you can press that red and round button to ask Ling Ran whatever you like.” Even though Zhu Tongyi wanted to be polite when it came to handling the relationship between the research center and the bureau, he was getting rather impatient.

Han Wenlin the rehabilitation specialist did have a lot of things that he wanted to say. He even thought of what he would say to refute Ling Ran. This was why he took the initiative to come to the demonstration room to watch the livestream of Ling Ran’s surgery.

But when he saw Ling Ran through the screen, Han Wenlin felt rather diffident, because Ling Ran was as handsome as a celebrity-no, he was even MORE handsome than a celebrity.

“There’s only one patient left, right?” At that same moment, Ling Ran’s voice traveled into the demonstration room through its sound system, which was connected to the operating theater’s microphone.

Lu Wenbin answered, “There’s only one left, and his Achilles tendon isn’t completely ruptured.”

“Isn’t completely ruptured? That’s not really interesting.” Ling Ran paused for a while. He then asked, “And we will be done after that?”

“Yes.”

“Young Lu.”

“Yeah?”

“Later on, can you go out and ask Chief Physician Ji whether there are any more patients with ruptured Achilles tendons? And, if it’s possible, to send them here?”

Lu Wenbin was a little fearful. “Chief Physician Ji Tianlu? He seems pretty busy…”

“Now that we have completed Liu Weichen’s surgery, we should be heading back to Yun Hua. If we don’t carry out more Achilles tendon repair surgeries today, I don’t know when we will get the chance to do so again. Now that it’s still early, let’s seize the day and contact all the large hospitals in the city. Shanghai is so big, there will certainly be a few cases of ruptured Achilles tendons every day.” Even though Ling Ran was urging Lu Wenbin to take action, the screen that displayed the surgical field showed Ling Ran swiftly tying knots.

Lu Wenbin could only comply with Ling Ran’s request. He hummed in acknowledgement and said, “I’ll give it a try, but I’m not sure if they can find us any patients.”

“That’s true.” Ling Ran agreed with Lu Wenbin, which was rare of him in such a scenario. He then said, “Then, can you contact Department Director Huo? Notify him that we are preparing to head back to Yun Hua, and that he can start getting the operating theaters ready, and line up the finger replantation surgery cases.

“Aside from that, ask him how many vacant beds there are. After all, a few dozen beds in the research center have been vacated…”

When Han Wenlin the rehabilitation specialist heard this conversation, he stopped in his tracks.

‘Forget about it. Why should I bother myself with this kind of young doctor?’

Translator’s Notes:

A Chinese classical pianist.

An ancient Chinese math problem. For 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?

By assuming that each chicken is only standing with one leg, and that each rabbit is only standing on their two hind legs, the total number of legs on the ground would only be half the total amount. The number of chickens will then be the same as the number of chicken legs on the ground, while the number of rabbits will be half the number of rabbit legs on the ground. And thus, we can deduce the number of chickens and rabbits from there.

Assume that all the chickens and rabbits have undergone special training. On the first whistle, each of them would lift one leg. On the second whistle, they would lift another leg. At this time, all the chickens would be sitting on the ground, while the rabbits would still be standing on two legs. We can then deduce the number of rabbits based on the number of remaining legs by dividing the number in two.

If one leg was severed from each chicken, and two legs severed from each rabbit, the total amount of legs would be halved. Hence, the number of rabbits could be calculated by deducting the total number of animals from the number of legs.