Chapter 240: Salted Fish

Huo Congjun cut an awe-inspiring figure as he stood tall at the front of the crowd before the Emergency Medicine building. He gazed ahead, as though he could see past the faraway sky.

“I’ve been seeing you on the Shanghai news lately. It was on satellite TV, right?” Huo Congjun turned to look at Ling Ran. “Do you feel like a celebrity now?”

“They interviewed me for fifteen minutes, but only broadcasted three seconds of the interview. It was really boring.” Ling Ran had been interviewed by a lot of media companies before, but this was the only satellite channel that had interviewed him. They were also the one who spent the longest time interviewing him, yet gave him the shortest screen time.

Ling Ran was not very happy about this. It was not like he had never been interviewed before, but he felt that nowadays, television channels were being more and more insincere when they conducted interviews. They were unlike the reporters he had met in the past who would tell him clearly if they were only going to give him a few seconds of screen time.

Huo Congjun was a little surprised by Ling Ran’s attitude. He turned to give Ling Ran a glance, and said, “For us doctors, the opportunity to be interviewed is a good thing.”

“I know.”

“You are still young now. Just wait until you are qualified to give consultations. By then when you get to give an interview, you would want to take a screenshot of the image on the television and stick it on your wall.”

“Hm.”

“The patient who will be sent here later is a robber. You know about this, right?” Huo Congjun went back to the topic at hand. He knew Ling Ran was an opinionated person, and did not want to continue talking about interviews.

Ling Ran nodded slightly and said, “I heard a little about it. I didn’t know whether it was true.”

“It’s true. He robbed an adult toys shop. He killed the driver of the small sedan car, along with the driver’s brother-in-law and mother-in-law. The police are also coming. One of the patient’s legs is seriously injured, and his vital signs are considerably stable.” As Huo Congjun spoke, he looked at Ling Ran and asked, “Do you want to participate in his treatment?”

Ling Ran gave Huo Congjun a strange look and replied, “Yes.”

“Oh, good.” As Huo Congjun spoke, he breathed a sigh of relief. Then, with a smile, he said, “I thought young people like you would have your own opinions about these things.”

“Department Director Huo, what’s your opinion, then?” Ling Ran suddenly threw the question back at Huo Congjun, quickly changing the direction of the conversation.

At this moment, a few doctors around them looked at Huo Congjun. From the perspective of medical ethics, the answer was very clear. The doctors only needed to treat the patient, and then let the police or the judicial system do the rest. However, social ethics was rarely as simple as that; there was always some who disagreed with a few codes of social ethics.

Everyone was naturally curious about Huo Congjun’s opinion.

When Huo Congjun saw the expressions of the people around him, he could not help but laugh. “What are you guys thinking? I used to be a military doctor. As a military doctor, even if we received orders to treat someone from the enemy’s side, we still have to do it. What is there to think about?”

“At least treating enemies will bring you good publicity. What’s the use of treating robbers like this? Isn’t it better to just execute them by shooting them on-the-spot? What a waste of medical resources.” An unfamiliar voice rang out from the back.

Huo Congjun turned around, but could not find the person who said that. Of course, he would be able to if he were to ask the other doctors, but Huo Congjun was too lazy for that.

He said flatly, “We spent so many years in medical school so that we could treat patients. If you want to become a judge, go ahead and spend ten years in law school. If you want to become an intellectual, go and get a PhD in Philosophy before talking to me.”

The resuscitation room immediately went silent.

Department Associate Director Du coughed a few times and said, “Don’t talk nonsense. What is a doctor required to do during a public emergency? Those who do not know the answer, please go back and read the textbook again. Even if a lion who is afflicted with AIDS is sent here today, you will still have to give it proper treatment, let alone a human patient.”

“Why a sick lion, though?”

“What wrong did that lion do?”

“Why must it be a lion? Can’t it be a dog?”

Everyone showed their dissatisfaction by making all kinds of comical gestures and remarks.

Department Associate Director Du said, “Because dogs are not susceptible to AIDS, and lions are. Any more questions?”

Everyone lowered their heads in unison and looked through the corner of their eyes at Department Director Huo, whose hair blew along to the breeze from the air-conditioning.

Soon, with its siren blaring, the ambulance arrived at the Emergency Medicine building’s ambulance bay.

Two strong and able-bodied male nurses charged forward and removed the patient from the ambulance, together with a pair of handcuffs and the infusion bag. They stopped for a moment in front of Department Director Huo before rushing to the operating theater.

“Me, Old Du, Young Zheng, Ling Ran… Young Zhou, and Young Zhao; we’ll be doing this together. Are the doctor from the Orthopedics Department here yet? Ask them to go straight into the operating theater when they arrive. The same goes for the doctor from the Craniocerebral Department,” Department Director Huo ordered. He looked relaxed.

From what he could see just now, combined with the information he received before this, the patient was not even near death. It would almost be an overstatement to also say that he was in a critical condition. Chances were high that the patient would survive, and as long as the patient survived, this public emergency would be considered resolved.

For a hospital like Yun Hua Hospital, it was very normal to encounter more than ten public emergencies within a year. After all, as long as there were at least three casualties or patients in critical conditions, a case would be considered a public emergency. Even accidents such as chemical leaks which involved no casualties were considered a public emergency. Even though Huo Congjun treated these emergencies with caution, he was not fearful of them. Otherwise, he would not have become the director of Yun Hua Hospital’s Emergency Department.

Ling Ran quickly entered the Operating Area and changed into scrubs.

Personally, he had a habit of showering before changing into scrubs. However, this was not a requirement, and many doctors did not have the habit of showering before entering the operating theater. Of course, there were doctors who had no choice but to shower because they were dirty. The Emergency Department’s staff had a tradition of making do with what was available. Since there were so many doctors involved this time, the number of shower cubicles would not be enough for all of them to shower. Hence, all of them changed into scrubs without showering.

Ling Ran forced himself not to think about this. He followed the crowd and took his position. Because Huo Congjun had arranged for him to operate on the patient’s foot by himself, Ling Ran stood near the patient’s feet. He had to wait for the doctors responsible for examining the patient to complete the examination and for Huo Congjun to plan the surgery sequence before he could begin operating.

“His brain is fine. You can go ahead and administer general anesthetics.” When the doctor from the Neurosurgery Department did not find any problems, he left the operating theater with leisure.

The rest of the doctors examined the patient according to sequence and reported their plans to Huo Congjun.

“External fixation of his left arm will do. Let’s use a nine-pound cast.” After the doctors from the Orthopedics Department examined the patient, they said, “This can be done last.”

Soon after as they finished saying that, the doctors from the Orthopedics Department left.

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After that, the doctors from the General Surgery Department looked at the ultrasound scans and said, “The patient’s abdominal cavity is in good condition, and was not greatly impacted. We can get to it later.”

As soon as they finished saying that, the doctors from the General Surgery Department left.

The doctors from the Department of Internal Medicine were only here to make up the numbers. Now that they have seen enough of the bustling scene, they asked to leave.

When the doctor from Orthopedics Division Two saw the lower part of the patient’s left leg, which was a bloody mess, he said, “Let’s amputate the left leg. The injury is too serious, and there’s no value in trying to salvage it.”

After he said that, the doctor from Orthopedics Division Two left. The doctor from Orthopedics Department One was then called back in.

Ling Ran was left behind, and he stared dazedly at the foot that was about to be amputated.

‘Now that the patient’s lower leg is going to be amputated, what’s the point of keeping the foot?’

Surprisingly, Ling Ran did not feel upset. Instead, he took a step back impassively and prepared to leave.

“Ling Ran, work with the doctor from Orthopedics Division One and amputate the patient’s left lower leg.” Department Director Huo gave him a new order and shouted, “Has the patient’s family been notified yet? One of you go out and notify them, and the rest stay here and perform the surgery.”

Department Associate Director Du quickly said, “I’ll go.”

Department Director Huo nodded in agreement.

Huo Congjun then looked at Ling Ran and asked, “Have you done above-the-knee amputation before?”

“No.” Ling Ran shook his head.

“Then this will be a good learning opportunity for you.” Huo Congjun nodded and said, “Amputation is also quite a particular field, especially when it comes to the stump. You have to make it cylindrical for aesthetic purposes, and you also need to make sure that it can endure wear and tear…”

The doctor from the Orthopedics Department who came back laughed out loud, “No matter how particular orthopedists are, in the end, we are just carpenters who raise our saws and exert our strength.”

“I’ll help carry the thigh.” Ma Yanlin who came in with the crowd just now took the opportunity to speak.

The orthopedist immediately agreed. “That would be great. I was worried about it just now…”

This was the first time Ling Ran had seen Ma Yanlin since he came back. He nodded at Ma Yanlin with a smile.

Ma Yanlin smiled obediently and said, “Doctor Ling, you came back at just the right time. I just bought some salted fish from home. There’s also salted dried sharks meat. It tastes good whether you use it in dishes, or to boil soup.”

Ling Ran froze for a moment. “Sharks?”

“Baby sharks, salted ones. They are quite flavorful.” Ma Yanlin immediately promoted the delicacy.

Before Ling Ran could say anything, the orthopedist said, “Didn’t there used to be pork trotters in the Emergency Department’s operating theaters? Why haven’t I seen any lately?”

Doctors from the Orthopedics Department were frequenters of the Emergency Department. When they missed the mealtimes in the Orthopedics Department, they would go to the Emergency Department’s canteen for food. After he mentioned the pork trotters, the doctor from the Orthopedics Department suddenly got hungry.

He spoke wistfully as he drew lines on the patient’s bloody thigh. “The pork legs were delicious, too. There was a time when they sold it in thin slices with the price at twenty RMB a bowl. They were cooked in steaming hot soup, and tasted incredible when you pair it with a bowl of dipping sauce.”

“That… Doctor Lu made those.” Ma Yanlin lowered his head and quietly wrapped a pneumatic tourniquet around the upper part of the patient’s thigh.

With a sigh, the doctor from the Orthopedics Department lifted the scalpel and made an incision on the lower third of the patient’s thigh, slicing open the subcutaneous layer and the fascia of the skin. He then cut off the muscle groups of the thigh a little below the point of amputation, deliberately letting them retract. He performed a double ligation before cutting off the femoral artery and femoral vein. After that, he cut open the deep femoral artery and deep femoral vein…

Every single step he took in the process of the amputation involved a large surface area. Compared to the microsurgeries Ling Ran was used to, it was more unruly by far.

Ling Ran watched very earnestly. Before this, he had always worked with smaller bones. A surgery that involved such a large bone was quite interesting to him.

As he operated, the orthopedist’s mind began to wander. He spoke again, “Did you guys know that all the prized delicacies they sell in the market nowadays are made of chicken patellas? Those made with cow patellas are also quite delicious… Sigh, Doctor Lu’s pork trotters are still the best. Isn’t he making them anymore?”

Ma Yanlin summoned his courage and said, “Salted fish is also quite delicious.”

“It’s too troublesome to cook them. Besides, aren’t they unhealthy?” The orthopedist continued. “I’ve been to your canteen a few times lately, and each time, the dishes would have salted fish in them. I’m really tired of it.”

“That’s to demonstrate to you guys that salted fish can be included in many kinds of dishes,” Ma Yanlin refuted, a little unhappy.

The orthopedist chuckled. “It’s still salted fish.”

“I… you were talking about pork trotters just now. Didn’t the canteen serve them every day, too? And they’re even more expensive…” Ma Yanlin also thought about how Lu Wenbin was making more profit compared to him.

The orthopedist scoffed. “How could salted fish compare to pork trotters? Besides, Doctor Lu also serves pork legs, chicken feet, mushrooms, and other things.”

“I also have Spanish mackerel, snappers…”

“They’re all salted fish.”

“Yellow-fin tuna, sharks…”

“They’re still salted fish.”

“Herring, ribbonfish…”

“Catch the severed fish-Catch the thigh, it’s off!”

“Alright.” After Ma Yanlin answered obediently, he felt that something was not quite right…