Chapter 493: Self Improvement

At four in the morning, the spider plant dropped onto the money plant, and the vines of the money plant twirled around the spider ivy. They looked like they were intimate lovers spending a passionate night together.

Even though the hospital was dead silent, all the doctors and nurses in the Emergency Medical Center who were on night shift looked like they were about to embark on a fierce battle. All of them were well-dressed and were waiting quietly.

*Vroom, vroom, vroom…*

The loud sounds of a car engine rang out from the open space in front of the hospital.

Everyone straightened their backs and raised their heads without being aware of it.

“Doctor Ling probably got conned when he bought his Volkswagen Jetta. That engine is at least five years old.” Zuo Cidian was warming his hands up by inserting them in the opposite sleeves, and he looked like he was in the middle of a snowstorm. He was sniffling as he spoke.

Nurse Niu, who was beside Zuo Cidian, got annoyed. Like the straightforward middle-age woman she was she stated, “Doctor Zuo, if you have a cold, go and stand at the back. There’s no need for you to stand in front of other people and shield them from the wind.

“Going along with the wind feels great, and the more you submit yourself to things, the more pleasurable it is.” Zuo Cidian was the kind of person who could blurt out dirty jokes at will. He skillfully evaded the attack and retorted, “I just can’t stand this evil wind that blows in the middle of the night. Who would have thought that summer could be so cold too?”

“It’s not the first time you’re waiting for Doctor Ling at four in the morning.”

“That’s why I called it the evil wind. Besides, isn’t Doctor Ling pretty loaded? Why doesn’t he get a new, better car?” Zuo Cidian looked totally puzzled.

“I know that you got yourself a Mercedes.” Nurse Niu got even more annoyed. She pursed her lips and said, “If Doctor Ling were to express his desire to drive a good car, people would be queueing up to buy him one. He doesn’t even need to spend his own money for that. There’s even a possibility that two years down the road, he’ll be marrying a woman who gives him a good car as part of her dowry.”

Su Mengxue’s eyes brightened when she heard that. “I can ask my family members to buy a good car as part of my dowry. My mom told me before that…”

Another young nurse beside Su Mengxue, too, nodded violently. “If Doctor Ling were my man, I don’t mind buying a good car as part of my dowry, either. I don’t even need a betrothal gift!”

Zuo Cidian could no longer stand listening to the conversation; he had even reached a point where he no longer felt cold anymore.

“Your relatives would definitely shun you for this. I’ve never heard of women asking their parents to buy extra dowry for them.” Zuo Cidian felt a little diffident after he said this, so he nodded at Zhang Anmin, who was standing behind him. “Don’t you think so?”

“I… I guess?” Zhang Anmin chuckled self-deprecatingly.

He was thinking about nothing other than freelance surgeries right now.

And Zhang Anmin was extremely certain that Ling Ran would be bringing a group of people to the Second People’s Hospital of Wuxin City tomorrow to carry out freelance surgeries.

Before this, when Ling Ran was in the First People’s Hospital of Wuxin City and the Second People’s Hospital of Wuxin City, he had carried out hepatectomy on more than a hundred patients who were suffering from hepatolithiasis. Now, all the patients were being discharged one after another. Not only did none of them pass away, but all of them enjoyed amazing prognoses.

Because of this, the two hospitals were really confident in Ling Ran’s abilities.

Truth be told, the first time Zhang Anmin heard about this, he thought that it was a false rumor.

First of all, it was almost impossible to be carrying out hepatectomy on so many patients without any resulting fatality. Even though hepatectomy was not a death sentence, if a surgeon were to carry out hepatectomy on around thirty or fifty patients, one or two of them would die for sure. The only reason Zhang Anmin could think of to explain this phenomenon was that Ling Ran picked patients who were likely to have a good prognosis to operate on.

This was because when it came to hepatectomy, it was extremely rare for there not to be a single fatality out of more than a hundred patients who were not handpicked.

However, whenever there was a discrepancy between theory and reality, the right way to go was to put one’s faith in reality.

And reality showed that both the First People’s Hospital of Wuxin City and Second People’s Hospital of Wuxin City were extremely eager to invite Ling Ran over for freelance surgeries.

Whenever they had patients suffering from hepatolithiasis, their first choice would be to have Ling Ran over to operate on those patients.

As hepatectomy for patients with hepatolithiasis was a scheduled surgery and it had a large room for negotiation when it came to the dates, the Second People’s Hospital of Wuxin City acted fast and gathered ten of those patients at one go. These patients would be enough to occupy Ling Ran for two days. At least, this was what the people of the hospital thought.

Zhang Anmin’s thought process was even simpler.

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The Second People’s Hospital of Wuxin City offered to pay Ling Ran 6,000 RMB for each freelance surgery, and also paid for his business class bullet train tickets to and from Wuxin City as well as an executive suite in Hilton Hotel for him alone.

6,000 RMB was not considered much, as doctors who were qualified to travel to other areas for freelance surgeries charged at least 5,000 RMB per surgery. Even if they were not actually charging this sum of money, they would pretend to ask 6,000 to 7,000 RMB from the hospital before offering a friendship discount and charging them 3,000 RMB.

However, to prevent the other freelance surgeons who were travelling to the hospital from hiking up their prices, the Second People’s Hospital of Wuxin City only offered 6,000 RMB per surgery for Ling Ran. They compensated him by gathering a large number of cases.

Of course, to Zhang Anmin, the most attractive part was the sum of money the Second People’s Hospital of Wuxin City offered to Ling Ran’s assistants. The first assistant was paid 800 RMB per surgery, and the second assistant was paid 200 RMB per surgery. This was considered very generous. Similarly, the assistants would also get business class seats on the bullet train and their own suite in Hilton Hotel. The Second People’s Hospital of Wuxin City was really giving Ling Ran and his team a lot of face.

They were obviously trying to please Ling Ran by treating and paying him and his assistants so well.

From what Zhang Anmin knew, Department Director He Yuanzheng never brought anyone other than a few subordinates to whom he was extremely used to working with along with him during freelance surgeries.

However, Zhang Anmin was pretty sure that Ling Ran was experiencing a shortage of manpower in his team. Based on his experience, he could see that none of Ling Ran’s subordinates were actually qualified to act as assistants when it came to hepatectomy. However, due to the massive number of hepatectomies Ling Ran had carried out, his subordinates became somehow used to it. Zhang Anmin found this very astonishing.

Zhang Anmin stole a glance at Zuo Cidian. He knew that Zuo Cidian was like the butler of Ling Ran’s treatment group, and had a say in terms of who would be joining Ling Ran for the freelance surgeries. Because of this, he did not dare to offend Zuo Cidian.

“Doctor Ling is here,” someone said in a hushed tone, and everyone immediately got into formation.

Zhang Anmin drew his legs closer together, and there was an earnest expression on his face.

A doctor could never have too much respect for the leader of his treatment group.

“There are quite a lot of surgeries scheduled for today, so we’ll get started an hour earlier than usual. Hmm, have you guys got the first patient ready?” Ling Ran asked the moment he walked through the door and nodded at everyone.

Zuo Cidian quickly said, “Everything’s ready. As usual, Su Jiafu’s the anesthetist.”

“Su Jiafu again? Doesn’t he need to sleep?” Ling Ran was astonished. For the past few weeks, Ling Ran had been consuming a bottle of Energy Serum almost every week so that he could carry out more surgeries. Ling Ran was a little concerned over the fact that Su Jiafu, who did not have the privilege of gaining strength from Energy Serums, could show up in the operating theater at his beck and call.

Zuo Cidian did not find it strange. He said, “All anesthetists are like this. Don’t worry about it.”

Ling Ran nodded slowly and said, “If there’s nothing else, let’s wash our hands and get started.”

After Ling Ran said that, he walked toward the operating theater. Everyone else followed him.

He operated on one patient, and then another.

He carried out two hepatectomies, an M-Tang surgery, and an Achilles tendon repair surgery. He then carried out another hepatectomy…

Zhang Anmin acted as the first assistant for two of the hepatectomies and the second assistant in the other. This made him extremely dizzy and tired. However, by noon, he was brought back to the operating theater of the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, this time as the chief surgeon.

Zhang Anmin was totally confused.

Ling Ran said gently, “Doctor Zhang, don’t you remember our pact? That I’ll guide you when it comes to hepatectomy, while you’ll guide me when it comes to cholecystectomy…”

“Oh, I remember…” Zhang Anmin could not help but feel a little embarrassed when he recalled them. “Doctor Ling, why don’t you act as chief surgeon?”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind acting as an assistant for a few more surgeries.” Ling Ran did not seem to be in a rush.

*Ding.*

Ling Ran could hear the system’s notification.

[Mission: Self-improvement]

[Mission Details: Obtain Cholecystectomy (Novice) through your own practice.]

[Reward: Basic Treasure Chest]