Chapter 507: Renovation

Ding Zhong, the second son of the Ding family sauntered to the waiting room beside the ICU.

As family members of patients were not allowed to enter and exit the wards in the ICU at will, all members of the Ding family gathered in the waiting room and waited in agitation. They were like ants on a hot pan, and looked toward the door every time there was the slightest movement.

“Brother, what’s going on? Why was there suddenly so much bleeding?” The youngest daughter of the Ding family was almost forty years old, and she was the first one to speak out.

“What’s going on? Why the heck would I know?” Ding Zhong’s expression was dark as he muttered a reply in annoyance to avoid being responsible for what had happened. He then continued, “They said that dad’s condition is complicated, and there was major bleeding during the surgery. Apparently he lost more than 135 ounces of blood…”

“Other people only lose 3 or 33 ounces of blood during surgeries. Why did dad bleed so much?”

Ding Zhong took a deep breath and muttered in annoyance again, “Because the specialist we hired wasn’t able to control things. That’s why the major bleeding happened. They said that there would be some kind of complication. You guys can ask the doctor in charge about it when the surgery’s over.”

Ding Zhong did not talk about how Feng Zhixiang merely guided the surgery. He was only able to hire Professor Feng Zhixiang through his friend, and now that he recalled carefully, Professor Feng did not make any promises that he would personally operate on Ding Fan.

To put it bluntly, now that everything was said and done, Ding Zhong did not have the intention to make a big deal out of it as long as his father was in a considerably stable condition.

Even if he were to make a big deal out of it, the only thing the hospital could do was to offer monetary compensation. And Ding Zhong did not want to put his friend in a difficult position just for this money.

Ding Fan’s sons and daughters looked at one another, and his youngest daughter who was almost forty years old asked again, “Then, what’s the situation now? Will dad be able to get better? Will there be any sequelae?”

“Why would I have any idea?” Ding Zhong shook his head. He stopped for a moment before he continued, “Do you guys remember Doctor Ling, the one who was supposed to operate on dad? Be on the lookout for him and ask him about it when he’s around.”

“What do you mean by this?” The other sons and daughters of the Ding family knew Ding Zhong very well, and they only needed one look at Ding Zhong’s expression to know that something was going on behind the scenes.

Ding Zhong hesitated for a long while before saying, “I heard that when the major bleeding happened during the surgery, Doctor Ling was the one who stopped it. He also ended up taking over the surgery.”

“Doctor Ling took over the surgery? Is he the super handsome doctor?” The Ding family’s youngest daughter was extremely astonished.

Ding Zhong nodded. “This is what I heard.”

“We spent money to hire a doctor who’s inferior to Doctor Ling?” Ding Fan’s other sons and daughters got annoyed.

Ding Fan’s youngest son was especially annoyed, and he furrowed his eyebrows.

He was the one who objected to hiring a freelance surgeon to operate on his father the most. The only reason he admitted his father into Yun Hua Hospital was because he had heard a lot about Ling Ran. Besides, one of his colleagues’ father received hepatectomy in Yun Hua Hospital, and the colleague had very high praises for Ling Ran.

However, there was nothing he could do as the Ding family’s second son, who was the richest among Ding Fan’s children, insisted on hiring a renowned doctor from Beijing.

‘Look what happened now…’

The Ding family’s youngest son could not help but say, “We knew from the start that Doctor Ling is very skilled. Why did we even hire a professor from Beijing? He’s a seventy-year-old man. How good could he be?”

Ding Zhong was extremely anxious and troubled as he said, “It just happened to unfold this way. The professor from Beijing is definitely pretty skilled too. I mean, at the end of the day, he’s a professor from Beijing, right? He was perhaps tired from the journey, and we got unlucky…”

“Brother, how could you say something like this? We are talking about dad right now. Unlucky? Why don’t you go ahead and bear all the bad luck by yourself?”

Ding Zhong furrowed his eyebrows. “Don’t take that tone with me. Do you know how hard it was for me to hire Professor Feng? At the end of the day, he’s still a specialist when it comes to hepatectomy.”

“A specialist who’s less skilled compared to a junior doctor in Yun Hua Hospital?”

“Doctor Ling isn’t a junior doctor.” Ding Zhong did not feel like talking anymore. “Whatever it is, I’ll prepare a red envelope. Inform me when Doctor Ling comes over.”

“Do you really think that giving Doctor Ling a red envelope will solve matters?”

“Is Doctor Ling really that skilled? He’s way too young.”

“Should we ask a lawyer about this?”

The members of the Ding family started discussing, but they were unable to come out with a conclusion.

At the same time, Ling Ran was driving his Volkswagen Jetta home. As usual, the car engine was making loud noises.

The second half of today’s surgery was the most difficult situation Ling Ran had ever encountered in his career as a doctor. This was because Yun Hua Hospital only covered a certain number of the population, and the number of patients they could find was limited. Hence, they were unable to provide Ling Ran with cases that was challenging enough to him. Most importantly, if Ling Ran were the chief surgeon of a patient, he would not have allowed this kind of complication to arise either.

Ling Ran could not help but feel tired after the surgery.

Instead of consuming a bottle of Energy Serum so that he could carry out more surgeries, Ling Ran chose to leave the hospital and go home. Even though it was quite a waste of time, the ICU was almost running out of hospital beds anyway.

Ling Ran reduced the speed at which he was driving a little, and he was only driving at 80% of the speed limit. Even so, the engine of the tiny Volkswagen Jetta was still making loud noises.

The large sign with the speed limit—twenty five miles per hour—glittered under the moon. Ling Ran was driving quite slowly, but it only took three or four seconds for the sign to drift out of sight.

Ling Ran nodded his head rhythmically as he drove at a uniform speed. He was in such a good mood that he looked like a Formula 1 fan driving a racing car.

The red, yellow and blue lights outside Lower Groove Clinic illuminated the faces of the people who were gathered in the courtyard of the clinic.

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The courtyard was so lively that it was as if a festival was being celebrated.

Ling Ran raised his head. ‘The moon is full and bright right now, so it’s definitely late at night. Why are there still so many people in the clinic?’

Ling Ran opened the door and saw that a bunch of people were sitting in the courtyard, with Ling Jiezhou in the middle.

“I’m back,” Ling Ran said in a soft voice, just like how it was back in the old days.

Ling Jiezhou straightened his back and tapped his round belly as he chuckled. “Hey, son, you’re home. Your mom’s upstairs.”

Ling Ran hummed in acknowledgement and walked up the stairs. He saw that a bunch of people were sitting beside the tea table on the first floor. His mother, Tao Ping was sitting opposite the stairs, and the one making tea was… Tian Qi?

Tian Qi wore a Chinese-style cotton shirt. She looked gentle and elegant as she poured tea into all the teacups on the tea table.

Tian Qi raised her head and saw Ling Ran.

“Ling Ran, you’re back!” Tian Qi rose excitedly and waved repeatedly. The elegant aura she exuded a moment ago disappeared without a trace.

The middle-aged women around the tea table turned and squinted as they sized Ling Ran up.

“I’m back.” Ling Ran repeated what he said to the bunch of the people downstairs just now, and could not help but wave back at Tian Qi.

Tian Qi was smiling so brightly that her eyes curved into little crescent moons. “Come and have some of the tea I made. Oh, by the way, I made these teacups too.”

As Tian Qi spoke, she turned and took out a tiny teacup the size of a wristwatch from the small Hermès briefcase behind her. She then placed the teacup on the tea table in front of her.

The guests on both sides of Tian Qi obediently shifted aside so that Ling Ran could take a seat.

Ling Ran hesitated a moment before walking over and sitting down. The guests beside Tian Qi and Ling Ran had the good sense to shift even further away from them.

“These teacups are made using a lumber kiln. I sought out Mister Feng when I went to Jingdezhen last month to make these teacups. I made six of them, but one cracked during the baking process.” Tian Qi started laughing as she spoke, and she made making teacups sound like a lot of fun.

“Mister Feng is very renowned.” Tao Ping spoke on Tian Qi’s behalf and continued, “Young Qi only made these teacups because she knows that I’m into pottery. It’s such a tiring thing to use lumber kilns, and the process would get you very dirty. It costs a lot too, and most people nowadays wouldn’t be willing to do that. Besides, all of the lumber kilns owned by the Feng family are hidden deep in the mountains, and Young Qi was stuck there for quite a few days.”

Tian Qi chuckled as she gazed at Ling Ran and said, “Doctor Ling is always stuck inside operating theaters for a few days too, it’s nothing. Besides, I bought a lot of nice food and drinks over, so things were quite convenient.”

Ling Ran lifted the teacup and gave the tea a try.

As he often drank tea together with his mother, he could tell good tea and bad tea apart.

“Is it good?” Tian Qi asked Ling Ran, a little curious.

“It’s pretty good.” Ling Ran nodded.

“These are Iceland tea leaves I got from our family’s storeroom. If you like it, I can get more of them.” Tian Qi smiled as she spoke and poured Ling Ran another cup of tea.

Ling Ran was feeling a little thirsty, and he drank the entire cup of tea in one go before savoring its aftertaste.

Tian Qi refilled his teacup.

Ling Ran took the teacup and drank the tea inside before he slowed down and looked around. He then realized that Doctor Xiong, Doctor Miao, and Juan Zi were still downstairs.

Ling Ran could not help but ask, “Did you guys extend the opening hours of the clinic?”

In the past, Juan Zi would definitely have gone home early to exercise and try to slim down.

“That’s not the case. We’re discussing about the renovation of the clinic.” Tao Ping chuckled.

“You guys are renovating the clinic?” Ling Ran was astonished.

“Doctor Miao has made quite a name for himself when it comes to cosmetic suture, and our neighbours often come over to seek treatment or purchase medicine. So I was thinking about renovating the clinic so that we can build a more professional operating theater.” Tao Ping sounded mighty as she said that, and that was because she was confident after she had earned a lot of money.

When Ling Jiezhou who was downstairs heard the commotion upstairs, he yelled loudly, “When my father was still alive, he said that the only thing I’m not allowed to change is the plaque. As for the rest, he hoped that I can make as many changes as possible when I have the ability to do so!”

“After a few of our neighbors heard of our intention to renovate the clinic, they feel like renovating their shops too. This is why we’re having a discussion about it.”

“The revenue of the businesses in Lower Groove has been steadily increasing this year. We’re calling out all business owners to renovate their shops so that Lower Groove will be able to compete with other streets,” a neighbor who was around Tao Ping’s age said. She was the owner of a small gift shop.

“I don’t know about how the shops in other streets are doing, but shops in Lower Groove are making more and more money.”

“We lost out to Upper Groove a little last year, but we’re doing better than them this year.”

The neighbours continued chattering away.

Ling Ran quietly drank tea as he listened to them. He was feeling quite relaxed.

He had lived for more than twenty years in Lower Groove, and he was actually kind of anticipating the changes that were about to take place there. The excitement he was feeling was about one-eighth of the excitement he would feel if Bumblebee were to come over.

Tian Qi quietly made tea for Ling Ran. She felt so relaxed that she even found the moon outside the window more beautiful than usual.