Great Doctor Ling Ran

Ling Ran massaged the elderly one after another, his touch becoming more fluid as he continued.

He was already familiar with using the standard movements to perform tasks in the operating theater. The same applied to performing the chiropractic manipulation for the cervical spine[1].

Using the correct posture to perform the massage would not cause the person doing it to feel overly exhausted. The intensity of performing chiropractic manipulation repeatedly was almost similar to that of performing surgery.

While in the operating theater, Ling Ran was a man who could continuously hold himself in one position for half an hour. He was even capable of performing fifteen hours of surgery in a day while maintaining one single posture.

Of course, under normal circumstances, performing surgeries for eleven to twelve hours straight was comparably much healthier than performing surgeries for fifteen hours.

In the meantime, at the Centurial Beach Sanatorium, having to give every person a few minutes’ worth of massaging was equal to performing a surgery that lasted for a few hours.

Ling Ran had been massaging since morning until lunch hour. During that period, other than drinking water and giving medical advice, Ling Ran did not complain, nor did he have much to say. He just focused on pushing and pressing, looking just like an inexhaustible dung beetle rolling up its future with its limbs.

Doctors who came over to inspect his work gradually changed their perspectives from just an observation, to feeling impressed.

The doctors sent over to inspect by Yun Hua Hospital were deployed from various departments. Most of these doctors only heard of Ling Ran’s name; they had never seen Ling Ran perform surgery before.

They were unable to see Ling Ran in action performing surgery today as well. However, as they watched Ling Ran’s painstaking method of working the task at hand, tediously working for three to four hours without complaints about being miserable and tired, the doctors secretly whispered to each other.

“You guys, come over here and have a look at this.” A chief physician waved his hand and signaled the few young doctors he brought with him to gather around. He pointed at Ling Ran in the distance who was meticulously attentive towards performing osteopathic manipulation, and he said, “No wonder he’s so reputable that Huo Congjun treats him like his treasure. Let’s not talk about other things. In regards to his patience and perseverance alone, do you think you are comparable to him?”

The young doctors refuted helplessly, “No…”

“It’s difficult to perform surgery, and it’s much more difficult to perform surgery according to protocol!” The chief physician sighed and said, “If all of you can have thirty percent of Ling Ran’s patience and perseverance, I wouldn’t have to worry so much already. Sigh, there’s no one to carry on my legacy.”

“Sorry…”

The director only treated the voices he heard as the meowing of cats, and waved his hand around. “Enough with your pointless conversation. You already start complaining about how tired you are when I ask the few of you to operate a retractor for a few hours. You’d be crying if I were to ask the lot of you to perform osteopathic manipulation. You guys aren’t the worst that I’ve brought up. Those worse than you had been chased away to hospitals in the countryside.”

“Chief physician, we will definitely do our job well.”

“Chief physician, just witness our performances.”

“Chief physician, I have just purchased a house in front of the hospital…”

When the chief physician heard what the third young doctor said, he could not help but feel a twitch in his eyebrows. “You are actually capable of purchasing a house in front of the hospital?!”

“With the support of six pockets, I’m only able to purchase a small, old broken one…”

“Just get today’s medical cases sorted out.” The chief physician patted the young doctor’s shoulder and said, “Since you’ve purchased a house, it’s better for you to do more overtime. That should make it easier for you to pay off your house mortgage…”

“Number 2206… Number 2206…” The staff were assisting in calling out the numbers. They were only calling out the numbers on the signs.

“Coming.” An old lady stood up shakily. When she walked to Ling Ran’s side, the person in front was done receiving osteopathic manipulation from Ling Ran and left.

An office lady in her thirties or forties was looking at Ling Ran at that moment. Her eyes were gleaming.

She seized an opportunity, straightened her clothes, and followed behind the old lady to ask the personnel for a queue number.

“Doctor Ling would like to go for a meal after he finishes up with the last few. You can wait for a moment at the side. We will call you shortly when it is your turn,” the personnel explained politely. There were all sorts of people in the sanatorium, so if one could avoid offending anyone, then one should do so.

The woman nodded and thanked the personnel as she elegantly picked up her bag and went to the side to find someone to chat with. In just a brief moment, she was able to entertain a few of the elderly and keep them quite happy.

It did not take long before it was her turn.

The woman walked to Ling Ran’s side at a fast pace. After waiting for the previous person to leave, she sat down with a smile and said, “Greetings, Doctor Ling. I’m Li Lei, an agent from Blue Star Entertainment Company. Have you ever considered becoming a superstar?”

“Which part of your body hurts?” Ling Ran took out a bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizer and said, “Apply this on your neck and shoulders then.”

“Oh, alright.” Li Lei applied the liquid as she continued to speak, “Doctor Ling, your conditions are quite good. With such great skin, you don’t even need to use any make-up. You only need to apply a bit of foundation, blush, loose powder, some highlight, and a little eyeshadow, and you will be good to go on stage. By the way, what program do you normally watch?”

The Blue Star Entertainment Company that Li Lei came from was indeed a big company that was second to none in the country. It had many superstars working under it. The company was also involved in many entertainment programs. She only needed to wait for Ling Ran to say the name of her company’s program before she could conveniently start a conversation.

Of course, even if Ling Ran did not mention an entertainment program that belonged to Blue Star, she could still say other things to start a conversation with him.

Ling Ran changed a white towel and said, “The news broadcasted at seven o’clock every night in hospital’s canteen.”

The corner of Li Lei’s mouth twitched twice. “Doctor Ling, you really know how to joke around.”

Ling Ran smiled. He had surgeries he could perform while he was in the operating theater, so why would he still need other entertainment? He would only watch the television while he was having his meals, and would just watch whatever the canteen would broadcast.

“Which part of your neck is uncomfortable?” Ling Ran asked.

“I’m diagnosed with cervical spondylosis with radiculopathy. I’ve received treatment at the hospital before. Recently, I’ve been feeling uncomfortable for a certain period of time now…” Li Lei roughly explained the details. She thought it was better to cater to Ling Ran’s interests. ‘Me talking to Doctor Ling about my illness should be like how a superstar-wannabe girl likes to gossip. I can’t just talk to him about news broadcasts…’

Ling Ran only nodded. Cervical spondylosis with radiculopathy was the most common type of cervical spondylosis. To doctors, it was as normal as hearing about having a flu.

After seeing that Ling Ran did not respond to her words, Li Lei once again moved the topic back to Ling Ran. She smiled and said, “Doctor Ling, it’s really too much of a waste to see you as a doctor. I’m not saying being a doctor is not good. It’s just that being a superstar-argh…”

The part-time scout Li Lei, who initially thought only about poaching new people, suddenly had her neck grabbed by Ling Ran. Her whole body broke out in goosebumps.

Ling Ran’s osteopathic manipulation procedure was the same every time, but also different in a way. The pressing, massaging, and rubbing were all for relaxing the muscles of the patient in order to lay down the foundation for him to perform osteopathy. From there, he could adjust the dynamic balance on the neck to remove stress. And, if possible, his goal also included directing the appropriate line of force and restoring the static balance as well as the dynamic balance of the patients as much as possible.

Li Lei was indeed diagnosed with cervical spondylosis with radiculopathy—she had buried herself in her work for too long. She had also received osteopathic manipulation in the hospital before, and even had physical therapy such as traction[2]. It was somewhat effective after the treatments, but she always felt uncomfortable during the treatment.

However, the method of Ling Ran’s osteopathic manipulation had instantly given Li Lei’s neck the ease that she longed for.

There was a great deal of clinical experiences in osteopathic manipulation regarding cervical spondylosis with radiculopathy. In principle, using osteopathic manipulation to relieve muscle spasms, loosen the adhesion of nerve roots and soft tissues, adjust the volume of intervertebral foramen, relieve the incarceration of synovial membrane, and so on were significantly more effective on cervical spondylosis with radiculopathy than on other types of cervical spondylosis.

*Crack, crack, crack, crack…*

Once a series of cracking sounds came from her neck, Ling Ran released Li Lei’s neck, threw the white towel to the side, and said, “Try moving.”

“It’s… So comfy…” Li Lei stood up as she shuddered. She could not even speak with her tongue properly at that moment. The corners of her eyes were tearing up.

She heard that her mother had to get a health checkup. That was the reason she herself had rushed back here. She was fatigued from the long journey, and her neck was in a great state of discomfort since a long time ago. But when she saw Ling Ran’s face, she wanted to poach him over to her company. That was the reason she queued up.

From that moment on, she suddenly felt that her cervical spinal was no longer in pain. Li Lei only immediately understood what was going on after she came back to her senses; she only realized how much pain she was in a while ago.

“I… this is…” Li Lei turned her head around with much effort. She could not help but look at Ling Ran in amazement. “I’m telling you. I’ve really seen very capable osteopathic physicians before. Your skills… are really impressive.”

“It is not a waste for our Ling Ran to be a doctor after all, isn’t it?” Doctor Zhou already disliked Li Lei much earlier on. He had never seen an entertainment company that would come poaching all the way to Yun Hua Hospital.

Li Lei looked at Doctor Zhou from head to toe. She then turned her face away, pulled out two tickets from her bag, smiled gently, and handed the tickets to Ling Ran as she said, “We are organizing a concert tour on the day after tomorrow. These are front row seats for the concert in Yun Hua’s venue. You can come have a look and listen to the concert.”

Doctor Zhou was so envious that his eyes almost popped out.

Translation Notes:

[1] Chiropractic manipulation for the cervical spine: A common technique utilized by chiropractors for many patients who complain about neck, upper back, and shoulder/arm pain, as well as headaches.

[2] Traction: The application of a sustained pull on a limb or muscle, especially in order to maintain the position of a fractured bone, or to correct a deformity.