Great Doctor Ling Ran

*Swish*

*Swish swish*

The sky just turned bright. The sound of someone sweeping the courtyard could be heard.

Ling Ran turned over and woke up. He thought, ‘Did dad sleep on the sofa last night? He woke up so early.’

He washed his face and rinsed his mouth on the first floor before he changed his clothes and went downstairs. He saw that the pavement had been swept until it was squeaky clean. Even the drain next to the pavement had been washed with water. Not far away, there was a slim figure at the junction who was giving it his all while sweeping the floor…

A slim figure?

Ling Ran spent a great deal of effort to recall Ling Jiezhou gradually getting fatter as he aged. He was puzzled. Could it be that someone in the neighborhood went mad?

“Doctor Ling, hello.”

Huang Maoshi, who was cleaning, heard the sound of the door unlocking, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If Ling Ran still had not come out, his waist would soon break.

In the face of Ling Ran’s puzzled look, Huang Maoshi smiled and said, “I bought some deep-fried dough sticks, soymilk, and tofu pudding. I don’t know if you like them or not but I also brought some other snacks. They’re just in the basket by the door, I’ll take them in.”

Huang Maoshi picked up the broom and ran over. He picked up a bamboo basket from the bluestone slab next to the gate of Lower Groove Clinic. Breakfast was neatly prepared in the bamboo basket. From the appearance of the outer packaging, Huang Maoshi should have purchased this at the end of the street, and the amount was enough for five or six people.

Ling Ran was stunned. He looked at Huang Maoshi with a considerable amount of surprise. Although he often received gifts, such a scrumptious and huge gift was relatively rare. In general, if girls were to send food, they would send branded food, imported food, some traditional delicacy, or homemade food. Gifting someone deep-fried dough sticks purchased from the giftee’s own alley… Boys… Boys really did not know how to give gifts.

“I represent the company in thanking you for your support.” Huang Maoshi recalled the contents of his sales course. He carefully said, “I’m here today to help you do some errands.”

“Hello.” Ling Ran looked uncertainly at the man.

He remembered that Huang Maoshi, the pharmaceutical sales representative of Changxi Medical Company, seemed a bit off in the head and that he only knew how to grin like an idiot.

Huang Maoshi kept his smile and said, “Doctor Ling, you recently purchased a lot of consumables from our company. Although they were all purchased under Department Director Huo’s name, we still know which of the products he purchased belong to you. Hence, we still give you our thanks. My arrival here is nothing special today. We would just like to express our appreciation for your…”

Huang Maoshi had gradually adapted to the work of a pharmaceutical sales representative. He especially learned the skills of how to give a deep laugh in front of female clients and a superficial laugh in front of male clients.

Even though he no longer enjoyed the glorious life of being on the runway, Huang Maoshi thought that being a pharmaceutical sales representative was more suitable for him. He did not want to work in a field that relied on youthful looks and would rather maintain some of his personal dignity.

Huang Maoshi looked at the confused Ling Ran. He then chuckled and said, “Your courtyard is really tidy and clean.”

“Oh, please come in, you can sit in the middle.” Ling Ran finally understood what he was trying to say and politely led him to the stone table in the middle of the courtyard.

Huang Maoshi put the broom beside the door and carried the big basket inside. He exchanged a few pleasantries as he put the food on the table. By the time Ling Jiezhou and Tao Ping arrived downstairs, Huang Maoshi was already completely familiar with the Ling Family’s kitchen. He not only boiled the milk, he also fried some eggs.

Tao Ping could not help but hesitate as she looked at the food on the table and watched Huang Maoshi busy himself in the kitchen. She said stiffly, “Young Ran, the ones who used to come to our house to help with the cooking were usually beautiful girls. In fact, the girl who came last time even prepared a whole fish. She’s not bad, just a little self-centered…”

Ling Jiezhou immediately heard the distress in Tao Ping’s voice. He could not help but laugh. “My dear wife, what are you thinking? This person here is a pharmaceutical sales representative. He came to our house to give gifts because Ling Ran is a doctor. You’re overthinking this.”

“It’s not what I think it is?”

“Yeah, this person is like the pharmaceutical sales representative who often comes to our clinic. Remember that one? He often sends infusion bags and helps us with the chores…”

“You’re looking at this with the wrong mindset.”

“Huh?” Ling Jiezhou was stunned for a few seconds. He was suddenly a little fearful.

After Ling Ran ate the deep-fried dough sticks in his hand, he clapped his hands and said, “I’m going to the hospital now.”

“Doctor Ling, Doctor Ling.” Huang Maoshi, who had just brought out some soup from the kitchen, quickly called out to Ling Ran. “You’re thinking about going to the hospital to continue performing surgeries, right?”

“Of course.” Ling nodded.

“I forgot to say tell you just now. Department Director Huo told me to inform you that because the ward is full, today’s surgery is best delayed until tomorrow. When some patients in the hospital are discharged tomorrow, some beds will be freed, then you can continue to perform surgeries with the M-Tang technique.” Huang Maoshi wiped his hands on the apron, looking like a househusband.

“There are no beds…” It only came to Ling Ran’s mind that the thirteen patients whom he performed the M-Tang technique on in one breath did not seem to be discharged yet. That would mean half of the patients in the Emergency Department’s observation room were his own patients.

Then, he remembered that there were five other treatment groups in the Emergency Department. The department had to have taken measures to begin adding beds.

“Hospital Director Zhou has agreed to create another operating theater. They’re modifying a room that’s already in the department. As soon as they put the bed and other things inside, and connect the ventilation system, everything will be good to go.” Huang Maoshi chuckled and said, “The renovation just started this morning. It’ll be ready in a few days.”

Needless to say, this project was also handed over to the Changxi Medical Company.

Ling Ran was not concerned about that. He just instantly felt bored because he could not go to the hospital to perform operations.

Perhaps Ling Jiezhou saw through Ling Ran, perhaps he wanted to avoid having his mindset being altered by his wife, or perhaps it was purely out of stinginess, but Ling Jiezhou called out to Ling Ran, “Don’t go to the hospital, just help out at home. There are more patients in our family’s clinic now, and there are patients sent by Golden Deer Health Services Pte Ltd who need some suturing. Let me make a call and ask Doctor Miao not to come.”

“Who is Doctor Miao?” Ling Ran asked.

“He’s a part-time doctor who specializes in suturing. He also knows how to perform absorbable sutures.” Ling Jiezhou proudly put up two fingers. He then said, “Only for this much.”

“Two thousand a month?” Ling Ran thought. ‘Even cheaper than Doctor Xiong?’

Ling Jiezhou let out a gloomy sigh and said, “Two hundred a day. How can it be possible for any doctor to be hired for only two thousand? That salary’s too low.”

At this time, Huang Maoshi came out with a heated bowl of seaweed and egg soup. He smiled and said, “Our company wanted to hire a driver, and we still had to bargain his rate of 300 RMB per day.”

“You can’t compare this with that,” Ling Jiezhou thanked Huang Maoshi and asked him to sit down before he continued, “The number of jobs available for drivers is a lot, but how many places can doctors work part-time, right? So, this is what we call market economy. The market determines the price.”

Huang Maoshi naturally did not know how to refute. He just nodded with a smile.

“In short, there’s no need for me to give any wages to any doctors today. Ling Ran, you’ll be performing the sutures.” Ling Jiezhou rubbed his hands together and was very happy about it.

“I’m doing one operation for 500 RMB or more now.” Ling Ran calmly poured himself a bowl of soup.

Ling Jiezhou immediately looked at Huang Maoshi, and the latter nodded slightly.

Ling Jiezhou was only caught by surprise for two seconds. He then laughed out loud and said ruefully, “Oh, when will our clinic be able to perform such surgery? Daddy will give you eight… six hundred for it.”