Great Doctor Ling Ran

Pan Hua had been rushing to a couple of different hospitals for the past few days.

Keio University Hospital had a considerably prestigious reputation, especially in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Therefore, it could also be regarded as a world-class hospital. As the second-in-command of the Orthopaedics Department in Keio University Hospital, Hashimoto Shiro often treated patients from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Vietnam, and so on.

Patients of the Orthopaedics Department who had power and money in Changxi Province naturally wanted to ask Hashimoto Shiro to take a look at their condition after they met him.

Hashimoto Shiro’s skills were really up to standard, and neither did he have any sort of stress brought forth by these patients’ condition. He just had to write a few prescriptions as well as personally carry out a hip replacement surgery, and he would already receive unanimous praise.

Pan Hua followed Hashimoto as his first assistant, and he was considered a familiar face. He was also recognized by the leaders of several National Health and Family Planning Systems.

After a fulfilling three-day trip, Pan Hua returned to Yun Hua Hospital and was in a good mood.

He admitted that Ling Ran was much more talented in the M-Tang technique, and his skills in the area were better than Pan Hua’s at the moment. However, being a doctor did not only involve performing surgeries but also communicating with different parties. It was important to build relationships, too. In addition, Ling Ran only knew how to suture using the M-Tang technique; he was, at best, only a capable specialist.

Pan Hua sat back in his seat, which was very familiar to him, looked around, and found himself remembering this atmosphere fondly.

The Hand Surgery Department was the superior department in Yun Hua Hospital. It was unlike the Emergency Department where all of its doctors were in a large open office. Each director or chief physician had his own small office. Although the associate directors did not have a separate small room, there were some green plants as big as half a human body, which separated their work space. It was both spacious and somewhat private.

The most important thing was, each associate director was surrounded by junior doctors of the same treatment group, making it easy for the associate directors to manage his group, and also making it easy for the associate directors themselves to receive praise. It was a very humane system. When some chief physicians had nothing to do, they liked to head to these treatment groups and enjoy themselves.

Pan Hua had stayed in Hashimoto’s hospital for a very long time, and every day, he had to kiss Hashimoto Shiro’s *ss. Only occasionally did he have the opportunity to kiss the professor’s *ss. He was physically as well as mentally exhausted, and was in need of some spiritual nourishment.

He leaned back and relaxed in his chair. With a push of his feet, his office chair drifted out to the area surrounded by green plants. The junior doctors’ ears immediately perked up.

“It’s still comfortable being back in the country. I don’t have to think about how to say things in Japanese and I don’t need to greet every single person I see.” Pan Hua reclined back in his chair. With his neck supported, he looked at the ceiling and opened a conversation.

“The Japanese are too fake.” The attending physicians next to him played along.

“Exactly. The doctors have to even bow to the patient. Seriously, once all of them enter the operating theater, the patients are still at the mercy of the doctors,” Pan Hua pursed his lips and casually put out a sarcastic comment.

“Do the Japanese mess around in the operating theater?” the associate director next door asked.

“Their operating theaters are monitored. If the special patients with money and power made a request, their families can even watch the surgery…”

“That means one could mess around in an unsupervised operating theater?” The associate director smirked.

Pan Hua finally registered what he was trying to say. He chuckled and let out a satisfied sigh. “It’s still better to be in my own country. After going abroad for training, my sense of humor is completely drained.”

Several junior doctors who did not manage to join the conversation just now quickly joined in with a chuckle or two.

Pan Hua stretched lazily and ridiculed himself, “Who knows how many patients have been snatched by the Emergency Department during my leave this time.”

“Once you get back, they won’t be able to grab any.” One of the doctors chuckled to show his support.

“Hmm…” Pan Hua paused for a few seconds and asked, “How many cases of flexor tendon suturing has he completed in the past few days? Ah… I’m talking about that Ling Ran.”

No one wanted to answer him, because it would undoubtedly cause them to be the recipient of Pan Hua’s bad mood. The junior doctors around him remained silent.

“Young Tie, you tell me,” Pan Hua chose a person.

“That would be… twenty-four cases.” Young Tie was an attending physician who was brought up by Pan Hua. He scratched his head and answered in resignation.

“Oh…” Pan Hua kept his astonishment hidden, putting his hands into his pocket before he clenched them.

On average, six cases of flexor tendon sutures were performed every day. Frankly speaking, Pan Hua never thought anyone could take on that many flexor tendon suturing cases.

Even if the six cases of flexor tendon suturing were all single-finger sutures, six cases in a day could really wear out the surgeon, even more so when the same number of surgeries had to be performed four days in a row.

Not to mention, one would feel like fainting if one were to wear microscopic glasses all day. Even if the eyes could take it, the ears and brain would resist.

However, Pan Hua had seen Ling Ran’s surgery videos, and knew that he performed at a pace of four or five surgeries a day. It was not impossible for him to imagine Ling Ran adding another surgery to his daily workload.

No, it was still hard to imagine.

Pan Hua’s concept of a diligent chief surgeon was someone who took up three cases of flexor tendon suturing a day. Four cases would already be considered pushing one’s self, while taking five cases could be described as the surgeon reaching his limit. Even if the chief surgeon wanted to do more surgeries, the hospital would not usually arrange so many operations for him or her.

In fact, a chief surgeon would not usually request for five cases a day. A chief surgeon for flexor tendon sutures would usually be at least forty years old, and standing for ten hours in a go was plain torture.

Pan Hua suddenly paused in his thoughts for a bit.

“Ling Ran’s twenty-two years old this year?” Pan Hua recalled and asked.

“Yes.” Young Tie looked to his sides. When he saw that no one else wanted to answer, he could only respond, feeling himself to be a pitiful person in the process.

He truly felt aggrieved. He replied to a question that everyone knew the answer to. Why did he have to be the one to suffer Pan Hua’s fit and rage?

Pan Hua’s heart was full of complex feelings.

The forty-year-old, middle-aged man knew his own body the best.

Twenty years ago, Pan Hua could also stand and perform surgeries for ten hours or more a day. It was a pity that he only had physical strength but not skill at that time. At that time, he had been so happy he felt as if he had eaten a three-pound crayfish for free just standing for ten hours a day operating the retractor, carrying out aspiration procedures, occasionally tying knots, and suturing some skin.

The first five years of Pan Hua’s life as a surgeon was basically filled with tying knots given to him as consolation and suturing skin as a reward for his efforts.

“Let’s go and see Ling Ran’s surgery.” Pan Hua stood up, put on a white coat, and left.

Young Tie was stunned. He quickly walked to keep up with him and said, “Director Pan, you’re just going like that?”

“I’m not even going to the ward, can’t I go into the operating theater to take a look?” Pan Hua did not stop in his footsteps.

Doctors often wandered between different operating theaters, especially doctors who were extroverts. During an operation, if the doctors felt bored and could not sit still in the waiting room, they would rather do something similar to a party crash and stroll into other operating theaters.

General tertiary grade A hospitals had their operating theaters constructed on one floor for easier management, and that floor would be known as the surgical floor. The same was applied to larger hospitals. If the business volume of a department had the ability to expand and take up an entire floor, that department would then get a floor of operating theaters.

The country was quite lenient and generous with their investment in capital infrastructural construction.

However, regardless of big hospitals or small hospitals, doctors wandering hither and thither into other operating theaters were a frequent occurrence. Whether the doctors did it out of boredom, to learn certain surgery techniques, or to find out the situation of other departments, it was difficult for the hospital to prohibit such behavior.

Pan Hua arrived at the Emergency Department’s operating theater and asked for a scrub before he barged in.

The people in the operating theater rushed to make a call to Huo Congjun before they silently followed Pan Hua.

Ling Ran was operating in full swing in the operating theater.

Pan Hua’s arrival inevitably urged Ling Ran to operate more.

There were many patients with injured flexor tendons that could be found “respawning” on the map known as Yun Hua each day. He could enjoy them all to himself at the moment, but that did not mean he could enjoy it forever.

Ling Ran’s main idea was to farm as much as possible and to open as many treasure chests as possible.

In addition, Ling Ran was becoming more and more skilled. Nowadays, the time he took to complete six flexor tendon surgeries was almost the same as the time it took to complete five of them before. Hence, Ling Ran chose to be in the operating theater all day long and only went back to his dorm to sleep at night.

Pan Hua looked into the operating theater from the outside for a few minutes. Shortly after, he opened the door and walked inside.

Ling Ran looked up and only nodded. He did not say anything.

Pan Hua was too lazy to greet him as well. Hence, Ling Ran performed the surgery, Pan Hua observed, while the others were just there to watch the show.

“Scissors… Hemostatic forceps… Gauze.”

Ling Ran only spoke occasionally. He would devote all his attention to the surgery, causing this operating theater to be completely different from other operating theaters, which were filled with chatter and laughter.

Lu Wenbin and the others were also used to it. They just bent their heads and worked.

Ling Ran felt extremely happy.

His favorite environment was not one where he was alone, although he did not hate it.

However, when it came to what he liked, Ling Ran’s favorite scenario was one where there were many people around him, but everyone remained quiet. There would be no talking, only obedience and order.

There were always some doctors who liked the operating theater. There were also some doctors who hated the operating theater, and there were also others who only treated it as a normal workplace. For Ling Ran, the operating theater was a sports field where he could act at will. Of course, this stadium forbade any noise, running and tumbling around, chattering, sweating, and spitting…

Both Ling Ran and Pan Hua did not speak. The assistants felt even more pressured as the atmosphere was heavy. Even their breathing became tense.

Pan Hua had seen Ling Ran’s surgical procedures countless of times.

When he observed Ling Ran in action, he found the scenario familiar. He only noticed some minor differences in comparison to the videos he watched. He even knew what Ling Ran was about to do or use next…

However, it was precisely because of this that made Pan Hua even more shocked.

Surgery was the epitome of “practice makes perfect”. Surgery techniques were not like kung fu secrets. In this advanced age of information, those who wanted to see surgery could always do so, but those who could actually perform it were rare.

Ling Ran had completed nearly one hundred cases of surgeries using the M-Tang technique up to this point in time.

Surgeries of such quantity and quality could not be ignored in any country or region.

Pan Hua looked at Ling Ran as he effortlessly and skillfully operated on the patient. Pan Hua could imagine how Ling Ran secretly performed his number of surgeries during the time Pan Hua had left for his in-service training, and he knew that Ling Ran would only continue to perform more surgeries using the M-Tang technique in the future.

Six operations a day meant that one could complete one hundred cases, maybe one hundred and twenty cases or even more in a month…

While Pan Hua could access advanced technology and medical concepts in the world every day when he was in Keio University Hospital, he might not even be able to complete six sets of surgeries using the M-Tang technique when he was in Keio…

*Hiss.*

Pan Hua opened the door and left the operating theater.

“Huh? Aren’t we going to watch anymore?” Young Tie was a little stunned. He then turned his head around and smiled stiffly at Ling Ran before he rushed out of the operating theater.

“Young Tie.” Pan Hua waited at the corridor outside the operating theater.

“Associate Director Pan.”

“All of you need to fight to do more surgeries. I can still stay in the country for a few days. In these few days, I’ll try to guide all of you, especially you. Then, I’ll be going back to Japan to continue my training,” Pan Hua said emotionally. He sounded quite sentimental.

If he had guided all the junior doctors like Young Tie much earlier, he reckoned that Huo Congjun’s Emergency Department would not have been able to perform these surgeries using the M-Tang technique, and it would be much less so for Ling Ran, who was a young doctor who only knew one surgical technique.

Young Tie was all too happy. He nodded quickly and said, “I’ll stay in the hospital for the next few days, then.”

“Not only for the next days. While I’m away in Japan for further training, you’ll also need to be on call twenty-four hours a day to await further orders from the hospital. ”

“Huh? Twenty-four hours?”

“What? Can’t do it?” Pan Hua said coldly, “When you were the chief resident, didn’t you need to be on call twenty-four hours in the hospital?”

“That… I’ve already moved from being a chief resident…” Young Tie’s voice became softer under Pan Hua’s gaze. “Associate Director Pan, I was still single when I was a chief resident. I have a wife and a child now. I would likely become single again if I were to stay in the hospital for twenty-four hours every day…”

Pan Hua listened to the point he was filled with anger and disgust, but he could do anything but say in resignation, “Then go home for a few hours a day and cheer your wife up.”

“Associate Director Pan…”

“What now?!”

“I still have to help my kid with homework, prepare meals, as well as do some cleaning like washing the clothes and what not…”

“Will there be an end to chores? Do you know how hard the Japanese doctors work?”

“Yes, yes… But that’s mainly because my wife also has a job…”

As he listened, Pan Hua sighed and said, “All right, let me teach you something. Go back and ask her whether she wants to have a promising doctor as her husband or someone who will only be a worthless attending physician for the rest of his life as her husband. Tell this to your wife nicely. Women are understanding and reasonable.”

“All right.” Once he received the guidance of a respected senior doctor, Young Tie gained more confidence. He followed Pan Hua out of the building and noticed that he wanted to catch a cab. Young Tie enthusiastically said, “Associate Director Pan, are you going home? My car’s parked in the basement. I can send you home.”

“I’m not going home. Let’s go to Hilton Hotel.” Pan Hua nodded slightly.

“We’re going to see Mister Hashimoto now?” Young Tie had a strange gaze.

Pan Hua felt it was necessary for him to explain his actions, and he whispered, “I’d like to stay in a hotel today.”

“Huh? Even after all the trouble you took to come back to the country, aren’t you going home?”

“Why do you sound like my wife?” Pan Hua asked in anger, “Such a nag. I’m still working even though I’m back in the country. It’s not like I’m back for a vacation.”

After a pause, Pan Hua recomposed himself. He chuckled and said, “Young Tie, let me tell you, if a man wants to excel in his career, he has to have a firm will, an indomitable spirit, and not always listen to his wife. Even if he’s driven out of his house, what’s the big deal? We’re staying in Hilton Hotel.”

Young Tie just hummed in acknowledgement and said, “Associate director, with my current salary, it won’t be enough for me to stay in Hilton Hotel.”

“Look further into the future.” Pan Hua patted Young Tie on the shoulder and said, “I often lived in a guest house in the past. After that, I even lived in my brother-in-law’s house. It’s all right, just hang in there till you rise to become the associate director in a few years. Then, you can stay in Hilton Hotel if you want to. And if you feel like staying in Sheraton Hotel, you can as well…”