Great Doctor Ling Ran

Li Lei walked with her Gucci leather shoes on and carried Celine plastic bags filled with all sorts of items. She stood in front of the courtyard of Ling Ran’s house pridefully. There was an urgent tone in her voice. “Doctor Ling, you haven’t replied the message I sent you on WeChat. I can’t get to you through phone calls too. I was even thinking about going to your hospital to look for you…”

Ling Ran looked at Li Lei with a cold, expressionless face.

He was not a man who was good at chatting. Based on his own experience, as long as he looked at the other person, the person always told him the information he needed. He did not have to trouble himself with making small talk at all.

As expected, Li Lei felt helpless for a moment. She spoke further only to find that Ling Ran did not intend to respond. It was then that she finally said, “Doctor Ling, we would like to invite you to a house call[1]. Is it okay with you?”

Patients in the courtyard, Doctor Miao, and Nurse Juan Zi looked at them curiously.

In the current era, the rate of doctors and nurses going out on a house call was very low.

The chances of having a person knock on a doctor’s door to invite him or her to a house call were even slimmer.

The old folks from Lower Groove had already started making up their own stories.

Ling Ran did not think too much of it. He only responded with a curt, “No.”

Li Lei was stunned for a moment as she said, “I’m sure you’ve figured out that I’m here to invite you on a house call for someone, right?”

Ling Ran thought about it and nodded slowly.

He was still able to remember Meng Xue’s trapezius muscles and the great number of experience points she provided. Meng Xue scored really high on both standards of a pretty lady and that of a humanoid treasure chest.

Li Lei was even more puzzled, so she asked, “So… does that mean you still refuse to do a house call?”

From her perspective, a young man like Ling Ran should be willing to come into contact with a beautiful lady even if it meant that he would not get any money from it. Besides, Meng Xue was a superstar who was famous throughout China.

If it were not because of how even the old hospital director from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital was unmatched when it came to Ling Ran’s skill in massaging, she definitely would not have looked for Ling Ran.

In fact, if it were not because of the schedule for the recent concert being too tight, causing Meng Xue’s muscles to become too sore, she would not have tried to approach and invite Ling Ran to massage her.

As the saying went, when the water subsided, the rocks emerged. It was not a wise choice to hire a handsome doctor over to her home or her company for a house call.

The people at the Blue Star had also come into a disagreement during the process of weighing the pros and cons of the situation. However, the only thing that they never considered was Ling Ran actually rejecting the offer.

Li Lei stared at Ling Ran for a long while before she said, “If you’re thinking of playing hard to get, then you’re way over your head. Even though you’re…”

Li Lei had been an agent for a long time. The most common tactic she used to handle those outside the circle was the comparison tactic. She would say things like “there are a large number of handsome men and beautiful women in the entertainment industry” and so on, but when she looked at Ling Ran, she felt a little embarrassed to lie right to his face.

Ling Ran shook his head gently.

“Is it because of the medical fees? How much do you want?” Li Lei tried another time.

“It’s because I’m running out of time.” Ling Ran did not let her continue with her blind guesses. He gave her the answer straight away.

“Time?” Li Lei was a little confused. ‘What time?’

“My bedtime,” Ling Ran said.

“It’s not even eight at night. You’re telling me it’s your bedtime?” There was another sentence in Li Lei’s heart, which she did not utter. ‘Which planet are you from?’

She was normally out and about late into the night. Her “peak hour” only started at nine in the evening. She would remain lively until one or two o’clock in the morning before she slept. So, eight o’clock at night was…

“I have surgery at three in the morning.” After Ling Ran gave her an answer, he began to appear a little impatient because he took out his phone and said, “If there’s anything else, we can talk about it tomorrow. I’d like to play my game now.”

Li Lei spent a few seconds to interpret three in the morning as 03:00 before she came to a faint understanding.

‘This guy’s a reverse night owl!’

“Doctor Ling. We can offer you a sum that amounts up to five digits, and this isn’t a one time deal either. In the future, if you go on a house call once a week, all expenses including your transportation to and fro will be covered by us. How does that sound?” Li Lei did not plan on offering so much in the beginning, but she could not care so much now.

Ling Ran had already gone to his very own lounge chair. He let out a long sigh soon after that and said, “You don’t need to offer me that much. You can just tell her to come over to the clinic. Osteopathic manipulation will only take a few minutes. If it’s convenient for me, I’ll just do it straight away. As for the fee, I’ll just charge her according to the clinic’s rate.”

“Are you… trying to help Meng… save money?” Li Lei was annoyed and amused at the same time.

*Timi…* The sound of the game being booted came from Ling Ran’s phone. Li Lei saw that Ling Ran’s attention was about to shift.

An idea occurred to Li Lei in her moment of crisis, and she stomped her foot. “Doctor Ling, if the patient is in so much pain that she wants to die, would you still insist on not accepting a house call?”

Ling Ran cast her a strange glance and said, “If the patient is in great pain, would the patient insist on not coming to see a doctor?”

Li Lei opened her mouth but found herself speechless.

“Patroness, do not be agitated. Have a melon so that you can quell your anger.” The young novice monk, Dong Sheng was rubbing his eye with one hand and holding a plate of watermelons with the other as he came out from the small wing on the ground floor. However, the plate of watermelons were leftovers from the previous night.

Li Lei looked at the terrible-looking watermelons. How could she have the appetite for them? However, because Dong Sheng was young and adorable, Li Lei patted his head and said, “Young master, say—”

“Patroness, it is my bedtime already. I shall go get some rest.” Dong Sheng could not help but yawn. He gave a not-so-properly-executed greeting and went back to the small wing.

Nurse Juan Zi snickered. She had been standing by the side listening to other people’s business with her plump ears the entire time. ‘While Dong Sheng was in the temple, he had to get up at five in the morning every day to attend morning classes.’

Children slept for long periods of time. In order to wake up at five in the morning, they would need to sleep at seven at night.

Li Lei was flabbergasted. Then, she raised her head to look at Lower Groove Clinic’s signboard.

‘Are all the young novice monks so special these days?’

“Doctor Ling, let’s contact each other on WeChat.” Li Lei could say nothing else but this.

Ling Ran nodded in agreement. He seemed to be a little occupied with his task at hand. Suddenly, he stopped tapping the screen furiously with his thumbs. Ling Ran gently put the phone on his lap and said with a smile on his face, “I’m usually at the hospital. I suggest you look for me there.”

Li Lei smiled. There were many pairs of eyes in the hospital. It was impossible for Meng Xue to go to that sort of place.

There was nothing to talk about that night.

The next day, Ling Ran drove to Yun Hua Hospital while the moon and stars still shone brightly in the sky. He performed two surgeries with the M-Tang technique and completed three cases of finger replantation surgeries in one go. He also received one Treasure Chest as a result of a Patient’s Sincere Gratitude. He received an Energy Serum after he opened the chest. After that, he went back home, poured himself a cup of tea, and switched on his laptop. He then started to smash the buttons on his keyboard.

After performing hundreds of surgeries with the M-Tang technique, Ling Ran had also slowly formed his own ideas.

He performed the two cases of M-Tang technique that day based on how he usually operated—letting his assistants perform the incision and the suture. Not only were there no issues, but the outcome was also not bad. And it was precisely the good outcome that reminded Ling Ran of something.

Was Ling Ran supposed to teach Lu Wenbin and Ma Yanlin the detailed steps as well as things to pay attention to regarding the M-Tang technique? Then he would have to spend an insane amount of time to do so!

Ling Ran would rather write a thesis to solve this problem thoroughly and carefully.

As he sat in front of his desk with the scenery outside the window—which he often saw—right before his eyes, Ling Ran typed the title of his thesis seriously. [The Key Points of the M-Tang Technique: Exploration of XXX Cases Using the M-Tang Technique.]

The number that was going to replace XXX in the future had to be accurate. Ling Ran had made up his mind that he would only fill in the specific number when it was time to publish the thesis.

“Doctor Ling, have some melons?” The novice monk came to his room with a full plate of fruits on his hands. Ling Ran heard him because of the thudding from his slippers.

“Just place it on the windowsill.” Ling Ran typed swiftly. He wrote two paragraphs in one go before he stopped.

“Doctor Ling, I have some questions about the osteopathic manipulation you taught me a few days ago.” The novice monk kept his hands still. He looked so obedient.

Ling Ran nodded slightly and said, “Come and give me a massage. We’ll talk about it while you massage me.”

“Yes.” Dong Sheng was very happy. He quickly took out the alcohol-based hand sanitizer he prepared and wiped it on his hands. Soon after, he pulled out a white towel and covered it over Ling Ran’s neck. He began to perform osteopathic manipulation methodically. While he was carrying it out, he asked, “My first question is about the pulling method…”

Ling Ran listened to the young monk’s question, but he did not answer immediately. Instead, he tapped the Enter key several times before he wrote another title for another research paper. [The Key Points of Chiropractic Manipulation for the Cervical Spine: Exploration of XXX Cases Using Spinal Back Manipulation.]