Great Doctor Ling Ran

At eight o’clock in the evening, Lu Wenbin woke up and looked at his mobile phone. He refreshed his WeChat and found that there was no news from Ling Ran and the hospital. He then went back to sleep with his mind at peace.

In the past two weeks, he had only slept for around five or six hours a day. Right then, his need to repay his sleep debt was very strong.

However, this was how working in the hospital was like. The doctors who finished their housemanship would generally have to take two or three-night shifts per week. If the hospital happened to be busy tertiary grade A hospitals, a night shift would mean that they had to work overnight. They even had to work during the day as well, and when they added the ward rounds and other related work for the day, it meant that they were required to work twenty-four to thirty hours in one go. This would happen once or twice a month. Working for more than ten hours every day was quite common.

In hospitals where chief residents were installed, life was even more difficult for doctors who wanted to be promoted to attending physicians. Becoming a chief resident was said to be training in hell for a doctor. It would usually last for about ten months. During this period, the doctor would basically stay all day long in the hospital. When doctors were sleepy, they would find a place to close their eyes for a while before their phones blew up. They would then take some gastric medication and continue working. The frequency and intensity of their workload were not much lesser than Ling Ran’s.

As to whether this was inhumane or not… the hospital itself would definitely pretend to be oblivious. As of that time, the public regarded doctors as a class enemy, and the only ones who could save them were the doctors themselves. Hence, this created an even larger gap between the rich and the poor in the medical profession.

Under the current system, the senior attending physicians’ lives would get better once they had accumulated enough experience and reached a certain level in technical skills. Doctors who had done hundreds or thousands of operations were rare in any hospital. They were unlikely to be exalted, but they could live by. Once they became second-string doctors, the intensity of their workload would not be higher than that of construction engineers.

Associate professors and chief physicians, who were ranked above attending physicians, would live more comfortably as their income was relative to their position. The most important thing was that they would already have a certain status and prestige. It would be even more delightful for them if they were in good departments of good hospitals.

Lu Wenbin only felt a tinge of delightfulness when he slept until he woke up naturally.

The pleasant feeling lasted about ten seconds before Lu Wenbin felt fear assault him.

‘What time is it?’

He quickly went to find his mobile phone and looked through his text messages as well as phone logbook. He was shocked to see that he had woken up at five in the morning and actually slept for more than twelve hours.

He looked at the missed calls and text messages on the phone; there was none from Ling Ran.

Lu Wenbin breathed a sigh of relief and lay back on the bed. But shortly after, he was filled with puzzlement.

‘We had a full day off yesterday. Doesn’t Ling Ran want to put any new operations into his schedule?’

Lu Wenbin pondered as he looked at his mobile phone. While he looked at it, he could not help but laugh to the point he began to wheeze.

…

Ling Ran also had a good night’s sleep at home. He then gave himself a day off.

As long as he notified them one day in advance, the visiting patients with severed fingers would be directly referred to the Hand Surgery Department. Hence, Ling Ran’s treatment group could take a break and rest.

The Emergency Department currently had more than seventy patients with severed fingers. There was a long way to go before they met the requirements to be discharged from the hospital. Before the new ward was fully renovated, Ling Ran was still free to choose whether he wanted to do any surgeries or not.

There was also nothing that Ling Ran was required to do in his home clinic.

When Ling Ran got up in the morning, he sat on the reclining chair and looked at the sky. He listened to the complaints of the old patients around him, played with his mobile phone for a while, and looked at the surrounding green plants as well as flowers.

After Tao Ping woke up, she went downstairs. She saw Ling Ran’s lackadaisical demeanor, and she could not help but be overjoyed. She grabbed her husband’s arm and said, “Look at Ling Ran. He’s just the same as he was in university. He always enjoyed lying down in the courtyard while he was growing up… Sigh, now that I think about it, if Ling Ran hadn’t attended university and just stayed home to help, it would have also been nice…”

Ling Jiezhou had a headache after he slept until the sun was high up in the sky, but it immediately disappeared because of fear. He quickly added, “Listen to your own words. Why should a man linger about doing nothing in his house? Please don’t be unhappy about it… You said this yourself… If you ever mourn this, I was to hit you and give you a wake-up call.”

“Then hit me.” Tao Ping craned her neck.

Ling Jiezhou chuckled. “It’s just empty words. But look, Young Ran studied in a university in Yun Hua, and his current work is also based in Yun Hua. He can come back home during the weekends. It’s already near enough.”

The persuasion paid off. Tao Ping nodded, turned around, and sighed again. “I remember how Ling Ran was when he was in elementary school and middle school.”

Ling Jiezhou quickly participated. “What happened when he was in elementary school and middle school?”

“At that time, the house bustled with activity. Do you still remember? Every week, there would be girls who would come to our house with some kind of excuse, while some boys would also put on indignant looks and come to our clinic. Now that I think about it, the most interesting times were when Ling Ran was still in primary school. Some boys had tests of courage, and they got you to give them injections. Do you remember?”

Ling Jiezhou could not help but smile from the nostalgia. “How can I not remember? When you took out the syringe for drawing blood, man, those kids ran away so quickly!”

“There were also girls from other schools who came to our house to play with Ling Ran…” As Tao Ping spoke, she said sentimentally, “Didn’t we do something like a weekend party for our son back then?”

“Yeah. Fortunately, the parents of those students knew to give gifts, or else, Ling Ran would have been taken advantage of by his female classmates.”

Tao Ping and Ling Jiezhou looked at each other and smiled as they conversed.

Ling Ran was holding his phone when he felt a chill down run his spine. However, he could not be bothered to turn his head around to look.

He stood as stiff as a board for a few minutes before he suddenly relaxed and made a long exhale.

“Son, take care of the clinic today.” Ling Jiezhou’s voice suddenly appeared behind him.

Ling Ran abruptly turned back. “What do you mean take care of the clinic?”

“Your mom and I will be going out for dinner. We’ll be coming back later.” Ling Jiezhou was dressed in formal attire. He wore the Longines watch he bought at the time of his marriage, and he looked very flamboyant.

Tao Ping was dressed up in an even more extravagant manner. She wore a small, black nightgown and a pearl necklace. She was dressed beautifully. When she walked out, she casually waved at Ling Ran. She said, “Young Ran, you’ll find some leftovers in the refrigerator. Go ahead and have the ones that can be eaten. If they can’t be consumed, just throw them away. ”

Without waiting for Ling Ran’s answer, Ling Jiezhou and Tao Ping exited the main door. After a while, Ling Ran saw a round-shaped beetle speeding away.

Ling Ran lifted his phone to eye level again. He suddenly felt inexplicably bored.

“Doctor Miao, can I help you suture a patient?” Ling Ran approached Doctor Miao, who had bags under his eyes. He was ready to familiarize himself with the instruments and do some work to boost his confidence.

Miao Tansheng, who looked like someone who had experienced a lot of hardships in life, replied hoarsely, “The patient hasn’t been sent here yet.”

“I know. I’m just saying that once the patients arrive—”

“I can finish the suturing myself,” Miao Tansheng refused firmly.

Miao Tansheng’s absorbable sutures were not bad. They were basically good enough to meet the various requirements for patients who sustained injuries from accidents. He would receive three cases or more from Golden Deer Health Services Pte Ltd every day. After removing the cost as well as splitting the profit by forty and sixty percent, he and the clinic earned quite a lot.

Therefore, he did not want to give any patients to Ling Ran.

Ling Ran could only leave the treatment room. He moved on to Doctor Xiong and asked, “Is there anyone in the neighborhood who needs an osteopathic massage today?”

“Didn’t you just perform osteopathic massages a few days ago? Your dad mentioned before that you should charge your signature massages higher. Since you’re not doing it regularly, just do a little from time to time. If you truly turn it into a regular business, there are several people in the neighborhood who will pay 20 or 40 RMB to get massaged.” Doctor Xiong chuckled and pushed Ling Ran out. “Why don’t you give Sister Juan Zi a helping hand?” he said.

Juan Zi had nothing to do at the moment. She sat on the folding stool before the door while eating sunflower seeds. She was also cackling away while she looked at her phone. When she heard her name being called, she waved her hand and said, “Pour me a glass of water, will you?”

Ling Ran quietly went to get a cup of water for Sister Juan Zi. He sat on his reclining chair again and immediately felt that his game was extremely fun.