Great Doctor Ling Ran

Zuo Cidian had frequented the Shao family’s restaurant as of late.

He had the lightest workload in Ling Ran’s treatment group compared to the other members. Now that he was a bachelor again, he often came to the Shao family’s restaurant when he was free.

Of course, the doctors’ free time in Ling Ran’s treatment group was usually calculated in hours.

Zuo Cidian got off work forty minutes earlier than usual and went to the Shao family’s restaurant. The first dish he desired was the popular bamboo rat dish, and he ordered some side dishes. He saw Boss Shao come in from the back door with a welcoming smile.

“Boss Shao, I haven’t seen you in two weeks. Where have you been?” Zuo Cidian greeted him in a half-teasing manner.

Boss Shao said with a smile, “I lived in the hospital and stayed in the General Surgery Department.”

“You were hospitalized again? What’s wrong?”

“I had bowel resection surgery before. Lately, I had a little indigestion. So, I was hospitalized a while ago,” Boss Shao mentioned it casually as if it was really a small problem for him.

Zuo Cidian was shocked. “You had to be hospitalized for two weeks for constipation?”

“Well, they also performed other check-ups along the way. It’s a hospital. If you go there, you have to stay there for a while. You should know about it pretty well. By the way, are you guys having some kind of celebration?”

“It’s a meeting within the group.” Zuo Cidian smiled and said, “I have to go out tomorrow, so I want to have a good meal today.”

“I heard that Doctor Ling’s treatment group has been growing steadily. I’ve heard about it quite a few times in the restaurant.” Boss Shao was familiar with Yun Hua Hospital and knew much more than Zuo Cidian. In between their conversation, Boss Shao added two dishes for free and asked, “Is Doctor Ling developing a new surgical method?”

If someone could mention the term “surgical method”, then that person was not a complete layman to a doctor. Zuo Cidian said happily, “Hasn’t Doctor Ling been performing hepatectomies lately? He also learned cholecystectomy using abdominoscopes. After all, the liver and bile duct are never separated from each other. By the way, Boss Shao, how is your liver and bile duct?”

“I had my liver resected, and had choledochoscopic gallbladder-preserving cholelithotomy for my gallbladder.” Boss Shao smiled.

Zuo Cidian was amazed. He looked at Boss Shao from top to bottom as if he saw something interesting. “You had hepatectomy?”

“I had it done some time ago in Yun Hua Hospital.” Boss Shao smiled. “That time, I fell and felt pain at the area around my liver. I quickly made a call and was sent to the hospital. I only lost about 1,000cc of blood.”

Zuo Cidian once again looked at Boss Shao in shock. ‘How can you be so proud about losing 1,000cc of blood? You had hepatectomy. It’s not as if you just got yourself a deal by buying a cheap liver.’

“Um… doctors nowadays don’t really recommend choledochoscopic gallbladder-preserving cholelithotomy anymore, right?” Zuo Cidian felt that the topic of hepatectomy was too vicious, and he decided to flee to a new topic.

For Boss Shao, choledochoscopic gallbladder-preserving cholelithotomy was indeed something very simple. He smiled and said, “I don’t know about other patients, but the shrinkage rate of my gallbladder seems to be quite alright. Also, I often had the chance to have abdominoscopy and abdominal surgery. If there is a recurrence of stones in the gallbladder, they could remove it while I was having surgery.”

Zuo Cidian was speechless. Removing the stones while he was having another surgery was too good of a reason. He even thought that if other people could do the same, it would be great.

“Do you want a large portion of roasted meat?” Boss Shao asked in a very good mood.

“You’re not offering tamarisk barbecue anymore?”

“Tamarisk is too expensive, and I don’t want to reuse it. So, I just use an iron skewer to barbeque it. Its aroma is not as good.”

Zuo Cidian laughed and said, “It is, but Boss Shao, aren’t you exposing yourself a little too much?”

Boss Shao looked at Zuo Cidian and said, “I helped you save money because you have to buy a house, buy a car, pay loans, get married, raise a child, buy milk powder for your child, pay tuition, buy LV, Chanel, Gucci, Hermes, and Burberry for your wife…”

“I see. I see. It’s my fault, my fault…” Zuo Cidian did not want to listen anymore. He just borrowed a loan to buy a BMW, and he had to pay more than 10,000 RMB a month. With all the other living expenses, he returned to a poor life. He did not even want to hear the word “luxury bag” anymore.

Boss Shao chuckled. “I envy you. I can’t believe you still have the courage to eat bamboo rats, I have to be very careful with the stuff I eat now.”

“You’re short of bile, and I am short of money. Sounds about right.” Zuo Cidian did not know whether he should be happy or sad.

Before long, a 22-feet long Escalade stopped in a grand manner in front of the restaurant.

Ling Ran, Yu Yuan, and the rest came down from the car one after another.

The three interns, Zheng Jun, Xiang Xueming, and Guan Fei also walked out from the back.

Guan Fei, the young lady, was the most excited. She shouted, “I didn’t expect a lengthened Cadillac to be among one of DiDi’s multi-purpose vehicles!”

“It’s an Escalade.” Zheng Jun corrected her, and he casually and quietly touched the paint on the back of the car.

Many young people felt that the Rolls-Royce Phantom was too old-fashioned, but in comparison with it, the Escalade’s tough and mighty appearance was not the same, it would make people feel like they were young, rich, and sexy from their hearts.

Zheng Jun liked cars very much. He wanted to stay in big cities and drive a car. But resident doctors could not afford a car without financial help from home. However, if they stayed in big cities like Yun Hua, they could at least rent a car. If they collected more coupons, the price would not be completely unmanageable. It would still be okay if they occasionally satisfied their urges like this.

Guan Fei favored luxury cars the most. She took a few selfies in the car before she hurriedly followed the crowd into Shao family’s restaurant.

As Boss Shao welcomed them, a few cold dishes were quickly served. A large piece of roasted pork and an oven-baked lamb chop were served on the table.

“I’ll go and barbeque some mini beef skewers. Hold on.” Boss Shao went to do his work happily.

“I’ll go grab a few bottles of beer.” Zhang Anmin voluntarily got up and went to the bar.

When he was at the bar counter, Zhang Anmin asked for some beers and said, “I’ll pay for it here.”

“Now?” asked the cashier at the bar counter.

“Yes,” Zhang Anmin said, “I’ll pay the bill first. I’ll pay again later on if there’s any extra order.”

“Okay, please have a look at the bill first.” The cashier printed small piece of paper for Zhang Anmin.

Zhang Anmin glanced at it, and he quirked his eyebrows, “So expensive?”

“You ordered four bamboo rats.” The cashier pointed at the top of the piece of paper.

Zhang Anmin’s mouth twitched. He endured the pain of having to pay so much money before he handed over a bank card. Then, he pulled out another one. He said, “Swipe the cards separately.”

In his heart, Zhang Anmin comforted himself. ‘This is for the sake of social activities. Isn’t this how personal money is supposed to be used?’

The cashier nodded and asked, “How much should I swipe for each card?”

“Swipe 2,460 RMB from this.” Zhang Anmin pointed at the bank card with his personal money and said, “Swipe the rest with the other card.”

The cashier pressed on a calculator and swiped from the bank card with Zhang Anmin’s personal money. When Zhang Anmin keyed in his password, his heart ached.

Then, the cashier continued to swipe the second card, but it was unsuccessful.

“The balance is insufficient,” the cashier said.

“Impossible,” Zhang Anmin quickly pulled out his phone and saw that the balance was indeed not enough.

He looked carefully again, and he saw the message from his wife. [I signed our son up for tuition classes. So, save up some money this month.]

Zhang Anmin was stunned on the spot.

“Sir?” the cashier urged him.

“What’s wrong?” Ling Ran came over to check on his bamboo rat dish, and he saw Zhang Anmin.

Zhang Anmin, a basic attending physician, could not help but feel embarrassed.

Ling Ran looked at the cashier.

The cashier felt shivers down his spine just by being stared at by Ling Ran. He could not help but say, “This gentleman wanted to pay the bill, but his bank card balance is insufficient.”

Ling Ran looked again at Zhang Anmin.

Zhang Anmin said helplessly, “I took out the wrong card.”

Ling Ran said, “There will be a freelance surgery tomorrow, so the expenses for departmental meals are generally paid by the hospital who hired the freelance surgeon.”

“Huh? You can actually do things like this?” Zhang Anmin was surprised.

“Yes, because during freelance surgeries, we usually do not have time to eat a big meal.” Ling Ran paused and waved at Zuo Cidian.

Zuo Cidian ran over and asked anxiously, “Doctor Ling, is the kitchen not clean?”

“I haven’t seen it yet. I’ll arrange for Zhang Anmin to be the first assistant tomorrow.” Ling Ran gave a command and went to the kitchen.

Zhang Anmin had not registered the situation yet. He looked back at Zuo Cidian and asked, “Why… did he do that?”

Zuo Cidian, a middle-aged, junior level resident doctor who came from the town hospital, looked at Zhang Anmin, an attending physician from Yun Hua Hospital who graduated from a famous school. He gave a faint smile and said, “I guess it’s because he discovered that you’re poor.”