Great Doctor Ling Ran

Chen Xiaowang’s eyelids twitched a few times before he slowly opened his eyes. His eyes were glazed because of the long hours he spent in front of the computer every day, and he looked around for a short while. He then snorted a few times as he stared at the transfusion bag on his left.

“You’re awake.” Lu Wenbin immediately rose and glanced at the figures on the monitor.

“Cough, cough…” Chen Xiaowang’s throat felt a little uncomfortable, and it was hard for him to speak as his voice was extremely hoarse.

“The surgery went very well, there’s no need for you to worry. What are you trying to say?” Lu Wenbin lowered his head and brought his ear close to Chen Xiaowang’s mouth.

Chen Xiaowang said a little arduously, “Eyes…”

“Are you feeling discomfort in your eyes?”

Chen Xiaowang shook his head. “Glasses… or I can’t see anything.”

Lu Wenbin immediately understood. He nodded and said, “10.0 diopters, huh? Just wait for a while, and I’ll give you your glasses when we arrive at the ward. There’s no point in you having your glasses right now.”

“We’re not at the ward now?” Chen Xiaowang’s expression changed a little.

“We are in the recovery room.” Lu Wenbin pursed his lips and continued. “I’ll accompany you here for a while. Just let me know if you’re experiencing any discomfort. When you’re okay, we’ll transfer you to a normal ward.”

Chen Xiaowang took note of the sensations in his body and furrowed his eyebrows a little. “My wound seems to still be a little numb…”

“The effects of anesthetics have not waned completely yet,” Lu Wenbin explained. Even though he said that, he still rose and called Su Jiafu, the anesthetist over.

Su Jiafu quickly examined Chen Xiaowang and nodded. “There’s no problem. Old Lu, you can leave already.”

“Really?”

“If you don’t feel like leaving, ask someone to bring some pork trotters over. I’ll have dinner with you.” Su Jiafu chuckled.

“Exactly what I was thinking.” Unexpectedly, Lu Wenbin whipped out his phone for real and made a call. “Send two pork trotters over. Throw some braised intestines and braised bean curds along with two bowls of rice in too. Also, I want some soup. Send the food to the anesthetists’ office.”

Su Jiafu became happy when he heard that. “Not bad at all, Young Lu. You’re the boss now, aren’t you?”

“I would rather not be one.” Lu Wenbin shook his head. “You have no idea how troublesome it is to have employees. But there’s nothing I can do about it now since I’ve hired them, and they depend on me for a living. Sigh, if I knew that running this business would take up so much of my time, I would have just carried out freelance surgeries together with Doctor Ling. The pay wouldn’t be bad either… Let me tell you, when you’ve possessed a certain sum of money, money would be nothing but a number…”

Su Jiafu gazed at Lu Wenbin’s face. “If you ask the dude to send over some pork cheeks too, I’ll allow you to show off more.”

Lu Wenbin immediately whipped out his phone. He said as he typed something. “I just need to send a brief message when it comes to such a small matter. There’s no need for me to make a call. My subordinates are quite competent—”

Su Jiafu shook his head as he looked at Chen Xiaowang who had just regained consciousness. “Do you know why life is so difficult for anesthetists? It’s because we have to listen as surgeons show off all the time.”

…..

By the time Chen Xiaowang was sent to the ward, he had basically regained his rationality. He was not asking for his glasses anymore either, as he felt that a blurry field of vision was more comforting. He did not have to look at the whiteboard at work with performance indicators written on it, his product manager who nagged people and changed his mind all the time, the heads of his bald colleagues, and his vast and desolate office…

“Old Chen, how do you feel?” A familiar voice rang out beside his ears.

Chen Xiaowang was surprised as he turned to look at the person speaking. “Old Piao? If you have the time, why aren’t you catching some sleep instead of visiting me? Aren’t you worried that you would drop dead?”

“I slept for a while in the car during my journey here, and also slept while I was waiting for you to regain consciousness.” Old Piao’s voice was nonchalant. He asked, “How do you feel?”

“Pretty good.”

“On a scale of one to ten, how do you feel?”

“Six.” Chen Xiaowang’s voice was weak, and he gave a one-word answer because he barely had any strength to speak.

“Hmm, so subjectively, you rate your overall condition six out of ten. How about your state of mind? Are you able to think clearly?”

Chen Xiaowang said hesitantly, “I should be able to.”

“One to ten?”

“Eight.”

“The kind of eight when you are drunk or the kind of eight after drinking coffee?”

Chen Xiaowang was confused for a few seconds. “You know, people always say that drunk people will never admit that they’re drunk. So, how can a person who’s not drunk prove that he’s not drunk?”

“Based on your ability to use your logical thinking right now, I don’t think that there’s much difference between you and a drunk person. Why don’t you try coding or solving math equations right now? Z short term is the best for this situation…” Old Piao chuckled as he whipped out two pieces of paper with words printed on them and passed them to Chen Xiaowang.

This was when a nurse who had been watching them could not take it anymore. “No, no! Are you trying to kill him by making him work right after his surgery?”

“This isn’t work-related…” Old Piao seemed like he was almost forty years old, but the nurse was scolding him as if he was her grandchild. His cheeks turned red.

Chen Xiaowang seemed to have come round. He gazed at Old Piao and said, “Are you treating me as a lab rat?”

Old Piao scratched his head a few times. “It’s not just me. All of us rolled a dice together, and unfortunately, I lost, so I came over.”

Chen Xiaowang no longer felt like saying anything.

Old Piao lowered his head and sighed. “Just complete this and summarize your experience. If your recovery goes well, I’ll be next to receive surgery. So, I’m naturally concerned.”

Chen Xiaowang pursed his lips. “Is there any humanity in you guys?”

“It’s called rationality, bro. We’re just being rational. Truth be told, I’ve had appendicitis for two years. It keeps recurring, and there’s no improvement at all. My abdomen aches every time I have to work overtime, and it’s really time for me to receive an appendectomy. I’m afraid that I’ll get cancer if I don’t do this…” Old Piao fidgeted as he spoke. “So, you really need to buckle up and get well soon.”

“If I can recover just by buckling up, my cholecystitis would have been cured a long time ago.” Chen Xiaowang snorted. He felt rather tired, so he closed his eyes as he spoke. “You should have made a cognitive ability test and asked me questions instead. That would have cut it. Why the heck did you make a math test. Are you crazy!?”

“Hehe, you’re right. Then, I’ll have to amend this a little. I’ll change things up and remake the test. Should I use a simple factory pattern?” Old Piao tapped his head and looked at his phone. “The day before yesterday, someone commented that he’ll be building a new framework. He even said that the comments must be written properly. Please write the comments properly, yeah?”

“This is too much.” Chen Xiaowang could not take it anymore. “Why don’t you just tabulate the data and analyze it? Why fret so much over it?”

“You’ve already received your surgery. It either went well or it didn’t. But how do we keep our cool? Let me tell you. If you’re unable to return to work in three days’ time, we won’t even be able to get our medical leave approved.”

Chen Xiaowang chuckled, but he somehow felt relaxed.

The surgery was over anyway, and there was no point in worrying about what happened next.

As Chen Xiaowang thought about this, he soon fell asleep again. When he woke up again, he saw that Old Piao was sitting on a chair in the ward and typing away on his laptop. The light from the laptop formed a halo around his face.

Chen Xiaowang could not help but smile. This was how things were like for programmers. They had to work day and night, and life was tremendously tiring for them…

“Bed 12, it’s time for us to check on you.” A few doctors in large white coats walked over to the door of the ward, and their voices were neither loud nor soft as they spoke.

Chen Xiaowang glanced at the window. He then looked at the doctors in astonishment. “You guys are making ward rounds in the middle of the night?”

“It’s morning now.” Lu Wenbin entered the ward and glanced at his clock. “It’s already three in the morning. Have you farted yet?”