Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ling Ran walked toward the reception desk with grace. He looked outside the door as he waited for the ambulance.
Now that the traffic in the city was getting worse and worse, ambulances often had to spend more than half an hour on the road. This sort of made the atmosphere in the Emergency Department less tense.
Doctor Zhou ordered the young doctors under him to check that all the emergency equipment and drugs were ready before arranging a department consultation. He then leaned against the nurseâs desk and said with a grin, âDoctor Ling, didnât you mention that you feel like having some English afternoon tea just now? Why donât we head to my office and make some?â
âI never said that.â Ling Ran did not mind these little tricks from Doctor Zhou at all.
Doctor Zhou flashed a slight smile and said, âI know that you feel like it, but find it troublesome.â
âI donât.â Ling Ran did not even turn to look at Doctor Zhou.
The young nurse behind the reception desk laughed and said, âDoctor Zhou, youâre the one who feels like drinking tea, arenât you?â
âLing Ranâs the one who mentioned it in passing,â Doctor Zhou said.
âDoctor Ling is a straightforward person.â The young nurse chuckled a few times. She looked at Doctor Zhou with the type of expression that showed that she was able to see through his tricks and said, âBesides, if Doctor Ling feels like drinking tea, heâll just use the word âteaâ. He would never say something like âEnglish teaâ.â
Doctor Ling chuckled a few times too.
The two other nurses behind the nurseâs desk applauded the young nurse who managed to outtalk Doctor Zhou.
Three seconds, five seconds, thirty secondsâ¦
The young nurses who were sitting in front of the computer suddenly stopped working and said, âSince we have nothing to do anyway, why donât we make a pot of tea?â
âDoctor Ling doesnât like fancy things like English tea.â
âHow do you even come to that conclusion?â
âIâll ask in our group chat if anyone has a pot.â
âAsk for things like red tea and milk too.â
âCups. Thatâs the most important thing.â
The three young nurses discussed among themselves, and less than ten minutes later, a pot of English tea appeared.
The pot and teacup were from a woman working in the Administration Department. They were gifts sponsored by some random medical company. Even though they had not been used for a while, they had been sterilized under high temperature before being stored in a box. Now that they were taken out and cleaned, the enamel flower motif on them still looked bright and beautiful.
The bone china cups which were the size of a fist was also very beautiful. The white eggshell porcelain was so thin that it was almost translucent, and together with the red tea, it was really aesthetically pleasing.
âDoctor Ling, have some tea. The ambulance happened to be stuck at a traffic light. Weâll have to wait for around ten more minutes.â The young nurse behind the reception desk handed a tray with the whole set of an English afternoon tea to Ling Ran. Other than a small pitcher of milk, there was also a small plate with two handmade muffins.
Ling Ran only hesitated for two seconds before he took the tray and thanked the nurse. The English afternoon tea looked very ceremonial, so much so that how the tea actually tasted did not really matter. The warmth of the tea itself had a relaxing effect on people.
Doctor Zhou chuckled and asked, âHow about me?â
âYou have a thermos, right?â The young nurse rested her hands on her hips and looked at Doctor Zhou.
Doctor Zhou obediently handed the nurse his thermos and said in a soft voice, âThereâs some Chinese wolfberry insideâ¦â
âDo you want tea or not?â
âI do.â
The young nurse poured the hot water and Chinese wolfberry inside the thermos into the sink and poured some red tea inside.
âAdd in a little bit of milk too.â Doctor Zhou smiled. âItâs afternoon tea, after all. I need to replenish my energy.â
The young nurse did as she was told and poured a little bit of milk inside a thermos. She then handed the thermos back to Doctor Zhou with an Orion choco pie. Then, she turned around and ignored him.
Doctor Zhou did not mind the unfair treatment at all. He held his thermos and started sipping the red tea inside.
Ling Ran lifted the white bone china cup and quietly savored the tea.
The sunlight that filtered in from the second floor fell gently on the reception door on the ground floor, illuminating Ling Ranâs face and the tiles behind him. It was a classy sight.
The vines of the two pots of devilâs ivy on the reception desk were entangled together. Even though they were placed far apart, they were closely connected to each other.
There was a pot of spider plant on the windowsill. All its leaves hung low, and it was as quiet as an old willow. It seemed like it was quietly observing the devilâs ivy on the reception desk.
The ambulance just got through the cross junction. Itâll be here in thirty seconds.â The nurse at the reception desk placed the receiver of the phone back on its holder and notified the others in a soft voice.
Cases like this where patients were injured in ordinary car accidents were extremely commonplace in the Emergency Department of Yun Hua Hospital.
Ling Ran placed the teacup which was already empty on the reception desk. He straightened his large white coat and put on a pair of gloves. He composed himself as well.
As Ling Ran had just learned how to perform hepatectomy, he needed to mentally prepare himself before every single surgery.
âThe patient is a forty-eight-year-old male. Heâs conscious and thereâs trauma on his lower limbs and abdomen. His blood pressure is 106/75, his pulse rate is seventy-seven, and his respiratory rate is twenty-fourâ¦â The paramedic who was pushing the gurney into the hospital reported loudly.
Doctor Zhou walked behind Ling Ran as they walked toward the gurney.
The patientâs eyes were open, and he greeted them. âHello. Doctors nowadays are all so youngâ¦â
âLet me take a look.â Ling Ran inspected the wounds on the patientâs abdomen, and as expected, there was a lesion that had most probably caused hepatic trauma.
âI looked at it in the ambulance. I think that the liver is ruptured and that immediate surgery is needed.â The patientâs family member who came along dashed out of the ambulance and suggested.
Ling Ran looked at the other party in astonishment.
âIâm an associate professor in the University of Chinese Medicine and teach sanitary science,â the patientâs family member said, âThe patient is my husband.â
Ling Ran nodded at her and said, âWeâre going straight to the operating theater.â
A nurse immediately went forward and called the person in charge of the operating theater.
âLet me take another look. Doctor Zhou, help me out.â Ling Ran commanded those around him as he shifted the patientâs position a little.
âBe careful with his liver,â the patientâs wife said in a soft voice.
âDear.â The patientâs lips were trembling due to excessive blood loss, and his gaze was a little lifeless. He grasped his wifeâs hand weakly and said, âDonât shout like this outside. Weâre already old, and itâs pretty embarrassing.â
âNobodyâs shouting at youâ¦â His wife was speechless. âI was reminding the doctors.â
âAll the more that you shouldnât shout⦠Cough, coughâ¦â The patient spat out a mouthful of crimson blood and flashed a wan smile. âOh dear, Iâm coughing blood.â
Doctor Zhou immediately examined the patient with a torchlight, and his originally tensed up body became relaxed again. âThe flesh in your mouth is torn.â
Ling Ran had already identified the bleeding point. He applied slight pressure on the muscles near the crush injury, and the patient who had just shifted positions immediately stopped bleeding.
The patientâs wife was extremely surprised. âYou stopped the bleeding?â
âItâs a temporary bleeding control measure,â Ling Ran answered with certainty.
âHow did you do it?â
âBy applying external pressure. Sometimes, this works to stop the bleeding temporarily,â Ling Ran replied.
The patientâs wife stared at Ling Ran in a daze for a few seconds before she realized something. âYour surname is Ling, isnât it? Are you Doctor Ling from Yun Hua Hospital?â
âI am,â Ling Ran answered without hesitation. He was the only doctor with the surname Ling in Yun Hua Hospital.
âI heard that you performed Achilles tendon repair surgery for Liu Weichen.â As the patientâs wife was also part of the medical circle of Yun Hua, she had heard a lot of legendary stories about Ling Ran. At this moment, Liu Weichenâs operation was the first thing that came into her mind.
Ling Ran nodded. âYes, you should sign the informed consent forms now.â
âAlright.â The patientâs wife merely glanced through the forms before putting down her signature in all of them. There was a total of six or seven forms, and she signed all of them at one go.
She knew very well that the faster she finished signing all the forms, the better it would be for the patient.
âLetâs enter the operating theatre.â Ling Ran and Doctor Zhou felt rather relaxed when they saw how readily she signed the informed consent forms. They went to change into scrubs after informing the patientâs wife that the patient would be sent into the operating theater.
The patientâs wife who was not allowed to enter the operating theater hesitated for a moment and asked, âDoctor Ling, whoâs going to be the chief surgeon?â
Doctor Zhou answered without hesitation, âLing Ran.â
âBut Doctor Ling⦠arenât you an orthopedist?â The patientâs wife inquired as she stood outside the door.
âIâm also very good at hepatectomy.â Ling Ran had nothing to hide at this moment and immediately said, âIâm very skilled in bleeding control, hepatectomy, splenectomy, and orchiectomy.â
When the patientâs wife heard the last example, she could not help but widen her eyes. She then gulped and said, âThen⦠please take care of my husband well.â
âOkay.â Ling Ran nodded and headed to the changing room.
The patientâs wife stared at the blue wall in a daze for a few seconds before she came back to her senses while she was outside the door. She whipped out her phone, and with trembling fingers, called the most recent number in her call history.
âProfessor Huang, my husband has already entered the operating theater⦠Yes, Ling Ran from Yun Hua Hospital, that doctor who operated on Liu Weichen⦠Should be, you donât need to rush over anymoreâ¦â