Chapter 85: Chapter 85 - Meh

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ling Ran ate cookies, pickles, chilli sauce, and tofu pudding for breakfast. He then strolled unhurriedly to Wyndham Hotel, arriving just in time.

Xie Yihe who was waiting at the door went enthusiastically to Ling Ran and said with a smile, “Doctor Ling, you’re here. I heard that you were performing surgeries this morning?”

“Yeah, I finished three rounds of surgery.” When Ling Ran talked about matters related to surgery, the outlines of his face softened a little. He no longer looked aloof, but mild and gentle.

Xie Yihe marvelled internally at Ling Ran’s good looks before coughing a few times and passing a brochure to him. She said with a smile, “This is the introduction we wrote about you. The forum is only starting in the afternoon. You can take a look at the topics you like first. We rented a smaller hall beside the main hall. You may take a rest there first and replenish your energy.”

“Only starting in the afternoon?” Ling Ran leafed through the brochure and did not really have any comments about it. His picture had been displayed in the Hall of Fame ever since he was in kindergarten, and he was indifferent to the fact that his picture was included in one more brochure.

Xie Yihe was way too familiar with surgeons like Ling Ran who only cared about performing surgeries. She quickly explained, “This is so that everyone can familiarize themselves with and get to know one another in the morning. You can speak in private with the participating doctors about the topics you like, and talk about things such as your respective points of view. This way, you can choose a suitable direction when the forum starts.”

“Isn’t the purpose of a forum for everyone to familiarize with and get to know one another?”

Xie Yihe remembered that Ling Ran was a newbie in the medical world, and said with a smile, “The forum is, after all, a public space, and everything said will be video-recorded. If your viewpoint clashes with someone, and both of you are unable to reach a consensus, there is no need to insist on it. In short, the morning is for everyone to communicate beforehand, and select doctors and scholars whose attitudes match theirs to carry out a discussion with…”

“So… is Department Director Huo here yet?” Ling Ran naturally thought of Huo Congjun, who was always arguing with everyone in an unfriendly tone.

Xie Yihe’s face stiffened, and she felt a pang in her heart. She had started organizing this forum to serve doctors like Huo Congjun who liked to ‘converse’.

However, she was still too young at the time. She had never imagined that the type of ‘conversation’ Huo Congjun and the others liked to hold would be so heated. If she had first organized the conference with her current, experienced self, she would have put more thought into it. What kind of person would be refused an invitation by so many academic conferences that he had to make a request to a pharmaceutical sales representative to hold their own conference?…

However, at that time, if she had put too much thought into it when she first organized the conference in the past, she would not have the status and mortgage she possessed today.

Xie Yihe forced a smile and said, “As he is the guest speaker and has more things to do, Director Huo can only come in the afternoon. Hm, please come this way, Doctor Ling. There are light refreshments for you to fill your belly first…”

She bought Ling Ran to a smaller hall beside the main hall. There were a few dozen long tables that were arranged into a ‘U’ shape in the empty spacious hall. All the tables were laid with pure white tablecloths and had exquisite food that came in small portions on them.

There were almost a hundred people standing around the long tables, chit-chatting and laughing. There were also those who were solely eating, drinking, or looking at their mobile phones. Those people seemed sufficiently happy and content.

Ling Ran was soon affected by the atmosphere. He walked along the row of long tables and planned to eat as he proceeded.

As Ling Ran stared at the food, there were also some people who stared at Ling Ran. It was only that all of them were hesitant and no one had decided to take the first step yet.

There was a relieved and motherly smile on Xie Yihe’s young and delicate face.

A lot of female doctors attended today’s matchmaking session… No, forum. Hence, a lot of male doctors were compelled to come. The increased number of attendees then drew a lot of top-class doctors.

Right now, Xie Yihe had a lot of admiration for Department Director Bai from the provincial Maternity and Pediatric Hospital. All she needed to do was simply edit a few of the posters to add Department Director Bai in it and add a few more pages about Department Director Bai to the brochure, and the results were instantaneous.

Perhaps it was also thanks to everyone’s combined wisdom.

After they came out with the concept of a matchmaking session, the publicity for the conference was even more effective than what the company could achieve even after spending large quantities of money to publicize the event.

Most importantly, there really were some male doctors and female doctors who were attracted to each other.

Generally, even though doctors possessed good qualities, they had very little time. It was also very hard for their spouses to understand their situation. They also rarely had any contact with the outside world other than doctor-patient relationships. This caused the average marital age of doctors to increase year by year.

Even though it was the same type of matchmaking session-no, forum, as those held by other organizations, the effect was different.

Doctors who had the chance to attend this forum were excellent ones and were mostly those who stood out in the system. At the very least, these doctors were ones who were highly valued by their superiors. On the other hand, it was also easier for two doctors to understand each other, and for their families to understand each other. Most importantly, they could better understand how good the other party was.

When she saw that many people had a smile on their faces, Xie Yihe felt very accomplished. She was also very fond of Ling Ran, who was like a catalyst to the success of the forum.

“Are you Doctor Ling?” A middle-aged female doctor decided to be the first one to approach Ling Ran. She went to Ling Ran’s side and studied his face carefully. She then smiled and said, “I am Mao Huanqiu, the Department Director of the Emergency Department of the provincial Children’s Hospital. I saw the video of you performing barehanded bleeding control, and would like to know where you learned the skill.”

Even though she only found the video of Ling Ran performing barehanded bleeding control when she was searching for Ling Ran’s name on the internet, it was still a pretty good conversation starter.

As expected, Ling Ran was deceived. He said, “I learned it in my family’s clinic.”

“Oh, your family runs a clinic. How’s the business of the clinic right now?”

“It’s considerably good.”

“Did your father open the clinic?”

“Yes.”

“Is he a doctor, too?”

“No…”

“Oh, how many people are there in your family?”

A minute later, Mao Huanqiu was done understanding Ling Ran’s background. She waved at her daughter who was hiding in the crowd to come over. She then said, “Doctor Ling, you’re of the same age as my daughter. Can you share your experiences with her? My Young Yi just graduated from Xiamen University this year and is still naive. She also doesn’t know whether to start working or to get a postgraduate degree. Both of you young people should have a chat.”

Mao Huanqiu’s daughter had shoulder-length hair and meticulously applied make-up—she could be considered a beautiful woman. She walked over gracefully, causing a group of the young women there who lacked confidence, to be awed.

Mao Huanqiu looked around, pleased with herself. She was a highly-experienced doctor in the Children’s Hospital and her husband played a leading role in the Construction Bureau. Her daughter was extremely beautiful and graduated from a famous university. All she needed now was a son-in-law she could be proud of and her life would be perfect. Of course, it would be best if the young couple could give birth to a son and daughter who were obedient and good-looking. She did not mind whether the elder brother were to involve himself in politics, start a business, or work in banks, but she did not want him to become a doctor. The younger sister could do whatever she wanted. It would be nice if she were to marry a doctor, too.

“Doctor Ling, you’re participating in the forum, too?” Echoed a crisp voice that made the atmosphere in the conference hall strangely tense.

A young woman in a tight shirt, hotpants, and high-top sneakers walked into the hall with her chin up and chest out. She did not care that the people around the place were staring at her and went straight to Ling Ran.

Mao Huanqiu’s face fell. “Which hospital are you from?”

“I am Lu Jinling from Golden Deer Health Services Pte Ltd.” Lu Jinling glanced at Mao Huanqiu in a condescending manner and asked, “Old woman, do you and Ling Ran know each other?”

Mao Huanqiu raged immediately when she heard the term ‘old woman’. She looked at Lu Jinling like she was about to kill her. “An ambulance company is participating in the forum, too?”

“We are the forum’s sponsor.” Lu Jinling was not fazed at all. She had been up against plenty of middle-aged women in the wet market and her affectation was as imposing as Mao Huanqiu’s.

Ling Ran was baffled as he watched them. He found his surroundings rather noisy and quietly retreated two tables away. He then picked up a honey cake and savored it.

He fell asleep the day before at around eight in the evening, and woke up at three in the morning. He reached the hospital at four and only had his breakfast after performing three consecutive surgeries. He was feeling quite hungry right now.

“Doctor Ling, you like sweet food?” A petite young woman took the opportunity to approach Ling Ran.

Ling Ran swallowed the food in his mouth and politely answered, “I’m a bit hungry, so I’m eating something sweet first.”

“Give this pork jerky a try. It’s slightly sweet, but you’ll taste other things when you continue to chew it.” The young woman’s voice was soft and timid, just like her appearance.

Ling Ran politely took the pork jerky, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed hard.

There were stars in the young woman’s eyes as she watched Ling Ran eat. Men should eat in large mouthfuls.

“Will you be speaking? I heard that you performed many surgeries on ‘no man’s land’ lately.” A tall young woman joined the conversation from the other side.

The soft and timid young woman immediately recognized the Gucci T-shirt and Dior knee-length skirt the tall young woman was wearing. She could not help but lift up her hair so that the Bulgari necklace on her neck showed.

Ling Ran had never cared about his surroundings. He only answered the question, “I’m here to attend the conference with my department director today.”

“You’re from Yun Hua Hospital’s Emergency Department, right? I’ve met Department Director Huo a few times. He’s a really serious person, isn’t he?” The tall young woman flashed a smile, and immediately went from a beauty who would only score 7 out of 10 on the beauty scale to 8.23 out of 10.

Ling Ran thought earnestly and said, “He’s relatively strict.”

“You sound really strict when you talk, too.” The tall young woman chuckled with her hand over her mouth and said, “When I go back, I’ll tell our director that we must support Yun Hua Hospital in this poll.”

“Thank you for your support,” Ling Ran continued to answer politely.

“The Second People’s Hospital, the hospital I’m from has been allocated three spots on the committee this time.” The petite young woman was not to be outdone.

“Doctor Ling, give this a try.” Lu Jinling passed a small plate of dried shredded squid to Ling Ran.

It was no surprise that the beautiful woman with shoulder-length hair was standing indignantly behind Lu Jinling.

“Alright.” Ling Ran was hungry anyway, and he took the opportunity to grab many slices of shredded squid and stuffed all of them into his mouth.

Lu Jinling looked around, pleased with herself. So far, Ling Ran had eaten the most amount of food out of her plate.

“Doctor Ling, give this unagi sushi a try.”

“This tiramisu tastes really good.”

“Roast beef-wrapped pickles.”

“Cantaloupe.”

“Caviar.”

“Open your mouth.”

“Salmon skewer.”

…..

In the VIP room on the second floor, a few people were looking at the conference hall downstairs through the glass window at the chaotic scene centered around the calm Ling Ran. Someone could not help but be indignant and accused Huo Congjun, “This is unfair competition.”

Huo Congjun went into conference mode with a serene expression. He smiled a little and said, “Meh.”