Chapter 216: It Doesn’t Really Matter to Me

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

As Liu Weichen was already in the center, he decided to undergo another checkup.

For him, radioactive exposure, inconvenience, and costs were not of much concern. As long as he could get his Achilles tendon treated and get back on the field, he would endure practically everything.

If he was able to go back to competitive running healthily and persist for another one to two more years, he would not complain, even if he had to work from scratch all over again.

For Liu Weichen, the money he could earn in a year, the reputation he gained, and the honor he obtained was an accumulation of everything he has done up to this moment. So when he needed to leave the field at his peak, not only was Liu Weichen unhappy, his manager, advertisers, and the leader of the Sports Bureau were unwilling to let him go.

When Ling Ran returned to the consultation room, he saw Zhu Tongyi, Doctor Qu, and Liu Weichen sitting in a row. There were another three people who sat slightly further away from them. Each of them had a big teacup in front of them, making the room look like an office.

Doctor Qu looked at Zhu Tongyi, and was relieved when the academician did not say anything. He quickly said, “Doctor Ling, we have an idea, and we would like to discuss it with you.”

“Sure.” Ling Ran got himself a cup of water and drained it in a single motion. Then, he poured another cup again before he walked to the meeting table.

Doctor Qu might have put up an imposing demeanor, but Ling Ran did not feel anything towards it. For Ling Ran, he had seen too many of such carefully prepared scenarios. Be it a confession delivered by a person supported by a group of people or a demonstration formed by a group of people determined to get something, these events formed by young people were more meaningful and serious than Doctor Qu’s.

Compared to them, Doctor Qu, who was a middle-aged man, was just a novice who had not even moved into the ranks of professionals yet.

“Ling Ran!” Doctor Qu sounded serious.

“Yes,” Ling Ran still replied in the same manner before he looked at Doctor Qu.

Doctor Qu then looked at Zhu Tongyi, and he realized that Zhu Tongyi still had not expressed anything. He could not help but feel a little resigned, and he said, “Ling Ran, be more serious, we’re talking about a serious matter.”

“Alright.” Ling Ran sat slightly straight and showed the respectful expression he had practiced for many years. He looked straight ahead and opened his eyes a bit more. There was a faint smile on his lips, and his back was straight. He looked like he was about to stand up to ask a question at any moment.

Doctor Qu felt slightly satisfied. He smiled and said, “Ling Ran, your surgery today was done pretty well. Congratulations on your first surgery in the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center, it will probably be a successful surgery.”

“Thank you,” Ling Ran said politely, as according to the norms of society.

Doctor Qu’s expression became better, and he said, “I know that Academician Zhu, who is also our Director Zhu, invited you to our research center to become the chief surgeon in Liu Weichen’s surgery. Based on your performance today, we can see that our director has a keen eye when it comes to choosing talented people. He did not make a wrong choice.”

Ling Ran nodded and said nothing.

“I’m the doctor-in-charge for Liu Weichen. Logically speaking, the skill you showed today is considered quite good. But the surgery for Liu Weichen is really complicated and its difficulty level is very high. Mister Liu Weichen and I are still worried about it. So, we came up with a suggestion after our discussion, and we hope you can consider it.” Doctor Qu looked straight at Ling Ran’s face to observe how he reacted.

Ling Ran still looked indifferent as he replied, “Do tell me what it is.”

“We hope that you can perform a few more surgeries which are similar to the Achilles tendon repair surgery so that we can grade you according to your performance. If you’re up to the standard, you’ll probably be in charge of Liu Weichen’s surgery. If you’re not up to the standard, I’m sorry, but we’ll have to consider our options again.” Doctor Qu stared at Ling Ran and asked, “Are you willing to accept this request?”

Doctor Qu was slightly worried. He was afraid that Ling Ran would fly off in a rage.

Performing a surgery for a star athlete could make a doctor become famous. One successful surgery could allow the doctor to boast about his success for a lifetime.

For a surgeon, it meant that an unlimited number of patients would keep coming for him. No matter which city the surgeon was stationed, if a doctor reached this degree of fame, he would probably easily gain the title of specialist, department director, or even receive all kinds of positions in a medical committee.

Even if the surgery failed, there was not much for the doctor to worry about. Failed surgeries were common. As long as it was not due to medical negligence, it would not deliver a fatal blow to the doctor’s career. At most, it would just affect his reputation slightly. But from Doctor Qu’s point of view, a doctor like Ling Ran did not have any reputation at all, so how much could a failed surgery affect his reputation?

Based on this alone, Doctor Qu even felt that he was the one blocking Ling Ran’s path to fame.

But deep in his heart, Doctor Qu never stopped comforting himself, ‘Liu Weichen is also my path to success. This is a one-way path, so naturally, the one who is here first should have first dibs than the one who arrived later, right?’

“How many surgeries?” Ling Ran asked.

Doctor Qu smiled. Ling Ran’s response was exactly within his expectations, and it was better than what he expected.

“Ahem.” Doctor Qu pretended to cough and he thought, ‘Since you are just a pushover, do not blame me for being bad.’

“Let me think, at least five to six cases…” When Doctor Qu saw that Ling Ran’s expression had not changed, he immediately added more cases and said, “In order to make a better judgment, we still hope that you can show us that you can perform in a manner that produces stable results. So, it will be best if you can perform seven to ten surgeries…”

“Ten cases are good.” Ling Ran immediately seized the greatest number and asked, “When will the patients arrive?”

It was only at that moment that Doctor Qu noticed that the situation had changed. He frowned and said hesitantly, “If you need patients, we can transfer the patients at any time…”

“Now… Hmm, not now. I need to go for lunch. Can you send in the first patient after one and a half hours? Then, could you send in the subsequent patients?” Ling Ran asked seriously.

Doctor Qu was slightly lost. He replied, “You don’t have to do it in such a hurry. It will be good if you can finish all ten patients, but we’re not unreasonable people either…”

“Ten is good. It’s not a problem at all.” Ling Ran emphasized his last sentence. He asked again, “Can I see a patient in the operating theater after one and a half hours?”

Doctor Qu was quite unhappy from the barrage of questions. He replied, “It doesn’t mean that you can perform the surgery for Liu Weichen once you finish all ten Achilles tendon repair surgeries—”

“I know.” Ling Ran interrupted Doctor Qu. He then asked again, “I’m going for lunch now. After that, should I go back to the hotel or come back to the operating theater for surgery?”

“I’ll make arrangements.” Doctor Qu snorted unhappily. The Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center collaborated with many hospitals. If they ever needed any relevant medical cases, there would always be units that were willing to work with them.

“I’ll go have my lunch first.” Ling Ran got up excitedly.

“Wait a minute.” Ling Ran was stopped by a man who sat not too far away from the table. He had a big teacup in front of him. He showed a faint smile deserving of contemplation and said, “Don’t you want to ask the exact requirements needed to perform Liu Weichen’s surgery?”

Ling Ran was stunned before he replied honestly, “Don’t feel like asking.”

“Oh? Why?” The big teacup man seemed to be interested in this topic.

“It doesn’t really matter to me.” Ling Ran looked at Liu Weichen before he looked at Zhu Tongyi. He said, “It’s Academician Zhu who invited me to become the chief surgeon for the surgery. If the patient does not want to perform the surgery, I won’t force him. I’m not his doctor-in-charge, anyway.”

An answer like this was totally unexpected for both the big teacup man and Academician Zhu Tongyi.

Surprise had even shown up on Liu Weichen’s face. Since his leg was injured, there were many doctors who were willing to perform the surgery for him, but none of the surgeons behaved in such an indifferent manner.

In an instant, Liu Weichen fell into deep thought again, ‘As compared to the other’s opinion on the surgery, his opinion towards the surgery matters the most, isn’t it…?’

Doctor Qu only thought that Ling Ran was just retreating in order to make an advance. He chuckled, “Are you kidding me? So does it mean that you just came to the research institute to perform ten Achilles tendon repair surgeries?”

“I’m okay if I can get more cases.” Ling Ran smiled.

“Does it mean that your purpose here is to carry out surgeries?”

“You can understand it that way…”

Doctor Qu snickered. “Do you know that if the news of you operating on Liu Weichen was out, the number of people who want to hire you to perform their surgeries will instantly fill a hospital? If you really want to perform the surgery, you should think about performing a successful surgery for Liu Weichen…”

Ling Ran shook his head and said in the tone of an experienced person, “It’s useless, the number of hospital beds is not enough.”

Doctor Qu frowned in puzzlement. “What do you mean by the hospital beds are not enough?”

“When I’m at Yun Hua Hospital, I can perform three to five cases of finger replantations per day. But during the beginning, I can rarely perform five cases per day, because a patient will only be discharged after approximately forty days of hospitalization. There are less than seventy hospital beds in our department. Even if we add beds, there are only one hundred in total. So, the number of patients I can have is limited by the hospital beds in the hospital, it’s not because I have insufficient cases.” This problem was always on his mind, and he explained it in detail, which was something rare for him.

Doctor Qu was totally stunned after he heard of what Ling Ran said, “What do you mean by five cases of finger implantation per day?”

“In Yun Hua Hospital, Ling Ran can perform ten to twelve finger replantations on average every day,” Zhu Tongyi spoke in a stable tone.

What the academician said could naturally be backed by proof. Because of this, Doctor Qu’s world view, outlook on life, and values were challenged. He was also a doctor for microsurgery. The concept of replanting ten fingers a day was a workload so great that would probably drive a normal doctor to die by exhaustion in the day itself. Even if the doctor died by exhaustion, he still would not be able to finish performing ten finger replantations in one go.

When a general microsurgeon was filled with energy, it was typical for him to replant one finger in two hours. If he performed faster, the duration of the surgery could be reduced to one and a half hour. However, the more surgeries a doctor performed, the longer his working time would be, and his efficiency would decrease. If he were to operate nonstop, replanting seven fingers in a single shot could already be considered as a hellish challenge to a microsurgeon.

But for ten fingers…

“Hmm, if that’s the case, what’s the purpose of you visiting our research institute?” Doctor Qu licked his lips and asked Ling Ran.

“I didn’t come here simply to save up on beds,” Ling Ran said modestly, which was rare of him. “I also want to see the development of the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center and understand the way you perform the surgeries.”

Doctor Qu came up with a sentence in his mind, and he only managed to not say it after very nearly blurting it out. ‘We perform surgeries just like how normal people do, you know?!’

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