System Came When the Doctor was Thirty

At seven thirty in the evening, in a quiet open-air barbecue courtyard.

The light was soft, water murmured nearby, and the smell of grilled meat filled the air.

Zhang Tiesheng slowly poured wine for Yao Xin. ”Uncle, why didn’t you help stop Lu Cheng from going to the Trauma Center?”

”I’m still planning to rely on Lu Cheng to pull me up in the future.”

Yao Xin asked, ”Stop him? Why would I stop him?”

”Right now Lu Cheng works in the Emergency Department. He already has an inherent conflict of uneven capabilities with many second-line doctors from the specialties.”

”Patients Lu Cheng can keep in the OR, the specialist doctors might not be able to handle. Over time, that whole group’s career prospects will be ruined.”

”They’re all fanning the flames. What grounds do I have to stop it?”

Zhang Tiesheng had seen Lu Cheng’s capabilities while following Chen Song, but that was after the decision had been made to send Lu Cheng to the Trauma Center.

Zhang Tiesheng was a bit worried. ”Uncle, what if Lu Cheng’s ability isn’t that outstanding? What if he can’t hold it up?”

”If Lu Cheng’s capability isn’t outstanding, then the others in Surgery won’t have these concerns, and they wouldn’t be so intent on restarting the Trauma Center.”

”As for whether he can ultimately hold it up, that’s something Lu Cheng has to face himself.”

”He wants promotion, wants to use our hospital as a springboard. He came to our hospital for that, and now, just as he hits the promotion years, he wants to move up? On what basis?”

Yao Xin’s tone was faint. ”Zhang Tiesheng, have you thought about this: once Lu Cheng jumps over to Union Hospital, how much will your current ’relationship’ still be worth?”

”’Relationship, relationship’—once you stop having any contact, that relationship naturally fades.”

For now, Lu Cheng was indeed only a bachelor’s graduate, but since he was thinking about jumping upward, he clearly had his own channels.

But Yao Xin didn’t think that Zhang Tiesheng could jump along with Lu Cheng.

”So for a mature adult, no matter what you’re doing, the best solution is to use concrete actions to solve concrete problems.”

”Lu Cheng needs this springboard, but there are many constraints right now, so he has to have exceptional ability and exceptional commitment, and put in more energy and time than others.”

”Only then can he legitimately stand at the eye of the storm and reach a win–win–win where you, he, and others all benefit.”

Yao Xin was lecturing Zhang Tiesheng, while Zhang Tiesheng squinted, deep in thought.

”Uncle, this is what you often say—’to resolve others’ demands, seek from my own demands’?” Zhang Tiesheng’s voice was low.

Yao Xin smiled lightly. ”It’s really not that profound. It’s just thinking from the other person’s position while blending in what you yourself want.”

”That’s the highest level of using people and leveraging power—everyone wants something similar, you just find the right timing and point of alignment.”

”The Trauma Center is not a blessed place. It’s a longstanding sore point for the hospital leadership and many leaders in the State.”

”Director Huang Haibo had already tested Lu Cheng’s attitude and desires in advance. If he were sufficiently self-aware, he would have rejected it immediately.”

”Lu Cheng didn’t reject it, which shows he has some confidence in his own abilities.”

”On that basis, what Lu Cheng wants is to use our hospital as a springboard to a deputy chief physician title. We’re the State People’s Hospital; there’s a whole pile of senior attending physicians queued up to be promoted to deputy senior.”

”There are plenty of senior attendings who’ve been sitting on their years of eligibility for quite a while. So why him, Lu Cheng?”

”The Trauma Center is a chance.”

”Others don’t dare go.”

Zhang Tiesheng wasn’t completely out of the loop. ”Wasn’t there talk of some deputy senior wanting to sneak in to pad his CV?”

In this era, the world was no longer the same as in Yao Xin’s working days. In today’s Hua Country, university graduates were everywhere; master’s and PhDs were practically cheap.

In such a highly competitive age, every step forward was incredibly hard.

If a deputy chief physician still wanted more, it would be a full chief title or some administrative authority in the hospital.

That was even more of a single-plank bridge with thousands vying to cross, and even the deputy director of the Emergency Department had people trying to hitch a ride.

”That’s where his move wasn’t thought through thoroughly enough. Lu Cheng clearly has something he wants and something he depends on, he needs that position, yet this guy insists on competing with Lu Cheng for it.”

”He thinks he can bring Lu Cheng some benefits… still handling things through traditional personal favors.”

”In fact, if this weren’t about the Trauma Center, Director Xiang Kun really could have decided everything with one word.”

”But the final say on the Trauma Center’s staffing does not lie in our hospital.”

”Under these circumstances, going to strike some deal with Lu Cheng—doesn’t that affect the very foundation of someone else’s career prospects?” Yao Xin touched his own chin and gently shook his head.

”The leaders up top also wouldn’t feel at ease handing the Trauma Center over to that Dong Chang.”

”And besides, even if the higher-ups directly decide that Lu Cheng has to go, what if Lu Cheng doesn’t want to and just hands in his resignation?”

”Lu Cheng’s current contract hasn’t even been renewed yet!~”

Zhang Tiesheng chuckled awkwardly. ”Uncle, I don’t quite get it. Lu Cheng hasn’t been in Ji City that long, so how does it feel like he’s already so integrated?”

”Does he still have someone in the State Health Commission?”

At the end of the day, the personnel for the Trauma Center was still to be decided mainly around Lu Cheng, meaning Lu Cheng had a name registered with the leaders up top.

Even though Lu Cheng was within the hospital system, there were so many medical workers across the whole State. For Lu Cheng to have his name registered there, it took a particular opportunity.

Yao Xin said, ”Let’s not discuss that issue.”

”Right now the Trauma Center in the hospital is only in its initial setup. The Emergency Department is short-staffed. You’re already a deputy senior; if you transfer over at the end of this year, it will be perfectly aboveboard.”

”By then, what the Emergency Department has turned into will already be settled.”

Zhang Tiesheng nodded and hurried to state his position. ”Uncle, this isn’t us slacking off. In this environment, you can’t afford to slack.”