This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

At this moment, Du Heng arrived at the consultation room with Gu Ping and a few others. He greeted Zheng Yuanchao, who was already there, to avoid being labeled as impolite.

However, seeing Zheng Yuanchao sitting in the chair with a feigned smile, Du Heng felt a surge of discomfort.

Moreover, this Deputy Director Zheng displayed an exaggerated sense of self-importance. She sat self-contentedly in her chair, engrossed in her mobile phone, while her Intern, butt in the air, was busy cleaning the room alone.

As Du Heng and his team entered, they happened to see the Intern wiping the computer keyboard. Meanwhile, she merely leaned back slightly and continued playing on her phone.

Seeing how carefully the Intern was cleaning the keyboard, Du Heng turned around and left.

My greeting was out of courtesy, nothing more.

If you won’t acknowledge me, I certainly don’t want to acknowledge you.

What Du Heng didn’t realize was that his opportunity to see Patients this half-day had been squeezed out from Deputy Director Zheng’s schedule. For the vacant afternoon outpatient service, Li Jianwei arranged for two attending doctors to cover it once a week, as a form of subsidy for them.

As soon as Du Heng left, Zheng Yuanchao put down her phone, rolled her eyes dramatically, and retorted, ”Tch, a mere doctor from a Health Clinic, putting on such a grand display, even bringing three people. So young and already a master bootlicker. Does he really think that by sucking up to Li, he can order around people from the Provincial First Hospital?”

The Intern, feigning ignorance, put down the cleaning rag and asked, ”Director Zheng, shall we start calling in Patients now?”

”Let’s begin,” Zheng Yuanchao said. Her eyes darted, and an idea sprang to mind.

Once Du Heng and his team reached their consultation room, they all pitched in to clean. In two minutes, the cleaning was done.

Someone said, ”Du, we should start. I see many Patients have already arrived at the door.”

”Alright, let’s begin,” he replied.

Once they started consultations, the feeling, well, it was similar to the Health Clinic—much the same.

However, people in the city were more direct.

Some people, upon entering and seeing a room full of young individuals—including the beardless young man Du Heng who was seeing Patients—would immediately turn and leave. Some even muttered complaints as they departed.

Listening to such comments was indeed infuriating.

However, a portion of people had no reaction; they came, had their consultation, and left. Whether they would actually go get the medicine Du Heng prescribed, he had no idea.

But such situations were of no consequence to Du Heng.

On the contrary, he was delighted, almost to the point of jumping for joy.

The illnesses were mostly basic, common conditions, posing little challenge, but the sheer volume absolutely thrilled him.

However, so far, only one effective case had been added—the one who received acupuncture on the spot. The others hadn’t been tallied yet, and it was unknown if these people had followed Du Heng’s advice, if they would go to the Pharmacy to pick up their medicine, or if they would take it as instructed.

At this moment, Zheng Yuanchao’s Intern walked in, with a Patient following behind them.

The Intern looked at Du Heng somewhat awkwardly. ”Doctor Du, Director Zheng said you’re a skilled physician. There’s a Patient whose condition she’s a bit unsure about, so she’d like you to take a look. Here are the Patient’s materials; Doctor Zheng has also transferred them to you in the system. Please review them.”

Du Heng raised an eyebrow.

He opened the system interface that Li Jianwei had helped him apply for, and indeed, there was a case awaiting confirmation.

What’s the meaning of this? Is she trying to make me look like a fool?

However, before Du Heng could speak, a man in the queue at the entrance became agitated—a man hobbling on a single leg with a crutch.

”What’s going on here? Do doctors get to cut in line too? Go see whichever doctor you’re registered with! Are you all damn blind? I’m standing here in line with a crippled leg, and you lot just barge in? Who the hell do you think you are? Get out and queue up! Don’t make me start cussing!”

The man’s shout drew everyone’s attention to him. The Intern was mortified but helpless; this was a task assigned by Deputy Director Zheng.

Following the man’s shout, others in the queue began to clamor as well.

Everyone was there to see a doctor, and none were in a good mood. Encountering someone cutting in line, even if escorted by a doctor, was irritating.

Quite a few people chimed in, agreeing with the limping man.

Du Heng glanced at the door, then at the Intern, and chuckled softly.

I’ve seen this kind of scene before. Compared to those aunties seeking treatment at the Health Clinic, the fighting power of these city folk is utterly pathetic—total wimps.

”Gu Ping, quickly help the Patient in and find a stool for them to sit on.”

Gu Ping acknowledged and, along with the perceptive Xiao Wang, helped the Patient into the room. The Patient was the man who had been referred by Zheng Yuanchao’s Intern.

Du Heng then addressed the limping man, ”You can sit here for a moment. It won’t take more than a few minutes, and then I’ll see you right away.”

This limping man, after being helped, hearing Du Heng’s gentle laugh and soothing explanation, felt too embarrassed to continue his outburst. He could only sit down with a sullen face.

As for the commotion at the entrance, Gu Ping also quickly calmed everyone, asking them to wait a few more minutes.

Once it quieted down a bit, Du Heng decisively clicked confirm, accepting the referred Patient’s information.

After a quick scan, he turned to this Patient and asked, ”Tell me yourself, what’s the problem?”

The Patient sat beside Du Heng, a sorrowful expression on his face as he began, ”Starting from March this year, my stomach has been constantly bloated. When the gas builds up too much, it feels like my intestines are being squeezed and are in pain. I’ve been to the Proctology Department and the Gastroenterology Department. They all said nothing was seriously wrong, just advising me to avoid cold and cooling foods. But I haven’t eaten anything like that, and this bloating is just unbearable.”

”Later, a doctor from the Proctology Department suggested I see a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner to regulate my system. So, I went to Deputy Director Zheng next door. She said I had a spleen deficiency and prescribed some spleen tonic medicine. I’ve been taking it for two weeks now, but there’s been no effect at all.”

”Moreover, I used to only feel bloated in the afternoon, but now it’s happening in the morning and evening too.”

Du Heng asked him to extend his hand for a pulse diagnosis. ”How is your passing of gas?”

”No good. I can’t pass gas on my own; I have to really strain to force it out. It used to work when I had less gas, but now that I’m bloated in the mornings and evenings too, I don’t dare to force it. I’m always afraid my rectum is going to burst.”

His words caused a few stifled chuckles in the consultation room.

Even Du Heng smiled faintly but quickly suppressed it, not wanting to embarrass the Patient.

After finishing the pulse diagnosis, Du Heng said directly, ”Before you fell ill, did you experience ’food injury’—that is, a case of severe indigestion?”

”Yes.” The Patient looked at Du Heng in surprise, astonished that he could deduce something from so long ago. ”That was around Chinese New Year, wasn’t it? During the New Year, you visit relatives. As soon as you arrive at a relative’s house, they prepare a meal to host you. You can’t just get up and leave without eating, right? You have to eat a few bites. But eating like that, I lost all sense of hunger or fullness. Basically, if food was served, I ate. And then I had indigestion every day.”

”And you drank alcohol, right?”

”Yes, I drank every day during that period.”

Du Heng patted the Patient’s hand. ”It’s nothing too serious. It’s primarily a ’food injury’ that damaged your stomach. Coupled with your underlying ’cold stomach’ constitution and the delay in getting proper Treatment, it developed into this. It has little to do with spleen deficiency or your intestines. But if you delay Treatment any further, then things could become unpredictable.”

The Patient’s eyes lit up, one hand continuously rubbing his stomach gently. ”Doctor, what should I do then?”

”Simple. Go lie down on the bed over there and pull up the clothes covering your stomach.”

”Oh.”

Du Heng turned to Xiao Wang. ”Disinfect my acupuncture needles. I need four long ones.”

Xiao Wang immediately fetched Du Heng’s own needle tool kit, took out four long needles from it, and began to disinfect them with Alcohol.

Du Heng also rose and walked over to the Patient. After the Patient lay down, Du Heng pressed his abdomen a few times, then took the needles and inserted four of them near the navel, continuously applying the strong stimulation method.

In less than a minute, gurgling sounds began to emanate from the Patient’s stomach.

The Patient’s face grew increasingly pale. Eventually, he couldn’t help but say, ”Doctor, I can’t hold it in.”

”Gas is vitality! Letting it out brings relief. Don’t worry, just let it rip!”

”POOT~~ POOT~~ POOT-POOT~~ POOT~~~~~~~~”

Good grief, once he started, there was no stopping him.

The Patient was also embarrassed; once he started passing gas, he couldn’t control it.

The main issue was the smell.

Du Heng stopped the Treatment and quickly gestured for Gu Ping and the others to step outside.