This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

When Du Heng got into the car, he didn’t rush back to the Health Clinic. After taking a half-day break and regaining a bit of energy, he immediately drove to Qi Gang’s house in Xia Zhuang.

He felt more and more frustrated as he thought about today’s events.

At first, the subsidies provided by the Health Clinic to each village doctor were 600 yuan per month. Around October of last year, the Health Clinic’s situation improved significantly. Thanks to Du Heng actively applying to the district bureau, the subsidies increased to 800 yuan per month for each village doctor.

Not only did the amount of money increase, but the Health Clinic had also decided to let bygones be bygones regarding the sale of poor-quality Traditional Chinese medicinal materials and the collusion with Wu Zhouzhou’s gang of scammers. However, some people seemed to be utterly incorrigible.

Now, Du Heng wanted to see just how busy Qi Gang was, as he didn’t even answer the phone or return calls.

Last year, Du Heng had already figured out where each village doctor lived. He drove directly to Qi Gang’s house and parked in front of it. Before getting out of the car, he told Wang Lili and her companion, ”You two wait in the car. I’ll take care of some business, and then we’ll head back.”

With a dark expression on his face, he went straight into Qi Gang’s house.

Today, he didn’t plan to give Qi Gang any face.

He must get a clear explanation today; if he continued to let Qi Gang off the hook, it would be irresponsible to the people of the upper and lower villages.

Moreover, village doctors had already been integrated into the Health Clinic system. Someone like Qi Gang would only be a rotten apple that spoils the barrel, ruining opportunities for other village doctors.

”President Du, what brings you here? Please, come inside and have a seat.” As soon as he entered the door, Du Heng saw Qi Gang’s wife and son cutting fodder for the goats in the courtyard. Qi Gang was nowhere to be seen. His wife looked surprised as she stood up to greet Du Heng.

Seeing Qi Gang’s wife and child, Du Heng softened his expression slightly. ”Where’s Qi Gang? Why are only you and the child cutting fodder?”

Qi Gang’s wife brushed the grass clippings from her clothes and smiled invitingly as she led Du Heng into the main room. ”I don’t know where he’s wandered off to. He hasn’t been home for five days. He doesn’t answer his phone. Let me try calling him again.”

Turning to her son, she shouted, ”Hurry up and make tea for Uncle Du!”

Her son put down the fodder knife and ran over with an affirmative sound.

Once inside the main room, Du Heng saw Qi Gang’s son making tea efficiently and asked with a smile, ”When does school start?”

”It starts in a week.”

”Isn’t it time for the middle school entrance examination this year? Have you decided which high school you want to attend?”

”My grades aren’t very good; I haven’t decided yet.”

Putting away his stern face, Du Heng smiled at the child and asked, ”You don’t know where your father went either?”

The child placed the cup of water in front of Du Heng. Hearing him ask about his father, the child’s face became somewhat unnatural.

Du Heng noticed that the child’s unnatural expression seemed to be a mix of contempt and anger. Then he heard the child say, ”Where else would he be? If he’s not drinking, he’s playing cards.”

Du Heng’s eyes twitched. ”Drinking and playing cards?”

”Uncle Du, my dad is always either drinking or playing cards this year. This time, he’s been gone for five days. Last time, my mom said he lost nearly 10,000 yuan.”

Gambling!

Du Heng clenched his teeth.

Just as he was about to ask something else, Qi Gang’s wife walked in and said, ”President Du, I still can’t reach Qi Gang on the phone.”

”You don’t know where he went?”

”I don’t know. He never tells me when he goes to play cards.”

”Then you should contact the people he plays cards with. They must know.”

With no other choice, Qi Gang’s wife picked up the phone and started dialing. ”Silly me, how could I not have thought of that?”

”Hello, Mingming? Is Gang with you? ... Not there? Didn’t he say he was going to play cards with you a few days ago? ... What? He went back home around midnight? ... Why? ... Tired? ... I didn’t see him come back, so I called you ... Alright, help me look for him too. Tell him President Du from the Health Clinic is waiting for him at our house.”

After hanging up the phone, Qi Gang’s wife hurriedly dialed another number, but the answer she received was the same.

Everyone said that Qi Gang had come over that day and played until midnight before heading back home, claiming to be very tired.

All their stories matched, but Qi Gang’s wife hadn’t seen him for five days, which made everyone a little nervous. She looked anxiously at Du Heng. ”President Du, what should we do...?”

Du Heng quickly reassured her, ”Don’t worry, Sister-in-law, you should ask others. Maybe Qi Gang went to someone else’s house to play?”

”No, I’ve asked everyone in the village who plays cards. They always play together, and they all said Qi Gang went home that night.”

Qi Gang’s wife began to panic.

”His phone is still reachable?”

”Yes, it’s reachable, but no one answers.”

Du Heng felt both frustrated and nervous.

I came here to call him to account, how did this turn into a mystery?

But no news for five days was indeed enough to cause palpitations. It was a situation of him missing, with no sign of him dead or alive. The most perplexing part was that his phone still had power after five days; that was truly baffling.

”Don’t worry, Sister-in-law, let me help you ask around.”

With no other choice, Du Heng called Gong Daoyang from the Police station. No matter if Qi Gang had fallen into a ditch while drunk or if he had been arrested for playing cards elsewhere, the Police station should know after five days.

”Gong, have any cases been reported in the last few days?”