This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

Jin Zan couldn’t refute Wei Kaida’s words, but Dong Yuezhang was also there.

After lightly drawing a card and playing another, Dong Yuezhang placed his own tiles face down, leaned back, and said while exhaling a cloud of smoke, ”Perspective. You can’t judge Du by your own perspective.”

”What do you mean?” Wei Kaida looked at Dong Yuezhang, annoyed.

Dong Yuezhang flicked his cigarette ash and said with a faint smile, ”You’ve only seen the changes in the Health Clinic. But have you seen what those changes have brought about? Internally, they’ve increased the salaries and benefits for the Health Clinic staff. Externally, they’ve built the Zhonghu Health Center’s reputation for being able to diagnose and treat illnesses. For the higher-ups, this is an undeniable political achievement, a testament to the capable leadership. For the ordinary people of Central Lake, they can now receive medical treatment right at their doorstep. They no longer need to flock to the large downtown hospitals, competing with others for already scarce medical resources, saving them a lot of unnecessary expense.”

Dong Yuezhang looked at Wei Kaida with a smile, yet his eyes were filled with disdain. ”This is Du’s ideal. This is what Du truly wants. Last May, when we brothers gathered, we talked about Du’s situation. If he had wanted to go to another hospital back then, he would have. Why didn’t he? His answer at that time is the answer to your question now. Big cities don’t lack good doctors, but this Health Clinic does, and the ordinary people of Central Lake do. He wants to fight for the local farmers to have the same opportunity for medical treatment as city dwellers, and at the lowest possible cost. Looking back now, has Du’s hard work over the past year fulfilled his promise? He has.”

Dong Yuezhang slowly exhaled a puff of smoke. ”Yes, this incident has indeed wronged Du greatly. But what does that have to do with his ideals? Alright, so what if ideals are just hot air? Du’s ideal was realized! In that case, it should be a whole series of thunderclaps, loud enough to make everyone turn their heads!”

Dong Yuezhang spoke with fervent passion, but Wei Kaida remained unmoved. After casually playing a card, he asked blandly, ”A series of thunderclaps? Even if it was a nuclear explosion, what good would it do Du now? He was still dismissed, wasn’t he?”

Dong Yuezhang didn’t rush to speak. Instead, he watched Jin Zan and Du Heng play their cards. Only after drawing his own tile did he say, ”Just you wait and see. Du won’t be wronged for nothing. Soon, the Bureau will issue a directive.”

As he spoke, he tapped the tile he had just drawn. ”Damn, drew the wrong one. A Two of Circles.” He discarded it.

Wei Kaida’s eyes lit up at the sight of the Two of Circles. ”Then we’ll just have to wait and see,” he said, his voice laced with sarcasm, ostensibly referring to Du’s situation, but his gaze fixed on the discarded tile. ”Fancy you messing up and drawing *that* Two of Circles! I don’t know what you were even trying to achieve. Mahjong! I win!”

Chuckling, Wei Kaida pushed forward his tiles—a pure straight of Circles! ”Come on, stick out your arm. I’ve been itching to give it a good flick for a long time.”

As he spoke, he was already eagerly reaching for Dong Yuezhang’s arm.

Dong Yuezhang glanced at Wei Kaida, utterly speechless. ”You’re thirty years old. Can you cut back on these shameless antics a bit?”

”Enough nonsense. A bet’s a bet. Arm out.”

Dong Yuezhang slammed his own tiles down too. ”See this? What is it?”

”Three Sixes of Circles.”

”So you recognize three Sixes of Circles. I remember Jin just played a Six of Circles. Pray tell, where is that Six of Circles? And this Six of Circles in your hand, is it the fifth one?”

”****!” Glancing at Jin Zan, who was watching him like a hawk, Wei Kaida turned tail and fled.

Jin Zan glared at Wei Kaida. ”I knew you were cheating, you brat! Stop right there! I want my revenge!”

And so, the four thirty-year-old men, like children, played a game of ”Eagle Catches the Chicks” in the courtyard.

If anyone had recognized Du Heng and Dong Yuezhang at that moment, they might have been shocked by their identities, then, after muttering ’idiots,’ would have hastily departed.

Of course, this definitely didn’t include Wang Shizhen and his wife.

The couple, at this very moment, was earnestly plucking the feathers of their little hen, preparing to make a large platter of chicken for the four men.

...

After a day of playful camaraderie with his brothers, much of Du Heng’s gloom had dissipated. And after hearing Dong Yuezhang’s words, he began to wait with a sense of peace, treating this period of waiting as a vacation.

He wanted a vacation, but Li Jianwei disagreed. He assigned Du Heng a task that had already been mentioned—the graduate student interviews.

Du Heng looked at the two transcripts in his hand and asked Li Jianwei, who was leisurely sipping tea beside him, ”Teacher, do you only have one slot this year?”

”Two,” Li Jianwei replied softly.

Upon hearing this, Du Heng placed the two transcripts on the table. ”Then what’s there to choose? Just accept them both. Isn’t that just right?”

Li Jianwei glanced up at Du Heng and said slowly, ”One of those slots is for you.”

Me?

Du Heng’s expression stiffened a little.

So I shamelessly snatched someone else’s admission spot?

”Teacher, it’s just one more person. Why not take them all? Teaching two is the same as teaching three, don’t you think?”

”Are you kidding? I’d love to open a class for 40 students, but would the School agree? Do I have the time?”

Li Jianwei gave Du Heng an amused look. ”Let’s not even talk about whether the School would agree. Just consider me. I’m not only a teacher at the School; I’m also the Director of our Chinese Medicine Department. How much time do you think I can actually dedicate to teaching? And then, think about how much of that teaching time can be evenly distributed to each student?”

Du Heng was taken aback, rendered speechless.

Li Jianwei continued, ”When students come to me to be their teacher, I have to be responsible for them. This concerns their career plans for the next several decades. Similarly, we are studying medicine, and our ultimate battlefield is the hospital room. You also know the shortcomings of our traditional Chinese medicine education. If we don’t teach our students with utmost dedication, and they don’t learn well, it’s an act of irresponsibility towards the patients.”

Alright, I was being shallow.

Du Heng readily admitted his presumptuousness and then asked Li Jianwei directly, ”Teacher, in that case, which of these two do you lean towards?”

Li Jianwei shook his head. ”As I said, you’re the interviewer this time. Whichever one you choose, I have no objection.”

Trust? Du Heng didn’t think so.

He felt Li Jianwei was ’shirking responsibility.’ After all, in a pick-one-of-two scenario where either could be right, the question itself was designed to be a difficult one.

Du Heng felt helpless. ”Teacher, you have to at least give me some criteria.”

”Your criteria are the criteria.”

This was agonizing. Truly agonizing.

What Du Heng disliked most was making choices, especially these kinds where both options seemed valid, yet only one could be picked.

He’d always felt he suffered from indecisiveness; situations like this were torture for him.

After looking at the two transcripts again, Du Heng asked, unwilling to give up, ”Teacher, what kind of student are you looking for?”

Li Jianwei once again tossed the question back to Du Heng. ”It’s not what I’m looking for, but what kind of student you want to give me. Or rather, what kind of junior fellow apprentice you want for yourself. It’s all up to you.”

Having said that, Li Jianwei chuckled at Du Heng’s troubled expression. ”Why are you agonizing over this now? Why not make your decision during the interview?”

Du Heng touched his nose. ”I’m actually troubled about the interview questions.”

”Tell me about it.” Li Jianwei was very interested in this.

”If I’m conducting the interview, I need to prepare questions, and those questions will inevitably have a bias.” Du Heng frowned deeply. ”Look at these two students’ resumes. Based on grades, the first one’s foundation is much stronger than the second, especially in the basics of traditional Chinese medicine, where he’s nearly twenty points higher. This indicates that this student has a very solid grasp of fundamental theory. But look at the second candidate. His grades aren’t as stellar as the first student’s, but he has a traditional Chinese medicine article published in a core journal, and its impact factor is quite good. At this level, I’m afraid even the students you’re currently mentoring, who are about to graduate, don’t possess this kind of ability. This shows that this student is very capable in terms of papers, research, and likely had a very good undergraduate mentor.”

Du Heng looked earnestly at Li Jianwei. ”So, when it comes to the interview, if my questions lean towards the basics of traditional Chinese medicine, it will clearly favor the first student with the better grades. If my questions lean towards writing papers and conducting research, it will definitely benefit the second student.”

Li Jianwei listened very attentively. When Du Heng finished, he asked softly, ”Don’t worry about who has the top exam scores, or who has published papers. Similarly, don’t worry about any personal connections you haven’t mentioned. Forget all those issues. They have nothing to do with you. Just tell me, what kind of junior fellow apprentice do you want?”

Du Heng thought for a moment. ”I want a junior fellow apprentice who knows how to treat patients.”

Li Jianwei simply shrugged. ”Well, there you have it. Just proceed according to your own thoughts.”

Watching Li Jianwei depart, Du Heng picked up the two transcripts from the table and walked out.

Xiao Su had followed Du Heng in the outpatient service for three months last year, but even now, Du Heng couldn’t quite remember Su’s full name.

Similarly, just as Li Jianwei had described, Xiao Su didn’t act superior just because he was about to graduate while Du Heng had just enrolled; he didn’t demand Du Heng call him ’Senior Brother’.

Instead, the very first time he saw Du Heng again, he had respectfully addressed him as ’Senior Brother Du’.

It was this very respectful attitude that made Du Heng extremely uncomfortable, as if he were some kind of tyrant.

Today, he was also one of the interviewers summoned by Li Jianwei.

Seeing Li Jianwei and Du Heng arrive, the young man waited respectfully to the side. ”Teacher, Senior Brother Du, the two students are ready.”

Li Jianwei merely nodded and walked into the interview room, then naturally took a seat at the very end of the table.

Xiao Su, following behind them, naturally pulled out the middle chair for Du Heng.

Although Du Heng knew he would inevitably sit in this seat today, Xiao Su’s expression and actions made him feel uneasy all over.

”Senior Brother Du, can we begin?”

Glancing at Li Jianwei, who was sitting calmly and silently beside him, Du Heng nodded. ”Let’s begin.”

”Then I’ll go call them in.”

Xiao Su acknowledged and prepared to go to the other door to call the students.

But just as he reached the doorway, Du Heng suddenly stopped him. ”Wait.”

Then, Du Heng looked at Li Jianwei. ”Teacher, can I interview them together?”

”Why?” Li Jianwei asked, curious.

”Fairness, justice, openness. We shouldn’t give them any chance to say we cheated or pulled strings.”

”Alright.”