This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

If Du Heng succeeded this time, they would have a rock-solid pillar in their department, paving the way for unprecedented development.

However, they were not aware that Pediatrics wasn’t really part of Du Heng’s developmental plan.

The Pediatrics Department, nicknamed the ’mute department,’ didn’t have enough support from the Municipal Maternal and Child Health Hospital to spearhead its development.

At most, they could handle children’s colds and stomach aches, as well as some other common diseases. They weren’t equipped for anything beyond that.

At this point, Director Cao’s mood was hard to describe. Saving a child should have been a joyous occasion, yet he couldn’t muster a smile. It wasn’t that he felt negative emotions, but he undeniably felt stifled and uncomfortable.

”Dean, let’s go outside for a break. We can leave this to Director Liu and her team,” Director Cao suggested, trying to lift his own spirits as he invited Du Heng to step out.

However, Du Heng’s eyes never left the child, and not a hint of relaxation could be seen on his face.

Upon hearing Director Cao, he shook his head, ”Director Cao, go ahead with your duties. I need to keep an eye on this child.”

Director Cao took another deep look at Du Heng’s back. ”Alright, I’ll leave then. Call me if you need anything.”

As Director Cao walked away, the Director of the Pediatrics Department and the Director of the Pediatric Care Department also left, leaving Director Liu from the Obstetrics Department behind.

Du Heng turned to look at Director Liu and said softly, ”Director Liu, please attend to your duties as well. Make sure to look after the family’s emotional state. The mother has just given birth, and significant emotional fluctuations can hinder her recovery.”

Without insisting, Director Liu gave some instructions to her staff and left as well.

Just as she stepped out, she saw the Director of the Pediatrics Department and the Director of the Pediatric Care Department huddled in a corner of the hallway, whispering. Their smiles stretched nearly to their ears.

Director Liu understood. Although the child’s condition was still unclear, as department heads, their fundamental judgment was sound. They could see a high probability that the child would recover to the state Du Heng described. Even if the recovery wasn’t complete, it would surely be a better outcome than being transferred to the Provincial Women and Children’s Hospital.

With this case and a formidable expert like Du Heng present, they could finally operate with less restraint. The ’spring’ they had been waiting for was truly arriving.

Actually, Director Liu had felt this way even earlier than those two. Although she was among those reprimanded for the previous incident, she was thoroughly convinced of Du Heng’s capabilities.

The outside world held no relevance for Du Heng at this moment. He was entirely focused on the child, his gaze constantly shifting between the monitor and the infant, afraid of missing any crucial information due to an oversight.

When the doctor brought the decoction medicine, Du Heng asked a nurse for a small spoon and personally fed it to the child. He only spooned in a small amount each time, but the frequency was high—he fed the child every ten minutes.

The child continued to convulse intermittently, and the high fever did not subside, keeping Du Heng’s heart in a constant state of unease.

The subsequent process was utterly monotonous. Du Heng incessantly administered the medicine. When the child was hungry, he fed him milk, and he even changed the child’s diaper once. The diaper only showed faint urine stains, not what Du Heng had been hoping to see.

This tedious process continued until four in the afternoon, when a breakthrough finally occurred. After the fifth dose of the decoction medicine, the child finally had a bowel movement. Or rather, ’passed’ wasn’t the right word; ’purged’ was more appropriate. And it wasn’t stool that was expelled, but the ’long-awaited’ sticky, phlegm-like substance Du Heng had been hoping for.

It wasn’t enough for the child to just break the phlegm and regain consciousness; the phlegm had to be expelled. Once the phlegm was gone, the heat poison within the child’s body would follow. This was the ultimate goal.

Du Heng was overjoyed. The doctors and nurses around him, though unfamiliar with traditional Chinese medicine and unsure what the white, pus-like, sticky phlegm represented, couldn’t help but smile when they saw Du Heng finally beaming.

After this point, Du Heng was even more diligent.

By the seventh dose, the child had purged three times. The expelled sticky phlegm became progressively thinner and less in volume.

At one o’clock in the morning, the child’s temperature finally returned to normal, no longer fluctuating between low and high fevers as before.

”Pour out the remaining medicine; we don’t need it anymore,” Du Heng said cheerfully, handing the half-empty medicine cup to the nurse.

The nurse, visibly relieved, took the medicine cup and went out. When she returned later and saw Du Heng still by the child’s side, she couldn’t help but ask, ”Dean, is the treatment over?”

Du Heng grinned. ”We’re far from done. We need to let the effects of the medicine in the child’s system subside a bit. Tomorrow morning, we’ll have to continue the treatment.”

Du Heng’s words momentarily dazed the nurse. She had assumed that since the medicine was discarded, the treatment was finished.

”Dean, it’s already past midnight. Why don’t you get some rest? I can watch over things here.”

Du Heng shook his head again. ”No need. I have to watch the child. Although the fever has broken, we still need to monitor for convulsions.”

”Dean, let me monitor and record everything. You’ve been working all day; please go rest for a while. The treatment has to continue tomorrow.”

Du Heng once again declined the nurse’s earnest offer. ”The child’s convulsions aren’t very obvious right now. You might miss some of the fainter ones. It’s better if I watch. You all have had a long day too. Go get some rest. I’ll call you if anything happens.”

Given Du Heng’s firm stance, the nurses couldn’t insist. They began to take turns resting, but one always remained to assist Du Heng.

「Time flew by, and soon it was time for everyone to start their shifts again.」

By now, Du Heng’s eyes were heavily bloodshot, yet his face was wreathed in smiles.

A doctor who came to help walked over to Du Heng and whispered, ”Dean, the mother and her family are at the door. They want to see their baby.”

Smiling, Du Heng supported his stiff lower back with a hand and slowly straightened up. He seemed not to have heard the doctor’s words; instead, he began to examine the child’s condition once more, as if to himself.

As he checked, the smile on his face widened. Yesterday’s treatment had yielded unexpectedly good results; the child’s recovery was remarkably surprising.

The purple markings had retreated to the Fengguan point, and the cyanosis at the root of the nose had already disappeared. However, the child still showed slight signs of lethargy, his tongue was bright red with little coating, and his fontanel was pulsating greatly.

Heat injury to the Yin sector.

Du Heng murmured to himself, The child only had two convulsions after stopping the medicine last night. That means my treatment was effective. He then turned to the doctor and said, ”Let’s continue with the treatment. Get me a pen and paper. I’ll write a prescription, and you can go prepare the decoction medicine.”

The doctor glanced at Du Heng’s bloodshot eyes, thinking his mind might be foggy from exhaustion, and gently reminded him again, ”Dean, the mother and her family are at the door. They want to see the child.”

”Not yet. Let them see him tomorrow.” Du Heng stretched his torso. ”My back is killing me. Quick, get me that pen and paper. Once I write the prescription, I’m going to get some sleep.”

The doctor who had spoken hesitated. ”Dean, perhaps you should get some sleep first and write the prescription after you wake up?”

Du Heng paused, slightly taken aback. He turned to the doctor. ”What are you implying? Are you worried I’m not clear-headed enough and might write the wrong prescription?”

The doctor felt a bit awkward, her cautious thoughts having been seen through by her superior.

”Don’t worry. I’ve been thinking about this prescription all night. I could write it in my sleep without making a mistake.” Du Heng smiled nonchalantly. ”Quick, give me the pen and paper. After I finish this, I really need to sleep.”

Du Heng’s firm attitude left the doctor with no choice but to fetch a pen and paper for him.

And Du Heng, upon receiving the pen and paper, proved true to his word. Mumbling softly to himself, his hand began to write, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, without the slightest hesitation.

This prescription, called the Major Wind-Stabilizing Pill, was specifically designed to extinguish wind and stop convulsions. It was composed of eight different medicine ingredients, including turtle shell, oyster shell, raw rehmannia, and white peony.

Regarding the dosage, it was reduced repeatedly—halved, then halved again. Even the main ingredient, turtle shell, was only ten grams. The others were either three or five grams.

Du Heng looked at the prescription again for confirmation. Once he made sure there were no errors, he was about to hand it over to the doctor next to him.

But then, remembering the child’s significant improvement the previous night and the marked reduction in convulsion symptoms, he once again scrutinized the prescription he had just written.

After reconfirming the dosages meticulously, he added the words ”Antelope Musk Antispasmodotic Powder, three doses,” before finally handing the prescription to the doctor beside him.

The doctor also examined it carefully. Even though she didn’t understand Chinese herbal medicine prescriptions herself, she still looked it over meticulously. ”Dean, this last addition... an egg yolk? How is it to be added? Do we filter out a raw egg yolk and decoct it with the other medicine ingredients, or boil an egg, take out the yolk, and then add it?”

Du Heng slapped his forehead. ”Ah, I was thinking of you as a TCM doctor. I forgot to write down the instructions.”

He took the prescription back and added a note on it: ”Decoct the medicine liquid, bring to a boil, then mix in.”

”There, that should do it. This way, neither the Pharmacy nor you will get it wrong.” Du Heng finally relaxed. ”Monitor it carefully. The method of administering the medicine is the same as last night.”

”I know, Dean.”

Having worked tirelessly for a day and a night, Du Heng headed towards his office, rubbing his swollen eyes.

Meanwhile, Director Zheng of the Hospital Office, his round face illuminated by the screen, was watching a video on his computer repeatedly. His eyes glinted with a sharp light.

The buzz around the celebrity’s cancer diagnosis had died down several days ago. He had initially thought he could ride this wave to revitalize Du Heng’s and the Municipal Maternal and Child Health Hospital’s online accounts.

But he didn’t know if the trend had been too weak, or if his ’pig’ had been too heavy to fly. Apart from a few thousand new followers on Du Heng’s personal account, the hospital’s account still had followers in the single digits.

And the seemingly bustling online world had, in just two days, moved on from traditional Chinese medicine and Du Heng, leaving them forgotten once more.