This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

”If the medication is too light, it stimulates the tumor to spread faster. If it’s too strong, the doctor who prescribed it becomes a murderer. This situation makes Professor Lan Changhua and his team even more cautious.”

What Du Heng was discussing now wasn’t just the predicament concerning cancer tumors, but also the predicament of the entire field of traditional Chinese medicine.

Li Jianwei didn’t know what to say. After a moment of silence, he asked, ”Do you think Professor Lan Changhua’s research project can continue?”

Du Heng shook his head decisively again. ”It’s difficult, very difficult to continue. According to the data they sent, they’ve consulted with over 300 patients and accepted 40 for treatment so far. However, there’s only one successful case—an early-stage thyroid tumor patient.”

”That’s quite a disparity.”

Du Heng twisted his mouth and said again, ”They received 38 complaints.”

Li Jianwei was stunned. ”Out of 40 patients accepted for treatment, 38 complaints? So, apart from the one cured, only one didn’t complain?”

”I asked about it. The one who didn’t complain was a student of Professor Lan Changhua, a relative of Cao Binghe, and from a small rural village.”

”Alright, let’s not talk about this anymore.” Li Jianwei changed the subject. ”Take these forms back, fill them out, and attach the raw data.”

Du Heng didn’t want to discuss it either and looked at the forms before him. ”We practice traditional Chinese medicine; prescriptions are based on experience and intuition. Where would I get raw data for prescriptions?”

”That’s not what I meant. Just provide some information to prove there’s no dispute regarding this prescription, like who participated in designing the prescription and who is the main person responsible.”

”That’s no problem. These two houses have already applied for patents and are being used commercially. All these procedures are complete.”

”That’s good.”

Li Jianwei, having moved on from the previous topic, looked at the forms in Du Heng’s hand and said, ”Hey, it’s a bit of a shame. By rights, this Scar Removal Ointment house of yours could possibly win a second prize. But just because this house of yours, it’s not a life-saving house, it had to be slighted.”

”As long as it can win an award, I’m not picky.” Du Heng collected the forms from the table and handed them to Xiao Kang beside him. ”Teacher, if there’s nothing else, I’ll head back. I still have a young patient at the hospital.”

”Don’t be in a hurry to leave; there’s more.” Li Jianwei reached out to stop Du Heng. ”You are my student, but so far, you haven’t attended a single class.”

Gazing intently at Du Heng, he continued, ”This won’t do. Starting next week, you must attend one class per week.”

Du Heng felt a bit troubled but gritted his teeth and accepted.

”Second, you’re still our externally employed Deputy Director of the Chinese Medicine Department. However, it’s been two months, and you haven’t come to the outpatient service at all. That’s not acceptable either. Starting next week, pick one day to come for outpatient service.”

Du Heng’s face immediately fell. ”Teacher, I really can’t. I have a lot of things to handle over there.”

”Then just half a day.”

”Teacher, it’s really not possible.”

Li Jianwei looked steadily at Du Heng. ”Alright then. You won’t have to cover outpatient service, and forget about half a day each week. Instead, just pick a time each week to come in and handle matters for the stroke team. That shouldn’t be a problem, right? You should know that the stroke team was initiated by you. It shouldn’t be a problem for you to manage it, right?”

Du Heng gave a wry smile. ”Teacher, isn’t that team a collaborative project with the Health Clinic? It doesn’t have much to do with me.”

”I don’t care. When we started this project, it was on account of you, not because of the Health Clinic. Besides, the Health Clinic can’t handle the problems we’re facing now.”

Du Heng’s heart skipped a beat.

Ever since leaving the Health Clinic, he had been consciously avoiding it. Especially since Wu Buwei had also left a few days ago, he had received no news about the Health Clinic at all.

”What happened to them?” Du Heng asked, feigning indifference.

”Sigh, your Health Clinic is ruined.” Li Jianwei shook his head. ”The Health Clinic always had a weak foundation and a lack of talent. When you left, it was like losing its backbone. Last week, your junior fellow apprentice Wu Buwei also left. That was the final blow, like pulling out its main support. I heard that all the patients your junior fellow apprentice was responsible for transferred with him and followed him. As for the remaining patients, without that young man’s oversight, the newcomers at the Health Clinic—those doctors—can’t even figure out how to adjust prescriptions or perform acupuncture. How am I supposed to collaborate with them now?”

Li Jianwei spread his hands, his expression helpless. ”I originally didn’t want to bother you. Your junior fellow apprentice’s skills are quite good, and he could basically handle any problems I had. But now that he’s at the Municipal Second Hospital, he’s not as freely available as before. And on my end, as you know, the few individuals treating stroke haven’t been properly trained by you. Among the patients who come, unless it’s an identical disease record, they’re completely in the dark, unable to figure anything out. Besides, our research project on stroke is still ongoing; we haven’t concluded the project yet. You’ve also received provincial funding; you can’t just wash your hands of it.”

That paltry 5,000 yuan in project funding from the province, Du Heng hadn’t touched a cent of it; it was still sitting in the project account.

But in his heart, a different kind of bitterness began to surface.