This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

But after Du Heng listened carefully for a while, he was sure of it. Everything the old man said was from his own thesis; even the order of the sentences hadn’t been changed.

And he still claims it took five generations of his family to research this?

Du Heng was growing exasperated. If he dares to spout that ’decision that goes against the ancestors’ nonsense today, then I’m prepared to do something ’against organizational discipline’ myself!

Du Heng looked at the old man, his eyes sharp.

The more the old man spoke, the stronger the sense of oppression in Du Heng’s eyes became, and the gloomier his face grew.

Slowly, the old man began to feel the pressure. His tone was not as firm as before, and while speaking, he kept glancing at Du Heng.

Even the ever-smiling host noticed that the atmosphere was somewhat off.

Then, after their eyes met briefly, they began to shift the topic to Du Heng.

The host said, ”Having listened to Dr. Wei’s talk, let’s hear President Du’s opinion. President Du, you are an expert in Gynecology and Pediatrics. I wonder if you have any knowledge about strokes?”

Du Heng was a bit surprised. They really don’t know what I’ve done? Is it true that not investigating beforehand has become a tradition at Provincial Satellite TV? Haven’t they learned their lesson from the tactical nuclear graphics card incident?

Then Du Heng offered a slight smile. ”I have a little knowledge of it.”

”Then can you evaluate Dr. Wei’s explanation of stroke?”

As soon as the host finished speaking, the ”old immortal” chimed in, ”If President Du has a different understanding, please share it. Communication leads to progress, after all.”

Tsk, tsk, how magnanimous, Du Heng thought.

Du Heng turned his gaze to this lecher. He then said, ”Having just listened to Dr. Wei, it seems he has a very deep understanding of stroke.”

”This is the culmination of five generations of effort. I dare not take all the credit,” Dr. Wei replied modestly.

”Oh.” Du Heng laughed again, his expression somewhat inscrutable.

He’s faced with five generations of effort, and instead of praising it, he just grins? What does that mean? Everyone was confused.

But Du Heng continued, ”Dr. Wei, your speech was very insightful. Was it summarized from your own experiences?”

Dr. Wei’s smile didn’t falter. He nodded calmly. ”These are just some of my humble opinions. What are your thoughts, President Du?”

”Dr. Wei, I hope you don’t mind, but I have a question. May I ask it?”

”Of course. The exchange of ideas among peers is invaluable. Only by progressing together can the cause of traditional Chinese medicine flourish and avoid being overshadowed by Western medicine.”

”In the May issue of XX journal last year, I read an article about stroke. It was exactly the same as what you just presented. Did you write it?”

Dr. Wei stiffened for a moment, then quickly composed himself with a smile. ”I dictated it, and one of my disciples wrote it on my behalf.”

”Oh.” Du Heng looked at him, a knowing smile playing on his lips. ”Dr. Wei, do you happen to know what type of publication XX journal is?”

”I’m getting old and am not too familiar with such matters.” For the first time, a hint of embarrassment flickered across Dr. Wei’s face.

Heh, Du Heng thought. Just as I suspected. He didn’t get it from a journal; he found it online. Expecting a Folk Chinese Medicine Practitioner to read academic journals? What a joke!

Du Heng himself rarely read such journals under normal circumstances. He only searched for them online when pressed to write a paper or when a research project required it. And it was only people like him—academics or researchers—who would pay attention to an article’s author. Most people who find things online don’t bother checking the author. Even if they did see the name, they’d just glance at it and move on. Hardly anyone would be interested enough to find out who actually wrote the article.

Du Heng coughed softly and said with a smile, ”I seem to recall the author of that article was named Du Heng. His workplace was listed as the Zhonghu Town Health Clinic in Shanghu District, Jinzhou.”

The relatively small studio was instantly filled with hushed whispers.

They didn’t understand the significance of that workplace, but they knew from Dr. Wei’s earlier introduction that he didn’t work at a Health Clinic. Moreover, they also knew that the man speaking on stage was also named Du Heng.

The whispering continued, and soon, more and more people began pointing towards the stage.

The host was dumbfounded. She glanced down at her materials: Du Heng: Dean of Zhonghu Town Health Clinic until April of this year.

It was a simple line in the materials, but those few words left the host tongue-tied.

Her mind raced, trying to figure out how to salvage the situation. But Du Heng spoke up, ”We don’t need to delve too deeply into this. We are all practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine. It’s quite normal to have a similar understanding of the same illness.”

”Yes, yes! We are all practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine. It’s perfectly normal to have the same understanding!” Dr. Wei quickly seized the lifeline, eager to smooth things over.

But the host felt a chill run down her spine when she saw the faint smile playing at the corners of Du Heng’s mouth again.

Her heart pounded. She quickly announced, ”Let’s pause the recording for a moment. Our two guests must be tired. We’ll continue after a short break.”

Trying to escape? Du Heng thought.

Du Heng wasn’t about to let that happen. He was determined to get to the bottom of this today.

Being called to act as a shill was one thing; if the person actually had genuine skills, he could tolerate it for the sake of the patients. But this charade? Du Heng couldn’t let it slide. He absolutely had to see this supposedly miraculous prescription for himself today.

Du Heng knew that treating a stroke patient typically required at least two different prescriptions from beginning to end. In fact, in his most recently published paper, which came out just a few days ago, he had detailed two such prescriptions.

”I’m not too tired,” Du Heng said. ”Let’s continue. Allow me to see Dr. Wei’s prescription and broaden my horizons.”

As soon as Du Heng finished speaking, the restless audience quieted down.