This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

This wasn’t a case of Du Heng overthinking or being excessively cautious.

As for Du Heng himself, although he had graduated from school and previously lacked a formal Master-disciple relationship, becoming Li Jianwei’s student meant he had now entered that network. Li Jianwei had told him that he had a senior fellow apprentice working in the Provincial Department. Furthermore, the master who had initiated both of them into traditional Chinese medicine was a genuine folk practitioner, one who had run a clinic his entire life.

Currently, his relationship with Li Jianwei was still that of teacher-student. However, if Li Jianwei were to formally accept him as a disciple one day, yesterday’s stunt by the TV station would have instantly branded Du Heng a traitor who defied his master and ancestors.

Western medicine practitioners might not value such matters, but it was different in traditional Chinese medicine. Behind every renowned TCM practitioner, wasn’t there an established Master-disciple relationship? How else could Du Heng have so easily secured approval for a research project? How else could Li Jianwei have bypassed the queue to help Du Heng apply for awards? Some connections are invisible, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Du Heng, as a beneficiary of this system, was now embroiled in this affair of ”debunking Folk Chinese Medicine Practitioners.” In the eyes of some, he would surely earn the condemnation: ”This upstart is a disgrace!”

Director Zheng’s chubby face stiffened, and his smile turned awkward. He had completely failed to consider the points Du Heng raised. His mouth twitched slightly before he managed to say, ”Dean, surely it’s not as serious as you’re making it out to be? I just looked at some comments under your account. Regarding last night’s program, netizens are almost unanimously on your side, all voices of support. It seems everyone has suffered greatly at the hands of those so-called ’Divine Doctors’ from the folk community.”

As if finding a point to bolster his argument, his spirits rose again. ”After just last night, your Short Video Account gained over a hundred thousand more followers! At this rate, if the program’s impact continues to ferment for another two days, your follower count might reach six or even seven million!”

This should have been welcome news, but to Du Heng, it only made his expression darker.

Netizens blindly taking my side, indiscriminately disparaging and attacking Folk Chinese Medicine Practitioners... this isn’t helping me; it’s harming me!

”Director Zheng, I have a task for you,” Du Heng stated. ”Go immediately and find the person in charge of this program and make things clear to them. I participated in an interview program about traditional Chinese medicine, not a program to expose fake Folk Chinese Medicine Practitioners. Also, use my Short Video Account to release a clarification video with the same message. I don’t want this misunderstanding to escalate further. Do it now! Immediately! Right away! And tell the person in charge of the program that they must bear full responsibility for all consequences that arise.”

Du Heng was genuinely furious. What should have been a positive event had, through this mess, turned him into some kind of anti-fraud crusader.

Director Zheng felt an incredibly vexing sense of frustration, as if he had been utterly screwed. It was clearly a good thing, so how did it end up like this?

”Dean,” Director Zheng attempted a final effort, ”didn’t we just expose that fake Divine Doctor that day? Besides, the program group didn’t haphazardly edit the content. What you’re asking might be difficult to arrange.”

But Du Heng’s face turned completely black. ”Director Zheng, you need to understand something. On the program, I exposed Dr. Wei, not Folk Chinese Medicine Practitioners as a whole. Furthermore, I never said there was a problem with the program’s content. I said the program’s introduction was inflammatory and seemed designed to provoke conflict. I don’t care if I’m called an Internet Celebrity Doctor. But that Dr. Wei cannot represent the entire community of Folk Chinese Medicine Practitioners—he’s not worthy. And I am not qualified to debunk the entire group of Folk Chinese Medicine Practitioners either. Moreover, I hope you understand one thing clearly: you are the Director of the Hospital Office at the Municipal Maternal and Child Health Hospital, not a director for the program group. You should be protecting my interests and the hospital’s interests, not those of the TV station’s program group. Understand?”

Du Heng’s last few sentences were delivered with considerable weight, causing Director Zheng’s face to flush red, then turn pale.

Du Heng looked coldly at Director Zheng. ”Contact the program group right now. They must issue a public clarification. And don’t you worry about the short video; leave all of that to Xiao Kang.”

Five million followers, Du Heng thought. They haven’t clouded my judgment, the actual person involved, but they’ve certainly captivated the heart of the one who orchestrated this.

Watching Director Zheng exit with his head bowed, Du Heng added, ”Have Xiao Kang come to my office.”

Director Zheng departed, and Kang Zhirong soon arrived.

”Dean, you were looking for me?”

Du Heng, having calmed his anger somewhat, asked, ”Are you busy right now?”

Kang Zhirong, unsure of Du Heng’s intentions, answered truthfully, ”I’m editing videos of the new pediatric patients, planning to post them tonight.”

”Put that aside for now. Help me record a video, and then get it posted as quickly as possible.”

Kang Zhirong agreed and turned to fetch his work equipment. This type of video wouldn’t require much editing. Once recorded and captioned, it could be posted directly, taking less than an hour in total.

Just as the clarification video was posted, Du Heng’s phone rang.

”Leader... That wasn’t my intention; the program group did it themselves... Yes, yes, I just released the clarification video, and Director Zheng from our Hospital Office is already communicating with the TV station... Thank you for your understanding, Leader. This kind of thing will never happen again.”

Hanging up the phone, Du Heng gave a wry smile. See? My worries weren’t unfounded at all. It’s only been a short while, and a call from the Municipal Bureau has already come.

The June weather grew hotter each day. Even though it was only morning, Du Heng already felt uncomfortably sticky. Walking to the window, he watched the medical staff whispering in twos and threes under the shade of the trees. Du Heng decided to take a walk around the ward. He wanted to check on their work and, at the same time, apply some pressure to expedite their pace of adaptation and change. After all, exchanging gossip and rumors wouldn’t do much to improve their treatment methods.

The first patient he wanted to see was the child with mumps from yesterday.

When he saw the child again, the little one was already playing happily with his parents. The most noticeable swelling, located under the ear, which had originally been the size of a small child’s fist, had now shrunk to the size of a peach pit.

Seeing Du Heng enter, the parents, who had been quite cold the previous day, were much warmer today. They not only smiled at Du Heng but also chatted with him briefly. Witnessing this, Du Heng felt a sense of relief in his heart. What he currently feared most wasn’t the child’s illness—he was confident about treating that. He was worried about the parents’ attitude. If they proved relentless regarding Si Hongyan’s misdiagnosis, it would be more than enough trouble for Si Hongyan to handle. Their current demeanor suggested to him that resolving the matter wouldn’t be too difficult.

After asking the parents about the child’s condition the previous night, Du Heng began to playfully interact with the little one, simultaneously performing a check-up.

”The child is recovering very well,” Du Heng informed them. ”As long as he takes his medicine on time, he should be ready for discharge in another two days.”

”Thank you, President Du. We were truly terrified yesterday,” one of the parents said.

”This was due to our hospital’s error,” Du Heng replied. ”It is we who should be apologizing to you.”

”No need, no need, President Du, you’re too kind. Dr. Si already apologized to us last night. And this morning, Director Huang and Dr. Si even came by specifically to bring us many things.”

Du Heng raised an eyebrow. So, those two have finally come to their senses, huh?

Du Heng said, ”That’s our doctors’ way of expressing their apologies. We hope you can accept it.”

”We were just worried about our child. As long as he’s okay, it’s not a big deal,” one of the parents replied.

With this matter settled, Du Heng left the hospital room and proceeded to the other wards. In these rooms were several pediatric patients whose families had sought out Du Heng after seeing his short videos. Among them, a number were cases of pediatric cerebral hypoplasia.

Du Heng finished examining a few children. Just as he was about to speak with their families, the phone in his pocket rang again. This time, the call was from Li Jianwei.

Du Heng murmured an apology and stepped out of the hospital room, phone in hand.

”Teacher.”

”Xiao Heng, are you free? If so, come by my office. There are a few things I need to ask you.”