This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

However, even though six months had passed since Yang took charge of the new department, it still ranked last among all the hospital’s departments. The patient beds allocated to them were reportedly almost all borrowed by the Traditional Chinese Medicine Internal Medicine Department this month.

Under such circumstances, how he dared to criticize Du Heng was beyond comprehension.

But now that he wanted to make a move, perhaps this was an opportunity to see if he truly dared to step forward.

Director Yang swallowed hard.

He had to undermine Doctor Du, or he’d become the laughingstock of the hospital. If he allowed Du Heng to continue progressing like this, his own department might become the shortest-lived in the hospital’s history. How could he save face if his department was reabsorbed by the Traditional Chinese Medicine Internal Medicine Department? If it came to that, he wouldn’t even find a good spot to jump from a building. So, dealing with Du Heng was something that absolutely had to be done. But he didn’t want to do it himself. He couldn’t do it himself; there was no way for him to be the one to step forward. He wanted to ruin Du Heng’s reputation, let others condemn him, and then he could reap the rewards. But he never expected that Director Niu of the Nephrology Department would put him on the spot after just a few words. And another thing, what did Niu mean by speaking for him? Given Du Heng’s current standing in the hospital, even if he actually used a couple of pieces of yellow paper to treat a patient, the hospital leader would probably say he was giving the patient psychological suggestion. They wouldn’t even let Du Heng explain. Step forward himself? Was he crazy? He was just slow to learn things, not genuinely stupid.

Director Niu looked at Director Yang’s constipated expression, a wave of satisfaction washing over him.

Coincidentally, he had a difficult case on his hands, so this was a good opportunity to test Du Heng again.

”Director Yang, it’s settled then. We must protect the hard-won progress of traditional Chinese medicine,” Director Niu said, not wanting to waste more words. Having made his point, he turned and left, giving Director Yang no chance to backtrack.

Director Niu believed that with Du Heng’s ability to easily treat acute kidney injury and chronic nephritis, he must have had solid reasons for using an iron. So, he didn’t think his suggestion would harm Du Heng. On the contrary, it might even help Du Heng expedite the process of winning over the ’defectors’ from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Internal Medicine Department.

Establishing a new, independent department was something frowned upon in any existing department.

Moreover, based on his recent observations, he had compared the Traditional Chinese Medicine Department, as represented by Du Heng, with other specialized Departments of Traditional Chinese Medicine. As an outsider, he felt that once the integration of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine was excluded, adult internal medicine was the best path for the proper application of traditional Chinese medicine.

The current trend of specialization, while perhaps inevitable, felt a bit like a hodgepodge, neither here nor there. It wasn’t that it was bad, but when compared to Du Heng’s diagnosis and treatment, it always seemed to be missing something. But he wasn’t a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, so he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.

Director Niu decisively turned and left. The few people who had been chatting idly with Director Yang exchanged glances and a knowing smile, then also promptly left. Director Yang remained standing alone at the canteen entrance, utterly bewildered.

These onlookers had understood. Director Niu clearly had a lot of confidence in that Doctor Du Heng and wasn’t keen on dealing with Director Yang, even seeming to push him into a corner. As for them, they were just there for the gossip and to stir things up a bit. To expect them to get involved in this matter... Heh, they weren’t that close with Yang. Better to make a quick exit.

It wasn’t just the skeptical Director Yang who lacked confidence in Du Heng’s treatment; by now, Gu and her family had also lost faith.

Three days had passed. Apart from their daughter’s left cheek growing redder from the iron’s hot air, they had seen no other change.

Mr. Gu watched his daughter painstakingly eat her congee, head tilted back, spoonful by slow spoonful. His heart ached terribly. Even though the congee she was eating was more expensive, more delicious, and more fragrant than an average person’s meal out, what good was it?

Congee was still just congee!

Now, apart from liquid food, she couldn’t manage anything that required chewing at all. It wasn’t because her mouth was crooked, making it hard for her upper and lower jaws to align and exert force. Rather, her left masseter muscle was no longer working. Relying solely on her right masseter muscle, combined with the distorted pull of her crooked mouth, simply wasn’t enough.

Mr. Gu was deeply pained but helpless. When his daughter paused and put down her spoon, he asked gently, ”Sweetheart, can you feel anything on the left side of your face now?”

Gu shook her head slightly, her voice small. ”I can’t feel anything.”

”This morning, when Doctor Du used the iron to blow hot air, and when he did the acupuncture, if I closed my eyes, I wouldn’t even know what stage we were at.”

Mr. Gu forced a smile, trying to comfort Gu. ”I think that side of your face looks a bit more flushed. There should be some change.”

”Don’t worry. Director Du said it would take a week to see results. Today is only the third day; it’s still early.”

Hearing that her face showed change, Gu’s spirits visibly lifted. She asked eagerly, ”Dad, is it really changing?”

Had it? It probably had. After all, her left cheek did look a bit redder, a bit darker.

Mr. Gu smiled. ”Of course. Would I lie to you about this?”

Gu was overjoyed. She suddenly had the urge to take a selfie with her phone.

But as she reached for her phone, she hesitated. The hand that had touched it slowly drew back.