Chapter 161: Goosebumps
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
It was unknown whether it was Li Xiao’s idea or her personal assistant’s idea, but Zhang Fan’s new Toyota FJ Cruiser had a full tank of gas when he received it. Although this was a good car, it was also a gas guzzler. Chark City was the farthest city belonging to the bigger Chasu City’s jurisdiction. There was no highway between the two cities. Although there was a provincial road, the road was extremely mountainous and difficult to traverse.
In autumn, rain would be abundant. When Zhang Fan almost reached Chark City, a nearby place had flooded the highway. The smaller cars could only stop by the roadside and wait for the water to recede. Zhang Fan’s car had a higher chassis and stronger horsepower than most, so he was able to drive over the water. However, the new car no longer looked like a new car after this. Zhang Fan kept trembling out of pain for the sake of his new car. Since he had been born into a poor family, he really loved everything that he owned, especially since this was a car.
Chark City’s government building was right next to the building for Chark City Communist Party Committee. These two tall buildings stood tall in Chark City which had very few tall buildings, so they were especially noticeable. Zhang Fan parked his car and called Kang Hua to let her know that he had arrived. Since she was a City Leader, it would be inappropriate for him to just go in unannounced. He also knew that Kang Hua had a new secretary whom he didn’t know, so he couldn’t go through Tang Jingjing anymore.
Kang Hua told Zhang Fan to directly come to her office. Earlier this morning, Zhang Fan had mentioned that he would be going out to oncological department director Anar. She knew that he wasn’t interested in staying in oncology, so she didn’t make things difficult for Zhang Fan.
Why did rotation doctors have low status in the hospital, where even experienced nurses could scold them? The main reason was that they didn’t have medical licenses! Not having a medical license meant that they couldn’t be counted as official doctors yet. At most, they could only be called intern doctors. China’s medical system’s rules were quite cruel for intern doctors.
Zhang Fan knocked on the door to Kang Hua’s office. A young woman who seemed to be particularly icy opened the door. She had white skin, large eyes, a tall nose bridge, thin lips, and shiny lip gloss. She was relatively tall and wore a suit.
“You must be Doctor Zhang! Leader Kang is waiting inside for you.” Her voice was also incredibly icy! She had even more of a politician’s aura than Kang Hua did. Zhang Fan smiled and nodded before entering.
Zhang Fan had tried already to change his habit of always smiling when greeting others, but he was unable to change it. This was a problematic habit that he had picked up due to being a food seller for so long back in college. Kang Hua’s office was actually two connected rooms. Zhang Hua figured that the outer room was the office for this icy secretary.
When he went to the inner room, Kang Hua warmly greeted Zhang Fan as she got up. Zhang Fan instantly knew from her attitude that she had something to request of him. “Little Wei, don’t give him the usual tea for guests. Let Doctor Zhang have a taste of my personal Maojian green tea instead.” Kang Hua saw that her secretary Wei Wei was making tea as she chatted with Zhang Fan, so she mentioned this to Wei Wei.
Wei Wei’s uncle was a leader of Chasu City Communist Party Committee. He had a good relationship with Li Xiao, who had spent quite a lot of effort to help Kang Hua obtain her current position and promotion. Now, Kang Hua and Wei Wei’s uncle counted as being part of the same political faction due to their connection with Li Xiao. They also happened to have very similar political beliefs.
After Wei Wei graduated from college, she then entered a Communist Party graduate school. There, she became a psychology major graduate student. After she graduated with a master’s degree, she didn’t want to stay at the school. It just so happened that Kang Hua and Wei Wei’s uncle met each other at this time, so her uncle told her to go along and work as Kang Hua’s secretary.
Wei Wei was a highly ambitious woman. Otherwise, a woman like her from such a political family would never work for someone else as a secretary.
Wei Wei placed a cup of tea in front of Zhang Fan, and lightly said, “Please go ahead, Doctor Zhang!” She then brought Kang Hua’s cup from her desk table over to the table in front of the sofa where Kang Hua was currently sitting across from Zhang Fan on another sofa. If Wei Wei was at home, she was the type who wouldn’t even bother with cleaning up after she spilled some water, as servants would do that for her, but as a secretary, Wei Wei had to learn how to properly pour tea and serve others well and gracefully!
Wei Wei was going to go back to her office to work on some paperwork when Kang Hua called out to her. “Little Wei, stay here and listen to our conversation. Feel free to contact Doctor Zhang directly if there’s anything in the future.”
Wei Wei thus sat down and took out a pen and notebook to make notes for this conversation. After Zhang Fan drank some tea, Kang Hua said, “Doctor Zhang, I’ll just say it directly. The situation at Chark City Hospital is really bad. The surgical department is completely incapable of performing anything other than the simplest surgeries. This is making it difficult for the people of Chark City to get treated for their medical problems, and giving me a great deal of pressure as I’m the City Leader of Chark City. It’s my responsibility to do a good job at improving Chark City Hospital. However, Chark City is too far away from the bigger Chasu City. The older expert doctors are all unwilling to drive so far to come here to work on surgeries. I can only ask you now. You don’t need to come here every day. We can do things just like before, intentionally scheduling several elective surgeries on the same day so that you can find one day every once in a while to come over and treat them. I’d also like to trouble you sometimes if there’s an emergency surgery patient who needs you to come over immediately.”
Zhang Fan thought about it for a moment, and then said, “Leader Kang, I’m worried that I might be on a work shift at the time. I’m also worried that since there’s considerable distance between the two cities, I might not be able to get here on time to save some emergency surgery patients!” Zhang Fan loved to perform surgeries, but he still needed to consider his primary job at Chasu City Hospital.
“No need to worry about that. As long as you agree, I’ll go discuss things with Superintendent Ouyang. It shouldn’t be a problem. Since Chark City’s population is low, there shouldn’t be that many emergency surgery patients who need you. Besides, you’re young, skilled, and filled with energy. You’re the best candidate for what I have in mind,” Kang Hua informed him.
Zhang Fan was weighing the pros and cons of this when Kang Hua said, “Chark City can also give you a special payment contract. I can also negotiate and pay for your travel expenses here along with your surgery fees.”
“Okay then! Leader Kang, I was just worried about my work at Chasu City Hospital. Surgery fees and so on aren’t a big deal to me,” Zhang Fan replied.
“I have no objections to giving you the fee that expert doctors from Chasu City Hospital would normally command. Little Wei will give you a bank card with some gas money on it in a bit. You need to do well here! Chark City Hospital has been unable to resolve the medical problems of Chark City’s populace. I’ve already lost a lot of sleep because of this!” Kang Hua even made sure to pat Zhang Fan on the arm in a friendly manner as she said this.
Kang Hua truly was worried about the state of Chark City Hospital. She had underestimated the medical field. She had believed that changing out the old incompetent people at the hospital for fresh blood would improve things, but the surgical department of Chark City Hospital still remained incompetent. The Chark City Communist Party Committee Secretary, the director of the Bureau of Health in Chark City, and other such government officials were all talking about this as a political blemish on her career now.
If Kang Hua had done things slowly, there wouldn’t have been as much of a problem. However, she had been too forceful. She had been in a hurry to consolidate her power and show the effects of her policies, so she’d invited quite a bit of backlash from other government officials.
Zhang Fan happily agreed to help Kang Hua because he would be able to perform more surgeries as well as get paid. That was all he wanted!
After Zhang Fan agreed, Kang Hua left the rest of the work to her secretary Wei Wei. She told Wei Wei to take Zhang Fan to show him around Chark City Hospital. There was a new superintendent here now, along with a new surgical director. The previous surgical director who had a conflict with Zhang Fan had been so angry at being removed from his position that he resigned and opened up his own clinic instead!
Wei Wei had been really astonished as she listened to the conversation in Kang Hua’s office. Over the past few months, she had been really impressed with her boss Kang Hua. She felt that it would be no exaggeration to call Kang Hua a woman of steel. However, Wei Wei was quite confused about how friendly Kang Hua had been towards Zhang Fan. When Wei Wei went out of the government building together with Zhang Fan and saw his muddy FJ Cruiser, she became even more curious about Zhang Fan!
‘He’s still quite young, so he must have only been working for a few years. He always greets others with a smile, which means that he has an ordinary upbringing. However, Kang Hua is so friendly with him. He also drives a really nice car. This all seems so contradictory,’ Wei Wei thought to herself.
“Doctor Zhang, here’s a bank card with some gas money. Please give me your cell phone number so that I can contact you in the future.”
Zhang Fan happily took the bank card and took out his bright pink Apple iphone 4 with flower stickers attached all over it. His phone had previously belonged to his sister Zhang Jingshu. She had given it to him when Shao Hua previously purchased a newer phone for her. Zhang Fan used this phone to dial Wei Wei’s cell phone number, but Wei Wei saw this and misunderstood! Wei Wei got goosebumps all over as she recalled how intimately Kang Hua had been patting Zhang Fan on the arm! Wei Wei misunderstood that Kang Hua had to be financing Zhang Fan as her lover!