Chapter 21: Promotion through the wife route
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
On Friday evening, Zhang Fan visited Superintendent Batu’s office after finishing his work shift. “Superintendent, Politician Kang wants to return home tomorrow. She had Secretary Tang call me to inform me that I should go into the city to treat her.”
“Oh, it seems like your treatment must be greatly effective. When you go, you absolutely need to remember where her home is, got that?”
“Of course.” Zhang Fan chuckled.
“Why are you laughing! I’m different from you. You studied the natural sciences, while I studied humanities. It’s completely different.” Batu also chuckled as he handed Zhang Fan a cigarette before lighting one for himself. “Although we may joke and laugh around, you absolutely need to take this seriously, and remember to not tell anyone that you’re treating Politician Kang.”
The roads between Kuake City and other cities were now completely clear of snow. This immediately caused a large drop in the number of patients as many people would choose to go to farther city hospitals. On Saturday afternoon, Zhang Fan headed over to the government office to wait for Tang Jingjing.
“Hey! So today I’m being treated like the leader? I’m being picked up by a Toyota Cruiser Prado? Let’s go then!” Since Tang Jingjing was the personal secretary for Kuake City head politician Kang Hua, without regards to anything else, Tang Jingjing’s emotional intelligence was more than triple that of Zhang Fan’s. Before, when Zhang Fan didn’t have his System, he would still try to make efforts at being emotionally intelligent, but he no longer did so as he now purely relied on the skills gained through his System to speak for himself.
Time passed quite swiftly as Zhang Fan and Tang Jingjing chatted and laughed on their way to the bigger city. Tang Jingjing didn’t ask a single question about Zhang Fan’s personal affairs. She didn’t even ask just how Zhang Fan had obtained this car. If this had been Chen Lulu in the car with Zhang Fan instead, she would have asked everything personal she possibly could, down to the color of his underpants. Although Zhang Fan had only recently learned how to drive, he was a skilled driver 1 .
“When we’re almost there, I’ll call Leader Kang and see when she’s free. If the treatment ends early, I’ll treat you to dinner. If not, then forget it,” Tang Jingjing offered.
“Let me treat you instead.”
“No, as I’m older than you. I should be the one treating you. All of this is trifling regardless. The only important thing is to serve our leaders well.” Tang Jingjing had graduated with a master’s degree in international finance from one of the better grad schools in the border province.
Kang Hua told Little Tang and Zhang Fan to arrive at 4 pm. Tang Jingjing checked her watch before saying, “Turn left here and head towards Kaifa District. Leader Kang’s house is there.” After entering the big city, Zhang Fan noticed that there were many more cars. Zhang Fan didn’t drive very quickly, but he still arrived at 3:40 pm.
“This is a recently constructed district. I need to check in with the gate guard, otherwise they won’t even open the gate to let you in.” This district had numerous four-story buildings. Four families would live in each building, one for each floor. Zhang Fan felt that the distance between each building was ridiculously big. The gardens in front of the buildings had been developed for planting some crops. Although it was winter, Zhang Fan could see some racks for green beans.
Kang Hua owned multiple levels. Both the third and fourth floor of her building belonged to her, so she had plentiful living space. When Zhang Fan entered, an auntie handed Zhang Fan a pair of single-use disposable slippers. Tang Jingjing often came here, so she was familiar with Kang Hua’s home.
“Doctor Zhang, I’m sorry to trouble you to come all the way here to this city. Please, have some fruits.” Kang Hua wore rather casual attire in her own home and wasn’t wearing makeup. She looked gentler and less strict this way.
“It’s no trouble at all. Superintendent Batu especially told me that I must make sure to give our leader timely treatments without interruption.” Since Batu treated Zhang Fan quite well, Zhang Fan was quite willing to help Batu whenever he could.
“Is that so? I must thank Superintendent Batu then. Doctor Zhang, your three-week treatment for me is almost over now. I feel much better than before. Would it be more effective if I continue having you do another two or three long-term treatments for me after this one?”
“After this three-week treatment, it’s best for you to rest a few months as too many back massages will also cause bone fatigue in your spine. Continuing to massage your back for too many weeks in a row will actually be likely to worsen your back pain.”
“Ah, I understand. Okay then, I’ll leave everything up to Doctor Zhang,” Kang Hua said with a bright smile.
Zhang Fan gave Kang Hua a massage in her study, which was even larger than the large bedroom in the hospital’s rented house. A single-person bed was also in this study. Rehabilitative back massaging was intensive physical labor that first required Zhang Fan to excite Kang Hua’s muscles, followed by using an appropriate amount of force to constantly keep Kang Hua’s spine in a special angle.
After approximately 45 minutes, Zhang Fan was covered in sweat. He’d finished the massage. He then washed his hands and rested on a sofa in the living room as Tang Jingjing poured a cup of tea for him.
“Doctor Zhang, try this tea. It’s the renowned Tie Guanyin oolong tea from Anxi. Do you have many patients at your hospital?” Kang Hua inquired.
“The number of patients? Just normal.”
“Oh, by the way, Doctor Zhang, can all slipped discs be treated with back massages?”
“That depends on the situation. It mostly depends on whether the nucleus pulposus can be restored. If the nucleus pulposus can’t be restored, even a massage will be useless.”
“Ah! I see. Little Tang, take Doctor Zhang tonight to Fortune Restaurant and treat him to a meal. The food there is pretty good. I also have a dinner party to attend there tonight. Perhaps I’ll even have to trouble Doctor Zhang again at that time.”
“Yes, Leader.”
Zhang Fan opened his mouth, but didn’t say anything in the end. He still wanted to go out and buy some books, as well as tour the bigger city. If he had to eat dinner together with them, he would be unable to move independently. Darkness came incredibly early here in the border province’s winter. The roads would also be slippery. Zhang Fan still hadn’t learned how to drive at night yet.
One of Kang Hua’s former high school classmates was currently employed at a bank in the bigger city. This former high school classmate’s husband was also a governmental leader. After many years of effort, Kang Hua successfully developed a good friendship with her former high school classmate. Since Kang Hua wanted to get promoted to a higher position, she fully intended to use her former high school classmate whose husband was ranked higher than Kang Hua was.
Kang Hua’s friend was named Wang Qian, although she had legally changed her name from Wang Wenge. Wang Qian called Kang Hua last week to tell her that she was returning to Chasu City, the big city which was the closest to Kuake City. This was because Wang Qian’s boss’s mother was from Chasu City. Wang Qian invited Kang Hua to eat dinner together with her and her boss. Previously, Kang Hua had used her own abilities as well as her friends and relatives’ assistance to ascend to the position of head politician of Kuake City. However, receiving further promotion would be difficult without connections, which was why Kang Hua took advantage of her gender to make friends with many wives of high-ranking government leaders.
Wang Qian also had a poor back from her early years as a bank clerk. Kang Hua intended to bring Zhang Fan with her in order to treat her former classmate’s back problems. Naturally, this was so that Kang Hua could potentially establish an even better relationship with the woman who was ranked even higher than Wang Qian.
Fortune Restaurant was the only restaurant in all of Chasu City that only served its registered VIP members. Ordinary people weren’t allowed inside unless they were brought in by VIP members. This was a large restaurant on the outskirts of Chasu City. Its greatest advantage was the privacy and secrecy it gave to its VIP members.
“You’ve been looking great recently, Kang Hua. What makeup have you been using?” Kang Hua, Wang Qian, and Wang Qian’s boss, who was the wife of a politician ranking even higher, all chatted as they ate together.
“You know about how I had a slipped disc in my spine, right? That gave me so much back pain before. A while back, a college student arrived to support my city’s hospital. He’s really amazing. He gave me some back massages for a few weeks, and now my pain is much better.”
“Really? Could I ask him to treat me as well, then?”
“No surgery was necessary?” Wang Qian’s boss was also astonished. Her husband also had back pain. Not only had her husband gone to the provincial hospital for back pain, he had even tried visiting hospitals in Beijing without any successful treatments.
“No surgery, only massages. They’re amazingly effective.”
Kang Hua immediately could tell from Wang Qian’s boss’s question that she had to either personally have or someone in her immediate family would have back pain. Kang Hua had personally experienced how painful a slipped disc could be, and she was supremely confident in Zhang Hua’s abilities after weeks of receiving massages from him.
Meanwhile, in another smaller private room at the same restaurant, Zhang Hua and Tang Jingjing were enjoying similarly excellent food. “Have a taste of this. The last time I came here was half a year ago when I got to accompany Leader Kang. It tastes really good.” Tang Jingjing introduced the dishes here while picking up some food with her chopsticks and putting it on Zhang Fan’s plate.
“Miss Tang, you should eat as well. It really is delicious.”
“Of course it’s delicious. I’ve heard that the head cook here was previously a cook at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. His administrative position was equal to any politician.”
“Really? Then why would he come all the way out here to this border province?”
“This is his hometown, he retired from that job to take an easier job here, you know?”
Kang Hua and the other two women had just about finished eating by now. Wang Qian’s boss treated Kang Hua normally, without being especially polite or rude. Still, she did offer her cell phone number to Kang Hua.
Kang Hua was in no hurry—this was their first meeting, after all. She was willing to be patient to get into Wang Qian’s boss’s good graces. Kang Hua promised Wang Qian over dinner that she would have Zhang Fan treat Wang Qian’s back pain later tonight.
Meanwhile, Zhang Fan’s mouth was slathered in grease as he ate without knowing about any of this!