Chapter 259: Just him is enough
Now that the Spring Festival was over, Chasu City Hospital became busy again. Many doctors, especially expert doctors, wouldn’t want to see their coworkers at all during the holiday. Thus, the expert doctors almost all went out of town for the holiday as they had enough of work already. Zhang Fan could only go visit all of the directors and vice directors after they returned to work in order to greet them.
After Zhang Fan purchased his hospital from Ma Wentao, his hospital’s surgeries kept increasing in number. Things were getting on a proper track. His hospital’s reputation was slowly spreading. Although Zhang Fan was able to fool certain people as the legal owner of his hospital was Shao Hua’s father, those who were well-connected would never be fooled. Such people would have plentiful connections in Chasu City. Wanting to know who was really in charge of a private hospital would be only the matter of a single phone call to them. Zhang Fan wasn’t the legal owner of his hospital, but those who had connections knew quite well just who was really running his hospital.
Orthopedic surgery department #3’s Director Chen Qi made some tea as he thought to himself, ‘People really will get angry if they compare themselves to others. I’m still struggling and fighting within Chasu City Hospital just in order to become a director. This youngster has already jumped out of this restraining circle entirely!’
“Here, have a taste of this Tieguanyin tea. I found a new medical equipment merchant who brought this to me from the south. Have a taste,” Chen Qi offered to Zhang Fan. Medical equipment merchants would only be able to fool those who weren’t in the medical field. Chen Qi was certain that other medical equipment merchants had long since contacted Zhang Fan before.
“Alright, thank you, Bro! This is the money that I previously borrowed from you. I won’t be giving you any interest.” Zhang Fan was visiting Chen Qi both in order to greet the latter for the Spring Festival, as well as to return the money that he borrowed. Chen Qi’s son was at the age where he really needed money. Since Zhang Fan’s hospital was profitable, he decided not to owe money if at all possible, and hurriedly started paying back his debts.
“You little brat, look at how skilled you are. I was wondering why you were borrowing money from everyone. So, you had a hospital business of your own! How is it? How’s business there?” Chen Qi chuckled while sitting down on a sofa next to Zhang Fan.
“Pretty good, but it’s really tiring!” Zhang Fan told him the truth while drinking tea. Zhang Fan really was exhausted.
“How are you going to make money without being tired? You shouldn’t act spoiled. I don’t have your abilities. Even at our Chasu City Hospital, I think there are probably less than three people who match you in ability.”
“Hey! You’re praising me too much, Bro! It really is exhausting.” Zhang Fan and Chen Qi’s relationship was good enough to the point where they could be really direct with each other.
“Alright. You probably won’t need me when it comes to surgeries anyways. There’s no rush about returning my money. If you lack money, go ahead and make use of it. Let me know if you need help with the various government bureaus. Don’t be shy with your old bro. I do have some influence.” Actually, Chen Qi wanted to invest and become a stockholder in Zhang Fan’s hospital, but felt too awkward to say it directly. Still, Chen Qi was in no hurry. He would mention it when the timing was good with Zhang Fan!
“Okay. Thanks, Bro. I don’t lack money anymore for the time being. I’ll borrow money from you again if I’m in need of money. I’ll be leaving now!” Zhang Fan left after returning the money he had borrowed from Chen Qi. The orthopedic director was really filled with exclamations as he watched Zhang Fan leave!
Most directors at Chasu City Hospital were rather envious of how Zhang Fan now had his personal hospital. Gao Shijun was an exception. When Zhang Fan visited him for a Spring Festival greeting, he simply told the latter, “You absolutely can’t let your eyes be blinded by money! You want to develop in microsurgery? It’s a bit of a pity!”
“Director Gao, rest assured that I won’t be blinded. This is just my hobby!”
“Your hobby is quite expensive! It costs several million yuan!” Gao Shijun gave Zhang Fan a sidelong glance.
Zhang Fan had no way of explaining things to Director Gao. Zhang Fan’s greatest secret was the existence of his System. Basically, as long as his System didn’t disappear on him, Zhang Fan would never tell a single person about it! Even if he did tell someone, he figured that they wouldn’t believe him, so why bother?
Zhang Fan was actually interested in having the directors invest and become stockholders in his hospital. He was especially interested in having an internal specialist director invest in his hospital, but not a single director mentioned anything. Zhang Fan still wasn’t powerful enough. He didn’t have a solid foundation.
Just as Zhang Fan was leaving the surgery department building, about to return to the infectious diseases department, he saw two policemen. These two policemen were escorting Batu, the former superintendent of Kuake City Hospital!
One year and a half had passed. Batu now looked far older than before. Although Zhang Fan had tried to go visit Batu in jail several times, Batu had refused all visitors. Zhang Fan could only send some food as a gift and then return each time.
Zhang Fan hadn’t expected to suddenly meet Batu here at this time!
“Superintendent Batu!” Zhang Fan widened his eyes as he looked at the thinner and paler Batu whose back was more hunched over than before.
“Officer, this is a previous coworker of mine!” Batu’s mouth arched upwards slightly in a smile when he saw Zhang Fan, but he felt worse than if he was crying. He had to explain to his escorting officers about who was greeting him.
At this moment, the hospital administration director also arrived. “Officer Li!” the hospital administrator greeted one of the officers.
“Zhang Fan, what, are you resting today?” Zhang Fan was wearing his white doctor’s coat. The hospital administration director called him out intentionally. Basically, the hospital administration director meant: why was Zhang Fan just hanging around here instead of working?
“Director! This is my former leader!”
Batu didn’t dare to say anything. He could only sneak glances at Zhang Fan with his head lowered. Although Batu’s mouth was arched upwards in a smile, there were also clear tears on his face! Was he regretting things? That was unknown!
“Oh, I see.” The hospital administration director then glanced at Batu.
Batu had behaved well in jail over the past year and a half. He had returned all of the illicit money that he was accused of taking. He was even able to occasionally treat other prisoners’ minor illnesses in jail. Although Batu had previously been from the radiology department, he had been a hospital superintendent for 10 years. Of course he would have plenty of medical knowledge. Currently, Batu had severe diabetes, and he had also been diagnosed with tuberculosis while in jail. He really did have many medical problems now.
Batu’s family tried everything that they could think of. Apparently, it was now possible to get him released early from his two-year jail sentence for good behavior. Batu had been coughing violently to the point of coughing up blood recently, so the police had brought him to the hospital for a checkup.
Zhang Fan saying this made his intention quite obvious—he wanted to personally treat this prisoner patient. The hospital administration director was quite astute, so he turned around and told the policemen, “Alright, let’s start with a checkup right now!”
If Zhang Fan hadn’t said anything, it was likely that Batu would have received a checkup here, and then immediately be transferred to an infectious diseases hospital for his tuberculosis afterwards.
The policemen were also people. They would also need to often interact with the hospital, so they were quite polite to Zhang Fan and the hospital administration director. This also helped to improve Batu’s treatment slightly.
The policemen released Batu from his handcuffs. Since Batu was scheduled to be released from jail very soon, the policemen weren’t afraid of him trying to make an escape. This also counted as giving face to Zhang Fan!
“You can have a short private conversation with the doctor,” a policeman said to Batu. The two policemen then stood over to the side. Zhang Fan was going to go buy some gifts, when he suddenly saw Wang Zipeing.
“Zipeng! Come over here.” Zhang Fan summoned Wang Zipeng over and gave the latter several hundred yuan. “Hurry and buy two packs of good smokes. Run as fast as you can. Then buy another pack of smokes and something to drink. If this isn’t enough money, pay for the rest and I’ll pay you back later. Hurry!”
“Okay!” Wang Zipeng then ran to perform this errand!
“Superintendent Batu! How have you been!” There was much that Zhang Fan wanted to say, but he was unable to say much when he saw how Batu seemed much older with a hunched back while wearing a prison uniform!
“Haha, pretty good. You should hurry and leave. Oh, you! How could you just greet a prisoner like me in front of your leader? You’re still young! You should hurry and go back to work!” Batu whispered to Zhang Fan.
“It’s fine! I’ll arrange it to personally give you your checkup.”
“No, just let everything be as it would be normally. Are you doing alright? You’re here to see me, but I don’t have the face to see you!” Batu stretched himself slightly. He really was happy to see Zhang Fan.
Before they could chat for long, Wang Zipeng returned with two black plastic bags. “Bro, here’s two packs of Zhonghua smokes, and here are some drinks and another pack of smokes,” Wang Zipeng told Zhang Fan which bag was which.
Zhang Fan took the bags, and told Batu, “Wait here for a moment.” Zhang Fan then walked over to the two policemen, who were currently chatting with the hospital administration director.
“My dear two leaders, Batu was previously a coworker of mine. He took good care of me back then. This doesn’t really mean anything other than my intentions. Please take good care of him in the future since he’s getting older!” Zhang Fan then handed the black plastic bag with the high-quality Zhonghua smokes to the two policemen while also swiftly opening up the single pack of smokes and handing the cigarettes to the two along with the drinks.
The two policemen accepted the opened pack of smokes and the drinks, but they wouldn’t accept the black plastic bag of smokes. “Oh my, this won’t do, Doctor. He’s almost about to be released from jail. There’s no need for you to do this!”
“Director, help me out. These are my intentions. It’s just two packs of smokes, nothing else.”
The hospital administration director glanced at Zhang Fan. He really was moved by Zhang Fan’s typical hard work, status, and dedication to friendship, so he spoke up. “Officer Li, Officer Chen, go ahead and take it. It’s just two packs of smokes, such a small matter. It’s the heartfelt intentions of our doctor.” He then took the black plastic bag from Zhang Fan’s hands and stuffed it into the hands of the slightly older Officer Li.
Officer Li stopped refusing the gift, and said to Zhang Fan and the hospital administration director, “Look at you, making such a big deal out of this! No need to be so polite with something that we should do already. In that case, thank you. Feel free to chat for a while longer. We have all day today, so there’s no rush!”
Zhang Fan called the infectious diseases director to let him know that he would be late coming in to the department today. Zhang Fan then took Batu and Officer Chen to perform a checkup on Batu, while Officer Li went to go drink tea together with the hospital administration director.
“Superintendent Batu!” Right when Zhang Fan spoke up, Batu hurriedly told him, “Call me Batu, just call me Batu!”
“I heard from the officers that you’re almost about to be released. Is that right?” Zhang Fan found himself unable to address Batu as just Batu.
“I don’t know,” Batu said as something shone in his eyes while he secretly glanced at Officer Chen behind him. Although Batu had been locked up in jail for more than a year now, his eyes were still highly skilled at communicating nonverbally. Zhang Fan instantly understood what Batu meant. Batu was someone really intelligent who hadn’t become foolish in jail. Zhang Fan was far too insufficient compared to an old veteran like Batu!
“Haha, yes, he’s almost about to be released. He’s been on good behavior.” Officer Chen chuckled. He also wanted to have a good relationship with the doctors of Chasu City Hospital. His wife was pregnant, and she intended on having her birth at Chasu City Hospital, which was why Officer Chen was so friendly!
“Oh, that’s good, then!”
After the checkup was finished, it was determined that Batu needed hospitalization. His blood sugar was very high, which also caused his tuberculosis to worsen. In the end, Batu’s family helped him as much as they could with their connections, and it was decided that Batu could be released early from jail, one week from now.
Batu was then hospitalized at an infectious diseases hospital during this time. After he was released from jail, he immediately called Zhang Fan.
Zhang Fan brought Chen Qifa as they visited the infectious diseases hospital that Batu was at. Batu was resting in bed and squinting his eyes, greedily taking in the sun. Back when he was in prison, even getting sunlight had been an extravagance.
“Superintendent Batu, how are you? You look quite energetic!” Zhang Fan and Chen Qifa entered Batu’s hospital room with gifts.
“Hey! I’m really happy that you guys came. You even brought gifts! Hurry and put on some facial masks! I have tuberculosis!” Batu was also really happy to see Zhang Fan and Chen Qifa. Although he appeared much older now, he did seem to be in good condition.
“Doctor Zhang! Thank you, thank you!” Batu’s wife, who was wearing a facial mask, was very polite to Zhang Fan. She had really suffered over the past year. Her hair was already beginning to whiten!
“Ma’am, this is Doctor Chen who used to also work at Kuake City Hospital. He heard that Superintendent Batu was hospitalized, so he hurried over to visit.”
“Please have a seat, have a seat. Sorry to trouble you, Doctor Chen!”
“No need to be polite! It’s what I should do,” Chen Qifa said as he put down his present.
“You should go get some sun. You’ve been so busy taking care of me all day,” Batu told his wife.
“Good stuff! Good stuff!” Batu held Zhang Fan and Chen Qifa’s hands after his wife exited the room.
“Superintendent Batu, you probably didn’t know that my Teacher Zhang has now opened his own hospital.”
“Teacher Zhang? Oh, haha, I knew even back then that neither of you were ordinary. Especially you, Zhang Fan, you’re already your own boss! This is good, it’s better for you to have other side income!” Batu was truly happy for Zhang Fan.
“How are you? How’s the treatment going?” Zhang Fan asked as he and Chen Qifa sat down.
“I’m doing much better now. This illness has basically cured itself now that I’m free from jail. It’s not a big deal.”
“You should rest properly then. After you’re released from the hospital, go out everywhere and relax yourself!”
“Hah! I won’t being going out. I just want to stay at home. I don’t want to go anywhere. How about you? Is everything going well for you in work and life? Have you gotten married yet?”
“Everything’s going well. I’m not married yet, but I do have a girlfriend now. Besides, of course I’d notify you if I’m getting married!”
“Haha, I’ll definitely come to your wedding party. Old Chen, did you quit working at Kuake City Hospital?”
“Yeah. After you left, the hospital was in utter chaos for quite a long while. I discussed things with Teacher Zhang, and decided to resign!”
“That’s probably for the best. Kuake City Hospital was holding you back!”
When Zhang Fan learned that Batu was soon going to be released from jail, he discussed things with Chen Qifa and the other doctor stockholders. They decided to ask Batu to become the business director for Zhang Fan’s hospital. They couldn’t let him be the superintendent, since Batu’s criminal record would really look bad.
Chen Qifa and the other doctors really supported this idea. None of the doctors were actually capable of managing the entire hospital. Shao Hua’s father also supported finding someone professional to manage the hospital.
“Superintendent Batu, you’re not going to go out and relax yourself?”
“Hey! You little brat, if there’s something, then tell me directly. Don’t just beat around the bush with me.”
“Please come help me at my hospital! I’m almost unable to handle things anymore!” Zhang Fan pleaded with Batu while grabbing his hands.
“You’re not afraid that a convicted criminal like me who was arrested for corruption will ruin your hospital’s reputation? You’re not afraid that I’ll embezzle money?” Batu chuckled.
“I trust you!”
“Your trust doesn’t matter. In the future, don’t call me Superintendent Batu anymore. If you respect me, then just address me as Bro. We can discuss this matter slowly once I leave the hospital. Don’t be in a hurry. I know that you’ve just started your hospital, so things will be very difficult for you. But, the start is also the most important time. Don’t be in a rush! Take things slowly!”
This was true experience. Batu had been quite successful as a hospital superintendent for 10 years, which would require interacting with many government bureaus. Only someone with real skills would be able to hold on to the #1 position at a hospital, especially since the Kuake City Hospital was one of the top three highest revenue workplaces in Kuake City. Batu was really happy that Zhang Fan still remembered him. Batu didn’t lack money at all. Someone as veteran as him had long since made preparations just in case.
The moment that Zhang Fan asked him, Batu made up his mind to help Zhang Fan out. There was only one reason. It was because Zhang Fan had been so loyal to him in his time of trouble. So, no matter what, he would help Zhang Fan’s hospital out!
Later, Batu’s wife said to Batu, “Yeah, Doctor Zhang is truly a nice person. After you were jailed, he was the only one who came to our home to visit me. As for the others, sigh!”
“Haha, I’m quite satisfied. Just Zhang Fan is more than enough!” Batu was really energetic and in a happy mood because of how much Zhang Fan valued their friendship.