Chapter 36: A new place!
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
“I’m not surprised at all that you passed the recruitment exam for Chasu City Hospital. I’ve been too busy recently, so I didn’t get a chance to chat with you, but now it’s no longer necessary. I have an empty house I’m not living in at Chasu City. I’ll have Little Tang give you the key to that house before you leave,” Kang Hua told Zhang Fan.
Seeing that Zhang Fan was about to refuse, she chuckled, and said, “Relax, I’m not actually giving you the house. I’m not rich to the point where I can afford that. You don’t know too many people or your way around Chasu City yet, so I’m just temporarily loaning this house to you. Whenever you’re prepared to buy a house of your own, just return my house to me.”
While Zhang Fan was working at Kuake City Hospital, Kang Hua was someone ranked significantly higher than he was, but now that Zhang Fan was leaving for Chasu City Hospital, she gave Zhang Fan a different impression: she felt magnanimous and not vulgar, more like an elder than a head politician.
Kang Hua was quite skilled at changing the way she presented her character. She realized that Zhang Fan definitely wasn’t simple. She wouldn’t let go so easily of such an expert doctor. If she maintained a good relationship with him, he could become of special use to her whenever his medical skills were needed.
Zhang Fan was unable to refuse. He returned to his dormitory, where he had already organized his things. His bed and so on all belonged to the hospital. Zhang Fan only owned a few sets of clothing, and almost all his other belongings were books—his medical books were thick and numerous. The next day, early in the morning, Zhang Fan told Li Hui that he was going out.
Zhang Fan went to Batu’s home, which was currently locked. He had already visited several times, but it was always locked, with nobody there. “Superintendent Batu, I’m leaving now. I hope that you can make it out from this incident alright,” Zhang Fan whispered to the front door of Batu’s home.
Although Batu was greedy and corrupt, and refused to admit to his wrongs, all Zhang Fan cared about was that Batu had previously told him in his most difficult times that “Here at our hospital, I’m not only your boss, I’m also your family. Why not tell me about your troubles?”
On the way to Chasu City Hospital, there wasn’t exactly joy or sadness. Li Hui didn’t say anything at all on the way there, as he was currently having a headache. Wang Sha had been his girlfriend ever since the first year of college, and they had been together for six or seven years now. But yesterday, the two of them had the most severe argument they’d ever had in their relationship.
Wang Sha had failed to pass the recruitment exam for Chasu City Hospital, while Li Hui had passed. The issue was whether Li Hui would leave her behind or not. Li Hui was already an unreliable boyfriend who dared to flirt with a nurse right in front of her and refuse to admit to it. It seemed obvious what the result would be if Li Hui left for Chasu City.
“Do you choose me or Chasu City Hospital?”
“I choose both.”
“Get the hell out!”
In the end, Wang Sha was all tears as she broke up with her boyfriend. However, Li Hui definitely wasn’t happy right now.
Chasu City Hospital was an old Class A hospital that the former Soviet Union had helped to fund the construction of. Its old buildings were all of the Soviet style. Superintendent Huang Yun was previously a surgeon himself, so he heavily favored developing the surgical department. Compared to the other smaller hospitals in Chasu City, Chasu City Hospital’s surgical skills were far more advanced.
Superintendent Huang Yun had been highly curious about the job requirement conditions for the surgical department. Now that Zhang Fan had arrived, the mystery was finally solved. “Director Gao truly viewed this recruitment exam with great importance. He even personally visited me several times to confirm the job requirements. Anyone that he has his eyes on will definitely be a genius. I hope that you can utilize your skills to the fullest at our hospital. Don’t disappoint me and Director Gao,” Huang Yun told Zhang Fan.
Huang Yun didn’t personally meet with Li Hui. Since the superintendent was previously a surgeon, he looked down on and didn’t care very much about internal medicine.
“You’re finally here! You should have come here long ago, but now’s the best time. You definitely won’t regret coming to our orthopedic surgery department #1. Don’t be in a rush to start working today, you should first get yourself settled in. Tonight, I’m having all of our coworkers in our department hold a welcoming party for you. There’re several veteran doctors in our department who have quite average skills but are sly old foxes. You need to prepare yourself.”
Although a tiny hospital like Kuake City Hospital would also have competition between doctors, the competition wouldn’t be severe. Meanwhile, at a much bigger Class A hospital, the competition would be quite cruel. Doctors of the same generation would compete for the position of director, and those who failed to obtain the position would often choose to leave and work for other hospitals.
Doctor was a job position which required medical skills, and it was common that one doctor wouldn’t respect another. Those with some skills would often have some pride. “Why do I have to listen to you!?” If the hospital wanted to keep a talented individual, it was quite common that the hospital would have to open up a new department for that person to become a director in.
Many city-level Class A hospitals in China thus had severely overlapping departments. For instance, perhaps a hospital would have orthopedic surgery departments #1 and #2, yet they wouldn’t have differing specialties like spine or joints. Instead, both departments would perform all types of orthopedic surgeries, and both departments would fight over patients, while the doctors in these two departments would have very poor relationship with each other. If one doctor received an extra surgery, another doctor would have one less surgery. Every surgery was money! Every surgery brought concrete benefits! It would be impossible for the doctors to have good relationships with each other in such an environment.
In Gao Shijun’s orthopedic department #1, he had just been chosen as the acting director. He still had a competitor for his position who hadn’t left yet. The overall atmosphere in the department was thus rather uncomfortable. It was quite common that there would be heated arguments over a patient’s diagnosis. However, those arguments weren’t for academic or medical purposes at all. The arguments were merely to cause trouble for Gao Shijun. This was also why Gao Shijun truly wanted Zhang Fan to have arrived earlier.
Zhang Fan would be a resident doctor who was capable of performing surgeries that those with the highest-level certification could. If people kept complaining and arguing, Gao Shijun would ignore them all and simply have Zhang Fan do the surgery.
The welcoming party for Zhang Fan was held at a large hotel close to Chasu City Hospital. However, several people from orthopedic department #1 didn’t attend. Gao Shijun didn’t succeed in having Zhang Fan meet everyone.
Gao Shijun had two disciples named Xue Fei and Zhou Chengfu. Both of them had just passed thirty years of age and become attending physicians, with both having several medical specialists under them. Zhang Fan also met head nurse Liao Juan, who was in her thirties. Her husband was a doctor of internal medicine at the hospital. She seemed to be quite smart and friendly.
There were also two doctors with the second-highest level certification. The tall and skinny one was Cui Pingjun, who was Gao Shijun’s junior under the same teacher. Cui Pingjun was currently Gao Shijun’s most capable and loyal follower. However, his medical skills were only average. The other doctor was Li Hongtu, who specialized in arthroscopic surgery. Li Hongtu was very warm and friendly, the classical nice person type. He was completely uninterested in competition for the position of a director.
Gao Shijun’s main competitor in the department was Wu Jinxi, an orthopedic spine surgery specialist. The two of them had an incredibly bad relationship with each other, and neither would listen to the other. Wu Jinxi had been searching for another job ever since Gao Shijun was chosen as acting director. He also didn’t attend this welcoming party for Zhang Fan. Wu Jinxi had two disciples of his own who didn’t attend the welcoming party as well.
Chasu City Chinese Medicine Hospital was a slightly smaller hospital in Chasu City that was also of Class A qualification. Wu Jinxi had already made an agreement with the superintendent of that hospital that a new orthopedic spine surgery department would be established for his sake there.
There were many years of bad blood between Gao Shijun and Wu Jinxi. Anyone capable of competing for the position of a director would be among the most talented in their department. Chasu City Hospital Superintendent Huang Yun had tried to assuage Wu Jinxi’s feelings for quite a long time, but failed.
Gao Shijun and Wu Jinxi’s medical skills were on the same level. However, Gao Shijun had a better personality, while Wu Jinxi had a bad temper. The other doctors in the department overall liked Gao Shijun more than Wu Jinxi, which was one of the main reasons why Huang Yun chose Gao Shijun to be the acting director.
The orthopedic department of any hospital would use up a great amount of medical equipment. A single imported metal surgical plate could cost almost 10,000 yuan. All sorts of surgical sutures, equipment, and so on would bring tremendous potential financial benefits, and all the highest-ranking doctors of the department would typically have their own personal medical equipment suppliers. Gao Shijun was no exception.
These medical equipment suppliers would all have significant backing. Anyone capable of succeeding in selling to a large Class A hospital would need actual skills. Today, Zhang Fan’s welcoming party had all been sponsored by Gao Shijun’s personal medical equipment supplier.
Near the end of the dinner, Li Qiong, a pretty woman in her thirties, came in to toast Zhang Fan. All the orthopedic department doctors and nurses were quite familiar with her.
“Director Gao, this seems like a fairly nice party you’re holding, but why is it that you all haven’t finished even one carton of alcohol yet? Even Doctor Xue Fei is perfectly fine.”
“Here, let me introduce you. Zhang Fan is a newcomer to our orthopedic department. With his current skill level, Zhang Fan is the best doctor in our department among all those under attending physician level. Zhang Fan, this is Li Qiong, a powerful merchant in Chasu City’s business world. She’s really skilled. Zhang Fan, if there’s anything you need, you can contact Mrs. Li. There’s almost nothing that she can’t take care of.” To be honest, Gao Shijun had wanted to say that Zhang Fan was the most skilled doctor among all those under the highest-level certification level, but he knew that would attract far too much hatred for Zhang Fan.
Li Qiong was quite intelligent, and instantly realized that Gao Shijun highly valued Zhang Fan. She raised her glass of wine to Zhang Fan, and said, “You’re really young, Doctor Zhang. Let me know if there’s anything I can help you with in the future. I’ll definitely do everything I can if it’s in my power.”