Chapter 100: Chapter 100 - 0098: Finding a Foothold

Nanqiao County is a minority county, the dwelling place of the Yao Ethnic Group, being economically backward. It’s the most remote county of Nandu Province, located deeply within the mountains.

The medical support activity this time was organized by the Health Department of the province. The hospitals directly under the provincial hall sent dozens of people every time; they switched people every two weeks, taking turns to provide help.

All the hospitals were busy, and they were short-handed; some with high professional titles, with a handful of middle and lower titles, in addition to some interns, formed the team.

When the coach arrived, the sky was dim. Dean Pan of Nanqiao People’s Hospital came in person to receive them.

Everyone was very tired, sleeping on the bus.

Yang Ping, on the bus, entered the system space and read for a long time. He was preparing for his doctorate, studying English, as well as the theory of Sports Medicine and arthroscopy.

He also spent twenty thousand points to purchase an imaging training package, with hundreds of thousands of films, including spine, pelvis, extremities, X-rays, CTs, and MRIs, for intensive film reading training.

Xiao Su was sleeping very soundly. When Yang Ping woke her up, she rubbed her eyes and asked in a daze, “Is there another emergency surgery?”

Yang Ping found it amusing; this person also had surgery on her mind all the time.

The lights inside the bus were switched on. Yang Ping packed up his luggage and Xiao Su’s, got off the bus, and helped Xiao Su find her suitcase from the luggage hold.

The Nanqiao Hospital was far inferior compared to Shipo Hospital.

The hospital was not big, being just a six-storey building. The area for parking was a dilapidated basketball court.

Dean Pan, in his fifties, appeared honest and kind, missing a front tooth. Shaking hands with Director Tian, he said, “Welcome, welcome, I heard you just came from Shipo, you must be tired. We have prepared dinner. After everyone has settled their luggage, hurry to eat. This is Director Jiang, who is in charge of your logistics. I’ll go to the cafeteria to notify the chef. Director Jiang will lead you to the dormitory.”

Director Jiang led everyone to the hospital dormitory, a two-story building behind the hospital; it was quite old, but it had been simply renovated on the inside and all the furniture was relatively new.

As soon as the support plan was confirmed, the hospital urgently used their limited finances to renovate this building, to make the medical team’s accommodations somewhat comfortable.

Originally, this place also housed several young doctors and medical school interns. However, the hospital provided them with subsidies to rent outside accommodations instead.

The women stayed on the second floor and the men on the first. Each floor had common toilets and bathrooms on the sides. The hospital specifically assigned an auntie to manage the dormitory.

“Forgive the slight discomfort everyone. The small rooms can accommodate two while the large rooms can accommodate six. You can assign yourselves. The keys are all labeled and placed on the desk.” Director Jiang said.

He called the auntie over, “The kettles are all filled with hot water? Disposable cups are all set? There’s no shortage of new buckets, tubs, and hangers, right?”

The auntie spoke in a stiff Mandarin: “Everything’s ready.”

“The tubs and buckets are all newly bought. You can use them with peace of mind. We didn’t prepare for the rest since you all would bring your own.” Director Jiang was very meticulous.

Director Tian made arrangements: for the first floor housing male doctors, he was the counselor, and for the second floor housing the female doctors, Chen Xiaoqiao was the counselor.

Everyone sorted out the dormitory on the spot. Those who were usually close naturally grouped together. Zhou Can pulled Su Yixuan to room together. The female doctors quickly sorted out everything.

“Would it be okay if I go upstairs? I’ll help bring your suitcase and luggage upstairs.” Yang Ping saw that the stairs were steep and the luggage and suitcases were heavy.

Zhou Can laughed and said, “Yang Doctor, don’t just bring Xiao Su’s things, help me carry my suitcase as well.”

Zhang Lin said, “With the amount you eat for breakfast, three steamed buns, you can’t handle carrying this suitcase? Come, let me help you carry it, you have to wash my clothes tomorrow.” Saying this, Zhang Lin went to pull Zhou Can’s suitcase.

“Sure, I’ll help you wash them tomorrow, prepare your durian in advance.” Zhou Can said without missing a beat.

“Did you pack lead suits in this suitcase?” Zhang Lin weighed the suitcase.

Yang Ping and Zhang Lin brought the female doctors’ luggage to the second floor.

Song Zimo also helped Tang Fei with her luggage.

The stairs were steep and one needed to carry the luggage up. It would indeed be a big task for the female doctors.

After arranging Xiao Su’s luggage, Xiao Su took out a few packages of beef jerky and handed them to Yang Ping, “You can eat this when you’re hungry at night.”

Zhou Can wanted to say something, but Zhang Lin pulled her, “Where do you want to put your suitcase, quickly make up your mind.”

After Yang Ping and Zhang Lin Xiaowu came down from the second floor, Xiaowu said, “Director Tian said we can stay in the six-person dormitory.”

“Isn’t there a two-person one?” Zhang Lin asked.

Director Tian said, “The two-person dorm doesn’t sound fun. Let’s stay in the six-person one. We can have a bed-time chat at night.”

“Director Tian, you fancy this kind of thing?” Yang Ping laughed.

“From now on, let’s have a medical summit forum every night.” Looking at the grand mountains, Director Tian was excited.

Everyone settled down and went to the cafeteria to eat. It seemed this meal had been prepared by the cafeteria chef for a while. The standard definitely exceeded the usual. There was shrimp congee, grilled meat skewers, fried rice, fried chicken legs, and a variety of other dishes.

Dean Pan said, “Everyone took a long ride on a bus, the cafeteria chef said that you might not have an appetite to eat rice and dishes, so he made these instead. Everyone’s tired, don’t be polite. If there are any opinions, tell the cafeteria chef. From now on, there will be some late-night snacks arranged every evening.”

Everyone was hungry and ate like wolves.

Yang Ping had a big bowl of fried rice, a chicken leg, a bowl of shrimp porridge, and he finished cleaning out his dish in a few bites.

Xiao Su came over with a plate in hand.

“Little Five, let’s see what else there is to eat,” Zhang Lin said to Zhang Lin Xiaowu.

Catching Little Five’s signal and Xiao Su in the corner of his eye, Zhang Lin said, “Right, let’s go check.”

The two guys took off.

Xiao Su brought a chicken leg over for Yang Ping, putting it in his bowl: “Reward for you, clean, untouched.”

“I’d rather it was touched!” Yang Ping grumbled under his breath.

Xiao Su walked away with a few female colleagues, then Zhang Lin and Little Five huddled back in.

Liang Fatty was eating alone in a corner with a pile of chicken bones on his plate, still relishing his meal.

“Isn’t he on a diet?” said Zhang Lin.

Little Five said, “Starting tomorrow!”

After dinner, everyone rested. At both ends of this floor, there were three bathrooms that were remodeled with water heaters.

Some people took buckets and made a splash, took a bath, and then washed their own clothes, hanging their clothes on the rods in the corridor.

After hanging the clothes, it seemed there was nothing to do. It was too early to sleep, and no one had the energy for a walk.

In the big room, there were six people: Director Tian, Yang Ping, Song Zimo, Zhang Lin, Little Five, and Liang Jing. Just six people.

Three sets of bunk beds, with Director Tian, Yang Ping, and Song Zimo sleeping on the bottom bunk, and Little Five, Zhang Lin, and Liang Jing sleeping on the top.

Song Zimo set his feet on the bed edge and was doing push-ups: “One hundred, one hundred and one, one hundred and two–”

Song Zimo is a highly disciplined person, he exercises every day.

Liang Fatty tried to climb onto the top bunk a few times, but failed. He wanted someone to switch with him, but didn’t know how to ask. Not possible to have Director Tian climb up and down, Song Zimo was not the best communicator, and Yang Ping was a solid character.

Seeing Liang Fatty struggling to climb up, Yang Ping had an idea: “Fatty, I like the top bunk, how about we swap?”

Fatty was overjoyed: “Really, I don’t know how to thank you.”

“When I was in school, I liked the top bunk, so I should be thanking you,” Yang Ping said.

“I’ll change the sheets and quilts for you,” Fatty started immediately.

“No need,” Yang Ping said, he hadn’t changed anything.

“You should change it, I saw him sneak a look at the dermatology department,” Zhang Lin said.

Fatty was worried: “That was a mango allergy, I’m allergic to mangoes, you know that.”

“Who knows,” Zhang Lin deliberately teased him.

Fatty hummed a few times: “I’m the one with the soft Zhonghua cigarettes, watch your mouth.”

Zhang Lin immediately softened: “Brother Fat, no, Brother Liang, I’m sorry for the offense, please forgive me!”

The next two weeks everyone would play a role, known as the temporary assignment.

“Director Tian, I heard you’re appointed Deputy Dean? Are we going to call you Dean Tian from tomorrow morning?” Zhang Lin said.

Tian Yuan said: “That’s the plan.”

“Big Brother seems to be the head of Orthopedics, and Young Master Song, the Deputy head?” Zhang Lin asked.

Tian Yuan said: “Yes, do you two want to try leading a group?”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Sure, Little Five, we’ll follow Dean Tian’s arrangement, starting to lead the group tomorrow,” Zhang Lin said.

Liang Fatty wanted to smoke: “Xiao Zhang, let’s go outside for a smoke.”

“Two hundred and one, two hundred and two, two hundred and three–” Song Zimo was still doing push-ups.

“You’re wasting your shower, if you want to do it, could you stop counting out loud?” Zhang Lin said.

“I’ll rinse off again in a bit.” Song Zimo didn’t stop.

“Any smokers up for a soft pack of Zhonghua?” Liang Fatty showed off.

Little Five immediately followed suit.