Chapter 80: You’re not the director

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

Zou Pingshan was retiring soon. He had promised Shi Lei that he would recommend the latter to the Kuake City Communist Party Committee for the next superintendent. Shi Lei didn’t believe Zou Pingshan’s words at all, but he didn’t dare to antagonize him. Zou Pingshan was leaving soon, and it would be difficult for him to say a good word for Shi Lei, but it would be far too easy for him to say bad things about him instead. That was why Shi Lei didn’t want to cause any trouble for Zou Pingshan at this point in time. Besides, Shi Lei was also making his own moves. He had already visited several of Kuake City’s leaders. He just lacked connections with someone ranked higher, so Shi Lei wanted to make some time to visit Chasu City to go find Zhang Fan.

Meanwhile, Zhang Fan visited his new home, which was an apartment on the 26th floor of a 27-floor building. There were two elevators and four apartments per floor. It was a pretty nice apartment, and this was one of the best districts in Chasu City, with a nice environment. When Zhang Fan purchased this apartment, Li Xiao even gave him a free parking spot. She was quite generous 1 .

Zhang Fan hired two handymen who seemed honest, and also happened to be from the same hometown as Zhang Fan. Not only did Zhang Fan pay them, he also gave a carton of smokes to each of them, hoping that they would do a good job on the renovations.

The doctors in orthopedic department #2 were younger on average than the doctors in orthopedic department #1 as orthopedic department #2 had only been split off a few years ago. Not to mention, the director here wasn’t that old yet, and was willing to teach newcomers. Vice Director Chen Qi was also a veteran doctor.

Orthopedic department #2 was on the second floor of the surgery building. The better floors had already been taken, so this new department could only settle for the second floor. Chasu City Hospital had many large trees on its premises. While this was fine in winter, you wouldn’t be able to see anything but tree leaves out of the second floor windows in summer. Not only that, there was an extremely high number of invading flies and mosquitoes, even to the point where nobody would dare open the windows. Plus, no sunlight reached through the tree leaves, so it always seemed gloomy here!

Right when Zhang Fan arrived at the door to enter orthopedic department #2, he saw Wang Yanan. She had both her hands in her doctor’s coat’s pockets, and was wearing a surgical mask. She acted just like how a director would, constantly telling the other rotation doctors how to change the patients’ medicine. She had gained a mega amount of experience under Zhang Fan’s tutelage in orthopedic department #1. Something as basic as changing medicine was something that she was now incredibly familiar with.

Wang Yanan had been showing off in orthopedic department #2. On her very first day here, she showed precise surgical movements as she made incisions, connected bones, and inserted metal plates without making a single mistake. Attending physicians Luo Jin and Yuan Tao from orthopedic department #2 were incredibly astonished. It was extremely rare for female doctors to be familiar with orthopedic surgery. Such an experienced female doctor like Wang Yanan would be the equivalent of a legend. Not a single other rotation doctor could even sew surgical sutures properly.

Rotating through different departments was also a chance for everyone to get to know each other better. The departments would better understand the new doctors, and the new doctors would better understand the different departments. After Wang Yanan completed her surgery, Luo Jin told the other rotation doctors, “Wang Yanan will be your team leader from now on. Whenever I’m not around, Wang Yanan will be in charge of helping all of you to support the patients.”

Women would always receive special treatment in surgical departments because the great majority of surgeons were men. Since Wang Yanan had above-average looks, and was also highly skilled, so of course she received even more special treatment.

Luo Jin had even previously commented to Vice Director Chen Qi, “Hey, let’s get at least one female doctor into our department. We’re all a bunch of men that stay in such a dark and gloomy department every day, it’s making me feel depressed. Wouldn’t everyone feel much livelier with a female doctor around?”

Chen Qi knew somewhat about Wang Yanan’s background. Chasu City was still a small city by Chinese standards, and Wang Yanan came from a medical background, which was why Chen Qi knew.

“You should just go and properly find yourself a girlfriend. Stop being so picky. Just look at Yuan Tao, his child is three years old already.” Chen Qi glanced at Luo Jin.

“Sigh! Sigh! Please give it a rest. This topic gives me such a headache. I’ll go crazy if you say any more, which means that there won’t be enough people to do all the work.” Luo Jin hated people commenting on his being still single more than anything. Even though Chen Qi was the vice director, Luo Jin still rebutted him in a manner that was neither too blunt nor polite.

Zhang Fan chuckled after seeing how Wang Yanan was now. Several months had passed since he first met her. This young woman who would previously eat dumplings while working and secretly cry due to fatigue had already started being a teacher to other new doctors.

“Zhang Fan!” Wang Yanan turned around and saw Zhang Fan. She shouted out a greeting as she was really happy to see him. She walked swiftly up to him, saying, “How come you arrived just now? The hospital administrative department said that you were almost infected with hepatitis B, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, I’m the lucky type. How are you? Were your rotations in internal medicine alright?”

“Not alright at all, I felt so frustrated. I still need to go through rotations for another entire year. Only after I get my medical license will I be able to choose my own department.”

“The practical skills portion of the medical license exam is coming up again in a few months. How’s your studying going?”

“There should be no problem at all. Let’s be in the same medical team again in this department!”

“Hey, it’s not like I can decide!”

“It’s fine, I’ll join whatever medical team you get assigned to. I already have a spot for me in orthopedic department #1 regardless. I can basically do whatever I want while I’m being rotated through the other departments,” Wang Yanan stated.

“Haha!” Zhang Fan didn’t know what else to say. It was quite a different situation for Wang Yanan, who had connections, so she could choose whatever department she wanted. Meanwhile, Wang Zipeng was still trying his very best to impress the various department directors!

The director of orthopedic department #2 wasn’t here right now. Zhang Fan handed his rotation paperwork to Vice Director Chen Qi. “Hey! It’s the prince of the emergency department!” Chen Qi didn’t even get a chance to speak when Luo Jin spoke up first.

“Haha! Hello, Doctor Luo.” Zhang Fan chuckled awkwardly.

“I say, you directly doubled the number of surgeries in orthopedic department #1 by yourself. You must do the same in our department!” Although the director had told everyone that they weren’t allowed to bully Zhang Fan, the latter had still indirectly caused everyone in orthopedic department #2 to lose a significant amount of income for several months. It was only natural that the doctors would still hold a grudge.

“That won’t be a problem at all as long as I get to perform surgeries.” Zhang Fan didn’t care about Luo Jin’s attitude. Zhang Fan only cared about how many surgeries he could perform.

“Oh!” Luo Jin didn’t know what else to say after this. It wasn’t like he could criticize Zhang Fan for being hardworking.

“Haha, just look at you, how come you’re not saying anything else? Dr. Zhang’s work ethic is impeccable,” Chen Qi scolded Luo Jin lightly. Then, Chen Qi asked the other attending physicians in the department, “Which team currently lacks personnel? Who among you will lead Dr. Zhang now that he’s in our department?”

The attending physicians, who were only here to watch and gossip, all left. Not a single person replied. Lead Zhang Fan? Forget it! The two attending physicians in orthopedic department #1 had been awed by Zhang Fan to the point where they didn’t even dare to be in the same joints surgery team as him, choosing spines instead. All of these attending physicians were at roughly the same medical level. Wouldn’t they just slap themselves in the face by trying to lead Zhang Fan?

It would be much easier not to lead him. Not only did Zhang Fan not require any teaching for surgery, perhaps he was even more skilled than the attending physicians. The attending physicians would also feel awkward about making such a skilled doctor do the menial work such as changing medicine, writing medical reports, or obtaining laboratory analyses for them.

Chen Qi waited for quite a while, but received zero responses. “Haha!” Chen Qi also knew that none of the department doctors had the face to command Zhang Fan. Chen Qi glanced at Zhang Fan for a moment before saying, “Anyways, your medical license is almost about to arrive. How about you lead several rotation doctors for your own medical team, and Director Wang Dehua and I will observe how you do?”

Chen Qi tried to test Zhang Fan with this. He also really wanted to know what Zhang Fan’s skills were actually like. Anyone who lacked ability would never dare to lead a medical team, as it would be far too humiliating if they failed a surgery.

“Sure, just assign me any rotation doctors you want. I don’t know who’s already in a team or not.” Zhang Fan wasn’t even the slightest bit afraid of leading his own team. However, he didn’t ask for anyone specific regarding the rotation doctors. The rotation doctors were supposed to be led by the various attending physicians. It was already quite surprising that Zhang Fan was allowed to lead a team of his own. If he asked for someone, and took someone else’s student in the process, that would mean antagonizing others for no good reason.

Although Zhang Fan had monopolized the emergency department’s patients by practically living there, angering the entire orthopedic department #2, that still wasn’t at the level of a personal grudge. At most, this would count as competition between departments. But, if he stole others’ students, that would elevate things to a personal grudge.

At this time, Wang Yanan also walked into the room. She hurriedly said, “Vice Director Chen, let me join Zhang Fan’s team. He taught me back in orthopedic department #1.”

Chen Qi glanced in her direction, and again didn’t even get to speak when Luo Jin unhappily spoke up first—Wang Yanan was in his team. “That can’t be allowed. This is orthopedic department #2, not #1. Besides, if you leave my team, my team won’t have enough people.”

“It’s not like you’re the director.” Wang Yanan even rolled her eyes at Luo Jin. “Oh!” Luo Jin retreated. He felt too awkward about arguing with a young woman. However, if Wang Yanan had been a male doctor, Luo Jin absolutely wouldn’t have let this matter rest today.

Chen Qi chuckled, and said, “Let’s not worry about matters of orthopedic department #1 or #2. If you want to be in a team with Zhang Fan, sure. Actually, our department is more flexible than orthopedic department #1. You’ll learn that after staying here for a while. There’s still several new rotation doctors, so, Luo Jin, you can pick one of them. If there’s none available, then I’ll give you someone from my team.” Wang Yanan’s uncle was quite powerful and influential, which was why Wang Yanan could get away with so much.

“Alright,” Luo Jin answered unwillingly. He also realized that he had been too rash. He already noticed what was going on when Chen Qi spoke up. Although Chen Qi was typically smiling, even he wasn’t usually this easy on anyone. Besides, now that Chen Qi had made an official decision, no matter how unwilling Luo Jin was, he still had to give the vice director face.

Wang Yanan didn’t notice one bit that she had angered someone else, and happily went over to stand by Zhang Fan’s side. Zhang Fan was both moved and angry. ‘Wang Yanan is so spoiled!’ he thought to himself.

Zhang Fan was from an average family that was always on the verge of financial struggle. All these years of such a life crafted his personality of wanting to avoid conflict as much as possible. He felt that only those with nothing to do would go looking for conflict.

This could be illustrated with a simple example about the benefits of Zhang Fan’s personality. Li Hui was lively and extroverted compared to the taciturn Zhang Fan. However, without regards to their medical skills, both at Kuake City Hospital and Chasu City Hospital, many people liked Zhang Fan more than Li Hui because Zhang Fan didn’t try to start any conflicts at all.

Li Hui was the type who loved to object to what others said. This was because he was indeed quite knowledgeable, but also because of his personality. If he kept arguing over something minor with others constantly, people would naturally stop wanting to talk to him. People slowly distanced themselves from Li Hui. Meanwhile, Zhang Fan was the exact opposite. As long as it wasn’t about personal benefits, he would chat about anything, whatever you liked.

There was no right or wrong about personality, but there were certain personalities that would indeed have it easier in life. Having a forceful personality would command more attention, while overly unique personalities would be more commonly disliked. If you were an ordinary person, you would need have the realization that you were ordinary. While society was flexible, it would also be more accepting of those who were also flexible. People were social creatures, after all. It would be best to be more flexible in your personality unless you were someone powerful.

Everyone left after Zhang Fan’s medical team was established.

Yuan Tao walked over to Luo Jin, and secretly whispered, “What’s going on with Vice Director Chen? Is it because of Zhang Fan?”

He and Luo Jin had been good partners ever since they joined the hospital together. They now had excellent tacit cooperation. What Yuan Tao meant was that Chen Qi was being unusually appeasing today, and that it might be due to giving face to Zhang Fan.

“I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think so. I think it might be because of that young woman.” Skilled doctors typically weren’t stupid. Luo Jin could already tell that something was going on.

“Oh! Let’s see, then!” Yuan Tao glanced at Wang Yanan without saying anything else. What he meant was that they should just wait and see! Two new resident doctors would always have a time where they needed to request help from others—no matter how skilled they were.

Wang Yanan had been overly forceful, which was why Zhang Fan had been angry. Her personality didn’t fit with Zhang Fan’s outlook on life. However, it wasn’t like Wang Yanan had said anything wrong. Zhang Fan shook his head, and then said, “Vice Director Chen, which computer and whose account should I and Wang Yanan use?”

Every doctor with a medical license would have a personal hospital computer account, from which they would manage their patients. Zhang Fan didn’t have one yet, and of course neither did Wang Yanan. They would need to borrow other official doctors’ accounts; otherwise, they wouldn’t even be able to write medical reports.

Chen Qi glanced at the several unoccupied computers in the department. However, Zhang Fan’s words reminded everyone else of Wang Yanan’s earlier remark, instantly causing all the computers to be taken immediately! This was the petty revenge for Wang Yanan’s forceful personality which had antagonized others.

Thus, Chen Qi replied, “You can just use Director Wang Dehua’s account. He doesn’t lead any medical teams. Just use any free computer that you see.” But, what computer would ever be free! Sheesh! These few words would cause major trouble.

Still, Zhang Fan didn’t say anything to Wang Yanan. Since she was showing her support for him, then he would simply accept the trouble that came along with her.