Chapter 129: Communication
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
Later that day, Zhang Fan arrived with his dried lilies at Li Xiao’s home. Li Xiao had already hired a chef to come to her home to cook several of Zhang Fan’s favorite dishes.
“Sigh! You even specially brought some things for me all the way from your hometown so far away. Thank you so much. Hurry and come in! My nephew is here visiting me today as well. Here, let me introduce you to each other.”
“Nice to meet you!” said Ma Wentao.
“Nice to meet you!” said Zhang Fan as he shook Ma Wentao’s hand.
Li Xiao pointed at Zhang Fan and introduced the two to each other. “This is Doctor Zhang. He was the one who fixed my spine. Wentao, last time I saw you in Hong Kong, I almost listened to you and had a surgery, but look, I’ve fully recovered now without any need for surgery. Doctor Zhang, this is my nephew, Ma Wentao. He only recently returned to China.”
Ma Wentao was slightly disappointed after seeing Zhang Fan due to how obviously young Zhang Fan was. Ma Wentao’s experience was that there were no renowned doctors who were younger than 40 years old. He had even been to the royal hospital in England before. Doctors who were Zhang Fan’s age there were still in school. However, Ma Wentao also knew that his aunt really did have bad back problems before.
In fact, it was even an orthopedic spine surgery specialist from the English royal hospital who diagnosed his aunt as absolutely requiring spine surgery. This was why Ma Wentao still remained polite with Zhang Fan. Due to Ma Wentao’s social status, he was someone who couldn’t be bothered to be polite with anyone he deemed useless to him. That was because it wouldn’t be necessary for him to be polite with useless people!
“Doctor Zhang, are you from a family of doctors?” Ma Wentao asked. His aunt Li Xiao had already informed him of what she knew regarding Zhang Fan’s experience level, and thus Ma Wentao figured that Zhang Fan had to have obtained his knowledge through a family inheritance; otherwise, it would be inexplicable with his young age.
“No.”
“Oh, your rehabilitative massaging techniques are really amazing, then. My aunt was diagnosed by an expert doctor from England back when she was visiting Hong Kong. The expert doctor said that she would absolutely require surgery.”
“Haha, maybe that doctor just wanted to make some money in surgical fees!” Zhang Fan didn’t want to discuss anything about his rehabilitative massage techniques. It wasn’t like he had stolen them! There was no need for him to give an explanation.
“Doctor Zhang, are you a physical therapy specialist?” Ma Wentao didn’t mind how Zhang Fan didn’t explain the origin of his skills. Ma Wentao had met many highly skilled people before, and such people typically had rather unique personalities. He had even met some experts with rather strange personal habits!
“I’m not certain what I’ll specialize in yet, as I’m still in the middle of rotating between different departments,” replied Zhang Fan.
“Oh!” It was difficult to continue the conversation now. Ma Wentao was looking for highly skilled doctors, but this Zhang Fan fellow was still just a rotation doctor! Yet, Zhang Fan had also succeeded in curing his aunt’s back! This Zhang Fan seemed so contradictory!
“Okay, let’s chat as we eat! I specially hired a Sibe chef today so that the two of you can enjoy some Sibe cuisine.” Li Xiao had the two men join her for lunch. With Li Xiao joining in on the conversation, the conversation between Zhang Fan and Ma Wentao also proceeded more smoothly.
“Doctor Zhang, are you also able to treat other people who have the same protruding disc problem as me?” Li Xiao inquired.
“It depends on how badly the disc is protruding,” Zhang Fan answered.
“Oh! So basically, anyone whose condition is less severe than my aunt’s can be treated, right?” Ma Wentao asked.
“Yeah! You could say that. However, the specifics still differ from patient to patient.”
After lunch, Li Xiao had her assistant accompany Zhang Fan until he left her neighborhood.
“Aunt Li, please help me find out how many expert department directors are about to retire from Chasu City Hospital. I want to open up my own private hospital in Chasu City first, and gain some experience.”
“Sure, since it’s for serious business. Try talking properly to your father. He’s not young anymore. What will you do if he gets health problems due to anger? So, how much money are you going to invest in starting a hospital here?”
“I’m only going to invest three or four million yuan to begin. This is my first foray into the medical field, after all. But, I truly am confident in this industry. Personal health will be the best market of all in the future. My dad, sigh!” Ma Wentao exclaimed. This was the fortune of someone who had been born into a rich and powerful family. Even his first business startup for “practice” and “gaining experience” would be self-funded with several million yuan.
“Okay, I’ll help ask for you.”
Li Xiao phoned Superintendent Ouyang. For someone as high in status as Li Xiao, she didn’t need to speak in a roundabout manner with Superintendent Ouyang. She just went with the direct approach. “Superintendent Ouyang, are you busy? I have a quick question. How many expert department directors are about to retire from Chasu City Hospital?”
“Oh, only the director of the gastrointestinal department is about to retire soon. It will take several years before any of our other directors retire.”
At this moment, Ma Wentao swiftly told his aunt, “Also ask her who was the doctor who saved Qin Nuo. That’s the emergency military patient from two months ago.”
“Oh, Superintendent Ouyang, one more quick question. There was an emergency military patient from two months back. Who was the doctor who saved him? The patient’s name was Qin Nuo.”
“That was our Doctor Zhang, known as Zhang Fan.”
“Okay, thank you!”
Ma Wentao was incredulous when he heard this! “Zhang Fan was the one who saved Qin Nuo? Is this for real!? How could this be!”
“What’s the matter?” Although Li Xiao was a rich and powerful merchant, she only did business in the border province. She didn’t know about the powerful people in Beijing.
“Qin Nuo is the only son of the Qin Family. He was seriously injured in a gun battle against enemies of China in the border province. Even now, he’s still hospitalized at the People’s Liberation Army General Hospital in Beijing. However, he’s making a good recovery. My father somehow managed to use some connections to arrange dates for me with Qin Rongyu, the daughter of the Qin Family. Last time, when she came to the border province to check on her brother’s condition, it was my father who supplied her with a helicopter to fly here directly.”
“That Qin Family?” Li Xiao asked while pointing upwards, implying she was wondering if it was the immensely powerful Qin Family that she was thinking of.
“That’s right. Qin Nuo’s situation was incredibly bad back then. I was in Beijing at the time. It’s said that Qin Nuo would have died without the border province doctor’s treatment. Sigh! I thought that I could recruit this Doctor Zhang simply by giving him a high salary. I never expected that he has such excellent luck and skills. The Qin Family owes him a significant favor!”
Li Xiao wasn’t concerned too much about the other things, but she really did pay a great deal of attention to her nephew Ma Wentao’s romantic prospects. Even though Ma Wentao had started dating girls way back in middle school, he was now in his thirties, without even a serious relationship at the moment. Li Xiao’s older sister and and brother-in-law were incredibly anxious, wanting their son to get married.
“How old is the daughter of the Qin Family? Have you made any progress with her?”
“Qin Rongyu is the exact same age as me. Sigh! She’s an incredibly skilled woman. I think it would count as a political marriage if we got married. There’s no such thing as romantic progress or whatever with her. It would depend on the results of our parents’ negotiation. I suppose I’m going to be sold like a product!” Ma Wentao spoke in a rather lonely tone.
“What are you saying! With social status like yours, I admit that marriage might not be up to your free will. But, people always get along better with each other as they slowly learn more about each other. The daughter of the Qin Family should obviously be an excellent woman. What do you have to be unsatisfied about?”
“Aunt Li, let’s not talk about this anymore. Anyways, do you know much about this Zhang Fan? I can tell from his demeanor and words that he’s the steady and reliable type. He’s from a regular family background, am I correct?”
“I do know quite a lot about him. He knows his boundaries, he’s not unsophisticated, and he’s also very cautious. He never says more than he needs to. Up until now, he’s never requested anything of me for treating my back. He never contacts me unless I contact him first. I can infer that he’s from a poor family. I sold him an unfinished apartment home for cheap, at base price. My assistant told me that he’s been renovating it slowly, a little bit at a time.”
“Aunt Li, make sure to spend effort to get close to this Doctor Zhang. According to the expert doctors in Beijing, even the average Beijing doctor wouldn’t have been able to successfully accomplish the surgery that saved Qin Nuo’s life. I truly underestimated Zhang Fan! Sigh!”
“That’s no problem at all. I get along really well with Zhang Fan!”
“It seems that I’ll have to pay him a large amount of money. If I can recruit Doctor Zhang, my future path will probably become a bit easier. Aunt Li, do you have an appropriate place for me to invest in and construct a new hospital at? Please help me find such a location. I’m going back to the bigger Raptor City to recruit some expert doctors for my hospital. Chasu City is still a bit small, and lacks enough talented personnel!”
“Okay!” Li Xiao agreed.
Although Ma Wentao was also capable of establishing a hospital in Raptor City, he knew about his father’s temper. His father would definitely interfere with his hospital as Raptor City was their hometown city. Ma Wentao’s own relationships with people in Raptor City were also rather complex. Although he would receive a lot of help, there would also be a lot of trouble. But, if he started his hospital in Chasu City instead, he would be far enough away from all this, and he could still make use of his father’s name as a high-ranking government official’s, so the local government in Chasu City wouldn’t give him any trouble. Chasu City Communist Party Committee was too low-ranking to even dare to trouble him.
After Zhang Fan left Li Xiao’s place, he didn’t go to visit Shao Hua, as Shao Hua was still touring Bayinbrook Grasslands together with Jingshu. Instead, Zhang Fan went directly back to his apartment. Since he had just taken one month’s vacation to go visit his hometown, he hadn’t studied properly during the past month. He wanted to start studying again as learning about medicine was like rowing against the current. If a doctor didn’t work hard at learning, one day that doctor would become a person like Director Nuar of Kuake City Hospital, someone who only worked perfunctorily!
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