Chapter 148: Chen Qifa loves money
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
Ma Wentao kept thinking about things while sitting in his office and feeling that he had been wrong. ‘That was truly disgraceful of myself. I forgot how I should behave because I was too shocked by that traumatic injury!’ Ma Wentao slapped himself on the head because he was really dissatisfied with his own behavior.
“Doctor Zhang, my hospital received its first surgery patient. Could you come over and take a look? Yes, Director Chen is already working on the patient in the emergency treatment room!” Ma Wentao hurriedly gave Zhang Fan a phone call—he hadn’t seen Chen Qifa’s skills yet and was worried, while he knew that Zhang Fan was incredibly skilled.
Zhang Fan didn’t say anything, and simply came over. Although he was currently on call, he didn’t need to stay at the hospital. However, he had been planning on taking a walk together with Shao Hua. He had been so busy recently that he didn’t have much time to be together with Shao Hua.
Zhang Fan drove over to Ma Wentao’s hospital. When he arrived, he saw that Ma Wentao’s face was quite pale, just as if he had suffered from frostbite. “Go take a look. It seems that the surgery’s not going well.” Ma Wentao was feeling really afraid and angry right now. He wasn’t afraid that the patient was going to die, but rather of the injured patient’s appearance from earlier. As for his anger, that was because he was angry at the low skill level of the intern doctor he hired.
The operating room nurse was quite experienced. She also happened to be Ma Wentao’s loyal informant. Not long after the surgery started, she secretly told Ma Wentao, “This Doctor Chen’s alright. His skills aren’t bad at all. However, the recent graduate intern doctor is really terrible. He’s not even capable of tying surgical knots properly. It’s basically the equivalent of Doctor Chen having to perform the surgery by himself, which is impossible. Doctor Chen is so anxious that he’s sweating profusely!”
Luckily, Ma Wentao had already called for Zhang Fan to come over. Zhang Fan changed into surgical garb and entered the emergency treatment room. The moment that he saw how the surgery was proceeding, Zhang Fan mentally cursed at Ma Wentao. ‘That bastard must be unwilling to pay a little extra salary. This intern doctor is clearly someone who didn’t do any proper learning at an actual hospital before!’
Chen Qifa was sweating profusely. He constantly needed to teach the intern doctor what he needed to do as the surgical assistant every step of the way. Additionally, the humerus fracture was a crush injury. The young intern doctor became really nervous, and as a result, more incapable. He actually used his own hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead instead of letting the operating room nurse do it for him! Chen Qifa was forced to pause the surgery as he told the intern doctor to wash his hands again and disinfect!
Zhang Fan arrived at this time. He washed his hands, disinfected himself, and joined the surgery. “Hurry, the surgery’s been taking too long. Be careful of necrosis from infection!” Chen Qifa immediately knew what this meant when Zhang Fan said this. “Doctor Li, you can go take a rest now. Doctor Zhang will perform this surgery together with me.”
The intern doctor left the surgery at top speed, just as if he was running away. He cared about face far too much. Actually, the intern doctor could have stayed for the surgery if he insisted. Zhang Fan and Chen Qifa wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it then. They would also need to give the young Doctor Li opportunities to practice and improve. The intern doctor actually leaving when told to meant that he had lost this chance to practice and improve!
“You be the primary surgeon, and I’ll be your surgical assistant. We need to hurry. Show your skills as a surgical department director! Although this humerus bone was shattered rather severely, it shouldn’t be difficult for you!” Zhang Fan said to Chen Qifa. The intern doctor leaving didn’t affect anyone else in the emergency treatment room one bit. Zhang Fan was giving face to Chen Qifa here. He really wanted Chen Qifa’s first surgery at Ma Wentao’s hospital to be successful!
The surgery was finally able to properly begin now that Chen Qifa wasn’t held back by an incompetent surgical assistant. The two doctors worked together to drain the blood, provide clear vision for the surgery, stop the bleeding, and connect the bone. The two of them had excellent cooperation.
Chen Qifa had excellent practical skills due to all his years of experience. He just didn’t have the book smarts necessary to pass the medical licensing exam until Zhang Fan’s arrival. Of course, Zhang Fan’s skills were superb thanks to his System too!
Additionally, Chen Qifa had more experience with limb fractures than any other type of surgery. Several years ago, there were fewer roads leading from Kuake City to the larger Chasu City. People also trusted in Kuake City Hospital more at that time. Chen Qifa had done most of the work in Kuake City Hospital’s orthopedic department at that time, yet he had the lowest income out of all the doctors in the department. This was all because he didn’t have a medical license! His bitter hard work back then had now become valuable experience.
Maybe some people would ask, was it that others were better in their studies than Chen Qifa? That would be a difficult question to answer. Those in the border province would receive better treatment. Score requirements here in the border province were much lower than in inland China due to the Chinese government’s affirmative action program for minorities. So, in the end, it was indeed Chen Qifa’s fault for being poor at his studies! It wasn’t the government’s fault! There would be several hundred Han Chinese people studying to become doctors every year as well, but it wasn’t like the government could take care of them, either!
Going from the biceps to the triceps, the bone fracture was gradually exposed. Chen Qifa skillfully avoided the musculospiral nerve and began connecting the bone. The greatest advantage of internal fixation was that it could restore the bone to how it originally was, while closed reduction (a procedure to set a broken bone without cutting the skin open) wouldn’t be able to do this.
However, the disadvantage of internal fixation was that it would cause more damage to the muscles and blood vessels around the broken bone. Infection would forever be the greatest enemy for orthopedic surgeons. Any serious infection would cause the surgery to fail as it would be necessary to remove the metal plate used for internal fixation. This was why keeping a sterile environment was highly important in orthopedic surgery.
Some orthopedic surgery directors who had bad tempers would instantly be infuriated and tell a doctor to get the hell out of the surgery if they saw a doctor doing something that was even slightly bad for maintaining a sterile environment.
Today, Zhang Fan had come over especially in order to give face to Chen Qifa. When the surgery was almost over, Zhang Fan commented, “Director Chen, you did a wonderful job on this surgery. You aligned the bone beautifully.”
“Haha!” Chen Qifa was unaccustomed to praise from Zhang Fan, so he laughed in confusion! Sigh! He was still too much of the honest and direct type. However, there was an advantage to such a personality as well. At least, Zhang Fan would definitely come over as soon as he could to help Chen Qifa whenever the latter needed help.
The patient’s wife had arrived by the time that the surgery was over. She was a pretty woman who didn’t mind how dirty the patient’s face was from coal dust as she leaned over to kiss him. “You really scared me! What will our baby and I do if something happens to you!” She was all teary-eyed while speaking in a Shanxi Province dialect.
“Okay, okay, the patient is fine now. Please don’t be overly emotional. How about you go purchase a cloth towel to wipe his face?” The operating room nurse told the patient’s wife.
“Okay!” The patient’s wife’s face was now covered in tears and coal dust as she nodded.
This particular coal mine owner was more generous than most owners. He left two mine workers behind to accompany the patient, and also treated the patient quite well. The mine owner paid for all of the patient’s hospital fees as well as paying the regular salary to the patient while he was hospitalized. If this was a government job, such treatment would typically be for someone at the level of a section chief, which was really good.
Shanxi Province was a rather special place in China. It was famous for producing many pretty women, but they would all go to Beijing. The men of Shanxi Province somehow often went to become coal miners. In many places in China, the highly skilled coal mine workers were almost all from Shanxi Province. This was especially more so for the extremely dangerous jobs that also required really high skills and experience. Such employees were almost always from Shanxi Province!
This patient was a mining explosives expert that the mine owner had especially invited over from Shanxi Province. The patient’s salary was 20,000 yuan per month, which would be considered a very high salary in China of 2010! However, his job was also extremely dangerous. It was possible that one day he might accidentally bury himself in the mine. Basically, he was risking his life for the sake of money. It was unknown how much money he could make before he died!
Chen Qifa was able to stand tall now that the surgery was completed. Although he needed Zhang Fan’s assistance to complete the surgery in the end, this was Ma Wentao’s fault, not Chen Qifa’s. Ma Wentao knew too little about the medical field, and hired an intern doctor who was too incompetent to be a surgical assistant! Now that this surgery was complete, Ma Wentao would have to properly address Chen Qifa as Director Chen because Chen Qifa had now proved his abilities.
Ma Wentao was now feeling much better now that he had rested in his office for a bit during the surgery.
“Here, have a smoke!” Ma Wentao actually rarely smoked himself, but he offered Zhang Fan a cigarette as the two sat in his office.
“I quit smoking already!” Zhang Fan shook his head. He had decided to quit smoking when he saw what it could do to the ruptured pulmonary bulla patient he had performed surgery on recently.
“Sigh! My father says that people who are capable of quitting smoking are the scariest people out there. That’s because someone who’s stubborn enough to quit smoking will have astonishing willpower, sufficient to accomplish anything that he wants!”
“Haha! I’ll interpret that as praise, President Ma!”
“If you don’t smoke, then have some tea!” Ma Wentao extinguished the cigarette that he had just lit up.
“You need to pay more attention to whom you hire! For something as important as surgery, the intern doctor you hired didn’t even know how to tie the surgical knots properly! Director Chen was so anxious that he was about to cry!”
“Well, it was because I didn’t have a surgical director at the time! I thought that Doctor Li fellow was quite nice and obedient when I interviewed him! But okay! I admit that I was wrong, so let’s not talk about him any longer. I’ve already fired him. From now on, I’ll give Director Chen the power to hire whoever he likes as surgical assistants. Oh, and this is your payment, just as I promised to you before.” Ma Wentao took out an envelope from his desk.
“How much?” Zhang Fan didn’t act reserved.
“2000 yuan!”
“I told you before, I only take half of what other expert doctors would charge!” Zhang Fan took 1000 yuan and returned the rest of the money to Ma Wentao. He then said, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving now. Feel free to call me if anything happens again!”
Why did he only take half of the money offered to him? Zhang Fan felt that people should live up to their promises. Many people might think that this wasn’t necessary, and that it was fine just to make money in this superficial society without needing to worry about sincerity or honor.
However, as the old saying went, the good would be rewarded, while the wicked would receive just desserts. Don’t believe it? Just look up above at the heavens. Right now, Ma Wentao needed Zhang Fan’s help, so even if Zhang Fan asked for 10,000 yuan, Ma Wentao would be willing to give that much. There would still be much cooperation between them in the future, so neither of them could go too overboard with their behavior. Zhang Fan took his 1,000 yuan and went to go find Chen Qifa. Back when Zhang Fan had recently graduated, he had been really poor and needed money, but now that he was making a steady and good income, he viewed the issue of money quite lightly.
Ma Wentao smiled as he recalled how Zhang Fan had returned half of the money. His judgement was that Zhang Fan had truly been sincere.
“He’s got good character!” Ma Wentao said to himself. His father had taught him ever since young how to judge other people’s character. This was his father’s greatest secret to rising in power and managing others: the ability to judge and find out a person’s true nature.
“Take this 500 yuan!” Zhang Fan brought Chen Qifa to an isolated room and hurriedly stuffed the money into Chen Qifa’s hands.
“Teacher Zhang! Aren’t you slapping me in the face with this? I don’t want this money!” Chen Qifa’s face reddened!
“Stop refusing. This is my rule. Hurry and take it!” Zhang Fan was really direct with Chen Qifa. When dealing with someone like Chen Qifa, being direct would be the most effective. “Pay extra attention to whether any patients who require general surgery arrive here at this hospital. I looked and saw that the operating rooms here are quite well-equipped with medical equipment. There’s even laparoscopes.”
“Got it, Teacher! Are you intending on becoming a general surgeon in the future? I think that you have a better future as an orthopedic surgeon.” Chen Qifa was worried that Zhang Fan would go down a different path. Being a doctor was a deep pitfall in how much you would have to study. General surgery had the deepest pitfall of all! Chen Qifa felt that Zhang Fan was really skilled, but also that people’s energy would have limits!
“Haha! Don’t worry about me! Just take good care of your patient! I’ll be leaving now. Call me if anything happens. In a few days, Shao Hua and I will treat you and your wife to a meal. Since you must have many things to do right after moving here, I stopped Shao Hua from bothering you until now.”
“We should be the ones treating you!” Sometimes, Chen Qifa would be really insistent, so Zhang Fan didn’t argue with him on this one.
Zhang Fan was actually quite happy to see Ma Wentao’s hospital starting to receive surgeries. This was because Zhang Fan found it far more convenient to take extra work at another hospital in Chasu City rather than driving for hours to other cities. Zhang Fan would forever be happy with having an extra place to grind surgeries at.
The injured coal mine worker’s injury was classified as an industrial injury. This meant that he wouldn’t be able to use his personal medical insurance.
The surgery fee, medical equipment fee, medicine fee, and postoperative care fee all added up to more than 50,000 yuan. Ma Wentao’s heart which had felt chills at the sight of the mine worker’s injury came completely alive again. This was an incredible amount of revenue! Truly an incredible amount of money! Just one or two such surgery patients per month would be more than enough to pay off all of his monthly expenses from running the hospital. Any other surgeries after that would be pure profit, not just revenue!
Now that Ma Wentao was motivated again, he started taking action. Ma Wentao started by showing his support for Chen Qifa. He held a hospital administration conference where he officially declared that Chen Qifa was now the director of the surgical department in the hospital. He also increased Chen Qifa’s monthly salary by 700 yuan—500 extra yuan for managing the surgical department and hiring new surgical assistants, and 200 yuan for Chen Qifa’s cell phone bill. Additionally, Ma Wentao hired Chen Qifa’s wife to be the personal chef for the department directors, at a salary of slightly more than 2,000 yuan per month. All of this was mere pennies to someone as rich as Ma Wentao, but these pennies made Chen Qifa incredibly loyal to him!
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