Path of Medicine With a System-Chapter 22: Travelling expenses
Right after Zhang Fan finished eating, Kang Hua arrived at his table together with a relatively plump middle-aged woman.
“This is Doctor Zhang, a highly skilled doctor,” Kang Hua introduced. “Doctor Zhang, this is one of my childhood friends. You can call her Mrs. Wang. She also has a poor back, so could you please give her a checkup?”
“Thank you, Doctor Zhang.” Although Wang Qian was thanking Zhang Fan, she had zero trust in this young person’s abilities. He looked like he could still be in college! Just how talented could he even be! She would directly leave already if it wasn’t for the sake of Kang Hua’s face, as Wang Qian was also no ordinary person. She was the wife of a politician, so she wouldn’t lack for good doctors.
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Wang. I would have to first look at a CT scan and perform a physical examination in order to ascertain the possibility of recovery.”
Kang Hua noticed that Wang Qian seemed rather unwilling, and understood that Zhang Fan was unconvincing to her because he was far too young. Kang Hua hurriedly spoke up, saying, “Tomorrow morning, bring your CT scan to my home. Maybe it will be effective. Just look at me, my back’s so much better now!”
Secretary Tang Jingjing’s home was in the provincial capital rather than here in Chasu City or in Kuake City. Typically, she would stay at a government-owned guest house while working for Kang Hua in Kuake City. Today, she was unable to go anywhere else as Zhang Fan was also stuck here in Chasu City. There was no helping it. Tang Jingjing and Zhang Fan rented two single rooms in a hotel in the Kaifa District.
“Zhang Fan, how were things? Did you visit Leader Kang’s home?” Batu waited anxiously until 11 pm before he finally dialed Zhang Fan’s number.
“Yep, I went. I finished her final massage today. However, I’m supposed to give a checkup to some Mrs. Wang tomorrow, so I was unable to come back tonight.”
“Don’t worry about it if you can’t come back tonight. Listen to Leader Kang’s instructions. Call me immediately if you need anything from me.” After Batu hung up, he kept wondering to himself. A Mrs. Wang? Who could that be? He knew every higher-up in Kuake City, but he was unfamiliar with politicians outside of the city.
After Zhang Fan saw Wang Qian’s CT scan, it turned out that her situation was even worse than Kang Hua’s. Still, it luckily turned out that Wang Qian’s nucleus pulposus wasn’t broken. Zhang Fan performed a rehabilitative massage for Wang Qian at Kang Hua’s home, absolutely astonishing Wang Qian with the results.
“Young Doctor Zhang’s skills are truly amazing. It’s quite obvious that my pain has decreased, although I’m still slightly sore.”
“Your situation is more severe than Leader Kang’s was. I only helped to temporarily alleviate the pain. The effects might wear off soon.” Zhang Fan simply told her the truth.
“I’ve been in such pain recently that I was almost about to go for surgery.” Wang Qian’s expression was somewhat unpleasant as she said this. Still, she was much friendlier towards Zhang Fan than she had been the previous day. “I’ll have to trouble Doctor Zhang then to give me a rehabilitative massage program as well. Perhaps that will cure my back pain. I was about to decide on undergoing surgery, but now that this can help me, I won’t be so worried. So, Doctor Zhang, what time would be convenient for you to do another massage for me tomorrow? Let’s do it at my home next time. My home is also in Kaifa District, so it will be quite easy to find.” Wang Qian now had hope that she could quickly get rid of her back pain.
“I still need to go back to work at my hospital,” Zhang Fan mumbled.
“That’s no problem at all. I’ll pay for a long-term room for you at the hotel. Do you know how to drive?” Kang Hua asked Zhang Fan.
“He has a car of his own. He’s a pretty skilled and steady driver.” Tang Jingjing instantly sold out Zhang Fan.
“That’s great, then. Don’t worry about any of your living expenses or gas for your car. All you need to do is focus on Mrs. Wang’s rehabilitative treatment. Neither do you need to worry about the hospital. I’ll have a talk with your superintendent about it.” Kang Hua noticed that Zhang Fan seemed slightly unwilling, so she interrupted him before he could speak up. “Rest assured, I’ll make all the necessary arrangements.”
Zhang Fan only wanted to grind more surgeries to level up his courses in his System. Of course he didn’t want to stay here in Chasu City for such a long period of time. However, he was stopped by Kang Hua’s forcefulness.
“I’ll be troubling you then, Doctor Zhang. Here is 1000 yuan, my payment for the deposit of the treatment fee. Please, take it. I’ll definitely thank you properly after the treatment ends.” Wang Qian also noticed that Zhang Fan seemed unwilling. Although Kang Hua seemed confident in her forcefulness obtaining results, Wang Qian was worried that Zhang Fan wouldn’t do a good job treating her if he was unwilling, which would only make things worse.
“Oh my, just look at me, I forgot about the treatment fee myself. Little Tang, you should have reminded me about it.” After seeing Wang Qian pay Zhang Fan, Kang Hua immediately had Tang Jingjing give 5000 yuan to him. However, Zhang Fan didn’t dare to accept this money, as he was afraid of Superintendent Batu scolding him for it.
“Relax, just take it. It’s what you deserve. Your superintendent definitely won’t say anything about it.” Kang Hua stuffed the money into Zhang Fan’s hands. With that, Zhang Fan no longer had any reservations. Of course he loved money. It meant that he hadn’t worked so hard for nothing.
Later that afternoon, Zhang Fan drove back to Kuake City by himself to report. Tang Jingjing and Kang Hua took a different car together back to Kuake City.
Superintendent Batu was waiting at the hospital for Zhang Fan. “You’re saying that this Mrs. Wang lives in the same district as Kang Hua? And that it seemed like Kang Hua was trying to get into Mrs. Wang’s good graces?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what it felt like to me.”
“Okay, go and properly treat her. If you think it’s too tiring to drive back and forth, you can just stay in Chasu City for the time being without needing to come back here. Make absolutely certain to find out who exactly this Mrs. Wang is.”
“I still have work at the hospital to do!”
“What work? I’ll just give you vacation time. Right now, you’re our city leader’s personal doctor. Don’t worry about the work at the hospital. Our hospital was fine even before you arrived, you know? There won’t be any problems.”
“But I have surgeries to perform!” Zhang Fan truly didn’t want to go treat Mrs. Wang.
“Then just think of it as helping me out. Go treat that Mrs. Wang, but I’ll definitely contact you if there’s any surgeries for you to do. I’ll also give you 200 yuan every day for your travel expenses. You can’t refuse this. Just think about it, our city’s head politician is personally asking for your assistance. That’s so much face for you!”
Although Zhang Fan was earning a lot more money from the massages compared to regular work at the hospital, it would greatly slow down the rate at which he could level his System! However, there was no helping it. Zhang Fan didn’t really care one bit about giving face to Kuake City Leader Kang Hua, but he had to give face to Superintendent Batu because he felt that Batu truly treated him well.
Zhang Fan had a headache when he returned to the hospital’s rented house. Chen Lulu, who was rarely present at daytime, just happened to be there today.
“Zhang Fan, what have you been up to?” She then got closer to Zhang Fan, and whispered, “Take me out for a ride, I saw everything!” Chen Lulu had a proud expression as if she had discovered Zhang Fan’s secret.
“It’s windy today. You’ll feel the same as a car ride if you stand by the window.” Zhang Fan had just driven for more than two hours. Additionally, he had just been forced to take on work that he didn’t want to. He was incredibly annoyed right now.
“Are you a wooden block? Come, let’s go out and have some fun together. It’s quite boring with nothing to do here at the hospital dorm. I’ve been waiting for you for so long.”
Zhang Fan was in no happy mood to begin with. Right now, he felt like Chen Lulu was an annoying fly that wouldn’t shut up with her buzzing!
“Look behind you!” Zhang Fan said suddenly, and while Chen Lulu was distracted looking behind her, he hurriedly ran into his bedroom and locked the door.
“Open the door, open the door, you bastard!” Chen Lulu knocked for quite a while, but Zhang Fan wouldn’t respond. “This isn’t over, just you wait!” Chen Lulu left this statement as she finally decided to go out by herself.
‘Sheesh! What’s with everything today!!’ Zhang Fan was incredibly frustrated. He opened up his System and checked things out. His orthopedic surgery progress was still only at 70%. Although he had finished the basic courses under surgery, all the other courses were still at 0%.
“Sigh! What should I do?”
Later that night in Kang Hua’s room, Kang Hua was talking to Tang Jingjing. “It seems like Doctor Zhang isn’t very happy about treating Wang Qian’s back problems. Do you know why he doesn’t want to do so? Logically, he should be delighted! Do you think it’s because he’s unhappy that we didn’t give him a treatment fee earlier?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think that’s the reason. If it’s convenient to do so, I think we should ask Superintendent Batu about this. He should understand Zhang Fan better than we do.”
“You’re right. I’ll ask him tomorrow.” Kang Hua highly valued Wang Qian, or, more accurately, Wang Qian’s politician husband. She didn’t want any problems to arise.
On Monday morning, surgery department #2 had a morning meeting in which Superintendent Batu personally participated.
“I have something to announce. From now on, this department should arrange all surgeries during the day if possible. If anyone comes in for emergency treatment during the night, schedule the surgery for the next day unless it’s a life-threatening emergency. Okay, everyone can continue working now. Vice Director Shi, continue the meeting.” Batu then left the meeting.
Zhang Fan knew that Batu had issued such an order for his sake.
