Wang Zhuangyong worked in Lower Groove Clinic until a little over eleven at night. Only then did he leave reluctantly after renting a shared bicycle.
Truth be told, very few people came to the clinic after ten at night. However, money was a huge motivation. Wang Zhuangyong could not help but carry on when he thought about how he could make 25 RMB per patient.
With every extra patient he treated, he got to make another 25 RMB. Of course, Wang Zhuangyoung, the young resident doctor, could hardly say no to such a tempting offer.
He had helped patients with rehabilitation exercises in the hospital too. Those sessions took a longer time, and he would basically be doing the same thing. Even though he did not get much respect while working in the hospital, he only got to make 12.50 RMB per session. With that money, all he could buy was a small bottle of coke.
As a man who had just graduated from university, what Wang Zhuangyong wanted to do the most was to prove his worth. The fact that he could make money through his own hard work put him in high spirits. Of course, most importantly, the fact that he could make 25 RMB per patient excited him.
He went home and slept. He then woke up the next day to go to work.
After work, Wang Zhuangyong rushed over to Lower Groove Clinic when the sky was turning dark.
“Ah, Doctor Wang is here.”
“Young Wang, save a slot for me.”
“Doctor Wang, come over to our shop to have some fun when you have time…”
A cacophony of voices rang out from the courtyard of Lower Grove Clinic, and the place was so lively that it looked like a karaoke bar for senior citizens which was full of elderly women.
Ling Jiezhou was also chuckling happily. He grabbed a thermos he purchased when his wife gave birth to Ling Ran and walked Wang Zhuangyong to his small consultation room. He then poured the latter some warm water and said with a smile, “Doctor Wang, you’ve been working hard. I’ll ask the patients who had booked a slot to come in one by one later. We’ll do things like how we did for the past few days.”
“Sure, sure,” Wang Zhuangyong agreed. He sounded like an elderly singer who had been singing by the streets for years.
“I got the first slot.” The middle-aged woman who injured her shoulders while roasting seeds and nuts ran over, and a few other middle-aged women jokingly threw curses at her, calling her an old cow and a fat carrot.
After working hard to offer consultations for a few days, Wang Zhuangyong had become fairly renowned. Quite a lot of residents from the nearby houses came over for rehabilitation exercises.
After all, they had lived for quite a few years, and it was inevitable that they would experience bodily discomforts.
Motivated by the money, Wang Zhuangyong worked for another two days. He then gave Chen Wanhao a call and asked him to come to Lower Groove Clinic for a dormmate reunion.
Nowadays, people no longer liked to attend university reunions. But people were pretty willing to attend small gatherings of between three to five people.
Wang Zhuangyong thought about how he wanted Chen Wanhao, who was a rich man’s son, to see how he had made it in life.
Chen Wanhao did not think much about it. He asked, “Is Ling Ran free?”
“Yes. He goes home to the clinic a lot nowadays, otherwise, how are we going to gather?” There was a smile on Wang Zhuangyong’s face. Part of the patients he helped with rehabilitation exercises in the clinic were patients who received surgery from Ling Ran. The process was the same as how it was in the hospital, with the fees being similar.
“He’s not facing problems at the hospital, is he? He didn’t use to go home at all. Yun Hua Hospital is a large hospital. I hope that he’s not getting bullied,” Chen Wanhao said with concern. Unlike Ling Ran who received offers from many departments in Yun Hua Hospital even before his internship ended, Chen Wanhao and Wang Zhuangyong had no choice but to work in smaller hospitals. Things were slightly more relaxing in those hospitals, but it was not like they were living an extremely easy life.
Wang Zhuangyong burst out laughing. “Nerd, don’t let your thoughts run wild. Ling Ran is doing very well. He’s only coming home more now because he’s helping out his family business. You’ll know what’s going on exactly after coming over.”
“Alright, then.” Chen Wanhao agreed on a time with Wang Zhuangyong and hung up.
After the conversation ended, Wang Zhuangyong immediately started tidying up his small consultation room, including his table and chair. He also wiped the neon board that said “25 RMB” outside the door with a washcloth.
Chen Wanhao was from quite a rich family. But Wang Zhuangyong doubted that Chen Wanhao could make so much money through his own efforts.
Truth be told, Wang Zhuangyong reckoned that Chen Wanhao was definitely not capable of this. When he thought of this, Wang Zhuangyong felt like laughing out loud.
No matter what, the fact that he had found a reason for all of them to gather after graduating from university itself was a joyous thing. It would be even better if he got to make some money during the gathering.
The following day, during the afternoon, people were walking back and forth on the first floor of Lower Groove Clinic and decorating the place.
Huang Maoshi stood in the kitchen and carefully scrutinized all the dishes.
“Those who are carrying the plates, please be careful. These dishes are very delicate, and their selling point is the presentation of the plates,” Huang Maoshi ordered. He was feeling very anxious.
Ling Ran was more than the leader of a treatment group in Yun Hua Emergency Medical Center now. The entire Emergency Medical Center and even the entire Yun Hua Hospital were inevitably influenced by his habits when it came to the consumption of drugs and medical consumables. This was especially true when it came to hepatectomy, and Ling Ran’s choices of drugs and medical consumables greatly influenced everyone in the hospital.
The medical consumables and drugs Ling Ran alone used were three to five times more than what the entire Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery used.
Changxi Medical Company originally had a firm grip on this excellent doctor. They did not expect Yunli Medical Company to appear out of nowhere and wantonly snatch away what belonged to them.
Fortunately, Huang Maoshi was familiar with Lower Groove Clinic. Now that he had heard that Ling Ran was organizing a small gathering, he went all out to make sure that it was a success.
He made sure that expensive-sounding seafood such as abalone, sea cucumbers, and yellow croakers were served in large amounts. There was not really a need to serve exuberant seafood like shark fin soup, fish snout, and fish belly, though…
Huang Maoshi had to make sure that he did not go over the budget while ensuring that the food served was presentable at the same time. After that, he decided to contribute his friendliness and attentiveness by standing outside the door and welcoming all the guests.
“Things are definitely different for doctors working in large hospitals. There’s even a pharmaceutical sales representative helping him out.” Chen Wanhao passed his coat to Huang Maoshi. His footsteps were light as he entered the courtyard, and his voice could be heard from far away.
“It’s nothing to do with me. He’s here to suck up to Ling Ran.” Wang Zhuangyong led Chen Wanhao upstairs and said with a smile, “Can you wait for a while? Ling Ran is still operating on a patient, and I need to attend to a few patients too. Go ahead and make yourself some tea. I remember that you know how to make tea, right?”
“Yes.” Chen Wanhao looked at Wang Zhuangyong with a dumbfounded expression and asked, “You have patients in Ling Ran’s family’s clinic too?”
“Yeah, not many. Maybe around ten or twenty a day.” Wang Zhuangyong lowered his head. He was worried that he would look pleased with himself, as this would affect himself trying to appear cool.
As expected, Chen Wanhao was rather shocked. After a while, he asked, “Are Ling Ran’s family members around?”
Wang Zhuangyong said, “They heard that we’re having a gathering in the clinic today, so they went traveling. They literally packed their bags and left.”
“Alright, then. Go ahead and attend to your patients.” Chen Wanhao sat down in the main seat of the tea table and started to make tea.
Wang Zhuangyong went downstairs and disappeared into the small consultation room with the “25 RMB” board.
Chen Wanhao froze for a moment. He could not help but become emotional, and he whipped out his phone and took a picture of the neon board along with the small door which looked like it hid a lot of secrets beneath it. He then uploaded the picture into his Circle of Friends with a caption. [As a doctor, we work hard so that our patients can walk out of the consultation room all refreshed.]
“Young man, you should pay more attention to what you’re doing when you’re making tea. Your tea would taste better that way.” A voice rang out from opposite the tea table. There was a little bit of an accent to the voice.
“Oh, I’m not really skilled at making tea.” When Chen Wanhao saw that the other party had sat down, he simply smiled. “I’ll wash a cup for you.”
Wang Chuanwen who had just returned from another state politely said, “Thanks a lot. Are you a staff member of Lower Groove Clinic?”
“No, I was Ling Ran’s classmate.” Chen Wanhao smiled.
“You’re very young,” Wang Chuanwen said and asked, “Are you here for some fun?”
“Yeah, I was Ling Ran’s roommate back in university, so we’re having a gathering between dormmates.”
“You’re Doctor Ling’s old friend, then. That’s great…” Wang Chuanwen immediately became a little more friendly.
