Chapter 30: Study program’s end

Translator: imperfectluck  Editor: Kurisu

Back at Bluebird City, Zhang Fan instantly buried himself in the operating room again. The news that Zhang Fan had returned even managed to cause Ding Lei to cry!

Zhang Fan needed far too many general surgeries to level up his general surgery category. Only a few days remained for his study program at BCU Hospital, so he focused fully on orthopedic surgeries in the last few days, no matter if it was joints, spine, or something else. Only when there were no orthopedic surgeries to perform did he go to perform general surgeries.

Zhang Fan gave some dried fruits to everyone in the traumatic injuries department as well as all the operating room nurses. Although he didn’t give many dried fruits to anyone, everyone had a share.

“Zhang Fan, I heard that the border province is really beautiful?”

“Zhang Fan, would you show me around if I take a vacation there in the summer?” Many of the younger nurses liked to chat with Zhang Fan when they were free. Here at a major hospital, these nurses were often tested today, needed to study tomorrow, and a thesis would be due two days from now. They were under significant amounts of stress.

Although these nurses were young and pretty now, they would age quite quickly after only a few years of work at the hospital. As for Zhang Fan, as long as he didn’t have any surgeries to occupy himself with, he was able to get along quite well chatting with anyone. This was because he never argued with anyone, and was also a particularly good listener. Not only that, he kept everything to himself, and never spread rumors.

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Actually, all of this was because Zhang Fan was always mentally studying in his System while the nurses chatted to him. The truth was that Zhang Fan barely heard anything of what the nurses actually said.

Since only a few days were left until the study program would end, all the departments that knew Zhang Fan started taking turns inviting him to meals. This counted as an early farewell party for him.

The nurses only had average appearances in the operating room while wearing their white uniforms and sterile gowns. But, after they took off their uniforms and put on beautiful clothes instead, wow! They were each prettier than the next.

Zhang Fan had moved all of their hearts over the past six months. This young doctor from the border province had moved them with his actions. In their eyes, Zhang Fan was hard-working, honest, and nice. He seemed to be a worthy boyfriend material.

“Drink, you must drink three large glasses today!” A young nurse was pretending to threaten Zhang Fan. Those not in the know would assume that this was some strong alcohol, but the glass actually contained only fruit wine. Drinking was only for the sake of the atmosphere as many of the people here had additional work shifts right after the small party, and they couldn’t be drinking alcohol.

At the traumatic injuries department, Ding Lei had tears in his eyes as he shook Zhang Fan’s hand. “You’re finally about to f*cking leave! I’d die if you stayed here for any longer! Men who are still single are so scary!”

All of the orthopedic surgeons in BCU Hospital were men. Bluebird City had good beer. Over the past half a year, Zhang Fan’s amazing surgical skill level, happy-go-lucky attitude, and almost ascetic dedication to work had truly shocked and impressed all the orthopedic surgeons. Every one of them was capable of staying for an entire month in the operating room, but staying in the operating room for an entire half a year was beyond what any of them could tolerate.

“One more glass! I hope that Doctor Zhang will often come to our Bluebird City in the future. Please don’t forget your friends who worked by your side here.” Lin Cong raised another glass in toast. Zhang Fan had already gotten drunk off of fruit wine.

BCU Hospital had left Zhang Fan with a wonderful impression. The veteran doctors here had been willing to teach him everything they knew, the surgery departments had allowed him to practice any surgery that he wanted, and he also had a great relationship with all his coworkers. This had been truly the most comfortable work environment.

Actually, this was all just a special exception, not the norm. First, the Chinese government highly valued this study program for the border province doctors, which was why BCU Hospital had also treated it with great importance. Second, Zhang Fan really was amazing as it was no easy feat to be impressive enough that other graduate students and master’s degree doctors would call him “teacher”. Third, Zhang Fan had absolutely no clash of benefits with anyone here. He was only here temporarily for a study program. Basically, he didn’t really belong here, which was why he was able to feel so comfortable working here.

In this last week when Zhang Fan was almost supposed to leave, he ended up drinking alcohol almost every day, and he got drunk every single time as his alcohol tolerance was extremely low. Luckily, he would also sober up quickly. He would be fine after resting for half an hour.

Zhang Fan had yet to properly look around Bluebird City despite being here for half a year. In the final three days that he stayed here, Zhang Fan visited all of Bluebird City’s scenic locations. It was impossible for him to go to the hospital as all the doctors and nurses treated him so incredibly well since he was leaving soon. Zhang Fan felt too awkward like this, which was why he avoided the hospital.

On his final day, Zhang Fan paid a visit to BCU Hospital’s superintendent’s office to say goodbye.

“You’re leaving! I hope that you have learned much from your half a year at our BCU Hospital. Never forget to forever keep learning while you work. Remember to sign up to become a master’s degree student later this year. No matter what, if you want to walk farther down the path of medicine, you must improve your academic qualifications. I won’t say much else. Here is a set of textbooks for you. I wish you success in your chosen path!”

Zhang Fan stood at the door and bowed to the former professor who was now superintendent. The superintendent’s experience and open-minded way of thinking had truly moved Zhang Fan. He viewed the superintendent as his second true teacher on his path of medicine. A truly successful doctor would be benevolent; the superintendent had used his words and actions to prove what the word “doctor” really meant.

Zhang Fan took a train back to the border province. This was even more uncomfortable than when he arrived as he had arrived in winter, when it wasn’t hot yet. Now, it was the middle of the summer. The train was slow, shoddy, and filled with the stench of sweat and stinky feet. After the 50+ hour train ride, Zhang Fan was in a bit of a daze.

He took this train ride back together with the other three directors from Kuake City Hospital. Director Huang, the director of pediatrics, seemed completely fine after the train ride. Right after getting off the train, Director Huang commented, “I’ve been starving for several days on that train. Let’s leave immediately and go eat some nice fat lamb. Right now, what I want to eat more than anything is a lamb tail with plenty of fat on it.”

The border province’s capital city was still several hundred kilometers away from Chasu City, and no train led there. Zhang Fan had zero appetite when he thought about how he was going to have to sleep on a bus. The three directors were all locals from the border province. They were highly familiar with the border province’s capital city, so they immediately took Zhang Fan to eat a meal of lamb.

“This is our territory now. Why would we have to take a bus! That would be such a joke!” The director of internal medicine dialed the number of a local pharmacy’s manager.

Some while later, the pharmacy manager drove a commercial vehicle to pick them up. It just happened to be that the pharmacy manager also needed to transport some medicine to Chasu City. This way, everyone got to ride along with the medicine to Chasu City.

When Zhang Fan returned to Kuake City Hospital, he noticed that there seemed to be some tension in the atmosphere. In the orthopedic department, Yang Chengming had a sardonic expression as he glanced at Zhang Fan. Vice Director Shi Lei wasn’t around, although Li Liang and Chen Qifa were also present.

Before Zhang Fan even got a chance to rest, Chen Qifa pulled Zhang Fan into an office.

“Something major has happened. Batu was taken away.”

Zhang Fan was confused to hear this. “Taken away by whom?”

“Rumors say that he’s been arrested. Apparently, he took bribes when purchasing the CT scanner for the hospital. Our hospital currently has no superintendent, so everyone is basically going crazy. Do you think anything will happen to us?” Chen Qifa’s official salary wasn’t that high. However, thanks to his kickbacks from medical equipment and medicine fees, he still counted as having a high income.

“It should be fine.” Zhang Fan immediately left the office after this.

Since something had happened to Batu, he couldn’t treat it as if nothing had happened. Zhang Fan immediately went to Batu’s home. When he arrived, he saw that Batu’s home was in utter disarray, just as if bandits had just ransacked the home.

“What happened, ma’am?”

“Zhang Fan! You have to save Batu! A few days before he got arrested, he told me that if anything happened to him, I should go find you, that you’d definitely be able to do something.” Batu’s wife immediately began crying when she saw Zhang Fan arriving.

“What exactly happened? Could you tell me in more detail?”

“It’s because of the money. As you know, the hospital purchased a new CT scanner. He took kickbacks for the hospital’s purchase. I tried to convince him to not take any more illicit money. He said that this would be the last time, but a few days after that, he was arrested.”

“How much money did he take in kickbacks?”

“A little more than 300,000 yuan.”

Batu had been a superintendent for many years already. Actually, he was quite sensitive to the political flow. However, he was still unable to resist his own greed. Batu had thought that this would be the final time he could make some off-the-books money as superintendent as he would be leaving Kuake City Hospital after this. But, for this final time, someone reported him to the authorities.

A few days before this incident happened, Batu told his wife that if anything really happened to him, it would be something major, and that their relatives wouldn’t be of much use. Someone from a bigger city would need to speak up for his sake. At that time, she should go to find Zhang Fan for assistance.