Chapter 31: Zhang Fan gets bullied

Translator: imperfectluck  Editor: Kurisu

Batu had been hoping that he would get lucky. He had been taking illegal kickbacks as hospital superintendent for ten years already, and the CT scanner purchase was supposed to be the last time. However, it was that very last time that got him in the end.

But, Zhang Fan didn’t care one bit whether Batu was greedy and corrupt or not. Batu treated him well, so Zhang Fan would definitely help Batu.

Zhang Fan had only been in this border province for less than a year. The only real higher-up that he knew was Kang Hua. Wang Qian only counted as the wife of a politician who might be able to influence her husband. Although Kang Hua typically wasn’t that easy to approach, he absolutely had to ask her in such a situation.

Zhang Fan called her secretary Tang Jingjing’s number. He was told that Kang Hua was currently in a meeting and unable to take phone calls, and that she would be quite busy for the foreseeable future. The meaning was quite obvious—she didn’t want to help with the Batu incident. Actually, Kang Hua was truly unable to help here anyway. She was the head politician of Kuake City, yet a major corruption scandal from a minor official had erupted under her jurisdiction. She would also be partially held responsible. Right now, she was being scolded by her own bosses.

Since Kang Hua couldn’t help out, the only other person Zhang Fan could ask was Wang Qian. Before, it was quite easy for him to just visit her home any time without even needing to call her beforehand, but now the situation was different. ­He would have to call beforehand for something like this.

“Mrs. Wang, I’m back from my study program. How has your back been recently?”

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“Ah, Zhang Fan. My back’s much better. Are you calling today for the sake of your Superintendent Batu?”

Wang Qian was also quite concerned with the case against Batu due to her relationship with Zhang Fan. Although the case against Batu was still technically sealed and supposed to be a secret, Wang Qian’s husband was high-ranking enough that a lower-ranking case like this would be no secret to him.

“Yeah, Mrs. Wang. Is there anything that can be done at all?”

“I haven’t misjudged you. You truly stand by your friends’ side and treat them well, although you don’t know right from wrong too well. All I can tell you today is that Batu needs to return what he unlawfully took and pay compensation. That will help him receive a lenient judgement. If you have time, come have fun at my place. For now, you should just focus on your hospital work.” Wang Qian saying this much already was only for the sake of Zhang Fan’s face. Even Zhang Fan wasn’t brainless enough to ask her to help out after she said this.

Although Batu was a hospital superintendent, this wasn’t actually a very high governmental rank. Batu’s idea of how getting positions worked was still at the level of using connections, giving gifts, and asking for favors. While the government typically ignored low-ranking officials, whenever things got serious, the anti-corruption bureau would be no joke to deal with.

“Ma’am, you should hurry and return the money together with compensation,” Zhang Fan immediately told Batu’s wife after hanging up the phone call. She could only nod disappointedly as nothing else could be done. Since Zhang Fan couldn’t really help with anything else, he returned to the hospital.

Less than three days later, orders came in from the government. A director of internal medicine from a bigger city hospital was sent here to become the superintendent. This person was almost 50 years old, and it was said that he had connections in the Bureau of Public Health. Also, Kuake City Hospital’s position of vice superintendent had always been empty, but Shi Lei had apparently used some unknown connections of his own as he was directly promoted from Vice Director of surgery department #2 to Kuake City Hospital Vice Superintendent.

For the next three days, Kuake City Hospital held large-scale meetings involving the entire staff of the hospital. How come? Because the employees’ lowered morale needed to be assuaged. After what happened to Batu, everyone else was quite panicky. Every doctor in the hospital had taken illegal kickbacks like “medical equipment fees” before. The only difference between the doctors was how much they took. Also, the new superintendent was changing people’s jobs around. The pharmaceutical, radiology, logistics, and finance department directors were all going to have to take on new positions.

The new superintendent’s name was Zou Pingshan. As he was almost 50 years old and still only a director of internal medicine at his hospital, he was unable to go any higher there. That was why he used his connections to become a superintendent at a smaller hospital. He figured that it would be nice to be the big boss here, even if it was a smaller hospital.

Since Zou Pingshan was new to his position, he wanted to do something to establish his authority. Zhang Fan was the first person to catch his attention as Zhang Fan had received the opportunity to go to Bluebird City to study despite being at Kuake City Hospital for less than one year.

“Zhang Fan is Batu’s loyal lapdog. Our hospital has never hired fresh college graduates before. He was in the first group of fresh college graduates to join. Batu brought him everywhere he went in order to show off his management skills. Whenever Batu met someone, he would say, ‘Look, this is a recent college graduate who’s currently working at our Kuake City Hospital.’ Also, Zhang Fan visited Batu’s home on the first day that he came back.” Such information was told Zou Pingshan by the Vice Director of Kuake City Hospital’s finance department, Turxun. Turxun was a solid supporter of Zou Pingshan because Turxun’s sister-in-law happened to work in the same department as Zou Pingshan’s previous city hospital, and they had a good relationship.

“Is that so? Where is this Zhang Fan from?” Zou Pingshan inquired. He didn’t care too much about the past, but now that Batu was in trouble, yet Zhang Fan was still visiting Batu, that seemed like it was too much.

“He’s from S Province, and he has no friends or relatives here in our border province. He’s got a sweet mouth on him, though, and Batu really likes him.” Although Turxun was the vice director of the finance department, Batu didn’t like him. Turxun also didn’t actually take his work for the hospital seriously, and was in the midst of looking for a different job. But now, Turxun had finally received a lucky opportunity with Zou Pingshan’s promotion, and could finally act big around here.

“Then let’s send Zhang Fan to Sumutai Village’s health center. Since Zhang Fan got to study at such a big city, he should go to the countryside to make use of his new knowledge.”

Since Zhang Fan had no friends or relatives here, and he was also a fresh college graduate, he would be easy to bully. The older doctors were typically obedient, and didn’t cause any trouble, but if the superintendent dared to send any of them to a countryside health center dozens of kilometers away, those older doctors would be bringing their entire extended families to the superintendent’s home to complain.

When vice superintendent Shi Lei heard this decision, he reflexively wanted to reject it. However, he then decided against saying anything as he had just become vice superintendent. It would be problematic if he was seen as opposing the new superintendent right away. Besides, personnel assignments weren’t the jurisdiction of the vice superintendent.

Furthermore, the new superintendent had an even stronger background than Batu. Back when Batu was in power, Shi Lei didn’t dare to act out, so now he dared to even less. However, Shi Lei knew that Zhang Fan was no simple person. Even before Zhang Fan got to go on the study program, he had been going to Chasu City on a daily basis to treat someone. That person would definitely be a big shot. Otherwise, Batu wouldn’t have been so furtive about the whole matter.

Shi Lei felt that trouble might arise from Zou Pingshan’s bullying of Zhang Fan. After he thought about all this, he decided to phone Zhang Fan. “Doctor Zhang, I didn’t get a chance to greet you when you returned. How about eating a meal together tonight?”

“Vice Superintendent Shi, I’m still in Chasu City right now. I have some things to deal with, and won’t be able to return tonight. I’m truly sorry.”

“No worries, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to eat together in the future. Still, I called today to give you a reminder. We have a new superintendent, so you should watch out.” Shi Lei was giving a hint to Zhang Fan.

“Okay, thank you, Vice Superintendent Shi. I’ll watch out for myself.” Zhang Fan didn’t care about his career at Kuake City Hospital, which was why he paid this zero attention, and didn’t read between the lines. ‘So what if there’s a new superintendent? I’ll continue being an intern doctor regardless. It doesn’t have much to do with me.’

On the next day, surgical department #2 had a morning meeting. Although there was a new superintendent, old Director Nuar was completely drunk early in the morning as always. He was squinting, and barely able to even stand up straight. “Let us welcome our new Superintendent Batu for a speech,” Nuar announced while clapping. The others didn’t know whether to clap or not at the gaffe.

“Okay, everyone’s quite busy, so I’ll keep things short.” Zou Pingshan felt that there was no helping Nuar’s mistake with his name. It was impossible to do anything about or lecture such an entrenched veteran. “No matter what things were like in the past, all of you must have proper work attitude in the future. Considering how our surgical department has a low number of patients, the hospital board has decided to send Doctor Zhang to a countryside health center. Doctor Zhang has just returned from his studies in Bluebird City. I’m certain that he will be able to use the big city’s latest innovations to bring even more patients to our surgical department from the countryside. I hope that Doctor Zhang will be willing to sacrifice himself for our hospital’s necessary development.”

Whoa! Everyone was astonished to hear this unexpected reassignment for Zhang Fan. “Who will perform our department’s surgeries, then?” Chen Qifa spoke up on Zhang Fan’s behalf. Actually, ever since Zhang Fan arrived, their surgical department was performing a much higher number of surgeries compared to before. Previous surgeries that had been impossible for their department had all been accomplished by Zhang Fan. This indirectly helped Chen Qifa’s income to significantly rise, which was why he panicked upon hearing about Zhang Fan’s reassignment, and spoke what was on his mind.

“Our hospital operated fine before him. He’s not even an official licensed doctor yet.” Zou Pingshan was rather angry that someone dared to doubt his orders. However, when he said this, this was actually insulting Chen Qifa, because Chen Qifa also wasn’t an official doctor yet.

“Then I’ll go to the rural area together with Zhang Fan, and sacrifice myself for the sake of the hospital.” Chen Qifa had gotten quite angry. He cared about his face more than anything, in a bit of a twisted manner.

And so, the two of them set out for the countryside together. “Old Chen, you didn’t have to, you know?” Zhang Fan was quite moved. It wouldn’t be easy to argue against the new superintendent for his sake.

“Hmph! I was just speaking my mind. Besides, so what if I go to the rural area? It will be a nice vacation.” However, Chen Qifa was already regretting his words. He wouldn’t be able to make much from medical equipment or medicine fee kickbacks in the countryside.