Chapter 308: No Vices (Part 4 of 4)
Feng Xuhui had rushed to the emergency ward early in the morning with breakfast as usual, just as he had in Imperial Capital.
“Don’t come tomorrow,” Su Yun mumbled while brushing his teeth.
Those words made Feng Xuhui’s hair stand on end. What sin had he committed that was so unforgivable? He was not even allowed to come tomorrow…
Since the day Feng Xuhui received guidance from an Imperial Capital legend, he had found his direction in life and remained determined to cling onto Zheng Ren, despite being less than successful so far.
In one stroke, he had introduced his company’s product to the Imperial Capital market and been promoted to the general manager of the Northeast region, with a huge increment in allocated funds.
After the Imperial Capital product launch, he had returned to Sea City fully bent on sticking to Zheng Ren’s coattails.
Everything had been fine during yesterday’s TIPS surgery. What had changed?
The on-call room was silent but for the buzzing of Su Yun’s electric toothbrush.
A few minutes later, Su Yun finished gargling, turned around and jumped when he saw Feng Xuhui standing there like a statue.
“What happened to you?” he asked in surprise.
Feng Xuhui was still in a daze and did not respond.
“Hey, have you lost it?” Su Yun did not understand why the man was in such a state.
After several attempts, Feng Xuhui managed between sobs, “Brother Yun, what did I do? Why won’t you let me come here anymore?”
Su Yun immediately caught on and did not know whether to laugh or cry.
“You… Just tell me what it is. I will change it at once,” Feng Xuhui said.
“You’re overthinking it,” Su Yun said nonchalantly, taking the soy milk Feng Xuhui had brought and taking a large gulp. “There will be new staff reporting to the department. The boss will have flexible shifts from now onwards.”
“Tell me, if a female doctor is on shift tomorrow morning, and you simply knock on the door and enter: in what way will Old Chief Physician Pan kill you?” Su Yun bit into the steamed stuffed bun. It was a bit greasy; eating garlic now would require him to brush his teeth again.
After some thought, he decided against it.
Feng Xuhui finally managed a smile and approached him. “Brother Yun, thank you.”
“Sure,” Su Yun said dispassionately.
“The chairman is coming over tonight, you have to show your face,” Feng Xuhui quickly said, prioritizing the most important thing on the day’s itinerary.
He had just experienced a rollercoaster of emotions and was afraid that it could compromise his duty. That would be truly embarrassing.
“I’ll be there if there are no emergency cases.” Su Yun had an outgoing personality; back in Imperial Capital, he would have dinner invitations every day were he willing to attend them. “Right, I only drink Maotai. I’ll take any year they have, just not the ones from 1982 and 1988; the market was flooded with fake liquors during those two years.”
Although it was obvious that Su Yun was not treating him like an outsider, Feng Xuhui was still taken aback, but quickly retrieved his notebook to write down the man’s requests.
“If we’re drinking whisky, I prefer Scotch. Any Speyside brand would be fine but it’s better if they’re aged for at least a decade,” Su Yun said while chewing his bun, “Only aging in wooden barrels counts. Time after bottling is just shelf life, not aging.”
Feng Xuhui frowned.
Money was not the issue. Actually finding Speyside Scotch would be difficult in Sea City.
“To be honest, I’m not that picky. If your boss likes sake, we can get Ittekiyukon, especially the ones from 2008. It’s lighter on the palate and has a better aftertaste. You won’t get a hangover the next day.” Su Yun was still going on.
Feng Xuhui finally remembered the dinner’s main guest. “What does Chief Zheng prefer?”
“Him? He doesn’t drink, he just smokes occasionally. If he doesn’t feel hungry, he won’t eat. He will be more grateful if you don’t invite him to the dinner. You don’t have to worry about what he likes to eat, either,” Su Yun said.
Feng Xuhui wept internally, tears falling from his heart.
Why was it so difficult to suck up to this man?
Money, alcohol, gambling, lust; there had to be something Zheng Ren liked. However, after some observation, Feng Xuhui knew that Su Yun was telling the truth. He had to ask anyway in order to rule out errors in judgement.
This Chief Zheng only had a love for surgery.
Right then, Zheng Ren entered the room, refreshed after his shower.
“Yo, Manager Feng, you’re here.” The greeting came with familiarity.
After all, he had just asked for a favor yesterday. Not exchanging at least a few words of acknowledgement would be unbecoming.
He would look like an ingrate.
“Chief Zheng, our chairman is coming over tonight. We’ll probably trouble you for a few hours.” Feng Xuhui placed both his palms together and looked at the man with earnestness and supplication in his eyes.
“Oh, I’ll be there if there’s no surgery. No big deal.” Zero interest.
“Is there anything you’d like to have?”
“Anything will do. I don’t have a preference,” Zheng Ren replied without much thought before starting on a bun.
Feng Xuhui’s mind began to run wild again.
When the two men finished eating, he cleared the table for them and said his farewells before leaving.
He reported their words to the chairman and included the long list of requests from Su Yun.
…
Professor Rudolf Wagner arrived at 7.15 a.m. sharp.
No matter how classy he looked, his authority was undeniable.
Chang Yue and the others also arrived shortly after. Old Chief Physician Pan performed the shift handover at 8 a.m.
After that, Office Director Ding and the hospital administration chief came to the emergency ward with two other doctors.
So efficient, Zheng Ren thought. Director Fu had just resigned yesterday and the new doctors were already here.
Ding Zhongtai and Old Chief Physician Pan exchanged a few greetings. When he saw Zheng Ren’s usual disinterest, he did not linger and left with the hospital administration chief.
There were two newcomers. Lu Tianran was from the first general surgery department, having graduated three years ago and was rather familiar with Zheng Ren and Yang Lei.
The other was a female doctor from internal medicine called Zhong Min. She had just completed standardized residency training and continued employment in Sea City General Hospital.
Lu Tianran was quite reliable, but Zhong Min was to be kept under observation for the time being. Regardless, these two new-bloods would strengthen the emergency department.
Even though Old Chief Physician Pan was orientating the two with a stern expression, Zheng Ren could feel the old chief cheering inside.
After asking Professor Rudolf Wagner to follow Chang Yue for the ward rounds, Zheng Ren brought Su Yun to the gastroenterology department to check on the surgery patient from the day before.
He did not want to walk around with a gold-haired, blue-eyed foreigner and draw unwanted attention. It would not suit his low-key personality.
There was a strange stench in the corridor of the gastroenterology department.
The department would be considerably relaxed if they only had enteritis and other inflammations to deal with. However, patients with ascites and hematemesis could be a handful.
Chief Xia was doing ward rounds with her subordinates. It was blinding to look at the group of white coats reflecting the sun’s morning rays.
The chief offered a rare smile when she saw Zheng Ren and Su Yun. “Little Zheng, are you here to check on the patient post-op?”