Chapter 195: New high-speed railway

Superintendent Ouyang immediately understood after hearing that the patient was a situs inversus totalis. She then said, "Good job! You've all worked hard."

Superintendent Ouyang immediately left the operating room after that. She was slightly embarrassed at having made a mistake due to a blind spot in her way of thinking!

The hoodlums being hunted down for Zhu Bing's stabbing were all the really vicious type. They had grown up together since childhood as sons of miners. Compared to regular families, they actually enjoyed slightly better conditions while growing up. They also understood the importance of money ever since young. Since the mines were government-owned and controlled back in the day, the management was quite lax. These hoodlums would always go to the mine and steal some metal to sell off and make money, using their illicit money to support their lifestyle.

This was the border province, where all sorts of shady characters would gather. Since these hoodlums always had to fence their stolen goods, they became acquainted with many smugglers. Although fencing was a dirty business, it was something low profile which could actually bring tremendous profits. There would be plenty of fencers who were quite powerful in criminal society. Once the hoodlums committed their first murder, they became even wilder!

Maybe the hoodlums could still act brazenly while the government didn't have its attention on them, but the government becoming serious would be no laughing matter. If you tried to resist arrest, well, border security would be different from ordinary policemen. The border security immediately fired their semi-automatic weapons on the three remaining hoodlums who resisted arrest, instantly killing the hoodlums and riddling their bodies with holes.

In many industries, there would always be people making organizations to use violence to dominate the market, especially in industries that couldn't see the light of day. For instance, in the Chinese medical field, there was an illicit job known as medical ticket scalping. Since China's population was so large, most ordinary people would need to get tickets from the hospital to await their turn to see a doctor. This ticket might be for an appointment that was several weeks or even several months later. The medical ticket scalpers would also get tickets, even though they didn't need to see a doctor, and resell their tickets for ridiculously marked up prices. Even though a ticket only cost a few hundred yuan, they would resell the tickets for several thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan. They didn't care about Chinese laws at all, as they would only be locked up in prison for a few days before being set free again. These medical ticket scalpers were just like leeches who took advantage of real patients!

Zhang Fan finally finished with the surgery. Zhu Bing's chances of survival had been improved by the fact that he was in excellent physical shape due to the demanding physical training he had undergone as a policeman in the border province. Someone slightly older or weaker than he was would still have likely died today. The anesthesiologist and nurse took him to the ICU as patients who had undergone such major surgery would need to stay for a few days in the ICU due to the significant amount of blood loss.

Zhang Fan left the operating room and saw Shao Hua and Lu Renjia waiting outside. "It's alright now. You'll be able to see Zhu Bing again in a few days!"

Lu Renjia's emotions had calmed down by now, but tears started flowing out again when she saw Zhang Fan. "He got stabbed for my sake! I feel so bad!"

It would be no mistake to say that women were made of water. [Author's note: everyone, please treasure any woman who's willing to cry for your sake. If that woman no longer cares enough to cry for you one day, then it'll be too late for you to regret things.]

"It's fine, it's really alright now. Rest assured. There's no need for you to stay here, and the ICU doesn't allow even family members to enter. How about Shao Hua and I take you home?" Zhang Fan offered.

"Okay!"

Modern technology was becoming ever more advanced. Most people would feel that they were now in a generation where information was easily obtained. They could stay at home and still instantly learn about what had happened halfway around the world. However, this was actually just information control. Although it seemed like you could learn anything, there would actually be very little practical information, unless you were a genius who was highly capable of analyzing everything with just a few clues. Otherwise, the information being offered to you could only be used to pass the time. The truly useful or hidden information would only be known to a few.

Those who had truly useful information channels might still not know what Vladimir Putin did today or what Jack Ma said today, but such a person would definitely know about upcoming government policy changes that would affect them. Ma Wentao was someone with well-connected information channels.

China was under major development. The coastal regions had already been developed, with countless mega oil rigs being constructed on the sea. Those who were interested in the South China Sea's military affairs would surely understand. After developing southern China, it was now time for western China's development. Or, more accurately, developing the border province, since this place was the connection between China and many neighboring countries. In order to develop this place, transportation would come first and foremost, just as China had been doing for many past decades.

Ma Wentao came to visit Zhang Fan, and immediately told him, "A high-speed railway line is going to be constructed in the border province!"

"That's good! It'll be easier to visit home!" Zhang Fan was quite happy to hear this. This was an ordinary person's way of thinking. Don't look down on him, for most ordinary people would be the same. Most people wouldn't be able to see the major things behind the scenes.

"You're so useless!" Ma Wentao rolled his eyes; he indeed looked down on Zhang Fan for this.

"Do you have any business with me at all? If not, I still need to study." Zhang Fan had no patience for Ma Wentao's games. He felt that Ma Wentao really loved to act pretentiously.

"Sigh! The heavens are truly fair. They bestowed you with incredibly skillful hands, but not much understanding."

"I really will be leaving!" Zhang Fan acted like he was going to leave.

"I'm going to open up a hospital." Ma Wentao stopped Zhang Fan from leaving while saying this.

"Didn't you already open up a hospital?"

"You think this is called a hospital? It's just a slightly large clinic at best." Ma Wentao had tasted sweet profits from the medical industry over the past several months. Although his business still couldn't be called very large yet, his ambition was burning brightly.

"Then go ahead and open a new hospital."

"Let's become partners! I'll be the major stockholder, and you can be the second-in-command!" Ma Wentao suggested to Zhang Fan. Over the past few months, Ma Wentao could clearly tell that Zhang Fan was truly a high-level genius talent. Ma Wentao definitely didn't want to lose Zhang Fan. Additionally, Ma Wentao was making progress with the daughter of the Qin Family. Perhaps the two of them would be getting engaged soon.

"How large of a hospital do you want to open? I don't have any money. Even if I did, I wouldn't invest in you. You don't understand anything at all. If your new hospital loses money, that's all money that I've earned through hard work and sweat." Zhang Fan had zero interest in this. Although it seemed to him like Ma Wentao did have some power, Zhang Fan really felt that Ma Wentao was unreliable. Just opening up a new hospital like that, whenever he wanted? That seemed to be even more unreliable than Zhang Fan's friend Li Hui! What was a hospital? That was a place where people would die. One medical incident that wasn't dealt with well could cause three years of hard work to go down the drain!

This was the difference in understanding of business. Zhang Fan was someone ordinary. For ordinary people, they wouldn't think about observing a business for a period of a year. They also wouldn't dare to take risks, fearing to lose what they had. Zhang Fan's impression of Ma Wentao was that the latter was absolutely reckless! Zhang Fan was just too young to understand how money and power really worked in economics and society.

"Relax, I have no interest in what money you have. What I mean is that I'll provide the funding, and you provide the skills. We can establish a medium-sized general hospital together."

"Forget about getting me involved. Feel free to open up that new hospital of yours, and I can continue working for you. Call me over if there's any surgeries you can't take of, and just pay me as usual. Being in charge? I don't have such ability." Zhang Fan's greatest advantage was that he knew his own abilities. He would only do what he was capable of. He felt that it was too ridiculous for him to even think about being in charge of managing a hospital.

Zhang Fan's suggestion would actually be quite good for most businessmen. It was also quite cheap to hire Zhang Fan. However, Ma Wentao had no intention of remaining an ordinary businessman. He was incredibly ambitious.

"Listen to me. Let me give a block of wood like you a proper lesson." Ma Wentao poured some aged Puer tea for Zhang Fan, and then said, "The border province is being developed now. A high-speed railway line will go from inland China to the border province, and then this high-speed railway line will extend all the way to Europe. It's been decided that this high-speed railway line will pass right through Chasu City. Right now, the land prices in this area are so cheap that it might as well be free. But once the high-speed railway station here opens up, all of the real estate will skyrocket in price. As long as you're willing to help me, this hospital will definitely become one of the top hospitals in the border province. This will be our starting point!"

"I'm not going to quit my job at a public hospital. I would have long since gone to southern China already if I cared about money. You should stop wasting your time on trying to convince me!" Zhang Fan was completely unmoved.

"Have you ever considered before about how certain you are that you can stay here forever?" Ma Wentao still didn't give up and continued trying to persuade Zhang Fan.

"What about it?"

"Just look at how you are currently. You go everywhere to so many other hospitals to perform surgeries. You might not be able to guarantee your own financial freedom even 10 years down the road. Not having financial freedom will limit you in everything. But if you have financial freedom, you'll be able to do what you want to do. Besides, my new hospital won't merely be a starting point. Once my hospitals spread all over China, you'll be able to do and research whatever you want. My new hospital will become your greatest secure platform. Just think about it!" Ma Wentao's last point finally hit Zhang Fan right in the heart.

Zhang Fan really hadn't thought much about his financial freedom before. To him, having plenty of money to eat what he wanted every day as well as owning his own home was more than enough financial freedom for him. However, Ma Wentao's proposal that Zhang Fan could research whatever he wanted instantly caused Zhang Fan to stop and think.

'He's right! In the future, no matter how things develop, the public hospital will still be a public hospital with the same medical system. Nothing will change just because of me. Even if I have my Medical System, I'll still be restrained by China's medical system. How can I change things? Ma Wentao's method might actually be a good method,' Zhang Fan thought to himself. He remained silent for quite a while, but Ma Wentao was in no hurry. Ma Wentao felt that he had now convinced Zhang Fan, so he casually sipped on some tea.

"You're doing this for the sake of money, while I'm doing things for the sake of my own interests and ideals. I feel that we won't be able to walk together down the same path in the end," Zhang Fan said after much consideration.

"Ridiculous. What's this about the sake of money? Am I someone who lacks money? If I really wanted money, would I be in this business? I have to worry so much every day about each surgery! This is about business, understand!? Business!" Ma Wentao was becoming really emotional here because he felt that he was being looked down on. Well, his worldview was that of someone who had been born into a rich family, so an ordinary person like Zhang Fan would never understand him.

"Alright then, business. For the new hospital, who will listen to whom? If I have to listen to your orders, I absolutely won't agree. Continuing things like this is quite nice for me. I'll do the surgeries that I'm willing to do, and I'll refuse the surgeries that I don't want to do. It's quite free for me like this."

"You're quite arrogant, asking for so much. For matters regarding the hospital, of course I'll be in charge. But, you can be in charge of all medical decisions!" Ma Wentao rolled his eyes so much that they were starting to hurt.

"Will you agree if I insist on doing something that has tremendous expenditures with no profit to be seen?"

"Are you an idiot?"

"Answer the question!"

"If there's tremendous expenditures, there will definitely be great results. Even if it fails in the end, it can only be said that the technology wasn't ready or that the way of thinking was mistaken. I'll definitely listen to you on anything medical. Also, allow me to emphasize one more time that I'm not doing this for the sake of money. I'm doing this for the sake of business!" Ma Wentao acted humbler for the first time as he spoke seriously.

"I will retain the right to back out at any time. You can't use any conditions to threaten me!

"Don't value yourself too much. I'm more worried that when my business expands greatly in the future, it'll be too hard to kick you out!" Ma Wentao was actually laughing uproariously in his mind! Zhang Fan didn't know a thing about running a hospital, but Ma Wentao did. What was medical treatment? Medical treatment was about practical application of medical research, so medical skills would always be king. Having talented medical personnel would be more important than anything else for a hospital.

"Alright, so how do you intend on establishing your new hospital? I really don't have any money!" Zhang Fan commented.

"Stop wasting my time about money. Come take a look at this blueprint."

"What blueprint is this?"

"The blueprint for Chasu City's high-speed railway station."

"Oh!" Zhang Fan wasn't surprised at all by this, because he didn't understand what this meant! If Ma Wentao had instead showed this blueprint to a real estate developer, that real estate developer would probably faint out of delirious bliss, because the real estate developer would easily be able to multiply their fortune by several dozen times over!

"I'm preparing to purchase several hundred acres of land in this area to open up a new hospital that will serve the all the cities surrounding Chasu City as well as the neighboring -stan suffix countries. I want to make this into one of the greatest medical centers of the border province, since this place is so large."

"Oh! How much money would that take? Do you know how much money just one MRI scanner costs? Do you know how much money the government sent us to construct Chasu City Hospital's new pediatrics building and emergency treatment center? I think that I should back out of this now." Zhang Fan was scared off by Ma Wentao's incredible ambition.

"Sigh! I really want to open up your head to look at what's inside. It's probably nothing but mush in there! You don't need to worry about any of these things. Your current job is to start contacting and cultivating your own medical personnel. Let me emphasize that they must be talented. Leave everything else to me. Right now, what I need to do is to purchase as much land as possible before this high-speed railway project is officially announced. I also need to make a visit to Beijing. It will be impossible for me to accomplish everything by myself, so I need to find more collaboration partners. For the time being, pay extra attention to my hospital. Chen Qifa and Li Liang still aren't good enough to take care of everything by themselves."

"Oh! Alright." Zhang Fan was still rather hesitant. He kept feeling like Ma Wentao's plan was rather unreliable.

"Rest assured, any more partners I bring in will be from my own share of the stock. I won't let you lose out on anything, honest!" Ma Wentao was under the impression that Zhang Fan was worried about his share of the new hospital's stocks. Actually, he had overestimated Zhang Fan, for the latter actually had no idea how things like stocks worked, and also had no interest in such things. Zhang Fan was only moved by one thing: the idea that he would be able to do what he wanted here.

There were some people who were truly talented, yet they would always try to do all sorts of illicit things, make political connections, and so on. There would always be people like that. There were also people who truly wanted to do business. There were all sorts of people in the world!

Ma Wentao flew over to Beijing. He was more serious about his hospital business than anything else he had ever done in the past few years. He had even compromised with his father for the sake of his hospital business. Ma Wentao was willing to get engaged to the Qin Family or whatever other family as long as he was allowed to do what he wanted.

Ma Wentao left his current hospital to Zhang Fan and carried his ambitions over to Beijing. Meanwhile, Zhang Fan was stuck with a lot of hard work. This was his first time ever having to learn anything regarding hospital management. Even though Ma Wentao had many connections here in the border province, the hospital still needed to be run properly.

Today, Zhang Fan had to go to a meeting at the Bureau of Health, and on the next day, he had to go have a discussion at the Health Insurance Bureau. The day after that, he had to have a meeting with some mine owners. Additionally, Zhang Fan still needed to go to work at Chasu City Hospital every day. After one week passed, Zhang Fan found himself really missing Ma Wentao. However, Zhang Fan had promised to Ma Wentao that he would take care of the latter's hospital, and he was the type to keep his promises. This meant that he had skipped quite a lot of work at the endocrinology department, which made Director Dilibaer rather unhappy.

If it weren't for how Zhang Fan had given such an expert lesson on the pancreas during that weekly large-scale patient checkup, which had astounded everyone, Director Dilibaer would have long since kicked Zhang Fan out of the endocrinology department.

Still, Director Dilibaer was rather angry that Zhang Fan was always either running off to the surgical departments to check up on the patients there, or skipping out on being at Chasu City Hospital entirely. She wouldn't have even cared if this had been another rotation doctor, as she could simply forbid that doctor from joining the endocrinology department. But as for Zhang Fan, she really wanted to see him mature and grow. Director Dilibaer was part of the generation where everyone really worked hard. She also had a well-to-do upbringing, which made her feel like she had the responsibility to pressure Zhang Fan to take the correct path to even greater heights.

"Doctor Zhang, you've been rather busy recently!" Director Dilibaer finally grabbed a chance to get Zhang Fan into her director's office for a discussion. Currently, even Zhang Fan's teaching doctor Ren Lina felt too awkward to lecture him about how he was skipping out on work. This was because it turned out that Zhang Fan knew even more than she did. Besides, everyone in the hospital now knew that Zhang Fan was an incredible surgeon, good to the point where he monopolized all work at other hospitals, even stealing away the other directors' work. It was truly difficult for Ren Lina to do anything to such a rotation doctor like Zhang Fan.

"My apologies. I really have been rather busy recently," Zhang Fan answered Director Dilibaer honestly.

"I understand! I've been young myself as well. But sometimes, the money you see right in front of you might become a stone that you trip over and slow down your rate of progress. Everyone now knows that you're amazingly skilled, so they're willing to hire you to work on surgeries at other hospitals. However, think about where we are. We're in a medium-sized city in the border province, the most remote part of China. Your abilities won't be considered anything at all in a major city. You're still young. You can't allow money to blind you. You still have a long, long path ahead of you."

Zhang Fan felt rather helpless hearing all this. He knew that Director Dilibaer had good intentions, so he could only lower his head and respond, "I understand, Director. I will pay attention."

"Yes. I'm not trying to forbid you from taking work at other hospitals. What I mean is that you shouldn't treat such work as your main job. Your primary focus right now should be to solidify your foundations. Don't think that I'm being too old and naggy. How about this. It's unseemly for you to run around everywhere every day. Your teaching doctor doesn't have the ability to manage you. I'll personally be your teaching doctor and you can directly manage your own patients."

"No, it's my fault. It has nothing to do with my teaching doctor. I will self-reflect," Zhang Fan hurriedly answered.

"This is simply a fact. Your teaching doctor doesn't have the ability to teach you. There's a special patient coming tomorrow. I'll give her to you. If you can manage her properly as your patient, then you can graduate from the endocrinology department. If you can't manage her properly, then you'll be staying in this department. I won't allow you to go to a surgical department otherwise!" Director Dilibaer laughed at her own threat, but Zhang Fan felt only pity for himself.