Chapter 12: Praise, and newcomers’ arrival

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisun/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Early next morning, Zhang Fan woke up because he wanted to go to the bathroom. He also had a bad headache from his hangover.

Breakfast was Mongolian butter milk tea along with hand-grabbed mutton. Zhang Fan had no appetite, so he only drank some of the tea. He then helped Shi Lei and the others to pack up their belongings before returning to Kuake City. However, right when he left the local hospital, Zhang Fan was astounded by how many people filled the hospital’s premises. There were people old and young, and some were even on horses or motorcycles.

“They heard that the city doctors came. All of the local nomads have come over to have their problems seen to. Some of them came over from several dozen kilometers away. I didn’t dare to promise them anything, so I only had them wait on the premises,” Superintendent Buyinlada, the local superintendent of this village hospital, explained to Zhang Fan while pointing at the crowd.

Although Superintendent Buyinlada hadn’t “agreed” to anything, it was evident that he wasn’t allowing Zhang Fan and the others to leave with how many people he was allowing to block the way out.

“What should we do?” Chen Qifa asked.

“What else can we do? All the locals have come over, so we might as well get to work. We might as well while we’re here,” Shi Lei said as he began to check a patient. “Old man, your muscle pain is obviously caused by calcium loss. I’ll give you a recommendation on some calcium vitamins to take.”

“Your blood cholesterol is too high. You need to eat more vegetables and less meat in the future. You also need to remember to take your cholesterol medicine.” Since there were far too many people, Ma Lihua of anesthesia also acted as a doctor for internal medicine.

Superintendent Buyinlada arranged for several of the local nurses to act as translators since many of the older nomads didn’t even know how to speak Chinese.

“Your bone didn’t connect properly after it was dislocated. Your distal radioulnar joint is in the wrong place, which has greatly affected your arm’s functions. The only way to deal with this is to perform orthopedic surgery to set your bone in the proper position,” Zhang Fan told a middle-aged man.

“Will I still be able to work if I have this surgery?”

“Yes, after you recover from the surgery. Here, I’ll write you a note. When the snow melts, come to Kuake City Hospital to find me, and I’ll do the surgery for you.”

After seeing many more patients, Zhang Fan’s heart kept getting heavier and heavier. Many of the patients had never received any proper treatment to begin with, while others had received improper treatment which led to dire consequences.

Zhang Fan did his best to help those he could. On this day, he performed two appendectomies. One was for a perforated appendix. While Shi Lei was a brain surgeon, he had also studied general surgery, so a common small surgery like appendectomy was no problem for him to help with.

Zhang Fan and the other doctors had no time to eat lunch. Many patients had come from far away. In winter out here in the border province, it would become dark quite early in the afternoon. It would be better to finish earlier so that the nomads could return to their homes.

It took one full day before the doctors finished seeing to all the patients. On the next day, everyone contacted Kuake City Hospital’s ambulances to be ready to pick up Zhang Fan and the others before heading out.

Right after everyone left the hospital, they saw many nomads came to send them off. Many of the nomads rode on horses while stuffing everyone’s hands with beef, mutton, yogurt, butter, and so on. The nomads refused to return, and kept following Zhang Fan’s party to Kuake City all the way until the ambulances arrived to pick everyone up.

“What’s ours is yours. Please take it. Come again if you have time, especially in the summer. Our grassland scenery is especially beautiful then. Doctor Zhang, you need to improve your alcohol tolerance, haha...”

The nomads then cheered as they finally left. Zhang Fan almost wanted to cry as he clutched all the gifts he’d just received. This was the first time he had ever felt like the medical field was something divine. For the first time ever, he was happy that he had studied medicine, even though he had only entered this field for the sake of money.

“I will, we’ll often come back.” However, it was unknown whether or not he would be able to keep this promise. What could an ordinary doctor possibly do without the government’s support?

Nobody in Zhang Fan’s group felt like talking on the remainder of the way back. Zhang Fan thought about many things as he gazed at the scenery outside the ambulance. He recalled China’s oath for medical students that he had sworn when he entered medical school.

Health entrusted. Lives confided.

On my admission to the Practice of Medicine, I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this oath:

I will dedicate myself to medicine with love for my motherland and loyalty to the people.

I will scrupulously practice my profession with conscience and dignity.

I will discipline myself and give my teachers the respect and gratitude that is their due.

I will strive diligently for continued excellence and my full development.

I will do my utmost to alleviate human suffering and promote human health, safeguarding the sanctity and honor of medicine.

I will heal the wounded and rescue the dying regardless of trials and tribulations.

As long as my life endures, may I commit myself to advance the nation’s medical science and research as well as the well-being of the entire human race.

Back when Zhang Fan was swearing this oath, he had felt that it was all empty and meaningless. But after this visit to the plains, Zhang Fan deeply realized how sacred the medical field was for the first time.

The way how the nomads had sent them off, following them for more than ten kilometers, became greatly influential to Zhang Fan’s future medical career. The medical field had seemed like nothing more than a way to make money to him before. Now, he felt the impact of the deeper meaning in medicine.

When everyone arrived at Kuake City Hospital, Vice Director Shi Lei went to report to Superintendent Batu, while the others returned home. Zhang Fan returned to his own dormitory.

“What’s going on? How come I hear you’re moving out? It’s even Administrative Director Wang who’s going to help you move. Are you moving into her home? She’s in her thirties, almost forty! Make sure you’re certain!”

“Heavens! I don’t even want to know what goes on in your mind every day. Some more fresh college students are going to join our hospital, and there’s not enough room in our dorm, so the hospital rented another house from the Party Committee. They said I could live there as well. If you’re interested, you should immediately go talk to the superintendent before anyone else finds out.”

“My friend, it’s quite convenient to live here in this dorm, except for the lack of showering facilities. I’ll be fine. I’ll be happy if Wang Sha will be able to live there instead; I’ll go talk to the superintendent about that. I’ll treat you to a meal afterwards.”

“Sure, just get going already.”

Zhang Fan was about to go find Director Wang to ask her where the new house was. But before he could even leave the dorm, Superintendent Batu called him.

“How you feeling? Are you tired? Can you still fight on?”

“No problem. I’ll immediately go to the operating room.” Zhang Fan thought that there was another emergency patient.

“Haha, it’s good that you can still fight on. No need to go to the operating room. Come meet me at the clinic.”

Not understanding what was going on, Zhang Fan went to the clinic. He saw that Superintendent Batu was making a phone call at his car, Hyundai Elantra. After Batu finished his call, he told Zhang Fan, “Excellent job in the village this time. The head of our Kuake City specially called me to praise our hospital. I’ll give you a ride. The new college graduates are here, so we’re all going to eat a welcoming dinner together, as well as celebrate a job well done.”

“I’ll have to drink alcohol again? Please spare me, Superintendent. You know that I get drunk almost instantly. How about having Vice Director Shi and the others go instead?”

“Shi Lei’s already there. You’re not afraid of performing surgeries, yet you’re afraid of some alcohol? You absolutely have to go. Get on my car. The head of our Kuake City is attending today, mainly in order to praise all of you, so you need to be there to meet her.”

This time, five additional recent college graduates had passed the government test to be hired by the hospital. Two were clinical students, one was in public health, one was a pharmaceutical student, and one was a lab technician. The two clinical students were both male, while the other three were female. The other person attending this welcoming dinner would be Kang Hua, the female head politician of Kuake City and the head of the Bureau of Culture, Education, and Health.

“Our doctors from Kuake City Hospital fearlessly traveled through difficult weather when snowfall covered the roads to the extent where cars were no longer able to pass. Our doctors took horses to the nomads’ village and used their extraordinary medical skills to save a child whose life was in danger. Kuake City Communist Party Committee is truly grateful that our doctors are role models for this generation to look up to. All of you are truly gifts to this century. I represent Kuake City Communist Party Committee in celebrating your achievements. Come, drink up to your future successful endeavors and glory,” Kang Hua stated at the welcoming party for new students.

Batu’s smile was so big that it was almost distorted. This was the first time that he had been praised by a higher-up. Previously, he would always have headaches about attending the Kuake City Communist Party Committee meetings. Apart from Kuake City’s Hospital’s sanitary standards being up to par, his hospital had never received any praise from the party leaders before, which caused him to lose face.

This time, he finally gained some face. Not only was the Party Committee praising his hospital, even the head politician Kang Hua had personally come to attend this dinner. Of course Batu would be overjoyed.

Chen Qifa was also quite excited. Such praise meant that he would receive a great increase to his bonus for this month. He had a child who was currently in a local high school, so he needed lots of money for high school tuition.

All of the fresh graduates had confused expressions. They thought that this was supposed to be a welcoming party for them, so how did this become a celebration of others’ achievements instead?