Chapter Eleven
In the silence, Deputy Director Luo fixed his gaze on Luo Fancheng before him. So young, favored by the assistant to the hospital president—this kind of person surely climbed up through connections, back doors, with not a shred of medical skill to speak of.
With a burst of anger, Deputy Director Luo rebuked, “Why are you crying? All you know is how to cry. That Luo fellow is about your age, and among my students, you’re already considered outstanding. I refuse to believe his medical skills are better than yours! He’s just someone who got in through the back door—not worth it, not worth it.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than a wail echoed from outside the door.
“Oh, dear!”
“Ah—”
Luo Fancheng immediately stepped outside to check on the patient, while Deputy Director Luo patted Xiao Jing gently and whispered, “Watch closely! As long as we don’t intervene, he’ll expose himself.”
Xiao Jing nodded, dried her tears, stopped crying, and followed the deputy director out.
Out in the corridor, an elderly couple sat leaning against each other on the bench. The man lay with his face up in the woman’s lap, groaning incessantly.
Seeing this, Luo Fancheng hurried forward to examine him. A cursory glance revealed nothing out of the ordinary, so he began probing the man’s chest with his hand.
As Luo Fancheng’s expression grew increasingly solemn, Deputy Director Luo, standing in the doorway of the office, wore a look of smug satisfaction. He glanced at Xiao Jing and sneered, “Watch, he’s about to slip up.”
The commotion was heard in the physician’s office as well. Two doctors were about to step out to investigate, but Deputy Director Luo sent them back.
Luo Fancheng noticed this scene and merely smiled, thinking to himself how petty this man was. If he loved being a director so much, it was all the more reason not to let him have his way—not even as deputy director.
“What happened?” Luo Fancheng asked the woman before him.
The woman sighed, her face full of sorrow, and replied in a low voice, “You’re so young—how could you possibly treat this illness? Call your director!”
Luo Fancheng was speechless. Since entering the Hall of Immortal Physicians, no one had ever dared question his medical skills.
He sighed as well and said blandly, “If you don’t tell me, how am I supposed to treat him?”
The woman raised her voice, “Call your director right away, or else you’ll be responsible if anything happens. Do you understand?”
Watching the drama unfold, Deputy Director Luo was elated. Sensing his chance, he strode up to the woman, pointed at Luo Fancheng, and feigned seriousness, “Perhaps you don’t know—this is our new director of the general department, Director Luo.”
The woman looked utterly shocked, “Such a young director? You must have gotten in through the back door!”
Luo Fancheng was at a loss for words. The woman went on, “This Shenghua Hospital is truly disappointing—bringing in some twenty-something kid as director. Is there no one left at Shenghua?”
After hearing her words, Luo Fancheng stood up and asked, “Then does he still need treatment here?”
Stubbornly, the woman replied, “Treat him. How? With you people? Do you really think you’re miracle doctors?”
Luo Fancheng nodded, “Very well. I hope you won’t beg me in three minutes.”
The woman scoffed, “As if I’d ever beg you.”
Luo Fancheng returned to his office. Deputy Director Luo said to Xiao Jing, “Did you see that? A director who got in through the back door is so good at putting on airs—abandoning the patient on purpose. Hurry up and report him to the president.”
Xiao Jing nodded and headed toward the president’s office.
Watching her receding figure, Deputy Director Luo muttered under his breath, “Luo, you like being director, do you? I’ll make sure you don’t last a single day.”
Once everyone left, the woman was furious, preparing to take the moaning man elsewhere for treatment, when suddenly—“pfft”—the man coughed up a mouthful of blood.
His complexion grew deathly pale, his limbs began twitching uncontrollably.
The woman finally panicked, fear creeping into her heart.
Was she really going to have to beg him?
Her gaze lingered on the director’s office, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Please, save him.”
Luo Fancheng was utterly speechless. As a disciple of the Immortal Physician, only a name separated him from that title—how dare she question his skills?
Bang—
Still no movement from the director’s office, regret surged within her, and she knelt on the floor, pleading once more:
“Please, save him.”
After three pleas, a voice finally came from the director’s office, “Bring him in.”
Hearing this, the woman rose, thanking him repeatedly, and dragged her husband into Luo Fancheng’s office.
“Limbs weak, unable to walk; severe gastrointestinal pain, likely due to previous partial resection; heart injury, some heart disease; unbearable abdominal pain, been to many places without finding the cause, right?” Luo Fancheng said calmly.
The woman was dumbfounded. Just by briefly examining him, he knew so much—she had never met such a skilled doctor in all her visits to other hospitals. She asked, “How did you know?”
“Just now I was confirming the specifics. Now I’m certain,” Luo Fancheng replied, looking at the man lying there.
“Please, save him,” the woman begged.
“If I asked you to bring him in, I will save him,” Luo Fancheng answered.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, Director Luo.”
Luo Fancheng then approached the man. At this point, the man’s face was ashen, utterly devoid of color, like a face that had already died.
His limbs were frighteningly pale, only a palm-sized area of his abdomen was somewhat normal.
Luo Fancheng checked the man’s pulse—it was nearly stopped.
The pale parts of his body were cold as if he had been dead for hours.
Luo Fancheng crouched, chin in hand, studying the only normal part of the man’s abdomen.
“Well? Can you save him?” The woman, seeing Luo Fancheng hesitate, asked.
“Yes. Please step outside. I’ll call you when he’s better.”
“Alright,” she agreed and left the room.
No sooner had she gone out than she saw Xiao Jing arriving with Zhao De, the president. Deputy Director Luo was already waiting at the elevator.
“President, did you know? The new Director Luo refused to treat a patient!”
Zhao De replied calmly, “Xiao Jing told me. Where is he? Which office?”
“In the director’s office; the patient just went in, he’s probably still treating him,” Deputy Director Luo answered truthfully.
Zhao De nodded and went straight to Luo Fancheng’s office. As he opened the door, everyone was startled by what they saw—timid Xiao Jing even screamed.
Ah—
Inside the office, Luo Fancheng plunged a fruit knife deep into the man’s abdomen.