CHAPTER 213: 213 ON-SITE OBSERVATION

Li Jianwei’s words resonated deeply with Xu Pinglin.

He could recount the facts plainly, but when it came to commenting on his senior director, it was better for him to keep his mouth shut.

After Li Jianwei entered, the office door was left open, and several young doctors could be seen standing outside.

Upon closer inspection, they were all from the Chinese Medicine Department, including some of Li Jianwei’s graduate students.

This was something Xu Pinglin greatly envied Li Jianwei for.

Not only was Li Jianwei the Deputy Director of Provincial First Hospital, but he was also an associate professor at the Provincial University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Every year, he had several free laborers at his disposal.

But Xu Pinglin didn’t have that kind of resource.

He only worked in the hospital and didn’t teach at a school.

So, apart from interns, there was no one else trailing him.

And after becoming the Deputy Director, he didn’t even have interns anymore.

Xu Pinglin, who was about to go out and call the patient, stopped in his tracks. He turned to look at Li Jianwei with a puzzled expression, "Director Li, what do you mean by this?"

Li Jianwei glanced at the young people outside the door and said with a chuckle, "They all know about Xiao Du’s situation. These little brats are a bit unconvinced, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to bring them along. Let them see that there are always people better than themselves, and there’s always more to learn.

"Don’t let them think that just because they’re graduate students, they’re something special. They don’t bother to study and memorize medical cases, and they walk around with their noses in the air."

With that, he turned to Du Heng and said, "Xiao Du, let them witness your capabilities as their senior. Shake them up a bit. Any problem with that?"

Du Heng saw the crowd outside and understood. This is a test.

But did he care? No, he didn’t.

"Mr. Li, you flatter me. I don’t deserve such praise."

"Don’t be modest. Let them broaden their horizons," Li Jianwei chuckled.

Xu Pinglin had originally planned to call the patient into his office and have Du Heng examine her there.

But with so many people now, the office definitely won’t hold everyone. And since Old Li brought his students here to learn, I should also let my subordinates gain some insight. I can’t let him reap all the benefits, can I?

"Doctor Du, how about we go to the conference room next door? It’s much bigger. What do you think?"

"Sure, anywhere is fine."

Du Heng genuinely didn’t mind.

If I can successfully treat her, it will indeed be a feather in my cap. But if I can’t, there’s no shame in it either. After all, Li Jianwei already failed, and Xu Pinglin’s own senior director had already thrown in the towel. There’s nothing for me to be embarrassed about.

Seeing Du Heng agree, Xu Pinglin turned, went back to his desk, grabbed a few items, and then led the way.

As they walked down the corridor, Xu Pinglin spotted the only attending physician of traditional Chinese medicine in their department. "You, and the people you’re mentoring, all of you, come to the conference room."

A large group then streamed into the conference room, quickly filling the once-spacious room until there was hardly any place to stand.

Today, accompanying the patient were her husband and her daughter.

Seeing so many people flood into the room, the patient immediately tensed up. "What do you want? You’ve already made my condition worse! It went from simple gastritis to gastric cancer! Are you going to assault me now?"

Xu Pinglin was exasperated but could only quickly try to reassure the patient and her family. If a real commotion broke out, their department would become notorious.

Currently, such an incident might only cause a stir within the hospital. But if it escalated, their department would become infamous citywide, undoubtedly making headlines.

Moreover, their daughter was holding her phone, filming everything. Smartphones these days make it so easy to record everything—how annoying!

"Don’t worry," Xu Pinglin said soothingly. "I’ve invited our best doctor to see you. These people are students and doctors here to observe; please don’t misunderstand."

The patient’s gaze swept over the crowd before settling on Li Jianwei. "You mean this doctor? I saw him last month. He prescribed medication for me, but it was no use."

Li Jianwei gave an awkward chuckle. Being called out like this in front of so many people was a bit embarrassing.

However, he subscribed to the philosophy: as long as *I’m* not embarrassed, it’s others who should be. So, he spoke up first, "You’ve misunderstood. It’s not me. It’s this gentleman, Doctor Du Heng."

The patient and her family followed Li Jianwei’s gesture and looked at Du Heng, who was standing beside him.

Then, the three of them exchanged glances, their expressions all screaming the same thing: *Are you f***ing kidding me?*

Xu Pinglin, perhaps anticipating this reaction, placed the newspapers he was holding onto the table and slid them in front of the family.

The patient and her husband looked at the newspapers on the table, then at Xu Pinglin, clearly puzzled by his actions.

"We are not trying to deceive you," Xu Pinglin explained. "Doctor Du is indeed a very renowned physician. Please, look at these newspapers. This entire section is about his successful cases."

The patient and her husband hesitantly picked up the newspapers, while their daughter remained focused on filming.

Xu Pinglin didn’t dare to stop her yet, fearing she might be live streaming. If I try to stop her, it might make things even more complicated. Better to wait and ask Du Heng’s opinion once the consultation begins.

The patient and her husband glanced at the newspapers, then at Du Heng, then back at the newspapers. They did this several times, their expressions gradually shifting from distrust to stunned disbelief.

Seeing that they had looked enough, Xu Pinglin began to recount Du Heng’s achievements.

Hearing Xu Pinglin’s words, the interns and doctors who had followed them in all showed expressions of astonishment.

Du Heng, however, remained completely unperturbed. Four months and over 4,000 cases—even if some of those figures were slightly inflated, the sheer volume was enough to make him as steadfast as Mount Tai.

"You two," Xu Pinglin continued, "these are Doctor Du’s treatment records from the past four months. I’m not afraid to admit it; this isn’t the first time our department has requested Doctor Du for a consultation. So, you can rest assured."

The husband and wife exchanged glances.

"Should we give it a try?" one asked.

"We might as well," the other replied. "It can’t get any worse."

Xu Pinglin finally breathed a sigh of relief. He felt an inexplicable confidence in Du Heng. This confidence wasn’t baseless; it stemmed from his own positive experience being treated by Du Heng for stomach distension, and from Du Heng’s impressive treatment record that he had recently investigated.

With the patient’s consent, Xu Pinglin looked at Du Heng. "Doctor Du, can we begin?"

"Anytime."

"And this filming?" Xu Pinglin gestured towards the phone. "Will it be an issue?"

Before Du Heng could speak, the girl filming cried out in alarm, "You made my mother’s condition worse! It went from simple gastritis to gastric cancer! I don’t trust any of you! And don’t try anything funny! I’m live streaming right now, and 30,000 people are watching!"

The girl had exaggerated her viewer count tenfold; in reality, just over 3,000 people were tuned into her live broadcast.

However, the title of her live broadcast was quite dramatic, and since she was streaming from the hospital, the number of viewers was rising quickly.