CHAPTER 338: 314 SEE THE SILK BANNER AGAIN

He wanted to feel reenergized, but before he could put his plan into action, Wang Zhenzhen informed him that the Township Government was holding a meeting.

Feeling discouraged, Du Heng had wanted to combine his recent treatment experiences with his last special report, make some minor adjustments, and see if it could be published. But it seemed that this would have to be postponed again.

Arriving in the meeting room of the Township Government, Du Heng looked around and saw Gong Daoyang. He slowly strolled over and sat down beside him.

"Gong, do you know what kind of meeting we’re having today?" Du Heng asked as he sat down. He scanned the room again; apart from him and Gong Daoyang, everyone else was staff from the Township Government.

Gong Daoyang fiddled with his phone and said nonchalantly, "What have you been up to these past few days? How come you don’t know about this important news?"

Gong Daoyang’s words piqued Du Heng’s curiosity, and he suddenly wanted to know what this important news was. "I’ve been at the Criminal Police Team these past few days and didn’t hear about any news. Gong, please tell me, what is it?"

However, Du Heng’s words also aroused Gong Daoyang’s curiosity. He put away his phone, looked at Du Heng, and asked, "What were you doing at the Criminal Police Team? Were you arrested?"

Du Heng looked at Gong Daoyang speechlessly. "Gong, can you wish me a little better? If I’d been arrested by the criminal police, do you think I could be sitting here chatting with you now?"

"You have a point. But first, tell me what you were doing there."

"What else could I be doing? Treating patients, of course. Anyway, let’s not talk about that. Tell me the important news first." Du Heng was still eager to hear what Gong Daoyang had to say.

"The new Town Mayor is taking office today."

Du Heng was startled.

Since May, Du Heng had sensed that Zhang might not hold his position for long and was headed for trouble. But he hadn’t expected it would take until July for this matter to be settled. "So, where did Zhang go?"

Gong Daoyang chuckled. "He went back to farming."

Farming? Du Heng was suddenly enlightened.

Considering the issues with the dilapidated housing renovation and the toilet upgrades, being allowed to simply return to farming was probably the best possible outcome for him.

Gong Daoyang suddenly leaned closer to Du Heng. "I heard the new Town Mayor is very young, about your age."

Du Heng glanced at the head table at the front of the room; it was bare, so he couldn’t even see a name plaque.

However, since Gong Daoyang had mentioned it, he probably had some inside information. Du Heng wanted to ask.

But before he could open his mouth, all the Township Government staff headed out to the courtyard.

Gong Daoyang stood up and straightened his clothes. "Let’s go, brother."

Du Heng was a bit confused, following Gong Daoyang cluelessly. "What are we doing?"

"Welcoming the leader, of course."

Du Heng had no experience with this, so he could only follow Gong Daoyang, watch what he did, and copy him, just trying not to give anyone a reason to criticize him.

Once outside, due to their positions, Du Heng and Gong Daoyang stood at the very front. While Du Heng was still observing Gong Daoyang’s actions, a small sedan drove into the courtyard.

Then, a middle-aged man and a young man stepped out of the car.

Du Heng had intended to join everyone in applauding to welcome them, but when he saw the young man who got out, his jaw dropped.

This young man was none other than his classmate, roommate, and brother: Dong Yuezhang.

This was completely unexpected.

Back in May, he’d heard Dong was arranging a transfer, but Dong wouldn’t say where he was going.

He never imagined it would be to Central Lake, and to such a high position—second-in-command, no less!

As soon as Dong Yuezhang got out of the car, he spotted Du Heng standing at the front of the crowd. He smiled and glanced at him, then quickly turned to follow the middle-aged man ahead.

For the rest of the time, Du Heng was in a daze. He followed the crowd to attend the welcome ceremony and then returned to the Health Clinic, still trying to process everything.

However, this state didn’t last long. When Lu Zhongjiang, the "meeting specialist," returned, Du Heng was promptly pulled aside by him.

"Dean, I chatted with Director An this morning. Last week, we discussed the plan for the prioritized development of the Chinese Medicine Department, and Director An is very supportive. He also reminded us to get the basic departments established as soon as possible."

Lu Zhongjiang began discussing work with Du Heng while busily pouring himself some water.

Du Heng was somewhat troubled, pacing back and forth in Lu Zhongjiang’s office. "That’s easier said than done. It’s not that simple to establish departments."

He paused before continuing, "To establish departments, we need office space. Take vaccinations, for example. According to regulations, we need at least four separate rooms: a registration room, a vaccination room, an observation room, and a vaccine storage room. If we also add a maternity room, a nursing room, and a separate finance office for Wang Zhenzhen’s duties, we’d have to vacate all the wards in our two-story building.

"But if we do that, where will we find beds to admit patients? Without patients, there’s no income. So what’s the point of creating so many departments? Just for show?"

Lu Zhongjiang, holding his teacup, sat down on the sofa and motioned for Du Heng to calm down. "I’ve reported all these difficulties to Director An. I even mentioned that our administrative offices, as well as the logistics office, have all been moved to the old building in the backyard. But we still face a shortage of office space. Director An and the other leaders are aware of these problems, and they understand.

"The Bureau is now asking us to speed up the construction of the departments. It’s not a random suggestion; they’ve also shown us a clear path."

Du Heng stopped pacing. "What clear path?"

"The Agricultural Technology Station."

Hearing this name, Du Heng immediately rejected it. "Impossible."

Fifteen years ago, the Agricultural Technology Station had been an independent entity in the township, and it had been quite prosperous.

However, with the advance of urbanization in Jinzhou and the rural land becoming increasingly barren and unprofitable, a large number of people migrated to the city for work. As a result, the Agricultural Technology Station gradually fell into decline.

At first, it was just a reduction in staff; later, only a gatekeeper remained. Now, even the gatekeeper was gone, and the entire yard was left derelict.

This Agricultural Technology Station wasn’t far, just next to the Health Clinic. If its red brick wall were removed, a small courtyard would be visible, only about half the size of the current Health Clinic.

But the crucial thing was that in the yard of this Agricultural Technology Station, there were two three-story red brick buildings.

Though old, their quality was definitely sound.

The reason they had this "legacy" was because this Agricultural Technology Station had been converted from the old Township Government building.

The current Township Government compound was built later.

So, this piece of land and the buildings on it belonged to the Township Government; it was impossible for the Health Clinic to acquire it.

Hearing Du Heng’s decisive reply, Lu Zhongjiang just smiled.

He had been in Central Lake for two months. Ever since he’d considered upgrading the Health Clinic, he had been eyeing the property next door. Of course, he was also very clear about the ownership of those three small buildings.

Previously, he had thought the same as Du Heng and understood that this land couldn’t possibly be allocated to the Health Clinic.

But now, he felt it might be possible.

"Director An said we don’t need it transferred to us directly; we can rent it from the Township. And if it works out, Director An promised the Bureau would cover one-third of the expenses."

"Rent?" Du Heng’s eyes lit up.

Lu Zhongjiang nodded affirmatively. "Yes, rent. After renting it, we’ll keep only the outpatient and inpatient departments here. All the other departments will be moved to those three small buildings."

It was indeed a good idea.

However, Du Heng thought for a moment and said, "But what about later? Will we just keep renting it indefinitely?"

"Director An’s idea is to use this place as a transition for a year or two. During this time, we’ll focus on rapid development, save some money, get some funding allocated from higher-ups, and then demolish and rebuild the two rows of single-story buildings in our backyard.

"With such a buffer period, we can quickly meet the upgrade requirements and also accelerate our own development. Then we won’t be constrained by others anymore."

Du Heng fell silent for a moment.

This matter had been difficult to handle before. But now that Dong Yuezhang was the second-in-command at the Township Government next door, it seemed like this could actually work.

But approaching Dong Yuezhang now would be a bit inappropriate. He had just taken office and had more important things to do than this.

"I’ll think about it. It should be doable," Du Heng said, preparing to head to the outpatient service. "If there’s nothing else for you, Secretary, then I’ll get back to work."

As Du Heng was about to leave, Lu Zhongjiang stood up and said, "Dean, I see you have many silk banners in your cabinet. Why don’t you hang them up? If you hang them in our Outpatient Hall, patients coming and going will see them, and it would inspire more trust, wouldn’t it? Besides, this is an honor for you and for our Health Clinic."

At the mention of the silk banners in the cabinet, Du Heng recalled the group of people who had presented them, only to then swarm Li Qingde demanding money.

Even after three or four months, Du Heng still felt that these silk banners were not compliments to him, but mockery.

He couldn’t bear to hang them up; even seeing them made him uncomfortable.

Throwing them away wasn’t an option either.

What if some gossipmonger spread the word that he’d thrown away or burned the silk banners from patients? It could cause trouble.

So, there was no other choice; these things had to be stuffed into the cabinet, out of sight.

At this moment, Du Heng could only pretend not to hear Lu Zhongjiang’s words and quickly walked towards the consultation room.

But it just so happened that...

Du Heng was still feeling vexed about the silk banners when he entered the Outpatient Hall from the back door and saw two large, red objects right in front of him.

A sheet of red paper and a silk banner.

The people who had come were very familiar to Du Heng: Li Qiuhua from Shang Ling Village, and her two sons.

Now, each son held one item, while Li Qiuhua stood in the hall. Seeing Du Heng enter from the back door, WHOOSH, the three of them quickly surrounded him.

"Doctor Du, we’ve come to show our gratitude!" Li Qiuhua’s eldest son shouted loudly.

His voice was so loud it startled Du Heng, who was caught off guard. Looking at the three people who had gathered around him, Du Heng quickly reached out to take Li Qiuhua’s hand.

Grasping Du Heng’s hand, Li Qiuhua became emotional, her hands tightly gripping his as she began to wipe tears from her eyes.

"What are you all doing? There’s no need for this."

"Doctor Du, our family is poor, and we don’t have anything valuable to give you. We asked the doctors at the Municipal First Hospital today, and they said sending a silk banner was the best way. So my brother and I had someone make one and write a thank you letter. We hope you will accept it."

"You went to the Municipal First Hospital again today?"

"Yes, we went for a follow-up checkup this morning. The doctor said my mom’s recovery is very good. Apart from the issue with her lungs, she’s like a normal person now. In the future, she just needs to avoid catching a cold and overexerting herself."