CHAPTER 343: 319 LAND LEASE HINDERED

Early the next morning, Du Heng and Du Yi woke up and began tidying up.

After eating breakfast made by their sister-in-law, Du Heng dropped Du Yi off at school before heading to work.

Du Heng was pleased with how Du Yi did during the assessment last night.

Turns out this little runny-nosed kid had a knack for memorizing things, as he had managed to memorize all the content Du Heng assigned. This gave Du Heng even more confidence in nurturing this child’s potential.

In a good mood, Du Heng arrived at his workplace, changed his clothes, and went straight to the second floor to check on the young man who had a nosebleed yesterday.

But when he arrived at the hospital room, he saw that the bed was empty.

He found Yu Haiting, who had just come out of the rest room, and asked, "Where’s the young man who had the nosebleed yesterday?"

Yu Haiting rubbed his eyes, seeming like he’d just woken up and his brain still hadn’t fully come online. He thought for a moment before answering, "He was transferred to another hospital in the middle of the night."

Du Heng didn’t quite understand what Yu Haiting meant. In his mind, that young man had no more problems, so why was he transferred to another hospital?

"What happened?"

"In the middle of the night, the young man started having trouble breathing and chest tightness. I suspect that when he swallowed blood from his nosebleed, some of it was aspirated into his lungs. I didn’t dare delay, so I called the emergency number of the Municipal First Hospital and had them take him."

Du Heng slapped his hand in frustration. "Doesn’t he know not to tilt his head back and slap his forehead when he has a nosebleed? Now look, a minor nosebleed has led to a blood clot in his lungs. If it can be cleared, that’s good, but if it can’t, the consequences will be severe."

Yu Haiting shared the same sentiment. "If a blood clot obstructs the airways in the lungs, and it’s small, it might be clearable. But if it’s large and can’t be cleared, they’ll probably have to perform a lung resection. That would ruin the young man’s life."

Deciding not to dwell on it, Du Heng headed downstairs to his office.

The emergency training from the Municipal First Hospital had to be done immediately. After it was completed here, he also needed to quickly organize the village doctors to start their studies. Such incidents, where small errors in handling minor issues led to severe consequences, could no longer be ignored. When he visited the villages in March, he’d encountered someone who cut their leg with a sickle and tried to stop the bleeding with dirt from the fields, which led to an infection and ultimately an amputation to save their life. There was also someone with diarrhea who drank water boiled with a charred clod of earth, resulting in a stomach perforation and hospital bills amounting to tens of thousands of yuan. These were situations that could have been resolved with just a few cents or a few yuan, yet they ended up incurring unbearable costs.

So, while heading downstairs, Du Heng asked Yu Haiting, "When is the Doctor from the Municipal First Hospital coming for the training?"

Yu Haiting, who followed him down, replied, "Today. It’s a female doctor named Deng Jia."

Deng Jia. The name seemed familiar to Du Heng. Then he recalled it—she was the doctor who had helped with the difficult labor last week. Heh, what a pleasant surprise to meet an acquaintance.

"Have you notified everyone about the training?"

"Already done. All the medical staff will participate, except for you and Secretary Lu."

"That’s good."

When they got downstairs, Yu Haiting left through the back door to wash up in the dormitory, while Du Heng went to the consultation room.

As soon as he entered, Wang Zhenzhen excitedly ran in. "Quick, Xiao Heng, help me check."

"Check what?" Du Heng smiled and sat down on a chair.

Wang Zhenzhen also sat down and rested her arm on the table’s pulse pillow. "Quick, help me check if I’m really pregnant."

"Didn’t you test it yourself?"

"I did, that’s why I’m here for you to confirm."

Du Heng chuckled. "You should get a B-ultrasound."

Despite his words, Du Heng still placed his hand on Wang Zhenzhen’s wrist.

"Congratulations, it’s a joyous pulse."

"Is it one or two?" Wang Zhenzhen asked nervously.

This question made Du Heng’s expression darken. "Sis, it’s already good that I can detect a joyous pulse. If I could tell how many you’re carrying, I’d be making more money than a B-ultrasound machine, and at least my pulse-taking has no radiation. Alright, go upstairs and find Xiao Liu, or call Dr. Huo up and have her check with a B-ultrasound."

"Alright."

Wang Zhenzhen didn’t take Du Heng’s words to heart and happily went out to find Huo Yinhua.

However, after Wang Zhenzhen left, Du Heng couldn’t feel happy.

With Wang Zhenzhen pregnant, the issue of financial standardization became immediately pressing. This couldn’t be delayed; he needed to urge Lu Zhongjiang to speed up the process. But all of this would have to wait until Lu Zhongjiang returned. For now, Du Heng had another important matter to attend to: asking Dong Yuezhang for the land next door. But it was still early in the morning, and Dong Yuezhang was likely busy. Du Heng decided to work on his own tasks first.

「Around ten o’clock」

Deng Jia, assigned by the Municipal First Hospital to provide training, arrived.

Although Du Heng was already acquainted with her, the necessary procedures still had to be followed.

First, there was a welcome meeting, then a discussion about the purpose and importance of this training. By the time these matters were settled, the morning was over.

In the past, Du Heng himself hadn’t been a fan of these superficial formalities, but once he actually took this position, he realized they were necessary. For example, if he didn’t hold a welcome meeting, Deng Jia might feel unvalued, and the training content could become perfunctory. At the same time, the Municipal First Hospital might feel slighted. The next time such a situation arose, they would either ignore him or just send someone to go through the motions. However, if he did hold the meeting, it served no real practical purpose, and everyone might think he was wasting time.

During the afternoon training, Du Heng listened briefly. Deng Jia seemed quite dedicated, and the topics were practical. He then took the materials he had prepared in the morning and went next door to find Dong Yuezhang.

"Mayor Dong, this is our Health Clinic’s development plan. Please take a look." In the Town Mayor’s office, Du Heng maintained a professional demeanor. He had thoroughly prepared all the necessary procedures and documents, not cutting corners just because of their personal relationship.

Dong Yuezhang also adopted a professional attitude, carefully examining the materials Du Heng handed him.

"Du, after what you said yesterday, I inquired about the general situation this morning. My thought is that you can rent the old courtyard of the Agricultural Technology Station. However, concerning the use of this land, others in the town have different opinions."

Dong Yuezhang put down the materials, stood up, and strolled around the office. "You should be aware of the situation with this courtyard; quite a few people are involved. Some are being very cautious now, afraid of any unexpected trouble, adopting an attitude of ’the less trouble, the better.’ A few others want to give this courtyard to a certain factory in the valley for their use."

Hearing this, Du Heng’s heart skipped a beat. If a factory wanted to rent it, he definitely couldn’t compete with their rental offer.

Before he could finish processing this, Dong Yuezhang continued, "However, I’m more inclined to let your Health Clinic use it. Of course, this isn’t because of our relationship, but out of consideration for Central Lake’s development."

Development or not, that’s not my concern, nor can I worry about it. I just want this land, Du Heng thought, then asked, "So what do we do now?"

"Leave the materials here, and go back and wait for my news. I’ll have another meeting to discuss it with everyone," Dong Yuezhang replied.

Du Heng was taken aback. What did this mean? Was Dong Yuezhang dismissing him after just a few words?

"Dong, that’s enough, alright? Are you really going to give me the official runaround?"

"What are you talking about? I genuinely need to discuss it with the others. Besides, even if I wanted to rent it to you, how would we calculate the rent? What do you think is appropriate?"

"One thousand yuan a year, lease for at least ten years."

"Du Heng, have you no shame? How can you even say that? One thousand yuan a year? Believe it or not, if I signed that with you, we’d both be taken away for investigation immediately after."

Du Heng was unfazed. "Investigate then. It’s not like I gave you any money."

Dong Yuezhang was truly exasperated with Du Heng. A person like him would never attend any high-profile banquets in this lifetime. The best he could achieve was being the Dean of a Health Clinic. He’s at his peak now, and this is as far as he’ll go.

Seeing Dong Yuezhang remain silent, Du Heng knew he had gone too far with his joke. "So, how much do you think?"

"My initial thought is two options. First, you can use that land for free."

"Really?" Du Heng was ecstatic, nearly jumping up.

"Hold your horses, will you? Let me finish. You can use it for free, but then the monthly funds the Township Government allocates to you would be cut."

"No, that won’t work," Du Heng rejected immediately.

The monthly funds allocated by the Township Government to the Health Clinic weren’t much, around fifteen thousand yuan. This amount covered utilities and part of the salaries for externally hired employees. Annually, this amounted to 130,000 yuan. For the courtyard of the Agricultural Technology Station, his and Lu Zhongjiang’s target price was 60,000 yuan per year. Such a low price for a courtyard and a brick building was mainly because Central Lake was so remote; property here wasn’t worth much. Even though Dong Yuezhang had just mentioned that factories were willing to rent it, Du Heng was sure the rent wouldn’t be much higher. The factories in Central Lake were either aluminum processing or beer bottle washing; renting this courtyard wasn’t really necessary for them. They couldn’t possibly set up aluminum processing right next to the Health Clinic, could they? If he couldn’t manage that, it would be his own incompetence. So, renting the land for 60,000 yuan a year was already a high price.

Dong Yuezhang said nonchalantly, "See, you don’t agree either. So, I need to discuss with the others whether to rent it to you and at what reasonable price."

"Then please discuss it quickly and give me an answer as soon as possible." Du Heng stood up, preparing to leave.

Dong Yuezhang stopped him. "Don’t be in such a hurry to leave. I have something to ask you."

"What is it?" Du Heng paused, looking at Dong Yuezhang.

"You were born and raised in Central Lake. I want to ask you, for Central Lake to develop, what direction do you think would be best?"

Du Heng spread his hands. "I don’t know."

"You don’t know?"

"That’s right. If I knew, I’d be sitting in your seat right now."

With that said, Du Heng waved his hand and walked away.