CHAPTER 348: 324 REACH UP

Dong Yuezhang smiled easily. "Don’t worry, we won’t make you do anything difficult. After you rent the courtyard over there, you must maintain everything in it and not let it become as deserted as before. Also, when your three-year lease is up, you can take your own equipment, but you mustn’t damage anything else, like doors and windows."

Du Heng blinked. "That’s all?"

"That’s all."

"Then I’ll sign."

Du Heng knew that Dong Yuezhang must have gone to great lengths for this, but given their relationship and current positions, some things were best discussed between brothers in a small private room, door closed—not in this office.

After calling Wang Zhenzhen to bring the official seal, Du Heng and Dong Yuezhang completed the contract with utmost speed.

This land lease contract allowed many of Du Heng’s ideas to move into a rapid implementation stage.

Lu Zhongjiang, who was out recruiting and discussing matters, rushed back the moment he received Du Heng’s message.

Taking the contract Du Heng had placed on the desk, he was so excited he felt he might explode. Moreover, he was even more agitated than Dean Du Heng.

"Dean, is this courtyard really being given to us for free?"

"Of course, it’s written in black and white."

"Great! We can finally go all out."

Unexpectedly, Du Heng poured cold water on his enthusiasm. "What wonderful idea are you dreaming up? How would we do it? Where will the money come from? The tens of thousands of yuan we’ve saved in the last two months are hardly enough to make a dent."

Du Heng’s excitement had passed. While waiting for Lu Zhongjiang, he had carefully considered how to rationally use the red-brick building next door. After much thought, he realized that without money, everything was just a mirage.

To give the simplest example, it had been seven or eight years since the Agricultural Technology Station had moved out completely. In the following years, apart from a few rooms used as warehouses, the rest was utterly deserted.

Moreover, ever since the decline of the Agricultural Technology Station, both the building and its rooms had been unmanaged and unmaintained. The complete abandonment over the subsequent years had only worsened the situation.

Missing doors, broken window glass, and dislodged window frames were minor issues. The main problems were the cement floors inside cracking and warping, and the wall plaster peeling off, all of which would require a thorough renovation.

Based on the half-baked skills Du Heng had learned from his elder brother during his studies, he estimated that even if only marsdenia powder and cement were used, it would cost at least 100,000 yuan to get these red-brick buildings usable.

If he factored in acquiring other equipment and the salaries for new staff, he would need at least three hundred thousand yuan.

Of course, there was a way to spend less money, or even no money at all: let the contractors handle both labor and materials, and then either repay slowly or not at all. Several local workplaces had done this, so there were precedents. However, Du Heng, being rather soft-hearted, felt this approach wasn’t principled.

Now, he threw the problem to Lu Zhongjiang, hoping this Old Predecessor might have a good solution.

Lu Zhongjiang quickly sobered from his excitement; he had long considered Du Heng’s question.

Between the two of them, Du Heng focused more on front-line operations, while Lu Zhongjiang concerned himself more with administration and logistics.

"Dean, this problem isn’t difficult."

Lu Zhongjiang looked confident. "I told you last time, Director An promised to pay us a certain amount of rent. But now that there’s no rent, we can ask Director An to convert this portion of the rent into another form of subsidy for us."

"Is this feasible? Will the other leaders in the Bureau agree?"

Lu Zhongjiang smiled with certainty. "Absolutely no problem. The Bureau supports the upgrading of community clinics and health clinics under its jurisdiction. Moreover, I heard that the Bureau will allocate special funds specifically to support the development of these units."

Leaning forward a bit, he continued, "According to unreliable sources, two units are currently on the support list. One is Fanjiaping Health Center. Because of demolitions in those two areas, the population has become very concentrated, so they plan to merge with the High-tech Zone Health Center to form a comprehensive service station. The other one is Zhonghu Health Center, to be upgraded to a second-level hospital."

Du Heng was a bit dazed; this was the first time he had heard about this.

Fanjiaping Health Center, with Li Qingde as its Dean, was already quite large, and the High-tech Zone Health Center nearby was a well-funded unit.

If the two merged into a comprehensive service station, their facilities would easily reach second-level standards, which would be a stark contrast to Zhonghu Health Center’s barely progressing standing.

With arrangements from the higher-ups, resources were unlikely to be evenly distributed. So, what competitive edge did Zhonghu Health Center have?

Du Heng felt that it would have been better not to know this news, as knowing it made him even more uneasy.

"Sigh, it would have been better if you hadn’t told me this news. Zhonghu Health Center has no comparability with them; we can’t compete." After mulling it over, Du Heng said, a little deflated.

Lu Zhongjiang shook his head. "I don’t think so." He then sat down opposite Du Heng.

"First of all, in terms of hardware, staff numbers, and authorized job numbers, we indeed can’t compare to the two of them combined; we might not even match a single one. However, we are a technical unit. The ability to diagnose and treat patients is our most solid strength. In this regard, even if they join forces, they are no match for us. You, Du Heng, can single-handedly outperform all their doctors. Treating a headache or a cold—who can’t do that? Patients can often manage it themselves. And that’s the sort of thing they do. But we are different. We have our own specialties; we can treat diseases that others cannot. This is our greatest advantage. We can find ways to catch up on hardware advantages eventually. But developing our own treatment specialties isn’t something that can be achieved just by casually thinking up a few solutions."

Lu Zhongjiang’s words gave Du Heng a bit of confidence.

But none of that was the most important thing right now. The urgent matter was the present problem: how to renovate the red-brick building and where to get the money.

Regarding this issue, Lu Zhongjiang already had a plan. "I don’t recommend using our money."

Du Heng was taken aback.

"We can first apply for a loan from the Savings Bank next door. I believe that with your connections, Dean, borrowing 100,000 or 80,000 yuan shouldn’t be a problem. With this money, we can start the work. Then, we can apply for funds from Director An and the Bureau, as well as from the district. Considering our current development momentum, they’re bound to give us a little something, so there’s no need to worry about settling the final payments."

Du Heng scratched his eyebrow. "So, what about the loan?"

"Take it out under the name of the Zhonghu Health Center, and pay it back slowly."

So, he wasn’t expecting me to take out the loan in my personal name? Du Heng thought wryly.

Du Heng pursed his lips. Since Lu Zhongjiang had thought it all out, he might as well let him propose a plan for everyone to execute.

Once again, Du Heng handed the matter over to Lu Zhongjiang and then strolled towards the front of the building, intending to check on the afternoon’s training.

As he was about to go upstairs in the Hall, he heard voices from Yu Haiting’s office and turned to enter Yu Haiting’s consultation room.

Inside the consultation room sat an older man and a young man, with Yu Haiting opposite them, his face etched with worry.

As soon as Yu Haiting stood up, he saw Du Heng at the door. "Dean, I was just about to look for you."

"What’s the matter?"

Du Heng responded while slowly walking into the consultation room.

In the consultation room were an older man and a young man. The elderly man, in fact, wasn’t very old, perhaps in his fifties. He was called ’elderly’ mainly in comparison to the young man beside him.

Hearing that the Dean had arrived, both stood up. The older man even pulled the young man up with him, then looked at Du Heng with a troubled expression.

When Du Heng turned his gaze to the young man, he felt a sense of familiarity.

But he couldn’t remember where he had seen him before.

This was the downside of being a doctor; you met so many people that everyone looked familiar, yet you often couldn’t recall exactly who they were right away.

Fortunately, at this moment, Yu Haiting spoke up. "Dean, this is the young man who had a nosebleed the other afternoon."

With that one sentence, Du Heng immediately remembered who he was.

It was this young man who had inspired him to organize emergency care training for the village doctors.

"Oh, are you all right now? Has the blood clot in your lungs been cleared?"

"No."

Du Heng looked at the young man. "Why did you leave before it was cleared? You should be in the hospital receiving treatment. Do you know how dangerous your current situation is? If the clot blocks your airway, you’ll be at risk of suffocation. Also, the clot must be removed as soon as possible; if it stays in the lungs for too long, it can cause tissue necrosis."

At this, the man standing beside the young man spoke. "Dean, I am his father. Please, save my child."

Du Heng was a bit confused for a moment, not quite grasping the situation.

Yu Haiting quickly explained, "The patient was sent to the Municipal First Hospital the night before last. Their check-up revealed that a considerable amount of blood had been inhaled, forming clots. These clots were extensive, and the hospital couldn’t clear them; furthermore, they had already caused a blockage. In this situation, a lung resection surgery was deemed necessary. However, to be cautious, the Municipal First Hospital also invited experts from the First Affiliated Hospital of JZU and the Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, but they also proposed surgery as the solution."

What they had been most worried about had ultimately happened.

This was exactly what Du Heng and Yu Haiting had feared when the young man was transferred.

A mere nosebleed ultimately requiring a lung resection to save his life—it was truly hard to accept.

Moreover, this young man was so young; after such a surgery, a high-quality life would be largely out of reach for him.

Du Heng frowned. "In this situation, he should be staying in the hospital. How could he dare to leave?"

"The patient and his family don’t want to have the surgery," Yu Haiting said softly.