Chapter 70: Patient Group!
Yuan Haiou and Yuan Haizhong are two brothers, both butchers in Ci Yantang Town. Business is not good these days, so they usually butcher a pig together and then sell it separately by going door-to-door in the villages.
Yuan Haiou is the younger brother. After his sister-in-law finally arrived at People’s Hospital and reached his bedside, Yuan Haiou said, “Brother, your surgery is over, so I’m relieved.”
“I’ll handle the pig at home too, and we’ll split the money from the sale fifty-fifty.”
“If I hadn’t been careless and dropped my knife, you wouldn’t have been worried about losing my foot.”
“We’ll continue with business as usual in the coming days. What do you think?” Yuan Haiou asked.
Yuan Haizhong looked up and said, “You butchered it yourself, so the profits and losses are yours alone. Why would you split it with me?”
Yuan Haizhong’s wife also said, “Haiou, you two brothers have been doing this for so many years. This injury was an accident, not intentional. You don’t need to be so polite.”
Yuan Haiou said, “Sister-in-law, Brother, we both do physical labor. This job won’t starve us, but it won’t make us rich either.”
“Accidents happen. Please don’t be so polite with me. It’s settled then. I don’t have a lot of money, but I’ll cover half of today’s surgery fee, and I’ll also give you half of the income from selling the pig.”
“Brothers should be clear about finances. Actually, if you think about it, I’m the one who should be compensated for this injury.”
“Sister-in-law, you’re also losing wages by accompanying my brother. I won’t calculate that too precisely; if I did, it would be quite complicated.” Yuan Haiou’s voice was honest and straightforward. After speaking, he didn’t dwell on it and turned to leave.
His older brother needed care, but with his family not being wealthy, he still had to keep his business going, both to make up for losses and for their livelihood.
Ordinary people aren’t that fussy. He believed his older brother wouldn’t need his constant company and that earning more would be more practical.
After Yuan Haiou left, Yuan Haizhong spoke a few more words with his wife, but they were all about the good relationship between the brothers.
The patient in bed 5 said, “Old brother, why did you think of coming to People’s Hospital to find Doctor Lu right away?”
“I heard from the elder sister in bed 4 that Doctor Lu works on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, and on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Mondays, the Orthopedics department at People’s Hospital is responsible for tendon ruptures. Some patients’ prognoses are not as good as with surgeries performed by Doctor Lu.”
Yuan Haizhong said, “My brother-in-law is a doctor in the Emergency Department at the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital. He told us and specifically instructed us to only see Doctor Lu.”
“He didn’t even tell us to register. We only registered after finding Doctor Lu. If we had encountered any other doctor, we would have ignored them.”
Yuan Haizhong raised his eyebrows and lowered his voice, “My brother-in-law said that Doctor Lu’s technique is excellent, even better than the directors at Zhou People’s Hospital.”
“It’s just that Doctor Lu himself doesn’t admit it!”
“Younger brother, how did you get injured?” Yuan Haizhong asked.
The patient in bed 5 was a thirty-year-old youth with dark skin. He gestured with his right hand, “Me? I’m a carpenter. *Chop!*~”
“I came straight here. Fortunately, it was treated quickly; otherwise, my hand would have been gone. Luckily, Doctor Lu said it only injured the tendon. If it had been 5 millimeters deeper, it would have been over.”
“Oh, right, old brother. We have a patient group chat for patients who have had tendon rupture suturing surgery. Many people in there post their postoperative recovery reports. Doctor Lu is also in the group and often provides rehabilitation guidance. You should join too,” the youth said enthusiastically.
“There’s a group? Great!” Yuan Haizhong nodded.
The youth said, “By the way, old brother, remember one thing: don’t discuss surgery costs in the group, because there are many people in the group who had surgery at other hospitals.”
“For example, at Zhou People’s Hospital and En City Central Hospital in E Province, their costs are higher than ours by this much.” The youth made a “ye” gesture.
“How could it be so much more? I already paid over two thousand, and we don’t have reimbursement for emergency cases like ours.” Yuan Haizhong’s expression was shocked.
“Yes, over two thousand is certainly not a small amount, but surgery fees in the prefecture are more expensive than in our county, and consumables are also more expensive. As for surgery quality, I can only say it’s passable.”
“Some people even had second surgeries.”
“But with Doctor Lu, the number of people needing second surgeries is very, very small. There’s only one, and that was because they didn’t follow instructions after surgery, and the tendon ruptured again…”
The youth smiled and said, “But you can’t entirely blame him. He was worried about his daughter carrying water, lifted something, and it snapped.”
“He was discharged just a few days ago.”
“Doctor Lu is truly a good doctor. He’s also very meticulous. After your surgery, you can often hear him mumbling things to you. Just don’t get annoyed.”
Yuan Haizhong said, “If I were to get annoyed by a doctor, I’d be incredibly ignorant. I’m terrified myself after getting injured; I wish he’d come by more often.”
As Yuan Haizhong spoke, he noticed the patient in bed 2 hadn’t said anything and asked, “Young lady, where did you get injured?”
“Me? Gallstones. I went to General Surgery to register, and they said they were going to remove my gallbladder. I refused, and then they told me that Doctor Lu and Professor Chen in the Emergency Department perform Gallbladder Preservation Surgery.”
The patient in bed 2 was a young girl in her early twenties. As she spoke, her pretty face blushed involuntarily, “I later learned that Gallbladder Preservation Surgery is very difficult, and they don’t even do it at Zhou People’s Hospital.”
“It’s a technique brought from Xiangya Second Hospital. Many patients like me either endure the pain until they can’t stand it and have it removed, or they go to Shashi…”
“I study in Shashi, but I suddenly had a severe pain during the summer break. The cost would have been too high to travel there again. My parents would have had to go with me too.”
The girl said this before looking at the older brother in bed 5, “Brother Zhuo, Doctor Lu is not a gossip. He’s very aloof.”
“Sister Juan before, wanted to treat Doctor Lu to a meal, but never managed to ask him out.”
The person called Brother Zhuo was taken aback, then immediately turned into a gossipy expression, “Xiao Xian, are you implying that Zhu Juan has feelings for Doctor Lu?”
“I know she sent him flowers. Weren’t they orchids?”
The person called Xiao Xian quickly shook her head, “That’s not it at all. Sister Juan did a lot more Background Checks on Doctor Lu than we did.”
“If she hadn’t failed to get Doctor Lu out, she definitely wouldn’t have told me.”
“Doctor Lu is tall and handsome, which is obvious. He’s also a top student. He studied for his bachelor’s degree at Hanshi University.”
“He has great talent, but I heard he’s too diligent. He always prefers to practice his skills rather than accept dates from beautiful women.”
The youth said with some regret, “But I can understand. Doctor Lu spends a lot of his time practicing medicine, which is why his skills are so good.”
“It’s just a pity, Xiao Xian, that you’re too young.” The youth chuckled.
Chi Xiaoxian shook her head, still quite innocent, her expression natural, “I’m only twenty-one and haven’t even graduated from university yet. I don’t plan on dating.”
Next door, Yuan Haizhong sighed, “Young lady, you are too young, so you don’t know Doctor Lu’s charm yet.”
“But you’re still young, and the future is long… Doctor Lu’s skills are excellent, so he definitely earns more, but he deserves to earn more…”
Butchering a whole pig himself, the most he could make selling it all was only six or seven hundred yuan. Moreover, it often didn’t sell out, and he had to cure it into dried meat before selling it…
