CHAPTER 54: 054 ECCENTRIC PERSONALITY

Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners love to cultivate the image of a Divine Doctor.

Whether a true genius or a fraud, they all claim the title of Divine Doctor.

Their purpose in doing so is simply to make it easier to deceive ordinary people who are none the wiser.

Such people must be exposed, their vile true faces revealed to all.

Xu Pinglin had made up his mind.

At this point, the leaders had finished speaking. Li Qingde extended his hand, inviting them upstairs to the conference room for a discussion.

"Hold on."

These two short, forceful words stopped everyone. All eyes turned to the stern-faced Xu Pinglin.

Li Qingde faltered for a moment but still asked with a smile, "Director Xu, is there something you wish to discuss? Perhaps we can talk in the conference room."

"No need." Xu Pinglin gave Li Qingde no face at all. "Let’s do it here. I..."

Before he could finish, a sudden voice interrupted Xu Pinglin.

A smiling middle-aged man approached from a distance, hand outstretched, calling, "Doctor Du, Doctor Du!"

Du Heng looked toward the voice and saw Li Qingde’s relative, the one who had suffered from facial paralysis. Behind him, a young man followed closely, holding a large, red silk banner aloft.

"Uncle, why are you here?" Du Heng quickly grasped the patient’s hands.

"I came especially to thank you. I should have come earlier, but you’ve been busy treating patients in the village, so I had to wait until today." He turned and called out, "Son, bring it over."

The young man approached with a smile. The bright red silk banner he held was embroidered with: "Skilled Hands, Benevolent Heart, Outstanding Medical Ethics."

"Uncle, you’re too kind. Why go to all this trouble?" Although he knew Li Qingde had arranged this, seeing the patient now looking completely normal filled Du Heng with a genuine sense of pride.

"No, no, not troublesome at all..."

Li Qingde seized the opportunity to introduce the patient to the leaders and other members of the evaluation group. "This patient suffered from facial nerve paralysis. Doctor Du employed traditional Chinese medicine methods, including acupuncture, fire cupping, massage, and Decoction medicine. The patient was essentially cured after five days of hospitalization. Over the following month, with continued massage and medication, the patient has made a full recovery with no lingering after-effects. Most importantly, the total cost of this treatment was only 528 yuan."

The leader was very pleased with this outcome.

Du Heng also knew how to handle such situations. After a brief chat, he pulled the patient over to introduce him to the leader. In such a situation, not giving the leader a chance to be seen and say a few words would show a serious lack of social grace.

After exchanging pleasantries and making inquiries, the leader, Li Qingde, Du Heng, and the patient stood together for a group photo.

This nearly made Zhang Jinlian explode with rage. She had worked for so many years and had never received a single silk banner, let alone a thank-you letter!

Her gaze, fixed on Du Heng in the crowd, grew even more ferocious.

Xu Pinglin was another one who wasn’t pleased.

He had, however, clearly heard the details of the patient’s case.

He simply felt that presenting a silk banner merely for treating facial paralysis was excessive.

The timing of this gesture, however, was rather telling.

So, when invited to join the photo, he decisively refused. He found it utterly demeaning!

Just as everyone was posing for the photo, a sudden cacophony of gongs and drums erupted at the hospital entrance.

The noise was considerable, and its suddenness startled everyone, making them jump.

The leader frowned. "Go and see what’s happening. Such a racket at the hospital entrance—what is the meaning of this?"

Wu Buwei reacted quickly, taking just two steps before stopping abruptly.

The gongs and drums were still outside; they hadn’t entered. But people were streaming in, quite a number of them, each carrying a bright red silk banner.

Wu Buwei watched in astonishment, then discreetly retreated back into the crowd.

"Doctor Du, we’ve come to thank you!"

Du Heng realized he didn’t recognize a single one of the people entering; he had no impression of them whatsoever.

Watching the crowd shouting and waving banners, Du Heng glanced guiltily at Li Qingde. Isn’t this going a bit too far?

Xu Pinglin actually let out a derisive laugh. This crowd had supposedly come to present Du Heng with silk banners, yet they didn’t even know who he was! Some were grabbing him, Xu Pinglin, while others grabbed Li Qingde. How utterly absurd!

He glared at Li Qingde and Du Heng. These people are the bad apples, blatantly resorting to such theatrics! They clearly have no regard for us evaluators!

Xu Pinglin forcefully shook off the person who was trying to thank him. In his eyes, this person was no different from Li Qingde and his ilk—all of them charlatans engaged in blatant deception.

"Enough!"

His thunderous shout silenced the chaotic hall.

Everyone, who had been busy trying to explain themselves, turned to look at Xu Pinglin in astonishment.

"This farce can end now! As for my evaluation score, you can have it now: zero!"

Li Qingde was dumbfounded. He couldn’t understand why Xu Pinglin had suddenly flown into a rage. "Director Xu, what’s wrong? Is there some misunderstanding?"

"Misunderstanding?" Xu Pinglin sneered, pointing to the dozen or so people holding silk banners. "Blatantly fabricating such a scene! Do you people have any medical ethics left? Hiring a crowd of actors to present banners—who do you think you’re performing for? Us? Do you take us for fools, unable to see through this charade?"

Then, Xu Pinglin pointed at Du Heng. "Young man, vanity will be your downfall! You’re a doctor! Your duty is to heal the sick and save lives, not to engage in these superficial theatrics! What are you trying to achieve by all this?"

Du Heng was also stunned. Why is he suddenly targeting me? I haven’t said a single word! "I..."

Xu Pinglin cut him off, pointing at him again as he continued, "You’re Du Heng, a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, correct? I recall an old adage in traditional Chinese medicine: ’Better for medicine to gather dust on the shelves than for the world to be afflicted by illness.’ But look at you! What have you become?

"At your young age, instead of focusing on your studies and doing good, you’re learning to play these superficial and meaningless games. Will these help you cure patients? Do you even have a Master? If you do, wouldn’t he be utterly incensed by your actions?"

Damn it! Did this old boy eat gunpowder or something? Du Heng thought. I haven’t done anything to provoke him. Why is he railing against me like a madman? He must be unhinged!

"Director Xu, are you certain there isn’t some misunderstanding?" Du Heng suppressed his rising anger, unwilling to cause a scene in public.

It would reflect poorly on him, on Li Qingde, on the Health Clinic, and on the visiting leaders.

At this juncture, the leader interjected, "Director Xu, please don’t be angry. Might there truly be a misunderstanding? Let’s adjourn to the conference room to discuss this clearly, shall we?"

"There is no misunderstanding." Xu Pinglin rejected the leader’s well-intentioned offer. Gazing at the growing crowd of onlookers outside, he declared loudly, "This Dean Li Qingde and this Doctor Du Heng have fabricated such false data and orchestrated this absurd spectacle! What are they trying to achieve? Today, right here, I will expose their duplicity to all these ordinary people!"

The Health Clinic was situated right by the main road, which always had a lot of foot traffic. It was also surrounded by residential buildings, and the clamor of gongs and drums had drawn residents out to see what the commotion was about. Furthermore, a primary school was located not far to the right of the Health Clinic. Many old men and old women, who had arrived early to pick up their grandchildren, had also gathered around to watch.

Watching the crowd swell, Xu Pinglin resolved to make a public spectacle of them, to teach them a harsh lesson they wouldn’t soon forget.

The Health Clinic staff were dumbfounded, as were the other members of the evaluation group who had accompanied Xu Pinglin.

He’s just here as a guest evaluator; what on earth is he trying to pull? they wondered. Even if he doesn’t care about anyone else’s dignity, is he going to embarrass the leader too?

Everyone was baffled. This man’s temperament is far too erratic. Or perhaps he’s just as stubborn as a donkey, prone to such sudden outbursts!