Chapter 305: The Useless Old Attending Physician (Bonus chapter for Alliance Leader Blowfly)

Zhao Zhe hurried back to Yuanliao City in high spirits.

"Lao Zhao, why are you back? Didn't you go for advanced training? Did they not want you and kick you back?"

A young Doctor saw Zhao Zhe return and asked with a mix of surprise and mockery.

"Heh." Zhao Zhe's back was straighter than usual, but he didn't explain, just let out a chuckle.

His messy hair seemed to glow, and he looked as if he had become ten years younger.

"Huh?" The young Doctor noticed something was different and teased, "Going to the Provincial Hospital for training really makes a difference. Tell me, Lao Zhao, how old are you now? You should hurry up and find a partner to get married; that's the serious business."

"No rush, no rush," Zhao Zhe said. "Where is the Zhuren?"

"In the office," the young Doctor said playfully. "Lao Zhao, the Zhuren wasn't very happy about your training. Don't go looking for trouble. I told you not to go; the department is short-staffed and there are few people doing the work. You, just wait and see how many obstacles the Zhuren puts in your way after you get back."

"Busy, busy," Zhao Zhe habitually bowed, showing extreme respect even to a junior Doctor, and turned to find the Zhuren.

"Lao Zhao seems off somehow. Could he have found a wife in the Provincial Hospital?" the young Doctor said to the person beside him.

"Pfft, he's the only one in the department who can stir up trouble, daydreaming every day," another person said with disdain. "Doing research, obsessing over New Surgical Technique, he's even gotten three Practicing Certificates. A guy like him is definitely going to end up with nothing."

"We're just ordinary people. When we were kids, we thought we were the best and had to do something earth-shattering. But that's a dream. I woke up in my twenties, but Lao Zhao is over forty and still dreaming, tsk."

"Exactly. A girl from the Provincial Hospital, who would fancy him? When they talk about 'older men,' they mean someone successful and steady. Look at Lao Zhao; other than his age, he doesn't match the description at all."

Zhao Zhe stood at the door of the Zhuren's office and straightened his hair to look more energetic.

Joy puts a spring in one's step; Zhao Zhe had long stopped dreaming, but a person always needs some hope, right? Just like how he had followed up on patients for over ten years—it was all for the sake of a hope.

He never expected that even a salted fish could flip over.

"Knock, knock, knock~"

"Come in."

Zhao Zhe pushed the door open and entered, his straight back bending once again.

"Zhuren."

"Oh? Zhao Zhe, why are you back? Didn't you insist on going to the Second Affiliated Hospital for training? Whose thigh did you latch onto over there? Liu Zhuren, is it?"

Zhao Zhe's Zhuren said with a look of disdain.

"Zhuren, I came back because..."

"You, you're something else. You know how busy things are at home. You're over forty; you should just work hard for a few years, earn some money, and retire. You have to go around causing trouble, training, and what not—why don't you just fly to the sky?"

Zhao Zhe's habit of being a chatterbox never manifested in front of his superiors because every time it did, it would be shoved right back down his throat.

He held a piece of A4 paper in his hand, wanting to hand it over with both hands.

"What are you back for this time? Who introduced you to another partner?" The Zhuren glanced at Zhao Zhe. "Zhao Zhe, it's not that I want to lecture you, but we're a small place, the housing isn't worth much, and for so many years you've been unreliable, daydreaming every day. That's enough; look at what kind of material you are."

"Zhuren, Zhuren, it's not that."

"What's not? Is it my fault or yours?" The Zhuren squinted at Zhao Zhe and asked with a curled lip.

"Mine, mine, it is my fault," Zhao Zhe said hurriedly.

"Speak, why did you come back to find me?" the Zhuren asked.

"I am applying to transfer out of the Central Hospital." Zhao Zhe bowed his back and handed the A4 paper to the Zhuren with both hands.

"What?!" The Muniu Waike Zhuren was stunned. He looked at Zhao Zhe in surprise. "Transfer? Where are you going?"

"The Second Affiliated Hospital," Zhao Zhe said, suppressing his joy, his eyes lowered and his manner submissive.

If he were in his twenties, Zhao Zhe might have arrogantly told the Zhuren—I'm going to be a doctor at a superior hospital, do you know that!

But he was already forty. Zhao Zhe knew very well that transferring jobs was difficult; anyone who didn't like him could easily trip him up, and that would be enough to make him suffer.

Thinking of transferring smoothly was just a daydream. It would be good if the matter dragged on for half a year or a year, and it was even possible he might never get out for his whole life.

When they see others doing well, they feel uncomfortable, and no one is stingy with the stone they use to hit someone who has fallen into a well.

So Zhao Zhe tried his best to keep a low profile.

"The Second Affiliated Hospital!" The Muniu Waike Zhuren's pupils constricted, and his light reflex disappeared for a few seconds.

"Say that again."

"Zhuren, I want to transfer to the Second Affiliated Hospital."

"Hahaha, have you lost your mind?" The Muniu Waike Zhuren laughed out loud. "Zhao Zhe, go take a piss and look at yourself. Even their own Doctor of Philosophy graduates can't stay at the Second Affiliated Hospital; they want an Attending Physician from a lower-level hospital like you? You can't even get promoted in our own hospital, and you're aiming for the Second Affiliated Hospital?"

"..." Zhao Zhe kept his head down, letting the Muniu Waike Zhuren humiliate him.

However, the Muniu Waike Zhuren only said a few sarcastic remarks before extending two fingers to pinch the A4 paper.

He glanced at it and saw it was written very clearly, with a row of places for signatures and stamps, and his own name was in the first position.

"Zhao Zhe, you aren't joking, are you?" The Muniu Waike Zhuren felt that things didn't seem as simple as he had thought, and asked cautiously.

Zhao Zhe briefly explained his experience at the Second Affiliated Hospital, being somewhat vague in some places, only saying that they valued his research and had already agreed to accept him.

A surge of jealousy arose from nowhere, and the Muniu Waike Zhuren's gaze grew colder.

Zhao Zhe!

The most useless old Attending Physician in the department.

A lifelong old Attending Physician.

Although everyone admitted his skill was decent, he was just a spineless coward who couldn't even let out a fart after being hit with three sticks.

A few years ago, because Zhao Zhe was good at surgery, he was kicked to the Outpatient Department; the Muniu Waike Zhuren had planned to dump him in the Outpatient Department for life.

But he never expected that this guy would thrive in the Outpatient Department, taking the daily patient volume from about 30 people and forcing it up to 120 visits.

Patients from all over the city flocked to the Central Hospital to find Zhao Zhe as if they were possessed.

The Muniu Waike Zhuren had no choice but to transfer him back and keep him under his thumb to prevent him from making waves.

One moment of inattention, and damn it!

How did he manage to stir things up again!

The Muniu Waike Zhuren placed the paper on the desk and said coldly, "Zhao Zhe, I cannot sign this."

"..." Zhao Zhe's heart sank; the worst-case scenario had happened after all.

He hunched his back and said cautiously, "Director, I'm just a good-for-nothing old Attending Physician. Just treat me like a fart and let me go."

"Let you go? What kind of joke is that? I need a notice from the Personnel Department before I can sign anything. Besides, as a Clinical Director, I only handle the professional side of things..."

The Muniu Waike Zhuren began to pass the buck, skillfully pushing all responsibility onto the administrative Personnel Department.

Zhao Zhe's back bent lower and lower, and his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

(End of chapter)