Chapter 489: When it is within one's power, one should still provide help

"Xiao Ji is impressive!" Liu Zhuren praised.

"Hmm." Bai Chuzhang gave a rare, unambiguous, positive answer, his face full of approval and gratification.

Ji Xiang's toughness was unexpected, and it wasn't just ordinary toughness, but the kind that left no room for retreat.

That was why Bai Chuzhang had slapped the table, stood up, and felt inexplicably happy.

……

……

"Dad, Ji Xiang is going too far. This is like urinating and defecating on the prostate of morality!" Zhao Tianjiao's mind stirred, and he felt a bit angry, so he said in a low voice.

"No," Zhao Yuanzhang said in a deep voice. "Sometimes when we encounter patients in the hospital who have no money, the department will use reserve medicine for them. You've seen that, right?"

"I've seen it. An old gentleman with a Femoral Shaft Fracture was given Gentamicin after surgery. It seemed to be left over from another patient's nebulizer treatment; anyway, it hadn't expired, so they kept it. Before using it, I saw Xu Zong give special instructions and sign for it."

"Those are just details," Zhao Yuanzhang said sternly. "Doctors aren't as sacred as described in propaganda. They are all ordinary people who need to support their families and earn money. Our medical system is a bit of everything—it wants this, wants that, and wants more. In the end, who is sacrificed?"

As Zhao Yuanzhang spoke, he looked straight at Zhao Tianjiao, his seriousness making Zhao Tianjiao feel dazed and as if he had made a mistake.

"Why didn't I go into Clinical practice but went to the administration instead? Many people tried to persuade me at the time, but only your grandfather supported me," Zhao Yuanzhang said, knowing Zhao Tianjiao couldn't answer the question. "It's because we understood."

Zhao Tianjiao was somewhat stunned. His father never talked to him about medical ethics or professional conduct. Sometimes when the hospital held meetings to focus on medical ethics, his father would complain about it after coming home and having a drink.

But today, what his father said was different from the past.

"However!"

Zhao Yuanzhang did not continue the previous topic, or rather, he steered his complaints and grievances back, his tone growing heavier.

"But as long as it is within one's power, one must still provide some help to the patient. This is a doctor's bottom line. You must..."

Before Zhao Yuanzhang could finish his sentence, Fan Dao on the screen, after a brief moment of shock, immediately smiled and replied, "It's just a surgery, it won't cost much. Is one hundred thousand enough?"

"Start spending it."

Zhao Tianjiao was stunned by this conversation. In his view, Fan Dao was a bona fide big shot in the entertainment industry; why was he so cautious when talking to Ji Xiang?

Zhao Yuanzhang watched the two people on the screen intently, focused and dedicated, as if he had long forgotten the words he just said about a doctor's bottom line.

"Dad, what are you looking at?" Zhao Tianjiao asked blankly.

Zhao Yuanzhang didn't answer his son's question immediately, but continued to watch the screen.

"I'll go tell Li Zhuren. If you have no problem with this side, Li Zhuren will perform the surgery," Ji Xiang said, then turned and walked away.

He subsequently said something to the Family Member, but Zhao Yuanzhang didn't listen, instead staring at Ji Xiang.

"Tianjiao."

When the camera turned, Zhao Yuanzhang said in a hoarse voice.

"Dad, I'm here," Zhao Tianjiao said, confused.

"Don't be hostile toward Ji Xiang in the future," Zhao Yuanzhang said.

"Huh?!"

"His family background shouldn't be simple. Although this thought is a bit strange, but... you should provoke Ji Xiang less."

"He's just an ordinary person. If his family background were good, would he come to our Second Affiliated Hospital for Standardized Residency Training?"

"That may be so, but I always feel something is wrong," Zhao Yuanzhang pondered the conversation between Ji Xiang and Fan Dao just now, hesitated again and again, and finally pressed his hands down to end the topic.

……

……

"Xiao Ji is quite assertive," Liu Zhuren laughed.

"Not bad. What I appreciate most about him is this point," Bai Chuzhang said. "Young, good technique, high level, and even the diagnosis is solid—these are one thing. But if one doesn't have a doctor's bottom line at such a young age, like an old Attending Physician, then it's meaningless."

"Times have changed."

"Not at all," Bai Chuzhang said firmly.

"Speaking of which, Lao Bai, you really are the type who remains untainted by the mud."

Bai Chuzhang smiled slightly, staring intently at Ji Xiang on the screen.

"It's normal for Xiao Ji to do this," Liu Zhuren wasn't surprised at all. "When he first came to the department, a student had no money for stone removal and had undergone Stone Crushing many times at a lower-level hospital; his kidney was almost crushed."

"Oh, I remember. That's the patient you asked me for a support quota for."

Regarding Bai Chuzhang's memory, Liu Zhuren had no doubts. He smiled, "Doctor Ji's learning ability is still very strong. Although he hadn't practiced it, he did it properly as soon as he started, making full use of various conditions."

"What is talent? This is it!" Bai Chuzhang pointed at Ji Xiang on the screen. "Regardless of what resources he has behind him, and regardless of whether he was sure Fan Dao wouldn't refuse... Hahaha, it doesn't look like it. Look at Fan Dao's micro-expressions, you can tell he doesn't dare to offend Ji Xiang."

"Xiao Ji's family background is very deep."

"It doesn't matter," Bai Chuzhang waved his hand. "I'm not counting on him to do anything; it's enough if he can just be a doctor honestly."

The Family Member quickly accepted this condition. To him, this was like a huge pie falling from the sky, hitting him right on the head.

Suddenly, Bai Chuzhang was slightly startled.

"What's wrong, Lao Bai?"

"Speaking of people, they really are a mixed bag; everyone thinks differently," Bai Chuzhang pointed at the bullet comments on the screen and said, "I've said long ago that closing the bullet comments preserves one's IQ, why are they still on?"

Liu Zhuren chuckled. Just now everyone was cheering, and Lao Bai didn't say anything. Now that a few people with different opinions popped up, he started to get unhappy.

However, the bullet comments were also quite bizarre, thinking the production team was disrespectful of personal privacy, yet they didn't offer a way to solve the problem.

"Look at this, what is this even about," Bai Chuzhang said with disdain.

Liu Zhi laughed.

When it was just the two of them, Bai Chuzhang was also very relaxed, unlike in the hospital where he had to keep up appearances.

The meaning behind his words just now had already treated Ji Xiang as his own child, with quite a lot of protection.

"Seeing them talk nonsense makes me think of those unreasonable people who distribute benefits based on who makes the most noise," Bai Chuzhang said.

"Look, look, here someone even says that even if you invite the world's most famous Expert to perform the surgery, you can't let the camera in," Liu Zhuren pointed at a bullet comment and laughed.

"And the world's most famous Expert," Bai Chuzhang curled his lips, his face full of contempt.

At this very moment, Bai Chuzhang was no longer a machine specialized in handling clinical messes, having gained a touch of human warmth.

"Ten years ago, when we started performing TIPS Shoushu, we invited an Expert from the United States. The ratio of applicants to admissions for the surgery patients reached nearly one hundred to one."

"Ninety-three to one." Bai Chuzhang provided an accurate number.

"Pah, they don't understand anyway. Drink, let's drink, what is there to be angry about." Liu Zhuren raised his glass and clinked it against the glass in front of Bai Chuzhang, then took a sip with great satisfaction.

(End of chapter)