Physician's Odyssey

Su Tao and Liu Ruochen rode a car back to the hotel. As the car was arranged by Qi Jiahao, the two didn’t talk much in the car.

After they returned to the hotel, Liu Ruochen followed Su Tao into his room and sighed, “I initially thought that it would be simple. But I didn’t expect it to be so complicated. Qi Jiahao truly deserves his reputation. He’s smart at dealing with this matter. It’s impossible for him to go against Vice-Premier Xiao’s instruction. But if we withdraw from it, Vice-Premier Xiao won’t do anything to him.”

Frowning his brows, Su Tao shook his head with a wry smile and analyzed, “From Vice-Premier Xiao’s perspective, I’m afraid that he also wants to look at our ability. Qi Jiahao grasped Vice-Premier Xiao’s mentality well. Who knows, he might even be praised by Vice-Premier Xiao for this.”

“You suspect that this was instructed by Vice-Premier Xiao?” Liu Ruochen looked at Su Tao, surprised.

Nodding his head, Su Tao replied, “That’s why I agreed to it so quickly. Even if it’s not an instruction from Vice-Premier Xiao, we still have to think of it as a test from him. If we consider something so simple to be Qi Jiahao’s obstructions, it’ll look bad on us.”

Liu Ruochen rolled her eyes and muttered, “You’re acting as if your thoughts are meticulous.” But in her heart, she felt that Su Tao was accurate about this matter. You couldn’t just look at the issue from the surface. You need to look deeper into the problem.

Vice-Premier Xiao handed the reformation of state-owned hospitals to Su Tao. In the eyes of the outside world, it was risky. First of all, Su Tao was still too young. Although the Three Flavour Hall had been developing rapidly, there was still a considerable gap between them and the Ruixing Group. Secondly, Su Tao was backed by the Ni and Ye families. It was impossible for the two families to help Su Tao in everything. So the chances of Su Tao getting this matter done wasn’t high.

So if Su Tao wanted to prove himself, he first had to acquire Ruixing Group. After all, there was only a year to the deadline of the reformation, so Vice-Premier Xiao didn’t give Su Tao much time.

Liu Ruochen began to study the data with Su Tao.

The three hospitals were Xijing Workers Hospital, Shanzhou Workers Hospital, and Shanzhou General Hospital.

“Looks like we’ll be in Xijing for the next month.” Su Tao smiled. “The three hospitals Qi Jiahao assigned to us are all located in Xijing City. We don’t have to run around for it.”

Shaking her head, Liu Ruochen frowned, “I don’t think it’s that simple. You can’t underestimate him in Shanzhou Province. Since even he can’t take down the three hospitals, that shows that it will be difficult. Furthermore, he might even set obstructions for us.”

Patting his forehead, Su Tao replied, “So that’s the case! Why don’t we withdraw then?”

“Bah!” Liu Ruochen knew that Su Tao was saying it on purpose and snapped, “It’s the characteristic of a hero to rise up from difficulties. Didn’t you say that? This is the test from Vice-Premier Xiao to you. Are you going to let him down?”

“I don’t care if Vice-Premier Xiao is disappointed. I’m more concerned about your feelings.” Su Tao smiled.

Liu Ruochen was briefly stunned. She supported her chin with her arms and replied, “You’re right. I’ve spent too much effort in this matter to give up now.”

“That’s human nature. Many times, it’s the unwillingness in the heart that keeps us going, even if we hit ourselves against a wall. But what’s the meaning of life if you don’t have any drive? Since I started this, then I should be the one to get it done.”

“That sounds better.” Liu Ruochen nodded.

The two began to study the information on the three hospitals. The situation in Xijing Workers Hospital was relatively bad. The AA-classed hospital suffered losses for three consecutive years. The Nonferrous Metals Group had to invest more than ¥1,000,000 in the hospital every year for operation. But since it was in such a mess, why was the group unwilling to give up on the hospital? It meant that there must be a problem somewhere.

The Shanzhou Workers Hospital was a BBB-classed hospital operating in stable condition. But the corporation behind it, the Textile Development Group had been declining year after year. So the hospital became independent. For the Ruixing Group to fail to acquire it, there must be some other reasons.

As for Shanzhou General Hospital, it was a AAA-classed hospital, but it was one of the top five hospitals in Xijing City. So it made acquisition harder.

Hospitals could be separated into AAA, BBB, AA, BB, A, and B. They were ranked from the top to bottom. AAA-classed was the highest ranking possible, and it would be a provincial hospital. AA-classed could be city hospitals, mainly providing high quality specialists responsible for scientific research and rehabilitation services. A-classed would be the lowest, responsible for primary healthcare.

The difference between As and Bs would be their scoring standards. B would be inferior to A in terms of inspection standard. Those with more than 900 points during the inspection would be given A ranking, while B for more than 800 points.

Putting it in a nutshell, the three hospitals all have their problems. They also represented the current reformation situation with state-owned hospitals. So resolving them would be an assessment of Su Tao’s ability.

“I didn’t expect the situation to be so complicated. Don’t talk about acquiring them in a month. Just acquiring one in half a year is difficult.” Liu Ruochen smiled, helplessly.

“Do you regret it?” Su Tao smiled.

“It’s just one month. We still have to try.” Liu Ruochen said with resolution sparkling in her eyes. “Are we going to solve them one by one or all at once?”

“Set a target for yourself at one every ten days. This way, we’ll be able to resolve all three in a month.” Su Tao smiled.

“So, where are we going to start? I have a feeling that they will all be difficult.” Liu Ruochen shook her head.

“Just follow the order that Qi Jiahao gave us. Let’s start by contacting the Xijing Workers Hospital.” Su Tao replied.

“The hospital has been suffering a loss for years. So they must be lacking in funds. I believe that the acquisition will be relatively easier.” Liu Ruochen smiled.

“Don’t be so sure about that. The Ruixing Group must’ve contacted them many times, but they failed. I believe that the problem will be more difficult than you’d imagined.” Su Tao replied solemnly. “Let me send someone to do an investigation on them to find out the reason that they're losing money. Furthermore, we also have to find a place to rent for the next month.”

“Why? Isn’t the hospital convenient?” Liu Ruochen asked. She was surprised by Su Tao’s words.

“It’s convenient in the hotel, but you won’t get to experience life. Since we want to acquire all three hospitals, we will have to dig deeper and find a breakthrough.” Su Tao smiled.

Liu Ruochen frowned. Despite sensing something amiss about Su Tao’s reason, she still nodded her head, “Alright. I’ll listen to you.”

Su Tao then started to look for a suitable apartment. The three hospitals were all located in Xijing City, so he chose a central region. The district was built fifteen years ago and the lodging was stable. He decided to learn more about the front-line situation first before he could draw any conclusion.

After making up his mind, finding an apartment was easier. Su Tao gave a call to a housing agent on the internet and made an appointment. He went straight to look at the apartment in the afternoon. In the end, Su Tao decided to rent an apartment on the third floor with three bedrooms and one living room. The owner of this apartment was an old couple. Their son had been living well in Uk. This house was bought by him for the couple many years ago. So now that the couple was getting older, their son wanted to fetch them abroad.

The interior was luxuriously decorated with furniture made with stern wood. Since the old couple was going abroad, there was no way they could bring these furniture with them. So they wanted to find someone reliable to rent out. However, the rental was higher than normal, and the deposit required ¥20,000.

Su Tao paid for it without any hesitation. When the old couple saw that Su Tao and Liu Ruochen were both good-looking and generous, they rented the apartment to them.

Both Su Tao and Liu Ruochen were straightforward. After they paid for the rental, they immediately returned to the hotel to pack their luggage and moved into the apartment that night.

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Qi Jiahao was a night owl who liked to work at night. Ruixing Group was a giant, which involved dozens of industries. Although there was no need for him to do everything by himself, he still had a habit of looking through them personally.

As his secretary, Yuan Xiuzhen was also used to working overtime.

Qi Jiahao took off his glasses. Looking at Yuan Xiuzhen bringing a few more documents in, he sighed, “It’s already 10 p.m., you should go back quickly.”

“I’m already used to it. It feels too early for me to return right now.” Yuan Xiuzhen smiled. 

Qi Jiahao nodded and reached out for the tea cup. When he found that the water was cold, he subconsciously frowned. Yuan Xiuzhen had already guessed it and poured a new cup for Qi Jiahao.

Putting on his glasses once more, Qi Jiahao looked at the documents and asked, “How’s Su Tao?”

“They moved out from the hotel and rented an apartment in Fumin District. They seem ready for a long battle.” Yuan Xiuzhen reported.

“That kid is clever. He must be afraid that we have eyes around in the hospital, in which he rented an apartment.” Qi Jiahao dropped his pen and took a deep breath.

“It’s impossible for him to find out about it. Our people are professional in what they’re doing.” Yuan Xiuzhen hesitated.

“Flaws are not always seen. You can also guess it.” Qi Jiahao frowned. “Send someone to follow Su Tao’s every movement and report to me daily.”

“The three state-owned hospitals aren’t easy to deal with. It’s impossible for them to reach acquisition in a month.” Yuan Xiuzhen was puzzled.

“Everyone knows that. I’m only curious how he’ll handle it.” Qi Jiahao smiled, shaking his head.

This was more appropriate as a fight between beasts. Now that Su Tao was in Xijing City, it was easy for Qi Jiahao to know Su Tao’s every movement. It was no different from a caged bird.

Under Qi Jiahao’s supervision, it would be harder for Su Tao to win the bet.