Hospital 444
Chapter 218 - 9 Cousins

Chapter 218: Chapter 9 Cousins

Dai Lin was somewhat surprised when he got a call from his cousin, Dai Ming.

Even though they were cousins, after Dai Lin became a surgeon, he hardly saw Dai Ming more than a few times a year.

Dai Lin and Dai Ming were about the same age and, because Dai Lin’s uncle (Dai Ming’s father) was his father’s twin brother, they looked very similar at first glance.

Although Dai Lin’s aunt and uncle had always been especially kind to him from an early age, and his uncle provided him with the warmth he could never get from his stern father, making Dai Lin very close to his uncle’s family, he had always had a lukewarm relationship with Dai Ming.

If you were to look for a reason, for Dai Ming, Dai Lin had always been the perfect "child from another family." Breezing through school with grade skips and getting into medical college to become a surgeon at a major local 3A hospital, he was the quintessential success story.

In contrast, Dai Ming had only managed to get into a junior college during his entrance exams, later failed to upgrade his degree, and the job he held now was secured through his uncle’s connections. Thus, Dai Lin naturally became the standard his uncle would hold up to Dai Ming.

Over time, it was natural for Dai Ming to harbor ill feelings toward Dai Lin, the child from another family he was always compared with. Coupled with Dai Lin becoming increasingly busy as a doctor over the years, they only saw each other occasionally during the holidays. Arranging to hang out alone for a barbecue was something that hadn’t happened since their college days.

Dai Lin’s first thought was, could it be that he’s planning to borrow money?

If Dai Ming was short on cash, then the only person he could probably turn to was him. Now that Dai Lin had become a "surgeon at a private hospital," his salary must seem even higher in Dai Ming’s eyes. Borrowing money between relatives tended to be easier than between friends, especially if the lender had a substantial income. Not lending the money could come off as snubbing a poor relative out of snobbery. That’s why many people who become wealthy try their best to hide it from their relatives.

But Dai Lin didn’t think too much of it; after all, it was just speculation for now. He’d see when they met. Indeed, it had been a while since he saw his cousin, and catching up might be nice.

As the end of the workday approached, the Wraith Surgery Department held a brief meeting.

"Everyone,"

in the meeting room of the Wraith Surgery Department, Song Min announced, "I will be taking a few of our attending physicians to Malaysia to oversee the physician’s advanced professional title examination at the end of the year."

She paused before continuing, "For this exam, Director Lu and I have a lot of preparatory work to do, so we both will need to stay in Malaysia for a while. During these days, the head of the department will be temporarily taken over by... Doctor Xie Chengjun."

Upon hearing this, a man in his thirties quickly stood up.

"Ha ha... this, Director Song, I feel embarrassed... With my seniority, I am not... not fit to temporarily take over as head."

The doctors sitting below collectively sneered to themselves: if you hadn’t stood up so quickly and smiled so sleazily, maybe we would’ve believed you. Even if you’re pretending to decline, at least make it look a bit more convincing, would you?

Director Song coughed and said, "Deputy Director Xie, this is the result of careful consideration. You will temporarily assume the role of head of the department during this period."

"Well, well... Since you trust me so much, Director Song, how could I refuse?"

Dai Lin thought to himself: It seems to have taken less than ten seconds for Deputy Director Xie to go from "how could I possibly take over as director" to "how could I refuse?"

This was clearly the most important topic of the meeting, and after announcing the decision, the meeting was nearly over, and everyone would be able to leave work.

But Xie Chengjun did not seem to have any intention of sitting down. Instead, he said, "Everyone, since I will be temporarily taking over as head of our department, I think there are many things I need to say. Yes, as everyone knows, the Wraith Surgery Department has a very glorious and long history in our hospital. After all, resentful spirits are among the most common harmful evil spirits to humans! Our department’s outpatient volume has always been much larger than other departments! Generally speaking, far more cases require surgical treatment than internal medicine, especially for a resentful spirit curse, which often requires surgical removal for a complete cure. Speaking of which, the surgery in the Wraith Surgery Department has also gone through a long historical change. For instance, about half a century ago, both resentful spirits and karma ghosts were treated with Soul-Removal Surgery, but as we all know, that was very wrong!"

At this point, every doctor’s face turned sour.

Sitting not far from Dai Lin, Gao Heyann started to hold his forehead with his hand.

"Here we go again..."

Dai Lin began to hear whispers from the people around him.

"How long do you think he’ll talk this time?"

"I bet 30 minutes, 100 Spiritual Therapy Points."

"Thirty minutes? At least fifty minutes! Would you dare to bet 200?"

"When will he finish... I still need to go home and cook..."

"Why isn’t Dr. Jiang taking over as the acting head of the department? Clearly his qualifications and medical skills are better, right?"

"Director Song wants to cultivate her own loyalists, so when she becomes the head of the surgery department, she’ll definitely promote a true confidant,"

Time kept slipping away...

"Forty years ago, the director of the Wraith Surgery Department, Ming Xiaofeng, once said, ’Dead wraiths are good wraiths.’ I believe this statement has a serious linguistic error; wraiths are already dead, and to say ’dead wraiths’ is academically imprecise! We shouldn’t just because someone is the authority of the department head..."

"Ahem... right, that..."

Finally, Director Song couldn’t stand it anymore and said, "Yes, that’s right, I also think Director Ming’s words are not rigorous enough, so our department should learn from this and strive to improve our medical skills, dedicating ourselves to all patients. Let’s applaud!"

At this, the doctors immediately perked up, with applause roaring like thunder.

"Okay, that concludes today’s meeting, you’re dismissed!"

The moment the word ’dismissed’ was uttered, more than half of the doctors present chose to teleport away instantly, fearing that if they left slowly, Xie Chengjun, this talkative guy, would continue with an "I have a few more points to add."

Dailin was among them.

Luckily, I punched in before the meeting started.

After getting home, Dailin checked the time.

He talked for a full two hours...

Dailin really admired Xie Chengjun, how could he manage two hours of non-stop talking with spittle flying? He did give a semi-lecture on the history of the Wraith Surgery Department. But on reflection, much of this information was actually useful to Dailin.

It looks like, all things remaining equal, the new director of the Wraith Surgery Department will most likely be Associate Director Xie Chengjun.

Dailin checked the time again, there were less than thirty minutes left until the time he arranged to meet with Dai Ming.

"Oh well, a little late is still late, if he’s coming to borrow money, he probably won’t mind."

The skewer restaurant was only three stops away from Dailin’s home. He got on the bus at the entrance of the community and headed straight there, sending Dai Ming a WeChat message on the way.

Right at that moment, Dailin suddenly found himself added to a WeChat group.

The group was named "Wraith Surgery Department WeChat Group."

And the group owner... was Xie Chengjun.

"Everyone, um, although today’s meeting ended successfully, I feel that there are still some issues that weren’t properly explained. So, I created this group. Are all the doctors of the Wraith Surgery Department here?"

Even Song Min was pulled into the group.

Dailin was utterly speechless at this moment, but he didn’t dare to offend the new leader and could only watch what instructions he posted in the WeChat group.

Soon after, the bus reached the stop.

Dailin alighted from the bus and arrived at the barbecue restaurant Dai Ming had sent him the location for; he was sitting at a stall right at the restaurant’s entrance.

"Dailin!"

Even from a distance, Dailin could tell there was a severity in Dai Ming’s expression.

Dailin rarely saw such a look on his cousin’s face.

This cousin...

What exactly did he need to talk to me about?