Chapter 244: Shamelessly asking to borrow money!
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
Later on the same day, Zhang Fan, Chen Qifa, Li Liang, and several of the doctors that Zhang Fan had recruited to Ma Wentao’s hospital all sat down together to talk for a very long time. Zhang Fan couldn’t hide this from the others. He absolutely wasn’t the type to do so. This would affect the others’ very livelihoods. He felt that it would be really immoral to hide things from them! The others had been doing well at this hospital, but were all thunderstruck to receive this news out of the blue.
Opportunities were fewer in smaller places. Since these doctors had already left the public hospital system, it would be quite difficult for them to return. Not only that, they also looked down upon other private hospitals which often had many illegal operations!
“Are we really going to have to leave here?” Chen Qifa asked with a rather blank expression.
“Brother Zhang, how about you just buy the hospital? We’re all willing to work under you!” Li Liang exclaimed.
Chen Qifa’s expression had originally been listless, but he was suddenly revitalized when he heard this suggestion. “Yeah, yeah, Teacher Zhang, just buy the hospital. We’ll work under you.”
The other doctors also looked at Zhang Fan with hope in their eyes. Zhang Fan had recruited all of them to work at Ma Wentao’s hospital. Since things had now come to this, he had to give them a proper answer. Even if none of them said anything about things to Zhang Fan, he would still give them a proper answer. However, the biggest problem here was money! Although Ma Wentao’s hospital didn’t seem to be very big, its cost and upkeep would be astronomical for Zhang Fan’s current economic status!
“But, the money……” Zhang Fan felt really terrible inside. All of these doctors needed to work and support themselves and their families. Zhang Fan really didn’t want to see this current situation. Nor had he ever expected this to happen. As the saying went, if your support collapsed, then you would collapse as well.
“As long as we’re all still here, there’s nothing to be afraid of. We can all come up with the money together. Teacher Zhang, please lead us!”
“Yeah, Teacher Zhang!”
“We can all come up with money together! You wouldn’t be worse than the original boss at running the hospital!”
“What if we end up losing money?” Zhang Fan asked.
“At most, we’ll move to Raptor City or go to inland China. It’s not like we’ll starve to death, you know?” Chen Qifa had now cleared his mind. “Besides, we just lack someone to lead the hospital. This might even actually be a chance to realize our dreams! Teacher Zhang, lead us!”
“I’ll have to speak to President Ma first. However, all of you can rest assured. No matter what, I was the one who brought all of you here. I will definitely take care of you all.”
“Doctor Zhang, don’t feel too much pressure. We’re doctors. It’s easy for us to find a job!” Doctor Lin from the general surgery department of Ma Wentao’s hospital smiled as he said this to Zhang Fan.
Others were enjoying New Year’s, but Zhang Fan would have to start running around trying to borrow money during this time.
And so, Zhang Fan started asking to borrow money from everyone else. No matter what Ma Wentao’s reason for quitting was, Zhang Fan had now decided to purchase his hospital. In that case, he would need a lot of money in order to do this. Zhang Fan was quite confident in his own medical abilities. He wasn’t afraid that he wouldn’t be able to return the money. Thus, Zhang Fan returned to being just like his old food seller days. He shamelessly asked for money from everyone.
Why was this? He was doing this for his own dreams, as well as for the sake of all these people who he had recruited. These other doctors had all joined Ma Wentao’s hospital because of him. Although Zhang Fan could indeed not care about them and just leave things alone, he wasn’t that type of person!
“Director Gao, please loan me some money. I need to tell you beforehand that I probably won’t be able to return the money to you within the next few years.” Zhang Fan awkwardly made his request to Director Gao Shijun in the latter’s director’s office.
“Is 100,000 yuan enough? If you still need more, you’ll have to wait. I’ll also have to borrow money through my connections for you then.” Gao Shijun didn’t even ask the reason why Zhang Fan needed money. He simply told Zhang Fan how much money he could loan him.
“That’s more than enough. But, Director Gao, I won’t be able to return the money anytime soon.” Zhang Fan felt tumultuous emotions in his heart. Was he feeling bad? He was really moved, truly moved! 100,000 yuan was no small amount of money. Yet, Gao Shijun hadn’t even asked what he needed the money for.
“Yeah. I don’t have any major expenses that I need to pay. However, I need to tell you clearly that when it comes to money, enough is enough. Don’t get addicted to money. Don’t become a slave to money!” Gao Shijun did his best to seriously lecture Zhang Fan.
“Yes, I understand.” Zhang Fan hadn’t intended to borrow so much from Director Gao in the first place. Zhang Fan’s plan had been to try and borrow 50,000-60,000 yuan from each director and vice director that he knew and had a decent relationship with. He never expected that Director Gao would immediately loan him 100,000 yuan just like that!
Later, in orthopedic department #2, Director Wang Dehua looked at Zhang Fan with curiosity. “What exactly are you here for today? You’re the type who never visits unless there’s something you want.” Director Wang poured some water for Zhang Fan as he said this. Although Director Wang wasn’t the type who would say nice words, and he had a poor temper, he was a frank and honest man.
“Director Wang, I’m here to borrow money.”
“Borrow money?” Director Wang was quite surprised by this!
“Yeah!” Zhang Fan was rather embarrassed. None of the directors asked him what he needed the money for. Zhang Fan didn’t intend to explain. Besides, the directors were all quite smart, with good emotional intelligence. They judged based on who was asking, not what the matter was about. If they were willing to loan money, then they would instantly say it. If they weren’t willing to loan money, then they would be direct about it as well.
“How much do you need?” Director Wang looked at Zhang Fan rather sardonically. ‘I wonder what this young brat is up to!’
“Around 50,000 to 60,000 yuan.” This was the relationship between skilled doctors. It really was quite simple! Zhang Fan made his request quite clearly and left it up to Director Wang to decide. Since Zhang Fan was still young, he could get away with acting shamelessly like this!
“Alright, I can loan you 60,000 yuan. When will you return it?”
“I don’t know! I don’t think that I’ll be able to return it in the next few years,” Zhang Fan said rather embarrassedly.
“Ok then! I’m going to watch you little brat and see what you do!”
Zhang Fan went and asked every single director and vice director in the surgical departments to borrow money, without leaving a single one out. As they were either directors or vice directors, most of them didn’t have much financial burden to worry about. Zhang Fan shamelessly asked almost all of them. Half a day later, Zhang Fan managed to borrow a total of 800,000 yuan in total. He now owed them all a heavy favor. He had only been able to borrow so much money because of the status that he had worked so hard for in his one year of working at Chasu City Hospital.
Zhang Fan then started visiting the internal medicine department directors to ask them for money as well. He first visited cardiology director Ren Li. He really was doing his very best to get as much money as possible as he repeated his request.
“Alright, I’ll loan you the money. I’m not in a hurry. You can return the money any time that you can afford to. Did something happen to your family? Don’t bear things by yourself. If things are really serious, you can say it. The hospital might be able to help you.” Ren Li was really worried about why Zhang Fan was borrowing money.
“No, that’s not it. It’s just a little accident. I’m just shamelessly asking for money.”
“That’s good, then. It’s good as long as your family is alright.”
Two days later, Zhang Fan had managed to borrow a total of approximately 1,200,000 yuan. The only directors and vice directors he didn’t ask were the ones he didn’t know very well and the ones who had financial problems themselves. He had been too embarrassed to ask those who he didn’t know well.
This amount of money still wasn’t enough. Yet, Superintendent Ouyang soon learned that he was going around asking to borrow money from everyone.
“Where are you right now? Immediately come to my office.”
Zhang Fan immediately felt a headache from receiving Superintendent Ouyang’s phone call. He knew that she would learn of his actions sooner or later. However, he hadn’t expected that she would learn what was going on in just two days.
“Are you gambling?” Superintendent Ouyang asked with an incredibly icy expression. She knew that Zhang Fan had borrowed money already from every single director and vice director that he knew. Superintendent Ouyang was really worried that Zhang Fan would go down a wrong path with such a gigantic sum of money.
“I’m not-”
“You still deny it? I already know what you’re doing! Just tell me the truth! Let me see if you’re still salvageable or not! Just how much of a high-interest loan did you take out?” Superintendent Ouyang immediately interrupted him!
“It really isn’t because of a high-interest loan!” Zhang Fan could only smile wryly in his mind. Superintendent Ouyang was being quite severe with him, but he felt really warm in his heart because she cared about him.
“Then there’s still saving you. Tell me what’s going on. Sit down and slowly tell me the whole story.” Only now did Superintendent Ouyang’s expression soften just a little bit.
“I’m going to buy a hospital!”
Superintendent Ouyang’s mouth was wide agape for quite a long period of time. She had considered many possible reasons why Zhang Fan would want to borrow so much money, but she had never expected to hear this!