White armor

Chapter 785 Umbilical Cord Blood, Gone? (Part 2)

He didn't even show the slightest change in micro-expression, only a puzzled look. "The medical records have indeed been revised repeatedly. You know what happened yesterday. Our hospital is caught in the middle, it's tough."

"So the medical records clearly describe the objective events, and I hope that when the trial goes on, my family's First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University will be ordered to pay less compensation."

"Life is tough for everyone these days. The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University looks glamorous, but it's out of money. It even filed for bankruptcy a while ago, but the province didn't approve it, so they're preparing to liquidate their debts."

"Life is tough. I'm just giving an objective description. If there's anything I've written incorrectly, Mr. Lü can go talk to Dean Zhuang. As long as Dean Zhuang says a word, I'll change it however I want."

"But, the backend must have modified the data, so there's nothing I can do about it."

Feng Zixuan's body was extremely flexible, and her face even showed an apologetic and helpless smile.

Mr. Lü was covered in sweat. At this moment, he didn't care about anything else. He raised his sleeve to wipe his sweat and started bowing repeatedly, muttering incoherent words.

Feng Zixuan found it hard to believe that things had turned out this way in just one day.

He figured that it was only because he spoke gently that President Lü could still have a normal conversation with him. If he had spoken forcefully, President Lü would probably have already knelt down.

"Xiao Luo is really incredibly resourceful," Feng Zixuan thought, his eyelids twitching as he looked at the bright red alarm symbol on the computer screen.

What exactly did Luo Hao do? Feng Zixuan was very curious.

“President Lü, as I’ve already said, I’m just a small section chief, and only in the medical affairs department.” Feng Zixuan held up his right little finger and gestured. “I don’t have that kind of ability, do you think?”

"..."

“You’re also in the medical field, so you know that if I had any ability or connections, I wouldn’t be here as the head of the medical affairs department, which doesn’t offer much in terms of personal gain.”

"It really wasn't me who did it."

"If I had that ability, I would have been the vice dean long ago, don't you think?"

Feng Zixuan did not become complacent because of the other party's attitude; instead, he became even more careful in explaining.

Mr. Lü stared blankly at Feng Zixuan, unable to utter a single word.

Based on his understanding of hospitals, Feng Zixuan's words made no mistake; he was just desperately seeking treatment and randomly came to the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University.

"Please have a seat, Mr. Lü." Feng Zixuan got up and started boiling water. "I don't have any good tea here. Tell me what's wrong, and I'll help you analyze where the problem lies."

Mr. Lü sat down with a long face and a blank look in his eyes. He himself did not know who he had offended.

In the provincial capital of a border province, an ordinary patient can't even find a way to file a complaint, and he only dares to be arrogant because he knows this.

Unexpectedly, a few hours ago, the company's big boss bypassed several levels and called him, giving him a severe dressing-down.

Knowing that the matter was serious, Mr. Lü immediately went to the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University to find the head of the medical affairs department.

Seeing that General Manager Lü was completely clueless and knew almost nothing, Feng Zixuan was also surprised.

After a few indirect inquiries, Mr. Lü remained wary and didn't tell Feng Zixuan what level his company's backer was.

After he left, Feng Zixuan found the matter increasingly interesting.

The biotech company has no idea who did it, and the charges are extremely serious; the situation is incredibly grave.

Even if the big boss behind the biotech company has immense power, it seems he can't withstand it.

Did Xiao Luo do it? Does he have that much power? That can't be possible, Feng Zixuan thought to himself.

Even academicians in the medical field probably don't have that much power to do something so outrageous.

The earliest companies qualified to work with umbilical cord blood all had immense influence and connections. As for the powerful figures behind them, Feng Zixuan felt a chill run down his spine just thinking about it.

But if it's not Luo Hao, then who is it?
The bright red warnings on the computer last night and this morning are still fresh in Feng Zixuan's mind. He doesn't really believe that Luo Hao wasn't behind it.

In short, this matter is getting increasingly bizarre.

He changed his clothes, but instead of going to the underground parking lot to drive his car, he went directly to the interventional radiology department.

"Old Meng, what do you suggest we do?"

As soon as Feng Zixuan reached the door of the interventional radiology doctor's office, he heard Zhuang Yan flirting with Meng Liangren.

Emmm.

Feng Zixuan stopped in his tracks, hesitating whether or not he should go in.

“What’s so difficult about this?” Chen Yonggan’s voice came through.

"Whose company is having a team building event in Thailand?" Zhuang Yan said urgently. "But that company is a multinational corporation. Do you think something bad might happen?"

"Of course I can't go." Luo Hao's voice was calm and steady, and Feng Zixuan felt inexplicably at ease after hearing it.

"Perhaps it's Professor Luo's own magic," a rather childish thought flashed through Feng Zixuan's mind.

"Brother, what do you say we should do?"

"Of course, I said I would go, and I was very proactive. I couldn't be later than others when it came to things like getting my passport; I had to be proactive."

"However, they turned off their phones on the day they set off. A few hours later, when they arrived in Bangkok or Pattaya, Thailand, they turned their phones back on to send a photo to their superiors."

“But they’re all in the medical field…” Zhuang Yan hesitated.

"Xiao Zhuang, you've never faked being sick?" Chen Yong asked in surprise.

"no."

“Go to the emergency room, spin around fifty times while using the restroom, and when you get back, your brain won’t be able to send any commands,” Chen Yong said. “The physical examination showed… brainstem damage, Luo Hao, I remember you saying that.”

“Yes, the physical exam showed brainstem injury. Even if the CT scan is normal, the ER doctors won’t let you go. Some people do this when they encounter car accident patients: they want compensation,” Luo Hao said.

"What you said, senior brother, seems to make some sense."

“There’s definitely a reason for that. If we hadn’t said anything at the time, and then a special situation arose that required hospitalization, no one would have felt comfortable saying anything,” Chen Yong added. “So, what you’re talking about isn’t a problem at all.”

“Okay, I’ll tell my classmate,” Zhuang Yan said.

"Knock knock knock~" Feng Zixuan knocked on the door.

"Director Feng, you haven't left work yet?" Luo Hao saw Feng Zixuan appear at the door and quickly got up to greet him.

"Professor Luo, you haven't left work yet either."

"Hey, I went to teach the students this afternoon, and they asked me a lot of questions, so I got back a little late." Luo Hao smiled and invited Feng Zixuan into his office.

"It's rare to see someone so attentive in class."

"Since you're a mentor, then teach properly. What else can you do?" Luo Hao said. "I can't just slack off. If I keep slacking off, no one will take care of me when I get old."

"Which boss said that?"

"That's the old minister's catchphrase." Luo Hao chuckled.

"Director Feng, are you in a hurry because of the medical insurance issue?" Chen Yong asked.

"I've already told you, the medical field is like this: if you control it too much, it will die; if you let it go, it will become chaotic. The root cause lies in human nature. If you want to control it, centralized procurement is certainly an option, but you have to be careful about the degree."

The sandwich model is essentially the Japanese DRG reform from the 90s.

However, what we saw in Japan resulted in the infamous Heisei medical collapse. For simple illnesses, one had to go to a private hospital to get a proper treatment, as medications from public hospitals often had more side effects than therapeutic benefits. This led to the rise of health insurance in Japan.

The problem was not solved until Japan's healthcare reform in 2002.

Meanwhile, major Japanese pharmaceutical companies also suffered a major setback in the 90s, with numerous pharmaceutical bribery scandals occurring, something that had never happened before.

Because companies discovered that the centralized procurement prices were too low, even honest drug manufacturers couldn't keep prices down, so they resorted to unethical practices, cutting corners and using bribes. The result was that bad money drove out good.

"!!!"

Feng Zixuan was stunned. The book had already implemented DRG?
He really didn't know anything about the past and present of DRG, and he never expected that it originated from the doujinshi.

As for the collapse of Heisei Medical, Feng Zixuan knew nothing about it.

"Since 2006, the forced overwork of doctors has led to a large number of doctors leaving, a doubling of patients' personal burdens, and a sharp decline in medical facilities. Various contradictions between the providers and recipients of medical services have begun to surface, harmony is no longer there, and things are going downhill."

The collapse of healthcare became a nightmarish reality and a long-standing topic in the Japanese mass media at the time.

As the problem of social impoverishment, often referred to as the "lower class," deepens, Japan is entering a society with "super-medical disparities."

According to sociological statistics, the national health insurance system will face substantial collapse by 2020.

At that time, some patients who can afford the high medical fees will be able to receive world-class medical services in luxurious wards with five-star hotel-style decor; however, at the same time, at least 20% of patients will be unable to access even basic medical services due to their inability to join private medical insurance programs. Even if these patients suffer from common illnesses such as dysentery, anemia, or enteritis, they may still lose their lives.

"The good thing is that they don't learn anything at all, they only learn the bad things."

Luo Hao said disdainfully.

"What happens after the collapse?" Zhuang Yan asked. "Will it be like the doujinshi?"

"Problem-oriented, let's talk about the collapse later. The situation in China is different from that in Japan, so I don't think it's that pessimistic," Luo Hao said naturally.

Feng Zixuan was surprised that Luo Hao had started researching the past and present of DRG, and also surprised that the average lifespan on the Japanese side was quite long, but the medical situation was also precarious.

"It's all because we don't have money. During periods of rapid development, everything is fine, everyone's happy. But once development stagnates, all the problems arise," Luo Hao said. "Director Feng already knew all this, so don't try to annoy him with the issue of medical insurance."

Feng Zixuan was speechless.

It's not good for a person to see things too clearly, otherwise they'll leave others speechless.

"Simply put, it's all because they don't have money. Can you solve it? Or can I? It's the inevitable law of history," Luo Hao said calmly. "So if you don't have to, don't keep bringing up DRG. You should be avoiding causing trouble for the institute."

"Yes, yes, senior brother." Zhuang Yan had probably gotten used to it by now and replied repeatedly.

"Xiao Luo, yesterday the AI ​​monitoring showed that there was a problem with the medical record of the patient who needed umbilical cord blood, did you know that?"

"Huh? I don't know." Luo Hao looked blank.

"Oh, it's nothing. I called the head of the hematology department and resolved the issue."

How did the AI ​​give you the prompt?

After Feng Zixuan finished speaking, Luo Hao pressed him for more details.

“It’s not right to say it’s past history.” Feng Zixuan pretended to be relaxed, but in reality, he was observing Luo Hao’s expression and micro-expressions.

Luo Hao frowned slightly, took out his laptop, and began searching.

Now that Feng Zixuan was certain Luo Hao was unaware of the matter, everything made sense. His expression relaxed, and he chatted casually with Luo Hao. "I think the AI ​​sensed the problem and wanted to avoid implicating the hospital," Luo Hao said seriously after reading the report.

"Yes, we have this. Although it's not very useful, it's something we can talk about in court. If the court doesn't protect Director Guo and shifts the blame onto him, the court might not actually bear much responsibility."

As Feng Zixuan spoke, he glanced at Zhuang Yan.

Back then, Director Guo performed Zhuang Yan's C-section, so Dean Zhuang should make an exception for her.

But there was no need to tell Xiao Luo any of this. Feng Zixuan calmly observed Luo Hao's expression and finally confirmed that Luo Hao truly did not know.

Heaven knows who they offended. This is what they mean by "what goes around comes around," and Feng Zixuan felt relieved.

After chatting for a while, Feng Zixuan went home.

After seeing Feng Zixuan off, Chen Yong turned back to look at Luo Hao and reached out to grab Luo Hao's clothes.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?" Luo Hao asked.

Chen Yong doesn't like to interact with men and usually keeps at least a step away from Luo Hao, but today he's acting so unusually, which startled Luo Hao.

Chen Yong didn't say anything, and Luo Hao followed him to the duty room.

Chen Yong hesitated for a moment at the door of the duty room, then pulled Luo Hao to the fire escape. After looking around to make sure no one was watching, he let go of Luo Hao's hand and looked him straight in the eye.

"Hey, what's up?"

"I'm asking you, did you do it?" Chen Yong asked.

"There's not even a subject; what are you trying to tell me?"

“Director Feng may not be able to tell, but I do.” Chen Yong’s voice was so low that Luo Hao could barely hear it even face to face.

He shook his head, indicating that he didn't understand what Chen Yong was talking about.

“I’ve been having a recurring dream lately,” Chen Yong suddenly changed the subject, but his expression remained unchanged, serious and earnest.

Chen Yong's eyes looked particularly sharp above the double-layered mask.

Those usually affectionate peach blossom eyes had lost all their frivolity, and the taut lines at the corners of their eyes resembled two thin blades drawn from their sheaths.

The metal strip of the N95 mask left a deep indentation on his high nose bridge, and the inner surgical mask rose and fell slightly with his suppressed breathing, with some dampness showing at the edges.

The shadow cast by Chen Yong's brow bone covered the upper half of his iris, revealing an astonishingly dark pupil, as if all the darkness of the world had been condensed into those two black dots.

The eyelashes remained motionless while speaking, as if even blinking was a sign of weakness that needed to be restrained.

What made Luo Hao most uncomfortable was the feeling of stillness—he felt like a knife frozen in ice, even the skin indentation caused by the mask strap digging into his ears was solidified into a sharp angle.

When he said the word "dream," a white mist briefly blurred his lips inside his mask, only to be quickly drawn away by a deeper breath, as if even moisture was not allowed to linger.

"What dream?"

"I dreamt that my master succeeded."

"Done?"

"He did not undergo the Heavenly Tribulation, but was reborn after destruction, and ascended to immortality."

"!!!" Luo Hao didn't speak, but stared at Chen Yong's peach blossom eyes as if trying to discover some secret.

“In my dream, my master told me many things, but I’ve forgotten them all, since it was just a dream. But I clearly remember once Boss Zhou calling my master away, and he seemed to be saying something very seriously.”

"..."

Luo Hao remained silent.

"I have a question for you. How many people have gone missing recently?" Chen Yong asked.

"How would I know."

"Seriously speaking, I doubt how much of what we said here last time was true."

"Stop joking, you actually took my joke seriously? Are you running a fever?" Luo Hao reached out to touch Chen Yong's head, but Chen Yong dodged to the side.

"Let's not talk about those things. Today, I'll share my guesses about this matter." Chen Yong sat down, took out his phone, opened the same smoking app as Luo Hao, and started cyber smoking as well.

Luo Hao looked down at Chen Yong with a serious and earnest expression, but without any liveliness.

"Those petty things are something you can't tolerate. Others may not know, but I do. I know exactly what you're thinking."

"I……"

"You can remain silent, but don't lie. As a member of the medical team, please give me the bare minimum of respect."

Chen Yong said in a deep voice.

Luo Hao shut his mouth.

Chen Yong managed nearly half of the medical team, yet he rarely made any demands. Luo Hao knew that wherever there were people, there were factions; his teacher had said that there were no factions within the party, only all sorts of strange things.

Things like six people creating five groups didn't happen in the medical team. I deserve credit for it, and so does Chen Yong.

This should be the first request Chen Yong made.

Luo Hao remained silent.

“I can dream about my master, and you should be able to too,” Chen Yong said in a low voice as he smoked on Cyber, his voice carrying a magnetic quality he had never had before, penetrating straight to the heart.

"Sometimes you don't need to do anything. Often, a look, a gesture, or even a behavior is enough to understand what the other person is thinking."

"They take the umbilical cord blood but don't even give compensation. When the child gets leukemia and needs treatment, they just say it's gone? Isn't that a joke?"

"Besides, with children needing medical care, who has time to fight lawsuits? These people must have intricate connections with the legal circle in the capital, and their backing is incredibly powerful."

"Even if they could get back ten times the compensation, it would be a painful process and would take several years. That's why they are so fearless."

Chen Yong paused here, then looked up at Luo Hao.

Then he hooked his fingers around the ear loops of the N95 mask, moving very slowly, as if breaking some kind of seal.

The rubber band snapped open with a soft "pop," and the inner surgical mask slipped off, folding into a crumpled ball in his palm, still damp from his breath.

Chen Yong's face was finally fully revealed.

Those usually smiling peach blossom eyes were now as deep as two ancient wells, and the red marks at the corners of their eyes were the marks left by wearing masks for a long time, which were particularly noticeable on their pale skin.

A fine, dry line on the lower lip is proof of pursing the lips for a long time.

He stared directly at Luo Hao, the shadow cast by his eyelashes in the setting sun falling perfectly on his cheekbone, as if drawing a black outline around his eyes.

At this moment, his entire face showed signs of exhaustion from overexertion, but his eyes shone with an alarming brightness, as if he had gathered all his last strength into those two beams of light.

"If you ask me, you shouldn't wear a mask anymore, it's so stuffy. I even suspect you might have some kind of respiratory alkalosis."

"Don't change the subject." Chen Yong clearly saw through Luo Hao's little scheme. "AI won't proactively request to improve the patient's medical history. Besides, I took a look, and this patient's medical history is beyond the scope of the curriculum. Writing medical records doesn't require this kind of medical history."

"So, I think you made the request to AI privately."

"It's such a small trick, Director Feng wouldn't notice it, and no one else would know."

Luo Hao sat down next to Chen Yong and took out his phone to start smoking.

He neither agreed nor objected; he simply tapped the app silently with his finger and took a deep drag of his cigarette.

"The rest is up to the elderly to handle. By the way, how did you determine that?"

Luo Hao remained silent.

"Hey, I'm asking you a question. Tell me, I'm curious," Chen Yong asked.

"You know about quantum entanglement, right? It means that no matter how far apart two quanta are, if one is determined, the other is also determined. It's used in the field of quantum communication."

Luo Hao's explanation was very brief.

Chen Yong nodded.

"Last time we said that the old folks were considered to have ascended to a higher dimension, and I've always believed that the existing world is definitely integrated with another or countless higher-dimensional worlds. It's just that humans are at a level where they can't understand ice, so they can't discover it and can only find some small things here and there."

Just then, the medic walked in.

She greeted Luo Hao and Chen Yong when she saw them smoking at Cyber ​​Park.

"You know about the Yarlung Tsangpo River hydropower project, right?" Luo Hao's tone returned to normal, as if he were chatting with Chen Yong about a very ordinary topic, gossiping.

"I know, what's wrong?"

"Hydropower is only one aspect, and it's a very unimportant one, at least in the eyes of scientists."

"Oh?"

"It would be a waste to use an epic hydroelectric power station only for generating electricity. The construction of this project will create the best dark matter exploration environment on Earth."

This point becomes clear when you look at the application of advanced technology in the Jinping II Hydropower Station of the Yaxia Project.

"What secondary hydroelectric power station?"

"When I was studying at Peking Union Medical College, I had a good relationship with several senior students. After they graduated, they went to places far away."

To put it another way, that hydroelectric power station also uses the method of straightening bends and diverting water through tunnels to generate electricity.

After the Jinpingshan Tunnel was completed in 2008, Tsinghua University realized that it was an excellent location for conducting dark matter research and quickly contacted Yalongjiang Company to jointly build a deep-earth laboratory.

"Holy shit!" Chen Yong exclaimed in astonishment.

"Because the vertical rock cover here is 2400 meters thick, it can shield the vast majority of cosmic rays. The flux of cosmic rays is only one hundred millionth of that at ground level, making it the purest low-radiation environment available to humans."

"The Yaxia project is deeper and larger in scale, pushing the construction of deep-buried tunnel clusters to the extreme. This pioneering achievement that breaks through the boundaries of nature and engineering has the potential to build the world's deepest dark matter laboratory due to its added scientific research value."

"!!!" Chen Yong didn't expect Luo Hao to tell such an obscure piece of gossip.

“Our world is material, and in recent years, many similar laboratories have been built in China with some spectacular engineering projects,” Luo Hao said. “There is no classification level for these, and so many years have passed.”

"and then?"

"And then?" Luo Hao smiled slightly as the medic left. "Some of the things you mentioned, like the blind men and the elephant, have already yielded results in the laboratory."

(End of this chapter)