Chapter 374: Steady Progress and Unexpected Miracles

“If I don’t charge you the six yuan consultation fee, you’ll probably show up next time with another gift! Fine, just pay the six yuan.”

Master Chen chuckled as he spoke.

“Haha, thank you! If big hospitals followed your example, ordinary folks wouldn’t struggle to afford treatment.”

Zhou Can paid the six yuan right there, offered Master Chen the gift, and took his leave.

Master Chen got up to see him off.

This showed he had a good impression of Zhou Can.

“No need to see me off!”

Zhou Can already felt he’d disturbed Master Chen enough by visiting so late, so he quickly turned back and urged the old man to go inside.

“The second prescription is meant to be taken over at least six months. If your body has any discomfort or the symptoms come back, don’t ignore it. You can always come to me for a follow-up.”

Master Chen reminded them both.

“Of course! May I ask—the purple-backed mayapple you mentioned as one of the two main herbs… Are you currently cultivating it yourself?” Zhou Can was very invested in this.

He always liked to prepare for the worst.

Getting both major ingredients in advance would be ideal. If they weren’t needed, it meant Su Qianqian would recover, which was best. But if push came to shove, scrambling to find them would be a headache.

It’s a lot like buying insurance—you hope you’ll never need it, but if something does happen, at least you’ve got a safety net.

“Cultivating endangered herbs like this one requires experts in forestry and botany. Here, we mainly do research on traditional medicine—not herb cultivation. At the moment, in our province, the Rui Family Herbal Base is doing well. They’re currently working on cultivating the purple-backed mayapple.”

Master Chen hesitated for a couple of seconds before finally revealing this bit of news to Zhou Can.

“Mayapple itself is already a rare wild medicinal herb. Its rhizome’s used in medicine for bruises, paralysis, joint pain, snake bites, and so on. The purple-backed mayapple is a variant—the underside of the leaf is purple, and the root, when dug up, is also purple. I’ve never actually seen it myself. According to my master, wild purple-backed mayapple grows on mountain slopes, in shrubbery, beside streams in damp shade, under bamboo forest, or in evergreen woods on limestone mountains. Regular mayapple can be found above 300 meters elevation, but the purple-backed kind is only found above 2,000 meters, on cold peaks with snowy forest soil.”

“Also, you really need to use plants that are at least three years old. Any younger and the medicinal effect just isn’t there.”

After listening, Zhou Can finally realized just how hard this main herb would be to find.

“Even if that herbal base you mentioned does manage to cultivate it, we’d still have to wait three years before it’s fit for medicine. That’s too long, too many variables—any other way to get it?”

Zhou Can desperately wished he could track down both main ingredients right away and heal his girlfriend.

“It’s always been rare. As far as I know, only Rui Enterprises is working to cultivate it. Regular mayapple is rare too, but with some effort, you could probably buy some. The purple-backed mayapple just isn’t in demand, so there’s no market for it. With so little profit, most pharmaceutical companies would never bother growing special herbs like this. Rui Enterprises only started with it because they were already cultivating mayapple.”

Master Chen shook his head—it’s all about supply and demand.

Without profit, almost no one bothers.

“Zhou, you really don’t need to get too anxious. Your girlfriend’s kidneys aren’t actually seriously damaged. By Western standards, even her diagnosis might be off. Try my regimen for a while. If her kidney qi recovers, you won’t even need any other formulas.”

Master Chen did his best to reassure them.

“Thank you so much for treating my girlfriend and answering my questions. Take care!”

Zhou Can left with his girlfriend, grateful.

If the chance came, he still decided to try reaching out to the boss of Rui Enterprises. If they’re cultivating the purple-backed mayapple, it means they at least have one wild specimen or seeds.

As for the other main herb—the Rainbow Toad, also known as the Seven-Colored Toad—history records that the last three were spotted in 1924. Since then, no one’s ever found one.

Whether his girlfriend’s kidney would be cured depended on finding these two rare ingredients, no matter how daunting the odds or price.

The next day, after work, Zhou Can spotted Director Jian from Nephrology sitting on a bench in the corridor.

As Zhou Can walked over, Director Jian stood, flashing him a grin from a distance.

He waved Zhou Can over.

“Director Jian, were you waiting just for me?”

“I wasn’t home last night, and you went out of your way to buy such precious supplements for me. Thank you! I wanted to come thank you in person—and treat you to a meal. But seriously, don’t bring me gifts again.”

Director Jian was well aware of Zhou Can’s potential. Even though he was chief physician and deputy director, Zhou Can’s future prospects would likely eclipse his own.

And in terms of character, Director Jian wasn’t as unprincipled as some might think.

A gentleman values wealth, but only if it’s earned the right way.

Making some extra money on the side is normal. Most senior doctors and nurses who have a bit of authority or skill will pick up some side income over the years.

Everyone just calls it making a little on the side.

That doesn’t mean it’s all dirty money made off scamming patients.

Maybe you get a kickback for writing prescriptions, help a pharmacy or clinic with their business, or treat a wealthy, powerful patient—then they treat you to dinners, and over time you become friends.

Maybe your family gets business or career help too. All perfectly common forms of extra income.

And after hours, nurses and doctors take on a little freelance work—which is totally legal.

It’s tough work and they earn every cent.

“It was just a gesture! I’m glad you didn’t mind. Really though, I ought to be treating you instead. If you hadn’t suggested my girlfriend see Master Chen, she’d still be suffering.”

To Zhou Can, nothing he could give Director Jian was too generous.

“Haha—I just mentioned it offhand! How’s your girlfriend doing now?”

Director Jian asked, smiling.

“She got checked yesterday. Amazingly, the illness hasn’t progressed, and more importantly, her creatinine dropped by thirty-one points! Traditional medicine is honestly a miracle. I still can’t wrap my head around how it can treat chronic kidney failure.”

Even now, Zhou Can still couldn’t figure it out.

Everything he’d learned in medicine said chronic kidney failure, once it starts, is irreversible—it only gets worse. All treatments can do is slow it down.

But after traditional medicine, his girlfriend’s condition genuinely improved.

No matter how hard he racked his brains, he couldn’t reconcile this with what he knew.

“It blows your mind, right? But honestly, it’s not that mysterious. Not every chronic kidney case can be treated with traditional medicine—it’s really person by person. Sometimes Western medicine is better, sometimes traditional medicine is. I looked closely at your girlfriend’s labs, considered her symptoms, and with my experience, just had a hunch traditional medicine would work. Lucky for us, it did.”

In other words, Su Qianqian’s case couldn’t be duplicated.

Unless some other chronic kidney failure patient was just like her—with no actual kidney damage.

“I get the gist, but I’m still a bit lost.”

Zhou Can admitted he didn’t really understand all the underlying logic.

Just the concept of balancing yin and yang in the body was mind-boggling.

“Now that we’re both off work, how about finding a good place for dinner and chatting over a meal? You gifted me such expensive supplements, I have to treat you to something good! Returning the gift would just feel petty, so please—no more gifts in the future.”

Director Jian repeated himself—the message was clear: no more gifts.

“Alright, alright, no more gifts! But I can’t join you for dinner tonight—I’ve got to meet Dr. Hu Kan in Cardiothoracic Surgery to study surgical techniques. I’ve been taking too much time off lately; he’s getting frustrated.”

Zhou Can said with an apologetic smile.

“Well, getting to learn from Dr. Hu Kan is a rare chance! Plenty of folks would envy you. Go on, take care of your business—we’ll catch up for a meal next time.”

Director Jian happily agreed.

Having Dr. Hu Kan as a mentor was a tremendous opportunity for Zhou Can.

With all the knowledge and skills he was gaining in Cardiothoracic Surgery, Zhou Can was rapidly advancing in both diagnosis and surgical ability.

After all, he worked mostly on high-difficulty operations—there were endless chances to rack up one hundred points of surgical experience.

It felt like he was picking up experience points every day.

…

Time flew by. Happy, fulfilling days always seemed to pass fastest.

Now, nearly every night after work, Zhou Can stayed at Su Qianqian’s place, living together and keeping her company.

For the sake of convenience, he bought a car.

A black Mercedes, worth more than seven hundred thousand yuan.

He wasn’t running a business or entertaining clients—just needed something practical, and this fit the bill.

As for buying some multi-million yuan supercar? That had never crossed his mind. Growing up, his parents raised him to be frugal, careful, and low-key.

They’d always said not to compare clothes or wealth, but to work on grades, savings, and actual skills.

Sports, calligraphy, foreign languages—the works.

Those carefully nurtured habits helped Zhou Can stay steady all the way.

Sure, he’d stumbled and fallen, but never badly.

You’d hardly see the bad habits of spoiled rich kids in him.

With Su Qianqian’s treatment going so well and the search for those two main herbs not so urgent, Zhou Can just quietly kept an eye out for any news.

There’s one thing worth mentioning—he’d tried arranging a meeting with the head of Rui Enterprises, but it ended in disappointment. He didn’t even make it through the gates.

He only knew the person in charge was a highly capable woman.

Her looks, her age—he had no idea.

The leader of Rui Enterprises kept an extremely low profile and had never accepted an interview. There’s no info about her in newspapers or on TV.

Without realizing it, more than seven months had passed.

Su Qianqian had gone back to the hospital twice for check-ups. Her creatinine had kept falling and her glomerular filtration rate was steadily climbing.

This was nothing short of a miracle of traditional medicine.

Zhou Can even started taking an interest in it himself. But work kept him so busy—he had so much to study, plus daily training in both rapid and steady scalpel techniques.

There was just no time to delve deeper into traditional medicine.

Before he knew it, his three-year training program ended.

Thirty-six months of hard work had paid off with a perfect result.

He’d trained in nearly every major Internal Medicine and Surgical subspecialty. Unlike other trainees who just skimmed the surface, Zhou Can always dove deep.

For others, it was basic training. For him, it was intense specialization.

He always had access to the very best teaching resources.

Even Director Tan himself mentored him for a while in Internal Medicine. And as for Director Yin Hua from Neurology—who already admired him—that went without saying.

From Zhou Can’s first day in Neurology, Director Yin Hua took it upon himself to guide him.

When passing down clinical knowledge and skills, Director Yin truly held nothing back. Zhou Can felt this difference himself.

Director Yin was much stingier teaching his graduate students—he only covered things if they came up.

When tutoring Zhou Can, though, he always gave extra attention and was far more patient.

He often used one case to branch into several, breaking down different illnesses for Zhou Can in depth.

With Director Yin’s careful mentoring, along with Zhou Can’s sharp mind and drive, he improved by leaps and bounds. After just a little more than a month, he could handle cases that stumped most grad students.

From writing orders, prescribing, to doing interventional procedures and ordering tests—he could do it all, and kept improving.

Especially when it came to diagnostic tests, Zhou Can always stuck to a strict, precise standard.

He’d only order the tests absolutely necessary—never two when one would do.

The medical tech department was never thrilled about this.

But Zhou Can stayed firm. He didn’t believe he was wrong, and with several chief physicians backing him up, he never ran into any trouble.

In the main Internal Medicine office, Director Tan set aside his work and looked at Zhou Can with warmth.

“Zhou, your training’s over. Time to start your official career. Are you really set on joining the Emergency Department?”

Director Tan was hoping to keep him on.

“Yes, I’m reporting to the Emergency Department tomorrow and starting work right away! Over the past year or so, during my training in Internal Medicine, I’m deeply grateful for your guidance and support. Without your help, I never would have learned so much here.”

Zhou Can’s heart had already been set on the Emergency Department.