Chapter 625: A New Beginning: Overhauling the Pharmaceutical Division

Company shares: Zhou Can holds 60%, Mr. Li has 40%.

Zhou Can has absolute control over the company, which is exactly what the higher-ups insisted on. What’s interesting is, Director Zhu and the others approve of Zhou Can. Since Zhou Can is part of the medical system, they’ve always considered him one of their own.

Mr. Li, on the other hand, comes from outside the industry. He’s seen as an outsider.

If Zhou Can hadn’t insisted on bringing Mr. Li on board—and if it hadn’t been confirmed that Mr. Li was a retired soldier—the higher-ups probably wouldn’t have agreed so easily.

After all, Tuyu’s Pharmaceutical Division is one of the last remaining strongholds of traditional Chinese medicine.

Back in those war-torn, chaotic times, it was no small feat to preserve centuries-old techniques and countless herbal formulas.

Once the acquisition was complete, the very first thing Zhou Can did was start recruiting management personnel.

Meanwhile, Mr. Li set out to find the perfect piece of land. The plan was to build an integrated complex with storage, medicine production, R&D, and offices all in one place. Acquiring land and constructing buildings both require serious funding.

Still, there’s no way around it—it has to be done.

The contract signed with Tuyu Hospital clearly states that within six months, they have to move and vacate all the spaces the Pharmaceutical Division currently occupies.

This is actually a major part of Tuyu Hospital’s development strategy.

As Tuyu Hospital has grown rapidly, its reputation’s soared and business is booming. Every department needs more wards, more operating rooms, more treatment areas, more offices, more medical tech rooms—the list keeps growing.

In a place where every inch of land is precious, buying and demolishing neighboring houses to expand the hospital is an incredibly costly endeavor.

And demolition isn’t easy, either.

The hospital’s leadership is left to solve these problems on their own.

By selling off the chronically unprofitable Pharmaceutical Division in one go, they could free up a huge amount of space.

Most of the buildings used by the Pharmaceutical Division are the oldest on campus—cramped, low-rise, but they cover a lot of ground.

After demolition, you could easily put up three or four all-purpose towers in their place.

On his very first day in charge of the Pharmaceutical Division, Zhou Can made a point to tell Dr. Xu at noon that he needed two hours off.

He didn’t tell anyone else and headed straight for the Pharmaceutical Division.

He wanted to check out the real situation. He’d been there a few times before the acquisition, but always with hospital leaders tagging along, which made it hard to see the truth.

Anyone who’s been in the field knows how this goes.

When word gets out that leadership is coming to inspect, everyone scrambles to tidy up and put on a good face.

If a leader loves flattery and gets carried away by it, all they’ll ever see is a rosy, prosperous illusion.

His timing couldn’t have been better. Up ahead, shouting burst out from the department head’s office of the Traditional Medicine Formula Research Division.

“Can you even do this job? Do you want to work here or not? Your mom’s sick—she can just go to the hospital! Asking for three days off, have you no shame? If everyone behaved like you, how would anything get done around here? This department has had zero real achievements in years, all because you people are lazy and always looking for an excuse to slack off.”

This head’s yelling was rough—no doubt about it—but he was thinking of the company’s interests, at least.

Zhou Can stood quietly outside the office door, peeking through the crack.

Inside was a young woman, twenty-seven or twenty-eight, with long hair and her head hung low—all he could see was her delicate profile.

“Dr. Huang, if my mom wasn’t seriously ill, I wouldn’t ask for leave…”

“Enough already. I know your game—always coming up with new excuses for time off. Get back to work!”

The balding, middle-aged department head was clearly running out of patience.

“Please, Dr. Huang, just this once! Here’s a small token of my appreciation.”

The girl pulled a red envelope from her pocket.

Dr. Huang glanced at it. His face softened slightly.

“Cheng, it’s not that I want to be unkind, but you know the company’s rules. If everyone takes leave like this, the department can’t run. How about this—I’ve got business to handle now. Get back to work for now. Call me tonight around seven.”

Dr. Huang’s eyes lingered on the girl, looking her up and down.

What he said next made Zhou Can clench his fists in anger.

A low-level manager, greedy and lecherous, harassing his staff—completely unforgivable.

But was this just an isolated case or something more common?

The young woman, twenty-seven or twenty-eight, obviously knew how the world worked.

Being told to see Dr. Huang at night just to get leave—he clearly had bad intentions.

Her face turned pale, lips pressed together.

“Fine… I’ll call you around seven then.”

She left the red envelope and got ready to go.

“Wait a second!”

Dr. Huang stood, scooped up the red envelope and grabbed her hand, forcing it back into her grip.

Honestly, he could’ve handed the red envelope back without taking her hand.

There was no need to grope her under the pretense of being considerate.

Zhou Can felt sick to his stomach.

The girl panicked, struggling to break free, but didn’t dare cross Dr. Huang completely. She looked like she wanted to scream but just bit her tongue.

Flustered, she rushed out of the office.

Zhou Can followed right after her.

After her initial panic, the young woman sensed someone following her and immediately grew alert.

She glanced back to see a complete stranger.

He had a bright, handsome face.

A far cry from the greasy, creepy Dr. Huang.

“Trying to get time off, aren’t you?”

“Who are you?”

She eyed him warily.

“I’m the person who can actually get you that leave.”

Zhou Can flashed a wide grin.

“But you need to give me a legitimate reason. Is your mom really sick?”

“Why should I trust you?”

She kept her guard up.

“It’s simple. Tell me why you need time off. If your reason’s legitimate, I’ll make sure you get it. You won’t have to ‘report’ to Dr. Huang tonight.”

Zhou Can said it like it was nothing.

“Even if I can’t help, telling me your reason doesn’t cost you anything. If you really don’t want to, there’s nothing I can do.”

With that, Zhou Can turned to leave.

The old push-and-pull strategy worked like a charm.

“Wait! I can tell you.”

She still didn’t know who Zhou Can was, but for some reason his easy smile didn’t feel threatening.

【A stable, veteran novel app—just as good as the old Book Chasing Artifact. All hardcore readers are using huanyuanapp.org as a source.】

As long as she stayed wary, she wouldn’t be easy to fool.

If Zhou Can tried to ask her for money, she’d just refuse.

“Let’s talk over there. It’s about your family, and there’s less chance anyone will eavesdrop.”

Zhou Can pointed toward the end of the corridor.

“All right!”

She nodded and agreed.

They walked to the end of the corridor. Gazing out the window, they could see part of the Tuyu Medical College campus.

Zhou Can had studied here for five years. He really did miss those days.

Now, in the blink of an eye, he’d been working at Tuyu Hospital for several years.

His status had risen quickly. He’d even heard that many junior students looked up to him as a role model.

“I’m my parents’ only daughter. My dad had a construction accident years ago and lost his right leg, so he can only walk with a crutch. Just a few days ago, my family called and said my mom was seriously ill. She wanted me to come home as soon as I could. Then this morning, I heard my mom collapsed, and I’ve been a mess ever since. But Dr. Huang wouldn’t approve my leave.”

She wiped away her tears as she spoke.

“Are you telling the truth?”

“Yes!”

She bit her lip and nodded hard.

“What’s your name?”

“Cheng Xiaolu.”

“If you get leave and go home, what’s your plan? Oh, and where’s your family from?”

When he asked for her address, she hesitated, then replied, “A little mountain village in Huofeng County. My parents worked themselves to the bone to send me to college, but now I can’t even be there to take care of them…”

She started tearing up again.

Turning away, she silently wiped her eyes.

Zhou Can knew just how tough life was for kids from rural families. So many young people threw themselves into their studies fueled by dreams, only to end up chasing work in the city.

Taking care of family didn’t always work out. It wasn’t for lack of trying—the realities of life just made it impossible to do both.

If you focus on home, you risk losing your job.

“All right. Go back to work for now. Oh, and give me your phone number if you can—it’ll save me the trouble of looking it up.”

After hearing her story, Zhou Can had already decided to help.

Now that he owns the Pharmaceutical Division, he’s got the power over everyone there.

But instead of barging into the office to deal with Dr. Huang and fire him on the spot, he held back.

Years of leadership had taught him to keep a cool head when handling problems.

Taking down one Dr. Huang won’t change anything if there are still others like him hiding in the department. To really get results, you have to clear out all the bad apples.

The girl hesitated for about seven or eight seconds before finally giving Zhou Can her number.

“Who are you, really? Can you actually help me?”

She still doubted his identity.

“Don’t worry about it. Just focus on your work for now. By the way, do you plan to bring your mom to the provincial capital for treatment or what’s the next step?”

“I’m not sure yet. But I get the feeling my mom’s illness isn’t minor—if the county hospital can’t handle it, we’ll have to go to the capital.”

“Hmm… All right, if you run into trouble, just come to the Emergency Department at Tuyu Hospital and ask for Dr. Zhou. He’ll do everything he can for you.”

With that, Zhou Can finally left to continue inspecting the Pharmaceutical Division.

Everywhere he looked, the problems were shocking.

The Pharmaceutical Division had deep-rooted issues.

Especially among management—some were competent, others hopelessly unqualified.

Back in the Emergency Department, he didn’t waste any time. He started recruiting immediately.

As soon as word got out that Han Soul Pharmaceuticals was hiring two deputy general managers and eight department heads, the applications flooded in. Most were highly educated, young professionals just a couple years out of college.

Their resumes showed they’d worked only for small businesses or startups—hardly anyone had real experience at a top company.

That was far from what Zhou Can wanted in his recruits.

Currently, there were basically two kinds of managers in the Pharmaceutical Division: those promoted from technical roles, and…

Kind of like clinicians who become research group leaders, operating room heads, or experts in a subdivision.

The other kind either had connections or transferred in straight from administration.

Before, the Pharmaceutical Division was managed by Tuyu Hospital. Those administrative old-timers thrived, bossing around technical staff and using their tiny bit of authority to make life difficult.

They were a huge deadweight for the department.

Zhou Can wanted to grab real power first, then clean out these old bureaucrats.

If Han Soul Pharmaceuticals was ever going to turn a profit, keep developing new drugs, and carry on the torch of traditional medicine, it needed top management talent.

In any company, managers’ salaries are usually the highest.

Unless someone makes a huge technical breakthrough for the company—that’s the only time they might earn more than management.

Just goes to show how important good management is.

As for that girl, Cheng Xiaolu, Zhou Can had already told her she could take leave.

Wasn’t Dr. Huang scheming something? No problem—Zhou Can went straight to Dr. Huang’s boss.

A higher rank trumps all—it’s enough to keep Dr. Huang from hassling her any further.

Honestly, people like Dr. Huang deserve to be kicked to the curb.

Her dad was disabled, her mom desperately ill—she asked for time off just to take care of them. That’s filial piety, plain and simple.

For a family like theirs, serious illness is already disaster enough.

Instead of feeling any sympathy, Dr. Huang tried to take advantage of her. Using her leave request as leverage to prey on her… that’s beneath contempt.

When it comes down to it, there’s just no excusing behavior like his.

The matter passed quickly.

Each day, Zhou Can kept busy in the Emergency Department, Pediatrics, Cardiothoracic Surgery, and other departments.

His appointment letter for Attending Physician came right on schedule.

Doctors usually wait eagerly for a contract like this—but for Zhou Can, it came easily.

He was genuinely happy as he picked up the appointment letter.

Colleagues like Du Leng and Gao Jian, who joined around the same time as him, had already made the leap to senior roles. They were now striving for associate chief titles.

Zhou Can scrambled to catch up, but finally made it to Attending Physician.

Even though his medical skills were already at Chief Physician level and climbing, the title still carried weight—it’s official recognition from the state.

He’d started out as a Resident Doctor, so for higher-level surgeries he always needed a superior’s name on the paperwork.

Now as an Attending, he could officially lead first- and second-tier surgeries, and even participate in higher-level procedures alongside senior doctors.

That was a massive step forward.

What’s more, with the promotion came new job responsibilities and better benefits.

Teaching opportunities, too—many great doctors began teaching only after they became Attending Physicians.

“Dr. Zhou, there’s a girl outside looking for you,” a nurse poked her head in and told Zhou Can in the office.

“Where is she?”

“At the triage desk.”

“All right, I’ll go meet her.”

Zhou Can carefully put away his appointment letter, planning to take it home later. Getting this before marriage—he was thrilled.