Two million in revenue for a TCM department with zero patients is simply an astronomical figure. He certainly wouldn't be able to achieve it, but this proposal...
Lu Yi looked at the crowd, their faces full of complexity and dilemma, and felt puzzled.
Two million in revenue, three months, averaging twenty-two thousand a day, seeing two hundred patients a day, at an average cost of one hundred yuan per person.
This shouldn't be hard to achieve, right?
"Do you all agree?"
Zhao Jinliang pondered for a moment and looked at the crowd. He did not look at Lu Yi, as he also knew the TCM department could not complete it.
"Agreed."
Everyone raised their hands one by one, their expressions conflicted.
With the TCM department sharing the burden, the revenue quota assigned to each department would decrease by one or two hundred thousand. At the very least, it was better than the first proposal!
"Good! Since that's the case, then it's two million for each department. Does anyone else have an objection?"
Zhao Jinliang slapped the table, a smug smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"Aim for the best to get the average, the ancients never lied to me."
He had deliberately thrown out a proposal that no one could accept, with the goal of forcing them to come up with one themselves. No matter what the proposal was, as long as everyone accepted it, that was all that mattered!
"I have an objection!"
Lu Yi raised his hand.
*Swish!*
Everyone looked at him in confusion.
Zhao Jinliang frowned as he looked at Lu Yi and asked, "Do you think the revenue quota assigned to the TCM department is too high?"
"No."
Lu Yi skillfully adjusted his mouth to a perfect curve, revealing eight teeth, making his smile look even more cordial and charming. "I wanted to ask if there are any extra bonuses for exceeding the revenue target?"
The whole room: "..."
They all stared at Lu Yi, stunned.
Did he, from a TCM department without a single patient, actually think he could meet this two-million revenue goal?
And even exceed it?
"Doctor Lu, do you know what two million in revenue means?"
Ma Jianshan, a surgeon, asked with a condescending chuckle, looking down at Lu Yi.
"It means that if you work eight hours a day and see one patient every five minutes, you can see a maximum of one hundred patients a day. Each person would need to spend two hundred and twenty yuan on average just for you to hit two million in three months."
"What kind of person do you think would spend that much money seeing a TCM doctor?"
"Most importantly, how could your TCM department possibly have one hundred patients coming for treatment in a single day?"
"The busiest department in the hospital currently is our Surgery Department, and our daily outpatient volume is only fifty patients, hehe."
"Hehe."
The doctors from various departments also looked at each other and chuckled, their laughter laced with mockery.
*A big boat in a small gutter—pure fantasy.* He had a little bit of skill, and now that he’d just arrived, he wanted to play the hero!
One hundred patients a day? He was dreaming!
Their own departments could write requisitions for tests; a single patient getting medication and a check-up would cost hundreds of yuan, and even then, hitting two million in revenue was a long shot, let alone for the TCM department!
Facing the mockery in their laughter, Lu Yi didn't mind. He kept the smile on his face, his eyes bright as he looked at Zhao Jinliang.
He was in desperate need of money right now; he needed at least five hundred thousand by the end of the year.
Zhao Jinliang looked at Lu Yi in surprise, then glanced at the dejected crowd around him. Gritting his teeth, he said, "There is a reward! From now on, whichever department exceeds its revenue quota, the entire surplus will be issued as a year-end bonus to the doctors of that department!"
Lu Yi’s eyes lit up.
Ma Jianshan and the other doctors also found their breathing quickening.
Everything over the target goes to them?
"Alright, the heavy reward is set. Everyone, do your best. Meeting adjourned!"
Before Zhao Jinliang could even leave, the other doctors rushed out, scrambling to get home for dinner.
*There’s no status for a Community Hospital president!*
Zhao Jinliang waited helplessly for everyone to leave. Just as he was about to walk away, a hand blocked his path.
He looked at Lu Yi, who had reached out, with a puzzled expression.
"President, I have a small proposal regarding breaking the current situation where the TCM department has no patients."
"What proposal?" Zhao Jinliang asked.
Based on what just happened, he now had a clear understanding of the grinning young man before him: a guy who was extremely handsome and had some skills, but loved to spout nonsense!
"I want to go to the hospital lobby to help the nurses with triage using TCM for seven days."
"I’ll use the TCM method of 'look, listen, ask, and feel' to tell patients which department they should visit."
Lu Yi kept the perfect curve at the corners of his mouth as he spoke.
He had been in the TCM department for three days and hadn't seen a single patient. It was obvious that if he wanted to earn the bonus, sitting in the outpatient office waiting for patients wasn't going to work. He had to take the initiative!
***
**Chapter 6: Triage at the Hospital Entrance**
The moment he finished speaking, Zhao Jinliang understood what Lu Yi meant.
*Xi Shi had to go out and wash clothes by the river to meet Fan Li!*
If the patients wouldn't come, then he would go out to them!
He would show off his good looks and his TCM skills right in front of the patients!
"That’s actually a good way for the TCM department to break the deadlock."
Zhao Jinliang’s eyes brightened. "Alright, I agree. Seven days of triage!"
"Thank you, President."
Lu Yi thanked him with a smile, but the curve of his lips vanished the moment he finished.
Whether he could get that bonus depended on the first shot he fired this afternoon!
***
"Did you hear? That young guy who just joined the TCM department asked the President to let him go to the lobby triage desk this afternoon to perform triage on patients using TCM—and for seven days straight, no less."
At 1:57 PM, the attending physicians from every department appeared at the entrance of the Community Hospital right on time.
"I heard. A perfectly good doctor, and he’s young, yet he wants to go steal the nurses' work. It’s embarrassing!"
"Exactly!"
"Actually," Ma Jianshan, the surgeon, said with a chuckle as he walked toward the hospital building, "he calls it triage? I think he just wants to divert the patients! Seven days in a row; he’s young, but he’s got a lot of tricks up his sleeve!"
*Divert?*
The attending physicians all felt a sudden tightness in their chests, but the next second, their brows relaxed and they couldn't help but sneer inwardly.
*Too young, too simple! Does he really think patients coming to a community hospital are that easy to divert?*
"Nowadays, how many patients go to the triage desk anyway? They all register directly for their departments. Let’s just wait and watch the joke!"
The group arrived at the lobby and happened to see a group of nurses enthusiastically surrounding Lu Yi, helping him carry the triage table from the lobby toward the entrance.
Everyone was stunned.
Except for Ma Jianshan, who was the most handsome, when had they ever seen the hospital nurses be this enthusiastic?
Usually, they wouldn't even give them a good look when asked for a favor. Why had they suddenly changed their tune today?
*Wait, that's not the lobby triage desk. Where are they taking it?*
The group watched as the nurses ignored them and Ma Jianshan, placing the triage table directly at the entrance.
*Triage at the entrance?*
Ma Jianshan looked at the nurses circling Lu Yi, chatting and laughing—nurses who had clearly reapplied their makeup at lunch—and his eyelid twitched.
He then exchanged a sneering look with the others. *They really think changing locations will let them divert patients? What a joke!*
*We'll be waiting to see you fall flat on your face!*
***
At 2:00 PM, the autumn air was cool.
At the hospital entrance, a white triage table held a striking sign with black characters on a red background: "Triage Station—Specialized TCM Triage."
Two young nurses, one plump and one thin, sat on either side, their faces flushed with youthful energy. They looked awkward, their eyes occasionally drifting toward Lu Yi’s perfect profile, and they even pulled out their phones to sneak a few photos.
After moving the table, they had volunteered to stay as triage nurses just to be near Lu Yi, acting like human billboards.
Lu Yi sat behind the triage desk with a smile, looking at the courtyard in front of the hospital building. The view was excellent.
Patients would see his triage desk as soon as they walked in.
Just then, the first patient walked in.
Lu Yi straightened his posture immediately, looking at the first patient with full expectation.
The first patient arrived.
He paused upon seeing the good-looking Lu Yi behind the triage desk, and then ignored all three of them and walked into the lobby...
The second person arrived.
The third, the fourth... One minute, two minutes...
Twenty minutes passed.
Dozens of patients had passed by, and seven or eight cars had parked in the courtyard. Not one person came up for triage. At most, they would glance over with curiosity before turning their heads and entering the lobby, leaving Lu Yi and the two nurses to stand in the wind, disheveled.
Lu Yi couldn't help but frown. This was a bit different from what he had imagined.
"Haha, nobody, huh!"
Up on the second floor of the hospital, the doctors of various departments had appeared at different windows simultaneously, their gazes all fixed on Lu Yi’s lonely triage table.
"Doctor Lu really doesn't understand the nature of the patients at this Community Hospital. They're all from the surrounding neighborhood. They’re more familiar with this place than their own homes; they don't need triage at all! Haha!"
"The idea was beautiful, but reality is harsh. His medical skills might be alright, but he’s too arrogant for his age. Now he knows what reality is! Patients aren't like that bunch of ignorant nurses who only care about looks!"
"Won't it be funny if we all end up getting bonuses, and he’s the only one taking the fall for the President? Haha..."
"Possible!"
They were chatting happily in a WeChat group made up of a dozen attending physicians.
Meanwhile, by the window of the third-floor office.
President Zhao Jinliang was also frowning as he looked at the triage desk at the entrance. He had been watching for ten minutes. Dozens of patients had passed by, and although a few middle-aged women had clearly looked tempted, not a single patient had come up for triage.
Taking the initiative clearly wasn't working!
"Sigh, it seems the development of the TCM department still has a long, hard road ahead!"
He sighed helplessly and turned back to his desk to continue writing his speech on the development of the Community Hospital’s TCM department.
Tomorrow afternoon, the presidents of all the community hospitals were going to the Health Bureau for a meeting to report on the progress of their TCM departments over the past three months.
The other community hospitals were bustling with their TCM department construction, while his place was deathly quiet. It looked like he was going to lose face at the Health Bureau this time!
***
"Can't wait anymore. I have to take the initiative."
Lu Yi’s eyes flashed with determination.
Twenty-five minutes had passed, and batch after batch of people had walked past him, yet no one had come up for triage.
*Take the initiative?*
The two nurses, who were in the middle of sneaking photos of Lu Yi, had their expressions change. They quickly looked up to warn him: "Doctor Lu, our community hospital is different from other hospitals. You can't just drag patients over for triage—they’ll start cursing at you!"
Lu Yi smiled slightly without explaining. With a thought, his *true qi* instantly flooded his eyes, and he looked at a woman ten meters away. After a few glances, he understood everything.
"Voice hoarse and strained. This person has caught a cold, damaging her throat."
He tore off a sticky note and wrote: "Sore throat."
After folding it, he handed it to the plump nurse beside him. "Could you please take this note to that woman in the plaid shirt over there?"
The plump nurse, Xu Lan, was stunned and took the note, confused.
By now, Lu Yi’s gaze had moved to the second person at the entrance.
"Complexion pale, slightly dark, figure on the heavier side. She frowned unconsciously when she spoke. Liver depression and spleen deficiency."
He quickly wrote on a second sticky note: "Dizziness, cold hands and feet."
After folding it, he handed it to the second, thinner nurse.
"Could you please give this to that man in the black leather boots?"
The thin nurse, Miao Ningning, was also stunned. The two nurses looked at each other, then stood up, curious and happy to do as Lu Yi asked.
In the distance, the man and the woman took the notes from the nurses, confused. They opened them, and were suddenly dumbfounded.
Then, they looked at Lu Yi with shock and suspicion.
But Lu Yi didn't stop.
"Yang serves the Yin, the fetus's spine is facing outward, leading to a pointed belly. It should be a boy."
Lu Yi was just about to write "boy" when he suddenly remembered that revealing the sex of an unborn child was not allowed, so he immediately looked at the fourth person.
"Nose slightly yellow. Spleen transport and transformation function is insufficient. Diarrhea."
...
In just a few short minutes, Lu Yi had written over thirty notes.
The courtyard was now full of people. They had all stopped in their tracks, standing in the wind, looking at Lu Yi with bewildered eyes.
Just then, the panting plump nurse, Xu Lan, handed a note to a middle-aged man with a flat-top haircut who had just stepped out of a Mercedes-Maybach.
Zhang Liang first looked around at the crowd, confused, then opened the note. It only had two words written on it: *Toothache.*
The simple two words caused Zhang Liang’s gaze to freeze instantly.
He looked around vigilantly, saw Lu Yi constantly writing and the nurses constantly delivering notes, and suddenly understood. He walked quickly to the triage desk, staring at Lu Yi, and asked, "How did you know I had a toothache?"
As soon as these words were spoken, it was like a pebble thrown into a lake; the entire courtyard of the Community Hospital instantly erupted.
"Yeah! How did you know I had diarrhea?"
"How did you know I had a sore throat?"
"How did you know I was dizzy?"
Hearing the sounds from all around, the scene fell into silence once again.
Everyone looked at each other in shock, their eyes full of disbelief!
*What they gave you was right too?*
*Could it be... that they're all right?*
"Are the illnesses written on the notes in your hands correct?"
Zhang Liang turned around hurriedly and asked in a loud voice.
"Yes!"
"They're all right!"
The voices rose again, without any discordant noise.
*Swish!*
Everyone’s gaze shot toward Lu Yi.
The wind blew his white coat, framing his handsome face. With his calm and quiet temperament, he looked just like a hermit master from another world.
The two nurses, Xu Lan and Miao Ningning, also looked at Lu Yi in shock.
They finally knew what was written on the notes Lu Yi had given them: it was everyone’s medical conditions!
"Mine isn't right!"
At this moment, a loud voice startled everyone.
A rough-looking man with a flushed face walked out, holding the paper in his hand and shouting loudly:
"He wrote 'beware of a stroke.' I’m so young and work in the fields every day, how could I have a stroke? I’m here to accompany..."
Before he could finish his sentence, the man’s eyes suddenly lost focus. His legs went soft, and he collapsed to the ground, white foam bubbling from his mouth.
*Whoosh!*
The people around him were startled and scattered in panic.
When they saw the middle-aged man's symptoms, everyone’s expression changed. These were clearly the signs of a stroke!
Everyone looked at Lu Yi in shock once again.
*He was right again!*
***
**Chapter 7: Miraculous Treatment!**
"Son, what's wrong with you?"
An old woman beside him knelt before the man in a panic, her eyes turning red instantly. She looked anxiously at Lu Yi, who was wearing a white coat, and begged, "Doctor, Doctor, please take a look at my son, please!"
Lu Yi’s expression turned solemn. He stood up rapidly and reached the man in a few strides.
Without the slightest hesitation, he knelt on the ground, his face calm. He reached out to loosen the man's collar, turned the man's head to the side, and used his hand to scoop out the vomit.
He then felt the pulse. The man's *cun* pulse was extremely weak, thready, and slow—the symptoms of a stroke!
Lu Yi’s expression darkened. He immediately looked at the two flustered nurses, Xu Lan and Miao Ningning, and said, "Get me acupuncture needles!"
Xu Lan was stunned. She shook her head in a panic. "The hospital doesn't seem to have acupuncture needles. The TCM department only stocks herbal medicine."
Miao Ningning also shook her head in a panic.
Lu Yi frowned. He was about to ask for the needle from a disposable syringe, but after glancing at the man’s face, he knew there was no time. With a thought, he filled his fingernails with *true qi*.
He pinched the *Renzhong* (GV26) point with such force that it bled immediately.
Then the *Baihui* (GV20) point—it bled!
The *Shixuan* points on both hands—they bled!
After finishing all this, Lu Yi checked the man on the ground and found that he was still eyes closed, unconscious.
Lu Yi frowned and hurriedly looked at the *Hegu* (LI4) points on the patient's hands. Sure enough, he saw blue veins bulging. Without a word, he pinched and broke the blue veins at the *Hegu* points.
Fresh blood flowed out in a steady stream.
"Hmm?"
The man groaned, his body suddenly twitching a few times.
*He moved!*
The onlookers were amazed to see this.
The old woman, her face filled with the vicissitudes of life, looked on with joy.
Lu Yi, his fingernails covered in fresh blood, felt his heavy heart lighten not one bit. He stared fixedly at the man.
Under normal circumstances, after bleeding these four points for a stroke emergency, the patient should have awakened. But the man on the ground was only showing a reaction without waking up, which meant the brain hemorrhage was even more severe than he had realized!
*I must drain the pooled blood from the patient's brain immediately!*
Lu Yi muttered, then looked up at the crowd and asked, "Who has a lighter!"
"I do!"
Zhang Liang squeezed through the crowd to Lu Yi and pulled out a windproof lighter.
"Who has a nail clipper?"
Lu Yi asked again.
"I do."
Miao Ningning quickly pulled out a pair of nail clippers.
"Who has alcohol in their car trunk?"
Lu Yi took the two items and asked again.
The people around looked at each other—why did he need alcohol?
Zhang Liang’s eyes also flashed with confusion, but he looked at the man on the ground and said firmly, "I do!"
He turned and headed straight for his car.
Lu Yi said to the plump nurse, Xu Lan, "Could you please go to the lobby water dispenser and get me a paper cup?"
Xu Lan was stunned and didn't understand why, but she quickly ran into the lobby and soon returned, panting, with a disposable paper cup.
At this moment, Zhang Liang squeezed through the crowd and handed Lu Yi a newly opened bottle of Feitian Moutai.
The onlookers looked at Zhang Liang in surprise—that was over three thousand yuan!
"Thank you."
Lu Yi nodded at Zhang Liang, took the alcohol and the cup, and then, in full view of everyone, quickly used the nail clippers to trim a lock of hair from the left side of the man’s forehead.
He held the hair up and burned it with the lighter.
The charred ash fell into the paper cup.
Lu Yi opened the Moutai and poured it directly into the cup.
The scene was dead silent. Everyone watched, dumbfounded. *What was he doing? Hair and alcohol?*
Lu Yi shook the cup, lifted the man’s head to rest on his lap, pinched the man’s mouth open, and poured the alcohol from the cup directly down his throat.
"What are you doing?"
Zhang Liang cried out in alarm.
The onlookers were also panicked.
*Alcohol for a stroke patient? Wouldn't that make it worse?*
The old woman also stared in shock.
Lu Yi ignored the voices. He calmly placed his other hand on the man’s stomach and rapidly injected *true qi*, allowing the alcohol mixed with the hair to be absorbed quickly by the man’s stomach.
His eyes remained fixed on the man’s reaction.
One second, two seconds...
Just as the suspicion in everyone’s hearts reached its peak—
Suddenly, an exclamation rang out.
"Ah!"
The plump nurse, Xu Lan, covered her mouth and pointed at the man on the ground.