Chapter 394 - 360: Get Lost
Lu Jiu’s idea was not a sudden impulse.
It was just that Ying Deshuang made him more certain of his direction.
Lu Jiu TCM Hospital is currently developing, but development always comes to an end.
What should be done next when one day Lu Jiu TCM Hospital successfully controls the medical market in Jianghan?
Advance into other counties and cities?
Dream on!
Without the policy of the national pilot city, without the support of the Jianghan local government, and without the connections of people like Huang Fusheng,
there would be no room for development at all.
Blindly going to other counties and cities, no matter how useful your model is to doctors, in the end, it will only lead to destruction.
And when someone wants to imitate their systematic model to build a hospital, it might take ages. At the current speed of Lu Jiu TCM Hospital, it will reach a bottleneck in Jianghan in less than two years.
If we can’t go out for now, then we can only let others come in.
"Huangpu Military Academy, huh? This is interesting. You want Jianghan to become a place all Chinese medicine practitioners across the nation aspire to, right?" Peng Yan said with a smile.
Lu Jiu replied, "It’s a long and arduous journey, environment, physician quality, and patient numbers, none of which can be lacking."
Right now, Lu Jiu TCM Hospital serves not only the locals of Jianghan City, but also quite a few people from other places come to seek treatment, and the number is not small.
Especially from the surrounding counties and cities of Jianghan City, a special influx of people.
Even now, the hospital’s medicinal diet department has expanded two or three-fold, with over thirty chefs hired, yet it still can’t meet the overwhelming demand.
It can be said that with the scale expansion of Lu Jiu TCM Hospital, the number of patients has also significantly increased.
More than a month ago, they diagnosed about eight to nine thousand patients daily.
But now, after the doctors from Wei Medical Academy joined in for consultations and the medicinal diet department was fully expanded, the daily patient numbers at Lu Jiu TCM Hospital have reached about thirteen thousand.
This figure is evidently approaching closer and closer to Jianghan People’s Hospital.
"To achieve this goal, our hospital’s patient numbers must reach fifty thousand, which is basically the standard of a provincial-level hospital. Currently, the number of doctors might only support up to thirty thousand. Take Jinling Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine as an example, there are about five hundred doctors alone, and the total staff reaches thousands."
"According to our hospital standards, the number of doctors needs to be more because we have completely set aside medical equipment, and income departments are mostly integrated with doctor diagnosis. Thus, to achieve a fifty-thousand daily consultation volume, we’d need at least a thousand TCM practitioners, and including other staff members, the hospital’s total number would likely reach four to five thousand."
"By then, our hospital might become the largest in the nation among all Chinese medicine institutions; but having just numbers is not enough. There must also be titles. If you could become a National Master of Chinese Medicine like Elder Huang, hahaha, then probably that would be nearly there." Peng Yan chuckled.
Throughout the TCM industry, only one hundred and twenty people hold the title of National Master of Chinese Medicine.
In recent years, some of them have passed away, and now there are only sixty-one left.
Moreover, most National Masters of Chinese Medicine are over seventy years old.
The title is assessed once every five years, selecting thirty people each time.
The selection criteria are stringent, requiring not only medical skill and ethics but also significant contributions and social influence.
Lu Jiu’s current medical skills and ethics certainly pass, but his contributions and social influence are insufficient.
If he were to be evaluated as a National Master of Chinese Medicine, it would truly be an insult to the title.
Because there are many other more outstanding TCM practitioners nationally who have made far greater contributions than Lu Jiu.
For example, Shen Congwei, with his contributions in educating TCM students and managing Jinling Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, has treated more patients over decades than Lu Jiu.
Even he hasn’t been elected, so how could Lu Jiu be eligible?
"Anyway, this isn’t something to rush. I just want the hospital to move in this direction; whether it happens or not, we’ll see later," Lu Jiu said.
He definitely isn’t thinking about becoming a National Master of Chinese Medicine.
No chance.
The Huangpu Military Academy of the TCM world, this is just his vision.
If it succeeds, great; if not, there’s no loss.
Focusing on cultivating TCM expertise is definitely the right path.
...
In a blink, more than half a month had passed.
Lu Heng and his father had come to Lu Jiu TCM Hospital once again.
This time, Lu Heng’s father, Lu Shujun, was in a completely different state.
Although he was still sitting in a wheelchair, his facial muscles had returned to normal and his neck had regained strength.
According to his own account, after persisting with the traditional Chinese medicine for more than twenty days, he felt like his entire body had been unshackled. His muscles no longer cramped, and the occasional soreness in his body had disappeared. He regained the ability to control his upper body.
Now his hands could perform simple movements like picking up and putting down objects.
The father and son excitedly talked about the changes over these days, and as they chatted, Lu Shujun himself burst into tears.
But they were tears of joy, not sadness.
Even his son’s eyes grew moist.
Patients in the consultation room, upon learning that the older gentleman in a wheelchair was actually suffering from ALS, were also shocked.
Especially those who traveled from afar to see Lu Jiu.
But such occurrences were quite frequent, happening every day in Lu Jiu’s consultation room.
Every time a new patient arrives, they’re always surprised that Lu Jiu can actually cure terminal illnesses.
In fact, what is termed a terminal illness is just a mindset imposed by the outside world.
The essence is that it’s incurable, and they can’t figure out how the disease originated, so even covering up the symptoms during treatment isn’t possible, thus it’s defined as a terminal illness.
Actually, as long as the body has the instinct to save itself, no matter what the disease is, there’s always a solution.
And this instinct is when the gastric Qi is still present.
In traditional Chinese medicine, there’s only one scenario considered terminal, and that’s when the patient has lost their gastric Qi.
This isn’t because the patient wants to die, but because their Five Viscera and Six Bowels want to die.
In such a situation, traditional Chinese medicine has no solution whatsoever.
Because the core principle of traditional Chinese medicine is to help the Five Viscera and Six Bowels restore their function, but if they don’t want to live, then there’s absolutely no saving them.
After this follow-up visit, Lu Jiu continued to reduce the dosage of raw aconite and prescribed a month’s worth of medicine for Lu Shujun.
After father and son received their medicine, they happily left.
With their departure, the new patients in the clinic also felt more confident.
Just as Lu Jiu was preparing to see the next patient, a nurse suddenly walked in.
"Dean Lu, someone called our hospital, saying he has a business proposal to discuss with you. He’s waiting outside our hospital right now."
Lu Jiu asked, puzzled, "Did he say what kind of business?"
The nurse shook her head, "No."
Lu Jiu asked again, "What’s his identity?"
The nurse shook her head, "He didn’t say, he just mentioned it’s about our hospital and asked me to inform you immediately."
Lu Jiu said, "Alright, I got it, let him wait outside, I’ll see the patients first."
During his clinic hours, he allowed no interruptions.
Especially not for business matters.
No identity given, no content revealed, no sincerity at all—what’s the point.
Soon, several hours of clinic ended.
Lu Jiu was also off duty.
Just as he finished packing up and was leaving the hospital.
At the hospital entrance, a middle-aged man was staring at the main gate of Lu Jiu TCM Hospital, and the moment he saw Lu Jiu coming out of the hospital.
The middle-aged man straightened his collar, jogged forward with a beaming smile, "Dean Lu, Dean Lu..."
Hearing the call, Lu Jiu looked at the middle-aged man, rather puzzled, "Sorry, I’ve already clocked out today. If you need a consultation, please register for tomorrow."
The middle-aged man chuckled, "You’ve misunderstood, Dean Lu. I’m not here for a consultation, I’m here to discuss business."
Lu Jiu suddenly realized, "So you’re the one who called?"
The middle-aged man laughed, "Yes, it’s me, my name is Song Wenlu, I work in the healthcare sector. I’ve been observing your hospital over the past few days, and I think it’s remarkable, so I wanted to discuss a business proposition with you."
Lu Jiu asked, "What business?"
Song Wenlu smiled, "Why don’t we find a place to discuss this in detail?"
Lu Jiu said, "No need, I’m in a hurry, just say it here."
Song Wenlu forced a smile, "Well, it’s a bit complicated, not easy to explain here."
Lu Jiu wasn’t very interested in the first place—after all, their hospital lacked nothing, and there was no need to discuss any business with outsiders. "Then forget it, I have other matters, goodbye."
Seeing that Lu Jiu didn’t want to talk, Song Wenlu quickly said, "Hey? Dean Lu, don’t leave. Let me be brief, I find your hospital quite impressive. Are you interested in selling it at a good price?"
Hmm?
Lu Jiu paused and looked at Song Wenlu with a not-so-friendly expression, "What do you mean?"
Song Wenlu smiled, "I believe that Dean Lu must have put a lot of effort into managing this hospital. But in my view, no matter how much this hospital develops, it won’t expand beyond Jianghan City. However, your hospital model is very replicable, and if it could be established in a larger city, the potential would be far greater."
"Therefore, I can invest to acquire your hospital, giving you enough capital to start another hospital like this elsewhere. How does that sound?"
Crazy!
Not wanting to engage, Lu Jiu turned to leave.
Seeing that Lu Jiu was still uninterested, Song Wenlu urgently shouted, "Two hundred million, I’ll pay two hundred million."
Hearing this number, Lu Jiu halted.
Seeing an opportunity, Song Wenlu pressed on, "As long as you agree to sell, I’ll immediately give you two hundred million in cash. With this amount, you could open an even bigger and better hospital."
But after Song Wenlu finished speaking, Lu Jiu still didn’t turn around and continued walking away.
Song Wenlu frowned. Not tempted by two hundred million?
He quickly jogged forward with a smile still on his face, "Dean Lu, we’re talking about two hundred million here. Given your hospital’s current market value, reaching fifty million would be tough. Aren’t four times your price very appealing? These days, who isn’t working for money, right?"
"How about this, it’s still two hundred million, and I only take a sixty percent stake. Do you think..."
Before Song Wenlu could finish, he was cut off by Lu Jiu suddenly shouting at him with a cold glare.
"Get lost!"
...
