When Du Heng finished his last sentence, Doctor Ma readily agreed, "Yes, I was a bit flustered just now. It was a piece of knowledge from a class over ten years ago, and I genuinely couldn't recall it. A living person without a pulse—it's impossible to even imagine. Ah, I really need to find time to review what I learned before."

Keeping it brief, Du Heng didn't dwell on the issue. He simply said, "You're busy," and left the consultation room. He still hadn't finished reviewing the materials sent by the two project teams.

He had just returned to his office and hadn't even finished with one patient when the phone he had tossed on the desk rang again. Picking it up, he saw it was Xu Pinglin, whom he hadn't seen in a long time.

"Director Xu, what made you think of calling me today?" Du Heng set aside the documents on his computer, leaned back in his chair, phone in hand, settling in for what seemed like a long chat.

On the other end of the line, Xu Pinglin laughed heartily. "President Du, you're such an important and busy man these days, too busy to think of contacting old friends. So, I had to be thick-skinned and reach out to you myself to maintain our connection."

That's just how people are. When unfamiliar with each other, they tend to be reserved and put on airs. But once they become well-acquainted, true friends, aside from directly discussing serious matters when they arise, the rest is mostly friendly banter.

And both of them were leaders. Although the duration of their leadership and the number of people they managed varied, they were both seasoned pros when it came to the art of exchanging pleasantries.

They bantered like this for a good ten minutes, remarkably without repeating themselves, both thoroughly enjoying the mutual flattery.

It wasn't until someone could be heard speaking on Xu Pinglin's end that he finally got to the point. "I have a patient here. He isn't critically ill, but he's quite tricky to deal with. Do you have time to come over today? If you can make it, I'll have someone wait for you. If you don't have time, I'll have the patient come directly to your hospital."

Du Heng glanced at the documents on his computer and decided to look at them later that afternoon. He replied, "I have time now. I'll head over shortly."

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you."

With that, Xu Pinglin hung up.

Du Heng checked the call duration: thirteen minutes. They had spent less than thirty seconds on the actual business. While it might seem like a waste of time, Du Heng felt remarkably good after their conversation.

After informing Qiu Pingzhen and Director Zheng of his plans, Du Heng kept his promise and drove directly to the Provincial First Digestion Department.

The place hadn't changed, but among the comings and goings of the medical staff, many unfamiliar faces had appeared, while a few familiar ones were gone.

Still, many people here recognized Du Heng, especially Doctor Hou and his colleagues, who knew him very well. He hadn't even found Xu Pinglin yet and ended up chatting with them for over ten minutes.

"TSK TSK. Look at you, the part-time Deputy Director, more popular than me, the Director. I'm a little jealous," Xu Pinglin said, pouring Du Heng water while teasing him as he arrived at Xu Pinglin's director's office. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Du Heng chuckled. "You can't blame me for that. You treat them as subordinates and colleagues; I treat them as friends. By the way, what about that young fellow Gu Ping? How come I haven't heard anything from him lately?"

Xu Pinglin wore a smile, looking much more composed; the sense of unease he had when he first took office last year had quietly vanished. "Gu Ping has some family matters to attend to. Besides, he probably won't be coming back."

"What do you mean?"

"His family doesn't approve of him working in this field, you see. They're planning to find him a different job. Hmm... one of those jobs with excellent prospects for both career advancement and income, yet not as exhausting as his current one."

Du Heng smacked his lips, a touch of regret in his heart.

That kid Gu Ping, although his academic qualifications weren't high and his foundation in traditional Chinese medicine wasn't great, he had a really sharp mind. You could explain most things to him once, and he'd get it.

Especially when it came to acupuncture points, that was a true gift from the Lord in Heaven; he had an extraordinary, innate talent for it.

What a pity.

But people have their own ambitions. Besides, he has better options. You can't just see someone has talent and insist they become an acupuncturist, can you? There's no such logic in the world!

Then, the two began another round of casual conversation. This time, however, it wasn't just pleasantries; they updated each other on their recent situations. Du Heng's affairs a while back, in particular, had created such a stir that even Xu Pinglin, a man from the Western Medicine Digestive Department, heard daily gossip about it, making him both happy for Du Heng and envious.

But their idle chitchat didn't last too long; after all, the patient couldn't wait forever.

"Where's the patient? Let's see the patient first. After we've handled business, we can grab lunch together," Du Heng said, seeing that it was about time and proactively bringing up the purpose of his visit.

Xu Pinglin readily agreed and continued, "Let me first tell you about the patient's condition. He's a patient with chronic gastritis, which has been recurring intermittently for over a year now.

"Each time it flares up, the pain becomes unbearable, and he can't eat, so he comes to the hospital and stays for seven or eight days. Once we get it under control and prescribe some medication, he goes home.

"But after two or three months, he inevitably returns to the hospital. Sure enough, an examination shows it has relapsed. I've really never seen a case of gastritis become so persistent, like psoriasis; it just doesn't seem to get better."

Du Heng asked, "Is the patient's diet regular? Does he drink alcohol or anything like that?"

Xu Pinglin shook his head in frustration. "This patient is an effective writer working an office job in an administrative unit. His lifestyle is incredibly regular: he works nine-to-five and never stays up late."