The Sweetest Medicine

“Sorry, we won’t drink wine then. Let’s just chat a little,” Lin Jiayu looked at Yu Gangan apologetically as Yu Gangan smiled. Her smile was as sweet as her name sounded.

“Have some water,” Yu Gangan said as she tipped the woman a glass.

“Thank you,” Lin Jiayu said as she accepted the water and took a sip. She then asked, “Isn’t your husband home?”

Fang Zhihan wasn’t actually Yu Gangan’s husband, so she felt her ears heat up a little. “Actually…”

She wanted to clarify everything and tell Lin Jiayu that they weren’t actually married, but Lin Jiayu cut in worriedly, “Are you two arguing again?”

Yu Gangan immediately shook her hands, “No, we aren’t.”

“You guys look like you have a good relationship…” Lin Jiayu remembered the way that they fed each other lovingly and realized she had no reason to be worried.

Yu Gangan was slightly stunned.

Did her relationship with Fang Zhihan really seem that good?

Didn’t they seem a bit distant and nothing like a married couple?!

Lin Jiayu moved away from the topic and said, “I went to see Sister Su today. She told me to tell you that the Qiao Family has their eye on your clinic.”

Yu Gangan furrowed her brows, “The Qiao Family?”

“Yes, Qiao Pan’er’s family. I found it strange too. Why would they be interested in your clinic? Perhaps it’s because everyone’s been talking about preserving Chinese medicine lately, so they want to open a traditional Chinese medicine hospital. Would you be willing to sell it to them?” Lin Jiayu asked.

Yu Gangan immediately replied, “No!”

“Then you really need to be careful,” Lin Jiayu warned.

Yu Gangan let out a laugh and asked, “If I refuse to sell it, will they force me?”

“Do you know how the Qiao Family built their business?” Lin Jiayu asked.

Yu Gangan shook her head.

“Qiao Pan’er’s father was a barefoot doctor ¹ that launched his career with a remedy; he used to own a small clinic where he sold medical patches for scabies. A few years ago, private hospitals grew in popularity, hence Qiao Pan’er’s father wanted to expand his clinic. But, he didn’t have the money. So, what did he do? He came up with an idea to move the clinic to the red light district and he paid people to deliberately spread STD’s. When these people came to consult his clinic, he didn’t care about curing them, he simply prescribed them with the most expensive medicines. Finally, he made enough money to expand his clinic into a small hospital. He then advertised that they treated all forms of illnesses: from dermatitis to STD’s. After all, it didn’t matter what condition their patients had, they prescribed the most expensive medicines anyway. They didn’t care about the diagnosis or whether they could cure these people; they used the most shameless methods to scam money from their patients. That’s how the Qiao Family ended up with a chain of hospitals.”

Yu Gangan listened with shock as a layer of sweat formed on her back, “No way! Isn’t that exploitation?”

“Yes, every cent that her family owns is made from exploiting people. For the sake of money, they would do anything,” Lin Jiayu said coldly.

After a moment, she asked, “Didn’t you study medicine? Doesn’t anyone in your industry know about this?”

Yu Gangan shook her head, “I really had no idea. Those of us in medicine simply focus on improving our skills. How do we have time to notice stuff like this? Besides, there’s no way a normal person would know about it.”

When people within the industry applied for jobs, they simply considered whether a hospital was public or private, how much they paid, whether there was potential for progression and who their mentor would be.

This was the first Yu Gangan had heard about something like this and it opened her eyes to another side of society.

It was shocking.

It was dark.

It was frightening.