The Young Urban Doctor

As Ling Ruonan was on the phone with Luo Ziling, inside the VIP room 401 of the hospital where Chen Ruchang was staying, Chen Ruchang was discussing matters with his two sons, Chen Yining and Chen Yijing.

The situation from yesterday’s regular meeting was already conveyed to Chen Ruchang by Lin Zeping when he visited today.

Before Lin Zeping’s visit, Chen Ruchang was not aware of the specific circumstances.

He only vaguely knew what was going on, but he was unclear about how the six people expressed their stance.

When these six people discussed the matter, there was no one else around, not even a secretary.

This was not considered an official event. In other official events, there would be records and other participants involved.

Among these six people, Ling Mingrui, Yang Yuanshan, Fang Xiang, Wu Dongfang, and Wang Zhengqiang were unlikely to inform Chen Ruchang about the matter or tell irrelevant people. Therefore, even though Chen Ruchang had many ears and eyes under his command, he was unable to promptly find out about this situation, only learning about it when Lin Zeping visited this afternoon.

After learning the news, Chen Ruchang’s expression changed. He was aware of the seriousness of the others’ stances and the immediate formation of a special investigation team heading to the Northwest.

He was even clearer about what all this meant for the Chen Family.

As long as the investigation pointed to the Chen Family’s involvement, quite a few members of the Chen Family would be in trouble, possibly implicating even him.

No one’s slate is clean; the most crucial part is whether you’ll be unfortunate or not.

When you’re not unfortunate, many of your wrongdoings are overlooked; if you’re unfortunate, everything will be dug up, with crowds of people ready to kick you when you’re down. The saying “the wall falls and everyone pushes” is not just a mere saying, but a living fact.

The other families are joining forces to take on the Chen Family, with Wang Zhengqiang looking to use this situation to consolidate his power and confront Lin Zeping.

The Chen Family panicked, and so did Lin Zeping.

Compared to Lin Zeping’s panic, the trouble the Chen Family encountered was more distressing, causing a greater level of panic.

What’s more worrying is that he just came out of surgery, and his body hasn’t recovered yet.

Every day he has to have a lot of saline drips, and his strength and spirit have not recovered.

For young people, it takes a long time to recover after major surgery, let alone an elderly person like him.

Yet, it was inevitable for Chen Ruchang to undergo surgery; with this ailment, the sooner the surgery, the better the chance of recovery.

Chen Ruchang hoped to restore his health soon, so he didn’t postpone the surgery date.

Before the surgery, he also understood that regardless of whether he underwent surgery or not, neither choice was optimal.

Postponing surgery might mean missing the best surgical opportunity, making it hard to cure the illness if it worsens; if he had surgery, without full recovery, he’d lose the capability to manage national affairs.

He decided to undergo surgery early after thinking he could handle affairs from his hospital bed like Yang Yuanshan did.

Of course, he also aimed to leverage the surgery to avoid being reproached, as residing in the hospital allowed him to use his severe condition to refuse meetings with others. Observing that he had just undergone surgery, others would certainly give him some leeway and avoid confronting him directly on certain matters.

But he did not expect them to be so shameless, discussing the still-undecided issue at a meeting he didn’t attend, and deciding to investigate and form a special team without his consent and even without informing him.

This issue was troubling, so he had to summon his two sons to discuss it.

The trio of father and sons had been deliberating for quite a while, yet they couldn’t reach a satisfactory outcome.

Chen Yining informed Chen Ruchang that it was certain someone betrayed them during this latest orchestration; otherwise, Chen Hang, Huang Guoliang, and several other key personnel wouldn’t have been apprehended.

“It’s very likely that it’s Chen Yihe and Chen Yiping causing trouble!” Chen Yining also shared his suspicion with Chen Ruchang.

“They want to seize the opportunity to attack and replace us!” Chen Yijing, who had also uncovered some clues, echoed Chen Yining’s sentiment.

After hearing this, Chen Ruchang’s face turned ashen, and he remained silent for a while.

“So, it means that previous failures were very likely due to their meddling?” Chen Ruchang asked Chen Yining.

“It should be the case!” Although Chen Yining wasn’t certain of the correlation, he still answered Chen Ruchang with a firm tone.

“Those two bastards, we’ve been too lenient with them!” Chen Ruchang angrily growled, “Once I recover, I’ll deal with them myself.”

Chen Yining and Chen Yijing didn’t respond to this statement from Chen Ruchang.

They also understood that dealing with Chen Yihe and Chen Yiping needed Chen Ruchang’s personal intervention, as the two brothers were currently serving outside, which made it inconvenient for them to act.

Chen Ruchang inquired about some other situations.

Although it was suggested that it would be best not to inform him of negative news in order to avoid aggravating him and affecting his rest, given the complexities of the situation, Chen Yining and Chen Yijing dared not hide anything, revealing many details to Chen Ruchang.

They conveyed that Ling Ruonan had returned early from Wushi and immediately went to see Ling Mingrui. They also shared that Ling Mingrui had been closely contacting Yang Yuanshan and Fang Xiang lately. After indicating this to Chen Ruchang,

Chen Yining anxiously remarked, “Dad, these days, Luo Ziling’s Weibo frequently posts messages defaming us, and they have been widely forwarded, causing a very negative impact on our reputation. Is there any way to have his Weibo account suspended? Tonight, he even exposed something related to my tenure in the ministry.”

“Suspend? Fang Xiang oversees these things, and Wu Dongfang supports them. On what grounds should we suspend it?” Chen Ruchang sneered coldly, “You can see for yourselves, this is the consequence of not being meticulous with affairs. Once truly used against you, there’s no room for redemption.”

Chen Yining felt a chill down his spine upon hearing this. “Then what should we do?”

“If the investigation ultimately traces back to our Chen Family, both of you brothers will be in trouble.” Lying on the hospital bed, Chen Ruchang cast a displeased glance at his sons standing by the bed. “You’ve already handled a mess once due to Luo Ziling, and having another incident would suggest what’s at stake. Moreover, this time, the situation is even more serious.”

Chen Yining and Chen Yijing detected the implication in Chen Ruchang’s words, which suggested that one of them might have to be sacrificed should the circumstances become desperate. Taking the initiative to admit fault would certainly be less severe than being passively scrutinized and eventually convicted.

But surely they were reluctantly to proceed in that manner.

They had been humiliated once due to Luo Ziling, and having to own up to another issue related to him would leave them with no face.

How could they carry on in the future?

Understanding his sons’ sentiments, Chen Ruchang did not impose any demands on them, but advised them to consider carefully how to tackle this matter.

At this point, a doctor and nurse intervened, insisting that Chen Ruchang needed proper rest to aid his recovery.

“You both should leave now. Go home and think it over, and tell me what you think tomorrow!” With these words, Chen Ruchang closed his eyes.