The Surgeon's Studio

Panda Novel

The municipal police dismantled the organized crime group who kidnapped babies to scam hospitals in record time.

The entire process took less than 24 hours.

One night, a group of people gathered in a deserted house near the city’s outskirts to eat and drink.

One of them was a medical dispute profiteer who heckled at Sea City General Hospital before. His name was Goldteeth.

He cracked open a bottle of Qingdao beer with his teeth and chugged half the bottle, beer foam streaming down the corners of his mouth.

“Tsk… Ahh…” He made a sound of satisfaction.

“Brother, thank goodness you stopped us,” a simple-looking man beside him said.

“Of course, you guys get tempted too easily. You’re just digging your own graves.” Goldteeth was a sucker for flattery. “Let me tell you guys, stay away from Sea City General Hospital. Or else, you guys will definitely be arrested. Do you want that?”

“But Sea City General Hospital has the most opportunities. We lose half the jobs without it,” another shifty-eyed guy said in frustration. “It’s all my fault. When I heard the amount they were offering with an upfront of 10,000 yuan, I just…”

“I told you guys before that Brother Six warned us not to go there anymore. Not only will you get beaten up, but he would also’ve broken my leg too.” Goldteeth then grinned and said, “If you’re not street smart, you’ll be dead in no time. Those guys got buried alive in Sea City General Hospital.”

“Brother, it’s a little weird. They came all the way from the South, conned so many hospitals, and got away with it. Why did they get caught in Sea City General Hospital?”

“I’ve asked around. You guys will be shocked by the truth.” Goldteeth downed the last mouthful of beer, his face glimmering with an oily sheen.

His few followers hovered over and started buttering him up, except for the simple-looking man who just laughed and waited for Goldteeth to reveal what had happened.

“Do you guys know who is Old Chief Physician Pan from Sea City General Hospital’s emergency department?” Goldteeth asked suspensefully.

“Isn’t he an old military doctor? I knew that a few years back, all the advertisements on utility poles were about an old military doctor’s branded medications. Is he somebody?”

“A few years back, hehe.” Goldteeth opened another bottle of beer and spat the bottle cap to the side. “Let me put it this way, if we were to make a scene in Sea City General Hospital a decade ago, Old Chief Physician Pan could call over a truck of soldiers and beat the hell out of us.” [1]

All of them were dumbfounded. They had no idea of the risks involved by pulling a stunt like that in Sea City General Hospital. However, they never experienced any radical actions taken by that old chief.

The last time they were there, they only had to take turns holding up a flag until the young masters were satisfied.

“We’re lucky that’s all in the past,” Goldteeth said as he let out a sigh. “It’ll get tougher in the future, so we need to find another way to earn money.”

1

“I see that they’re doing quite well,” one of them said. “Brother, they get a few hundred thousand for each job. That’s much more than what we ask for. I’m thinking…”

“Slap!” Goldteeth hit the back of the man’s head, almost knocking him down to the table.

“A*shole, how can we do such an evil deed? Are you blinded by money?” Goldteeth was about to hit him again but the others stopped him.

“Not many people dare to kidnap or buy sick children and use them as pawns to blackmail hospitals,” Goldteeth said emotionally. He pointed at the young man and said, “Do you wish to have a deformed son next time? Our job is to help people voice out their injustice! What those people did was immoral and wicked!”

Goldteeth berated him for several minutes.

He was aware that it was not convincing for him to claim the moral high ground.

However, their schemes paled in comparison to those organized crime groups who blackmailed and scammed their way across the country.

These guys had the audacity to buy children with birth defects from villagers at a minimal price and bring them to scam hospitals in big cities.

1

Nowadays, the reputation of hospitals was already depicted in a bad light.

Wherever they went, they would conspire with the local medical dispute profiteers to exaggerate the situation and gain attention.

They could not care less even if the child had died.

Moreover, a dead child was worth more to them since they could ask for more money.

They rarely stayed in one place. They would carry out their scheme once or twice and leave for the next location.

They would also contain the situation so that it would not attract too much public attention. If the hospital was willing to pay, they would settle peacefully.

It was no good for them if the incident blew up as they had to pull the same stunt across the country.

Their trick would fail if other hospitals were aware of them.

This was a great deal, just that it was too f*cking evil.

In this circle, only a handful of people were willing to do it. They were either sadistic punks or just desperate for money.

No wonder Goldteeth’s followers were tempted by the fast cash.

They never expected to get caught in such a deserted place like Sea City.

Goldteeth pointed to the young man with his chopsticks and said, “I pulled a few strings with a security company and found us a job in a hospital at Provincial Capital.”

“Brother, what’s so nice about being a security guard?” One of his followers said unhappily. “How’s the pay?”

“There’s no salary. Brother Six said we don’t have to come up with a single cent.”

All of them were speechless.

Why should they work if there was no salary? From what Goldteeth told them, it seemed like they even had to pay to secure the job.

What on earth was he thinking!

“Idiots!” Goldteeth exclaimed. “Stop thinking that Sea City is the entire world. It’s such a small place that everyone knows each other. People can always get referred to a doctor when they’re sick. However, in a bigger city like Provincial Capital, we can sell a couple of hundred for a ticket in the specialist outpatient department.”

Those young men’s eyes lit up.

“Brother, you meant we’re going to sell specialist appointments?”

“If we get to make a few acquaintances, we can always claim that we’re bringing our family members from our hometown for an appointment. Those specialists wouldn’t mind taking one or two more patients. We can earn money with a clear conscience,” Goldteeth said. “We won’t be able to sustain our current jobs. We have to… Yes, we’re transforming!”

“Brother, let’s go to Imperial Capital. They can sell up to several thousand for an appointment,” one of the young men said.

“Dumb*ss!” Goldteeth kicked him under the table and scolded him. “Can’t you use that tiny brain of yours? The hospitals in Imperial Capital are all under contracts with large security corporations. If you tried to compete with those security firms, I can guarantee that you wouldn’t even survive a day.”

…

Author’s note:

When I was working in Weihai from 2009 to 2010, the Chief of Medical Affairs was the warden for senior military officials. The hospital was relatively new and there were people collecting fees in the developmental zone. When they came to the hospital, the chief contacted a few trucks of soldiers and almost fought with them. I’ve also heard other legends from the local doctors and I haven’t seen the chief in person but I really respected him a lot.