Chapter 8: Ginger is still spicy with age

Director Tan, a stomatologist's equivalent of Da Bing, holds multiple positions: among the first gaokao graduates after the system's reinstatement; former vice president and director of stomatology at a tertiary hospital; honorary doctoral supervisor at a renowned medical school in Beijing; member of the Orthodontics Committee of the Chinese Society of Stomatology; and certified instructor for multiple brace appliance brands. Yet, this old man, a self-proclaimed indifferent to fame and fortune, leaves his merits and demerits to future generations to judge, rarely discussing past honors. Instead, he often recounts his teenage years spent working in the countryside.

At the time, their Party secretary was writhing in bed with toothache, and he, untrained, grabbed a pair of sterilized carbon tongs and extracted the rotten tooth, leaving only the root. Later, he developed a herbal ointment to replace expensive toothpaste and promoted it throughout the village. But he was so young and naive that after the reform and opening-up policy, the village scoundrels patented it without his knowledge... and so on.

As for Meng Weishen, he is at most a teaching monster in the novice village in Director Tan's eyes.

Lawyer Tan looked up and down the lower half of his face, then lifted his cheeks and shifted them slightly left and right before making a preliminary assessment. "Young man, you look quite smooth and well-proportioned, and your jaw and facial structure are also very good. It's just that your left canine is a bit high and protrudes a little, and the upper teeth are a little crowded. You will get very good results with orthodontic treatment. Don't waste such a good foundation."

Meng Weishen was like seeing a miracle doctor, nodding repeatedly: "Yes, Director, I have always wanted to find Dr. Jiang for invisible braces."

Director Tan then turned to blame Jiang Ranxu: "My dear disciple, why didn't you report this patient's request in time? The correction plan requires the joint development of multiple clinics, and it's not up to you alone to decide."

Going to work while sick was already annoying enough, and Jiang Ranxu was too lazy to cooperate with the other party in playing the role of a strict teacher producing an excellent student, so he just maintained a decent fake smile.

But Meng Weishen had a very thick filter for him and had already started to defend him: "No, I told Dr. Jiang that I would have time to do it after the New Year, so I kept putting it off. As a result, I took my annual leave early, so I came here today."

"Orthodontics for adults is more complicated than for children, so we shouldn't delay this. Why not do it today? I'll be in charge, so you can be assured." Director Tan waved his hand. "You only need to pay the orthodontic plan fee now, which will not exceed 3,500 yuan in total. Once the plan is ready and you're satisfied, we can officially sign the contract."

The director knew whether it was possible or not once he made a move. Meng Weishen flew to the hospital front desk and quickly paid three thousand to purchase the hospital's orthodontic plan service.

The subsequent purchase of braces and so on will be charged separately. Director Tan continued to show the great love of the angel in white, asking Meng Weishen to find several more hospitals to come up with plans, carefully compare the pros and cons, and finally do orthodontic treatment in our hospital or not.

While Meng Weishen was taking X-rays, Director Tan signaled Jiang Ranxu to go out alone. The two of them leaned against the tiled wall of the outpatient building. The sky had already darkened, and the nearby Internet Park was lit up in circles of lights, like Christmas tree decorations.

Director Tan acted like a close friend and offered to treat Jiang Ranxu to some foreign cigarettes. Jiang Ranxu refused, preventing him from getting to the point. He just expressed some token concern for Jiang Ranxu's work and health.

"Where did you meet the client who came to give you a banner today? I thought your clients were all children. You have a natural advantage in treating children with premature ejaculation. Those young mothers were completely captivated by you the moment they saw you."

"When I was working at my previous workplace, he made a wrong appointment and ended up in the pediatric dentistry department. That's how we met."

Jiang Ranxu realized that Director Tan was looking at him and immediately stopped smiling.

"That's right. You need to have this awareness of developing new clients and keep it." Director Tan's eyes were still wandering in front of him, and he finally got to the point. "By the way, did you accept a watch just now? What kind?"

Jiang Ranxu's heart was filled with alarm. He clutched the watch face in his pocket and replied, "It's a digital watch. The market price is only a few thousand yuan. It's much worse than those brands you have."

Director Tan smiled, revealing a row of all-ceramic dentures so white they looked bluish. "Why are you so nervous? Do you think I'll take them away? I'm already old enough to not understand electronics. Keep them for yourself. This will show your patients' recognition of your abilities."

Jiang Ranxu still couldn't bear to let go of the watch face. The metal casing of the watch face was damp with sweat, making it easy to slip out of his hand. He had to hold it tighter.

"My beloved disciple, I counted today and you've received the most banners in the entire hospital. Your clinical skills are impeccable. I've also reviewed the speech you wrote for me and there's nothing that needs to be revised. Your academic level is also very professional. You're even better than I was when I was young. You'll definitely have no problem getting promoted to associate professor in two years."

“You cultivated it well.”

Director Tan is best at using the technique of first criticizing and then criticizing. You should never listen to him halfway. Jiang Ranxu had anticipated that he had bad intentions, and sure enough, Director Tan coughed twice.

"But titles and banners are all just empty talk. You need to figure out why you're doing this job."

"I'd like to hear more about it."

Director Tan rubbed his fingers together, imitating a bank teller, and raised his voice again: "Of course it's to generate revenue!"

Jiang Ranxu felt the cramping pain in his upper abdomen again. The pain had a piercing power that made it impossible for him to come up with a perfunctory excuse.

"I have a secret to generating income that I'll pass on to you. You can't rush your sales pitch, but you must act quickly. If you slow down, the other party might regret it the next day or find someone else to do it."

"I see."

"Don't just listen and not practice." Director Tan immediately gave him a task target. "You must win over today's client. Don't let him go to someone else. Otherwise, all your initial investment will be wasted, and you will cry in secret."

——

After taking dental X-rays and doing a 3D oral scan, Meng Weishen returned to Jiang Ranxu's clinic.

The fever-reducing medicine seemed to have worn off, and Jiang Ranxu suspected he had a fever again. His forehead felt like it weighed heavily, and even with his arms propped up, he was about to fall onto the table. He couldn't concentrate, only casually scanning the scanned images on the computer screen.

Meng Weishen poked his head out from the door frame: "Doctor Jiang, are you still going to do it with me? I thought your mentor was going to do it himself."

In fact, Director Tan had stopped seeing patients in person more than a decade ago, so the idea of ​​him being there was pure sales talk. Jiang Ranxu reluctantly offered an excuse: "Director Tan is probably busy writing the lecture script. I can find a way to get him here."

"Don't bother, I know you can handle it." Meng Weishen didn't step into the clinic, "But you look a little bad, you should go back and rest early. Anyway, I'm very free recently, how about we make an appointment another day?"

"Wait, don't go."

"What's wrong?"

"Some things should be made clear upfront. Since you've already paid, I'll give you the orthodontic plan as soon as possible. As for whether to do it or who to find, it's all up to you."

Meng Weishen's belief was quite firm: "I just want you to do it, I don't know anyone else well."

Jiang Ranxu raised his forehead as much as possible and exhaled deeply, "What I mean is, if you are determined to go on a blind date, you might as well not get corrections."

Of course Meng Weishen didn't understand his intention: "Why?"

"Even with invisible braces, you can still see their marks if you look closely. Plus, you have to take them off before meals and rinse your mouth afterward, which makes dating really inconvenient. Most importantly, braces can cause atrophy of the chewing muscles, leading to facial depression – what's commonly known as braces face."

Jiang Ranxu pulled out the words he had prepared long ago. Originally intended to dissuade the other party from going on a blind date, this was now being used for the opposite purpose, so it was actually quite useful.

Because it was meaningless. He was originally looking for a reasonable excuse to meet with Meng Weishen a few more times. Meeting was meaningless.

"But people on the Internet say that orthodontics can make the jaw and teeth more beautiful, and Director Tan says so too." Meng Weishen fell into thought.

"It depends on how you define beauty. Are Director Tan's all-ceramic dentures beautiful? I don't think so. It's normal for people to have some flaws. As long as they don't affect their health, flaws can also represent true beauty."

Meng Weishen seemed to understand, but also seemed to understand nothing: "It's okay, just do it for me. The worst that can happen is that my appearance will be affected a little. I know there are risks, and I will definitely not cause trouble in the hospital, really."

For some reason, his tolerance for Meng Weishen was exceptionally low today, especially his bizarre train of thought. Jiang Ranxu finally started to lose his temper. "If you don't care about your appearance, then what's the point of getting orthopedics? Can you figure it out for yourself? If you're still so confused, don't do it for now. Come back to me when you really have it figured out."

Meng Weishen was frightened by him. After a moment, he carefully asked him, "Doctor Jiang, what's wrong with you?"

"What can I do? Anyway, I'm not busy being someone's stepfather."

Meng Weishen quickly took the initiative to explain: "It's far away. This is the first time we met. I just invited someone to dinner nearby. It's all because of my manager's initiative. As soon as she heard that I wanted to go on a blind date, she immediately helped to set me up."

"Your manager passed you off as a favor."

"Not really, right? I think my sister looks quite young. You wouldn't know she's almost forty."

"Sister." Jiang Ranxu repeated sarcastically, "Do you like the sister type?"

Meng Weishen was stumped by the question, "I don't like any particular type..."

Don't seriously analyze the type of woman you like in front of him. Jiang Ranxu's headache was so severe that he could barely open his eyes. He rubbed his eye sockets vigorously, but it didn't help.

He finally struggled and said, "You were still hesitating a while ago, but suddenly you made up your mind to go on a blind date. Why?"

"There are actually many reasons, and I don't know how to put them into words," Meng Weishen said. "The most direct reason is that I got a new boss, and he's going to give me annual leave. As a result, I'm so bored now that I just want to find something to do."

"...Is it just that simple?"

Meng Weishen emphasized: "This is the direct reason. ... Oh, there is another reason, which is that I can't stand my mother's constant urging. The Chinese New Year is coming soon, and I have to find a way to perfunctorily appease her when I go home for a few days."

Jiang Ranxu was completely discouraged. He was convinced that Meng Weishen's life was a mess, and anyone who took it seriously would be asking for trouble.