Chapter 50 Two Interviews (Two-in-One) Fresh Blood...
Mingxintang opens at one in the afternoon. Seeing someone waiting outside the clinic early, Shen Jiang naturally thought that this was a patient who came to see her.
Unexpectedly, the woman turned out to be a Chinese medicine practitioner applying for a job. Her face was haggard, even the foundation couldn't hide it; it was obvious she'd suffered some kind of trauma.
"You said you wanted to work here with your child?"
Shen Jiang was a little surprised, and her hand holding the key to open the door paused. She didn't expect that she would hear such an incredible request.
Obviously, the woman in front of her just thought she was an employee working here, so she easily confessed the truth.
"I really can't help it. Her father died in an accident, and now she cries when she can't see me. I took her to see a doctor, and he said it was mild anxiety disorder. If I send her to her grandmother's house in the countryside during this period, she might develop psychological problems. I wanted to bring her to work with me, but I was fired by my previous company. My daughter is actually very well-behaved. She doesn't cry or make a fuss as long as I'm around. Do you think your boss would agree to let me bring her to work?"
Shen Jiang looked down at the little girl named Huanhuan, who was timid and trying her best to hide her small body behind her mother. Her big, watery eyes made her look like a quiet kitten, and she didn't look like she would cause any trouble.
Shen Jiang could tell that He Mei's voice was filled with obvious anxiety and struggle. After experiencing the successive blows of losing her husband and losing her job, she felt a little depressed.
This made Shen Jiang think of himself.
Maybe He Mei is experiencing a life called cannon fodder, but no one knows whose supporting role she is.
"Our boss really likes children. If your daughter is well behaved, she might agree. But..."
"But what?" He Mei asked hurriedly.
"But our boss really values professionalism. Why don't you come in with me first and I'll see if you can meet her requirements."
The boss Shen Jiang was referring to was none other than her grandmother. Logically, this meant that the real owner of Xin Tang was indeed her grandmother.
He Mei hurriedly picked up her daughter and followed her into Mingxin Hall. She hadn't expected to meet such a warm-hearted girl. Thinking of the rejections she had received in the past few days, she almost cried.
Seeing that the little girl's presence was very low, Shen Jiang simply took He Mei and her daughter to the clinic and started He Mei's interview. Of course, He Mei didn't know at this time, because she had an appointment with the boss at 2 o'clock, and Shen Jiang also admitted that the boss was someone else, so she subconsciously thought of Shen Jiang as an employee working here.
This friendly-looking girl gave her a good feeling. He Mei prayed silently in her heart, hoping that the boss would be a kind and easy-going person like the girl in front of her.
Because the medicinal materials on the Chinese medicine cabinet have labels, Shen Jiang took out 20 kinds of medicinal materials, placed them on a stainless steel plate, and gave it to He Mei to identify.
"Look, do you recognize all these herbs? Just answer them within ten minutes."
He Mei knew this wasn't a real interview, so she wasn't too nervous. Besides, even this basic knowledge wasn't difficult for her. Looking at her daughter's sweet face, He Mei calmed down, and within ten minutes, she had already pointed at the Chinese herbal medicines on the plate and recited the names of the herbs.
Shen Jiang nodded and continued, "Can you tell me the effects of these Chinese medicines?"
He Mei was clearly already in the zone, accurately reporting the effects of these herbs on the spot. After she finished speaking, the nervous expression on He Mei's face obviously faded a lot.
It can be seen that the medicinal herbs in Mingxintang are all good ones. Although the decoration of this store is very simple and even a bit outdated, these medicinal herbs are of a quality level that she has never seen in her previous store. This gave her a general understanding of the character of the owner here.
Shen Jiang was quite satisfied with her performance. After thinking for a while, he took out his grandmother's previous medical records, picked out a few obvious prescriptions and deleted and modified them, and asked He Mei to say whether there were any problems with such prescriptions, and if not, how to decoct the medicine.
"Our boss is a practical person who values professionalism." Shen Jiang's words echoed in He Mei's mind, and she couldn't help but carefully study the medical records in her hands. Now, she sincerely wanted to stay in this clinic. She also admired the girl in front of her, who was much younger than her. At such a young age, she knew more than her colleagues in her previous unit who had ten years of work experience.
A Chinese medicine pharmacist does more than simply dispense medicine. She is like a checkpoint after a doctor prescribes a prescription. If there are obvious problems with the doctor's prescription, it is very necessary for the Chinese medicine pharmacist to discover and remind the doctor in time.
As for decocting herbs, the truth is, due to the varying properties of the ingredients in Chinese medicine, decoction is a complex process. Numerous intricacies are involved, and if the herbalist can't answer or gives the wrong answer when asked by the patient, the effectiveness of the prescription can be significantly reduced. Mingxintang has always provided a decoction service to ensure the maximum efficacy of the herbs they take.
For example, turtle shells and minerals have to be decocted for an hour in advance because their medicinal properties are not easy to precipitate. Toxic herbs such as aconite and raw pinellia need to be decocted for a long time to relieve their toxicity.
Some herbs, on the other hand, are the opposite. Because they contain volatile ingredients, decocting them for too long will cause the medicinal properties to be lost, so they should be added last. For example, the cinnamon twigs in Guizhi Decoction only need to be decocted for the last 5 minutes. Not to mention other methods such as decocting them in a package, decocting them separately, or melting them.
To Shen Jiang's satisfaction, He Mei's performance was beyond her wildest dreams. She had just reviewed He Mei's resume. She only had a college degree, had been working outside at a traditional Chinese medicine clinic for years, and had even taken the college entrance exam. If she hadn't been diligently studying while working, she wouldn't have been able to answer her questions so fluently.
He Mei observed her expression and asked, "Do you think your boss would let me stay and work?"
Shen Jiang put his resume on the table and said with a smile, "I think it's okay."
He Mei felt relieved when she heard this. She had been running around for interviews these days, but because she was with her daughter, she sometimes didn't even get a chance to interview. It was a pity that the girl in front of her was not a boss, otherwise, she would have been able to settle down now.
"My base salary is 3,500 yuan per month, plus social security. My commission is calculated based on how much I dispense and how much I decoct. I get 50 cents for each dose. Besides dispensing, I also sometimes have to decoct medicine, and my commission for that is 3 yuan. Do you think this salary is acceptable?"
He Mei was a little surprised. What did this mean?
"Can you be the boss?"
Shen Jiang nodded as a matter of course. "I'm the granddaughter of the owner of this clinic, so I have the right to hire a pharmacist. But the pharmacy is very dusty, so I don't recommend leaving your child here. Instead, let her play in the backyard, and you can visit her from time to time."
He Mei was so surprised by this sudden surprise that she couldn't react. However, her surprise was accompanied by embarrassment. She smiled awkwardly and thought about it. She had just mistaken the girl in front of her for an employee. She didn't say anything she shouldn't have said.
Fortunately, except for being a little nagging when talking about her difficulties, she answered the tests fluently and didn't laugh or joke with others.
She quickly calculated in her mind that if the shop was doing well and had twenty patients a day, she would be making around 4,800 yuan a month after deducting social security. It wasn't a high salary, not as high as her previous job, but the fact that her boss agreed to let her bring her child to work was enough to make her grateful.
"This is my Chinese medicine practitioner certificate. When do you think I can come to work?"
As if she was afraid that Shen Jiang would go back on her word, He Mei took out a bunch of certificates on the spot, including her completion certificate, degree certificate, pharmacist qualification certificate, etc.
"If it's convenient for you, come to work tomorrow. The probation period is one month."
He Mei nodded hurriedly and pulled her daughter Huanhuan to thank Shen Jiang repeatedly. Although Huanhuan didn't understand, seeing her mother's excited face showing such a rare happy smile, she couldn't help but said in a baby voice, "Thank you, sister."
Shen Jiang touched her little head and took out a candy from his pocket, "Here, I'll give you some candy."
Director Chen Ping also arrived early. She arrived just as He Mei and her daughter left the house.
Mingxintang is quite far from her home and the Chinese medicine hospital, but the lights were green all the way when she drove there, so Chen Ping arrived half an hour earlier than the agreed time.
Shen Jiang took her to have a quick look at the herbs in the Chinese medicine cabinet, but didn't take her to the backyard. Even this surprised Chen Ping.
"The medicinal herbs here are all very good."
"Yes, my grandmother has high requirements for medicinal materials. The medicine that can enter Mingxin Hall will not be lower than these."
Shen Jiang thought that if Director Chen Ping saw the medicinal herbs from another world in the backyard, she would be even more surprised.
Chen Ping was quite satisfied with the place. She had originally expected to be lucky to have Cistanche deserticola here, and if the herbs were inferior, she would send patients elsewhere. Unexpectedly, the herbs here were even better than those at the Chinese Medicine Hospital. Her worries were completely unnecessary. Especially the Cistanche deserticola, she had never seen any better than the ones she had just seen.
But what Chen Ping didn't expect was that even though she was satisfied, the young girl from Mingxintang actually began to ask about the professional knowledge of Chinese medicine gynecology in a serious manner.
"Are you testing my professionalism? I see you're about the same age as my students. They wouldn't dare talk to me like that."
Chen Ping was a gentle doctor, always pleasant to everyone, but that didn't mean she had no temper. When she got angry, she looked incredibly serious, making people shudder.
After all, she was the director of the gynecology department at the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, so her presence at this small clinic was a real asset. Her appointment at the hospital was usually at the associate senior level, expensive but still hard to come by. If she were to see patients weekly, the patient registration fees and medication alone would bring the clinic a significant income. Logically, Shen Jiang should be begging her to come, but now the opposite was happening.
Chen Ping felt a little uncomfortable.
Shen Jiang wasn't frightened by her appearance. He said calmly, "Even if Elder Lu came, I would still ask these questions. If you look at the herbs in our shop, you'll know what we pursue at our clinic. It's not easy to collect these herbs. I'm not afraid of you laughing at me when I say this. My grandmother is an idealist. She raised me. We don't care about fame. We just hope that patients will be free of illness and pain after leaving here."
Chen Ping was surprised, and then burst out laughing.
"What an idealist, free from disease and pain!"
After Shen Jiang confirmed that Director Chen was qualified to work at Mingxin Hall, Chen Ping gained a completely new appreciation for Shen Jiang's medical skills. She now looked at Shen Jiang with a completely different look, gentle yet admiring. When she heard that Shen Jiang's grandmother had woken up, she said she must see her.
What kind of doctor must he be to be able to train such an excellent successor?
Shen Jiang asked curiously, "I heard that doctors are not allowed to leave the system. Will this have any impact on you?"
Chen Ping smiled and said, "Actually, many TCM experts are now going to grassroots TCM clinics to see patients, which can also alleviate the problem of long waiting times in hospitals. I just celebrated my 55th birthday last month, so I'm rehired as a retired employee starting this month. If I want, I can come to work here every day without any problem."
Shen Jiang looked at her face, which was well maintained and looked like she was in her forties. Her rosy complexion was delicate and shiny, and it was impossible to tell that she was actually ten years older.
Chen Ping knew what she was thinking as soon as she saw her reaction, and said with a smile: "Look at your baby face. When you are my age, you might be even younger."
Next is the issue of treatment.
Honestly, Shen Jiang was under considerable financial pressure. The bank loan interest was over a hundred thousand yuan, and she planned to pay it off with interest within a year. Add to that the money her grandmother had previously spent at the hospital, the cost of preparing the medicine for her younger cousin and his family, the cost of hiring a Chinese medicine practitioner, and the cost of hiring a herbalist from another world—and that wasn't even factoring in living expenses. All told, she needed to earn at least six hundred thousand yuan over the next year, or at least fifty thousand yuan per month, to avoid being unable to come up with the money if the bank pulled the plug.
Now she is paying off her loans and salaries with money borrowed from the bank.
The only consolation is that Shen Jiang hardly needs to pay Godwin for the medicinal materials purchased from the other world.
She told Director Chen that she was not pursuing money, but it was true that a penny could make a hero.
Shen Jiang didn't know the market price for a director-level expert like Chen Ping at a traditional Chinese medicine clinic, so he simply calculated the salary based on the salary his grandmother had set for him.
"You come to Mingxin Hall for half a day of consultation every week. Your base salary for half a day is 200. Since the store has a lot of expensive medicinal materials, your commission will be calculated per patient, 50 per patient. What do you think?"
Chen Ping wasn't short of money, but she wasn't a fairy who didn't care about worldly matters. Since the topic of money was coming up, she simply asked straight to the point, "How much do you plan to charge for my registration?"
You should know that her registration fee at the Chinese Medicine Hospital was based on her associate senior level, 50 yuan per appointment. However, after one of her apprentices resigned from the hospital and joined a private Chinese medicine clinic, the registration fee was raised to 100 yuan. Even so, the clinic still had a constant stream of patients. If the clinic wanted to make money, it would probably raise her registration fee even higher. After all, she could only see 20 patients at most in just half a day.
Shen Jiang said without hesitation: "Ten yuan."
"My number is only worth ten dollars?"
Wait, 20 patients, 10 yuan each, isn't that the basic salary Shen Jiang gave her? Then how does this clinic make money?
Chen Ping asked directly what Shen Jiang meant by this pricing.
Shen Jiang: "Because the medicinal materials at Mingxintang are of better quality, they are much more expensive than those at other clinics, and the registration price has always been this. Please remember to check the prices and don't accidentally prescribe too many expensive herbs for your patients."
There weren't many different kinds of medicinal herbs in the other world at the moment, so she planned to continue using her grandmother's pricing, neither raising prices excessively nor lowering them without reason. This was the safest approach and wouldn't arouse suspicion. As for the other herbs, since their costs were already there, they naturally couldn't be reduced in price either.
Chen Ping hadn't expected Shen Jiang to truly live up to her words. The young man's ability, combined with his calm demeanor, truly impressed her.
*
After finalizing the fixed consultation time at Mingxin Hall, Chen Ping called several of her old patients.
It's not that she wants to attract business for herself. Most of these patients are couples who come to her for infertility treatment, especially those who have been unable to find the medicinal herb Cistanche deserticola outside in the past six months. Chen Ping pays close attention to the situation of these people.
The reason she came to Mingxintang to see patients was originally for these patients. Therefore, she did not advertise herself elsewhere. For ordinary patients, it was enough for them to come to the Chinese Medicine Hospital to see her.
Among these patients, some have conceived through in vitro fertilization, but because the technology is expensive, especially the women have to suffer a lot, some patients are discouraged.
Wang Hong is one of the patients who has no money for IVF, but she and her husband are already saving money. By the end of next year, they plan to go to a large hospital in the capital for IVF.
Wang Hong was a little hesitant. After hearing Director Chen say that the Chinese medicine clinic where she was currently practicing had a complete range of Chinese medicinal materials, she did not directly agree to Director Chen's request to go to a Mingxintang clinic to see her this week. Instead, she asked her husband for his opinion after returning home from get off work.
Wang Hong's husband objected without hesitation: "We've taken so many medicines from her, spending nearly tens of thousands of dollars, and it's all for nothing. And why should we go to an outside clinic for treatment and prescriptions? There are so many tricks in there."
"She's a director, it shouldn't be that serious. And judging by the way she's dressed, she doesn't look like someone who's short of money."
"Who wouldn't want money? If she wasn't like this, how could she possibly dress so extravagantly on the meager salary she gets from the hospital? You better be more careful!"
Wang Hong couldn't help but think of the time when she saw Director Chen get out of a Porsche in the hospital parking lot. Come to think of it, what her husband said made a lot of sense.
Wang Hong quickly put the matter behind her.
In addition to Wang Hong, many other people also received calls from Director Chen Ping.
Guo Peng was the first patient to agree to see Dr. Chen at Mingxintang. She had consulted Dr. Chen before trying to conceive and had great confidence in his skills and character. At only 25, she wasn't in a rush to have a child, so she wasn't rushing into IVF.
After listening to Guo Peng, Xiang Ming jokingly said, "Director Chen is also preparing to go into business."
Guo Peng: "What do you mean?"
"I heard that an expert of her caliber would earn quite a bit of money working in a clinic. I'm guessing this clinic must have spent a fortune to get her. Just look at the cost of the medicine she prescribed for you this week. It's definitely not cheap."
Guo Peng rolled his eyes at him. "If you don't know her, don't talk nonsense. Director Chen is a very nice person. If she wasn't sure, she definitely wouldn't have made this call on purpose."
The next day was Saturday morning. Xiang Ming drove and rushed to Mingxintang with Guo Peng as scheduled to register for medical treatment.
This Chinese medicine clinic is far away from where they live, and is surrounded by old residential areas. The roads are narrow and the environment is poor, making it difficult to park a car.
This gradually dampened Guo Peng's originally expectant mood. Could it be that Xiang Ming's bad luck really came true?
Guo Peng got out of the car slowly, with a bad feeling in his heart.
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