The apartment was a traditional one-bedroom unit of about 40 square meters, similar in type to Hengtong’s talent apartments. The only difference was that the decor was a bit dated, and the rent was 2,500 a month.
He didn’t get to meet the landlord, who was supposedly a teaching assistant at Jiang University. The landlord was busy with classes and couldn’t make it, so they agreed to meet at noon three days later to sign the lease agreement.
Chen Jue was fairly satisfied with the apartment after looking it over. He also checked it against the price listed online and saw there was no funny business.
He reached a verbal agreement with the senior who was in a hurry to sublet, added him on WeChat, and sent over a 500-yuan deposit to tentatively secure the place.
...
By the time he’d sorted out the apartment and returned to his talent apartment, the sky had already grown dark.
He had been running around all day and was completely exhausted. Chen Jue didn’t even feel like moving. He ate dinner and went upstairs to rest.
He didn’t play Flying Card or browse the internet for random info. Instead, he went online to book a ticket for the first train to Shanghai the next morning and looked up some information on Modu Dongfang Hospital.
Shaken by Fatty Bai’s sudden death, Chen Jue couldn’t help but worry about his own health conditions.
Minor issues like his hemorrhoids, frozen shoulder, and herniated disc could wait. They were already showing significant improvement thanks to exercise and his point allocations. He’d even noticed a lot of his hair slowly growing back, which he figured was because adding so many points to his [Constitution] Attribute was stimulating his hair follicles.
But the gallstone in his gallbladder hadn’t shown any significant change.
It was just as the specialist he’d seen before had said: as long as this thing didn’t act up, it was fine. But when it did, the pain would be excruciating, and it could come with many dangerous complications.
With a ticking time bomb inside him, and having just witnessed Fatty Bai die suddenly from a heart attack, how could Chen Jue possibly sleep soundly?
’The first hospital in the country with a specialized department for gallstone disease?’
’I hope they can cure me!’ Chen Jue muttered to himself as he read the information online. He also went ahead and filed the paperwork to have his health insurance cover out-of-city medical treatment.
...
The next morning, bright and early, Chen Jue finished his eye exercises upstairs and drove to Hang City East Station.
The high-speed train from Hang City to Shanghai was a direct trip that took less than an hour, making the commute incredibly convenient. Many high-level executives in the financial sector had even opted for a cross-city lifestyle.
They would work in Hang City during the day and return to Shanghai at night for parties and banquets, living the high life.
Of course, if he had been able to book a specialist appointment at Modu Dongfang Hospital online, Chen Jue wouldn’t have had to go so early.
Many of the big-shot hospitals were all the same. If you didn’t have connections, you had to queue up in person to get an appointment, even if you had the money.
He rested his eyes for a while on the train, and when the arrival announcement played, he disembarked with a large crowd of business travelers and tourists.
He had been to Shanghai a few times for work training and conferences before, so he wasn’t a stranger to the city.
He transferred subway lines a few times, experiencing the packed morning rush on the Shanghai subway firsthand. By the time he reached Dongfang Hospital, it was already a little after 8:00 AM.
The hospital was incredibly busy, with people bustling to and fro. The lines at the registration windows were long, so Chen Jue went to a self-service kiosk to get an appointment.
But when he selected the specialist clinic for gallstone disease, the number of people already in the queue made Chen Jue’s jaw drop.
’There are 736 people ahead of me in the queue?!?’
’Are you kidding me? If this is for a regular appointment, I probably won’t be seen until next week!’
’As expected of the country’s number one specialty clinic,’ Chen Jue thought. He had no choice but to ask a volunteer at the information desk and then hurried over to the VIP clinic next door to pay to jump the queue.
He’d come all the way to Shanghai for treatment; now wasn’t the time to be cheap.
For Chen Jue, his health was the most important thing at the moment.
As luck would have it, he managed to snag the very last 300-yuan VIP specialist appointment.
The even more expensive slots—the 500-yuan one for the department head, the 1,000-yuan one for the hospital’s vice director, and the 3,000-yuan one for the director—were all sold out.
There was even a TV crew conducting interviews at the entrance of the VIP clinic. The whole scene was ridiculously high-profile.
After about a half-hour wait, his number was called. The doctor who received him was a man in his forties.
His registration info showed the physician’s name was Xu Ping’an. He had a PhD in medicine, had been a visiting scholar abroad, was a specially recruited talent, and had been the lead surgeon in over ten thousand operations—he had a whole string of titles.
Chen Jue handed over his previous medical records. After looking them over and asking a few questions about Chen Jue’s history of flare-ups, Xu Ping’an immediately ordered a CT scan.
Conditions like gallstones can change over time, so doctors need to see the current state to make a proper diagnosis.
By the time Chen Jue finished the scan and got the new report, Xu Ping’an had just come out of a few surgeries. He picked up Chen Jue’s latest report, his expression turning to one of surprise. "Huh? It’s only been ten days. How did your gallstone shrink by two millimeters?"
"Is it because of the medicine I’m taking?" Chen Jue asked, a curious look on his face. Inwardly, however, his heart skipped a beat as he thought of his rapidly increasing [Constitution] Attribute.
"Ursodeoxycholic acid usually takes effect quite slowly. Its main function is to prevent new stones from forming. If medicine alone could dissolve gallstones, there’d be no need for specialists like us," Xu Ping’an said, clicking his tongue in amazement as he held the report. He then went on to explain the causes of gallstone disease and the current treatment options to Chen Jue in detail.
The causes of gallstone formation are varied, but they are mainly related to hereditary factors, a high-cholesterol diet, and habits like skipping breakfast.
In Chen Jue’s case, his previous sedentary office job had decreased his gallbladder’s contractility. This delayed the emptying of bile, causing it to build up and allowing cholesterol crystals to form, which ultimately led to his condition.
Of course, there was also a genetic component to Chen Jue’s condition. His grandmother had gallstone disease, so there was a family history.
According to Xu Ping’an, gallstones didn’t discriminate by age. Some people were just naturally prone to them, developing the blasted things in their teens or even as young children.
Gallstones also came in many types: large ones like pebbles, some like sludge, others the size of rice grains. In short, they came in all shapes and sizes, and the reasons for their formation varied from person to person. A definitive cause could only be determined by removing the stone and sending it for pathological analysis.
In the medical world today, there were only three approaches to treating gallstone disease. The first was to remove the gallbladder entirely to prevent future trouble. The second, which Dongfang Hospital championed, was to preserve the gallbladder and only remove the stones. The final option was conservative treatment: take medication and, as long as there’s no pain, leave it be.
"According to my mentor, humanity’s current medical technology isn’t actually that advanced. There are many functions of our internal organs, like the gallbladder and the appendix, that the entire medical field still doesn’t fully understand."
"So why do most hospitals advocate for removal as soon as they encounter gallstones or appendicitis? Because that’s the standard procedure everyone follows, both here and abroad. They make one cut to solve the acute issue and don’t worry about the long-term side effects or complications."
"Of course, a situation like yours, where the gallstone is shrinking... it’s not just uncommon, it’s extremely rare!"
"It might have something to do with your constitution. I see from your records that you only recently started taking ursodeoxycholic acid, so it’s possible the drug is just unusually effective for your constitution."
"If you’re not having flare-ups that cause pain or inflammation of the gallbladder, I’d recommend either having the stone removed while preserving the gallbladder, or taking the more conservative route of medication-based treatment," Xu Ping’an concluded, offering his diagnosis.
Chen Jue listened to the doctor’s opinion and sat in thought for a moment. Xu Ping’an’s words—’humanity’s current medical technology isn’t actually that advanced’ and ’there are many functions of our internal organs that the entire medical field still doesn’t fully understand’—echoed in his mind. He glanced again at the change in his gallstone’s size between the two CT reports. His decision was made.
"Dr. Xu, I’ll choose conservative treatment."