Physician's Odyssey

Chapter 909 - Only Interest Matters

Li Anbo came into his office on the fifth floor at 10 a.m. timely. A few minutes later, the Organization Chief Cai Haoxiang, Deputy Secretary Lin Zhide, Governer Luo Chuan, and Provincial Party Committee’s Secretary Cao Guangyou came in one after another and began their meeting.

Today was a small-scaled meeting for secretaries. Generally speaking, there was no way Li Anbo was eligible to participate in it.

However, the meeting today was related to him. So Li Anbo had to be present.

Li Anbo was still young. So he didn’t have a high standing in the committee. Even if they were discussing the investment project that he was responsible for, he didn’t sound a word and kept his silence. He would spin his pen and nod his head occasionally.

Li Anbo had cultivated himself well for being able to become a member of the Provincial Party Committee at such a young age. He was calm and composed.

The meeting went smoothly. Everything had already been discussed beforehand. So they were only going through the details for the province’s investment. Every year, the provincial government would send out invitations to bring in investors. Most of the content was cliche, and the only thing to note that the leader of the project would constantly change. Anyone who knew about politics would be able to analyze who was losing power.

When the meeting was about to end, Cao Guangyou suddenly turned to Li Anbo and smiled, “Since Anbo is in charge of the investment project, he must have his own thoughts. So why don’t we listen to him? It’ll be easier for us to cooperate with his work.”

Li Anbo remained calm and composed. The personnel had already been determined by the committee. So asking his opinion was just going through the formality.

However, since the Provincial Party Committee’s Secretary had asked him personally, he naturally had to give a response. He smiled, “All your ideas are great. I only have two comments about it. Firstly, we mentioned attracting internet companies, which is questionable itself. The internet is popular, but it has been in a period of recession for many years. Since Shanzhou Province failed to get involved in it back then, we can’t just follow the trend blindly. Secondly, Shanzhou Province should also pay attention to their policy developments. I think that the medical field is worth looking into. The county has been trying to reform the medical industry for years, and we can start from that. We can guide enterprises to invest and form a cluster for us to be competitive compared to other provinces.”

Cao Guangyou was just going through the formality by asking Li Anbo. But he never expected that Li Anbo would really share his thoughts. Then again, Li Anbo’s points were sharp. It didn’t involve any power distribution in the team and only mentioned the direction of the investment.

Nodding his head, Cao Guangyou replied, “What Anbo said makes sense. Not long ago, Vice-Premier Xiao gave instructions to the Vice Chief of the healthcare system in other provinces. It shows how much importance he’s putting in the reformation. How about this. Let Anbo be responsible for this matter. Since you’re confident about it, then go ahead.”

Li Anbo was just talking about it, and he didn’t expect that he would be in charge of it. He was briefly stunned before he soon realized that Cao Guangyou was trying to apply pressure on the Governor, Luo Chuan.

The Vice Chief in the healthcare system was Luo Chuan’s confidante. So if he was given the responsibility for this matter, wouldn’t he be taking power from Luo Chuan?

Li Anbo was an official that came from the Ministry of Commerce. So he had a special status and he could be exempted from participating in the internal struggle for power. However, Li Anbo knew that Cao Guangyao was trying to put him against Luo Chuan, becoming a pawn for their power struggle..

Although Li Anbo was helpless about it, he still maintained his composure.

He would have to take a side in politics. Cao Guangyao was powerful, and getting close to him would mean that Li Anbo would find someone to back him up.

When the meeting came to an end, Li Anbo returned to the office. Before he could even warm his seat, he received a call from Wang Xuan.

“What’s the matter?” Li Anbo smiled.

Standing by the window, Wang Xuan smiled, “Let me share a piece of good news with you. Su Tao is currently in Xijing City.”

“Oh? What is he trying to do here?” Li Anbo was surprised.

Wang Xuan had been paying attention to Su Tao’s movements. His cousin, Wang Jiajia, had come looking for him several times to take revenge against Su Tao. It was to the extent that Wang Xuan’s ears nearly bleed.

“He’s here for the reformation of state-owned hospitals. Vice-Premier Xiao wanted him to participate in this matter, while Ruixing Group is responsible for this matter in Shanzhou Province. So Su Tao went to Xijing City to acquire the hospitals under the Ruixing Group.” Wang Xuan replied.

“Ruixing Group? Doesn’t that belong to Qi Jiahao? Is Su Tao trying to grab it from Qi Jiahao?” Li Anbo frowned, shaking his head.

“I’m not sure about that. But I do know that he received a large sum of funds from the Ni and Ye Families.” Wang Xuan smiled.

“What do you intend to do?” Li Anbo asked.

“We’ll follow behind him and take it from him when the time comes. The reformation of state-owned hospitals is imperative. It’s a fat piece of cake and everyone wants a bite in it. So why don’t we join in?” Wang Xuan asked.

“What do you intend to do?” Li Anbo asked, pondering over the matter in the meeting.

“I asked Shu Haonan to find a businessman to invest in this project. We’ll first start in Xijing City since you’re there. You should be able to help them, right?” Wang Xuan declared, proudly.

“Are you trying to throw me into a vortex of mess?” Li Anbo smiled bitterly.

“We made a huge loss in the firearm business. So we must find an opportunity to take it back. I have already found out. Although that deal has nothing to do with Su Tao, he had indirectly caused it to happen. Su Tao was just using us to misdirect Qin Jingyu’s attention and set a trap for us.” Wang Xuan replied seriously.

Li Anbo also found out about it later, but he kept it hidden in his heart till now. With his composure, there was no way he would reveal his thoughts so easily.

Li Anbo pondered briefly and replied, “Since you want to launch an attack against Su Tao, then you have to make a long-term plan for it. The Ruixing Group has already separated those state-owned hospitals from themselves. Although Su Tao is under Vice-Premier Xiao’s instruction to take over this matter, that doesn’t mean that others can’t join in.”

“You got that right! As long as we’re always one step ahead and reach an agreement with Qi Jiahao beforehand, Su Tao’s effort will go down the drain.” Wang Xuan laughed, clapping his hands.

Li Anbo smiled. Wang Xuan’s mind was flexible, just that he was a little reckless occasionally. It was because he hadn’t experienced any setback in his life.

“Don’t forget about Qin Jingyu. He’s the person who hates Su Tao the most.” Li Anbo reminded after a brief ponder.

“I have already looked into this matter. Tong Zuoqing met with Qi Jiahao privately not long ago. As Qin Jingyu’s lackey, there’s a high possibility that Tong Zuoqing came to obstruct Su Tao’s acquisition.” Wang Xuan smiled.

“Let Qin Jingyu invest and we’re responsible for the operation. There is a high possibility of him agreeing to it.” Li Anbo nodded.

“Cooperate with Qin Jingyu? That guy’s a wolf! There’s a chance that he might turn around and bite us instead. Hasn’t he always considered you to be his opponent?” Wang Xuan was a little worried about Li Anbo’s suggestion.

“Time changes. There is only eternal interest, no eternal rivals.” Li Anbo smiled confidently. “Try and get in contact with him. I believe that he will be generous about it.”

Wang Xuan fell into silence briefly before he smiled, “You’re thorough with your thoughts. I’ll get Qin Jingyu to join in then.”

Qin Jingyu had been guarding against Li Anbo. But Li Anbo wanted to use Qin Jingyu against Su Tao, and vice-versa.

Qin Jingyu made a lot of money in his firearm business for years. So if he invested some of it and allowed his enemies to fight among themselves, wouldn’t that be great?

Li Anbo had analyzed Qin Jingyu well. There was no way Qin Jingyu would let go of such a good opportunity to let his enemies fight among themselves.

As he’d expected, Li Anbo received a message from Wang Xuan half an hour later, “He took the bait!”

Su Tao didn’t take a taxi. Instead, he took a bus to Xijing Workers Hospital. When he arrived at the bus stand, he could see the outline of the hospital building from afar. It was larger than he’d imagined. After all, the Nonferrous Metals Group used to be a famous enterprise in Xijing City. The hospital had more than 10,000 employees. Although the hospital was built barely a decade ago, it covered tens of acres, located at the center of the city.

Su Tao stood at the gate and looked at it for a long time. Looking at people walking into the hospital, he could tell that the hospital was pretty popular. So it made no sense for the hospital to suffer such great losses every year.

Compared to the outer appearance, the environment inside was great. The painting on the wall was fresh and it should’ve been done half a year ago. The chairs were also relatively new. From those details, he could tell that the management had invested a lot.

Su Tao finally realized why the hospital would lose money. By making such a huge investment to replace, there was a lot of money that people could take from it.

Su Tao visited several departments. There weren’t many specialists in the outpatient department. According to the data he received, there should be 376 staff in the hospital. But at 9.10 a.m. where it should be the busiest, not all the staff were present in their post.

He now understood why the hospital would suffer losses every year; it was probably due to the poor management.