Chapter 37 - 25: The Beauty Controversy

At this time, another patient came to make a complaint. Zhou Wenbin habitually avoided such situations, using the excuse of a meeting at the hospital to let Cheng Xiaohong handle it.Currently, an unwritten rule has formed in the medical department: if a male patient complains, Xu Chunliang handles it; if a female patient complains, it’s Cheng Xiaohong’s responsibility. Old Zhou is still in charge of meetings, and he would not personally step in unless absolutely necessary.

The complaining patient is named Tong Meili, a cashier at a local government gas station. She came to file a complaint against the Changxing Medical Beauty Center. Last month, she had eyelid surgery at Changxing Medical Beauty Center and was very dissatisfied with the results. She believes it was a surgical accident and that her face has been ruined.

This was not the first time Cheng Xiaohong had dealt with her. Last time, she participated in a consultation at the Medical Beauty Center. The Cosmetic Department believed the surgical results and recovery were good, with no surgical errors, let alone the disfigurement the patient described. They informed the patient that there is a recovery period and advised her to be patient and wait for the final recovery results.

Tong Meili expressed understanding at the time, but after returning home, she repeatedly called the 12345 hotline to complain about the Changxing Medical Beauty Center, generating a very negative social impact. Cheng Xiaohong later personally accompanied her to the Dongzhou City Medical Dispute Mediation Center for mediation, but Tong Meili still did not accept it, believing that the city mediation center was colluding with Changxing Hospital.

Cheng Xiaohong, with a smile, invited Tong Meili into the office and poured her a cup of tea: "Sister Tong, what brings you here today?"

Tong Meili pointed to her eyes and said, "Take a good look at my eyes."

Cheng Xiaohong widened her eyes to look at her. To be honest, Tong Meili’s appearance did not quite match her name. At forty, she already looked tired, her skin dull, and the corners of her eyes lined with crow’s feet. She came to the Changxing Hospital Cosmetic Department for eyelid surgery to enhance her looks.

To be fair, her double eyelid surgery was quite successful, looking very natural, but it didn’t seem to have improved her appearance much. After all, the foundation was there, and eyelid surgery couldn’t provide a complete transformation in looks.

Cheng Xiaohong had undergone the same surgery, so she had some authority on the matter.

"It looks pretty good!"

"You’re speaking lies with your eyes open; can’t you see my eyes are lopsided? Can’t you see I don’t look as good as before?"

Cheng Xiaohong stared at her for a while longer but genuinely couldn’t see the lopsidedness: "Sister Tong, I think the recovery is going quite well." Cheng was being cautious with her words; to be honest, she didn’t see much beauty in her face.

Tong Meili sneered, "Of course, you’d side with your colleagues, but you can’t lie through your teeth. I might have had single eyelids before, but I wasn’t bad-looking. After pulling my eyelids at your Medical Beauty Center, my eyes became lopsided. At first, you said it needed a recovery period; now it’s been more than a month, and not only have I not recovered, but my eyes have gotten uglier, and even my husband doesn’t want to look at me."

"Sister Tong, isn’t that a bit too much?"

"Isn’t it serious? You need to give me an explanation today, or I will expose this to the whole world, and I’ll expose you all!"

Cheng Xiaohong urged her to calm down, planning to invite someone from the Medical Beauty Center to explain to Tong Meili.

Tong Meili replied, "Fine, call them all over. The one who operated on me was Cai Rongjuan. And don’t think I don’t know your hospital’s Cosmetic Department is privately contracted. You cheated me out of so much money and left me looking neither human nor ghost. I won’t let this go."

Xu Chunliang took a look at her; this Tong Meili wasn’t anything to write home about. Pulling double eyelids wasn’t a thing in their time; one ought to cherish what their parents gave them instead of just cutting into it. But even if Tong Meili hadn’t gone under the knife, she wouldn’t have been much to look at. He couldn’t understand why natural wasn’t good enough, that they had to go for modifications, wasn’t medical beauty just a body fake project?

Cheng Xiaohong asked Tong Meili to wait in the mediation room next door for a while, as there were some things she couldn’t say in front of the patient.

Cheng Xiaohong first called the Medical Beauty Center’s director, Cai Rongjuan. Cai Rongjuan was in surgery and would be available in half an hour. Changxing Medical Beauty Center was a contracted department, operated by Zeng Hongwen, a Min Nan native, where many have turned contracted departments into industries.

Zeng Hongwen stated that he was not convenient to come over and asked the medical department to handle it for now; ultimately, it should be up to Cai Rongjuan to step in.

Cheng Xiaohong felt somewhat frustrated hanging up the phone, complaining that the people at the Medical Beauty Center were very troublesome. People were complaining about them, and they didn’t seem to care, always pushing everything to the medical department. The key problem was that the Medical Beauty Center operated on a partnership basis, making the issue tricky to handle.

Xu Chunliang said, "That woman making trouble is not pretty either."

Cheng Xiaohong glanced outside the door, asked Xu Chunliang to come over, and showed him the before-and-after photos of Tong Meili on the computer. Xu Chunliang compared the photos and concluded she looked slightly worse after the surgery than before. The so-called size difference in her eyes wasn’t very noticeable.

Cheng Xiaohong said, "The head of the Cosmetic Department, Cai Rongjuan, is Tan Guoliang’s wife. You could say they’ve been quite unlucky lately. Old Tan’s issue just got resolved, and now his wife is in trouble."

Xu Chunliang, hearing about this connection, sneered, "Tan Guoliang is so capable; let him solve it himself. Our medical department shouldn’t get involved in this mess."

Cheng Xiaohong said, "You don’t know the relationship here. The Cosmetic Department is third-party contracted. If the hospital is at fault, compensation falls on the third party, but our Changxing Hospital’s reputation will definitely suffer. Xiaoxu, help me make a trip to the Medical Beauty Center."

"What are you doing?"

"To see if Cai Rongjuan is in surgery. She believes she shouldn’t bear responsibility and is very passive about this matter. If she doesn’t come forward, it’s hard for us to negotiate."

Xu Chunliang knew Cheng Xiaohong had to stay to deal with Tong Meili, so he agreed.

On his way, he encountered Deputy Dean Geng Wenxiu leading a group of administrative personnel on an inspection in the hospital. According to the division of responsibilities, outpatient care was under her charge, with routine inspections twice a week.

Since they faced each other, Xu Chunliang greeted her out of politeness.

"Hello, Dean Geng!"

Geng Wenxiu didn’t even glance at him, stepping forward with a puffed chest, always maintaining her superior demeanor.

Xu Chunliang felt a bit depressed, thinking such a tiny official had such arrogance. Even the big boss of the hospital, Gu Houyi, wasn’t as pretentious as her. Back in the days when I led a congregation of a hundred thousand, I wasn’t as arrogant as you.

After walking past, Geng Wenxiu adjusted her glasses and asked the head of the conduct office, Li Qiaoyan, "Who was that just now?"

Li Qiaoyan replied, "Oh, the new officer in the medical office, Xu Chunliang."

"Xu Chunliang?" Geng Wenxiu repeated the name, not realizing at that moment the influence this young man would have on her future life. Cai Rongjuan had quite a reputation in the beauty industry of Dongzhou City, having been sent for public training in South Korea years ago, where she learned some advanced cosmetic techniques.

After Min Nan businessman Zeng Hongwen took over the cosmetic department, he had been partnering well with Cai Rongjuan, investing significantly in her image development.

Cai Rongjuan was passionate about social activities, also serving as a district CPPCC member and a member of a democratic party. She always paid great attention to her attire and had a rather proud temperament.

Even though Xu Chunliang hadn’t been at Changxing for long, he noticed the clear class distinctions within the small Changxing Hospital, with these classes defined by position and wealth. In the medical section, young doctors generally earned little, even if they managed a ward independently. Becoming a team leader was a qualitative leap, and climbing to a deputy director or director raised incomes significantly.

In any era, wealth provides confidence, so that saying about rich arrogance holds truth.

Cheng Xiaohong understood Cai Rongjuan quite well; she hadn’t gone to surgery. Generally, the cosmetic department rarely scheduled surgeries in the afternoon, and even if they did, Cai Rongjuan seldom participated personally.

When Xu Chunliang arrived at her office, Cai Rongjuan was chatting with a woman dressed like a noblewoman. Seeing him push the door open, her exquisitely made-up face immediately became stern: "Who let you in? Get out!" Some directors in the hospital always had big tempers, believing themselves superior within the hospital.

Xu Chunliang had knocked, but no one responded, hence he pushed the door open.

Undaunted by her aggressive demeanor, Xu Chunliang looked at Cai Rongjuan and asked, "Are you Cai Rongjuan?"

Cai Rongjuan was stunned. Seeing Xu Chunliang in the hospital uniform, she assumed he was a junior staff member she usually disregarded. For a junior to directly call her by name was too bold.

The noblewoman chatting with her also sensed the odd atmosphere and, with a smile, said, "Director Cai, since you’re busy, I’ll leave for now."

Cai Rongjuan felt a bit awkward, but this awkwardness was her own doing. If she hadn’t been so overbearing, Xu Chunliang wouldn’t have taken the subsequent action.

Xu Chunliang didn’t care about her status as a cosmetic department director. "Aren’t you arrogant? I’ll show you the consequence of arrogance: I’m from the medical office; a patient has filed a complaint about your surgery accident. The patient is waiting for you there. I’m here to ask you to come and resolve your issue."

Cai Rongjuan’s face reddened, showing no regard for saving her any dignity. Didn’t this youngster know she was entertaining a distinguished guest? Wasn’t this statement a direct slap in her face?

Hearing Xu Chunliang’s words, the noblewoman no longer wished to stay, picking up her Hermes handbag and bidding farewell.

Cai Rongjuan intended to see her off, but the guest waved her off, quickly leaving.

Cai Rongjuan’s face turned gloomy, "What do you mean by saying such things in front of my patient?"

"I don’t mean anything, just stating facts and notifying you. It’s best you realize we’re helping you handle the issue. If you won’t go, I can take it as you refusing our medical office’s coordination, leaving the patient to communicate with you directly." Xu Chunliang said and then walked off briskly.