The family was naturally dissatisfied upon hearing this, but the hospital truly bore no legal responsibility in this matter. They had consulted a local lawyer who said, "If you insist on pursuing this, you might be able to get some compensation—probably around ten to twenty thousand yuan."
Filial Son was delighted. Even a fly's leg has some meat on it, and they were almost reaching an agreement. Then he asked the lawyer, "How much would your legal fee be?"
The lawyer barely paused in his work and, without looking up, said, "About twenty to thirty thousand yuan."
Filial Son was furious and said, "If I win the lawsuit, how could I end up losing ten thousand yuan?"
The lawyer still didn’t look up. "The party you're suing has minimal liability, so that’s the most you can get. Even that isn’t guaranteed—it depends on the court’s ruling. You’ll only receive compensation if you win. I’d have to work hard gathering evidence and handling judicial appraisals, spending half a year on your case, only to earn twenty or thirty thousand yuan. What’s in it for me? Charity work? My legal consultations are billed by the hour. Your free consultation time is almost up. Any further questions will be charged."
Filial Son immediately fell silent. As he walked out of the law firm, he said to Virtuous Grandson, "We don’t need a lawyer to get the money. Whether it’s the central hospital or that so-called Dr. Liu, we’ll squeeze every last drop out of them."
Chen Junnan was forced to resign by the hospital. However, he wasn’t too worried about it. Unlike Liu Zhengliang, he didn’t need money to buy a house—his father was the deputy director of the Health Bureau. Resignation wasn’t the same as being fired. He was merely a matchmaker, not engaged in illegal medical practice, so his medical license wouldn’t be revoked. He could rest at home for a while and then find work at another hospital later.
But Filial Son and Virtuous Grandson hadn’t gotten any money. The central hospital had hired a lawyer to explain to them, "As the emergency treatment provider, the central hospital supported the surgery locally on humanitarian grounds. Legally speaking, when the family decided to use an external surgeon to perform the operation, they had already signed the informed consent form and liability waiver."
After droning on with the mediation opinion, the lawyer put it plainly: "You can only seek recourse from the lead surgeon. Coming after our hospital is useless. If you insist on filing a lawsuit, it will likely drag on for a year or two. Since we bear no responsibility, we won’t pay a single cent."
Filial Son thought it over and said to Virtuous Grandson, "We won’t file a lawsuit. We definitely won’t win, and we’d still have to pay legal fees. Look at the past half-month we’ve spent waging a war of attrition at the hospital in Fushun—has it been effective? They completely ignore us. We need a strategy: 'To catch the thief, first catch the king; to shoot a man, first shoot his horse.' Let’s go to Beijing and cause trouble for that Liu guy. Doesn’t he want to advance in his career? Let’s see if he can sit still. We won’t make a big scene—we’ll just hold up a banner and sit quietly. We won’t disturb anyone; we’ll just sit at the entrance of his office for ten days or half a month. Let’s see if he gives in."
Beijing was really close to Fushun. Taking the K96 train, it only took one night, and they arrived early the next morning. After exiting Beijing Station, they just needed to walk to Chongwenmen, then head north one intersection to reach Heping Hospital. Filial Son and Virtuous Grandson went straight to the Neurosurgery department and waited at the entrance for Liu Zhengliang to arrive for work.Early that morning, Liu Zhengliang went out and bought a cake for breakfast at a Meifulin Western bakery at the Dongdan intersection, bringing it to the hospital for work. As soon as he arrived, he saw the two of them sitting on the bench in the corridor outside his office, holding a banner that read: "Liu Zhengliang practices illegal medicine."
Doctors and patients passing by cast sidelong glances, and several people took out their phones to record videos, likely to post on Douyin. Two security guards stood just two or three meters away, holding riot forks.
The Filial Son said, "Dr. Liu, didn’t expect us, did you? We’re here."
Liu Zhengliang was terrified by this scene and quickly asked them to put away the banner: "Whatever it is, let’s discuss it in the office."
The Filial Son smiled and said, "How can that be? We’ll talk right here and let everyone judge. You practiced illegal medicine in Fushun and killed someone with your treatment. We’ve come to Beijing to appeal to the emperor, seeking justice. Don’t worry, security guards, we won’t resort to violence. This matter isn’t about your hospital—it’s about him privately treating patients at another hospital under the banner of your Heping Hospital and causing a death."
Liu Zhengliang hurriedly and politely invited the father and son into his office.
The Filial Son continued smiling and said, "Dr. Liu, Dr. Chen has already been fired. So, how do you plan to handle this matter?"
Liu Zhengliang could only force a pained smile and said, "Your father’s condition was truly not a medical accident caused by my surgery. Postoperative secondary bleeding was something we discussed before the operation, and you signed the informed consent form. These are all unexpected situations after surgical treatment. I understand how you and your family feel, but this really isn’t my responsibility, nor is it due to my lack of skill. It was entirely your father’s misfortune. I hope you understand—postoperative complications are beyond human control."
The Filial Son’s smile faded: "With just one word—'misfortune'—my father’s life is gone. Dr. Liu, let’s be frank. Since we’re here, we’ve already thought it through. If you had intentionally caused my father’s death, I wouldn’t be speaking to you like this. Even if you say the surgery was successful, the patient died. Can you still call that a success? Since it wasn’t successful, and our family has suffered such immense emotional loss, let’s not bother with the courts or anything complicated. Let’s settle this privately: 500,000 yuan. You give me 500,000 for emotional compensation, and I’ll return the 30,000 yuan surgery fee you paid me. I’ll act as if this never happened."
As he spoke, he took out his phone and showed Liu Zhengliang the video of him paying the money.
At that moment, Liu Zhengliang recalled Zhuge Liang’s famous line when scolding Wang Lang: "I have never seen someone so shameless." But the office was no place for an argument. Liu Zhengliang said, "Let’s talk this through calmly and avoid causing a scene. If I were to give you the money, I’d need time to gather it—I don’t have that much right now. As for the 30,000 yuan surgery fee, I’ll return it to you now."
With that, Liu Zhengliang took out his phone and transferred the money to him face-to-face. Liu Zhengliang thought to himself, even if I don’t give him the 500,000 later, returning this 30,000 might weaken his resolve to wage a prolonged legal battle against me in Beijing. He decided to treat this surgery as a bitter pill to swallow and figure out another solution later. Perhaps the demand for 500,000 was just a smokescreen, and his real goal was to get back the 30,000 yuan.Liu Zhengliang had too much faith in human goodness. He felt a tightness in his chest—this was no longer the Fushun his grandfather's generation had known. That generation had endured freezing conditions, building houses for new immigrants, giving their own cotton trousers to southern newcomers they'd just met, helping them construct homes, dig cellars, and repair toilets. When bricks ran short, they'd haul over a hundred refractory bricks from factories to build kilns for firing more. The warmth of hometown he once sensed had vanished completely. What caused this disappearance? Not poverty, nor market competition, but scarcity of opportunity. When opportunities are scarce, people struggle to see daylight, to turn their lives around. Killing themselves with work yields little difference—whether they labor more or less, the outcome remains the same. Without seeing light ahead, they inevitably develop irritating dispositions. Given any chance, who wouldn't want to live with dignity?
The next day, the father-son pair showed up uninvited again, sitting in the same spots as yesterday, silently waiting for Liu Zhengliang's work hours. After considerable persuasion, they were finally sent away. As they left, the Filial Son said: "Dr. Liu, we don't have proper jobs anyway. We can afford to wait here every day—just four steamed buns and two packs of pickled vegetables per day. I wonder if you can afford the same persistence."
Liu Zhengliang responded: "With that level of determination, if you applied it to proper work, becoming the richest person wouldn't be beyond reach."
On the third day, they arrived as expected.
On the fourth day, they appeared unexpectedly.
On the fifth day, they maintained their unwavering attendance.
On the sixth day, the Filial Son and Virtuous Grandson's disturbance at Heping Hospital trended on hot searches. The department director summoned Liu Zhengliang for a talk.
Director Wang Hao was nationally renowned—the research value of his first-author papers in The Lancet alone surpassed the combined neurosurgery research output of all hospital physicians in an economically developed eastern province. Receiving State Council special allowances in his forties, he was an idol to Liu Zhengliang and his peers. Normally commanding respect without raising his voice, he was serious and unsmiling, declined interviews, and particularly disliked doctors neglecting their primary duties. Though Heping Hospital's doctors frequently received invitations for television programs or book writing, Wang Hao detested such activities. While his department hadn't issued explicit bans, his attitude toward fame-seeking physicians made subordinates wary of pursuing visibility before mastering their craft. As he often said: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do. A doctor's fundamental duty is treating patients. If you want to write books, resign and become a professional writer."
When Liu Zhengliang entered his office, Wang Hao was holding a cup of Tieguanyin tea, gently spitting a tea leaf into his palm while drinking. After making Liu wait extensively, he finally spoke unhurriedly: "Personally, I've always disdained preaching about medical ethics. Constantly parroting 'benevolence in medicine' sounds hypocritical and affected. Why should doctors boast about their ethics? It's like editors claiming they never make typos, or lawyers bragging about memorizing legal codes—these are basic professional requirements. That's why I never mention it—it's meaningless. If a doctor can only build reputation through ethics, then their skills are inadequate. They're not cut out for this profession."
Liu Zhengliang listened intently, staring at the floor, feeling for the first time in his life that this usually amiable senior professor was delivering a final judgment through deceptively calm words.Wang Hao continued, "But medical ethics form the foundation. Though not as visible as reputation, the foundation is more crucial than any sign. What you've damaged is the hospital's very foundation. I investigated this matter—I looked into those two individuals the day they first came to the hospital. Moonlighting surgery might be tolerated elsewhere with a blind eye. People would say: after studying medicine, working at Heping Hospital, starting from doctoral level, enduring over twenty years of arduous study—in any other profession, you'd be an industry leader by now, yet in medicine you're still a junior. The pay isn't particularly high, the pressure is immense, so what's wrong with earning some extra money by performing surgeries at other hospitals? Restaurant owners can offer food delivery, so why can't doctors provide mobile surgical services? But not in my hospital."
By this point, Liu Zhengliang was sweating with shame, meekly whispering, "Director Wang, please give me a chance. I acted foolishly, I know what I did was wrong."
Director Wang smiled and said, "Keeping you is out of the question. If we retain you, within half a year our hospital would become a central kitchen, every hospital nationwide would turn into KFC or McDonald's, and our physicians would be running around the country performing moonlighting surgeries instead of seeing patients. Do you know how much it costs the nation to train one medical doctoral graduate? Do you think only your family needs money? If all our doctors went off doing moonlighting surgeries and one gets their medical license revoked after an incident, do you realize how much the country would lose? Exchange programs at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and Johns Hopkins—do you know what that investment represents? Our profession isn't like running a restaurant where we can offer delivery services. We're like the teaching profession—when you're a school teacher, you can't run private tutoring classes on the side. Otherwise, children from poor families would never have access to proper education. We're a socialist country—do you understand what socialism means? It means fairness, where anyone can receive medical care, where getting an appointment through proper channels guarantees access to the best doctors. Don't you understand this? I am giving you a chance, just not at Heping Hospital. Resign voluntarily—I won't fire you, out of respect for our years of teacher-student relationship. If those medical dispute instigators don't press charges, you might even retain your medical license and work in peripheral industries. After all, coming from Heping Hospital, you'll always be able to make a living somewhere. Of course, working at public hospitals in Beijing will be difficult—the incident has gained significant online attention, and you'll struggle to pass background checks—but you could perhaps work as a pharmaceutical representative. This is my final decision. You know my temperament, so don't test me further. Go to HR immediately to complete the procedures. From here on, our paths are unlikely to cross again."
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