We can get medical checkups!
Yu Xiaxing had been worrying about it just the night before. What if her tragedy had been caused by an illness? What if she lived a healthy life and still ended up getting sick?
Now that she had money, she could simply pay for a checkup herself!
But the assessment committee would never approve it if she arranged one only for herself.
So she decided to arrange comprehensive health examinations for all the teachers, staff, and students at the school.
The checkup package could be thorough. High-end, even.
Besides, spending this money couldn’t possibly directly improve the school’s teaching results or college admission rate.
And if they discovered that any of the teachers were ill, she could put them on sick leave immediately!
That would also give her an excuse to hire new teachers—and spend another sum of money!
Yu Xiaxing instantly perked up and called for her assistant.
“Lu Yanzhao, I plan to use these five million yuan for medical checkups for all the faculty, staff, and students. Find a medical examination center and put together a high-end package for me. Genetic screening, tumor screening, brain MRIs… Include everything available!”
Lu Yanzhao gave a slight nod. “Understood. I’ll contact and screen the providers as quickly as possible and prepare a proposal for you.”
“Wait!” Yu Xiaxing called after him. “Don’t just look for one. Find several and have them bid against one another! Tell them Shengde isn’t short of money. We only want the best service, the most comprehensive list of tests, and the most expensive package! We’ll choose whoever charges the most!”
Choose whoever charges the most?
She was probably trying to get the best possible medical examinations for the teachers and students.
When handling it, he would still have to consider the budget and value for money, of course. He answered, “All right.”
“Lu Yanzhao.” Yu Xiaxing called after him again.
Lu Yanzhao stopped at the door and looked back.
In a low voice, Yu Xiaxing said, “Arrange the most expensive, highest-end, and most comprehensive packages for the two of us. It’s a benefit for the board director.”
Lu Yanzhao froze for a moment. His eyes lowered, and his tone remained calm. “All right. I’ll arrange the most expensive and comprehensive package for you, but I don’t need one myself.”
Yu Xiaxing glanced at him and said coldly, “What’s wrong with you? Didn’t I tell you on your very first day that you only need to follow my instructions? Do you think you have the right to say no?”
Lu Yanzhao raised his eyes. His tea-brown gaze rested on her, and some emotion flashed through it too quickly to identify.
After a long moment, he lowered his head. “All right. Thank you, Board Director Yu.”
He turned and left, gently closing the door behind him.
Yu Xiaxing sat in her chair and spun around happily.
This time, she would definitely be able to spend the money. She might even be able to make the school cover a little of the cost from its own accounts…
—
Lu Yanzhao was frighteningly efficient.
The arrangements were completed the next day.
“The examination packages for you and me are the most comprehensive. As for the other faculty, staff, and students, everyone will be treated equally…”
Yu Xiaxing took his report directly from him and flipped to the end to look at the total budget.
4.79 million yuan?
Not bad. There was only a tiny bit left unspent. That was acceptable.
“Fine! We’ll go with this!” she declared. “Sign the contract today and put the arrangements into effect. Have every class’s teachers and students go for their examinations during class hours. The entire school must finish within three days!”
“All right.” Lu Yanzhao accepted the order and prepared to leave.
How should she spend the rest of the money…?
Oh, right. She could keep spending it on this matter.
Yu Xiaxing called after him again. “Also, draft a notice stating that if any faculty or staff member, or any student from a financially disadvantaged family, is found to have a serious illness during these examinations, the school will provide medical assistance.”
Lu Yanzhao’s grip tightened slightly around the folder in his hand.
He stood where he was and didn’t move for a long time.
After waiting several seconds without hearing a response, Yu Xiaxing looked up at him. “What is it? You didn’t hear me?”
Lu Yanzhao kept his head lowered. The loose strands of hair over his forehead hid his eyes behind his glasses.
Yu Xiaxing couldn’t see his expression. She could only see his fingers tightening around the folder.
“Lu Yanzhao?” she asked, puzzled.
Lu Yanzhao drew a deep breath and slowly raised his head. His eyes were slightly red, but his expression remained calm.
In an even voice, he said, “Understood. I’ll add it to the notice. Does Board Director Yu have any other instructions?”
“No. Go ahead.”
Lu Yanzhao gave a slight nod, turned around, and hurried out of the office.
—
In the corridor, Lu Yanzhao walked quickly to an empty corner and rubbed his stinging eyes hard.
His vision blurred.
He remembered a summer many years ago, damp and sweltering.
His father had collapsed at the factory. After being taken to the hospital, he was diagnosed with stage-three pneumoconiosis.
His mother worked at an electronics factory and had been exposed to harmful solvents for years. Her white blood cell count had remained below normal for as long as anyone could remember.
Their factories also provided “annual physical examinations,” but they were only the most basic kind—draw some blood, take their blood pressure, and go through the motions.
His father had been coughing for years, yet his examination reports had always said only: “Further examination recommended.”
The medical examination center had been bribed by the factory. They never told him directly that he had pneumoconiosis.
It wasn’t until they could no longer endure it that they spent their own money at a major hospital and finally learned what was really wrong.
Then came the long battle for justice.
The factory refused to acknowledge responsibility, claiming it was “a matter of individual constitution.”
There were labor arbitration hearings, one after another.
His parents dragged their sick bodies to the courts and the factory repeatedly, begging for an official recognition that their illnesses were work-related.
He had still been in elementary school back then. Every day after class, he went to the hospital to sit with them, then delivered documents to the law firm and waited outside the factory for the person in charge.
He remembered how gaunt his father had become. Even lying in the hospital bed, he still comforted them.
“Don’t worry. I’ve asked the lawyer. This illness was caused by my work, so the factory will definitely take responsibility…”
In the end, the judgment did rule that the factory was responsible for his parents’ illnesses.
But the factory simply delayed paying. They stalled, appealed again and again, and kept dragging things out until his parents died.
The small sum they finally offered was barely enough to cover the funeral expenses.
That manager had even said, “The factory has done everything it could.”
He became an orphan.
Fortunately, Yu Zheng had sponsored and raised him.
Now, Yu Xiaxing wanted him to arrange the most expensive medical examinations available. She even wanted the school to provide medical assistance to students and faculty who couldn’t afford treatment.
Dad, Mom… if someone like her had sheltered you back then, would everything have turned out differently?
Lu Yanzhao closed his eyes. The moisture in them slowly faded, and he soon returned to his usual calm, unreadable self.
He would make sure the medical examinations were arranged properly for his employer.
—
Yu Xiaxing had an exceptionally busy week.
On Monday, she argued with the principal about the five-day school week and evening self-study. On Tuesday, she finalized the examination packages. Starting that very day, medical examination vehicles arrived at the school in a grand procession, taking the entire school population for checkups in batches over the next three days.
Naturally, she herself underwent the most comprehensive expedited examination package.
Even in her spare time, she didn’t idle.
She kept stirring things up in the parents’ group chat, encouraging the parents who were unhappy about the students having weekends off to report her.
Several of them actually did!
They even called the education authorities to complain!
She loved them to death!
Even her grandfather had sighed in the group chat and commented, “Xingxing, you’ve been rather aggressive this week. Giving high school students weekends off really isn’t appropriate. And that five-million-yuan operating bonus—you spent it all just like that. It was far too impulsive.”
Yu Xiaxing had even whined pitifully, “Aaaah, I was wrong. I won’t dare do it again.”
Then she ignored him and continued doing exactly what she was doing.
And so, Thursday afternoon arrived without incident. Yu Xiaxing received her freshly printed medical examination report.
Curled up on the sofa in her office, she nervously opened it…
