Before long, Ludendorff arrived at Mu Lin’s room and invited him back to the reception room. This time, the people in the room no longer wore arrogant expressions; it seemed that the tendency to bully the weak and fear the strong was indeed a common human flaw! When they saw Mu Lin enter, everyone stood up to greet him.
A tall, thin middle-aged man dressed in a brown suit approached Mu Lin first, shaking his hands firmly while introducing himself:
“Mr. Daniel, I am Andreas, the President of the Federal Senate. There are some matters we need to clarify with you here.
Mr. Daniel, we sincerely apologize for any misunderstanding caused previously by our choice of words. We deeply regret this!
After communicating with the federal opposition parties and conducting thorough discussions, we have reached a consensus: acupuncture, as an ancient medical technique, has saved millions of lives throughout history, and therefore, it is a rigorous and scientific discipline.
Therefore, as a NATO member state, if country U is able to issue medical licenses after evaluation, these licenses should naturally be equally valid in our country, just like those of Western medicine. This debate has now become history. Now that the final obstacle has been removed, on behalf of the gentlemen from both the Federal Senate and House of Representatives, I would like to extend our early congratulations to you on the establishment of your chain of clinics in the Federal Republic of Germany.”
A round of enthusiastic applause erupted from the crowd behind Andreas. After the applause had slightly subsided, he continued:
“Mr. Daniel, there is another matter we need to specially inform you about. Since country U, as a leading NATO member state, has been able to establish an acupuncture physician examination system suitable for its own nation, then surely our Federal Republic of Germany can also develop an acupuncture physician examination system tailored to our own national circumstances.
And you, Mr. Daniel! After our thorough evaluation, we believe you are not only a senior traditional Chinese medicine acupuncturist, but also a physician with profound expertise in Western medicine. You are a medical expert with both exceptional medical skills and high ethical standards. Therefore, the German Federal Medical Council specially appoints you as the Chief Examiner of the Acupuncture Physician Licensing Committee under the German Federal Medical Council.
Congratulations to you, Mr. Daniel!” Andreas said solemnly while extending both of his hands.
“Could there actually be such good news?” Mu Lin and Xiao Laipi simultaneously whispered to each other, exchanging glances.
Mu Lin quickly stepped forward, grasped Andreas’s hands firmly, and said with a sincere smile:
“I am deeply grateful for the trust all of you have placed in me! I will do my utmost to contribute to the acupuncture physician examination system in your country. I also sincerely appreciate the honor you have bestowed upon me!”
“Is there anything else we can do for you? We would be more than happy to assist,” Ludendorff said to Mu Lin after their handshake had ended.
“Oh! Next, I will arrange for some acupuncture physicians from the headquarters clinic in country U to come to your country. At the same time, I will also recruit a majority of local Western medicine doctors to prepare for the clinic’s opening.
However, as you know, there are currently no trained acupuncture physicians in Western countries. According to the regulations in country U, these physicians can be selected from students at several designated traditional Chinese medicine colleges in China.
These students, both those already in country U and those yet to arrive, have not yet resided there for the full three years required for permanent residency, so they have not obtained green cards yet. Since country U processes these physicians under its ‘introducing outstanding talents’ passport program, we hope your country can follow the same procedure to address the current shortage of acupuncture physicians.
I don’t want anyone to use the passport issue as an excuse later on. Otherwise, merely lacking acupuncture physicians would prevent the clinic from opening normally. Perhaps, due to the shortage of acupuncturists, the noble lives of some of the gentlemen present could even be at risk!
I believe none of the gentlemen here would wish to see such a regrettable situation occur, would you?” Mu Lin solemnly presented his second request.
“Not a problem at all, Mr. Daniel! Since country U can process things under such conditions, I believe our country’s people will also be very willing to do the same! Moreover, as the Chief Examiner of the Federal Acupuncture Physician Licensing Committee, you will have full authority to propose such clauses when drafting the examination regulations!” Andreas readily agreed. Then, hesitating slightly, he added, “However…”
“Oh! Do you have any concerns, Mr. Andreas?” Seeing the hesitation, Mu Lin naturally understood that the other party probably wanted to raise some conditions. Since they had already fully agreed to his conditions, why not directly ask and relieve their worries?
“It’s just that… Mr. Daniel, I heard that in your clinics in country U, you offer two free treatments per month for ordinary citizens. I was wondering if we could also follow this practice here?” Ludendorff answered on behalf of Andreas.
“Oh! That’s exactly how we planned to operate here when we decided to open a clinic! I thought it was some big issue!” Mu Lin answered candidly, noticing that the people in front of him visibly relaxed.
“But there’s another request… We hope Mr. Daniel won’t think us too forward!” Ludendorff asked somewhat awkwardly.
“Go ahead!” Mu Lin was slightly impatient now—why were these people so hesitant?
“You see, as politicians and public officials, many of us don’t earn very high salaries. Therefore, we hope that the medical costs at your clinic could be covered by insurance funds. For other patients, you can set your own fees. Would that be acceptable to you?” Ludendorff asked carefully.
“I see!” Mu Lin began to think deeply. He hadn’t seriously considered this issue before.
In country U, his main intention had been to earn money from wealthy individuals and businessmen. Now, he realized he had indeed overlooked some aspects. After a long moment of contemplation, he finally made a decision.
“I can agree to your request! However, I also have a condition: our clinic reserves the full right to investigate all patient circumstances prior to treatment, and patients cannot refuse this. Of course, we will only be investigating their financial status.
Secondly, our clinic reserves the right to refuse treatment to any public official or politician who holds hostility toward our clinic. As you know what happened in country U, I hope you can understand this.
Thirdly, the pricing for acupuncture treatments at our clinic must be determined by us. I hope you can reach an agreement with the medical insurance companies regarding this matter.
If you agree to all these conditions, I see no reason to refuse your reasonable request! Isn’t that right?” Mu Lin replied with a smiling expression.
Finally, the other party all broke into victorious smiles and broke into enthusiastic applause. It was clear they had fully accepted his response.
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