Practicing Medical Skills in a Small Clinic

Chapter 375 - 192: New Location Chosen, Qinglan Requests Leave

Li Jingsheng didn’t really care about the guy from earlier.

No matter what his intentions were, he believed he could face them without fear.

This storefront definitely couldn’t be rented, and he’s been quietly searching for a suitable storefront lately.

At this point, Li Jingsheng had almost four hundred thousand yuan saved up.

This was a huge sum that he never even dared to imagine before.

He had rented this shop, worked hard for a year, and finally had the success he was experiencing now. Now the landlord suddenly wanted to take the property back. To him, it was like he had painstakingly planted a fruit tree, and just as it was about to bear fruit, the owner of the land came and snatched it away.

To put it bluntly, he planted the tree, and someone else picked the fruit.

Feeling helpless and a bit angry, but there’s nothing he could do.

When operating a business in someone else’s property, there’s always the common risk of not being able to renew the lease.

Most landlords are cunning; when signing contracts, they never sign them for long terms with you. At most, two years would be the limit.

Only banks and large companies might have the chance to sign contracts for more than five years at a time.

They have professional legal teams and huge economic backing that gives them the courage to operate in such ways.

Li Jingsheng, of course, didn’t dare.

Signing for five years at once and what if the business isn’t doing well and becomes unsustainable?

Going through some trials isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

There’s a saying that good things come to those who wait.

As long as you don’t fall to the trials, you’ll definitely become stronger.

...

At the end of the workday, Xiaogao approached.

"Boss, I have a suggestion, but I’m not sure if I should say it?"

"Say it!"

Li Jingsheng was already annoyed and didn’t have time to chat idly with him.

"You know that alleyway not far from across the street?"

"Yeah, I know. What’s up?"

"There’s a small courtyard at the alley entrance. How about we rent it as the new location for our clinic?"

"Doesn’t that courtyard have two dormitory buildings? It should have a lot of tenants now. How many rooms can our clinic rent for operation? Does it even look legit? People might not even step in, taking it for a shady clinic."

Li Jingsheng dismissed Xiaogao’s suggestion.

He’d already toured this street many times, knowing exactly which storefronts were suitable for a clinic.

That rundown courtyard wasn’t even worth considering.

"No, no, no, you should go inside and see for yourself! If we can rent the whole place for our clinic, it’ll be quite spacious. Just with some renovations, it could completely match the scale of a community hospital."

It was rare for Xiaogao to contradict Li Jingsheng.

Yet, he was adamant this time.

Seeing that the new location for the clinic was still undecided had him more anxious than his boss.

"I’ll go take a look!"

Li Jingsheng decided to check it out.

Xiaogao followed behind.

The two reached the small courtyard.

On the street side, it was walled with a fence taller than a person, with the entrance on the side alleyway. Inside were only two old buildings.

It seemed to have been an office building for a state-owned unit in the past.

But as times changed, all the units and factories in this area moved to the new city districts or outskirts.

Leaving these old buildings standing here.

The rusty iron gate wasn’t locked, just slightly ajar to let the tenants pass.

Li Jingsheng glanced at the clothes drying on the second floor.

There weren’t many.

The ground floor wasn’t even rented out and was all locked up.

Windows were tightly shut.

Being state-owned property, abandoned here, no one cared.

Or maybe it simply wasn’t worth the effort for those state units holding exclusive resources.

"Come on, let’s go up to the second floor."

There were only two floors, even the balcony railings were the old-fashioned square cement pillars.

With a layer of white lime and the bottom layer brushed with red paint.

Reaching the second floor, there was another iron gate.

At that moment, it wasn’t locked.

A middle-aged man in a white tank top, gray shorts, and flip-flops sat there holding a large glass teapot, leisurely drinking tea.

He stared ahead, a hint of worry on his face.

"Looking to rent? It’ll soon be up here, you should look elsewhere!"

The man turned his head for a glance when he noticed someone coming up.

"He’s the sub-landlord, renting the whole second floor, then subletting room by room to make some extra profit."

Xiaogao whispered to Li Jingsheng in explanation.

Apparently, Xiaogao had already scouted it out before.

"Boss, why isn’t it being renewed?"

Li Jingsheng had also heard about it.

Some students fresh out of school, with no money, rented a bed here, akin to a school dormitory.

A bed cost just over a hundred yuan a month, very cheap.

At that moment, they could still see some rooms furnished with double-decker iron beds.

"There’s no profit in it, I don’t want to do it anymore."

The sub-landlord clearly didn’t want to discuss it much, his demeanor was a bit cold.

"I’d like to give it a try. Could you provide the landlord’s contact information?"

Li Jingsheng approached, smiling as he asked.

"You’re not kidding?"

The sub-landlord turned again, surprised as he reassessed Li Jingsheng.

"Not kidding, I really want to rent it."

Li Jingsheng replied earnestly.

"Brother, you seem young, probably younger than me. I’d advise you to think of another way. I had great ideas too, when I thought about renting the whole second floor, subletting some rooms as singles, and setting up iron beds in others, with eight beds a room, like a temporary hostel. If there were enough people, I could even sell some fast food.

But it turned out nobody really came to stay, losing more than I made in a year.

I’m ready to go back to the countryside and raise pigs. The city just isn’t a place for humans."

The sub-landlord’s words amused Li Jingsheng.

Competition in the city is fiercer, the pace faster, and many can’t adapt.