On the weekend, Zhang Fan and Shao Hua were holding hands while out on a date together. However, they just happened to run into Wang Qian, who spotted them. Nowadays, Shao Hua was willing to allow Zhang Fan to hold her hand.

“Zhang Fan, Shao Hua!” Wang Qian had a knowing smile as she stood across the street while looking at the two of them. Oh! Shao Hua immediately shook off Zhang Fan’s hand. She crossed the street, and said, “Hello, Director Wang.” Shao Hua’s face had become bright red.

“Haha, I was wondering why Zhang Fan hadn’t come to visit me in so long. So he was in a relationship! He really has such great taste. He picked the prettiest flower in our bank!” Wang Qian joked around.

“Haha! Sister Wang, you were also out shopping?” Zhang Fan didn’t feel awkward at all. He felt that there was nothing to be embarrassed about regarding love.

“I was bored, so I came out for a little walk. Come with me, I’ll treat the young couple to a meal. I don’t usually talk much to Shao Hua at the bank, but from now on, I’m going to have to get closer to her. Zhang Fan was the one who cured my back pain.” Wang Qian had a rather unique and high position in the bank. She was also quite self-disciplined as she typically stayed in her office, reading newspapers and sipping tea. She almost never participated in the bank’s daily affairs.

“Director Wang!” Shao Hua was really embarrassed with how Wang Qian referred to her and Zhang Fan as a young couple.

“Call me ‘sister’ from now on, both at the bank and outside. Before, I always thought that you were excellent, Shao Hua. Zhang Fan, you need to treat her well in the future. Definitely don’t do wrong by her!”

“No problem, Sister Wang. How about the two of us treat you to a meal instead?” Zhang Fan chuckled.

“No need. You still haven’t gotten married yet. Now that you have a girlfriend, you need to save money. There will be plenty of things to spend money on in the future. I have some meal coupons here, so let’s go eat some seafood.” Zhang Fan figured that Wang Qian had already forgotten who gave her the meal coupons.

This border province was very far away from the sea, so any even somewhat fresh seafood would be really expensive. Zhang Fan and Shao Hua had only eaten seafood once together; it was back when Wang Yanan took advantage of Zhang Fan and made him treat everyone to a seafood buffet. Normally, Zhang Fan and Shao Hua’s spending was quite average. They would just go to ordinary restaurants and order a few dishes, and ever since Zhang Fan shamelessly started joining Shao Hua’s family for meals, they ate out at restaurants even less.

Zhang Fan had also eaten seafood buffet a few times back at Bluebird City, but he rarely ate seafood here because not only was the seafood usually not fresh, it would be prohibitively expensive. Wang Qian was paying for a seafood buffet today, so Zhang Fan focused only on crabs, lobsters, and the other expensive seafood.

Shao Hua and Wang Qian weren’t big eaters. It wasn’t long before they were full.

Wang Qian drank some hot milk tea as she asked Shao Hua, “When did the two of you start dating?”

Shao Hua was helping Zhang Fan peel some shrimp. When she heard this question, she answered, “Not long.” However, at the same time, Zhang Fan continued stuffing his mouth while replying, “Several months already!”

“What do you mean!! It’s only been two months!”

“Haha, out of all the young people I know, both you and Zhang Fan are outstanding. Since you’re dating each other now, get along properly with each other without wronging the other. Feel free to come find me if there’s anything at all. I really do like both of you.” Wang Qian was truly satisfied with how Zhang Fan had cured her back pain. She wouldn’t have treated Shao Hua so well if it weren’t for Zhang Fan.

“Zhang Fan, when will you visit your home? You’ve been here in the border province for two years now, right?” Wang Qian asked Zhang Fan.

“Almost. It’ll be two years exactly in this October. I’m going to visit home next month since my younger sister is about to take the college entrance examination. I won’t feel reassured unless I go.”

“Yeah, it’s time that you visited home. Come visit me before you leave. Are you taking Shao Hua with you?”

“Haha, I’d like to take her back with me!” Zhang Fan had a foolish smile as he looked at Shao Hua.

“What!? I don’t have enough vacation days, and besides~” Shao Hua spoke in a tiny voice as her face reddened.

“It’s not a problem. I’ll talk to your boss about it. Feel free to go together with him.” Wang Qian was truly acting as a powerful support for Zhang Fan, helping him say and do everything. All that was left for him was to convince Shao Hua to go back with him.

After the meal was over, Wang Qian went home, while Zhang Fan held onto Shao Hua’s hand as they slowly walked around together.

“Oh you!! You say everything out loud! You almost embarrassed me to death!” Shao Hua complained to Zhang Fan.

“Not a problem. Everyone will find out sooner or later. Sister Wang is pretty nice. She’s a really friendly person. I also think that her recommendation for you to come along with me to visit my family is a good one. How about you consider it?”

“Consider? No way!” Shao Hua was unable to just follow him to visit his family when nothing was for certain yet.

“Honest. My parents are getting old, and I live so far away from them now. It will make my parents feel reassured if you come along with me to visit them.” Zhang Fan was quite sly. He knew that Shao Hua was softhearted, so he went with emotional appeal.

“Oh! Let me think about it. What are you thinking?” Shao Hua asked.

“About taking you back with me for my home visit?”

“Not that, I’m talking about the future.” Shao Hua twisted Zhang Fan’s arm.

“The wife goes where the husband goes. Just follow me wherever I go,” Zhang Fan said while holding on to Shao Hua’s hand.

“I’m the only child in my family. I won’t go far away from them. If… If you really do want to leave Chasu City, let’s just forget about us,” Shao Hua spoke slowly but resolutely.

“Tsk, are you lacking confidence in me that much?” Zhang Fan asked while directly looking at Shao Hua.

“It’s not that. I’m just worried. You truly are quite excellent. In just two years here, just look, without regard to anything else, you’ve already gotten acquainted with more people than someone like me who grew up here. I can sense that Chasu City won’t be able to keep you. I’ve truly thought about us for a long, long time,” Shao Hua stated as her eyes reddened.

Humans were emotional creatures. As Shao Hua and Zhang Fan spent time together, she indeed had more and more feelings for him. She also liked Zhang Fan. Although Zhang Fan wasn’t very romantic, he made her feel safe, giving her a feeling that he could truly be relied upon.

“What are you worried about, silly girl? Your family aren’t locals of this border province, either. Besides, even if I leave Chasu City in the future, all I have to do is bring your parents along with me. As long as we work hard together, everything will improve.”

This was a man’s responsibility. Although having sex would be easy, you would also need to take the according responsibility. Zhang Fan wasn’t the type to run away from his responsibilities. He had already made up his mind. Once his financial condition was good enough, he would definitely take Shao Hua and her parents with him. No matter how difficult the future was, he would never wrong Shao Hua. Zhang Fan wasn’t the type who would easily fall in love, but once he did, he would be quite serious about it.

Shao Hua was quite motivated by Zhang Fan’s words. She secretly resolved herself to continue improving so that she wouldn’t be a burden for him. But first, she still needed to ask her parents’ opinion. What would she do if her parents weren’t willing to move away from Chasu City?

Zhang Fan already had an idea how to convince Shao Hua’s parents to leave Chasu City. He would gradually get into their good graces by visiting often, and then find excuses such as better education, better medical resources, better climate, and so on to bring Shao Hua’s parents along with him.

Actually, Shao Hua’s parents were also quite worried about the issue of Zhang Fan leaving Chasu City in the future. He was here all by himself, with no relatives in the border province. He could leave Chasu City quite easily. What were they supposed to do about that? Zhang Fan seemed to be truly excellent, with a good temperament, excellent patience, and filial piety for the elderly. Otherwise, Shao Hua’s father would have long since started strongly objecting.

“You need to have a good talk with our Hua, and tell her to think about things. While everything seems quite beautiful during the honeymoon period of romance, they’re going to be living daily life together as well. Have Hua ask Zhang Fan about his plans for the future. Sigh!” Shao Hua’s father told his wife in a worried tone.

“Yeah! But, no matter if she chooses Zhang Fan or someone else in the end, we won’t allow ourselves to be a burden for Hua in the future. At the very least, both of us have some retirement pension. If we can’t take care of ourselves anymore, we can go to a retirement home. It’s fine as long as Hua is happy. Don’t worry too much, because I can tell that Little Zhang is someone with big plans. He doesn’t seem like the type who lives one day at a time. Our Hua wouldn’t be interested in someone like that. Hua has always been excellent ever since young.”

On Monday morning’s daily round of patient checkups, Zhu Qianqian went early in the morning to Director Jumabieke’s office!

“Director, it’s like this. I received a patient over the weekend who I thought had a lung infection. I asked him to do an X-ray, but he refused. I only received the blood test today. He has tuberculosis.” Zhu Qianqian knew that the director liked to hear English, so she spoke the words “X-ray” and “tuberculosis” in English.