Chapter 171: Free time, and soon
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

Shao Hua’s older aunt had gotten married to someone from the neighboring farm. Land was spacious in the border province. The distance from one farm to the next would only be about 10 kilometers or so. Since this was the first time that Shao Hua’s parents were bringing their future son-in-law here, no matter what, they would need to give face to Zhang Fan. They purchased many presents. Zhang Fan tried to pay for them, but Shao Hua’s mother prevented him from doing so.

Milk, eight-treasure porridge, some low-sugar fruits, and some snacks for Shao Hua’s cousin’s child were all purchased as gifts. The major argument was only between the older generation. Shao Hua’s cousin treated Shao Hua pretty well. Back when Shao Hua was in college, her cousin who worked in Raptor City had even sent her some money. Although the money wasn’t much, as it had only been a few hundred yuan in total, a farm-educated worker who went out to work wouldn’t have been able to make much money to begin with.

Shao Hua had always remembered this favor. She would often secretly go to visit her older aunt’s family. The older aunt’s family had finally financially recovered slowly over the years. Previously, the older aunt had caused too much trouble for their family and they had lost all their money.

The older aunt’s family was especially happy that her older brother was visiting them together with the future son-in-law. They insisted on slaughtering chickens and sheep to treat them.

Only when Shao Hua’s mother saw how they treated Zhang Fan so well did her expression improve slightly. She was even able to say a few words to Shao Ping, the older aunt.

“Zhang Fan, would you like to have a smoke, even though it’s bad for your health?” Shao Hua’s cousin was only four years older than Zhang Fan. However, he appeared to be much older due to the pressures of life.

“Cousin, I don’t smoke. Thank you for the offer!”

“It’s good that you don’t smoke!”

Shao Hua’s cousin’s wife was from the same province as Zhang Fan, although she was from a city farther south. She was a hardworking woman. She was especially happy to find out that her husband’s cousin’s future husband was from the same province as her. It wouldn’t be easy to find someone from the same place thousands of kilometers away in the border province.

Zhang Fan didn’t eat very much of the chicken or mutton, but he ate three full bowls of the minced pork noodles that the cousin’s wife made. Even the best foods wouldn’t be able to compare to the taste of home. This was the same taste of minced pork noodles from his hometown, which made him feel really nostalgic!

Seeing Zhang Fan’s voracious appetite, Shao Hua secretly became determined to ask her cousin’s wife how to cook these minced pork noodles. Normally, only people from northwestern China would be able to make noodles with such a taste. Shao Hua’s parents didn’t truly count as northwesterners, because they were actually descendants of those from southern China.

Halfway through the meal, someone came over to shout for Shao Hua’s cousin and his wife. Someone was constructing a pigsty at the farm, and Shao Hua’s cousin was a farm construction worker. The cousin and his wife hurriedly ate what food they had left in their bowls. The cousin’s daily salary was 150 yuan per day, while his wife was paid 100 yuan per day. They would have to start work right when the sun rose, and only finished when the sun started setting. Only the farm leader would be able to work for a mere eight hours on the farm!

“I’m sorry, Brother. It’s getting colder, so there won’t be any time to do work if I don’t hurry. Stay here for tonight, and we can have a few drinks when I get off work tonight. You can eat whatever you want for lunch.” The cousin didn’t get a chance to chat for long, cause the person waiting at the door impatiently shouted for him again.

The cousin had a four-year-old daughter who kept pulling on her mother’s pants, not wanting her to go.

“Go eat some of the delicious things that your aunt bought for you. Mommy will be back in a little bit.”

“No! I don’t want to eat it. I’m full!” The young girl’s parents would always have to set out before it was even fully light out, and they would only come home after it became completely dark. She wouldn’t even be awake by the time that they left, and she would be asleep already by the time that they got back from work. But as a four-year-old, this was the age when she would really want to stick by her parents’ side.

Due to her daughter’s request, plus meeting someone from her hometown, the cousin’s wife couldn’t help but let some bitter tears pour down from her eyes. She had been living a well-to-do lifestyle with a happy family until their prosperous life was ruined by her mother-in-law’s belief in scam health products. Whom could she even blame? She could only blame her own luck for being poor!

Although the cousin’s wife’s life had much more hardship ever since her mother-in-law spent the entire family’s savings, she still wanted to be the best host she could be. She and her husband had prepared many presents for Shao Hua and Zhang Fan, including a bag of flour that they ground themselves, two slaughtered chickens, and half a sheep! This was family. Although they had conflicts with each other, the blood-related kinship would be impossible to ignore.

Shao Hua’s older aunt had constantly been smiling ever since she saw Shao Hua and Zhang Fan. “Hello, Doctor! Doctors are always on call for work! In the future, treat our Hua well. Just look at how beautiful she is!”

Before they left, Shao Hua’s father secretly placed 1,000 yuan under his teacup for his sister. Although Shao Hua’s mother saw this, she pretended she hadn’t seen anything.

Shao Hua also openly gave her older aunt 1,000 yuan. “Aunt, take this money and buy whatever you want to eat with it. But, you absolutely can’t buy health products anymore.”

Even now, the older aunt was still a devout believer in these so-called health products that were actually a scam. The scammers were truly skilled at brainwashing the elderly!

“I don’t need your money. I have my own salary. Here, let me give Zhang Fan a red packet.” Giving red packets to first-time visitors was a custom in these parts. Zhang Fan politely refused once before taking the red packet. Shao Hua’s older aunt and uncle held on to their granddaughter and watched Zhang Fan’s car disappear off into the distance!

On the way back, Shao Hua’s father had a sad expression. Apart from the granddaughter, everyone else in his younger sister’s family had rather old and tattered clothing. He felt that the older of his two younger sisters had aged so much since the last time he saw her. He felt so bad about this!

“Zhang Fan, how about I pay for my aunt’s medical fees? As you can see, my cousin and his wife have trouble with supporting their family.” Shao Hua also felt bad about seeing how sad her father was. However, she wasn’t single anymore, so she would have to discuss a decision like this with Zhang Fan.

Before Zhang Fan could even say anything, Shao Hua’s father said, “That’s nothing at all! It’s all your aunt’s fault!” He then turned around to look outside the car window.

The atmosphere in the car was rather depressed. Nobody said a thing. Some time later, Zhang Fan finally broke the silence. “I do have a small business opportunity that I think I can introduce to your cousin and his wife.”

“They’re both honest people. How could they possibly do any business?” Shao Hua’s father had a good understanding of his nephew and nephew’s wife. They were filial, honest, and hard workers, but they lacked special skills.

Shao Hua’s mother pushed her husband and interrupted, “Let Zhang Fan finish speaking!”

Zhang Fan smiled as he spoke, “Haha, it’s alright. Yes, he’s right, but they should be fine if they open up a small food-selling stand in the hospital, right?”

This was Zhang Fan’s original job to begin with, after all. Zhang Fan had already observed for quite a long while already. There was an empty small stand next to the surgical department which had remained empty for quite a long while already. Originally, Zhang Fan had wanted his parents to set up a food stand there, but his parents had decided against coming!

“Would that make things difficult for you? Forget about it if it would. At most, we can give Hua’s aunt some more money each year,” Shao Hua’s mother said. Although Shao Hua’s aunt’s family wasn’t in good financial condition, she definitely wouldn’t allow Zhang Fan to be troubled over this, since people were selfish, after all.

“Zhang Fan, would it be difficult for you?” Shao Hua’s father had an expectant look on his face.

“It shouldn’t be that difficult, because the stand outside the hospital’s surgical department has been empty and unused for so long. I’ll ask about it tomorrow at work.”

“That’s wonderful!” Shao Hua’s father was so excited that he grabbed Zhang Fan’s hand! Shao Hua secretly put her hand on Zhang Fan’s other hand too.

Wang Yongyong’s wife arrived at Chasu City from Raptor City later on the same day. Although she didn’t really understand why her husband insisted on having surgery in Chasu City, she was unable to convince him otherwise. All she could do was sign the surgery paperwork.

There was one advantage to private hospitals: the checkups wouldn’t take much time. At a Class A public hospital like Chasu City Hospital, even though getting a diagnosis might only take three minutes, it would be common for you to have to wait in line for three hours or more!

Zhang Fan went to work on Monday. The oncological department was doing its weekly major patient checkup. However, there weren’t many things to check up on in the oncological department. Additionally, Director Anar wasn’t paying much attention to the department recently. The patient checkups ended in a mere 20 minutes in a rather rushed manner.

Since there was nothing to do in the oncological department, Zhang Fan went over to the general surgery department to take a look at Ai Shanjiang, the liver tumor surgery patient he’d previously operated on.

Zhang Fan felt far more energetic when he arrived at the surgical department building. The oncological department had far too depressing of an atmosphere.

“Director Zhang, are you here to observe us?” Xue Fei joked around when he saw Zhang Fan in the elevator.

“Brother, don’t joke around like that! Why is your face so swollen? Did your wife explode in anger?” Zhang Fan joked with Xue Fei.

Xue Fei was really bad at mahjong, yet he still loved to play it and lose money! His wife had tried to scold him or even cause a ruckus at home, but none of that worked on him. Now, she no longer tried to be reasonable. Any time that she learned of him playing mahjong, she would resort to violence! Xue Fei often let his wife beat his face until it became swollen because he always felt guilty about losing money.

The liver tumor surgery patient was recovering quite nicely. All of his numbers were quite stable. Director Zhao Quanping was currently leading the general surgeons in checking up on the patients. Zhang Fan didn’t want to disturb them, so he only slipped secretly to see how things were and talked a little to the patient before leaving. Zhang Fan felt more reassured now that he saw the patient was recovering well.

Zhang Fan then went to Superintendent Ouyang’s office. This was the first time he had ever gone to her office of his own volition.

In order to accept one’s partner, you would have to accept their entire family. Zhang Fan intended on asking for Superintendent Ouyang’s help for the sake of Shao Hua. He felt that men should help out their own women whenever the woman needed help.

It was Monday, so there were many people waiting in a long line to see the superintendent. There were medical equipment suppliers and representatives who needed the superintendent’s signature on various paperwork, as well as directors and non-medical employees of the hospital who needed to report their weekly work.

There were still quite a few people when Zhang Fan arrived. Although the line didn’t seem very orderly, it was still obvious who arrived in what order.

Zhang Fan hesitated on whether he should wait in line here or not when the hospital administration director exited the superintendent’s office. “Doctor Zhang?” He was quite confused to see Zhang Fan here. Doctors would typically be quite busy on Monday and would almost never come to look for the superintendent.

Zhang Fan smiled awkwardly as he said, “I have a private matter to discuss with the superintendent,”

“Oh! You can go in first. Immediately go do the patient checkups when you’re done.” The hospital administration director instantly brought Zhang Fan into the superintendent’s office. This was the advantage of being someone skilled! The hospital administration director would have done this even for any doctor who was slightly skilled in some area, because the hospital administration department was supposed to be the lead department for looking after all the doctors.

“Zhang Fan?” Superintendent Ouyang was also confused. She hadn’t summoned him!

“Superintendent, there’s a small matter that I would like to trouble you with! It’s difficult for me to say!” Zhang Fan had been feeling quite confident when he arrived, but his face started burning up out of embarrassment when he really did see Superintendent Ouyang.

“Haha, it really must be a small matter if it makes our Doctor Zhang feel awkward. You’re a strange one. You never report major matters to me, but you do remember to report the small ones!” Superintendent Ouyang still held a small grudge over how Zhang Fan was secretly working at other hospitals. This was how her personality was. No matter if you were in the right or not, she preferred to first use the stick and then use the carrot in order to better manage her subordinates!

“Have a seat! No need to keep standing. My neck won’t be able to take it if I have to keep looking up at you!” Superintendent Ouyang stated.

“Um! Superintendent…” Zhang Fan was quite hesitant on what to say, mainly because he still hadn’t come up with how to ask her yet. The hospital administration director had pushed him in before he was ready.

“How about you sit down by the side and think about it some more? I’m quite busy. There’s many people waiting in line for my signature.” This was her preferential treatment for such a skilled doctor. Superintendent Ouyang would have long since kicked out a normal doctor by now.

“The empty stand next to the surgical department has been out of business for quite a long while. I would like to let my family’s relative use it.” Zhang Fan decided to just directly say it!

“Oh! You had such intentions for it? What relative of yours?” Superintendent Ouyang put down her pen and smiled at the young man in front of her.

‘This fellow really does think about so many things!’ she thought to herself. Still, she was quite happy that Zhang Fan had something to ask of her. The more he asked of her, the more obedient he would have to be to her. In her mind, she was already treating Zhang Fan as equal to a director in status.

“My girlfriend’s cousin!”

“Will this be reliable or not? What if you break up with your girlfriend in a few days? Should I let her cousin continue using the stand or not?” Superintendent Ouyang actually made a joke!

“It’s reliable! Reliable! I’m planning on getting married when the hospital’s apartment for me is ready!” Zhang Fan hurriedly said.

“You really do remember so many details! Okay, but I must tell you first that if anything unexpected happens, I’ll immediately be reclaiming this stand!” Superintendent Ouyang meant many things with her words, but Zhang Fan would have to slowly figure those out on his own.

“Sure, Superintendent, just rest assured!” Zhang Fan didn’t care so much right now. He just wanted to hurriedly get her approval.

“Here. Give this slip of paper to the hospital general affairs director.” Superintendent Ouyang swiftly wrote something down and handed a slip of paper to Zhang Fan.

“Thank you. In that case, I’ll be leaving then, Superintendent?”

“See you later!”

At the hospital general affairs department, the director stared in surprise at the slip of paper for quite a long while. There were many people interested in the unused stand by the surgical department, and Superintendent Ouyang had yet to allow anyone to use it yet. It would be easy to make a significant income from setting up a food stand at a Class A Hospital’s surgical department. You could also sell drinks, instant noodles, tissues, and so on in addition to food there.

“Okay, Doctor Zhang. I’ll notify the security department in a bit and tell them to unlock that place when they have the time.” Although the general affairs director didn’t know what connections Zhang Fan had used, the director would have to follow the superintendent’s orders. The general affairs department’s job was exactly like its name suggested: taking care of the hospital’s general affairs. Thus, the general affairs director didn’t know very much about the actual doctors at the hospital. Zhang Fan was also still a relatively new doctor at this hospital too.

“Thank you, Director. I’ll be troubling you.” Zhang Fan brought out two boxes of top-level Zhonghua smokes and tossed them into the director’s desk drawer.

“What is this for? We’re all at the same hospital. This won’t do. This won’t do!” The director tried to return the smokes to Zhang Fan, but the latter adamantly refused.

“It’s just my heartfelt gratitude. I’ll still be troubling you in the future!”

“Sigh! You young man. Alright, go busy yourself with your work then. I’ll immediately have some people clean up that stand. It hasn’t been used for so long, so even the paint is chipping!”

The two boxes of smokes were a private gift, while the paint and work hours put into the stand belonged to the hospital. Without regards to whether this was right or wrong, this was simply how Chinese society was.

Zhang Fan rushed over to Ma Wentao’s hospital after this. Wang Yongyong’s checkups had now been completed, while Li Liang had secured the necessary signatures from Wang Yongyong’s wife. All of the necessary medical equipment had also been prepared!

Wang Yongyong’s wife was already quite worried about her husband’s scheduled surgery. When she saw that someone as obviously young as Zhang Fan was the primary surgeon, she almost had a heart attack!