Chapter 281: Extravagant hope

Society would always show you how practical it was. No matter how friendly or passionate you were, you would only be marginalized and struggle on the outskirts of society unless you had your own actual abilities.

No matter what industry you were in, there would always be a society for it. No matter if you competed or worked together with others, you would still become a part of that society. If you insisted on being independent without trying to join this society, then either you would have to be powerful enough to completely suppress this society, or the society would crush you. That was just how societies worked in China.

No matter what laws there might be, China was still a country where society relied on connections. Chinese adults shouldn’t have dreams about how warm or nice this world was. They would only be able to fight for their own path. It would be better to try and fail than regret not even having tried.

“Doctor Zhang, I’m so sorry. I didn’t recognize you. Sigh, what an embarrassment in my age!” Vice President Chen said as he shook hands with Zhang Fan.

“Vice President Chen, you’re being too polite. I can understand. Anyone in such a situation would be like this. No need for you to worry over it.”

“Haha! Nice and direct. I love interacting with people like you. Please get in the car!” Vice President Chen personally held open the Mercedes Benz’ car door for Zhang Fan. Vice President Chen’s driver was really surprised by what he saw!

“Vice President Chen, you should get on first! Sigh, no need to be so polite with me. You should get in first.”

“Phew, I came here today to apologize to you. Age doesn’t matter here. Only friendship does. You should be first, you should be first.” The two of them politely got in the car together.

Although Zhang Fan had always been driving nice cars ever since he learned how to drive, his cars still couldn’t compare to a luxury car like Mercedes Benz. The Mercedes Benz was quite spacious and comfortable inside. It was also quiet to the point where the engine’s sound couldn’t be heard.

“Doctor Zhang, you’re really quite talented for your age. It’s truly astonishing. Thank you so much for helping with Yaya’s surgery this time. I didn’t think that you wouldn’t mind how I treated you. How rare!” Vice President Chen was still a bit afraid of what might have happened without Zhang Fan.

“Haha, it’s nothing much. Yaya has such a nice uncle.” Zhang Fan was no match at all for someone with far more social experience than him. He didn’t even know how to respond to Vice President Chen’s praise.

“Sigh! My younger sister’s personality isn’t very good. Although she’s doing quite well financially, she’s having problems getting along with her husband. Who else would care if not for me!” Vice President Chen sighed as his family had their own difficulties just like many other families.

Yaya’s parents had both originally been employees of a nationally owned corporation. They later resigned and started their own raw materials supply company with assistance from Vice President Chen, who was Yaya’s mother’s older brother.

Yaya’s parents became rather wealthy themselves several years after starting their own company. However, Yaya’s mother had a poor temper, which caused her marriage to break down. Yaya’s father was unable to take her temper, so he went far away to inland China, although the two hadn’t gotten divorced. Yaya also started to go down a wild path in life due to her family circumstances.

Sometimes, having just the right amount of money would be better. Too much wealth all of a sudden wouldn’t always be a good thing.

J Hotel was the best hotel in all of Chasu City. The atmosphere at the dinner was quite nice. Everyone was having fun. Vice President Chen was excellent at setting the atmosphere. He was quite skilled at cracking jokes.

Zhang Fan didn’t drink any alcohol, but Vice President Chen didn’t mind at all. He drank three glasses of white wine in toast to Zhang Fan while the latter drank only soda. Vice President Chen was really talented at making others feel comfortable!

Zhang Fan’s cell phone rang during the meal. “Hello? Oh, you were able to buy them? Thank you. I’m in the middle of a meal right now. I’ll give you the money when I meet up with you. Sorry to have troubled you!”

“Bro, you’re looking down on me if you think I need any money from you for this. Where are you right now? I’ll come bring the tickets to you!”

“I’m currently eating a meal at J Hotel! Have you eaten dinner yet? How about joining us?” Zhang Fan said rather awkwardly.

“No need, Bro. I’ve already eaten dinner. I’ll be there in 10 minutes. Just wait for me in front of the hotel.” The person speaking on the cell phone with Zhang Fan was the patient who had been hospitalized for a fight and tried to exaggerate the degree of his injuries in order to scam more money out of the other party’s parents.

It had been impossible for Zhang Fan to find a ticket scalper, since Chasu City was a relatively small city in China. Zhang Fan had no idea how to find tickets, so he tried to ask this former patient of his. Although this youngster had tried to exaggerate his injuries, he really liked Zhang Fan, and had asked for Zhang Fan’s contact information before being discharged from the hospital.

Although the two had never called each other before, they would always exchange holiday greetings by text message with each other. Zhang Fan figured that this youngster might be better acquainted with the locals here, which was why he decided to ask the youngster about getting some tickets to Daolang’s concert.

“What’s going on? You have a friend who’s coming over? Let’s have the servers add another chair.” Vice President Chen was sitting next to Zhang Fan. General surgery Director Zhao was sitting at the seat of honor. Although this was a round table, Vice President Chen didn’t give Zhang Fan the seat of honor, as he knew that would be rather inappropriate considering the latter’s young age. Zhang Fan was sitting at the end as he was the youngest, while Vice President Chen sat next to him.

“No need for such trouble, Vice President Chen. My friend has already eaten dinner. I asked him to buy two concert tickets for me,” Zhang Fan explained.

“Oh!” Vice President Chen didn’t delve more into this matter. Sometime later, Zhang Fan’s cell phone rang again. Zhang Fan glanced at the caller ID, then excused himself from the room, and went to the hotel’s entrance.

The youngster still seemed to behave like a casual hoodlum. He was smoking while roaming around everywhere. His eyes lit up when he saw Zhang Fan. The youngster hurriedly came over while saying, “Bro! Here’s two tickets. The position’s quite good as it’s in the middle. You should have told me earlier. I could have gotten front row tickets for you then, but it’s a bit too late for that now.”

Zhang Fan took out his wallet as he said, “I’m already really grateful to you. Have you been doing well recently? You haven’t gotten into any more fights, have you?”

“Look at what you’re saying! Am I someone who would get into fights? Bro, this is wrong of you. You’re looking down on me if you give me money.” The youngster tried to refuse Zhang Fan’s money, while Zhang Fan absolutely insisted otherwise.

The two of them took quite a while with mutual refusals, reaching the point where Vice President Chen came out of the hotel to see what was going on. “Doctor Zhang, is anything the matter?”

“Vice President Chen!” the youngster immediately shouted in a greeting and stood up straight as if he was reporting to a higher-up before Zhang Fan could even reply.

“You are?” Vice President Chen was rather confused.

“I’m Little Wang, and I work as a security guard at your company!”

“Oh, so you’re also Doctor Zhang’s friend, nice. Would you like to eat with us?” Although Vice President Chen was nominally extending an invitation, his expression made it obvious that he only wanted the security guard Little Wang to leave.

“No, no. I won’t bother you guys. Bro, I’ll be leaving now. Vice President Chen, I’m leaving now.” Little Wang then ran off without even looking back.

“Is he your friend?” Vice President Chen inquired.

“He’s a former patient of mine. That’s how we got acquainted.”

“Oh.” Vice President Chen then looked at the concert tickets in Zhang Fan’s hand, and commented, “Doctor Zhang, you enjoy listening to music?”

“It’s for my girlfriend’s parents. They really like Daolang. I couldn’t buy any tickets through proper channels, haha.”

Back in the hotel’s private room, the atmosphere was rather festive. Older men from the border province would often enjoy dancing and singing themselves.

Director Zhao usually appeared to be very serious, but after drinking some alcohol, he began to sing a silly little local song about two mountain goats. He was actually quite good at singing.

Normally, Director Zhao would be quite busy with studying and work as he was the general surgery director at a Class A hospital. Of course, he would also try and have fun whenever he did have free time. He really did know how to have fun. He was truly intelligent. He wouldn’t be bad at anything!

This meal was really enjoyable for everyone—there were no benefits involved, so the doctors didn’t need to worry about anything.

Near the end of the meal, Zhang Fan received a call from the rheumatology department.

Attending physician Hu Jun was on night shift duty tonight. He told Zhang Fan, “Doctor Zhang, patient #9’s condition seems to be rather poor. Do you want to come over and take a look?”

“What’s the matter?” Zhang Fan’s expression immediately changed even though he had just been smiling happily. The originally joyous atmosphere suddenly quieted down. All the doctors present were veteran doctors who could immediately tell that there had to be a problem with a patient.

“I suspect that it’s severe symptoms of systemic lupus erythematosus. The blood platelets are really low. Moreover, the patient’s emotions are rather unstable!”

“Alright, Brother Hu, I’m on my way.” When Zhang Fan hung up, without even waiting for Zhang Fan to say anything, Director Zhao immediately asked him, “What happened?”

“One of my patients has a little problem. I’m sorry! My apologies, Vice President Chen. I have to leave now!”

“Sure! I’ll have my driver take you to the hospital. We’ll have plenty of opportunities to get together again in the future.” Vice President Chen accompanied Zhang Fan outside.

Zhang Fan’s patient #9 was Shao Hua’s coworker, Wang Yan! Zhang Fan was in no mood to appreciate the beautiful night sky tonight.

Although Zhang Fan could deal with any severe traumatic injury that required a highly difficult surgery, he really had no method at all to treat lupus, as it was an incurable disease by modern medical standards.

Hope would be too extravagant to have for a patient like Wang Yan who had lupus!