Zhang Fan personally paid off 30% of the young woman"s medical fees. He figured that he couldn"t count on her actually returning to pay her debt. His life still had to go on, so he decided to think optimistically. Zhang Fan had even more confidence now in pursuing Shao Hua since her parents weren"t opposed to him. Half an hour before he got off his work s.h.i.+ft, he arranged a date with her.Eating meals together, watching a movie together, going out for shopping together, and so on. There were plenty of places for young people to go out on dates. Zhang Fan finished his work s.h.i.+ft, washed up, and was about to leave when Li Hui suddenly arrived in the dermatology department, looking for him for the first time in a long while.
"Come, eat a meal together with me. Honestly, you didn"t even tell me that Li Liang has also come to our Chasu City Hospital on a study program? I only found out today when I coincidentally ran into him this morning. Today, I"m treating him to a meal, and you"re coming along as well."
Li Hui had become a more steadfast person after the w.a.n.g Hong boyfriend reveal incident. He had matured a little, and no longer went out trying to pick up girls at bars every night. Although the w.a.n.g Hong incident hadn"t given Li Hui that much pain, he had thought about many matters as he was quite proud of his own intelligence. He hated the feeling of being toyed with like an idiot. Still, this wasn"t anyone else"s fault. He had done everything for w.a.n.g Hong of his own volition, so he deserved his embarra.s.sment in the end.
"You guys can eat by yourselves. I have something else to do, so I won"t be going."
"You"re making extra money by working for another hospital again?" Li Hui blocked Zhang Fan"s path and refused to allow the latter to leave.
"No, that"s not it. Hurry and let me go. I have a prior arrangement. I really am busy."
"If you"re not working at another job for extra money, why the h.e.l.l would you be busy? You"re just a hermit. Whom do you even know? I"m not going to let you leave until you tell me."
Li Hui hadn"t suffered enough from the w.a.n.g Hong incident. His personality of being a shameless dog was foundationally ingrained in him still. Thus, Zhang Fan didn"t mind giving Li Hui another huge impact. "Listen up well. I"m in a romantic relations.h.i.+p now, so I"m going out on a date. Do you understand? n.o.body cares to have a third wheel on a date, so get out of my way."
"You"re just making c.r.a.p up. You, in a romantic relations.h.i.+p? Yeah, probably with another man! Someone like you in a romantic relations.h.i.+p!? Don"t say that I"m looking down on you, but if you dare, bring her out and show me, and I"ll treat you to a meal."
"Do you have the money? I bet you"re just trying to freeload a meal off of me instead."
"Hmph, you"re the condescending one! Pick any restaurant that you like—as long as the average price per person is under 100 yuan. Eat anything that you want there."
"Haha, I really am impressed with you." Zhang Fan could only chuckle helplessly. He knew that unless he introduced Shao Hua to Li Hui today, Li Hui truly would shamelessly prevent Zhang Fan from leaving.
Zhang Fan and Li Hui were from the same province, and had joined Chasu City Hospital together. Although they typically didn"t talk to each other that often, they still had a good relations.h.i.+p with each other. Previously, when Zhang Fan had endangered himself by getting exposed to a Hepat.i.tis B carrier, Li Hui had instantly come to check up on him, even though Li Hui"s words at the time could be somewhat nasty.
Zhang Fan took out his cell phone as he wanted to talk about it with Shao Hua first. He felt that he should respect her opinion on this matter. Although Li Hui was his friend, Shao Hua was still at the level of being uncertain whether she wanted to get more involved with Zhang Fan"s life or not, which was why he definitely wanted to talk things over with her.
"Shao Hua, are you off of your work s.h.i.+ft yet? It"s like this, a guy from the same hometown as myself, who"s also working at the hospital and tested in together with me, suddenly wants to treat us to a meal when he heard from me that I"m in a romantic relations.h.i.+p. What do you think~"
"Who"s in a romantic relations.h.i.+p with you? I still haven"t officially agreed to be your girlfriend yet. How many people will be there? I"m almost done with my work s.h.i.+ft."
"Haha, then just wait at your bank. I"ll come and pick you up. It will be a grand meal tonight." Shao Hua agreed to go. Zhang Fan hung up the call, and told Li Hui, "Let"s go. Do you have enough money on you? If not, go withdraw some more."
"Just look at what a henpecked boyfriend you are. You just started a relations.h.i.+p, and you"re already asking her permission for everything? You"re so useless. Let"s go, then. It couldn"t have been easy for you, being single for more than 20 years. I"ll be generous today. Who"s the girl who made it so that you"re no longer single? Just what atrocious sins must she have committed in her previous life to get together with you in this one?" Li Hui"s personality was simply like this, saying rather nasty words even though he was offering to pay in order to celebrate Zhang Fan no longer being single.
Zhang Fan drove his car and picked up Li Liang as well as it would be inconvenient to take a taxi with so many people. Li Hui was about to ride shotgun, but Zhang Fan pouted, and said, "Get in the back, that seat"s reserved."
"Fine, fine, fine! I"ll give face to you today. I really want to see what girl makes you so serious about her."
Shao Hua"s workplace wasn"t that close to the hospital, nor was it that far. It was only the year 2010, so there weren"t that many cars on the road in a smaller rural city. It took less than 10 minutes to arrive as there was no traffic jam.
"I was originally going to treat you to welcome you here, since I didn"t even know that you arrived. But, this then happened, please don"t mind," Li Hui said to Li Liang as they sat in the back together.
"No need to be so polite with me. Work at Chasu City Hospital is so busy, so I was thinking that I"d greet you right before I had to go back to Kuake City, and we could eat a meal then." Li Liang and Li Hui weren"t actually that familiar with each other. Without Zhang Fan, they would only be at a casual acquaintance level, and would simply say h.e.l.lo to each other in the hallways.
The weather was now getting hotter. Chasu City became even more beautiful than in winter. Everyone"s clothes became bright and colorful instead of the drab grays and browns of winter.
"Sigh! Even Zhang Fan has a girlfriend now! The world is so unfair~!" Li Hui began to exclaim to himself as he looked at the people outside.
"What"s unfair about the world? You can chase after w.a.n.g Hong, but I"m not allowed to have a girlfriend?" Zhang Fan was quite angry with Li Hui"s comments. "It"s not like I"m a cripple or lacking a limb." Thus, Zhang Fan intentionally mentioned w.a.n.g Hong to hurt Li Hui.
"F*ck! A good person is supposed to act with kindness. You"re already someone with a girlfriend, yet you still won"t allow me to complain?"
Silence would be impossible with Li Hui around. If you ignored him, he would chatter you to death. Only by hitting him where it hurt would it be possible to slow him down.
Shao Hua came out of the bank right when Zhang Fan arrived at the bank"s entrance. She was wearing a dotted s.h.i.+rt with a jean jacket on top and light form-fitting jeans for her pants. She seemed fas.h.i.+onable, beautiful, and fresh.
Shao Hua smiled, waved, and walked over when she saw Zhang Fan"s car. As she walked over, Li Hui muttered, "No way! She"s so beautiful! She must be an actress that you hired!"
Zhang Fan ignored Li Hui and hurriedly got off the car to greet Shao Hua and take her purse while telling her, "Sorry about my terrible friend."
"It"s fine. Am I the type that you must hide?" Shao Hua joked with him.
"Haha!" Zhang Fan chuckled foolishly while trying to take Shao Hua"s hand, but she cleverly managed to dodge him.
When she got on his car, Zhang Fan did some introductions. "This is Li Hui, a doctor of internal medicine. You"re already acquainted with Li Liang. Guys, this is Shao Hua, my girlfriend." Shao Hua gave a sidelong glance at Zhang Fan, but didn"t deny it in front of his friends. She knew that men all really cared about face in front of their friends.
"h.e.l.lo, nice to meet you, please take good care of me!" Li Hui shamelessly proffered his hand for a handshake with Shao Hua, but Zhang Fan battered his hand away.
"Haha, nice to meet you," Shao Hua said before turning to Li Liang. "h.e.l.lo again, Li Liang. We meet again."
The four went to a Hunan cuisine restaurant which was pretty good. Zhang Fan said that they could just eat whatever, but Li Hui refused. Li Hui insisted that since he was the one treating, everyone had to order the best food. "Zhang Fan, we"re the only two here who are from the same hometown. I"m like half a parent to you, so with you bringing along your future wife, I must take good care of her."
Zhang Fan was quite moved at first, but then his feelings of being moved were completely shattered by Li Hui"s later ridiculous words.
The four ate and chatted together in a friendly atmosphere. However, it was no joke to say that doctors always needed to be ready to get called in. Not only were they forbidden from turning off their cell phones, they weren"t allowed to drink alcohol when they were on call.
Everyone was enjoying the meal when Zhang Fan suddenly received a phone call from Director Gulnazar. "Doctor Zhang, where are you? Hurry and come back to the dermatology department for a surgery."
"Alright, I"ll be there immediately." Everyone put down their chopsticks when they heard Zhang Fan receiving this call.
"You guys finish eating first. I need to go back to the hospital. Shao Hua, you"ll have to go back by yourself after eating. I won"t be able to drive you back."
"Alright, hurry and go back to the hospital." Zhang Fan already left the restaurant before Shao Hua even finished her sentence.
The atmosphere collapsed after Zhang Fan left. Shao Hua asked, "Are doctors" lives always this busy?"
"No, it"s just him. He"s a top-cla.s.s doctor who"s viewed with great importance everywhere he goes. For a doctor like myself, n.o.body would call me in even for an emergency patient," Li Hui commented sardonically about himself.
"Yeah, Brother Zhang is really amazing. He"s highly valued everywhere he goes," Li Liang added.
That was the power of friends.h.i.+p. No matter what you were really like, your friends would endlessly exaggerate your strengths for you.