Later, Zhang Fan and Li Xiao had a chat in the latter’s office. “Doctor Zhang, maybe you think that a new car is too valuable to accept it, but to Dai Wengang, his life is far more valuable than a car. Besides, this car won’t even be in your name. Just think of it as me loaning it to you. I think that you’re becoming a little too careful these days!”
“Oh!” Zhang Fan really didn’t know what to say. Since he had obtained so many benefits from Li Xiao before, he felt awkward about saying anything against her. Besides, Li Xiao already had her personal assistant begin working on the paperwork to transfer the car ownership already. What else could he even say?
“I heard from my nephew Ma Wentao that his new hospital’s business has been going well, and that it’s thanks to your assistance. I really must thank you!”
“Sister Li, you’re being too polite. President Ma is quite skilled at running his own hospital. I only go over there on occasion to help with surgeries, and I even get paid. I should be the one thanking you and President Ma!”
“Haha! This is good! We can help each other.” Not long after, Li Xiao’s assistant knocked on the door and came in with two document bags. “President Li, I finished what you requested!”
“How about you simply take both cars? I heard that you have a girlfriend now? You can use one car and give the other to your girlfriend! This will also save me some trouble. Dai Wengang surely doesn’t need your car,” Li Xiao said while sipping on some tea.
“That truly won’t be necessary! I’m already quite satisfied with receiving a new car. I would feel so awkward. Sister Li, when do you have some free time? My girlfriend and I will treat you to a meal.”
“Sure, how about this weekend? But let me treat you to a meal instead!”
The two of them then kept politely offering to treat each other for a while before Zhang Fan took his new car’s keys and left. This Toyota FJ Cruiser was a bit larger than his previous Jeep Grand Cherokee. The FJ Cruiser was completely brand-new, and even the plastic wrapping on the dashboard still hadn’t been removed yet. Although his car was now bigger and newer, Zhang Fan wasn’t excited even in the slightest. He viewed cars as nothing more than tools. With a toy as miraculous as his System, Zhang Fan found it difficult to be interested in anything else!
Although Zhang Fan didn’t feel like this was a big deal, he needed to explain what happened to Shao Hua. He felt that mutual respect was important. Additionally, women would really care about small details!
“Oh! This is too much. Besides, will there be trouble if you get a new car like this? Last year, my bank sent us on a trip to the prison to learn about the consequences of illegal behavior! I was truly shocked by what I saw there! I’ll be happy as long as we’re healthy and happy!” Shao Hua was quite worried as she sat in the new car together with Zhang Fan.
“Rest assured, I understand how it is. Nothing bad will happen to us because of this. Thank you for worrying. I truly have such good taste in women. I picked you at first sight! Sigh, the most important thing for a man is to find the right wife. Having a virtuous wife will mean less disasters for the husband. Having virtuous children will make the parents feel easy. These Chinese classical sayings are so correct!” Zhang Fan proudly said to Shao Hua.
“I never expected that you would be so shameless. You’re not even embarrassed, saying such things. Let me squeeze that shameless face of yours!” The two of them messed around for a little while in Zhang Fan’s new car. Since it was now summer, Shao Hua was wearing only light clothing. Zhang Fan was becoming ever more daring with his hands!
Shao Hua’s face reddened as she immediately slid away from Zhang Fan’s leg. “No, we’re still not married yet! Just wait a little longer!”
Shao Hua averted her gaze and didn’t dare to look at Zhang Fan directly, because he was already noticeably erect, with quite a noticeable tent in his pants!
“Oh. Maybe I ate too much mutton over the past few days! I should eat less mutton in summer!” Although Zhang Fan said this, he kept trying to touch Shao Hua’s body!
What was smooth and fragrant? Those who were single definitely wouldn’t know!
Chasu City Hospital officially started the construction of new buildings for the emergency department and pediatrics center due to receiving additional funding ever since successfully treating the emergency military patient. The construction sounds every day were quite loud, and bothered the older patients at the hospital. They often took their walking sticks and complained while waving the sticks at the nurses. However, there really was no helping it. It was summer, so it would be too hot if the patients didn’t open the windows, while it would be too noisy with the windows open. Many older patients from the hospital’s respiratory department transferred over to Chasu City Chinese Medicine Hospital because it was too noisy here.
It was rumored that the Chinese government had given the hospital several hundred million yuan for the construction this time. Superintendent Ouyang was especially delighted. She was constantly wearing a yellow construction worker’s safety cap while giving orders to the construction workers. The blueprints had already been finished, yet she was giving commands. Maybe the construction workers were just humoring her!
Zhang Fan received a phone call from sports teacher Wu Yanchao on Friday. “Doctor Zhang, do you have free time tomorrow? Can my senior and I come see you tomorrow for you to check his knee injury?”
“Sure thing, Teacher Wu. Just call me before you come tomorrow.”
Wu Yanchao’s senior was named Wang Yongyong. He had been a point guard on the border province’s professional basketball team before. Wang Yongyong was forced to retire due to a knee injury, and was now working at a high school as a physical eduction teacher. He would also still occasionally work as the coach for point guards on the border province’s basketball team.
Back when his knee joint was injured, due to various reasons, he only had a plaster cast put on for three months without undergoing surgery. After that, well, he was no longer able to play professional basketball after having his cast removed. He could only retire from basketball in silence.
Last time that Wu Yanchao visited Raptor City, he happened to chat with his senior Wang Yongyong about the latter’s knee injury. Wu Yanchao then recommended Zhang Fan. Although Wang Yongyong no longer needed to play basketball, his knee would always give him a lot of pain if he stressed it even slightly. This was what suddenly made him want to take a weekend off to come visit Chasu City so that Zhang Fan could take a look at his knee.
On Saturday, Zhang Fan waited for Wu Yanchao and Wang Yongyong in the neurosurgery department. When Wu Yanchao led Wang Yongyong into the neurosurgery department, Wang Yongyong immediately started cursing in his mind. ‘Wu Yanchao is so old already, yet still so unreliable! He actually recommended a brain surgeon to me for my knee! Damn it! Something must be wrong with me for listening to him!’
Although Wu Yanchao was also rather confused as to why Zhang Fan was in the neurosurgery department, he felt too awkward to ask. The atmosphere became really awkward. Wang Yongyong had a dark expression and didn’t say anything. Zhang Fan instantly realized what was going on when he saw Wu Yanchao’s awkward expression.
“Haha! I can see that you mostly place your weight on your left leg. It seems that your right leg has had pain problems for quite a long time already. But if you stand like this for too long, not only will your legs have problems, problems will even happen to your spine. Let’s sit down and talk.” Zhang Fan decided to begin showing his skills. Actually, he really liked people who showed their emotions, happy or unhappy, directly on their faces. Such people were simpler to deal with. Zhang Fan wouldn’t need to be on guard against them. The truly scary people were those who could stab you in the back while smiling in a friendly manner, such as the W Province southerner that he met in the respiratory department and who taught him such a good lesson about not accepting bribes!
The tension in the atmosphere eased a bit after Wu Yanchao and Wang Yongyong sat down. Wang Yongyong also felt slightly awkward about his earlier attitude, and said, “I never did anything about my injury ever since I received it. This time, I asked my junior to introduce me to you, Doctor Zhang. I’ll be troubling you!”
“It’s no trouble at all. Let me take a look at your MRI scans.” Zhang Fan didn’t mind at all.
“At the time, I was still young. I just had a plaster cast for a few months after I was injured, and didn’t have surgery performed. Now that I’m older, I keep feeling like the pain is becoming worse and worse,” Wang Yongyong said as he showed his previous MRI scans to Zhang Fan. Wang Yongyong thought to himself, ‘I might as well have a checkup since I’m here already. A doctor from Chasu City Hospital probably at least won’t lie to me!’
Zhang Fan frowned when he saw the MRI scans. He then asked, “Do you always feel like you can’t stand steadily? Do you always feel bone-piercing chills in your knee when there’s cold weather?”
“Yeah! That’s what it’s like,” Wang Yongyong said.
“You injured your medial collateral ligament as well as the meniscus back then. The long period of wearing a cast caused ossification of the collateral ligament. Your current pain is due to the ossified ligament rubbing against the joint capsule. After ossification, the ligament will become less flexible, which is why you’ll have more trouble standing steadily,” Zhang Fan explained to Wang Yongyong while pointing at the MRI scans.
“Yeah. What should I do then?” Wang Yongyong asked. Zhang Fan’s diagnosis was completely identical to the diagnosis of the orthopedic surgeon from the provincial hospital that Wang Yongyong went to. Wang Yongyong now felt that at least Zhang Fan indeed knew what he was talking about!
“I recommend surgery by extracting a muscle tendon and using that to replace your ossified ligament,” Zhang Fan told Wang Yongyong. This was different from the medical advice that Wang Yongyong had received from the orthopedic surgeon at the provincial hospital. That orthopedic surgeon had told Wang Yongyong to take more calcium and some pain medication, and that surgery wasn’t necessary!
Blood flow in the articular cavity wouldn’t be very good, and Wang Yongyong was now in his early 40s, so he would no longer have as much physical activity as before. The orthopedic surgeon was of the opinion that Wang Yongyong could simply bear with the pain and that performing surgery might not actually improve his condition, so it wasn’t worth it.
However, Zhang Fan’s opinion was that Wang Yongyong should have surgery performed immediately. A person’s legs would always wear out first before other joints. If Wang Yongyong didn’t have surgery performed now, the likelihood of a surgery on his knee succeeding would only get lower and lower as he got older. That was why he should choose to have surgery performed now while he was still relatively younger.
Wang Yongyong immediately furrowed his eyebrows when he heard this. He had already mentally prepared himself that surgery would be necessary. However, Zhang Fan was far too young. He also believed Zhang Fan to be a neurosurgeon. Wang Yongyong didn’t feel safe about having a neurosurgeon perform knee surgery on him.
“Let me think about it some more!” Wang Yongyong said.
“Okay! It’s best for you to do this surgery as young as possible,” Zhang Fan told him. Wu Yanchao and Wang Yongyong then left, while Zhang Fan went over to Shao Hua’s home. It wasn’t like Zhang Fan could force the patient to have surgery performed if the patient didn’t want to.
Before, Wang Yongyong hadn’t considered surgery, but now he really was thinking about it after Zhang Fan’s recommendation. He started asking his former basketball teammates about knee surgery information. His previous teammates were now all over China, so it was quite easy for him to learn this type of information. Since they were all basketball players, there were several who had knee injuries before.
For the past several weeks, Zhang Fan had been busy either working overtime or at other hospitals. He didn’t get much time to properly accompany Shao Hua. This weekend, he was off from work, so Zhang Fan drove Shao Hua and her parents to the mountains.
In autumn, the mountains nearby Chasu City would have lots of golden and red tree leaves. While the leaves would be golden or red on the surface, the backs would have silvery-white threads. An autumn breeze blowing by would show you the three colors of gold, red, and silver combined, which was a beautiful sight. The wildflowers in the forest would bloom with their final beauty and fragrance before the winter came!
There were various small hotels set up in the forest. They were all run by people of H Country ethnicity. In summer, this was a great place to avoid the heat. However, there would be fewer tourists in autumn because the temperature would be quite low in the mountains at night.
Zhang Fan brought Shao Hua’s family here to eat mutton. Mutton would taste best in the border province at this time. The lambs born in this year would already have their fat in autumn. They would have plenty of fat as well as lean meat, and the meat wouldn’t taste greasy. Mutton combined with garlic and wild vegetables from the mountain would really taste wonderful.
The H Country ethnic people were quite simple. Very few of them would try to scam others. However, Chinese Han people were far more wicked. There were some who would bring counterfeit money, go to the nomadic district, and purchase as much livestock as they possibly could. The nomads had worked hard for an entire year and received nothing but useless paper in the end. They wouldn’t even know how to start crying!
Zhang Fan stood by the side as he watched the H Country ethnic nomads slaughter a sheep. It truly seemed like artistry. The small knives in their hands moved rhythmically in unison with their breathing while sliding across joints and tendons. This was what it meant to dismember an ox as skillfully as a butcher! Zhang Fan was quite charmed by the sight. Just when would he be able to be this familiar with a surgical knife? He would have to practice far more! He still hadn’t grinded enough!
There was a large pot of meat for dinner. One sheep was cut up into seven large pieces, with no small pieces. Sichuan peppers were combined with various local spices and wild mushrooms from the forest. The peppers had already been dried and were no longer so spicy, but kept a rather unique aroma. When combined with the mushrooms’ aroma, this mutton smelled amazing before it was even taken out of the pot.
Zhang Fan and Shao Hua’s family all sat around a table together in a wooden hut as they ate the tender mutton and enjoyed the hot soup. This tasted amazing! It was now autumn, and the mountain was getting colder, making it even more enjoyable.
Zhang Fan spent the entire weekend mountain climbing and eating mutton together with Shao Hua’s family.
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