Chapter 70: A man needs his own home! Money is the most important!
Zhang Fan gradually discharged the patients that Ye Jing had left behind. None of them had any major problems, and they all only required ordinary treatment. There were no difficult cases. Zhang Fan finished his rotation in the cardiovascular department right after discharging his last patient.
Ren Li didn’t try to give Zhang Fan a hard time. She signed off on his rotation, giving him a passing assessment. Zhang Fan felt exhausted after finally transferring out of the cardiovascular department. Not only were the patients’ treatments far more complex here, cardiovascular patients were also constantly at high risk. Zhang Fan had never been so tense before in any general surgery or orthopedic surgery department. Not to mention, there was that major suicide incident which had left Zhang Fan in a state of confusion for several days.
This time, the hospital’s administrative department was unexpectedly highly generous for once. All the rotation doctors were given three days of vacation—this time a true vacation that they could use however they pleased.
Li Hui immediately came over to find Zhang Fan. He planned to go visit the provincial capital over the three-day vacation, but was too scared to go to the provincial capital by himself, which was why he wanted to drag Zhang Fan along.
However, Zhang Fan was completely uninterested in touring a bigger city. He felt that it was meaningless. Not to mention, he didn’t want to spend the little money he had on hand right now. Even if he went there, he felt like all he could do there was to gaze at the tall skyscrapers and eat some noodles, then come back all depressed at seeing others’ wealth.
Li Hui didn’t dare to go by himself if Zhang Fan wasn’t going, so he tried to convince Zhang Fan to go for quite a while before he finally gave up. Zhang Fan absolutely refused to budge, so Li Hui finally left, depressedly giving up on his idea to visit the provincial capital. Li Hui and Wang Sha were now completely a thing of the past. According to Chen Qifa, Wang Sha was even looking at potential houses to purchase for her new wedding home.
Just a while ago, that brat Li Hui had been all heartbroken over Wang Sha breaking up with him, but now, he was all lively again. He truly was quick to forget what was good. It really would be truly difficult to change his personality. Wang Sha had seen through his essence, and knew that Li Hui was unreliable. That was why she got engaged so quickly to somebody else. Still, she did feel quite sad about the seven to eight years’ worth of time together with him that went down the drain.
However, when seeing how Li Hui currently acted, there wasn’t much of a pity after all. If Wang Sha got married to him, they would likely argue every day. Li Hui was way too much of a slacker who loved to play around. He was actually quite smart, and had good grades on all his medical exams. He just loved playing too much.
Wang Qian had also recently been phoning Zhang Fan, telling him that he should come over for dinner sometime. However, Zhang Fan hadn’t gone a single time. Although Wang Qian really did treat him quite excellently, it was clear that her husband didn’t want to have anything to do with him. This made it too awkward for Zhang Fan to go visit her again. He didn’t want to sow discord in someone else’s family.
Her husband Jiang Yi didn’t have anything in particular against Zhang Fan. It was just that Jiang Yi was a high-ranking government official. At his level, he truly wouldn’t care about some ordinary low-ranking doctor. Although Wang Qian always complained about her back pain, he wouldn’t be able to feel it. He actually felt that Wang Qian was just being spoiled.
Not to mention, there was the matter of Zhang Fan previously asking for help to get Batu promoted right before his arrest incident. So, even though Jiang Yi felt that Zhang Fan was indeed a skilled doctor, he also felt that Zhang Fan wasn’t as simple a person as Wang Qian made him out to be. Jiang Yi felt that it was fine to simply pay for medical treatment, but there was no need to get too close to a doctor. For someone as high-ranking as Jiang Yi, he could obtain the hospital’s best doctors just by calling the superintendent. There was no need for him to get close to an ordinary doctor.
Actually, Zhang Fan had no interest in using connections to get promoted. He didn’t want to suck up to anyone. He felt that he lacked emotional intelligence, and that it would be easier for him to get promoted purely through his skills. Not to mention, there was his cheat-like System helping him. Thus, he didn’t want to busy himself with anything like factions or being a sycophant. He had spent four years as a food seller back in college to support himself through medical school. He hated the idea of having to relive that time when he had to debase himself to everyone.
The weather gradually became warmer. Li Xiao’s real estate development business became busy again, unlike how free she was in the winter. The fact that her back was truly recovering greatly elevated her opinion of Zhang Fan.
Li Xiao’s business was huge, and was involved in all areas of the border province. Recently, her assistant reminded her that it was almost time for her third round of massage treatment. At the time, Zhang Fan had mentioned an appropriate approximate timeframe, and Li Xiao’s assistant had recorded this.
Li Xiao had given Zhang Fan 30,000 yuan each time for the first and second massage treatments. Although she’d also loaned Zhang Fan a car, that was mostly for her own convenience so that Zhang Fan could easily come to treat her. When Zhang Fan had previously tried to return the car to her, she had refused to take it back, because a single car was nothing to her. As long as her back was cured fully, one car would be no big deal at all.
Back then, Li Xiao had yet to receive another back checkup from another doctor. When she returned to her original doctor and learned of the surprisingly excellent results, even her doctor had been really astonished.
Li Xiao looked at her upcoming schedule, and then told her assistant, “Make an appointment with Doctor Zhang sometime soon. Ask him when he’s free. I want to invite him to a meal.”
“What restaurant should I invite him to?”
Li Xiao thought it over for a moment before replying, “I think that Doctor Zhang prefers food with lighter taste. Let’s hire a chef to come cook at my house.”
“Alright,” the assistant replied, somewhat confused. She had never witnessed President Li inviting anyone other than her own family members to her own home for a meal before. Li Xiao’s business and background were quite powerful in Chasu City. There would be very few people in Chasu City that she would need to personally invite.
Li Xiao viewed Zhang Fan as a type of insurance. It was common that the richer a person was, the more attention they would pay to personal health. Li Xiao was a businesswoman, not a government official like Jiang Yi. Her way of thinking was different. As long as someone was useful to her, she would definitely be willing to spend money to maintain a good relationship with them. She would be quite happy if Zhang Fan had any requests she could help him with.
Li Xiao’s assistant checked Li Xiao’s free days, and then called Zhang Fan to arrange a time for a meal. Coincidentally, Zhang Fan had just received three vacation days, so the timing was quite good for him.
Zhang Fan arrived later that night at Li Xiao’s place for a meal. The chef she hired was quite excellent. Li Xiao had a feast prepared just for Zhang Fan. But, he wouldn’t drink alcohol, and didn’t know what to chat about with Li Xiao at all other than her back’s condition.
Li Xiao was a veteran businesswoman with almost two decades of experience. She definitely wouldn’t let the atmosphere become awkward, as she was a skilled conversationalist. “Doctor Zhang, are you living at the hospital dormitories for doctors who are still single?”
“No, Leader Kang has an apartment in Chasu City that’s close by to Chasu City Hospital. She loaned the apartment to me.” It would be inappropriate for him to address Kang Hua as “Sister Kang” here. It was mostly Wang Qian who kept insisting that he address Kang Hua that way. However, Zhang Fan paid great attention to status, especially after he learned of Li Xiao’s identity. He didn’t want to cause trouble for anyone because of improper title usage.
“Oh! It’s still someone else’s property in the end. A man should eventually have his own home to start a family. You know that I just happen to be a real estate developer. I won’t give you one for free, but I do have some houses in this district. I’ll have someone show you tomorrow. If you like, I’ll sell a house to you for base price at zero profit.” Li Xiao instantly understood that Zhang Fan and Kang Hua were likely closely associated when she heard that he was living in Kang Hua’s apartment.
Li Xiao’s business had also been quite successful even before her brother-in-law became a high-ranked government official. She had experienced countless ordeals along the way in her life, which was why she really understood people like Zhang Fan who were from ordinary families.
If she gave him a house for free, without even considering whether Zhang Fan would accept it or not, that would be harming him. Human greed was limitless. If Zhang Fan was unable to contain his greed, then giving him a free house as a gift would harm him. Li Xiao certainly didn’t want to do that. She had seen all sorts of people after successfully raising her business to such a large scale. Human greed was something that gradually grew after tasting sweet desserts.
The district that Li Xiao lived in counted as a high-class one in Chasu City. She was already giving Zhang Fan a lot of face by offering to sell him a house here at base price. That would be a difference of more than 100,000 yuan from the going market price.
This was definitely a good district, with excellent lighting, new buildings, and cleaner air. However, Zhang Fan didn’t have any money right now. He had wired all the money he previously saved up to his parents so that they would no longer have to work for others. His parents had used the money to open up a small supermarket.
Neither did Zhang Fan dare to spend his bonuses. His younger sister Zhang Jingshu was about to take the college entrance examination this year. Her grades were excellent, so he needed to prepare tuition money for her college. Zhang Fan truly hadn’t considered purchasing a house before.
“Oh! Thank you, Sister Li. I’m not in a rush to purchase a house right now.” Zhang Fan was too embarrassed to say that he had no money.
Of course, Li Xiao was such an experienced businesswoman that she could immediately tell that Zhang Fan had no money. “You’ve only started working for a few years. It’s already quite an accomplishment that you’re not spending any of your parents’ money. I won’t say anything else. If you really do like a house of mine, go take out a loan. I’ll go talk to the bank so that your loan’s interest isn’t too high.”
Zhang Fan would have zero problems with working hard at surgeries all night or even a construction job. However, taking out a loan, especially for several hundred thousand yuan, was more than enough to scare him to death.
Although Zhang Fan had his Medical System now, he had just entered working society not long ago. He wasn’t used to handling such large amounts of money. Basically, he still viewed himself as half a student. For the time being, he was still unable to accept the idea.
“It’s okay, forget it. I’ll think about it in a few years. At that time, if Sister Li still has extra houses, I’ll definitely come to find you.”
“Haha, oh you, you want to take advantage even though you lack courage? Still, this is also fine. Slow and steady is the reliable type. Actually, a loan isn’t such a big deal. You’ll only have to return about 2000 yuan per month. Plus, you have really good job security as a doctor, which is why you shouldn’t worry. Why don’t you go learn more about getting a loan?”
Zhang Fan really did pay attention to this. He knew that housing prices were on the rise, and that purchasing a house early would help him save a lot of money. Not to mention, Li Xiao’s district was truly excellent, and Chasu City had a nice climate with no sandstorms.
This was a regular city with four distinct seasons. Having his parents come here after his younger sister went to college seemed like a good idea. Since Li Xiao told him to go learn more about loans, that was what Zhang Fan intended to do. Shao Hua worked at a bank, didn’t she?
Zhang Fan felt that he now had a good excuse to go talk to Shao Hua.