Jishuitan Hospital, Oncology Departnt, Ward 7018.
Wang Lianming looked at his wife lying on the bed, her face exhausted and haggard, and once again felt a wave of helplessness inside.
"Old Wang, if it doesn’t work, maybe we should go back to Shishi."
"A surgery like mine doesn’t have to be done in a big hospital like this."
"We can do it back in Shishi, probably wouldn’t make much difference."
He Fang managed to squeeze out a faint smile on her pale, gaunt face.
Of course she knew she was just kidding herself.
If there really was no difference, why would patients from all over the country rush to Beijing?
Jishuitan Hospital has top-notch dical equipnt and technology, able to perform all kinds of complex cervical cancer surgeries.
Like minimally invasive surgeries, robot-assisted surgeries, and other cutting-edge techniques.
The experts here have plenty of surgical experience, skilled in all kinds of techniques, and keep up with the latest international advancents.
Post-operative rehab is also more professional.
The hospitals back ho in Shishi are nowhere close in terms of equipnt and skills.
So, if you can have the surgery done here at Jishuitan, of course it’s best to do it here.
Transferring back to Shishi is really just the last resort when there’s no other choice.
Wang Lianming tried to comfort her: "Let’s wait a bit more, honey. Rember that ti Jiang Tao called and asked for Director Tang’s number? He said he’d try to help."
"Jiang Tao..."
He Fang softly said Jiang Tao’s na.
The affection in her heart for this fellow townsman, whom she’d always treated like a younger brother, grew yet again.
As they say, true friendship shows in hard tis.
When He Fang was rushed to the hospital, they were totally unprepared.
Jiang Tao was the first to show up, bringing all kinds of daily necessities and supplies to the hospital.
He ca twice more after that, never empty-handed.
He even offered to lend her and her husband money for dical bills.
This kindness from Jiang Tao, He Fang and Wang Lianming would rember for a lifeti.
But...
Gratitude aside, He Fang didn’t really think Jiang Tao could help with the surgery itself.
Suddenly, there was a noisy sound of footsteps outside the door.
Next second, the door swung open, and a bunch of doctors and nurses in white coats filed in.
Leading the group was Director Tang Yonghua, the one who’d done rounds earlier in the morning with all the attending physicians.
"Family of Bed 3, later bring the patient down for a full set of pre-operative checks,"
"If there’s no problem, your surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning."
"And..."
After entering, Tang Yonghua began directing his team to run various checks on He Fang.
At the sa ti, he explained the surgery schedule to Wang Lianming and He Fang.
"Alright, alright! Got it!"
"Alright!"
"No problem! We’ll cooperate fully! Whatever you say!"
"Thank you, Director Tang! Thank you so much!"
Tang Yonghua’s prompt scheduling of the surgery was such a surprise that Wang Lianming and He Fang were moved to tears.
Wang Lianming kept nodding and cooperating wholeheartedly.
"It must be thanks to Jiang Tao!"
After respectfully seeing Director Tang out, Wang Lianming imdiately thought of his good buddy Jiang Tao.
"Has to be him. Otherwise, there’s no way the surgery would be scheduled so soon. We owe Jiang Tao big ti for this."
He Fang wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, feeling even more grateful towards Jiang Tao.
Soon afterwards, Wang Lianming took out his phone and called Jiang Tao.
The couple poured out their thanks to him on the phone.
...
On Line 10 of the subway.
After hanging up on Wang Lianming, Jiang Tao finally let out a sigh of relief.
Though the way he helped arrange He Fang’s surgery this ti wasn’t exactly aboveboard,
Jiang Tao trusted that Tang Yonghua would do his absolute best in the operation.
And for Tang Yonghua, this was actually the best outco.
Though he was a bit greedy, at least he had basic professional ethics.
He wouldn’t gamble with a patient’s life.
In fact, he probably wanted the surgery to go smoothly even more than Wang Lianming or Jiang Tao did.
That would be good for everyone.
After another dozen or so stops, Jiang Tao got off at Pan Garden Station.
He exited through B4 and headed straight for Antique Street.
Jiang Tao had two reasons for coming to Pan Garden today.
First, he wanted to find a tea buyer to sell off the tea leaves Sun Xiaobao had given him last night and recoup so cash.
Second, Jiang Tao wondered if he could stumble on any valuable intel at Pan Garden Antiques Market.
If only he could, like in those online novels, get lucky and pick up an antique worth a million or so, he’d be rich in one shot!
This ti of year, lots of companies are on holiday early.
Antique Street was a bit livelier than usual.
Jiang Tao wandered down Antique Street, scanning each shop as he passed.
He didn’t know the first thing about antiques and had no intention of buying anything.
He was just hoping that looking around would up his chances of picking up so useful intel.
After a while, Jiang Tao walked into a shop with a sign saying they bought old liquor and tea leaves.
This type of shop is pretty niche here, way fewer than regular antique vendors.
He went straight in, skipped the chit-chat,
and pulled out the box of tea from his shopping bag to ask about the price.
The tea was a few puer cakes from Dayi Tea.
Jiang Tao had checked online—original price was around 36,000.
Brother Tongzi had valued it at 30,000, so Jiang Tao set that as his sale price.
Less than that, he wouldn’t sell—just on to the next shop.
Dayi Tea tends to hold its value pretty well.
So of the rarer teas sell for 80–90% of their market price on resale.
Jiang Tao was lucky today—the first shop offered his target price right away.
He didn’t get greedy, just went ahead and sold it, recouping 30,000.
Perfect—made up for the 30,000 Xu Li lost yesterday.
After selling the tea, Jiang Tao walked around Antique Street all morning, just looking, not buying.
He spent 28 yuan at a noodle shop nearby for a bowl of authentic old Beijing zhajiang noodles for lunch.
Full and tired from walking, he finally started heading back.
Got lucky on the ride ho—nabbed a seat as soon as he got on. But that didn’t last.
He’d barely sat one stop when a very pregnant woman got on.
The second she entered, it was like so secret level had been triggered.
All the people sitting instantly went into "close-eyes, rest mode."
Only when Jiang Tao got up and gave his seat to the pregnant woman did the secret level end.
Everyone went back to happily scrolling on their phones.
He switched between several tro lines and then transferred to the bus.
By the ti Jiang Tao got off at Xiaoshanhe Village it was already past four in the afternoon.
As he stepped off the bus, he got a call from his landlord Lü Qian.
Lü Qian was inviting him to join for seafood at Brother Fatty Seafood Restaurant in the urban village tonight.
Of course, Jiang Tao wasn’t that special.
He was really just riding on the coattails of Ma Dongi and He Jing.
Tonight, He Jing was coming over to check out Ma Dongi’s new place.
Jiang Tao and He Jing were not only fellow townsfolk but knew each other well.
He was actually the "Yue Lao" who’d introduced Lü Qian to Ma Dongi.
Lü Qian was inviting him to dinner as a thank you, and also to have him help liven things up.
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