Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  It was now almost New Year’s. The thyroid and mammary gland department had very few patients now except for a few long-term chemotherapy patients. Su Jing directly gave Zhang Fan some vacation time off as she was the doctor in charge of Zhang Fan. It was quite boring already for both of them to be in the department with nothing to do, so she simply had Zhang Fan rest up for the New Year’s.

  This would be the second New Year’s that Zhang Fan had spent in the border province—he spent the previous New Year’s in Kuake City Hospital. This year was even more boring for him. For New Year’s, the great majority of Chinese families would get together over the holiday. Zhang Fan phoned his parents and younger sister. Their life was much better now than before. His younger sister’s tuition was the family’s biggest expense, but now that Zhang Fan was paying her tuition, his family no longer had any major expenses. During the call with his parents, Zhang Fan learned that his parents used the money he wired them to open up a small store of their own. This store’s business was apparently doing well enough for them to live off, so they no longer had to work at their previous jobs for other people.

  Zhang Fan had fewer worries since his family’s financial situation was now much better.

  Chen Qifa arranged a date with Zhang Fan for the latter to visit his family. Zhang Fan visited Kuake City on this day, intending to return to Chasu City on the same day, but Chen Qifa didn’t allow him to do so.

  Since Chen Qifa finally passed the medical license exam, and even became the director of surgical department #2, his wife was especially happy. She took out the best foods in the home to treat Zhang Fan.

  Chen Qifa’s son, who was currently in his second year of high school, was really curious about his father’s young teacher, and kept following Zhang Fan around. Chen Qifa was really strict with his son, yet Chen Qifa had now found someone so young to be his teacher. His son felt that he had finally found someone who could suppress his father.

  Zhang Fan ate lunch on this day at Chen Qifa’s home. Shi Lei also learned that Zhang Fan was in Kuake City, so he insisted on treating Zhang Fan to a good meal at Kuake City hotel. Superintendent Zou Pingshan was getting old, and Shi Lei wanted to be promoted. However, Shi Lei lacked high-ranked connections. He felt that Zhang Fan was an excellent opportunity that he shouldn’t let go of.

  Shi Lei only treated Zhang Fan and Chen Qifa to a meal. It was of quite high quality. Typically, people in the border province drank local wines, but Shi Lei treated them with Moutai wine and Zhonghua smokes. He constantly cracked funny jokes that made the other two laugh, making his very best effort to become good friends with Zhang Fan so that the latter wouldn’t refuse him when he needed help at a critical moment.

  On that night, Zhang Fan collapsed completely drunk in a hotel room that Shi Lei helped to pay for. Zhang Fan wanted to leave on the next day, but the fat hotel manager refused to let him go. He knew that Zhang Fan had a really good relationship with Kang Hua. Although she had been transferred to a different city, Kang Hua had been promoted, becoming the leader of a bigger city. During the meal that the fat manager treated Zhang Fan to, Zhang Fan refused to drink a single drop of alcohol. Although the fat manager was acquainted with Zhang Fan, he wasn’t very familiar with him, so he had Shi Lei accompany them for the meal as well.

  Later that afternoon, Zhang Fan truly insisted on leaving. He felt like he would die of alcohol poisoning in Kuake City otherwise. Before he left, Shi Lei gave him several cartons of smokes, and said that he would go to Chasu City to study in the future, and would contact him again then.

  Zhang Fan left Kuake City Hotel, and went to visit Batu’s home. There was a large padlock on the front door, and Zhang Fan didn’t try to find or contact Batu’s wife. The end result of the Batu incident was quite clear already, and he had no more questions. Neither was there anything else that Zhang Fan could help with.

  Right when Zhang Fan returned to Chasu City, Tang Jingjing called him. “City Leader Kang Hua is angry at you. She’s saying that you didn’t even come greet her for New Year’s this year. Do you still respect her at all!?” However, Tang Jingjing’s tone was quite lighthearted. She was obviously just joking. Tang Jingjing had also been promoted alongside Kang Hua. Still, Tang Jingjing’s job was just to serve all of the city leader’s needs. It was quite difficult for her as well, and it was unlikely that she would have much rest over the vacation as she would probably still need to work.

  There was no helping it. Since Tang Jingjing had already mentioned this, even if only jokingly, Zhang Fan purchased lots of fruits and went to visit Kang Hua’s home. Moreover, since he was visiting Kang Hua’s home, he would also need to go visit Wang Qian. It didn’t matter that they wouldn’t lack for fruits. It would be too rude of him to visit them empty-handed.

  The Jeep Grand Cherokee basically turned into Zhang Fan’s personal car. Every month, Li Xiao’s assistant would even bring him money for the gas, which made him feel quite awkward. When he arrived at Kang Hua’s home, it turned out that nobody was home. He was about to call Tang Jingjing when she just happened to appear. “Happy New Year’s, Doctor Zhang. Leader Kang Hua is currently at Wang Qian’s home. I saw your car arrive here, so I hurried over to tell you to come over.”


  “Haha, I arrived quite quickly. Happy New Year’s, Sister Tang. You didn’t go visit the provincial capital?”


  “I did, I just returned today. Let’s hurry and go over, they’re waiting for you.”


  Many people were gathered at Wang Qian’s home today. Originally, Kang Hua had wanted to invite Wang Qian over for dinner, but Wang Qian said that she might as well invite over every one of her friends to her home for New Year’s.

  Wang Qian’s residence was quite large already, but there were truly many people here. Kang Hua and Tang Jingjing, Li Xiao and her assistant, and many of Chasu City’s high-ranked individuals were all present. When Zhang Fan arrived, wow! There really were so many people. Today, Zhang Fan also met Wang Qian’s husband for the first time. He was Jiang Yi, the Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party Committee. Jiang Yi had a scholarly appearance.

  When Wang Qian saw Zhang Fan arrive, she stood up, and said, “Happy New Year’s, Zhang Fan. Here, let me introduce you to everyone.” Zhang Fan then became quite busy with greeting everyone. They were all leaders in some field, such as some bank’s president, the director of the Electric Power Bureau, the secretary of the Communist Party School, and so on. Zhang Fan didn’t bother memorizing any of their names. As for all of these people, they were only friendly to Zhang Fan for the sake of Wang Qian and her husband’s face. None of them would pay any attention to Zhang Fan after leaving this residence.

  A renowned chef from a high-class hotel had been invited over to cook the meal for today. The chef brought over three subordinates along with his own ingredients, so Wang Qian didn’t need to prepare anything. Li Xiao was busy playing Double Rise with some others, while Kang Hua was helping Wang Qian greet all the guests. After Zhang Fan greeted Li Xiao and Kang Hua, Jiang Yi called him over.

  Jiang Yi glanced over Zhang Fan and kept exclaiming. “It’s truly admirable how skilled you are at your young age.” Jiang Yi’s son had finally come back for New Year’s, but was currently attending a student reunion back in the provincial capital. Jiang Yi pulled Zhang Fan into a seat, and handed the latter a cigarette while saying, “Doctor Zhang, your medical skills are truly amazing. My wife’s been praising you so much in front of me that she made you sound like a divine doctor.”


  Zhang Fan smiled embarrassedly. “Sister Wang is exaggerating. It’s mostly because her condition wasn’t severe. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to help her.”


  “It’s no exaggeration at all. I’ve already visited so many hospitals, but none of them were able to help with my back pain. Look at me now, I’m perfectly fine again and can even go play badminton.” Wang Qian brought Zhang Fan a cup of tea.

  “Haha, you see? Your Sister Wang has recovered quite nicely. I also need to thank you. A person’s health is the most important. If you need any help at all regarding your personal life or work, let me or Wang Qian know anytime. We’ll definitely help you if it’s within our power. Think of it as thanks for helping to cure my wife.”


  Due to the special nature of Jiang Yi’s job, he hated owing favors. He felt that favors were more troublesome than anything—the previous Batu incident had been such an example. That was why he spoke so directly as he was afraid that Zhang Fan wouldn’t understand.

  “Everything’s going well in my work and personal life. I don’t need anything. Besides, Sister Wang has given me so much money for my medical fees that it equals several months of my salary.” Zhang Fan said with a smile. He no longer viewed himself as the type of person who needed to use connections to get ahead in life. Wang Qian had given him such high treatment fees, and truly treated him well. He didn’t want to bring any trouble to her.

  “Oh, that’s good, then.” Jiang Yi looked Zhang Fan over. He felt that the young doctor was truly reliable and not fickle at all, with the aura of someone skilled and not interested in utilizing connections.

  The hotel chef started serving the food not long after Zhang Fan arrived. Zhang Fan was the youngest person present today. Tang Jingjing, Li Xiao’s assistant, and the other lower-ranking individuals ate in a separate room without being able to join this dinner table.

  Jiang Yi gave a short speech before everyone started eating. Wang Qian knew that Zhang Fan couldn’t drink alcohol, so she only poured soda for him. At such a dinner with so many high-ranking individuals, nobody would try and force anyone else to drink alcohol.

  The others present were truly surprised that Zhang Fan was allowed to eat at the dinner table rather than being sent to the other room with the other subordinates. The Communist Party School’s secretary typically dealt with a great deal of paperwork on a daily basis, and had a poor back because of it, so he asked, “Director Wang, your back has truly been cured? You’re even playing badminton?”


  “Of course. Don’t look at how young Doctor Zhang is. He’s truly skilled.”


  “I might have to trouble Doctor Zhang, then,” the secretary said as he clinked his wine glass against Zhang Fan’s glass of soda. Nobody else had spoken a single word to Zhang Fan until now.

  Li Xiao also commented, “Doctor Zhang’s massage treatment for me just ended a few days ago. I’m much better now. Luckily, I met Doctor Zhang today. I wanted to ask when my next massage treatment would begin?” Li Xiao asked about this since the topic had been brought up.