Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  It was now autumn. Although summers and early autumn would always be quite hot in Chasu City, there were snowy mountains which acted as a big air conditioner nearby. There would always be rainfall after just a few days of hot weather.

  Shao Hua had yet to return. She was still showing her mother and Zhang Fan’s mother around Shanghai. The farmers all around this area now had more money in their pockets since the summer harvest had been completed. They started going to the hospital and paying to resolve their medical issues. Before, Zhang Fan would visit smaller cities once every two weeks on average, but now, he had to go weekly.

  Zhang Fan hadn’t actually considered Ma Wentao’s words seriously. This was because Zhang Fan didn’t believe one bit in Ma Wentao’s offer of 5% stock ownership and 50,000 yuan per month salary. It was far too difficult to start a successful private hospital in China. It would be impossible without an incredible amount of capital as backup, which Ma Wentao indeed possessed (but Zhang Fan didn’t know this). Normal private hospitals could only remain small hospitals, or rely on scamming others! Plus, the unlicensed Fujianese hospitals running amok had already broken too many laws. They made it so that Chinese people didn’t trust in private hospitals. So, it would be far too difficult to establish an excellent reputation as a private hospital.

  Besides, Zhang Fan’s biggest goal was to grind as many surgeries as he possibly could to level up his System. He was fine as long as he had enough money to spend. He didn’t want to become a slave to money. As always, Zhang Fan received a three-day vacation after he finished his rotation in the gynecology department.

  It was now almost time for the annual medical license exam in September. Wang Yanan was incredibly nervous. Although she claimed that her studies for the exam were going well, nobody would be able to guarantee that they could pass the medical license exam!

  Li Hui finally had an official relationship and even engagement now. His girlfriend was Yang Yuanyuan, a high school biology teacher from Chasu City. She was really tall and stocky, but also had nice skin and a gentle voice. Her looks were average overall. Li Hui was the slender type, so he seemed like a child when they embraced. He felt quite helpless about their relationship—he had only wanted to play around with her, but Yang Yuanyuan became pregnant!

  Yang Yuanyuan had many brothers in her family. They invited Li Hui over to discuss his future together with Yang Yuanyuan. Li Hui was so scared that he literally peed his pants. He even went to the hospital to do a pregnancy checkup for Yang Yuanyuan. As Li Hui put it, he had played with stocks too much, and accidentally become a company owner instead of investor!

  On the very last day that Zhang Fan was in the gynecology and obstetrics department, he coincidentally saw Li Hui bringing his girlfriend in for a pregnancy checkup. Zhang Fan opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but Li Hui prevented him from doing so and spoke first. “Don’t leave after your work shift is over. We’ll treat you to a meal. We’re off to do a pregnancy checkup now!”


  The biology teacher was quite polite. Although she didn’t say anything, she smiled in greeting at Zhang Fan.

  This time, they didn’t eat together at a Sichuan cuisine restaurant, because the food there would be too spicy for Li Hui’s pregnant girlfriend. Li Hui instead treated Zhang Fan to a meal at a porridge restaurant. Li Hui arrived right after the pregnancy checkup was finished, while Zhang Fan arrived when he finished his work shift.

  “Come over here, let me introduce the two of you to each other. This is Zhang Fan, my good friend who’s from the same province as me. He’s a future surgical director in the making. This is my girlfriend, Yang Yuanyuan. She’s a high school biology teacher. Zhang Fan, don’t mind that we’re at such a restaurant. She’s pregnant, so she can’t be around oil and smoke, so let’s all have some porridge together.”


  “Nice to meet you!” Zhang Fan greeted Yang Yuanyuan before speaking to Li Hui. “It’s fine, I’m alright with eating anything. Besides, it’s our first meeting, so I should be treating the two of you. How come I haven’t even heard a single thing about the two of you? The first thing I learned was that you’re already getting a pregnancy checkup for her!”


  “Everyone is busy, so I didn’t want to trouble you. I was going to notify everyone for our marriage instead, but we didn’t expect to get lucky! We’re preparing for our upcoming marriage which will be in November.” Li Hui didn’t seem particularly happy or unhappy, although he did seem to have suddenly matured a lot.

  “Oh, oh! Allow me to offer my congratulations, then. Have you already reserved a hotel for the wedding party?” Zhang Fan couldn’t really ask about other things, so he could only ask about these surface-level topics.

  “Yes, we’ve reserved J Hotel. Li Hui often talks about you. He says that you’re his only friend here. A while back, we had some misunderstandings with my family, which is why he didn’t tell you about us. Please don’t mind.” Yang Yuanyuan was quite eloquent and intelligent. She managed to erase all the awkwardness instantly.

  “It’s okay, it’s okay. I don’t mind either way. I simply wish for your happiness.”


  Yang Yuanyuan successfully had someone as lively as Li Hui on an incredibly tight leash. Li Hui acted really considerate to her, and even seemed like a proper husband already. After the meal was over, Zhang Fan watched Li Hui carefully supporting his pregnant girlfriend as the couple left the restaurant together. Zhang Fan could only exclaim how things had changed over the past two years. Youth was now being transformed into daily life!

  What had actually happened between Li Hui and Yang Yuanyuan? Actually, the answer was quite simple. An old nurse from the gastrointestinal department had played matchmaker for the two. Li Hui then used his typical playboy behavior and pickup lines to get Yang Yuanyuan to have sex with him as quickly as he could.

  However, it turned out that Yang Yuanyuan was no idiot. She was three years older than Li Hui, and had already experienced several failed relationships. She had also seen plenty of conflicts between wives and mothers-in-law in her own family, so she knew what she didn’t want. Yang Yuanyuan was in a hurry to get married due to wanting not to become one of China’s “leftover women”, and since she was a teacher, she wasn’t at all afraid of people like Li Hui who spoke big but lacked courage.

  So as the relationship progressed, Yang Yuanyuan became pregnant. Li Hui had wanted Yang Yuanyuan to get an abortion, but then she introduced him to her older brothers, who were all big and burly. Li Hui had been so intimidated that he peed his pants! It was thus decided that Li Hui and Yang Yuanyuan would be engaged and then get married in November.

  Yang Yuanyuan’s family really doted on her because she was the youngest daughter. She would be receiving an apartment home as well as a car as part of her dowry. The Yang Family’s only request was that Li Hui treat Yang Yuanyuan well. Otherwise…… her older brothers’ muscles weren’t only for show.

  In smaller cities like Chasu City, women wouldn’t have high requirements for their husbands. They didn’t need the potential husband to be very rich or handsome. As long as the man had a proper job, came from a normal family, wasn’t a cheater, and wasn’t addicted to gambling or drugs, the women would make do with whatever husband they had. There would rarely be much romance in such marriages, but these marriages would also be steady.

  Many members of the group of intern doctors who had arrived at the border province to join Kuake City Hospital together with Zhang Fan were no longer working as doctors. Several had changed jobs to become government officials and so on. Although the profession of doctor seemed quite amazing, only those who really were doctors would understand the difficulties of this profession.

  Chasu City Hospital hired a dozen or so new intern doctors. All of the new hires had master’s degrees. In just two years, the Class A Hospital in the border province was no longer hiring undergraduate students as intern doctors, which was why Li Liang was out of luck. Although none of the master’s degree students had graduated from top-level colleges, this was how the medical field was changing. Academic qualifications were becoming more and more important.

  Large hospitals in China were just like siphons. Large hospitals would siphon all the patients as well as best doctors. Doctors who gained some experience at smaller hospitals would always end up leaving for other provinces or bigger hospitals. Patients would also flock to the biggest city hospitals in tremendous numbers.

  Smaller city hospitals in China were slowly beginning to shrivel due to the large hospitals’ siphoning phenomenon. It was also common for some city hospitals to send even surgeries and patients that the hospital was capable of performing or treating to the bigger city hospital. Superintendent Zou of Kuake City Hospital was just one such example among many as he could make some money for himself every time he transferred a patient over. This meant that the big city hospitals became extremely overfilled, and the doctors became extremely overloaded with work.

  Village hospitals had shriveled even more severely. Most village hospitals no longer even had a surgery department or gynecology and obstetrics department. In fact, most village hospitals would describe themselves as being equivalent to pharmacies!

  Lines became longer and longer at big city hospitals. The patients were anxious. The doctors were frustrated. Patient disputes became more and more common. Of course, there had also been patient disputes in the past, but patient disputes had become exponentially more common over the past few years! China was currently sending a great deal of government support to important hospitals, city hospitals’ emergency departments, as well as pediatrics departments.

  Meanwhile, smaller city hospitals and village hospitals were shriveling severely. Transportation had become far more convenient than before. It was also so easy now to find information on the internet. Everyone would prefer to go to the biggest and best hospital in the area if they could. This caused the smaller hospitals to reach a development bottleneck. How was China going to solve this problem and develop the medical field in the future? This would be a major issue.

  The medical field’s academic requirements were becoming ever higher. However, fewer and fewer fresh graduates were going to the small cities and villages. By now, students who only had undergraduate medical school academic qualifications were no longer allowed in clinical departments. As for the Class A Hospitals? The departments at these hospitals were actually really busy treating mostly common problems and illnesses, performing a level of work that should have originally been common at smaller hospitals instead.

  In Chasu City Hospital’s general surgery department, by far the most common surgeries they performed were appendectomies and gall bladder surgeries. The respiratory department here dealt with common colds far more than with anything else. Additionally, the housing prices around Chasu City Hospital had grown significantly over the years without anyone realizing.

  All of this had happened imperceptibly. It was just like the boom of cars in China. Suddenly, the streets of China were filled with personal cars, and everyone wanted to buy one even if they didn’t actually need it. The end result was that parking spots became rare, and traffic jams were commonplace.

  Arguments and fights could be seen every day on the streets!

  Zhang Fan used two out of his three days of vacation to help Li Hui clean up the new apartment home that the latter would be living in with his fiancée. This apartment home was in Kaifa District. Although it wasn’t very large, it was still a nice place. Maybe Li Hui’s previous wild lifestyle had ground away his wild tendencies as he had accepted his upcoming marriage!

  Li Hui and Zhang Fan took a break from cleaning as they smoked together on the veranda. “After I get married, I want to apply to permanently get assigned to a department. I don’t want to go through rotations anymore. Chasu City Hospital is constantly receiving more and more patients, and the new intern doctors all have master’s degrees. You should hurry and consider what department you want to join as well. The more you stall, the more competition and pressure there will be. Both of us have really weak academic qualifications.” Li Hui sighed as he gazed at the stars from the veranda.

  “Yeah! I think I’m almost done! Have you decided what department you’ll join?”


  “The respiratory department. Director Jumabieke has already agreed to recruit me. However, it shouldn’t be difficult for you to get assigned to any department that you want at all.”


  “That’s good for you. The respiratory department is a good one. You’re starting a family now, so you need to behave yourself. You’re getting older, and don’t have the time to play around anymore. Since you’re going to be a husband and father, you need to learn to be responsible~!”


  “Sigh! I just want to tell you what I really think. What I regret most in life is how I treated Wang Sha. Nothing else matters! I truly regret what I did back then! Seven years! We spent seven years of youth together!”


  “There’s no need. She’s living well now for herself, so you should value what you have now as well!”


  “Yeah!”


  Both of them fell silent. You wouldn’t be able to tame a wild horse without grassy plains! Just let the past be gone with the wind!