The first snow suddenly arrived, and everyone on the streets hurriedly rushed home. The muddy water on the streets dirtied all the passing cars.
Zhang Fan was in a bit of a daze as he watched all this from the ninth floor of the hospital. He had been here in the border province for about one year and a half now. It was time to return home as he was beginning to become homesick. Over the past year and a half, he had slowly risen from a tiny city hospital to a bigger Class A hospital. He was now financially secure, and it was time for him to return home. Thus, Zhang Fan decided to return home for this year's New Year's.
In orthopedic department #1, Zhang Fan didn't monopolize all the joints surgery patients—he would often send a few to Xue Fei and Zhou Chengfu. Zhang Fan's generosity made the two attending physicians quite happy with him. Actually, Zhang Fan couldn't help it—he was put in charge of too many patients for him to handle them all. As for the other two doctors on Zhang Fan's team... Li Hongtu was in poor physical condition, and often had to take time off from work. Meanwhile, Cui Pingjun completely stopped working seriously after Zhang Fan had joined the joints surgery team. All he would do was occasionally hold the surgical retractors for Zhang Fan. Well, it wasn't like Zhang Fan could tell a second-highest level certification doctor like Cui Pingjun to write the medical reports for him.
Wang Qian had phoned Zhang Fan several times, inviting him over for a meal. He would have to go soon, or it would be seen as impolite. Thus, Zhang Fan purchased some fruits after work on this day. Since it was more difficult to find a taxi on a snowy day, it took quite a while before he found one that took him to Kaifa District.
Wang Qian had cooked hot pot, which was perfect for snowy weather. When Zhang Fan arrived, he found to his surprise that Kang Hua was also there, and that Tang Jingjing was watching TV. "Little Zhang, you kept refusing me several times when I invited you. I would have been angry soon if you hadn't come," Wang Qian said as she accepted his fruits.
"I was truly busy. Otherwise, I would have come long ago. The hospital cafeteria's food is always too spicy or salty. I have no appetite eating there." Zhang Fan then greeted Kang Hua. "Hello, Leader Kang. When did you arrive? Has your back been alright recently?"
"My back's been pretty good. I haven't experienced any back pain at all. Today, I'm here to help your Sister Wang cook a good meal for you. I'm just worried that you won't like it."
"It'll definitely be delicious. It already smells so good!" Tang Jingjing claimed, confirming in Zhang Fan's mind that she was a truly skilled sycophant.
Kang Hua had come here today with a request for Wang Qian. When she arrived, she found that Wang Qian was busy cooking a hot pot, so she took off her jacket and joined Wang Qian in the kitchen together to chat as they cooked. Since her request wasn't convenient for her secretary Tang Jingjing to hear, she had been told to go watch television, which made the latter rather uneasy. Tang Jingjing had finally been freed when Zhang Fan arrived.
"I'll bring you some smokes, so watch some TV for now. The hot pot will soon be ready." Wang Qian went to the storage room to fetch some smokes.
"Hey there, Leader!" After Wang Qian and Kang Hua closed the kitchen door to focus on cooking and talking to each other, Zhang Fan sat down and greeted Tang Jingjing.
"Okay, don't joke around with me like that. You know perfectly well that I'm not a leader. It seems that you're doing pretty well at Chasu City Hospital. Even Director Wang has to make a reservation to invite you to dinner?" Wang Qian had a very high position at her bank, which was why Tang Jingjing addressed her as Director Wang.
"I've been really busy. There are far more patients here, and some people recently quit our department to go work at another hospital. We're shorthanded. How have you been recently? Busy?"
"Busy, ridiculously so. It's almost the end of the year, which means that there's all sorts of reports and analyses to write. I've been feeling so listless from all the work." The two of them stopped chatting after only a few sentences. Tang Jingjing was the type who favored actions over words, and Zhang Fan wasn't the chatty type, either. So, the two of them simply watched some TV.
"It's almost ready." Wang Qian brought out a hot pot filled with flavoring. Zhang Fan didn't react in time, but Tang Jingjing instantly stood up to go help out.
"It smells so good," Tang Jingjing said as she helped set the tableware.
Zhang Fan hadn't visited Wang Qian for quite a long time by now—since the Batu incident. This was because he felt very awkward that he had troubled her with Batu's matter. However, Wang Qian hadn't thought anything of it at all.
Kang Hua was here today to ask Wang Qian for help. The city leader of the nearby Chark City suddenly became ill, and it was discovered that he had liver cancer during a regular checkup. He had already gone to Beijing to continue his checkups. Kang Hua felt that there was over a 90% chance that he definitely had liver cancer, which meant that Chark City would have a major political shakeup at the end of the year. Kang Hua wanted to get promoted to become a higher-ranking politician, but her personal connections were limited to a smaller city like Kuake City, which was why she wanted to come ask Wang Qian and see if her husband could help out.
"Let's eat. Little Tang, have some beef. This is fresh beef purchased just today." Wang Qian gave Zhang Fan some beef. It was really delicious as Wang Qian was a skilled cook, and Zhang Fan's mouth soon became covered in grease. He truly hadn't had many good meals ever since working for several months at Chasu City hospital. He had long since gotten tired of eating at the hospital cafeteria and nearby restaurants. Kang Hua ate the meal mechanically, not tasting anything. She was only here because she wanted to meet Wang Qian's husband, but Wang Qian didn't know when her husband would return home. When Wang Qian phoned her husband, only her husband's secretary picked up. The secretary only said that her husband was in a meeting, without saying when it would end or anything else.
Wang Qian thought things over. If she helped out her childhood friend Kang Hua, this meant Kang Hua could also be of use to her husband in the future. "Hua, it's been so long since we went out together to have some good fun. After we finish eating dinner, let me invite a friend and we can all go play cards together." She was thinking of Li Xiao. If she brought Zhang Fan as well, that would make it easier to invite her. Wang Qian's relationship with Li Xiao was alright, but Kang Hua wasn't acquainted with Li Xiao. Since all three women were Zhang Fan's back pain patients, bringing him along would make it easier for introductions. Not to mention, it was Kang Hua who'd originally introduced Zhang Fan to Wang Qian.
"Zhang Fan, eat as much as you want. Tell me what you like to eat most, and I'll cook some more for you." Now that Wang Qian had an idea, she lightly poked Kang Hua, and then asked Zhang Fan, "How is Sister Li's back doing recently?"
"Her rehabilitation will still take quite a while. I still need to go treat her after eating dinner here." Zhang Fan talked as he continued eating. The other three women eating together with him ate far less than he did—they had all stopped eating already.
"Oh, how are the effects?"
"Not bad. Sister Wang, do you still have more of these vegetables? Our hospital cafeteria cooks nothing but cabbage every day."
"I have lots more. I'll bring some more out for you."
"I'll go since I'm already full." Tang Jingjing got up first to bring out more vegetables.
"Do you know how to play the card game 'Double Rise'? How about you accompany us to go play Double Rise afterwards?" Wang Qian and Li Xiao often played cards together as teammates in the 2v2 Chinese card game known as Double Rise, and were simply addicted to this card game. Right after Wang Qian inquired as to how Li Xiao's treatment was going, she wanted to know if Li Xiao could play cards. Due to Li Xiao's recent back pain, she had been unable to sit for long periods of time to play cards.
"I don't know how to play Double Rise!" Zhang Fan was of the opinion that all card games not being played for money were a waste of time.
"I'll teach you, it's quite an easy game." Kang Hua immediately understood what Wang Qian meant. She had faintly heard of Li Xiao before, although she was unsure what Li Xiao did. However, it was a definite that Li Xiao was more powerful than Kang Hua was.
"How about you find someone else to play cards with you? I truly don't know how to play this game." Zhang Fan truly had no interest in playing cards with several women and not for money.
"It's not a problem. I'll bring out some cards and explain the rules to you as you eat. Someone as smart as you will be able to learn instantly," Kang Hua spoke again. At this point, Tang Jingjing also understood. It was obvious that contacting this Li Xiao would be made easier by going through Zhang Fan.
Zhang Fan was the only person here who had no clue what was going on. "Alright. I have heard of this game before, but I don't know the local rules. I suppose I'll understand if you explain them to me." As previously mentioned, Zhang Fan was an expert in card games ever since young.
Everyone set out to Li Xiao's place together after Zhang Fan finally finished eating as Zhang Fan went to go treat Li Xiao. Wang Qian had also phoned Li Xiao and made arrangements to play cards together. For high-ranking women like them, it would often be quite difficult to find appropriate card buddies. When Li Xiao heard that Wang Qian and Zhang Fan were coming over together, and that they wanted to play cards, Li Xiao was incredibly eager. She hadn't played cards for so long now, and her back almost didn't hurt anymore.
Before leaving, Tang Jingjing hurriedly contacted a tea house and reserved an entire private room. She knew that the person they were meeting today was highly important to Kang Hua's future. Since it was snowing, Tang Jingjing didn't want to drive, as she wasn't confident in her driving skills. Before getting on the car, she told Zhang Fan, "How about you drive? I'm worried about driving in slippery conditions."
"Sure, no problem." Zhang Fan hadn't driven a car for so long now. He was quite eager to start again.