46 Do you know how to play Double Rise (1/2)

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.