100 Third wheel, fourth wheel (1/2)

Zhang Fan called Shao Hua after everything regarding the skin graft surgery was finished. He learned that she had finished work and returned home already, which made Zhang Fan feel reassured that she was safe. Originally, he had been having fun eating together with his friends, but the meal was interrupted by the surgery, and he was now really tired. He returned to his apartment, took a quick shower, and instantly went to sleep.

Zhang Fan only had two weeks remaining for his rotation in the dermatology department. He intended to request vacation time off right after this rotation was finished. With all of his saved-up vacation days that he had never used before, he would be able to visit his home for about a month. He wanted to find an opportunity to tell Shao Hua about this.

Thankfully, with Shao Hua around whenever Zhang Fan wasn't working, he no longer felt so homesick. As the classical saying went, having a girlfriend would make a man forget about his mother.

Zhang Fan had now been working for other hospitals as a surgeon available for hire for six months now. He was now relatively known at all the city level hospitals. Not only was he cheap to hire, he would always split half of the surgery fee given to him with the other doctors at the hospital.

The local doctors here wouldn't care so much if the hired doctor was a department director or not. As long as you could succeed in the surgery, and also give the local doctors some money, that would be enough for them. The surgical director of the nearby Carte City phoned Zhang Fan, asking him if he would be willing to come over this weekend to perform three laparoscopic surgeries.

Zhang Fan was quite happy to perform more surgeries. Not only would it increase the amount of surgeries for grinding experience points in his system, it would also increase his income. He had been spending more money recently. Although Shao Hua had said that the two of them were supposed to take turns paying money for meals, now that their relationship was becoming ever closer, Zhang Fan had mostly taken over paying for the meals.

Back when he was still single, he simply ate at the hospital cafeteria every day. The hospital had a 400 yuan food allowance for the doctors every month at the cafeteria, and the cafeteria food was alright and cheap. 400 yuan was plenty enough for a doctor to eat at the cafeteria for the entire month. But, it would be impossible to romance someone if you had absolutely no money! Thankfully for Zhang Fan's finances, Shao Hua didn't care too much about what type of restaurant they ate at. Her only requirement was that the food had to be clean. Zhang Fan really wouldn't have been able to afford pandering to Jia Suyue's palate.

Zhang Fan continued performing regular biweekly checkups for the children of the sports school. His physical exams and massage treatments for the children proved highly effective. Over the past six months, the children had noticeably less pains and aches. They all knew now whom to go to for sports injuries. In fact, Zhang Fan was the only doctor in all of Chasu City who was a specialist in sports injuries.

”I have a senior who used to play basketball. He's currently a basketball coach. Back in the day, he injured his knee while playing. Could you give him a checkup when you have time? Your surgery for Guli was really amazing. At the time, I was worried that she would never be able to become a professional athlete for the rest of her life, but now, she's recovered fully and there's zero aftereffects whatsoever,” sports teacher Wu Yanchao said to Zhang Fan after the latter finished today's checkups for the children.

”No problem. Just have him contact me.” Zhang Fan was quite fond of the children here at the sports school. They were all really boisterous and lively. Spending an afternoon with them was great for stress relief.

This weekend, Zhang Fan wanted to take Shao Hua to visit Carte City, which was approximately 100 kilometers away from Chasu City. Chasu City was the largest city in the nearby area, with many smaller satellite cities around it. There was a large patch of primeval forest around Carte City. Although Shao Hua was a native of Chasu City, born and raised there, she had actually never visited Carte City before.

Zhang Fan figured that he could finish the three laparoscopic surgeries by noon if he started working early in the morning. That way, he could tour Carte City together with Shao Hua in the afternoon, and then drive back to Chasu City before it got dark. Although Zhang Fan felt that he had a really nice plan, when he actually called Shao Hua on Friday, Jia Suyue overheard him because she was currently out having fun together with her good friend Shao Hua.

”I want to go as well! I haven't been to Carte City in so long. The scenery there is so beautiful! We can stay there at a hotel for the night!” Jia Suyue was totally unreserved in inviting herself along as well. Still, there was actually a benefit to this: with her along, Shao Hua's parents felt more reassured in agreeing to let their daughter go with Zhang Fan. This in a way created a chance for Zhang Fan.

Although Jia Suyue would be a third wheel, Zhang Fan had an idea. He summoned Wang Yanan over. ”I'm going to perform a few surgeries in Carte City this weekend. Would you like to come along with me? They're general surgeries. There won't be any downsides to you watching and learning something new.”

”Sure, I'll go. I've never been rotated into a general surgery department before, though. Will I embarrass you by tagging along? Will the doctors in Carte City laugh at me?”

”Relax, it won't be a problem at all.”

Now that Wang Yanan had agreed to go along with him, that meant Jia Suyue had another friend she could hang out with, which also meant that she would no longer need to constantly hang around with Shao Hua. When Zhang Fan told Shao Hua that he had also invited their mutual friend Wang Yanan to come along, Shao Hua giggled, and said, ”I never knew before that you were such a schemer.”

”Haha! There's no helping it, I was forced into becoming a schemer.” Zhang Fan understood that Shao Hua wouldn't have it easy with one of her best friends on one side and her semi-boyfriend on the other side. Besides, Zhang Fan had only gotten acquainted with Shao Hua because of Jia Suyue, so the latter was their matchmaker in a sense.