Chapter 256: Friends and relatives

Zhang Fan finally had a chance to rest now. He didn't have any special surgeries to perform at his hospital now. This time, he could rest until it was time to normally go back to work.

Zhang Fan had experienced so many happy things over the past year. First of all, Jingshu got into a good college. Zhang Fan was happier about his younger sister getting into a good college than if it had been himself. He was really proud that his younger sister was going to such a good college!

Zhang Fan had also confirmed his relationship with Shao Hua. The two of them felt that they were more and more appropriate for each other as time went on. After so long together, the two of them had yet to even get into a single argument. Additionally, both sides' parents were the really reasonable and understanding type, which made Zhang Fan and Shao Hua both really relieved.

Without mentioning anything else, when Zhang Fan wanted to buy his own hospital, both of Shao Hua's parents had brought out their life savings to help him invest in his hospital. Not only that, they didn't mind the risk as Shao Hua's father volunteered to become the legal owner of Zhang Fan's hospital, which would mean taking responsibility. The hospital was no supermarket. Having legal responsibility would incur real risk. If there was a major medical incident, the police would first come for the legal owner of the hospital rather than the doctors!

Another happy matter was where everyone now lived. Both sides' parents now had a new apartment to live in. Of course, the new apartment had better lighting and was more convenient to live in. After both sides' parents worked hard for their entire lives, they would be able to enjoy themselves in their old age!

Lastly, the mysterious System that Zhang Fan obtained had yet to disappear. Thanks to his System's assistance, Zhang Fan had been grinding and gained so much knowledge that he was at the peak of all doctors in the local area! Even if the System disappeared right now, Zhang Fan would at least have the knowledge necessary to continue to support himself and the people he loved!

Although a week of the Spring Festival had passed already, China's custom was that the Spring Festival would last for 15 days. It was now time for family gatherings. Zhang Fan didn't have any family here in the border province, but Shao Hua had plenty of relatives.

In the past, Shao Hua's family members would only celebrate the Spring Festival quite simply. The younger ones in the family would go around visiting the elders for the holiday. Ever since Zhang Fan helped Shao Hua's older aunt's son and the son's wife to start their own food stand at the hospital, their lives had greatly improved.

Shao Hua's older cousin gave Shao Hua's family a lot of chicken, duck, and goat meat that his family had raised. Shao Hua's mother tried to give him money, but he refused. He was still grateful to Zhang Fan for having helped him so much!

The past few days had been really busy for Zhang Fan and Shao Hua. Both Shao Hua's father and Shao Hua kept going to Zhang Fan's hospital every day to watch things when he wasn't there. Although they didn't know anything about medicine, they didn't feel reassured staying at home with such an expensive hospital being a major business for their family. They were really worried that something might happen!

Now, whenever Shao Hua's parents heard the sound of an ambulance, both of them would look out the window in Zhang Fan's hospital's direction. Although his hospital wasn't visible from here, they still couldn't help but keep looking in that direction! This was simply how they were. They didn't say it usually, but they were always concerned about their daughter and what their daughter worried about!

Since Shao Hua's older aunt's family situation had improved, the younger aunt was happy as well. Although Shao Hua's younger uncle-in-law would mutter a bit, he wouldn't say anything bad. Since his relatives were doing better, at least they would no longer come to bother him, so he sort of also counted as being happy!

Shao Hua's younger aunt was about to retire. She had the best job out of everyone in the family in her generation, working at the taxation bureau. She thought about how if it weren't for her older brother and older sister's hard work, it'd have been unlikely for her to have such a good job. So, this year, she reserved a room at a hotel to treat her extended family to a good meal.

She had discussed this with Shao Hua beforehand. While Shao Hua's younger uncle-in-law slightly looked down on his older sister-in-law and brother-in-law, he had a much better opinion of Shao Hua.

Shao Hua and his son were less than two years apart in age. Shao Hua managed to get into Chasu City's best high school based on her excellent test scores. He had to spend money on connections to get his son into the same high school. Shao Hua got into college, while his son spent every day outside playing. Still, even though Shao Hua's younger cousin wasn't good at his studies, he was quite obedient to whatever Shao Hua said. Back when they were both still in high school, Shao Hua would often invite her younger cousin over for a meal.

Since Shao Hua's cousin really couldn't succeed here after graduating high school, he was shipped off to France. Apparently, he studied some major called luxury management over there. The tuition was rather expensive. He spent six years there to finish his undergraduate studies. After graduating from the French college, he stayed for a year in Beijing, and now he was back in Chasu City for the Spring Festival.

Shao Hua's younger uncle-in-law had very low requirements for his son. As long as his son didn't do anything improper or illegal, that was fine with him! This was the only attitude that the uncle-in-law could really have after all these years. Maybe he wanted his son to be something more, but realized that would be impossible!

"Shao Hua, look! I bought some perfume, lipstick, and scarves for you! I spent quite a bit of money on these. I wanted to come find you even before the Spring Festival, but I was a bit too busy." Shao Hua's younger cousin had a nice appearance, although his clothes didn't seem that great. Even though it was really cold, he was wearing jeans with holes in them, military shoes, and no socks!

"You probably just were busy finding a girlfriend!" Shao Hua joked with her cousin while holding on to Zhang Fan's arm.

"This must be my cousin-in-law! Hey! I could tell right away! You look so reliable! Cousin-in-law, does your hospital have that type of bone?"

"Haha, nice to meet you! What bone do you mean?" The younger ones arrived at the hotel first. The older folk were coming a bit later. Shao Hua's cousin hadn't been home for several days already. Shao Hua had to call him to get him to come today to this family gathering!

"A human spine bone. You should get me one!" He whispered to Zhang Fan as they walked together.

"Oh! What do you need this for? The hospital really doesn't have this type of thing around."

"You really don't have any? Sigh, this is really popular in the literary and art circle of Beijing!"

"You're going on about the literary and art circle? You're not even afraid of getting ill from wearing pants with holes in them in winter?" Shao Hua didn't hear the part about the spine bone, but she did hear the later part, which was why she made fun of her cousin a little.

"Cousin, how come you're just like my mom, sigh! If you have the time, you should have cousin-in-law take you out to have some fun! You've become foolish from staying in a small city!" Shao Hua's cousin the ran off after making fun of Shao Hua!

"That little brat!" Shao Hua was so angry that her mouth became twisted!

"Actually, your cousin is right. How about we find some free time to go out together?"

"Anyone who listens to what he has to say will become an idiot for half a day. You think that he's smart for wearing those pants with holes? You!!" Of course Shao Hua wanted to go out and have fun with Zhang Fan, but she couldn't right now!

She was busy with preparing for the accounting exam and managing Zhang Fan's hospital's finances. Zhang Fan was even busier as he constantly had to travel between Chasu City Hospital and his hospital, in addition to still working at other hospitals on occasion. It would be quite satisfying to them already just to be able to get a good weekend's rest!

Shao Hua's older uncle-in-law, younger uncle-in-law, and father sat together with Zhang Fan, her older cousin, and her younger cousin at one table. All of the women sat together at the other table. Jingshu was also invited. The atmosphere was lively as everyone's situation was constantly improving. Life was wonderful and happy for them all, which was why the atmosphere was quite nice.

Shao Hua's younger uncle-in-law didn't have a condescending expression for his older sister-in-law and brother-in-law like before. When it came to relatives, if one always needed others to help you, without being able to help others in return, the relationship would change after a long period of time! So, no matter what, it would always be most important to properly live one's own family life.

Zhang Fan wasn't an alcohol drinker. As for the older men, none of them were big drinkers other than Shao Hua's father. The women, meanwhile, gossiped about family affairs. "Hua, when are you going to get engaged? I think that this Little Zhang is pretty nice. He's quite polite and respectful," Shao Hua's younger aunt secretly whispered to Shao Hua.

"We were originally going to get engaged over New Year's, but something came up for Zhang Fan's parents, so the engagement was postponed until next year."

Shao Hua's younger aunt hugged her, and exclaimed, "Hua is growing up and even getting married soon. You're the only girl in the family. I don't have anything good to give you, but I do have this, which your grandma left to me back in the day. Your older aunt was quite jealous for so long because of this. She didn't speak to me for many years. Now, I'm giving it to you!"

As she said this, she brought out a very old bracelet which seemed like it was made out of silver. There was also severe oxidation on the bracelet, but its decorative emblem was still rather exquisite.

"Aunt, you should leave this for your son's future wife!"

"Hah! His wife probably hasn't even been born yet!" Shao Hua's younger aunt really was a nice person. Shao Hua's younger cousin was quite lucky to have such parents!

The women chatted about their topics. Since the men weren't drinking alcohol, and they hadn't gotten along quite as well in previous years, there wasn't much for them to chat about. So, Shao Hua's younger uncle-in-law declared that they should play cards!

Shao Hua's father and Shao Hua's two uncles-in-law began to play cards. Shao Hua's older cousin helped to pour tea and water for everyone. Shao Hua's younger cousin was busy text messaging on his cell phone.

Zhang Fan was rather bored. He wasn't very familiar with the men here, and there wasn't much for him to talk about, so he simply stood behind the older men and watched them play cards. Shao Hua's father was really unskilled at playing cards. He was only good at Chinese chess. When it came to cards, he was far behind Shao Hua's younger uncle-in-law in skill level as the latter often slacked off during worktime to play cards!

"How about you try?" Nobody would enjoy a game that they were constantly losing. Shao Hua's father handed his cards over to Zhang Fan. Currently, Shao Hua was chatting with her younger cousin, while Shao Hua's younger aunt came over. Although Shao Hua's older uncle-in-law also often played cards at his workplace, his family situation had just started improving, and he was breaking out in a cold sweat from how much he had lost! Although they weren't playing for big money, Shao Hua's older uncle-in-law had been poor for most of his life, so he felt pained at losing this money.

"Here, Brother-in-law, I'm going to play as well! I want to win a little money from Little Zhang!" Shao Hua's younger aunt said to her brother-in-law.

"How much are you all playing for?" Shao Hua's younger aunt inquired.

"One yuan, with doubles!" Shao Hua's younger uncle-in-law stated.

"Let's raise it to 10 yuan. Today, I'm going to win some money from Doctor Zhang. Little Zhang, who manages the money in your household?"

"Aunt, I always give my money to the secretary!"

"Yes, that's good. Listen to the secretary. She'll lead you well." Everyone then chuckled!

Zhang Fan began to play cards with Shao Hua's younger uncle-in-law and younger aunt. If this had been mahjong instead, he would have probably lost, but he was highly skilled at playing cards! Some time later, the husband and wife had lost a bit more than 300 yuan together. Shao Hua's younger uncle-in-law tossed down his cards, and exclaimed, "You have a good brain! Your memory is excellent, and you're quite daring. I can't beat you!"

"Little Zhang, we're just playing casually for fun over the Spring Festival. You absolutely can't get addicted to this!" Shao Hua's younger aunt was rather worried because she felt that Zhang Fan was really professional at playing cards.

"He's usually so busy that even a dog can't keep up with him. Of course he won't have the time to play this. But, I really didn't know that you actually had such an ability!" Shao Hua was embracing Jingshu while standing behind Zhang Fan and laughing.

"It's just luck, good luck. I was lucky today, and everyone went easy on me."

"Really? Jingshu, tell me the truth!"

"My older brother really loved to play cards ever since he was young. One year, he won all the Spring Festival red packet money from all our relatives. My father almost broke his legs for that. He beat him far too much, to the point where my brother was bedridden for two weeks!" Jingshu had long since joined Shao Hua's faction!

"Really!? Good, I was just worried that he didn't have any hobbies. If he loves to play cards, he can try playing bridge! I heard that it's very good exercise for the brain!" Shao Hua was rather worried about how it seemed like he didn't have any hobbies. She also felt quite safe that he wouldn't get addicted to gambling!

"I don't have the time to play cards!" Zhang Fan almost felt like crying!

After meeting up with relatives, there would also be many meetings with friends at this time of year. Tang Jingjing came over to visit Zhang Fan. Even Zhu Bing and Lu Renjia came over to visit. However, Zhang Fan was either at Chasu City Hospital or his hospital each time, and missed seeing them all. Shao Hua had received all of Zhang Fan's friends instead.

Since Zhang Fan and Shao Hua now had some free time over the next few days, the two discussed with each other and decided to invite all their friends over for one big meal. Zhang Fan really didn't have the time to treat them all individually!