Chapter 314: Believe in yourself

"Everyone has their uses. Don't underestimate anyone," Zhang Fan's father had told him when he was young. His father was the cautious type who had worked hard at a factory for his whole life. In the end, Zhang Fan's father had never even managed to receive medical insurance, so maybe his words wouldn't seem like much. He had nothing at all to give his son apart from some words of wisdom.

Be kind to others, no need to compete with others, watch your own words, don't argue with others needlessly, and so on. These were all just things commonly taught in many families. Zhang Fan's parents only wanted for him to happily live his life rather than be highly successful no matter what. This was quite a plain worldview. Back before Zhang Fan attended college, he had really looked down upon such a way of thinking.

However, Zhang Fan now understood his father's way of thinking after several years of experiencing society so early. Perhaps Zhang Fan would also teach his own children the same way in the future. Was such a way of thinking closer to Taoism or Buddhism? Zhang Fan didn't know.

Still, this way of thinking really did work for Zhang Fan. Sometimes, it would appear like he would suffer minor losses, but when looking at it in the long term, this way of thinking wouldn't be wrong at all. Yet, Zhang Fan had also been quite lucky to be in a peaceful generation and a stable job field, which was why he could say that this way of thinking worked.

When Jiang Nini said that she had a method, Wang Yanan was curious, Little Li was stunned, and Zhang Fan believed her. He looked expectantly in Little Li's direction.

"You can't be thinking of trying for donations, can you? Let me tell you that it's useless. This surgery won't be resolved by just a few thousand yuan. Zhang Fan, just say how much money will be needed for the surgery fee," Xue Fei interjected.

"Around 70,000 yuan."

"That's only the price for the metal plates required in the corrective surgery. When adding the postoperative care and other medicine, the total expenses will easily exceed 100,000 yuan," Xue Fei explained to Jiang Nini as if he was a city person explaining to a countryside hick.

"I didn't mention anything about donations!" Jiang Nini unhurriedly put down her teacup. She was quite patient, unlike most other young people in her age group who would immediately try to counter or show off. She was really steady to the point where her smile hadn't even flickered. That was her capability.

Zhang Fan couldn't help but mentally click his tongue upon seeing her like this. He felt that Xue Fei seemed like an immature child in comparison to Jiang Nini.

Xue Fei still wanted to say something, but Zhang Fan suddenly stopped him. Although Zhang Fan hadn't been a doctor for long, he had already become protective of his juniors. That was just how being a Chinese doctor was. Normally, everyone would really fight over patients, but then they would all cooperate to the fullest when working on a patient in serious condition.

The higher-ranking doctors were usually very strict with the lower-ranking doctors, but the higher-ranking doctors would also definitely come to help any lower-ranking doctor who had a problem. This was a standard of the profession rather than an exception. To tell a story, an academician would be considered top-level in any job field. In the medical field, if a doctor came down with a disease that was difficult to treat, the doctor could ask their teacher or teacher's teacher to find an academician, which wouldn't be that difficult at all. Was it that academicians were unimportant? Academicians would be considered incredibly important doctors. Yet, the medical profession was simply that protective of its own.

Although Xue Fei was a higher-ranking doctor than Zhang Fan in name, Zhang Fan was already treating Xue Fei as his subordinate. Otherwise, would a normal attending physician listen to a resident doctor? Normal attending physicians would want face rather than be ordered around to write medical reports or change medicine.

That was why Zhang Fan couldn't let Xue Fei be an embarrassment any longer. "Have some water!" Zhang Fan handed Xue Fei a cup of water, and then asked Jiang Nini, "Will your method really work? It seems to me that his family's financial circumstances are only average. Probably only his aunt has a few connections."

"Of course it will work! Don't any of you know? The Bureau of Civil Affairs has a number of slots for helping poor families each year. As long as the patient's family meet the conditions, then it should be possible to apply for financial assistance, especially since the patient has a major problem which might cause permanent disability."

Xue Fei was about to say something again, but Zhang Fan directly covered Xue Fei's mouth with his hand. Now wasn't the time to be picky about problems. It would be far more effective to think about methods to help the patient's family instead. Xue Fei definitely wouldn't have any ideas, but he would surely be able to find as many problems as possible with any proposed solution. Jiang Nini saying this meant that she surely had some guarantee of success.

"Are the procedures difficult? What's needed for applying?" Zhang Fan inquired.

"Well, I'll go back home and ask my uncle. He works for the Bureau of Civil Affairs. I think he did this for a relative of mine before." Zhang Fan lost confidence after hearing her say this.

"There's such a good thing out there? How come I never knew of it?" Xue Fei immediately tried to find problems as expected when he could talk again. He even asked Wang Yanan and Little Li, "Have either of you heard of this before?"

"No." Both women shook their heads simultaneously.

"Do you believe me?" Jiang Nini asked Zhang Fan while maintaining her smile.

"Oh!" This really wasn't easy for Zhang Fan to answer. If he said that he didn't believe her, then this would definitely end a possibility for the patient's family. However, it also seemed inappropriate to him to say that he believed her here. This was Zhang Fan's first time meeting with such a situation. Everyone was looking directly at him. Wang Yanan especially seemed like sparks were about to fly out of her eyes.

Zhang Fan happened to be quite lucky at this time as he was saved by an interruption. A really sturdy middle-aged Kazakh woman brought over all the ordered food on a large plate that wasn't much smaller than the table itself. "Venerated guests, you're the final table of guests that I'm serving this year. The next batch of horsemeat will have to wait until the next snowfall! Come, dear guests! Eat and drink up!"

"Let's eat! Let's eat! We can talk about this matter afterwards." Zhang Fan immediately started using his chopsticks on the horsemeat.

"Do you believe Little Jiang or not!" Wang Yanan wouldn't let Zhang Fan go just like this.

"Yeah, do you believe her or not? Besides, are you the one treating everyone today? What makes you think you have the right to tell everyone to start eating? Honestly!" Xue Fei immediately began to scold Zhang Fan. Normally, Zhang Fan always scolded him during surgeries, so he finally found a chance to scold Zhang Fan back.

Zhang Fan no longer felt awkward thanks to the interruption. Without looking at anyone else at all, Zhang Fan picked up a piece of horse intestine with his chopsticks and placed it on Little Li's plate while telling her, "Sorry to have troubled you over all this time. Have some extra food. Xue Fei is treating, so you definitely don't need to be stingy with him."

Zhang Fan then placed a piece of horsemeat on Jiang Nini's plate, and said, "Eat this first. This matter isn't about believing or not believing. Little Jiang, since you've mentioned such a method already, you're already a passable doctor because you're now a doctor who thinks about the sake of the patient. No matter if this method works or not, I will thank you regardless. It does not matter if this government program counts as welfare, as I honestly don't understand such a thing. Still, help is always appreciated, wouldn't you agree?"

"You really have a way with words." Jiang Nini chuckled.

Wang Yanan gave Zhang Fan a sidelong glance. However, her meaning was obvious. 'You pass!'

Zhang Fan felt really annoyed inside! He really wasn't interested in such things at all. Jiang Nini was really smart and would keep flirting ambiguously with him while controlling things excellently. In comparison, Wang Yanan and Jia Suyue weren't a match for her at all, although maybe Shao Hua would be.

Still, Zhang Fan knew better about himself than anyone. He knew that Jiang Nini definitely wouldn't have spared him even a single extra glance if it wasn't for his System helping him to obtain his current status. That was reality. He knew what it had taken for him to obtain what he currently had, step by step. That was why he was highly on guard. No matter what the future was like, Zhang Fan's heart was narrow, and could contain only a single woman.

Shao Hua was the woman who had accompanied him during his most difficult and anxious times. She hadn't disliked his family. She treated his sister as her own. She considered everything possible for him. While there were indeed plenty of nice women out there, only the one who cared about him the most was the best one for him, not a woman who cared only about his status.

Not wanting to trust others, or others trusting or not trusting you, that wasn't important at all. It was fine as long as you trusted yourself!