Chapter 125: A Surgery Fee of 150,000

Chapter 125: Chapter 125: A Surgery Fee of 150,000

Just after Doctor Wang helped Xiaqing move the wolf with the spinal injury onto a wooden plank, a clanging and clattering sound came from the North Buffer Forest.

Xiaqing hadn’t expected Ji Li to arrive so quickly. She immediately pointed to the injured wolf on the plank and explained to the Head Wolf on the ruins, "It’s badly hurt. It needs to be treated elsewhere."

This time, the Head Wolf didn’t stare in the direction of the sound. It only fixed its gaze on Luo Pei, showing no reaction to Xiaqing’s words.

The wolf could tell who the strongest one was, and it ignored the weaker Xiaqing.

Ji Li appeared in Xiaqing’s courtyard just a few seconds later. He first greeted Luo Pei before asking Xiaqing, "Is this the wolf on the plank?"

Xiaqing nodded. "Yes. I’ve already fed it Relaxing Capsules. Thanks for the trouble, Brother Ji."

"AWOOO—"

Just as Ji Li bent down to lift the plank, the Head Wolf on the ruins suddenly let out a low, menacing growl. The other two wolves simultaneously appeared on the east and west sides of Xiaqing’s courtyard, assuming a battle stance.

Ji Li froze and looked at Xiaqing.

Xiaqing hadn’t expected the Head Wolf to react, but things had already come to this. It was no longer a matter of whether the Head Wolf approved or not. She took a step forward. "I’ll carry the wolf. Brother Ji, you can just light the way for me."

With that, Xiaqing steadily lifted the thick wooden plank. ’Good grief,’ she thought. ’This wolf is even heavier than Sheep Leader. It must be at least three hundred pounds.’

Seeing that the Wolf Group didn’t attack while she was holding the plank, Xiaqing said to Luo Pei, "Brother Luo, I’ll leave things here to you. Leader, I’m heading out for a bit. I’ll bring you back something tasty. You watch the house and take good care of your friends."

"BAA—" Hearing there would be tasty food, Sheep Leader was very happy.

Ji Li lit the way in front, Xiaqing carried the injured wolf on the plank in the middle, and Wei Chengdong brought up the rear. As they left the Third Territory, the Head Wolf followed behind them.

The three people and two wolves moved quickly along the Northern Isolation Zone, reaching the North Buffer Forest of Territory Land No. 7. Ji Li had Wei Chengdong turn back while he alone led Xiaqing inside. Xiaqing was too preoccupied to check if the Head Wolf had followed them in. After thanking Wei Chengdong, she lifted the plank and followed Ji Li into Territory Land No. 7.

Last time, Xiaqing had only stood in the North Buffer Forest of Territory Land No. 7 for a moment, seeing numerous standardized greenhouses on the cultivated land below the Buffer Forest from a distance.

This time, as she followed Ji Li through the Buffer Forest and past the greenhouses, walking on a paved path into a building and arriving at the door of a highly modern operating room, she felt she couldn’t take it all in.

"What are you standing there gaping for? Get the wolf onto the operating table," Zhang San’s voice said, laced with annoyance.

"Right." Just as Xiaqing was about to carry the wolf in, two people in pristine white surgical scrubs came over. Supporting the wolf’s back and hindquarters, they steadily lifted it off the plank.

The wolf, which had been calm until now, suddenly opened its eyes and stared at Xiaqing.

Xiaqing sensed its anxiety. Just as she would comfort Sheep Leader, she reached out, stroked its head, and soothed it in a soft voice, "Don’t be scared. After Brother San fixes you up, we’ll go back and have something good to eat."

Zhang San, already in his scrubs, snorted coldly. "Eat sheep?"

Xiaqing...

"Don’t get in the way. Go wait outside."

"Yes."

After the operating room door closed, Xiaqing, waiting outside, sent messages to Luo Pei and Wei Chengdong, telling them to go back and rest without worry. She also asked Hu Zifeng to help guard her territory.

Ji Li brought over a chair and comforted Xiaqing in a low voice, "You don’t have to be so nervous."

Xiaqing nodded. "Go on and get to your work, Brother Ji. I’ll just wait here. I promise I won’t wander off."

After Ji Li left, Xiaqing sat in the chair, quietly listening to Zhang San call out the names of surgical instruments one by one from inside the operating room. Zhang San’s voice was cold yet confident, which did much to soothe her anxiety as the "patient’s family."

’Before the Natural Disaster, Zhang San must have been an outstanding doctor,’ she thought. ’I just wonder if his temper was the same back then as it is now.’

Xiaqing smiled to herself, glanced at a nearby camera, then leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes to rest.

On one of the screens in the surveillance room was a close-up of Xiaqing’s flushed, serious face. A person behind the screen smiled. "This kid isn’t old, but she’s quite composed and knows her place."

"You’ll see when you watch her fight an Evolutionary Sheep. She’s got a fiery temper," Ji Li said, then instructed his colleague on night duty, "I’m going to shower and disinfect. Contact me if anything happens."

The wiry, muscular colleague rolled his eyes. "What’s all the fuss at this hour?"

"He smells like a wolf. He’s afraid his princess will smell it and freak out." Before Ji Li could answer, Yan Long walked in.

At the mention of the Cat Princess, Ji Li’s smile transformed, earning him looks of utter exasperation from the other two in the room, who promptly shooed him out.

After driving Ji Li out, the square-faced man sitting in front of the screen pointed to the dagger Xiaqing was wearing. "My dad forged that set of blades. He wouldn’t give them to me when I asked. So, they were meant for this little girl all along."

Yan Long stared quietly at Xiaqing’s calm face on the screen and commented, "She’s a good prospect."

Huo Zhun leaned back in his chair and laughed. "A pity she’s just a Strength Evolution Person. But she’s very self-aware and knows what her abilities are suited for. Among the nearby Lords, besides Qi Fu, her fields are probably the best-farmed."

Xiaqing had expected a long wait, but the surgery was over not long after dawn. Ji Li soon reappeared by her side.

Zhang San opened the operating room door and gestured for Xiaqing to follow him. After they entered an adjacent room filled with bottles and jars, Zhang San took off his surgical scrubs and asked, "Where are the herbs?"

Xiaqing quickly wiped the surprise from her face and pulled the four herbs the Head Wolf had brought her from her pocket.

Zhang San looked them over and snorted. "Just these few?"

Xiaqing was quick on the uptake. "Just these. Brother San, how much is the difference?"

Although his tone was disdainful, Zhang San placed the herbs on a tray with great care. It was clear he was quite satisfied with them.

The number he spoke also pleased him. "One hundred and fifty thousand."

One... one hundred and fifty thousand?

Xiaqing swallowed hard to calm her shock. "Brother San, I don’t have enough points. Can I pay with goods?"

"You can." Zhang San’s tone improved.

Xiaqing proposed the most convenient and quickest way to settle the debt. "Once the three hundred spinach seeds are out of their dormant period, I’ll plant them all according to the Cultivation Guide you gave me. I’ll give you half of the spinach leaves and spinach seeds they produce. How does that sound?"

Zhang San, standing before a full rack of glass bottles of all sizes and tinkering with the liquids inside, didn’t turn around, but his voice became much more amiable. "Your spinach seeds will be out of their dormant period on July 23rd. With the current climate and your cultivation conditions and abilities, if you plant three hundred spinach seeds, you’ll be doing well if eighty plants grow big enough to go to seed. Spinach has male and female plants, so assuming fifty of those eighty are female, half the seeds should be around two thousand. Just give me two thousand Green Light Spinach Seeds. Harvest the spinach leaves carefully, and don’t damage the seedlings."

"Okay," Xiaqing agreed immediately. "Consider the extra my compensation for waking you in the middle of the night for help."

Based on the price from Xiaqing and Zhang San’s last trade of Green Light Spinach Seeds for a Green Light chicken, one spinach seed was worth 100 points. Two thousand spinach seeds would be two hundred thousand points—fifty thousand more than the price Zhang San had quoted.

’And there are the spinach leaves, too. What are a few leaves to my idol? Those aren’t even worth counting in points.’