Chapter 145 - 144: Setting Up a Stall to Earn Medical Fees

Chapter 145: Chapter 144: Setting Up a Stall to Earn Medical Fees

It was almost nine in the evening when Yu Zhiming and his Fourth Sister walked into a coffee shop not far from the Zijin Garden District.

He immediately spotted Luo Qing, along with a woman in her mid-thirties with wine-red hair.

The woman with wine-red hair saw Yu Zhiming as well and quickly tugged on Luo Qing’s arm. They both stood up to greet them.

"Dr. Yu, hello. I’m Luo Qing’s aunt, Luo Ying."

"Hello. This is my sister, Yu Xiangwan..."

After making their introductions and exchanging some pleasantries, they all sat down. The Yu Family Siblings each ordered a glass of lemonade.

Yu Zhiming handed Luo Qing’s medical imaging films and physical examination records back to Luo Ying.

"Just as I said on the phone earlier..."

Yu Zhiming stated frankly, "This treatment is one where disappointment will far outweigh hope. The risks are considerable, it will involve significant pain, a long wait, and substantial costs."

Luo Qing clutched her coffee cup and said slowly, "Dr. Yu, as long as there’s a sliver of hope, I won’t give up."

"I’m not afraid of what I’ll have to go through during the treatment. Even if the outcome doesn’t change, or gets worse, or even if I die, I won’t regret it."

Luo Qing said in a heavy voice, "At least I’ll be able to tell myself that I once risked my life to see the light again."

Luo Ying let out a long sigh and looked at Yu Zhiming.

"This child, Luo Qing... I can’t talk her out of it no matter what. All I can do is support her to the best of my ability."

"Dr. Yu, we’ve learned a lot about your situation online. We know you’ve also experienced blindness."

"I can only hope that my Luo Qing can be as fortunate as you were."

Yu Zhiming nodded. "Thank you for your trust."

"Regarding Luo Qing’s specific condition, I can only say that I will do everything in my power to prevent any mishaps during the treatment process."

He paused for a moment before adding to Luo Qing, "The first stage of the treatment—a surgical puncture to dissolve the blood clot in the optic nerve region—will require about a week."

"The subsequent recovery will take at least a month."

"Luo Qing, get your work and personal life in order, then come find me at the Qi Yue Medical Research Center as soon as you can..."

As he walked out of the coffee shop, Yu Zhiming watched Luo Qing walk away slowly in the other direction, arm in arm with her aunt. A heavy feeling suddenly settled over him.

"Sis, you could say I’m the one who sparked Luo Qing’s decision to pursue this desperate treatment."

’Did I do the right thing, or the wrong one?’

Yu Xiangwan comforted him, "Luo Qing is a twenty-two-year-old adult, and you explained the risks of the treatment very clearly."

"If this treatment wasn’t what she wanted, she wouldn’t be acting so determined."

"Fifth Brother, even without you, I think Luo Qing would have found another doctor and taken a crazy gamble one day."

Yu Xiangwan added persuasively, "Fifth Brother, you should think of it this way: your appearance has actually increased Luo Qing’s chances of seeing again, even if just by a little."

"I hope so," Yu Zhiming replied, his feelings still a tangled mess.

The next moment, he felt his hand being grabbed.

Yu Zhiming tried to shake it off but couldn’t.

"Sis, there are so many people around."

Yu Xiangwan’s eyes widened in a glare. "So what if there are a lot of people? When your eyes were bad, I led you to and from school like this every single day."

Yu Zhiming explained, "Sis, my eyes are fine now, and I’m not a kid anymore."

"Even if you’re not a kid, I’m still your sister!"

As she spoke, she doubled down and linked her arm through Yu Zhiming’s.

"It’s not often we siblings get to go out at night like this. Come on, walk around with me."

"I know there’s a night market not far from here..."

Yu Zhiming found himself being dragged along by his sister for a stroll.

Perhaps because it was a densely populated residential area, the street they were strolling down was quite crowded with pedestrians.

The street was lined with small, ground-floor shops selling all sorts of things, but most of them were little eateries.

By the time they reached the street corner, Yu Xiangwan’s hands were already full with a large skewer of grilled lamb, a big skewer of squid, and a small box of crab shell-yellow sesame pastries...

The night market Yu Xiangwan mentioned was a collection of small stalls under a large canopy.

In the morning, this place was a wet market.

At night, it transformed into a territory for small vendors and a cluster of street food carts.

Yu Zhiming glanced over and saw that it was bustling with people coming and going...

"Fifth Brother, Fifth Brother, look! Blind boxes! It’s blind boxes!"

Yu Zhiming was pulled by his sister to a stall where dozens of identical blue paper boxes were piled on a meter-high counter.

The vendor, a thin man in his thirties, saw them approach and gave them a beaming smile. "Eighty-eight yuan a box, take your pick."

"The grand prize is the latest Huawei Mate 50, which retails for 12,999 yuan."

"The cheapest item you can get from a box is still worth no less than fifty yuan on the market."

"Miss, sir, want to try your luck?"

Yu Xiangwan’s eyes lit up. "Fifth Brother, hurry up and pick out the blind box with the phone in it! You still need a new phone."

Yu Zhiming reminded her, "Sis, if I pick the blind box, that would be cheating. It’s not right to knowingly take advantage of someone like that."

"Besides, there’s no way that Huawei phone is in this pile of boxes."

The vendor was not happy to hear Yu Zhiming say that.

"Hey, buddy, how can you be so sure the Huawei phone isn’t in one of the blind boxes? The ones I sell are all legitimate. None of the advertised products are missing."

Yu Zhiming snorted lightly and pointed at the pile of boxes on the stall.

"This pile has, what, seventy or eighty boxes at most?"

"If you can guarantee that the phone worth over ten thousand yuan is in one of them, I’ll buy this entire pile of blind boxes."

"Do you dare guarantee it?"

The vendor froze for a second, then chuckled sheepishly. "I said there’s definitely a phone in this *batch* of blind boxes, but I can’t guarantee it’s in *this* pile of boxes here."

"I’m not an idiot. If I knew for sure the phone was in there, would I be selling them at a loss?"

"I would’ve opened them all myself long ago."

As soon as Yu Xiangwan heard the vendor’s explanation, she knew the blind boxes had been tampered with and contained nothing of high value. She instantly lost interest.

She pulled Yu Zhiming away to continue wandering, becoming particularly interested in a few stalls selling clothes that were supposedly from department store liquidations or closing-down sales, all at a 90% discount.

However, after enthusiastically browsing through them, Yu Xiangwan didn’t buy a single thing.

She finally realized that she and her brother needed to upgrade their spending habits; they didn’t need to buy things from street stalls anymore.

Just as Yu Xiangwan was about to tell Yu Zhiming this, she was surprised to find he was no longer by her side.

Looking around, Yu Xiangwan finally spotted Fifth Brother at a small fried rice stall not far away.

She hurried over.

"Fifth Brother, are you hungry? You can have my half-skewer of squid and these two crab shell pastries!"

As Yu Xiangwan got closer, she realized her brother was talking to the vendor, who was busy stir-frying beef chow fun.

"Fifth Brother, do you know the vendor?"

While asking, Yu Xiangwan sized up the relentlessly busy vendor. He was a man of about thirty, with a slightly weary expression.

His face was slick with a thin layer of sweat and some grease, but his features were quite pleasant.

"Fourth Sister, this is Zhang Bai. I mentioned him to you once before. His mother is currently hospitalized..."

Hearing this, a faint memory was unexpectedly jogged in Yu Xiangwan’s mind.

’The guy who cried and begged my brother for help to get his mother with terminal stomach cancer admitted to the hospital?’

"You used to be a chef?"

Zhang Bai packed the freshly cooked beef chow fun into a disposable container, put it in a plastic bag, and handed it to a waiting customer.

He expertly scrubbed his wok as he replied, "I’m not a chef, I just really enjoy cooking."

"I’m pretty good when it comes to making egg fried rice, beef chow fun, and fried noodles."

Yu Zhiming moved closer to his Fourth Sister and lowered his voice.

"He said he used to work in management at a company, but had to resign after his mother was diagnosed with her illness."

"Now, his mother is able to get a good night’s sleep with the help of medication, so he uses this time to run a stall here and earn some money for her medical bills."

Yu Xiangwan let out a long "Ohhh," suddenly feeling a deep sense of sympathy for the man before her.

She called out loudly, "Sir, one order of egg fried rice, one beef chow fun, and one fried noodles."

"To go..."