Read Novel Full Chapter 72 – Trust Isn’t Given Easily
Chapter 72 – Trust Isn’t Given Easily
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“…Alas, that’s why—what’s the point of counting on a son… You looked down on me for being a girl when I was little, and now look who’s the one taking care of you…”
Seeing that Damei was steering the conversation toward the topic of their parents favoring sons over daughters, Xia Mian took Xiao Feng’s hand and got ready to leave. The hospital didn’t accept card transactions—it was all cash nowadays. She had to hurry and withdraw money before the bank closed.
Just then, they ran into Yan Peizhang helping Fan Huairen back. She didn’t say much in front of a patient, only quietly said to Yan Peizhang, “Be at the payment window with the vase at 5:30.”
Yan Peizhang looked moved, “Okay, okay. Thank you, thank you so much…”
Fan Huairen was puzzled. “Xiao Zhang, what’s going on? Who’s this?”
“A relative of one of the doctors, she helped us out a bit earlier,” Yan Peizhang quickly adjusted his expression and said, “Uncle, let’s head back. You need to eat something and get your strength up for the surgery.”
Xia Mian had originally intended to go to Ning Shaobai’s office to find Ning Shaoyun and borrow some money. She did have a bank card with a large balance—after Old Master Ning’s birthday banquet, Ning Shaobai had transferred the title of two single-entry courtyard houses from the Huo family to her in exchange for stamps. As for the three-entry one, that had long been agreed for Chenchen, so Ning Shaobai had transferred her cash instead—150,000 at market value—which she’d kept on a separate card. But she didn’t bring that card today, and the passbook in her purse only had a few thousand yuan.
She ended up running into the siblings at the nurse’s station. Turned out Ning Shaoyun had gone to ask Ning Shaobai about Yan Peizhang’s uncle, but the latter only knew there was such a patient and wasn’t clear on the details.
He was usually very cold and aloof, and no one dared to gossip around him. So he simply brought his sister to the nurse’s station. That place was the hub of all hospital gossip, and the nurses could practically recite every family drama behind each patient.
With the popular Dr. Ning had personally come to ask, they were all eager to spill everything they knew.
“My family has relatives in their village. That Fan Huairen, well… what can I say? He’s really pitiful.”
“He was born a son of a landlord family and received a brutal persecution during the chaos. Later he was rehabilitated and given back a house, but I guess the trauma stayed with him. He never dared to go out and work again, just survived by picking through trash.”
No wonder he gave such refined names to Fan Peiyu and Yan Peizhang—Xia Mian thought silently. He must have been very educated as a youth. That meant the vase might indeed be authentic.
“Later he picked up his eldest son off the street and for his sake never married…”
Xia Mian paused in surprise. “Wasn’t Fan Peiyu his biological son?”
“No, Fan Peiyu was found in a garbage heap when he was scavenging. Even though he lived in poverty, he wholeheartedly cared for the boy like his own.”
“Afraid the child would be bullied, Old Man Fan claimed him his biological son. But all the old folks in the village knew the truth. Every time someone tried to matchmake him, it would fall apart because of that.”
“As for Yan Peizhang, I think Fan Huairen picked him up from the roadside when Fan Peiyu was a teenager. Took him in and raised him like a son too. But maybe because he was old enough to remember his real parents, he always called him Uncle.”
“Such a decent man, just has such bad luck. Now that he’s sick…”
“Yeah. The day before yesterday, when Yan Peizhang found out Fan Peiyu had run off with the surgery money, it was like the sky had fallen.” The nurse lowered her voice. “Heard he even took out a loan from a loan shark to make up the amount.”
“That’s probably why Fan Peiyu was against the surgery all along. I mean, with this illness, the best outcome from surgery is two or three more years, and the worst isn’t much different from not doing it.”
“…”
People who worked in hospitals were used to seeing too many of such tales. They were quite objective when talking about the Fan family.
Xia Mian and the Ning siblings returned to Ning Shaobai’s office. When she asked to borrow a bank card, Ning Shaoyun didn’t seem surprised.
“So you’re buying it?”
Xia Mian nodded. “I’ll return the money to you tomorrow.”
Ning Shaoyun didn’t mind, but suddenly remembered, “You can only withdraw 6,000 a day, right?”
Xia Mian just realized that too and froze. “Then what now?” She looked to Ning Shaobai. “Dr. Ning, does the surgery fee have to be paid today? Can’t it wait a day?”
Just then, the young female doctor who was on duty with Ning Shaobai walked in and casually asked, “Whose surgery fee?”
Xia Mian replied, “Fan Huairen’s.”
This doctor was clearly in the gossip loop too and immediately said, “Wasn’t his surgery fee stolen by his eldest son? Director Liu is thinking of reallocating the surgery slot to Room Nine.”
Xia Mian panicked. “What do we do, what do we do? It really has to be paid today?”
The doctor asked curiously, “Why are you guys paying Fan Huairen’s surgery fee?”
Xia Mian gave a faint smile and looked at Ning Shaobai, not knowing how to answer that question.
Ning Shaobai took out his wallet from the drawer, pulled out a card, and handed it to her.
Xia Mian smacked her forehead. “Right!! If one card has a 6,000 limit, I should just use two!”
“Just use this one.” Ning Shaobai said. “No need to queue and go straight to the bank manager. The limit on this card is more than enough.”
“Wow! A legendary bank VIP client?” Xia Mian exclaimed and hugged him in delight. “Haha, Dr. Ning, you’re amazing!”
Startled, Ning Shaobai immediately grabbed her by the back of her collar and pulled her off. Then he tore off a piece of paper, wrote down the PIN, and shoved it into her hand. “Hurry up, or the bank will be closed soon.”
Xia Mian bent down and said to Xiao Feng, “Wait here with Uncle Ning and Aunt Ning, okay? Auntie will be right back after withdrawing the money.”
The boy was used to being around the two now, so he took Ning Shaoyun’s hand and nodded. “Auntie, go quickly.”
And so, Xia Mian enjoyed a rare taste of VIP treatment. In less than ten minutes of walking into the bank, she came out with 20,000 yuan, which was incredibly satisfying.
She hadn’t thought much of it at first, but when she curiously asked the bank manager what the requirements were to become a VIP client, the card in her hand suddenly felt like a bomb. The 20,000 in the bag on her left now felt like a mere two yuan, while the card in her right hand felt like it weighed a tonne.
“Hurry, hurry!” Xia Mian rushed back into the office and quickly returned the card to Ning Shaobai. “Wow, Dr. Ning, you handed over the card without precautions—do you trust me so much?”
Ning Shaobai scoffed, “If you lost it, no problem—you can offer yourself to pay the debt.”
Xia Mian rolled her eyes. “You wish. At most, I’d go with you to report it lost and get a replacement.”
When Xia Mian brought Xiao Feng to the payment counter, Yan Peizhang was already there, pacing nervously with the vase wrapped in a military-green quilt.
As soon as he saw her, his eyes lit up. Xia Mian understood how he felt and didn’t waste any time, handing over the cash directly. “Here’s twenty thousand.”
Yan Peizhang was stunned and opened his mouth to say, “We agreed on…” but couldn’t continue. His uncle’s illness is a bottomless money pit, and he needed this money…
Since Xia Mian had done this to ease her own conscience, she had no intention of taking advantage of him. “We agreed on twenty thousand upfront. I’ll take the vase for authentication. If it turns out to be fake, I’ll come back to you. If it’s real, I’ll pay you the rest based on market value.”
Yan Peizhang froze. After a moment, this man who hadn’t shed a single tear even when he’d been like a trapped beast on the antique street suddenly burst into tears. “Thank you, thank you! I, Yan Peizhang, will never forget your great kindness!” If Xia Mian hadn’t reacted quickly, he would’ve dropped to his knees.
Xia Mian quickly held him up. “This is just mutual benefit. I wanted to buy an antique, and you happened to have one. No need to go that far.”
But trust isn’t something people give easily. Out of so many people, she was the only one willing to take a risk for a stranger.
Xia Mian returned to Ning Shaobai’s office, cradling the vase she’d just bought for 20,000 yuan in the little quilt with extreme cautiousness. Only now did it dawn on her that she’d just done something quite major.
But Xiao Feng didn’t get it. He had no concept of amounts in the tens of thousands. All he knew was that they’d scored an antique and that the uncle could now get treatment for the grandpa—definitely something to be happy about. He happily patted the vase and smiled. “Antique.”
Seeing how happy he was, Xia Mian stopped worrying, too. “Come, come, have a look—this is the antique our Xiao Feng spotted with one glance!”
Xiao Feng’s little face lit up, eyes full of pride. Xia Mian couldn’t help but kiss his cheek.
The little guy grinned, showing off a row of tiny white teeth.
“Well, we got lucky this time. But just one antique is enough, okay? We don’t need a whole house full,” Xia Mian started re-educating him. There had been a few antiques in that auction catalog—it would be a great headache if this child tried to claim them all.
Thankfully, the little guy was easy to satisfy and nodded obediently.
Xia Mian secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe this would finally get him over his antique fixation…
But now that Xiao Feng’s issue was handled, the big thing she had just done—quietly and without telling anyone—was starting to stress her out.
Ning Shaobai looked at her conflicted expression and chuckled. “Now what?”
“I’m trying to figure out how to explain this to my aunt!” She replied, looking very distressed. “If I say I bought it for twenty yuan, I’m afraid she won’t take it seriously and might accidentally break it.”
“If I say it cost twenty thousand, she might break my legs instead.”
Noticing Xiao Feng glancing over curiously, Xia Mian thought—‘I have to make sure this little guy stuck to the story too!’