Chapter 217 — The Ward Disturbance

"Then do you think he has a chance?" Wei Zhao asked.

"How would I know?" Tang Zhi gave a low sniff. "Everyone around you learns from you — instead of studying properly, they go chasing after girls."

"Heh. We're talking about him now, not me," Wei Zhao said. "Still, I'd say there's an eighty percent chance Kang's fallen for her."

Tang Zhi watched Kang's retreating figure thoughtfully. If Kang really had fallen for her, then she would not mind playing matchmaker. After all, if Xiaofen could accept Kang, she might be able to step out of the shadows. "Are you sure it's not just a passing fancy, that he wants to be with Xiaofen for life? Not like you, just playing around?"

"Why do you always drag me into it? I've never once told you I was just playing around with you!" Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. "I'm not sure either whether Kang's feelings are just a passing thing, but I don't think so."

Tang Zhi shot Wei Zhao a glare. "A girl's reputation matters. She should be constant to one man for life. Xiaofen has been hurt once already — she can't be hurt a second time."

Wei Zhao had not expected that, deep down, Tang Zhi was the kind of girl who, once she set her heart on someone, would never let go. Most people with a very beautiful girlfriend worried that one day she might run off — but with Tang Zhi, that worry was surely out of the question.

The two of them were still talking when an argument broke out up ahead, over by Kang.

Kang was heatedly trying to reason with a middle-aged man, while Song Huiping stood anxiously to one side, trying to smooth things over.

"We're not refusing to pay — so why won't you assign us a better room?" Kang was genuinely angry now. He had dragged Song Huiping along to see the head of the inpatient department to get Xiaofen a better single room, only to be turned back with a single word: "None."

That alone might have been bearable — but just as he was leaving the director's office, a doctor in a white coat led a patient's relative inside, smiling as he told the director this was his buddy and asking him to look after things and arrange a superior room. And the director, without so much as a moment's thought, assigned him a better room.

Now Kang was truly furious! You said there were none — so how was it that when we came, there were none, but when a hospital man brought a friend, suddenly there was one?

"There's only one superior room left, and it's been kept for one of our own," the head of the inpatient department explained mildly, evidently unwilling to waste more words on Kang.

"Is there no such thing as first come, first served? We're paying too — so why won't you give it to us? Do insiders get priority?" Kang grew all the more indignant.

"If you've got no connections, then stop your yapping here. My husband's classmate is the chief physician here. You've got no pull, and you still want a room? Give it up!" A heavily made-up woman beside the doctor's buddy eyed Kang with contempt. "Just look at that foolish face of yours — go on, stop making a spectacle of yourself!"

"You—" Kang flared up. "Who are you calling foolish?"

"So what if I'm talking about you? One look and anyone can tell you're just some newly rich bumpkin. And look at your mother's getup — like a country girl come to town!" Seeing Kang shout at his woman, the man was instantly annoyed. He glared at Kang and Song Huiping, taking her for Kang's mother. "Bah!"

The man spat contemptuously — and as luck would have it, the spit landed right on Kang's shoe. Clearly, he had not expected his spit to fly so true, and he froze for a moment.

"You—wipe that off for me!" After these days running with Wei Zhao, Kang had picked up no small share of a man's hot blood.

"Come on, kid, don't make a scene." The man casually pulled a hundred-yuan note from his bag and stuffed it into Kang's hand. "Go find yourself a spot to get your shoes cleaned. And let me tell you — these days it's not money that gets things done, it's connections. You'd better learn a thing or two!"

With that, the man, afraid Kang might press the matter further, took the woman by the arm and hurried off; then he followed his doctor buddy to get the admission formalities dealt with in a rush.

The man's name was Zhao Guangdong, and he had come today to find a room for his boss. Truth be told, his boss had no serious ailment — just somewhat high blood pressure these past few days, come for a drip. He needed no room at all; but to show off his connections, Zhao Guangdong had sought out his buddy, the chief physician here, and asked him to secure a superior room.

Watching Zhao Guangdong's retreating back, Kang flung the hundred-yuan note furiously to the ground. His fists clenched, his eyes shot through with red, he was so enraged that he gasped for breath in great heaves.

"Heh." Wei Zhao walked over, picked the hundred-yuan note up from the ground, and pressed it into Kang's hand. "Money's still worth keeping. Don't pick a fight with money."

"Boss, I want to hit him!" Kang knew Wei Zhao meant well. While Xiaofen was in the hospital, every bit of extra money was welcome — it was only that his pride had not let him stoop to pick it up before. But now that Wei Zhao had handed it to him, Kang took it along with the gesture.

"Please, we don't need that room anymore — whatever you do, don't get into a fight with anyone. That room is perfectly fine too!" Song Huiping was afraid Kang would stir up trouble and hurried to talk him down.

Tang Zhi glanced at Wei Zhao, meaning for him to talk some sense into Kang. She understood what Kang was feeling; she had watched the scene just now and knew all too well how cold the world could be. Had she not gone to the factory herself to demand her father's medical fees, only to find it hard beyond words and end up thrown out?

Someone with connections could get the fees with a single word — and the injury was not even serious, nothing compared to her father's.

"Sometimes beating someone up isn't the only way to solve things." Wei Zhao patted Kang on the shoulder. "Different people need different methods. Wait here for me — however they moved in, they'll move right back out for me."

With that, Wei Zhao walked toward the office of the director of the inpatient department. The director had slipped back there earlier while Kang and Zhao Guangdong were quarreling. Seeing Wei Zhao enter, he was about to ask what he wanted when he caught sight of Kang and the others trailing behind him. The director's face immediately darkened. "Didn't I tell you there are no rooms left? What are you doing back here?"

"Are you certain that only one high-class room was vacant, and that you gave it to the people who were just here?" Wei Zhao ignored his question and asked directly.

"That's right. You can leave now." The director waved his hand impatiently.

"Then have them vacate it," Wei Zhao said mildly.

"Ha..." The director was so angered by Wei Zhao's words that he laughed. Who do you think you are? You say vacate it and they vacate it? Are you the hospital director? "I have things to do. If you're here to make trouble, I'll call security!"

"So you're certain you won't have them vacate it?" Wei Zhao said, taking out his phone. "Then I'll have to find someone to make them."