Chapter 241: 240: Checking Out and Going Home
Chapter 241: Chapter 240: Checking Out and Going Home
Friday morning, October 4th.
Yu Zhiming woke up at six as usual, then worked out with Zeng Yan, who was also an early riser.
At eight in the morning, Yu Zhiming’s party of five was eating the buffet breakfast at a restaurant in the lakeside complex, looking over their bill from the Lake and Mountain Lodge.
Lodging: six thousand a day, for a total of eighteen thousand over three days.
Meals: a total of over eleven thousand for three days, averaging nearly four thousand a day.
Then there was the swimsuit purchase: five suits for nearly thirteen thousand yuan.
That particular line item made Yu Zhiming grimace to himself.
’The price of a single swimsuit was almost as much as a jacket from an affordable luxury brand. Definitely a high-margin product.’
Next came a few other expenses, ranging from hundreds to thousands of yuan.
For example, multiple charges for juice and other drinks: four hundred sixty, five hundred twenty, one hundred eighty, and two hundred sixty.
Golf: six thousand.
Foot soaks and massages: three thousand yuan.
Facials and manicures: thirty-three hundred, and so on.
Yu Zhiming saw that the final grand total was 58,670 yuan.
He handed the bill to his Fourth Sister.
“Minus the eighteen thousand for lodging and another six thousand for golf, that leaves over thirty thousand in other expenses…”
“Not bad. It’s still within our budget.”
Yu Zhiming sighed softly. “The prices here are pretty steep. A single casual meal can easily cost one or two thousand.”
“Next time we go on a trip, let’s pick a place that’s a good value, has nice scenery, and isn’t crowded…”
Yu Zhiming added, “And where less stuff happens.”
Gu Qingning hummed in agreement and nodded. “I’ll take that to heart. Next time, I’ll be sure to pick a spot with fewer people and fewer dramas.”
She added with a straight face, “Saving two lives in three days… How is this a vacation? It’s more like we came here to do emergency medical work, with a little rest on the side.”
Yu Zhiming rolled his eyes at her comment, while the two younger girls, Fu Xiaoxue and Zeng Yan, pressed their lips together to keep from laughing.
That morning, they had learned from Yan Ling that the man who had taken the sleeping pills had been successfully resuscitated.
The man himself confessed that he had first invested in cryptocurrency. He got wiped out, losing his family’s entire savings and racking up a significant amount of debt.
Then, he borrowed and scraped together over a million yuan, hoping to make it all back with one last gamble on sports betting.
In the end, he lost that, too…
After settling the bill with the lodge, Yu Xiangwan returned to the restaurant and sat down beside Yu Zhiming.
“Fifth Brother, the bill’s settled. Not only did we not spend a dime, but the lodge actually gave us back over a thousand yuan.”
“They gave us money back?” Yu Zhiming asked, surprised.
Yu Xiangwan said softly, “They said they were paying us for that golf club.”
Yu Zhiming let out a soft “oh” of understanding.
Having eaten and drunk their fill, Yu Zhiming and the others got up and walked out of the restaurant. They were about to get in their car to leave the Lake and Mountain Lodge when a middle-aged man called out to them.
“Dr. Yu, hello.”
The stout, cheerful-looking middle-aged man chuckled. “Yesterday was my mother’s eightieth birthday. We invited you, Dr. Yu, to enjoy the performance by the singer Phoenix Legend, but it’s a shame you had other plans.”
Yu Zhiming replied politely, “Thank you for the invitation. I did indeed have other arrangements last night.”
He then asked directly, “Is there something I can help you with?”
The middle-aged man chuckled. “Yesterday was my mother’s birthday, so it wasn’t a good time to discuss matters of life and death. Today, however, is a different story.”
“I hear you’re exceptionally skilled at physical examinations, Dr. Yu.”
“I’d like to hire you to perform physicals for my mother, as well as our entire extended family—thirty-five people in total.”
He added with a wide grin, “Dr. Yu, my older brother is an extremely filial son. He spent millions on our mother’s eightieth birthday celebration.”
The middle-aged man boasted, “And last night, my brother spent another million to buy an incredibly rare, top-quality bezoar.”
Hearing this, Yu Zhiming couldn’t help but interrupt, “Your older brother bought the bezoar that man produced yesterday?”
The man nodded smugly. “Several people went to his door trying to buy it, but he refused to sell to any of them.”
“He said he was going to take the bezoar to a time-honored traditional medicine pharmacy and trade it for some Bezoar Palace Pills and other life-saving family heirloom medicines.”
“My brother didn’t say another word. He just wrote a check for a million yuan, and the man sold it on the spot.”
The man raised an eyebrow. “Don’t worry, Dr. Yu. My brother won’t treat you poorly, either.”
“Come on, everyone’s waiting for you.”
Yu Zhiming politely declined. “Sir, I’m leaving the Lake and Mountain Lodge now because I have urgent business to attend to back home.”
“As for the physicals, you can register at Huashan Hospital or schedule a separate appointment.”
Without waiting for the man to respond, Yu Zhiming turned and walked toward the Mercedes-Benz GLK parked in front of the building complex.
Yu Xiangwan got behind the wheel, and with Yu Zhiming, Gu Qingning, Fu Xiaoxue, and Zeng Yan as passengers, she drove along the lakeside road toward the lodge’s exit.
“Zhiming, did they really buy that bezoar?”
Sitting in the passenger seat, Yu Zhiming replied quietly, “That’s what the man said.”
“He also said the owner insisted on not selling last night, claiming he wanted to trade the bezoar for Bezoar Palace Pills at a traditional pharmacy.”
“But that man’s older brother is loaded, so he just pulled out a million and bought it outright.”
Gu Qingning murmured in understanding. “Those Bezoar Palace Pills are genuinely good stuff. They can be life-saving in a crisis.”
“My family keeps some on hand just in case.”
“Also, my grandparents take one during each of the four solar terms—the Awakening of Insects, Lesser Heat, Frost’s Descent, and the Winter Solstice—every year as a health supplement.”
As a doctor, Yu Zhiming had long been familiar with the famous traditional Chinese medicine known as the Bezoar Palace Pill.
Hearing what Gu Qingning said, he asked a follow-up question.
“How effective is it when taken as a health supplement?”
Gu Qingning said, a bit uncertainly, “It seems to be quite good.”
“I mean, my grandparents are both in their eighties and are quite healthy. They rarely catch a cold or run a fever all year long.”
“Their minds are still sharp and clear, not muddled in the slightest.”
Yu Zhiming understood that the Bezoar Palace Pills weren’t the sole reason Qingning’s grandparents were so healthy.
In fact, the pills probably played a very small role. After all, her family’s financial situation spoke for itself.
’Still, it would be a good idea to keep some Bezoar Palace Pills at home. Mom and Dad aren’t getting any younger.’
Acting on the thought, Yu Zhiming said, “Fourth Sister, let’s buy a few pills and have Third Sister take them back for Mom and Dad.”
Yu Xiangwan agreed with a hum.
She then searched on her GPS for pharmacies that sold Bezoar Palace Pills, trying to find one they could stop at on their way home.
Sitting in the back seat, Fu Xiaoxue suddenly spoke up. “Uncle, do you think that whole bezoar thing could be a scam?”
“Bringing a live cow into the valley with such fanfare, then generously serving a large beef dish to every table… being so flashy about it feels like they were baiting a hook.”
Zeng Yan chimed in, “Exactly. If he had kept refusing to sell, that would be one thing. But in the end, he sold it for the high price of a million yuan.”
“And Uncle, you said there wasn’t a bezoar in that cow’s stomach.”
Fu Xiaoxue declared with certainty, “It must be a scam set up by some master con artist.”
“With your diagnostic skills, Uncle, you’ve never been wrong before. You wouldn’t have made a mistake this time either.”
Yu Zhiming laughed. “Don’t put me on a pedestal. Anyone can make mistakes, and I’m no exception.”
“I only gave it a quick and cursory examination, and the internal anatomy of a cow is very unfamiliar to me.”
“The chance of me being wrong is quite high.”
After a brief pause, Yu Zhiming added, “Besides, the man who bought the bezoar is a successful person. He’s no fool; he wouldn’t be easily scammed.”
Gu Qingning chuckled. “Zhiming, that’s not necessarily true. Successful people can be more arrogant and self-assured, so it’s not surprising when they get scammed. And when they do, it’s never for a small amount.”
Fu Xiaoxue agreed. “I saw a news story online about a professor from a famous university who lost several million to a phone scam.”
“Uncle, didn’t you get scammed by a setup once, too?”
The moment the words left her mouth, Fu Xiaoxue knew she’d misspoken. With a sheepish giggle, she said, “My mistake, Uncle.”
She poked her head forward. “How about you hit me a couple of times to let off some steam, Uncle?”
Yu Zhiming snorted and chided her, “Watch what you say from now on.”
“I got scammed back then because, one, I naively trusted a so-called old classmate, and two, I failed to stick to my principles. You all should learn from my mistake.”
“Yes, Uncle!” Fu Xiaoxue and Zeng Yan replied obediently in unison.
Yu Xiangwan drove into the city, made a quick turn, and stopped at a time-honored traditional pharmacy. There, she bought a large box containing six Bezoar Palace Pills for nearly eight hundred yuan apiece.
Around one in the afternoon, the five of them returned to their home in the Zijin Garden District.
They found that Zhang Bai and his Third Sister, Yu Xinyue, had already arrived and were in the kitchen boiling dumplings.
Six dishes and a soup were already set on the dining table.
After washing up and getting settled, they all gathered around the dining table for a lively lunch.
Yu Xinyue looked Yu Zhiming over. “Fifth Brother, looks like you slept well these past few days. I don’t see any dark circles!”
Yu Zhiming smiled. “It was pretty quiet there, so I was able to sleep.”
“How was work today, Third Sister?”
Yu Xinyue hummed in acknowledgment. “It was fine. There were a lot of cars on the road because of the National Day holiday, but we didn’t hit much traffic.”
“We came across a car accident on the way, and the ambulance in our convoy helped transport the injured to the hospital.”
“The patient handover went smoothly after we arrived in Binhai, too.”
Yu Zhiming murmured in acknowledgment, and then Zhang Bai spoke up.
“Over the last few days, I’ve found three apartments I like, plus a ground-floor commercial space that would be perfect for a small cafeteria.”
Yu Xiangwan chuckled and said to Zhang Bai, “This afternoon, you and I can go take another look. If everything checks out, we’ll finalize the deal.”
Yu Zhiming looked at Zeng Yan. “This afternoon, you’re coming with me to the hospital. Since you’re on break, I’ll arrange for you to shadow an intern or a resident for twenty-four hours so you can get a real taste of a doctor’s busy life.”
Zeng Yan beamed. “Thank you, Uncle!”
Fu Xiaoxue piped up with interest, “Uncle, can I come along and experience it too?”
Yu Zhiming shot her a glare. “What’s it got to do with you? You want to change your major and study medicine, too?”
Fu Xiaoxue pouted. “I’m a liberal arts major, Uncle.”
Yu Xiangwan made the arrangements. “Xiaoxue, this afternoon, you can go shopping with your third aunt.”
Gu Qingning spoke up. “What about me? What am I doing this afternoon?”
Seeing Gu Qingning looking at him, Yu Zhiming thought for a moment before saying, “If you don’t have other plans, you can come with me to the hospital.”
“We can meet the doctors from the United States together…”