Witty Wife, Better Life-Chapter 817 - 807 No Good People

At that moment, a young nurse holding several sheets of paper came over with a stern face, "You must be Zhang Ping’s family, right? Keep it down, this isn’t your private hospital, you can’t do whatever you want." frёeωebɳovel.com

After being scolded again, Zhao Lili quieted down, her sobs reducing to sniffles.

The young nurse, contented that she’d intimidated them, nodded in satisfaction and waved the papers in front of them, "Which one of you is going to pay the surgery fee and handle the hospital admission? After the patient comes out of the operating room, he must be admitted for observation."

As soon as Zhao Lili heard about paying, she instinctively shrank back; she had heard that this hospital was a money pit—when someone was ill, especially with both surgery and hospital stay like Zhang Ping’s situation, no amount of money seemed enough.

At this moment, Zhao Zhiliang also became anxious; when they had rushed over, no one had thought about the immediate need for money—they were working up in the mountains, and they didn’t carry cash on them.

The young nurse had seen plenty of such cases and said expressionlessly, "You’d better figure out a way quickly—without money, we can’t provide treatment. The latest you can pay is by three o’clock, otherwise, we’ll have to roll the patient out of the surgery room." She was just trying to scare them; the patient was already in the operating room, how could it possibly stop just like that? Seeing that they were frightened, the young nurse tried to maintain her expressionless face and quickly walked away.

Zhao Zhiliang held the papers feeling helpless; all they could do now was to wait for his sister-in-law to return.

"There you go, there you go, you all thought she was a good person, now you see," Zhao Lili began muttering under her breath, but this time she lowered her voice—it appeared that the young nurse’s scare tactics had worked.

Ten minutes later, Shen Yunfang walked back with a bag of dumplings packed from a restaurant.

"Big sister-in-law," Zhao Zhiliang quickly stood up upon her return.

"Oh, thank goodness you’re back," Zhao Lili was even more dramatic grabbing her arm.

Shen Yunfang frowned at the enthusiastic greeting, raising the bag in her hand, "Seeing as it’s getting late, we can’t just wait on an empty stomach—the lack of energy won’t do quite well for looking after the patient, right? So, I just went to grab some dumplings for everyone. Let’s have a few to tide us over." Having said that, she pulled her arm away from Zhao Lili’s grasp and set the bag down on a seat.

"I didn’t bring chopsticks, so we’ll just have to wash our hands and eat them with our fingers." Disposable chopsticks were not available at the restaurant now, so that’s why she packed dumplings—anything else would have been even harder to eat.

Upon opening the bag, the aroma of the dumplings wafted out. Zhao Lili and Zhao Zhiliang involuntarily swallowed their saliva, and on cue, someone’s stomach gurgled loudly.

"Zhang Ping is in there, not knowing if he’s dead or alive—I have no appetite to eat now," Zhao Lili said, her eyes betraying her craving as they lingered on the bag but she didn’t want to give in so easily, "Also, just now a nurse came by, saying we need to pay and arrange the hospital stay... I’m worried. Big sister-in-law, what should we do?"

Shen Yunfang didn’t like people putting on airs; in such a situation, what use was posturing? Everyone still had to sit patiently waiting for the patient to come out of the surgery. And going on about all the ’ifs and buts,’ which only served to make everyone unhappy, didn’t solve anything—why bother?

"If you don’t have the appetite, don’t eat—it’s fine, I didn’t buy much, Zhao Zhiliang and I can finish it," Shen Yunfang didn’t indulge her but responded bluntly, "As for the medical expenses, don’t worry about it for now. As I’ve just said, since the accident happened on my farm, I can’t just ignore it. Although it hasn’t been confirmed whose responsibility it is, rest assured that I will front the money. Don’t fret."

Shen Yunfang’s tone had changed. Just a while ago in the car, she had said that no matter whose fault it was, she would definitely make sure the injured were treated properly, paying whatever amount it cost, as this was a matter of conscience for anyone. But now, seeing the character of this family member, her anger flared up; she couldn’t just spend her money and be accused of being clueless about the situation. So, since you’re playing tricks on me, let’s handle this by the book.

Zhao Lili, who was not well-educated, didn’t pick up on the subtext in Shen Yunfang’s words. Hearing that she would take care of the medical treatment, Zhao Lili felt much relieved and even secretly thought that this might turn into a blessing in disguise due to her husband’s injury as this woman was clearly wealthy.

"Big sister, I rushed over this morning and didn’t bring any money with me. I was thinking of finding a way to get some after you returned," said Zhao Zhiliang, somewhat embarrassed. He noticed the change in his sister-in-law’s tone but, disdaining Zhang Ping’s wife’s attitude, didn’t point it out.

"No need to go back, I have money. We can eat with peace of mind. After the meal, I’ll go pay and handle the paperwork."

Zhao Lili was waiting for just these words, "Ah, with your assurance, big sister, I can relax. You see, with the toughest issue sorted, I’m even starting to feel hungry. So, excuse me, I’ll go ahead and eat," she said, and without washing her hands, tore open the bag and grabbed a few dumplings to shove in her mouth.

Shen Yunfang and Zhao Zhiliang both frowned at her uninhibited manner of eating, even Zhao Zhiliang, the rough and ready man, feeling slightly embarrassed.

He hurriedly pulled the bag over, scraped some dumplings out, tore off a corner of the bag to use as a holder, and offered it to Shen Yunfang, "Big sister, eat these."

Shen Yunfang shook her head, "No need, you eat. I already had something to eat at the restaurant downstairs just now." She had indeed eaten a little because of the limited time, quickly having a bowl of noodles. For someone with her appetite, a bowl of noodles was just enough to tide her over. But now, seeing Zhao Lili’s way of eating, she decided to pass for the moment. If she really got hungry, she would just go downstairs later and get something to eat.

Zhao Zhiliang, seeing that his sister-in-law truly didn’t want anything, took his hand back and started eating himself.

Zhao Lili who was eating, sneakily watched the interaction between the two, scornfully thinking to herself how none of them were good people. One pretending to be poor, clearly not hungry, not even taking a dumpling. The other acting like a total bootlicker, serving dumplings like that, showing no manliness whatsoever.

"You two go ahead and eat. I’ll go down to the first floor and see where to handle the paperwork." Shen Yunfang found an excuse to get away for a bit, finding Zhao Lili’s performance unappealing to watch.

Zhao Zhiliang hurriedly put down the dumplings he was holding and stood up, "Big sister, let me go instead."

"No, no need, you enjoy your meal. It’s not a physical task, I can handle it." Shen Yunfang couldn’t let him go and stood up to walk downstairs.

"Manager Zhao, just let the boss go. It’s useless for you to go if you haven’t brought any money," Zhao Lili remarked candidly.

Zhao Zhiliang gave her a look, said nothing, and picked up the dumplings he had put down to keep eating.

As for Shen Yunfang, after going downstairs, she went straight to the payment office. It wasn’t her first time in a hospital; she knew where to take care of paperwork and payment without having to ask around.

She directly paid five hundred yuan for Zhang Ping’s hospital admission procedures.