Ivan had to leave China because his visa expired and returned to New Zealand.
Director Lan of the Plastic Surgery Department utilized Ivan’s momentum to place a super-sized advertisement for Sanbo Hospital’s Plastic Surgery Department, attracting an overwhelming number of people seeking plastic surgery.
In marketing, he had been successful.
Compared to the steady progress of Sports Medicine, Plastic Surgery was practically becoming rich overnight.
However, Director Lan was worried about the situation because a mismatch between abilities and circumstances might result in a flash in the pan or numerous emerging problems.
Still, since Director Lan dared to promote and create momentum, he had his confidence, which lay in the Comprehensive Surgery Department. With Yang Ping to back him up, he feared nothing.
Yang Ping’s brother-in-law had arrived in Nandu, G City, and used navigation to find Yang Ping’s community.
Since it would surely be inconvenient to bring colleagues to Yang Ping’s home, the brother-in-law had booked a hotel, settled his colleagues there, and then drove alone to deliver some items to Yang Ping.
When Yang Ping received his brother-in-law’s call, he and Xiao Su went downstairs to meet him.
Seeing his brother-in-law at the door, Yang Ping was both happy and excited. His sister and brother-in-law were from the same township but different villages and had studied together at Normal University. During Yang Ping’s university days, they visited the school many times and always gave him some money.
After graduating from university, when Yang Ping wanted to become a graduate student, his sister and brother-in-law supported him vigorously. Over the years, as Yang Ping studied and worked away from home, his brother-in-law helped out with any family matters.
The brother-in-law took charge of building their house, and both he and Yang Ping’s sister contributed money and effort without a word of complaint.
At the time Yang Ping graduated as a graduate student, his sister and brother-in-law raised some money and sought connections, hoping to help him find a good job. However, they struggled due to their rural background and lack of significant connections. After a long time and some money spent without result, Yang Ping came here to take an exam and entered the City People’s Hospital.
Therefore, Yang Ping’s family had a particularly harmonious relationship, treating the brother-in-law like a brother.
The brother-in-law, in his thirties, appeared shrewd and capable. Upon seeing Yang Ping, he was also very moved and hugged him by the shoulders.
"Kid, not bad. I heard you’ve graduated as a Doctor and now you’ve been promoted to Professor?"
To the brother-in-law’s eyes, his little brother-in-law was no longer the green youngster he used to be but a professor at a big hospital.
"Not at all, Principal Li is too kind. This is Xiao Su," joked Yang Ping, before introducing Xiao Su.
The brother-in-law had heard from their parents that Yang Ping had found a partner, so he already knew about Xiao Su, and the parents couldn’t stop praising her. But this was his first meeting with Xiao Su.
"Hello, brother-in-law!" Xiao Su’s words were always sweet.
"I was saying that our mother keeps talking about Xiao Su all day, she’s like a fairy descended to earth," the brother-in-law complimented.
The young woman merely smiled with her lips pursed, revealing two beautiful dimples.
"Where’s your colleague?"
"In the hotel. Get in the car, let’s drive in, and we can deliver the items to your house together."
The brother-in-law opened the car door for Yang Ping to enter, asking him to lead the way so they could deliver the items to his house, but it seemed there wasn’t much room to sit.
Glancing into the car, Yang Ping saw it was far from a few items—the car was packed full, and the trunk was obviously not even worth mentioning. Yang Ping suspected the other teachers must have had a hard journey, undoubtedly not in a single car.
"We came in two cars. This car is specially for delivering local products to you. Mom made me promise a thousand times not to let anyone sit in this car and to keep my colleagues away from these items, they mustn’t get mixed up with the school stuff. You see, I don’t even dare turn the engine off—" the brother-in-law explained with a laugh.
Aside from various vegetables and many eggs, there were also lots of country chickens, freshly slaughtered, plucked, gutted, and vacuum-sealed, with boxes of ice keeping them neat and clean.
"These can’t be found in the city. Now it’s popular to eat authentic country stuff, and these country chickens are treasures. The Bureau of Education’s leaders like to go to the countryside to eat them. Mom stayed up all night to slaughter and process these. She was afraid they wouldn’t be fresh if killed too early and insisted on rushing them over to be refrigerated as needed," urged the brother-in-law, worried about spoilage.
Yang Ping asked Xiao Su to go back home, while he squeezed into the car to drive into the community and help the brother-in-law carry the items upstairs, chatting as they moved things.
"Tonight I’ll invite your colleagues to eat out. Tomorrow, we brothers will eat at home and try Xiao Su’s cooking."
"Are you free tonight?"
"Principal Li is inspecting work, he’ll definitely have time. Let’s settle it, I’ll host dinner for your colleagues tonight. Seafood is okay, right?"
"No problem. Those few are staying at the hotel. Our old principal has come as well, along with a few other teachers."
"I heard you’re here to fundraise, trying to collect money for the school expansion?"
"It’s not really an expansion. The old principal wants to reinforce the school and add some educational equipment. Educational resources are shrinking toward towns, and many rural schools will be closed, so our funds are a bit tight. It’s more convenient for the nearby kids to attend our school, so the old principal still wants to keep it. He’s been running around for over a year. The school will remain, but the funds will be very limited, so we have to figure things out ourselves. That’s why I, the new Vice-Principal, must step in and lead everyone in seeking alms."
"How much is the budget shortfall?"
"Almost about three hundred thousand."
Yang Ping volunteered,
The brother-in-law shook his head: "I appreciate your sentiment, but don’t overburden yourself. We’ve already drafted a list before coming over, including several factory owners here. The old principal said we shouldn’t randomly expand the fundraising scope but just approach these few owners. However much we can raise is what we’ll work with; we’ll take it one step at a time."