Chapter 174: A Bird in Hand
Huai Yu had gone through all the posters in the hospital corridor, but after the flow of knowledge, her mind was still empty.
Before she could go over them again, the door to the emergency room opened, and several doctors walked out briskly:
“Are the family members of Chen Xing here?”
“Here!” Huai Yu and Uncle Zaozi quickly responded. “Doctor, how is he?”
The doctor nodded. “They’re all out of immediate danger, but because of the severity of their injuries and excessive exhaustion, the hospital has made an exception and arranged for the use of a medical chamber—They should be out by around 2 PM tomorrow.”
Huai Yu’s expression became even more pained. “Then… how much will it cost?”
The doctor paused, then looked at the young Huai Yu, his voice softening:
“Here’s the thing. That boy with orange hair, the one with the most serious injuries, is also your family member, right? He has a rare toxic fungus inside him. Our entire emergency team made a great effort to bring him back.”
More toxins?!
Huai Yu thought of the pain Zhou Qian had gone through, and her lips tightened.
The doctor remained calm and confident, speaking casually:
“The specimen of this mutated fungus, which we extracted, is now kept in the hospital for research purposes. If you don’t want to keep it as a memento, the hospital won’t take it for free—the medical costs for all four of you will be completely waived.”
“Do you think this is okay?”
Huai Yu: “…”
They’re using it for research, so it must be quite a special specimen, right? She wanted to see it.
But…
“Okay! Thank you, doctor!”
…
The doctor walked away satisfied, and Huai Yu and Uncle Zaozi relaxed completely, sitting down on the chairs without wanting to move.
Uncle Zaozi suddenly reacted: “Why did you agree so easily to the specimen the doctor mentioned?”
“He already said they’re keeping it for research and waived all four of our medical fees so generously. It must have some value, right?”
But Huai Yu hesitated: “If it were a tumor, something rare that needed to be kept for research, could we still ask for money?”
Uncle Zaozi: “…That’s true.”
“But Chen Xing, looking at it, won’t be able to go to the wilderness for a long time. I was just thinking, if we could get some money, why not?”
Huai Yu was conflicted: “I’ve thought about it too! But first, I don’t know where to sell that mutated fungus for a good price.”
“Secondly, I don’t know how to raise or preserve it.”
“I’m afraid if I bring it back and it dies due to improper preservation, that would be a waste.”
That was the real reason.
Uncle Zaozi thought it over. He had raised shiitake mushrooms before, but this was clearly a different matter, and he had no experience.
So, he could only nod.
“That’s why I think a bird in hand is better than two in the bush. At least the hospital waived the medical fees for them—that should be a pretty big amount, right?”
“That’s enough.”
“Exactly!” Uncle Zaozi came to his senses.
Although he was thick-skinned and knew how to make money, he had no experience with how to earn money in a hospital. Right now, even if he were to negotiate with the doctor, he wouldn’t know how to do it.
So he gave up.
But then he thought—keeping a good relationship with the hospital might be useful for future visits, right?
He slapped his thigh, “Ah, I forgot to ask the doctors for their contact details—Little Yu, wait here, I’ll go find out.”
“Whoever suggested waiving the medical fees, we should at least get to know them. Next time we bring someone in—uh, uh, I mean, the more friends, the more options.”
Huai Yu nodded, “I understand.”
Uncle Zaozi perked up and wandered off toward the nurse station.
…
Uncle Zaozi was good at chatting and making connections.
Not long after, he returned, pulled out a candy from his pocket, and said, “Look! I specifically asked for this for you.”
The previous one had already been eaten, but he couldn’t help but feel guilty and persisted in getting another one.
And—
“You wouldn’t believe it. Fortunately, we didn’t bargain with the doctor. I found out, a lot of the high-activity biological materials in the medical chamber are disposable, and they’re expensive!”
“Every two hours of use costs at least 2000 points! Different consumables make the price even higher.”
“Unless you’re military personnel, each person can exchange different times of medical chamber use based on merit…”
“Chen Xing and the others are going to use it until the afternoon.”
He looked at his watch—It was already 5:30 AM!
The four of them would be using it until 2 PM, not including other expenses, just the medical chamber would cost nearly 40,000 points!
Ugh! It’s an astronomical price!
He had never been this badly injured to need a medical chamber. Now he finally understood why the medical chambers were rarely used for patients—too expensive!
Who can afford that?!
“You know, if we had really bargained over that fungus, not to mention whether we could find a buyer quickly, whether Fanta and the others could even survive is another matter!”
Uncle Zaozi warned himself: “Indeed, you can’t think about making a profit in the hospital.”
Huai Yu nodded, seriously taking note.
She also remembered the names of the doctors Uncle Zaozi mentioned and decided to tell everyone about it after Chen Xing and the others woke up.
And now…
She rubbed her eyes, “Uncle Zaozi, since it’ll be afternoon before they’re out of the medical chamber, you should go rest. It’s been a long day.”
“You don’t need to come over in the afternoon. My brother is in the hospital here. I’ll go back to settle things at home, and in the afternoon, I need to come see him.”
Uncle Zaozi didn’t feel too tired at first, but when Huai Yu yawned, he couldn’t help but open his mouth and let out a big yawn, even tearing up.
At this point, even with his gossiping attitude, the fatigue was overwhelming—he was truly getting old.
He nodded, “Okay. Since they’re not awake, there’s no point sitting here. It’s better to rest and come back later to help.”
But as he said this, Uncle Zaozi suddenly pondered:
“Little Yu, I’ll take you to the highway exit. Did I tell you what I need to buy?”
“Why does it feel like I’ve forgotten something?”
Huai Yu exclaimed, just as confused: “You didn’t say anything about buying anything? You just said you’d show me around—oh!”
She suddenly remembered: “You were buying plastic bags from someone, and they asked for 4 points each! You bargained for a while to get a better price…”
As she was talking, she started feeling like something was forgotten.
Uncle Zaozi looked equally confused: “But I… didn’t buy anything. Why would I buy plastic bags?”
The two of them stared at each other for a while, and after some time, their tired brains finally started turning. A flash of realization struck them—
“My meat! Ah, my chicken! My bullfrog!”
“Did the delivery arrive for the tricycle?!”
