Chapter 0403: Hiding Merit and Fame

When Zhao Fusheng walked into Chen Jianmin's office carrying a black plastic bag, Chen Jianmin was astonished.

Simply put, it was the first time he had seen anyone pay hospitalization fees like this.

“Director Chen, this is fifty thousand yuan.” Zhao Fusheng pointed to the plastic bag he had placed on the table and said to Chen Jianmin.

Chen Jianmin was taken aback, looking at Zhao Fusheng in surprise.

Clearly, he wasn't stupid; he could tell that Zhao Fusheng wasn't familiar with the old man—who wouldn't know what their friend's family did for a living?

But since the young man didn't want to say, Chen Jianmin naturally wouldn't ask too many questions.

Still, he hadn't expected that Zhao Fusheng would go out and come back with fifty thousand yuan.

Because withdrawing more than fifty thousand from the bank required an appointment in advance, Zhao Fusheng had withdrawn forty-nine thousand nine hundred yuan, then added a hundred yuan from his own wallet to make up the fifty thousand.

“What's this?” Chen Jianmin looked at Zhao Fusheng and asked.

Zhao Fusheng smiled calmly and said lightly, “This is money I earned myself. Please help me pay it, and don't tell him it was me.”

“Huh?”

Chen Jianmin was stunned. He hadn't expected to run into a modern-day Lei Feng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled, stood up, and bowed to Chen Jianmin: “Director Chen, you're a good doctor. Thank you.”

Chen Jianmin was startled, because he could feel that when the young man said those words, he was sincere—he truly meant to thank him.

“Maybe someone in your family was my patient?” Chen Jianmin was puzzled, hesitated, and tentatively asked Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled, said nothing, turned and left Chen Jianmin's office, went downstairs, and took a car straight back to school.

……

……

Zhang Qian was in the ward, speaking softly with his grandfather, even though he knew his grandfather could barely hear him anymore. But he just wanted to talk a little more with the old man.

“Zhou Aiguo, family of Zhou Aiguo…” At that moment, a nurse walked in and called out to Zhang Qian.

Zhang Qian was startled and quickly stood up: “Nurse, nurse, I'm here.”

“Mm, get ready. Surgery is tomorrow afternoon,” the nurse said to Zhang Qian.

Zhang Qian was stunned, looking at the nurse in surprise: “What did you say?”

“I said, get ready. Your grandfather's surgery is tomorrow afternoon.” The nurse seemed to know Zhang Qian's situation; her expression was kind, and she patiently explained the precautions to him.

Listening to the nurse, Zhang Qian hesitated. His usually expressionless face was now full of surprise and confusion. Clearly, this matter left him bewildered.

“Is there a mistake?” After a moment's hesitation, Zhang Qian asked the nurse.

The nurse shook her head: “No mistake. Director Chen spoke up for you. If not for him, how could the hospital have agreed to operate on your grandfather…”

She was about to continue when someone outside called her name. The nurse waved her hand: “I have to go. Take good care of your grandfather. The surgery is tomorrow afternoon.”

With that, the nurse left the ward.

Zhang Qian sat there dumbfounded, not saying a word for a long time, because he didn't know what had happened. That morning, he had been so frightened that he knelt before the director, begging him to save his grandfather.

At the time, Director Chen had said nothing, and Zhang Qian had given up hope. But he never expected that the director had actually helped.

Thinking this, Zhang Qian stood up, asked the patient in the next bed to look after his grandfather, walked out of the ward, went to the nurses' station, and asked for the location of the doctors' office.

Arriving at the office building, Zhang Qian entered the surgery office: “Is Director Chen in?”

“Yes, in that office inside.”

It was the same intern, who watched Zhang Qian walk toward Chen Jianmin's office, looking puzzled: “Why is everyone looking for Director Chen today?”

Zhang Qian didn't know this. He went to Chen Jianmin's office and, just like that morning, knelt down with a thud before Chen Jianmin.

“Hey, hey, hey, get up, get up!”

Chen Jianmin was startled and quickly came out from behind his desk, walking over to Zhang Qian to help him up.

But Zhang Qian's body was as if nailed to the floor; he shook off Chen Jianmin's hands and kowtowed three times, his forehead hitting the ground with a thud.

Then he stood up, said nothing, turned, and left.

Watching his retreating figure, Chen Jianmin opened his mouth, hesitated as if wanting to say something, but didn't speak.

He thought of that young man who hadn't left his name. Though they had only interacted for a few minutes, he felt that these two people were very similar.

Zhao Fusheng naturally didn't know that Chen Jianmin had such an impression.

For him, he had simply done what he wanted to do and what he should do.

In the following days, Zhao Fusheng didn't go to the hospital again. Instead, he focused on news from the internet.

Because if he remembered correctly, the precursor to the collapse of the internet bubble had already begun to appear.

After consulting some materials, Zhao Fusheng was finally certain: the internet bubble was starting to burst.

Just over a month ago, the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite Index had climbed to 5,048 points, reaching the peak of the internet bubble. Over the past year, the Federal Reserve had raised interest rates six times, and the overheated economy had begun to lose momentum.

On the 10th of last month, the NASDAQ index had doubled from 1999, and then began a slight decline. Market analysts said it was just a market correction. The reversal and subsequent bear market might have been triggered by the trial of the U.S. v. Microsoft. The ruling declaring Microsoft a monopoly had been widely speculated for weeks before its official announcement on April 3.

Recently, U.S. stocks had been plummeting, but the domestic stock market remained booming.

Zhao Fusheng concluded that the big bear market he remembered was about to arrive.

With that thought, Zhao Fusheng quickly dialed Tan's father's phone.

“Uncle, are you still trading stocks?” Zhao Fusheng said to Tan's father.

Tan's father was taken aback, a bit puzzled: “I still have some money in stocks. Why, Xiao Zhao, do you need money?”

He had heard from his son on the phone that Zhao Fusheng was looking for projects, so he thought Zhao Fusheng might be short of funds and wanted to borrow from him.

Zhao Fusheng shook his head: “It's not that I need money. I think the stock market might be in trouble soon!”

What!

Hearing Zhao Fusheng's words, Tan's father was stunned. He never expected that Zhao Fusheng would say such a thing to him when the stock market was all red and booming across the board.