Chapter 137: 0134 Red Envelope

The little girl's father said many words of thanks, and Zheng Ren kept a polite smile.

They exchanged phone numbers, agreeing to have a meal together if the little girl got better.

As they were leaving, the middle-aged man casually brushed against Zheng Ren's white coat, and Zheng Ren immediately noticed a large red envelope fall into his coat pocket.

The red envelope was thick but of moderate size; placed in the coat pocket it was neither conspicuous nor leaking.

His technique was practiced; clearly, the patient's father was a professional at giving gifts.

His pressure was just right—between what Zheng Ren could notice and could not notice—so it seemed neither affected nor lacking sincerity.

After discovering the red envelope, Zheng Ren immediately chased after them, insisting on returning it to the patient's family, but the father turned down the corridor and vanished.

The patient was still in the post-anesthesia recovery period after surgery; going to the ward just for the red envelope would clearly be inappropriate.

"Chang Yue, could you go pay the hospitalization fee?" Zheng Ren finally decided to have Chang Yue run the errand.

"Yo, it's pretty thick." Chang Yue took the red envelope Zheng Ren handed over and weighed it.

"Just open it and you'll see." Su Yun lifted her head, teasingly looking at Zheng Ren: "Post-surgery red envelopes are always sincere gifts—why don't you want one?"

Red envelopes generally fall into two types.

The first type is when the patient's family, before surgery, presses a red envelope into the doctor's pocket despite refusals; the doctor either doesn't refuse at all or pretends to refuse, then finally accepts it reluctantly. If the doctor truly feels uncertain about the surgery, he will hand over the unavoidable red envelope to cover the hospitalization fees.

The second type is when the patient is stable after surgery and the family sends a red envelope.

This situation usually signifies the family's sincere gratitude, and it is even more heartfelt than the pre-surgery kind.

Like post-surgery red envelopes, the doctor has already made a basic judgment about the operation; if there are no problems, he will usually tacitly accept the family's goodwill.

And Zheng Ren actually refuses even post-surgery red envelopes—this is rather affected.

"Three thousand," Chang Yue said, having quickly counted the money, surprised.

"How generous—I thought they were all ten dollars, and two hundred would be enough." The sharp-tongued effeminate man always speaks unpleasantly, no matter the time.

"Go pay the hospitalization fee, then give the receipt to the patient's family," Zheng Ren said calmly.

"Why not?" Su Yun asked insistently.

"Why should I take it?" Zheng Ren countered.

"Hospital income, after deducting the five insurances and one fund, is 3,500 yuan a month, plus overtime pay and such. Although you're the Inpatient Chief and save on rent, you'll eventually have to get married—what girl would want a penniless, idle, houseless, carless poor guy like you?" Su Yun spoke frankly.

"I'm afraid something might happen," Zheng Ren said honestly.

When patients give red envelopes, there is an extremely small chance they will secretly record video and then extort.

Even if the surgery is performed perfectly, this problem cannot be avoided.

Not accepting red envelopes also carries a chance of being extorted, with someone insisting they gave one. If they then make a banner and hang it in a busy hospital area...

Tsk tsk, that situation is satisfyingly sour!

"Affected," Su Yun said, lowering her head and continuing to play on her phone.

In his years of work, Zheng Ren has accepted only one patient's red envelope.

That was a liver cancer patient under his care; the patient invited a professor from Modu to come to Hai Cheng for the surgery, and after the operation Zheng Ren fulfilled a doctor's duty, even going beyond it.

After the patient basically recovered, Zheng Ren began giving him basic psychological counseling.

Although Zheng Ren is not a psychological counselor, he still tried reading books, combining what they said with his actual experience, to keep the patient as far as possible from the fear of malignant tumors.

With wholehearted effort, what he gained was the patient's sincere gratitude.

One autumn evening three years later, Zheng Ren returned home and met the patient at his doorstep. The patient expressed his thanks to Zheng Ren in plain words and shoved an envelope containing 2,000 yuan into his hand.

This was also the only red envelope Zheng Ren has ever accepted.

However, Zheng Ren is unwilling to share these thoughts with Su Yun.

Chang Yue soon returned, handing the deposit ticket to the patient's family.

A deposit ticket is not the same as money; money can be refused, but if you're missing one deposit ticket when processing discharge, settlement becomes impossible and very troublesome.

The patient's family reluctantly accepted the deposit ticket and complained a few words at Chang Yue.

Soon, Zheng Ren's phone received a call from the middle-aged man.

On the call, he expressed his dissatisfaction with Zheng Ren. The tone was just right—it didn't provoke Zheng Ren's annoyance, yet fully conveyed his own gratitude.

Finally, he told Zheng Ren not to order a meal, as he would have it delivered shortly.

Now there was no way to refuse, so Zheng Ren had to agree.

About thirty minutes later, two young men from Jinbijilu Restaurant, wearing uniforms, carried four food boxes to the emergency ward.

They took out the dishes one by one, as if performing magic.

Fish maw, snail, and cordyceps soup; crispy aromatic meat; honey-glazed char siu; crispy roasted pork; braised pigeon; blanched geoduck; salt-and-pepper mantis shrimp……

Each time they took out a dish, the young men from Jinbijilu Restaurant would introduce where the ingredients came from, how fresh they were, and which top chef personally cooked them.

In short, the ingredients are fresh and exquisite, and the chef preparing the dishes is a top-tier domestic chef or something like that.

At first Zheng Ren watched with great interest, but as the duty room table filled up, he began to feel numb.

These dishes would definitely not be covered by 3,000 yuan.

Although Zheng Ren had never eaten at Jinbijilu Restaurant, he possesses the common sense expected of an adult.

This is truly heartfelt thanks; Zheng Ren took out his phone and summoned the Chu Family Sisters upstairs and Xie Yiren to come down for a meal.

When she saw the table full of food, Xie Yiren's eyes went wide.

On that day when the ground was covered in thin ice, Xie Yiren still insisted on going out to eat; for such a food lover, this table of dishes was the best reward.

Since we're all our own people, there's no need to stand on ceremony; after disinfecting our phones, we sat down and began to eat.

"Delicious," Xie Yiren said, picking up a chopstickful of crispy aromatic meat, putting it in her mouth, then lifting the fish maw, snail, and cordyceps soup.

"Good to drink."

"Delicious."

"Good to drink."

Zheng Ren stared dumbfounded; logically, Xie Yiren's family being so wealthy, she shouldn't have never eaten this before. Yet she continued to eat with relish, each dish satisfying, each sip of soup savored carefully.

She's a true foodie, Zheng Ren thought.

Zheng Ren ate little, drank two bowls of porridge made from some unknown seafood, then another bowl of soup, and was full.

"Do you feel a bit regretful, you'd have been better off keeping the red envelope?" Su Yun complained.

"Hehe." Zheng Ren gave a dry laugh.

Rumors end with the wise; chat ends with "hehe."

Zheng Ren simply killed the conversation.

"Xiao Yi Ren, eat a little less." Chu Yanran sipped her soup elegantly, saying, "Binge eating harms the spleen and stomach."

"I haven't eaten much." Xie Yiren said while eating, "A classmate of mine, a few days ago at a buffet, triggered pancreatitis and is now hospitalized in the gastroenterology department."