Chapter 183: Setting Up a Stall to Repay a Debt
Gu Jiaojiao knew her grandfather, as well as the parents from both the Gu and Su families, would be worried about her.
After all, in their eyes, this was the first time she had performed such a major operation on someone.
So, Gu Jiaojiao gave Xia Qiuming some instructions and pushed Su Shuochi to go outside.
Uncle Dong and a driver drove them. He Shen Yi, being older and unable to take the strain, also went back to the Su family’s home with Gu Jiaojiao.
After nearly six hours of surgery, Gu Jiaojiao had no energy to drive herself, so she got into the car from Uncle Dong’s work unit.
The driver focused on the road, while Uncle Dong, He Shen Yi, and Gu Jiaojiao all closed their eyes to rest.
Su Shuochi, however, gazed intently at his wife beside him, his heart melting completely.
When they got home, Geng Ruixian’s luggage was already packed and sitting in the living room.
He was clearly waiting for Gu Jiaojiao and the others to return before he left.
"Shuo Ci, Jiaojiao, I’ve imposed on you for a long time. I’ll be returning to the Imperial City with my father today," Geng Ruixian said, full of reluctance.
"Uncle Geng, your body has mostly recovered now, so it’s a good time to go back. All good things must come to an end.
Besides, my grandfather and the others will be returning to the Imperial City soon, so you’ll see each other again before long."
Gu Jiaojiao comforted him gently, assuming Geng Ruixian was reluctant to leave his good friend, Mr. Gu.
"Jiaojiao, your Uncle Geng has been staying with us for over ten days, and he insists on paying us for room and board. It’s making your mother and me feel quite awkward."
Mr. Su, who now ran a street stall every day, was no longer as taciturn as before, and his eloquence had improved a bit.
"Dad, it’s what we’ve earned. There’s nothing to be awkward about. It’s fine for you to accept it."
Gu Jiaojiao glanced at the imposing Mr. Geng; one look was enough to tell he was a person of high status and great power.
Paying the money meant he wouldn’t owe their family a favor. There was nothing wrong with that.
In her past life, Gu Jiaojiao herself had been a top figure in the medical world. The higher one’s position, the more one feared owing others favors. She understood this perfectly.
Mr. Geng’s personal assistant had previously thought the Su family was refusing the money because they wanted to hold the favor over them for a bigger reward later. It turned out they were genuinely just being modest!
When Geng Ruixian saw Gu Jiaojiao accept his payment for room and board without hesitation, he didn’t know whether to feel happy or disappointed.
His feelings were complicated, but gratitude was the strongest among them. Gu Jiaojiao had saved his life, something that money could not measure.
But if he didn’t offer money, he didn’t know what else he could give, especially since he now had nothing. "Jiaojiao, the medical fees for my treatment..."
"Uncle Geng, there’s a saying: even brothers should keep clear accounts. Your medical fees come to a total of eight thousand yuan.
When you have the money, you can give it to Geng Haoyi. Shu Ci and the others happen to be looking to buy another large truck."
Gu Jiaojiao cut Geng Ruixian off. She had already calculated the costs, and besides, the medicinal potions from her ’space’ were worth far more than eight thousand yuan.
She had calculated the price based on the current cost of pork. Then there was the fee for her silver needle acupuncture; although it had no material cost, it was mentally exhausting.
Mr. Geng, who had been sitting in the living room drinking tea this whole time, gave Gu Jiaojiao a serious look.
Her expression was calm, her demeanor strictly business-like. She showed no intention of trying to curry favor with the Geng Family.
It was a far cry from her lively expressions during their outing. Just yesterday, he had watched her small mouth convey a whole range of emotions.
When she was happy, she would purse her lips or make a funny face. When she was angry, she would pout so much you could hang a tiny oil pot from her lips.
Mr. Geng asked Su Shuochi, "Comrade Xiao Su, you plan to buy a large truck with Haoyi?"
"Yes. Haoyi and I agreed on this before he reunited with Uncle Geng. If Mr. Geng feels it’s inappropriate, I can back out."
What Su Shuochi didn’t say was: ’Worst case, Jiaojiao and I will just buy a large truck ourselves. There’s still good money to be made in long-haul trucking.’
"I don’t find buying a truck inappropriate. Haoyi has mentioned you to me at home. I just want to know, when Ruixian was completely broke, how did you dare to spend so much money on him!"
"My wife is as kind as she is beautiful. Saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda. And leaving aside the fact that Uncle Geng is friends with my father-in-law, even if he were a stranger, after we cured him, we could have had him help at our stall to work off his debt. We wouldn’t have lost money."
This was what Su Shuochi and his wife had agreed upon with Geng Ruixian beforehand. Geng Ruixian had even said he would follow Gu Jiaojiao and the others forever!
"HAHA... ’Work at a stall to pay off a debt’... HAHA..." Mr. Geng laughed with delight.
This young couple didn’t just know his identity; they simply had no desire to associate with him.
They weren’t afraid of power and disdained sycophancy. They were highly capable people in their own right.
All the bigwigs in Qing City wanted to curry favor with Divine Doctor Su Gu; they just didn’t know that Divine Doctor Su Gu was actually Gu Jiaojiao.
Mr. Geng had spent half his life in the military and had always been decisive and ruthless. On a normal day, he wouldn’t say a single unnecessary word.
Yet today, he had spoken at length with these two juniors, Su Shuochi and Gu Jiaojiao, only preparing to leave when he saw how late it had gotten.
Li An also needed to settle his medical fees with Gu Jiaojiao. Since Gu Jiaojiao hadn’t performed acupuncture on him, there were only medication costs, totaling one thousand yuan.
Only one thousand yuan! This had saved his life!
This made Li An ecstatic. He thought Gu Jiaojiao had treated him with special favor.
In reality, Gu Jiaojiao treated everyone the same. In the future era, a shot of insulin cost about seventy yuan.
Naturally, Gu Jiaojiao had given Li An the best—insulin that cost eighty yuan per shot.
In the future, pork cost twenty yuan per jin, so an eighty-yuan shot was the price of four jin of pork.
In the present day, four jin of pork cost three yuan and twelve jiao. This meant one hundred doses of the medicine were worth three hundred and twelve yuan, and besides, Xia Qiuming was the one who had administered most of the shots.
The main costs were the ginseng chicken soup and some other conditioning Chinese medicines, which were a bit more expensive. Charging him one thousand yuan, Gu Jiaojiao really hadn’t given him any special treatment.
As for their food expenses, Uncle Dong and Mr. Sheng had already paid for them. Cheng Tao wasn’t sick, so he had no other fees.
The group reluctantly bid farewell to the Su and Gu Families. He Shen Yi and Xia Qiuming planned to stay in Qing City for a few more days.
Cases like Song Zijie’s were not unheard of, but they were cases that had never been cured before.
That a case like Song Zijie’s could be cured with surgery was likely unprecedented in the current medical field.
He had a congenital heart defect, but due to the peculiar nature of his condition, it hadn’t caused necrosis or other major problems with the heart.
You could say he was very lucky, but also very pitiful. If he didn’t receive timely treatment, not even an Immortal could save him.
With the medical equipment available now, a cure was absolutely impossible. But in the technologically advanced future, the medical community had already developed treatment protocols.
In this world, it wasn’t just humans who followed the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death; plants and animals did as well.
However, with the level of technology in the future, humanity was already able to use science to solve all sorts of difficult diseases.
For example, for Song Zijie’s condition, specialized physicians had already researched and developed countermeasures.
And Gu Jiaojiao was one of those specialists. Forget the heart not having turned necrotic—
even if his heart had failed, she could have given him a transplant and had him up and jumping around again.