Chapter 8: Payment?
The sound grew louder and clearer from afar.
In an instant, the ambulance finally arrived.
A sturdy ambulance came to a stop in front of the simple corrugated iron house.
At that moment, the wind and rain began to subside, and a faint sunset broke through the sky.
A young female doctor in a white coat, with a delicate and angelic face, appeared as if descending from heaven.
Behind her were several nurses carrying two stretchers, surging inside.
Under the direction of this female doctor,
the nurses quickly and skillfully secured the still-unconscious man and the woman who was gradually regaining consciousness onto the stretchers.
They then loaded both into the ambulance.
As the doors slowly closed,
Jiang Zhaoyang felt an immense relief.
He could finally go home.
However, the doctor's words left him stunned.
“Is this your girlfriend?”
Jiang Zhaoyang felt a wave of nausea and struggled to suppress the strong discomfort within.
With an almost indifferent tone, he replied, “No.”
“And you? What’s your relationship with her?” Her eyes were full of suspicion.
“Can I just turn a blind eye?” he said coldly.
“When something happens, can you just ignore it?” Jiang Zhaoyang retorted sharply.
After speaking, he wasn’t done yet.
Compelled by some impulse, he added, “You’re a doctor. When you go out on calls, are all the men you save your husband or boyfriend?”
His tone carried a hint of mockery and challenge.
The female doctor was momentarily taken aback.
Her cheeks flushed suddenly.
Clearly caught off guard by his blunt question,
she gasped, “Whether or not, you have to come with me!”
A mixture of embarrassment and anger colored her voice.
“Why?”
She rolled her eyes, “The hospital is a profit-making institution, not a charity, let alone a welfare center.”
“What does that have to do with me?” Jiang Zhaoyang asked in return.
He couldn’t understand why this beautiful doctor suddenly brought this up.
It seemed rather irrelevant.
“It matters a great deal. Someone has to pay. Right?” Her face was full of impatience and exasperation.
“Me? Pay?”
“That’s right. Won’t you cover the emergency treatment fees?”
“One’s unconscious, and the other might pass out again at any moment. Do you think they can walk to the payment window themselves?”
Her counter-question left Jiang Zhaoyang momentarily speechless.
“Are you going to save them halfway? Abandon them midway?”
“You?” Jiang Zhaoyang was stunned. His careless words just now felt like retaliation.
But he had no choice.
Her reasoning was impeccable and undeniable.
“Fine!” In the end, he could only relent helplessly.
There was a faint bitterness hidden in Jiang Zhaoyang’s voice.
The female doctor then stepped outside.
Jiang Zhaoyang had no choice but to follow.
She climbed into the driver's seat and closed the door.
Jiang Zhaoyang asked, “Doctor, where do I sit?”
Through the window, her gaze was icy.
Her voice was cold and curt: “Sit wherever there’s a seat. Don’t ask me.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhaoyang quickly scanned the interior.
Without hesitation, he yanked open the side door of the driver’s cabin.
He squeezed himself inside.
“Why are you sitting here?” The female doctor’s voice burst out, tinged with irritation and helplessness.
She hadn’t expected Jiang Zhaoyang to be so “impolite” as to sit right beside her.
“Someone else will get on.”
“The ambulance cabin is cramped. There’s no room to turn around. How else should I sit?”
“Just squeeze in!” Jiang Zhaoyang said bluntly.
At that moment, the door was gently pushed open again.
A young woman in a neat nurse’s uniform got in.
She carried a heavy box full of medical supplies.
The front cabin was already tight.
Her action was like adding a boulder to the confined space.
Making it feel even more cramped.
Jiang Zhaoyang felt like the “filling in a sandwich.”
He was squeezed between the two, unable to move.
He had to sit sideways, an awkward and uncomfortable posture.
It was as if he were sitting on needles.
Every moment was agony.
Today was truly unlucky—rescuing a reckless couple, having to pay for their medical fees, and suffering in the cramped ambulance.
Jiang Zhaoyang forced himself to endure the discomfort.
He silently prayed for the journey to end soon.
“Drive!” the female doctor ordered.
The ambulance roared to life in response.
Like an arrow unleashed, it sped toward the hospital.
Finally, they arrived.
The two patients were carried by nurses into the emergency room.
The female doctor turned and pushed Jiang Zhaoyang forcefully, her eyes filled with anxiety and reproach. “Aren’t you getting off?”
She almost shouted, “Why are you still sitting there dazed?”
Jiang Zhaoyang was jolted awake by her push and shout, as if suddenly pulled from a dream into reality.
He quickly responded with a nod.
Following the nurses’ footsteps, he almost stumbled as he jumped out of the vehicle.
The female doctor didn’t pause.
She hurried deeper into the emergency room.
However, just as she was about to step through the emergency doors,
she suddenly turned back, “Hurry up and go to the payment window to settle the emergency fees. Don’t dawdle.”
“How much?”
“The staff at the window will tell you,” she answered briefly before disappearing inside.
Jiang Zhaoyang was helpless.
He sighed and approached the payment window.
He had no choice but to cautiously take out his bank card from his wallet.
His hand trembled slightly, and beads of sweat formed on his palm.
In the end, he prepaid two thousand yuan.
Though not a small sum, it was still within Jiang Zhaoyang’s acceptable range.
He sighed in relief.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, his fingers inadvertently brushed against the cold phone in his pocket, sparking a wave of gratitude in his heart.
Thankfully, the phone was still there.
He hadn’t lost it in the chaos.
He quickly took out the “lucky” phone.
Without hesitation,
his fingers dialed a familiar and warm number — his mother’s phone, his eternal refuge.
He hadn’t arrived home at the usual time.
He wondered how worried she must be.
The moment the call connected, his mother’s familiar, slightly trembling voice came through the receiver.
Her tone was filled with obvious anxiety and unease: “Son, what happened to you?”
“Why haven’t you answered your phone?”
“Did something dangerous happen?”
A string of questions poured out like rapid-fire, each word revealing deep maternal concern.
Hearing this, a warm current surged through Jiang Zhaoyang’s heart.
He knew that no matter where he was or what difficulties he faced, his mother’s love was unwavering, his strongest support.
He hurried to comfort her, “Mom, it’s nothing, really don’t worry!”
“I was just busy earlier and didn’t notice my phone.”
His voice carried a hint of apology.
He knew she must have been terribly worried.