After Yan Feifan started working at the Affiliated Hospital, he set a principle for himself.
If someone, knowing full well it would put him in a difficult position, still insisted on forcing him to help, then he should reject them outright.
There was simply no need to inconvenience himself just to please others.
As a doctor, sometimes you had to be a little impersonal.
Otherwise, he could easily get trapped in an endless cycle of such requests, unable to escape and seriously impacting his work and life.
"Mr. Guo, I can't help you this time."
Yan Feifan rejected him clearly over the phone, explaining, "Your relative's child doesn't need a specialist for treatment…"
He had barely gotten the words out when the BEEP-BEEP of the disconnected call sounded from his phone.
Yan Feifan put away his phone, looked at Yu Suye beside him, and spread his hands. "There goes another contact," he said helplessly.
Yu Suye chuckled lightly. "Don't worry, Feifan. If they need something, they'll come to you again without a second thought."
"The concept of feeling embarrassed doesn't exist for them."
Yu Suye added with a smile, "There's a saying that if you want a smooth and convenient life, you should make a point of befriending useful people, like doctors, police officers, teachers, lawyers, and so on."
"Feifan, as a doctor—and a future famous one at that—the number of people who want to be your friend will only grow."
Yan Feifan scoffed. "It's better to have fewer of those kinds of utilitarian friends."
"Let's go…"
After leaving the hospital's south gate together, the two went their separate ways home.
Yan Feifan returned to his apartment. Seeing that it was still early, he went to the kitchen and cooked himself a meat dish, a vegetable dish, and a bowl of noodles.
After finishing this proper dinner and cleaning up the dining room and kitchen, he returned to his bedroom and began simulating surgery in his mindscape to prepare for the next day…
Around ten o'clock at night, Yan Feifan received a video call from Tian Yu.
"Mr. Yan, Ruoruo is mad at you!"
The light was dim on Tian Yu's end of the video. The faint glow of lights could be seen behind her, and the WHOOSH of the wind was audible.
She was clearly calling from outside the cabin of the boat.
"Why is she mad?"
Yan Feifan asked casually, then chided her, "It's already ten o'clock. Why are you still outside?"
"From what I can hear, the wind on the river is pretty strong."
The yacht Wang Chuan had rented for them was over thirty meters long and had three decks.
The yacht had a master suite, a secondary bedroom, and two guest rooms, as well as a large living room, a dining room, and a kitchen. It was fully equipped and quite luxuriously decorated.
During the day, Yan Feifan had seen the photos and short videos his sister and Xiaoyu had posted, so he knew they were having a great time.
"This wind isn't cold at all."
On the video call, Xiaoyu smoothed down her wind-tousled hair and said in a low voice, "Ruoruo is mad at you because you haven't called."
"Ruoruo says you don't care about us at all."
Yan Feifan couldn't help but roll his eyes. "You guys didn't call me either, did you?"
Tian Yu pouted and argued, "But we've been posting pictures and videos the whole time."
"You already know what's going on with us, so we don't need to call and explain everything."
Frustrated, Yan Feifan said, "You guys always have a way to be right."
"Xiaoyu, give the phone to my sister. I want to say a few things to her."
"Okay, Mr. Yan, hold on!"
The screen shook, then the light grew brighter, and his sister appeared in the video, dressed in pajamas.
She was sitting cross-legged on the bed, looking down at her phone.
"Ruoruo, Mr. Yan is video calling."
Hearing Xiaoyu say that, Yan Feifan quickly called out, "Sis…"
The phone screen trembled again, and suddenly his sister's face filled half the screen.
"Finally remembered you have a sister?"
Hearing the sarcastic tone in his sister's voice, Yan Feifan knew she was genuinely angry.
"Sis, you know I've been busy these past few days. I have an eight-hour surgery waiting for me tomorrow."
Yan Ziruo scoffed. "No matter how busy you are, you always have time to make a single phone call."
Yan Feifan gave a sheepish laugh and changed the subject. "Sis, I saw a lot of your selfies. You had fun today, right?"
On screen, Yan Ziruo shot him a glare, but then a smile appeared on her face. "It was alright. It was mainly the novelty."
"Feeling the river breeze, looking at the scenery on both banks, watching the big ships pass by… It was a pretty nice feeling."
The two chatted briefly before Yan Ziruo told Yan Feifan to get some rest and hung up the phone.