Chapter 448 — A Very Poor Attitude
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
The moment Fatty Lai heard Wei Zhao's question, his expression froze for an instant; he could scarcely believe his own ears. But once he was certain his hearing was not playing tricks on him, he was overjoyed! Fatty Lai burst into tears on the spot, his eyes brimming. He felt that all his effort and persistence had finally been repaid. Before this, Wei Zhao had shown him such disdain and would not even give him the time of day; yet now he was asking of his own accord about his father's condition, and Fatty Lai was quite overwhelmed.
"Boohoo... Divine Doctor Lin, I knew you were a good man, that you would care about my father!" Fatty Lai said, and made as if to kneel before Wei Zhao: "On my old father's behalf, thank you..."
"All right, stop! Stop it right now!" Wei Zhao was badly startled by this display, and he was thoroughly cowed by the fellow: "Don't do that. If you do that again, I won't ask next time. I shouldn't have opened my mouth at all..."
"No... I've stopped crying, boohoo... I'm just moved, weeping for joy!" Fatty Lai hurriedly got to his feet and wiped his eyes dry. Fatty Lai well deserved his reputation as the king of the crybabies; his tears came fast and went fast, and in another moment his face was all smiles again.
"As long as you don't cry, you can call me as usual next time..." Wei Zhao was somewhat at a loss for words, and he really had to hand it to the fellow. To spare himself a few crying fits, Wei Zhao granted him a special telephone privilege.
"Really? Wonderful, Divine Doctor Lin..." Fatty Lai was so excited he was about to cry again, but at the thought of what Wei Zhao had just said—that only if he did not cry could he call—he hastily choked the sobs back down.
"Now tell me about your father's situation. It's uremia, isn't it?" Wei Zhao waved a hand to cut him off. Even when he was not crying, the fellow was a terrible dawdler.
"Right, uremia. After he took that half of the Longevity Detox Pill, there was a marked improvement—he's woken up, his spirits are much better, and every indicator has begun to improve. But the doctors say it isn't fully cured. Treatment can keep it in check, but there's no telling whether it will get worse again..." Fatty Lai said worriedly.
"Has he ever had a kidney transplant?" Wei Zhao nodded and asked.
"No. At his age they were afraid he wouldn't survive the operating table, and the doctors didn't recommend surgery either," Fatty Lai said truthfully.
"Then it's simple enough," Wei Zhao said. "Here's what we'll do. I'll write out a few Chinese medicines; you go out and buy them for me. I'll decoct them, and your father is to take them for a week. Come back to me in a week to have the prescription changed."
"Ah! Yes! Thank you, Divine Doctor Lin..." Fatty Lai was beside himself with excitement. He felt he had finally backed the right horse! It seemed Divine Doctor Lin was kind at heart after all—under his relentless pestering, the man had at last agreed to help!
Wei Zhao still could not trust Fatty Lai completely, so the first time he did not have him buy all the important medicines needed. He wrote only the names of the Chinese medicines required for the first course of treatment, and the dosages were not too precise—about five taels of each—and he even slipped in several extra medicine names that served no purpose.
Fatty Lai carefully took the prescription from Wei Zhao, afraid of losing it, tucked it into his coat, and dashed out at once to buy the medicines.
Once Fatty Lai had been sent on his way, Wei Zhao breathed a sigh of relief and said to Guan Xuewen: "Grandpa Guan, are the formalities for the pharmaceutical company and the approval for those few medicines all taken care of?"
"Yes, those are all trifles—I didn't even have to appear in person. I had Xiao Xiang handle it; it will be delivered shortly." Guan Xuewen nodded. Even as he spoke, a knock came at the door of the study, and then the door was pushed open.