Chapter 326: Chapter 325: I Really Believe

The Qi family hosted the dinner at the Binhai Grand Hotel, a long-established five-star hotel near People’s Square in the city center. The cuisine was Huaiyang style.

The head chef had supposedly cooked for state banquets before.

Faced with a table of exquisitely prepared dishes, Yan Feifan finally understood the true meaning of culinary refinement.

Qi Xiuping’s father was a mid-level manager at a reasonably successful pharmaceutical company.

He was talkative and witty, and he made the normally unsociable Yan Feifan feel right at home.

Yan Feifan also learned from him that times were tough for small and medium-sized pharmaceutical companies.

Centralized drug procurement had caused prices to drop sharply.

Their own R&D capabilities were limited, and without highly competitive drugs, they could only rely on low prices to break into the market.

Low prices meant low profits, which in turn hampered R&D investment.

Nowadays, only a handful of large pharmaceutical companies had managed to create a virtuous cycle.

In terms of marketing, although regulations were getting stricter and pharmaceutical reps no longer dared to secretly subsidize front-line doctors with kickbacks disguised as salary payments, the total marketing expenditure hadn’t shrunk by much.

Qi Xiuping’s father hinted that these marketing expenses had simply moved up the chain of command, redirected to those with more power.

Chen Yu said jokingly that in the past, they never had to pay for their own meals or get-togethers.

All they had to do was pull out a phone, call a pharmaceutical rep, and someone would come scrambling over to settle the bill.

Those good old days were long gone.

Chen Yu added that public hospitals were now required to sell drugs with no markup. Medical supplies like surgical mesh, stents, and bone plates were also gradually being included in centralized procurement, steadily cutting into doctors’ sources of income.

Meanwhile, the fees for surgeries hadn’t seen any significant increase.

A single operation still only paid a stipend of a few dozen or a few hundred yuan.

The only exception was plastic surgery, which had been completely commercialized.

"Feifan, I’m not exaggerating. What that guy Wang Chuan makes from a single surgery is more than I make in half a year."

Yan Feifan looked at the disgruntled, complaining Chen Yu and said softly, "Mr. Wang is famous now. His patients are typically celebrities from the entertainment industry, so naturally, his fees are going to be high."

"Director, with your reputation, you could easily make that kind of money just by taking on a single freelance surgery, couldn’t you?"

Chen Yu snorted. "These days, I have to rely on freelance surgeries and R&D income just to support my family."

"Trying to support a family in Binhai on my hospital salary alone is just barely enough to keep us from starving."

Yan Feifan pursed his lips. ’Only if he and his family ate enough for a small army,’ he thought.

Overall, it was a pleasant meal.

Since he had to work the next day, Yan Feifan politely declined their offer of other activities, and the party broke up around nine o’clock.

He and Yu Suye took a taxi back to Zuimo Court.

As soon as he walked in the door, Yan Feifan saw that his sister wasn’t home. He asked Du Qiu and learned that his sister hadn’t even come home for dinner.

He immediately dialed his sister’s number.

"I’m on my way back. I’ll be home soon."

Hearing that, Yan Feifan relaxed a little. "So how did it go with that Jee Mingzhi guy?"

Yan Ziruo chuckled over the phone. "We had dinner and saw a movie. It was pretty good, I guess."

"I’ll tell you the details when I get back. It’s hard to talk and drive..."

Hearing the click of the call ending, Yan Feifan grumbled, "I’m usually the one who hangs up first."

He opened his email and found three messages from Baining Hospital.

They were the medical records for three patients with intraspinal tumors.

Yan Feifan looked up at Yu Suye, who was walking over with two glasses of water. "I have to go to Baining Hospital for another surgery this Sunday," he said.

"Do you want to come with me?"

Yu Suye mulled it over for a moment, then shook her head with a sigh. "There’s nothing in Jingcheng that really appeals to me anymore."

"I think I’ll sit this one out."

Yan Feifan took the glass of water from her and took a sip.

"All right. I’ll go by myself, then."

He opened one of the emails and began to study the patient’s condition and the specific details of the tumor.

Immersed in the patient files, Yan Feifan suddenly heard an annoying nickname he hadn’t heard in ages.

"Fan-Fan!"

He looked up, startled.

Standing before him was a man with a buzz cut, about his height, with dark skin. He wore a sleeveless t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of large sunglasses.

Before Yan Feifan could even react, the man bent down, scooped him up in a hug, and started spinning him around.

"Haha! Not bad, not bad! You’re much heavier than you were at the Spring Festival."

The smell of salty sweat hit Yan Feifan’s nose, and he couldn’t help but exclaim in surprised delight, "Uncle! Weren’t you supposed to be on the ship until tomorrow?"

This was Shu Lei, the maternal uncle of Yan Ziruo and Yan Feifan. He was thirty-nine years old.

To be fair, while Shu Lei had been a real rascal in the past—fooling around and squandering his parents’ entire fortune—he had always been incredibly good to the Yan siblings.

In fact, most of their happy childhood memories involved their uncle.

Shu Lei had even used his big fists to teach a lesson to the bullies who picked on them.

Shu Lei set Yan Feifan down, took off his large sunglasses, and stepped back to look him up and down.

"You really have recovered a lot."

"When I left during the Spring Festival, you were nothing but skin and bones."

"It’s good that you’ve recovered. Really good."

"I talked to the captain and had a colleague cover my shift, so I got off the ship early."

Shu Lei explained, then turned to look at Yu Suye, who was standing nearby. He gave her a quick look-over as well before chuckling. "Very nice. You’re much prettier than your pictures. Fan-Fan is a lucky guy."

Yu Suye studied the man as well.

It was true what they said: like uncle, like nephew.

The man’s face bore a thirty or forty percent resemblance to Yan Feifan’s; he had the same almond-shaped eyes and large nose. He was a handsome man... or rather, a handsome older guy.

Perhaps because of all the wind and sun at sea, his skin was much darker and rougher.

He was also much more muscular.

The arms he had exposed were twice as thick as Yan Feifan’s, with clearly defined muscles.

Yu Suye gave a slight bow. "Hello, Uncle. Welcome back."

Shu Lei laughed. "I was in a bit of a rush getting back, so I didn’t have time to prepare a proper first-meeting gift for you."

"Here, take this!"

As he spoke, Shu Lei slid a milky-white beaded bracelet off his wrist and handed it to Yu Suye.

"It’s African ivory. Not worth much, but it’s a little something for you."

"Uncle, I can’t possibly accept this..."

Yu Suye started to refuse, glancing over at Yan Feifan.

Yan Feifan chuckled. "My uncle is my only true family elder. Go ahead and accept his gift."

"Thank you, Uncle," Yu Suye said, graciously accepting the bracelet.

Shu Lei noticed Yan Ziruo pouting off to the side and quickly took the carved ivory pendant from around his neck.

"Ruoruo, you could hang a lantern off that pout. This is for you."

Yan Ziruo beamed and snatched it away.

Shu Lei then looked back at Yan Feifan and spread his hands. "Fan-Fan, as you can see, I’m all out of things to give you."

Yan Feifan smiled. "I don’t need anything from you."

"Uncle, how long are you staying this time?"

"Two days. I have to be back on the ship early the day after tomorrow."

Shu Lei’s eyes roamed around the apartment as he answered, "Ruoruo kept telling me how much you’ve accomplished, but I was still a little skeptical."

"But the car Ruoruo drives, this apartment... and most importantly, the fact that you managed to find such an outstanding girlfriend..."

"...Now I really believe it. You’ve really made something of yourself."