Urban Extraordinary Immortal Doctor
Chapter 440: Jinling

Chapter 440: Chapter 440: Jinling

Three days later, Hong Dabao’s beauty and cosmetics specialty store opened, and Fang Bai, accompanied by a group of classmates, went to congratulate him. Xia Chenyu and Ruan Hongpeng also took turns visiting, but after presenting a generous gift, they found an excuse to leave.

The congratulators were mostly Hong Dabao’s classmates, and Xia Chenyu and Ruan Hongpeng understood that their presence, as "important figures" in the eyes of Hong Dabao and others, would make everyone else feel constrained, which is why they tactfully took their leave.

In the following two days, Fang Bai dined with Xia Chenyu a few times and advised her on some issues related to cultivation, then he drove alone to Jinling.

He was in a hurry to reach Jinling because there was news from the Qin Family about Zhou Dabai and his family.

Although Jinling had millions of inhabitants, making it very difficult to find someone, the Qin Family was the foremost family in Jinling; they not only had substantial wealth but also vast connections. By mobilizing the entire family’s resources, they took just two days to find the whereabouts of Zhou Dabai’s family.

Instead of disturbing the normal lives of Zhou Dabai’s family, the Qin Family passed on the detailed address of their residence to Fang Bai through Qin Yaorao and then discreetly withdrew from the matter.

When Fang Bai arrived in Jinling, it was around eight in the morning. He did not inform Qin Yaorao of his arrival, but drove directly to the area in the northwestern corner of Jinling, where the city met the countryside, based on the address she had provided.

The buildings in this area were mostly old single-storey tile-roofed houses and some two or three-story buildings, but they all looked very ancient.

The streets were not only narrow but also uneven due to years of neglect, making it difficult for cars to enter, so Fang Bai simply parked his car in a nearby parking lot and then got out to walk deeper into the area.

Walking along a dirty street full of puddles and mud for two or three miles, he came to a small yard composed of three single-storey houses on the north side of the road. Fang Bai checked the door number on the gate of the courtyard, confirmed it was the right place, and slowly pushed open the black-painted double doors to step inside lightly.

Far from the hustle and bustle of the busy urban area, the yard was very quiet. Under a date tree that had lost all its leaves, a middle-aged man in a worn-out jacket was squatting down, brushing his teeth and rinsing his mouth.

When the man heard the door, he looked up, and upon seeing Fang Bai’s smiling face, his expression froze in disbelief.

"Uncle Zhou!"

Fang Bai walked up to the man and gently called out.

"Fang Bai!"

The middle-aged man came back to his senses and exclaimed, "You... how did you... how did you get here? Did Dabai give you the address?"

The middle-aged man was Zhou Dabai’s father, Zhou Houde.

In Fang Bai’s memory, Zhou Houde and his son Zhou Dabai were almost like two peas in a pod: both tall and chubby, always smiling when greeting people as if they were the image of Maitreya Buddha.

Zhou Houde used to care a lot about cleanliness; although his clothes were not branded, they were always ironed neatly. Every day, when he went out, he would make sure his beard was shaven clean.

Yet the Zhou Houde before him now seemed like a different person; he had lost weight, his skin was much darker, and there was a deep gloominess in his demeanor, clearly indicating that he had not been having an easy time.

The jacket he was wearing looked as though it hadn’t been washed in a long time, dirty and old, as if it came from a pile of trash.

"Dabao didn’t tell me, I found this place by myself."

Fang Bai observed Zhou Houde and sighed, "Uncle Zhou, how did things come to this for you?"

"Ah..."

Zhou Houde also sighed, smiling bitterly as he said, "Took out high-interest loans to run a business, but even our entire savings were not enough to cover the debts. Had no choice but to run away... Anyway, let’s not talk about the past! Fang Bai, come in and have a seat! I’ll call Dabao right now and ask him to come back and chat with you!"

"Dabao is not at home?"

"He’s helping out at a nearby clinic to earn some pocket money for himself."

"And auntie?"

"Your Aunt Wu is working at a small hotel not far from here, washing dishes and cleaning. She can make a thousand or two thousand yuan a month. If you had come just ten more minutes later, you might not have found anyone at home, I am also about to go out and look for work!"

"Is Auntie’s health okay?"

Fang Bai asked again.

In the past, Dabao’s mother, Wu Yufen, had been in poor health and stayed at home to recuperate. Later, Fang Bai had prescribed some medicine for her, which finally cured her. However, Wu Yufen’s constitution is really too weak. Even if she’s recovered, she can’t do heavy or tiring work, otherwise there’s a risk of relapse.

The last time Fang Bai returned to Zhongzhou, he had wanted to treat Wu Yufen again, hoping to restore her health to the same level as a normal person, but unexpectedly, their family had moved to Jinling to evade their debts.

Fang Bai had once advised Wu Yucha to take good care of her health, but now she was working odd jobs at a hotel to earn money, which showed just how desperate their family’s situation had become.

"Uncle Zhou, call Dabao and Aunt Wu back! Also, tell them to quit their current jobs. No need to keep working!"

Fang Bai said earnestly.

Fang Bai and Zhou Dabai were close buddies, and their families had always had a good relationship. Fang Bai didn’t have the ability to help Zhou Dabai’s family in the past, but now he could do it easily.

Fang Bai planned to take Zhou Dabai’s family back with him to Zhongzhou, pay off their debts for them, and then arrange a house for them near his family’s traditional Chinese medicine clinic so they could continue to be neighbors. Whenever possible, the parents from both families could sit together as before and chat.

"That won’t do!"

Zhou Houde shook his head and said, "The jobs that Dabao and your Aunt Wu found were not easy to come by. If they quit now, our family will have to cope without a source of income! Just wait, I’ll call Dabao and ask him to take half a day off so that you two good brothers can have a proper talk! At noon, I’ll have your Aunt Wu buy some groceries, and we’ll have a meal together!"

"I’ll make the call! What’s Dabao’s current mobile number?"

Zhou Houde gave Fang Bai his son’s mobile number, and seeing that Fang Bai was using an iPhone, he casually asked, "Fang Bai, your family’s traditional Chinese medicine clinic has been doing well recently, right?"

When Zhou Houde and his family left to evade their debts, "Fang’s Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic" had just begun to pick up. Seeing Fang Bai dressed nicely and using an expensive phone, he assumed that their family business was doing better than before.

While Zhou Houde was happy to see the old neighbors’ lives improving, thinking about his own family’s current predicament made him feel a bit sour.

"Not bad,"

Fang Bai answered vaguely, then dialed Zhou Dabai’s phone, said only, "Dabao, it’s Fang Bai. I’m at your place talking with Uncle Zhou," and then hung up.

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