Chapter 228 Ideal Residence

Chapter 228: Chapter 227: Ideal Residence

On Monday, Yu Zhiming was back for his shift at the outpatient emergency clinic.

Perhaps it was because the National Day holiday was the next day. With hearts full of anticipation, many people grew distracted and careless in their daily lives, leading to a spike in accidents.

From the moment it opened, the Huashan Hospital outpatient emergency clinic received far more accident victims than on a typical day.

At least double the usual number.

There was also a continuous stream of seriously injured patients arriving by ambulance.

Yu Zhiming was frequently called down to the first-floor hall to perform injury assessments and stop the bleeding for critically ill patients rushed into the trauma bay.

In the words of the ER doctors, Yu Zhiming’s injury assessments were faster and more accurate than a CT scan, and far more convenient.

They were also eco-friendly, radiation-free, and consumed few resources—just one piece of dark chocolate per patient examined.

Most importantly, Yu Zhiming was incredibly fast and precise at stopping bleeding, buying the rescue teams a great deal of time.

Because Yu Zhiming was so frequently called down to the first floor, his scheduled patients had to wait several times longer than usual today.

Fortunately, his patients were quite understanding.

They all understood that every time Yu Zhiming rushed out of the consulting room and ran to the first floor, he was truly going to save a life.

Although they were also unwell, they at least had time to wait.

The ones brought into the trauma bay, the ones who required Dr. Yu’s emergency intervention, were basically all hanging by a thread...

Under these circumstances, it wasn’t until nearly nine at night that Yu Zhiming finished examining all fifty of his scheduled patients, plus the fifty volunteers from the ultra-early-stage cancer project.

The moment he finished, Yu Zhiming, who had been spinning like a top all day, felt ready to collapse from exhaustion.

He had to be helped into the car by Fu Xiaobo and Gu Qingning when he left Huashan Hospital...

Yu Zhiming slumped into the back seat, drank a bottle of milk, and enjoyed a shoulder massage from Gu Qingning, which made him feel much better.

"Xiaobo, are you coming with us to the suburbs tomorrow?"

Fu Xiaobo, who was driving, said cheerfully, "Uncle, I’ve got good news! Boss Liu signed the contract with us."

"I have to start preparing for the renovation of his house next, so I won’t have time to go out and have fun."

Yu Zhiming asked curiously, "Are he and his wife okay now?"

Fu Xiaobo chuckled. "Who knows? His wife didn’t show up when he signed the renovation agreement."

"Maybe they’ve already worked things out. The kind with a prenup, where you can have an amicable split..."

When he returned to his place in the Zijin Garden District, Yu Zhiming saw Xiaoxue and Zeng Yan.

Fourth Sister wasn’t there.

Yu Zhiming first took a hot shower to ease his fatigue, then ate dinner by himself.

They had specially saved dinner for him—a spread of four dishes and a soup, a generous portion.

Judging by the flavor, it was Zhang Bai’s cooking.

Fu Xiaoxue sat next to Yu Zhiming, watching him eat. She said with a grin, "Uncle, our future uncle-in-law is pretty great, isn’t he? He’s steady, well-spoken, and good-looking, too."

"Most importantly, he’s an amazing cook."

She added longingly, "My future boyfriend will have to be a great cook, too."

"That’s a basic requirement, non-negotiable, ROAR!"

Her words made Yu Zhiming’s heart turn a little sour, and he immediately put on a very serious expression.

"Fu Xiaoxue, how old are you? You’re already thinking about boyfriends?"

"I’m spending all this money to send you to university so you can learn skills, not so you can go gallivanting and fall in love."

Fu Xiaoxue stuck out her tongue and quickly ladled a bowl of lotus root and black chicken soup for Yu Zhiming.

"Uncle, I was just saying! Why are you overreacting? Here, have some soup."

"Don’t worry, Uncle. I’ll study hard and definitely won’t date anyone before I graduate from university."

Yu Zhiming huffed twice and drank half the bowl of soup in one gulp.

Watching this scene from the living room sofa, Fu Xiaobo lowered his voice and explained to Gu Qingning and Zeng Yan beside him, "My mom raised my uncle, and my uncle raised Xiaoxue."

"My mom says that when Xiaoxue gets married someday, the one who will cry the hardest won’t be her or my dad—it’ll definitely be my uncle."

Gu Qingning chuckled lightly. "I thought Zhiming didn’t like children. It seems he’s quite fond of them."

Fu Xiaobo paused for a second, then said with a grin, "Sister Qingning, what you just said reminded me of something my mom told me a long time ago."

"My mom said my uncle used to find Xiaoxue really annoying because she would cry and make a fuss, and she had a loud voice."

"It was only when Xiaoxue was three or four and became more well-behaved that she started tailing him around like a little shadow."

Zeng Yan giggled. "Heehee, so Uncle only likes well-behaved kids who don’t cry or make a fuss."

"But who doesn’t like kids like that?"

Gu Qingning smiled along, knowing in her heart that, ultimately, it was sound that influenced Zhiming’s preferences.

’Looks like I should try to speak as softly and gently as possible from now on, and make my voice sound melodious and pleasant,’ she thought.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Fu Xiaobo got up to answer it and found two tall, well-built men in their forties or fifties standing outside.

"Who are you? Can I help you?"

The long-faced man of the two smiled and introduced himself first. "I’m Wei Hao from the Municipal Public Security Bureau, and this is my colleague."

"I’m a friend of Dr. Yu’s. Is he home?"

"He is. Please, come in!"

Fu Xiaobo politely welcomed the two men inside, just as Yu Zhiming was walking over to greet them.

"What’s up?" Yu Zhiming asked, as direct as ever.

Wei Hao glanced at Gu Qingning and the others in the living room, and his eyes fell on the half-eaten meal on the dining table. An apologetic look appeared on his face.

"Dr. Yu, I apologize for the intrusion."

"It’s like this—we have an audio recording we’d like you to listen to."

"Dr. Yu, if it’s not convenient here, we can find a quiet place outside."

Yu Zhiming replied, "Come to my bedroom..."

Wei Hao followed Yu Zhiming into the bedroom. The moment the door closed, he realized it was a specially renovated, soundproof room.

Just then, Wei Hao’s square-faced colleague, who had come in with them, took out a recording pen from his pocket and pressed the play button.

After a burst of static and wind noise, a slightly deep male voice began to speak.

However, the voice was muffled and indistinct; Yu Zhiming couldn’t make out what was being said at all.

The recording lasted about ten seconds and then stopped.

Yu Zhiming frowned and asked, "You don’t expect me to figure out what he was saying, do you?"

"I’m not that skilled!"

Wei Hao explained, "Dr. Yu, of course we’re not asking you to decipher the content."

"We want to know if you can use this short, muffled recording to compare against several other voice samples and identify a match."

Yu Zhiming pondered for a moment. "That should be fine. I’ll just treat that muffled sound as if it were a foreign language."

"No matter what language a person speaks, the subtle characteristics of their voice won’t change."

Hearing this, the square-faced man pressed a few more buttons on the recording pen.

A moment later, another voice came from the device.

"Old Chen, you busy? Come over here for a minute."

"Everyone, please quiet down. I’d like to say a few words."

"Regarding this polarization, my thoughts are..."

One voice sample played after another, each just a short sentence.

Yu Zhiming listened quietly, his expression unchanging, until he heard one particular sentence.

"Hey, you there. Tell Engineer Shi to come here right away."

Yu Zhiming’s eyebrow twitched. He cut in, "That’s the one. No need to listen to any more."

The square-faced man pressed the pause button on the recorder and finally spoke. "Dr. Yu, are you sure?"

"What’s your basis for that conclusion?"

Yu Zhiming explained in a low voice, "I don’t have any concrete evidence. It’s just a feeling, an intuition."

"I just know it’s that voice. I can’t give you a list of reasons why."

Wei Hao explained on Yu Zhiming’s behalf, "Dr. Yu has an extraordinary gift for identifying sounds. He won’t be wrong."

"We don’t need the process, just the result."

The square-faced man bowed slightly. "Dr. Yu, my apologies. I was just surprised. I didn’t mean to question you."

After a brief pause, he added, "Dr. Yu, please keep what happened tonight confidential."

Yu Zhiming nodded in agreement.

After seeing off Wei Hao and his mysterious colleague, who left as abruptly as they had arrived, Yu Zhiming went back to his dinner.

This time, Gu Qingning sat down beside him.

"Zhiming, it’s so inconvenient for guests to have to go into your bedroom to talk privately."

"And now that Fourth Sister has a boyfriend, there isn’t a private room in the house for them to have some romantic time together."

"The plan to buy a house needs to be moved up the agenda."

Yu Zhiming shot her a look and grunted, "I’d love to go buy a big house tomorrow, too."

"The problem is, I don’t have the money."

Gu Qingning chuckled. "Zhiming, with your current medical skills, status, and position, money is no longer an issue."

"If you wanted to borrow ten or twenty million, you’d just have to ask."

"With your earning potential, you could pay back ten or twenty million in two or three years at most."

This...

Yu Zhiming thought for a moment. He knew Gu Qingning was telling the truth. But the idea of spending beyond his means and suddenly taking on tens of millions in debt was more than he had the nerve for.

"Borrowing ten or twenty million... that’s a bit scary."

Yu Zhiming said honestly, "Back when I bought a house in the county town, I borrowed three hundred thousand from the bank, and even that felt like immense pressure."

Gu Qingning reasoned, "That was then, this is now. When you bought that house in the county, what was your salary?"

"Five or six thousand!" Yu Zhiming remembered clearly.

Gu Qingning couldn’t help but smile. "And what about your salary now? It’s more than thirty or forty times what it was back then."

"Thirty or forty times three hundred thousand is over ten million."

"Besides, your income is only going to get higher. So, I really think you should consider buying a house."

Yu Zhiming felt that what Gu Qingning said made a lot of sense, but something still felt off.

He hesitated for a moment, then said, "Actually, my ideal home isn’t an apartment building. They’re still too noisy."

Gu Qingning mused, "To buy a villa that’s also convenient for commuting, you’d be looking at thirty or forty million, at least."

"The money isn’t the biggest problem. Finding a suitable villa is the hard part."

Yu Zhiming sighed softly. "Qingning, my ideal home would be an underground villa, like a bunker."

"Two floors underground, for me to rest and study."

"Two floors above ground, for my family to live in..."