Chapter 167: Fellow Countryman
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The duo earned a sum of 88,500 dollars from selling all the bicycles.
The four bicycles were the main contributors to their earnings. They were custom-made, hand-made, and fine-tuned to cater to the tastes of the die-hard fans of cycling, and, of course, the professionals as well.
As a result, such bicycles were not made for mass production. Although they might not have sounded familiar to the general public, they were well worth the investment.
In Li Du’s point of view, a valuable bicycle should not have been more expensive than a motorbike, and a valuable motorbike should not have been more expensive than a car. When Li Du bought the BMW Z4 for Hannah, it had cost Li Du 54,000 dollars.
However, his point of view would only work under normal circumstances, for that Colnago bike alone had fetched a good 40,000 dollars.
The vast disparity between the valuable and common bicycles was crystal clear. The rest of the 125 ordinary bicycles were only sold for 2,600 dollars.
Li Du was amazed. "Wow, I never knew that bicycles could be so expensive! That Colnago was actually sold for 40,000 dollars. How much is a new one?"
"There are no new ones. The Colnago Silver Moon Legend is a limited edition bicycle, there were no more than 50 of them made. They were used for the racing competition Giro d'Italia, most of them should have been bought by cycling fanatics," Hans explained.
"I am puzzled; why would one collect bicycles? If one collects gold, diamonds, antiques, and collectibles, I have nothing to say to that."
Hans shrugged. "It’s nothing worth wondering about. What would you think if I said that Taylor Swift was the most beautiful woman in the world and everyone should love her?"
Li shook his head. "I would disagree."
"Exactly: one text, one thousand interpretations. One thousand collectors like one thousand different things. Is there a problem with that?"
Li Du contemplated for a moment and admitted, "You’re right, there’s nothing wrong with that."
Later in the afternoon, Li Du decided to give Sophie a call to check out the patient who had been shot—Li Du had practically saved him with the help of the little bug. Doctor Sophie replied, "Mr. Wesley’s being discharged today. Why don’t you come over and see him?"
Wesley was the unlucky plump guy. Like Li Du, he was a Chinese man who had come to Flagstaff for his studies.
However, Wesley was a straight-A student. He went to Northern Arizona University for his postgraduate education whereas Li Du had gone to a diploma mill instead.
Since Li Du had nothing going on for the day, he decided to pay Wesley a visit.
When he showed up at the hospital, he saw Sophie waiting at the entrance. When she saw him, she stretched out her arms.
Li Du was very sure that Sophie extended her arms in his direction. He felt pleasantly surprised, and he wondered if the dinner that night had changed something.
But as he walked towards her, he noticed that Sophie’s line of sight indicated otherwise. The impending hug was directed at Ah Meow; the ocelot was walking beside Li Du.
However, Ah Meow had no intention of accepting the hug; it squinted its eyes and walked elegantly behind Li Du.
But that did not daunt Sophie. She smiled radiantly and pulled out a lunchbox from her doctor’s robe. Inside the lunchbox laid neatly sliced, reddish-orange pieces of delectable looking salmon.
Ah Meow stared at them, its tail standing tall and straight. The next moment, it scurried happily toward Sophie with its little butt swaying side to side. It now had an adorable and coy expression on its round face.
The lady doctor carried Ah Meow, gave it two pecks on its head and said, "Wow, my sweetheart’s getting heavier—Li, you have to control what it eats."
Ah Meow ignored what Sophie said and continued feasting on the yummy salmon.
"I’ve tried, but Ah Meow is real good at finding food. So my fellow countryman’s being discharged today? I didn’t expect him to recover so fast. That was a gunshot after all!"
Sophie explained patiently, "After hemostasis, disinfection, suture and dressing, everything else has been good so far. The most important thing for him now is to make sure the wound recovers nicely. Since his parents have arrived in Flagstaff, they will be here until he is fully recovered. I believe he is in good hands now."
Both Sophie and Li Du, with Ah Meow in Sophie’s arms, made their way to Wesley’s ward in the Surgical Department.
When they got close, they heard voices coming from the ward. Taking a peek inside, Li Du saw the anesthetist, Dr. Thompson, talking incessantly to Wesley and his parents.
"Pal, you shouldn’t be playing with guns. I know you Chinese hardly see guns back in your country, and not to mention you can actually touch them now that you are in the States. But, guns are not for everyone—especially yellow people—seems too tough for you to handle, huh?
"Do you know how difficult the situation was? It was real critical, because the bullet was hidden in his many layers of fat, which made it extremely difficult to locate.
"By the way Wesley, you really need to slim down. Anyway, your son is so lucky to have met me. Ordinary doctors would have had great difficulty finding the bullet, but not me.
"Frankly, if the bullet was not found and removed in the nick of time, I’m afraid, both of you would be looking at a coffin now …"
Wesley’s parents looked around 50 to 60 years old. They were simple and ordinary folks; they turned to Wesley for translation as they could not understand much English.
Doctor Thompson’s words and tone were full of sarcasm and arrogance. Wesley was sitting on the hospital bed and looked rather moody, but he tactfully avoided translating the negative words. His parents were, therefore, full of gratitude toward Doctor Thompson.
Wesley’s father held Doctor Thompson’s hand. With his limited vocabulary, he expressed his thanks.
"Thank you very much, Doctor, thank you very much! You are a good doctor." Wesley’s father sounded stiff speaking English, but one could feel his sincerity.
Doctor Thompson replied, "I am very happy to have saved your son as well."
Sophie could not listen any longer, she pushed the door open and entered the ward.
With a hand on her waist, she said, "I beg your pardon, Doctor Thompson, who did you save?"
Doctor Thompson remained calm and smiled although Sophie had interrupted him. "We saved Mr. Wesley together, didn’t we?" he asked.
"Oh, really? In actual fact, you, the great anesthetist, did not participate in the surgery. Li is the one who saved him!" said Sophie, with a cool expression.
Li Du walked in after Sophie. He smiled brightly at Thompson. "Hello, Doctor Thompson, we meet again."
Thompson rolled his eyes when he saw Li Du. Snorting with contempt, he left the ward.
"Wow, the word ‘shame’ doesn’t exist in his dictionary!" Sophie commented with disdain.
Wesley knew what had happened as Sophie had told him about how they had no choice but to operate on him inside an ambulance, how Li Du had helped and all the other details. She had been following up on his condition during his recovery.
Wesley smiled at both Sophie and Li Du and wasted no time in introducing them to his parents.
"Mom, Dad," he said in Mandarin, "this is Doctor Sophie, she is the one who saved my life. And this is Mr. Li, the one who operated on me."
Wesley’s parents looked confused for a moment and asked, "What about the doctor just now?"
Wesley wore a displeased look with the mention of Doctor Thompson.
He replied, "Who knows what he’s up to? From what I know, he is definitely not a good person."