When Xiao Lin got back home, it was already 1:30 in the morning. He took a shower, and kept thinking about various things until past three before falling asleep. This inevitably led to him waking up almost at eight the next morning.
Looking at the time on his phone, Xiao Lin couldn't help but let out a wry smile. Just arriving at a new job and already being late two days in a row — probably only he could manage that. Remembering that his beloved QQ car was still at the traffic bureau, Xiao Lin simply decided to call Li Jingyi. He said he had some things to sort out today, including house hunting, and asked the school hospital for a day off.
Could Li Jingyi refuse? Just yesterday, Dr. Xiao handed over the department head position to her. How could he not take a day off today to handle some things? Just looking at the dozen students waiting outside the office, she could only smile wryly and say to Xiao Lin, "Dr. Xiao, the number of patients in emergency today is no less than yesterday. Please come back as soon as you finish your errands!"
"Alright, I'll try my best!" Xiao Lin replied.
After hanging up the phone, Li Jingyi thought for a moment, then called Xiao Ning over and whispered, "Xiao Ning, when you're chatting with Xiao Zhou and them later, casually mention that Dr. Xiao took the day off today. Otherwise, we're going to be extremely busy!" Most of these students came to the hospital because of Xiao Lin; perhaps if Xiao Lin wasn't working here, we wouldn't even have half a patient this early in the morning.
About ten minutes later, two or three of the female students waiting outside in line left, and then more came and left one after another. Most of these were drawn by Dr. Xiao Lin.
As for the drama happening at the school hospital, Xiao Lin was naturally unaware. At the moment, he was busy trying to contact Hua Qingyi, Young Master Hua, but after three calls, all he got was the "phone off" notice. He just tapped his own head and thought, "Young Master Hua is not your average working guy. At this hour, he's probably still asleep. I'm half asleep myself!"
This new lifestyle was something Xiao Lin was not used to, but thankfully, he was gradually adapting to it.
Learning from yesterday's lesson, Xiao Lin realized rush hour was a nightmare on the roads. To prevent Hua Qingyi's BMW from being towed to the traffic police squad, Xiao Lin had breakfast at a street food stall near the house, read for a while, and by almost ten o'clock, drove to the South City traffic police squad.
Even though Xiao Lin had never been to the South City traffic police squad, the latest satellite navigation system in Hua Qingyi's car made finding it fairly easy. Still, there was a bit of traffic congestion, which left Xiao Lin quite speechless. Was he really not fit to drive in Yanjing, or were Yanjing's road conditions just abysmal?
Xiao Lin reached the South City traffic police squad from the eastern outskirts and checked the time; it was already 10:30. Although he knew that Hua Qingyi wasn't awake yet, Xiao Lin considered himself gracious for letting him have two more hours of sleep, and thus felt no guilt about disturbing him now.
The phone rang for almost a minute before getting picked up. First came the sound of yawning before the lazy voice of the Eldest Young Master Hua came through: "Brother, already up this early?" This kid was still in dreamland, not fully awake yet.
Xiao Lin's lips twitched slightly. How come life never seemed this dysfunctional before? It was almost eleven, and yet he was still dozing off. "I'm at the South City traffic police squad now. I took the car. What's the plan for your car, leave it here?"
Hua Qingyi paused, somewhat speechless, and replied, "Bro, just leave the car at the South City traffic police squad. I'll pick it up in the afternoon!"
"...Unbelievable! This kid is so inconsiderate," Xiao Lin thought inwardly. Here he was, dragging himself out of bed early while Hua Qingyi was still enjoying the pleasures of life with a woman. He laughed and said, "Xiao Hua, are you sure you're not coming over? If your car gets stolen, don't blame me!"
Finally, Hua Qingyi seemed to catch on, snapping awake just as a woman's voice came through from the other side: "Young Master Hua, who would call you this early?" She was then heard saying, "No, it's my brother's call, get aside!" with a rather stern tone. The woman grunted but dared not go against Hua Qingyi's wishes.
"Bro, I'm on my way, right now. Please wait for me!" Hua Qingyi hurriedly said over the phone, absolutely certain his car could vanish — after all, it was worth more than five million and just short of a year old.
"Okay, I'll wait for you!" Xiao Lin smiled slightly. As expected, that kid was still involved with a woman, so he quickly hung up, worried about hearing any inappropriate sounds.
After putting down the phone, Xiao Lin drove into the parking lot of the traffic police squad. The guards didn't trouble him since anyone who could drive such a car was either very rich or very high status, and who were they to refuse such people, especially when working in a place where this skill of reading others' status was keenly honed.
Where Xiao Lin parked was an internal spot at the traffic police squad, and since this car was so high-end, and the owner assumed to be wealthy, nobody questioned it. If it had been a regular, run-of-the-mill vehicle, it probably wouldn't have gone so smoothly.
Of course, once Xiao Lin got out of the car, in his outfit that didn't cost more than 500 bucks, to outsiders, he looked like a dude draped in designer labels.
A car drove in from outside, trying to park next to Xiao Lin's. At this point, a middle-aged man in his forties appeared from out of nowhere, waving dismissively at the car. The driver stopped and rolled down the window: "Hey man, what's up?"
"This is a parking spot for the unit, no private vehicles allowed!" the middle-aged man declared righteously.
"Then why did he stop?" The man in the car was a young man in his late twenties, looking quite indignant as he pointed to Xiao Lin, who had just gotten out of his car.
"A broken Bluebird compared to someone's BMW!" This was a typical case of looking down on people.
The young man was upset, but in a place like this, he didn't dare to make a fuss. He was here to pay a fine, after all, and couldn't act arrogantly, so he left reluctantly.
Xiao Lin overheard the conversation and was somewhat speechless. After thinking for a while, he walked over to the middle-aged man. When the man saw Xiao Lin approaching, he quickly put on a different expression, smiling at Xiao Lin.
"Hey, bro, where do I handle the paperwork for the towed car?" Xiao Lin asked.
"Over there in the hall, just go to the counter and ask!" the man said, pointing to the office building of the traffic police squad. His attitude was exceptionally friendly. If Xiao Lin hadn't seen him talking to that other guy earlier, he might have thought this man was always so warm and kind.
"Thanks!" Xiao Lin didn't particularly like the middle-aged man, but he didn't dislike him either, so a thank you was necessary.
"You're welcome. If you have any questions, just come to me. There aren't many things at the traffic police squad that I don't know about!" The middle-aged man's smile grew even brighter.
Xiao Lin nodded with a smile, then stopped paying attention to the middle-aged man and headed directly towards the office building of the traffic police squad.
The South City traffic police squad was quite busy, with at least thirty people in line handling transactions in the hall. Xiao Lin asked a young man in his thirties, and these people were mostly here to pay various fines.
"By the way, bro, where do I handle the paperwork for a towed car?" Xiao Lin asked.
"Young man, your motorcycle got towed? That's quite rare!" The young man smiled and said, "For towed vehicles, you usually go to the accident department on the second floor." The young man looked at Xiao Lin, who was just in his early twenties and dressed quite ordinarily, like a regular citizen. Having a motorcycle was pretty decent for him.
"Thank you!" Xiao Lin said politely. He didn't bother to correct the other person about it being a motorcycle he was picking up.
The second floor was much quieter than the first floor. It wasn't a public transaction hall but mostly consisted of offices. Occasionally, a couple of people in police uniforms would pass through the corridor.
Xiao Lin glanced around. The accident department mentioned by the young man downstairs was on the right corridor, so he casually walked over. He saw two or three people standing inside the accident department, with only one man and one woman in police uniforms in the office.
"Officer, can't you not revoke my driver's license? I rely on it for a living!" a man said with a worried face.
"With such a big accident, do you think revoking your license for half a year is too much?" the male police officer said with displeasure.
Hearing the male officer's words, Xiao Lin's heart skipped a beat, worried that he might face the same treatment. Didn't play around too much, little girl.
While Xiao Lin was nervously pondering, the few people in the office had already left, leaving Xiao Lin as the only outsider. The female officer had noticed Xiao Lin early on, occasionally glancing at him with a smile on her face.
"Hey, handsome, is there something you need to do here?" The female officer, looking about twenty-three or twenty-four years old, seemed to have just started working for a year or two and was still in a slightly starry-eyed state.
Xiao Lin stepped forward, pulling out the document the female officer had left him yesterday and said, "My car was towed by your traffic police team, and I'm here to pick it up!"
The female officer, with an infatuated look, took the document from Xiao Lin's hand and even winked at him, saying, "Young people shouldn't drive too fast. Motorcycles have more accidents compared to cars!" Then she glanced at the receipt number and paused for a moment before showing it to the male officer.
"Sir, please come back in three days to handle the paperwork!" the male officer said after glancing at the receipt.