Chapter 63 Interview

"Doctor, is there really no other way?" Ye Fan asked softly.

The middle-aged doctor wore a look of guilt and replied, "The conditions on the train are far too poor to perform surgery, and a blood transfusion is also necessary... At the very least, we need an operating room!"

Zhang Tielan hurriedly pulled the train police officer over and asked, "Officer, if we contact the nearest hospital, how long will it take to arrive?"

The officer thought for a moment and said, "We've already reported to our superiors. The nearest station where we can stop is about an hour away!"

"An hour!" Ye Fan turned to look at the middle-aged doctor. The doctor furrowed his brow, thought for a moment, and shook his head. "An hour to the station, not the hospital. He won't hold on that long!"

"Sigh!"

A chorus of sighs echoed through the train carriage. The passengers stood in solemn silence around the young man lying on the floor who had acted heroically. Everyone knew the young man was beyond saving.

Suddenly, Ye Fan felt a poke in his lower back. Turning around, he saw Li Yaoyao with reddened eyes, whispering, "I might have a way."

"You have a way?" Ye Fan asked, pleasantly surprised.

"Mm..." Li Yaoyao noticed everyone in the carriage looking at her, and her face instantly flushed red.

"My grandfather taught me acupuncture. There is a technique that can temporarily seal a person's Qi and blood. While it can't save his life, it can temporarily stop the bleeding and buy us some time."

Li Yaoyao's words stirred up a commotion, and the carriage instantly became lively again.

"Young lady, are you sure there's no problem?"

"Oh! This must be the blessing of the Bodhisattva!"

"Good people really do reap good rewards!"

Passengers chattered noisily, urging Li Yaoyao to perform the acupuncture immediately. Only the middle-aged doctor remained silent.

He thought to himself that traditional Chinese medicine required years of accumulated experience before one could practice independently. Li Yaoyao looked to be only around twenty years old, so she probably only knew a superficial bit of acupuncture. He quickly advised, "You'd better not mess around. If this young man is lucky, he might still make it to the hospital. If you go meddling, you might just hasten his death!"

Upon hearing this, the surrounding passengers hesitated again, and a few who doubted traditional Chinese medicine began to jeer.

"Traditional Chinese medicine isn't even science; it's just blind tinkering. What meridians and acupoints are there anyway?"

"That's right, those great Western scientists couldn't find any acupoints either. I call it a scam!"

Ignoring them, Ye Fan said directly, "Doctor, I think we still have to try. Acupuncture doesn't disturb the wound; it just involves needles in specific acupoints."

The middle-aged doctor thought it over. Indeed, needling didn't require moving the body, and given the current situation, the young man definitely wouldn't survive until they reached the hospital. It was better to give it a try—perhaps there would be a miraculous turn of events. "Well... alright, let's try it!"

Ye Fan nodded and looked at Li Yaoyao.

Li Yaoyao looked back at Ye Fan.

The two stared at each other in blank dismay.

"Why are you looking at me?" Ye Fan asked strangely.

"You're the one who needs to needle!" Li Yaoyao said, her face blushing. "I don't know how; I'll direct you!"

"Huh?"

The middle-aged doctor was stunned, looking at Ye Fan and Li Yaoyao. Were these two playing games with him?

The surrounding passengers were also speechless, feeling that this young couple was rather unreliable.

Immediately, someone voiced their doubts.

However, seeing the critical condition of the young man lying on the floor, the crowd merely talked and didn't dare to stop Ye Fan.

Ignoring the remarks of the crowd, Ye Fan said to Li Yaoyao, "Almost forgot, you can't practice the Three-Sun Profound Needle technique. Fine, you direct!"

Since Ye Fan practiced the Three-Sun Profound Needle, he naturally carried silver needles with him. He had bought this set of silver needles but never used them; today would be the first time, making him somewhat nervous.

However, saving a life was paramount, so he had to bite the bullet and go ahead!

Li Yaoyao's expression also turned serious as she instructed, "First, use the wandering needle method, pierce the Baihui acupoint... infuse it with Three-Sun genuine Qi, and vibrate the silver needle..."

Following Li Yaoyao's instructions, Ye Fan's silver needles flew up and down in his hands. Fortunately, he had also practiced the Eight-Section Wind-Driving Hand, making his fingers nimble enough that his needles pierced deep enough to leave afterimages. Those who had just questioned them no longer dared to speak.

A few minutes later, the young man lying on the floor let out a groan and regained consciousness.

"Oh!"

Seeing him wake up, the passengers in the carriage could not help cheering!

The young man opened his eyes, dazed for a moment as if recalling what had happened. Suddenly, his body trembled, and he tried to sit up, muttering, "Sister? Sister!"

The middle-aged doctor hurried to hold him down.

"Don't move! You've been shot and lost a lot of blood. We've only managed to give your wound basic treatment, you must hold on!"

The young man paused, a flash of panic in his eyes, and lay back down as the doctor instructed.

Zhang Tielan stepped forward and said, "Your sister is fine. Just lie back and rest easy, the train will be at the station soon!"

As she spoke, she stepped aside, and sure enough, the young man's sister had woken up, though her face was still pale and haggard.

Everyone on the train had lost all sleepiness. They surrounded the young man, talking to him to prevent him from drifting off to sleep through the agonizing hour that followed.

"The train has arrived at the station!"

The young train police officer walked over from another carriage. The injuries on his face had been treated, and he looked quite excited. "The ambulance is right on the platform, everyone please make way!"

As soon as the train doors opened, several doctors and nurses carrying a stretcher boarded, carefully lifting the young man out, and his sister followed them off.

"I hope he'll be alright!"

The middle-aged doctor breathed a sigh of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted. Only then did he find time to shake hands with Ye Fan, handing him a business card while saying, "My name is Wang Deren. May I ask your names? Are you headed to Shenzhen?"

"My name is Ye Fan, and this is Li Yaoyao. We're heading to Shenzhen to do some business," Ye Fan replied with a smile, thinking he should print some business cards of his own later.

Wang Deren nodded, pointed toward the front carriage, and said, "I'll head back first. I live in Shenzhen, so feel free to call me if you need anything!"

...

Order gradually returned to the carriage. The police escorted away a dozen or so criminals, and a few train officers pushed small carts, beginning to return belongings to passengers carriage by carriage.

When Ye Fan and Li Yaoyao returned to their compartment, they found that besides Zhang Chunxun and Zhang Tielan, there was an extra young woman.

"Hello, you must be Ye Fan, right?"

The young woman wore a knitted sweater and jeans—a very fashionable look for that era.

She proactively extended her hand to shake Ye Fan's and introduced herself, "My name is Xu Jiajia, a reporter for the Guangzhou Daily."

"Hello, Reporter Xu!"

Hearing that she was a reporter, Ye Fan immediately became enthusiastic, and the two sat down opposite each other.

Xu Jiajia took out a small notebook and said, "I was on this train too, and I never expected to witness such an act of heroism. Mr. Ye, would you be willing to grant me an interview?"

"No problem!"

Ye Fan agreed with a smile, as he had been pondering how to make a name for himself in Shenzhen.

Xu Jiajia asked, "I just heard Mr. Zhang say that you are an overseas Chinese returnee?"

She looked at Zhang Chunxun and readied her pen to take notes.

"Yes, I heard that our motherland has implemented reform and opening-up, so I returned to inspect the investment environment and hope to invest on the mainland!"

Ye Fan fabricated the story on the spot, packaging himself as a wealthy overseas Chinese tycoon.

Xu Jiajia's eyes lit up, thinking that an overseas Chinese performing a heroic act on a train made for a very marketable news story. She asked, "How were you feeling when you encountered the criminals earlier?"

Ye Fan pondered for a moment and said, "To be honest, I was extremely shocked. I never expected there would still be the danger of robbery on a train!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Jiajia looked nervous, worried that this robbery might leave the returning overseas Chinese with a bad impression of the motherland.

Zhang Chunxun and Zhang Tielan nearby also looked over, their expressions turning solemn.

Only Li Yaoyao secretly smiled, her intuition telling her that Ye Fan was about to stir things up.

As expected, Ye Fan said with a sorrowful expression, "No one wants to see such a thing happen, but it also reminded me that only when granaries are full do people learn etiquette. I want to do everything in my power to help my compatriots on the mainland become prosperous, so that the entire society can achieve harmony!"

"Harmony?" Xu Jiajia wrote quickly, feeling that this overseas Chinese gentleman spoke with both loftiness and culture.

"Then, do you have any takeaways from this trip to the mainland?"

"I certainly have some takeaways!"

Ye Fan smiled and pointed at Li Yaoyao, "This trip to the mainland allowed me to meet my true love!"

"Oh my!" Li Yaoyao's face instantly turned crimson. Ye Fan hadn't told her beforehand that he intended to make their relationship public, so why was he blurting it out like this in front of a media reporter?

Zhang Tielan's face tightened even more. Recalling Secretary Yu's instructions from before, a sense of powerlessness washed over her. Ye Fan and Li Yaoyao had been dating all along, yet she had been made to play the villain in between them—this mission had failed before it even started!

Meanwhile, Xu Jiajia's eyes sparkled with stars, prompting her to ask for more details.

Soon, a story took shape: a patriotic overseas Chinese returning for inspection met a pure, knowledgeable educated youth and fell deeply in love!

What a wonderful story!

Xu Jiajia could already imagine that her news article was bound to go viral!

She pursued the questioning further: "What are your plans for the future? Will you take Ms. Li abroad with you, or stay on the mainland?"

"Of course, stay to build up the motherland!"

Ye Fan pulled out the electronic watches he had prepared in advance, revealing his foxy tail.

"My purpose in coming this time is to sell the latest electronic watches developed by our company. These watches can be charged via solar power, keep accurate time, and even have an alarm function!"

"I feel that the mainland market is extremely vast and full of potential, so my trip to Shenzhen is to establish a trading company there to sell these electronic watches!"

...