Thinking of this, Zhang Chao couldn’t help refusing, "Mister Liu, I can’t take reward for nothing. Really, there’s no need for this payment..."

However, before he could finish, a shrill alarm suddenly sounded from the intensive care unit on the other side. The noise instantly drew Zhang Chao’s attention. Once he realized where it came from, he instinctively turned his head toward his father’s ward.

He hadn’t yet reacted when, at the end of the corridor, an office door was suddenly yanked open. A doctor and two nurses rushed out at a run, heading straight for his father’s ward. They pushed the door open and charged in without a pause.

Only then did Zhang Chao realize something had happened to his father. His face went pale in an instant. He also hurried to rush over, but the moment he got to the door, the two nurses slammed it shut right in front of him, almost smashing his nose.

At this point, though, Zhang Chao couldn’t be bothered with any of that. He didn’t even see Liu Cheng behind him anymore; his heart and eyes were filled only with his father inside the ward. He stared fixedly through the glass window at everything happening in the room, watching as the doctor pulled out the tubes from his father’s body, then ran all sorts of instruments over him, and in the end even used a defibrillator to shock his father’s chest several times.

Zhang Chao’s whole body went stiff, his heart sinking lower and lower. His eyes were bloodshot, his mouth hung open, but he couldn’t get a single word out.

Liu Cheng stood right by his side and naturally took in the entire scene.

He didn’t know who the person lying inside was, but judging from Zhang Chao’s expression, Liu Cheng could guess this person had to be his family.

Back when Zhang Chao had arranged to meet him at the hospital, Liu Cheng had already found it a little strange, but he hadn’t thought much of it. Now, seeing this, he more or less understood. It looked like Zhang Chao’s situation was even worse than he’d imagined.

Under circumstances like this, this boy who looked only seventeen or eighteen could still calmly refuse the reward he’d brought up. The kid really did have some backbone.

Liu Cheng’s eyes were full of a smile; toward this Zhang Chao, he felt an even stronger sense of sympathy and kinship.

Right then, the ICU door was suddenly flung open from the inside. The doctor, drenched in sweat, rushed out in a hurry. Seeing Zhang Chao standing at the door, he grabbed his arm and shouted:

"Your father’s condition is no longer under control. We have to operate immediately, right now. Have you gotten the money together? Go pay the surgery fee immediately. We’re about to push your father into the operating room. This all came up so suddenly we don’t know if the blood bank has enough bags in stock, so in a bit you’ll have to come up and wait outside the OR. If necessary, we might need you to give blood to your father!"

With that, the doctor turned and ran off, hastily going to notify the operating room to get ready.

The sudden turn of events left Zhang Chao completely stunned. His face went deathly white; it was as if his soul had been ripped out of him.

From the way the doctor had spoken before, having the surgery within a week was fine, so he’d decided to sell the house to raise the money. He’d thought a week was more than enough time.

But reality was always this cruel. His father’s condition had worsened again, and now there was no time for him to sell anything. The operation had to be done immediately. In such a short time, where was he supposed to find the tens of thousands needed for the surgery?

"This is the check Miss Huo signed for you before I came. It’s your reward money."

Just when Zhang Chao was completely at a loss, stunned and helpless, Liu Cheng took a piece of paper from his briefcase and handed it to him, sighing:

"Miss Huo and I had no idea things at your home were like this, or we would’ve come much earlier. Something this big—how can a kid like you be expected to handle it alone?"

Seeing that Zhang Chao didn’t speak and didn’t take the check he was offering, Liu Cheng couldn’t help feeling a bit angry:

"Right now nothing in this world is more important than your father’s life. This is not the time to refuse! Compared to the money we’re making with Miss Huo, this little bit of reward is nothing but a drop in the bucket. But for you, it’s real life-saving money! Are you telling me your father’s life is less important than your pride?"

Liu Cheng’s scolding snapped Zhang Chao out of it. His whole body jolted, and he nodded. "You’re right. At a time like this, nothing is more important than my dad’s life!"

As he spoke, he reached out, took the check, and lowered his head to look at it.

The check was completely different from what he’d imagined. In his mind, a check should be something like the receipts he’d seen before, with lots of Chinese characters on it.

But this check was covered in English.

His English wasn’t very good, so he couldn’t recognize all the words. The only thing he could make out were the handwritten numbers.

He stared at the numbers on the check and subconsciously began counting how many zeros came after them.

Five zeros—exactly three hundred thousand. That should be enough to cover his father’s surgery fees.

With that thought, while he was deeply grateful for Huo Sining and Liu Cheng’s help in his hour of need, he also felt a bit confused and at a loss.

This was his first time dealing with a check. He’d never seen so much money before, and he had no idea how to turn this check into cash.

Thinking this, he couldn’t help staring hard at the check in his hand.

And with that one hard look, Zhang Chao suddenly spotted a huge problem.

Because he abruptly realized that the amount written on the check had a US Dollar symbol after it.

He’d never seen US Dollar bills in person, but he could still tell the difference between the US Dollar symbol and the RMB symbol.

After that string of numbers, the symbol that followed wasn’t ￥, but $!

This...

The hand holding the check almost lost its grip. His first instinct was that Huo Sining had written it wrong, or that he was misunderstanding—that the number on the check should just represent three hundred thousand RMB, right?

He tried to comfort himself like that, but in the end he still couldn’t hold back. A bit nervously, he lifted his head, looked at Liu Cheng, and asked:

"Mister Liu... how much is this again? I’m really sorry, I... I’ve never seen a check before, I’m not too sure how much this is."

Liu Cheng was taken aback for a second, then burst out laughing. "You’re still in school, right? Do you at least pass math? It’s six digits—what else could it be but three hundred thousand?"

Zhang Chao couldn’t help letting out a breath in relief. Of course, he thought, someone as smart as Miss Huo couldn’t possibly have made a mistake.