Yan Feifan had dinner at the hospital’s staff cafeteria. When he came back out, he discovered that a light rain had started to fall.

It was a steady, pattering drizzle.

He took the bus back to Zuimo Court and hurried through the rain to his apartment in Unit 1 of Building 9.

After taking a hot shower, Yan Feifan had just stepped out of the bathroom when he heard a soft knock at the door…

It was his downstairs neighbor, Xia Yan, holding a sizable rectangular box wrapped in colorful paper.

She was wearing noise-canceling earbuds and spoke softly, “Mr. Yan, the attending physician said that if it had been any later last night, my husband would have been in real danger.”

“Thank you!”

Xia Yan held out the gift box. “This is just a small token of my appreciation. Please, accept it!”

Yan Feifan politely declined. “Ms. Xia, we’re neighbors, and I’m a doctor. You really don’t have to do this.”

“Mr. Yan, please take it. My conscience won’t be clear otherwise.”

As she said this, a look of anxiousness and unease crept onto her face.

Yan Feifan noticed her reaction. ‘People with hyperacusis often have some symptoms of social withdrawal, depression, or social anxiety,’ he thought. ‘She must have summoned a great deal of courage for this visit.’

“Alright then, I’ll accept. Thank you.”

Yan Feifan took the gift box, and he saw the anxious expression on Xia Yan’s face relax considerably.

“Um, Mr. Yan… I’ve decided to go to the hospital and get treatment.”

Hearing the determination in Xia Yan’s voice, Yan Feifan couldn’t help but ask, “What about your work as an instrument tuner?”

Xia Yan shook her head. “When his accident happened, I was completely helpless.”

“I can’t go on like this anymore.”

“I need to be more like a normal person, to at least have the ability to care for others in a crisis.”

“As for losing my fine-tuned ability to distinguish sounds… well, you win some, you lose some.”

Yan Feifan agreed with her decision.

It wasn’t just for her husband’s sake, but for her own as well.

She was cooped up all day in a house that felt like a sealed can, unable to experience the vibrant world outside.

‘What joy could there be in a life like that?’

However, it wouldn’t be easy for Xia Yan to achieve her goal of curing her hyperacusis and living a normal life.

The causes of hyperacusis are complex.

It’s primarily caused by conditions like Ménière’s disease, depression, and patulous eustachian tube, which result in functional abnormalities or organic lesions in the tissues of the ear or the central nervous system.

However, some causes are still not fully understood by medical science.

Treating hyperacusis is notoriously difficult.

Aside from symptomatic treatment targeting the identified underlying cause, the current mainstream approach worldwide is Tinnitus Retraining Therapy. This involves daily listening to specially recorded sounds to achieve sound desensitization.

Yan Feifan could only wish that Xia Yan had enough perseverance, patience, and luck.

After recommending a couple of ear specialists to Xia Yan, he noticed she was starting to look fidgety, so he quickly mentioned that he’d had a long day at work and needed to rest.

Xia Yan, “taking the hint,” quickly said her goodbyes and left.

After seeing her out, Yan Feifan opened the gift box. Inside was a handsome Prada men’s briefcase.

The gift from Xia Yan was very much to his liking…

Yan Feifan’s claim that he needed to rest wasn’t just an excuse.

Physically and mentally exhausted, he crawled into bed.

Yan Feifan picked up his phone, ready to turn it off and get a good night’s sleep, but he suddenly remembered Xiaoyu’s reminder from the previous night.

He quickly dialed his sister’s number.

The moment the call connected, Yan Feifan cried out, “Sis…”

“Bad day at work?”

Hearing his sister’s concerned question, Yan Feifan asked, full of curiosity, “Sis, how’d you know?”

“Your voice is filled with dejection. I’m your big sister; we grew up together. Of course I could tell the moment I heard you.”

“Feifan, what happened? Was there an accident in surgery?”

“Or did someone give you a hard time?”

Yan Feifan said in an aggrieved tone, “Neither. Someone else’s stupid mistake wasted all my hard work from the last few days.”

He then recounted the day’s events to his sister over the phone, sounding utterly miserable.

“That’s awful, completely unforgivable. But what’s done is done, Feifan. You just have to look forward.”

“Don’t waste your energy and emotions on things you can’t change. Feifan, you’re the one who told me that.”

Yan Feifan said gloomily, “Easier said than done! Still, talking to you about it has made me feel a lot less choked up.”

“So, Sis, how was your day? Did you have fun?”

At Yan Feifan’s question, Yan Ziruo’s voice on the other end of the line also turned gloomy.

“The weather was terrible today, so there wasn’t much to do.”

“We were planning to go out on the sea to watch the sunrise early tomorrow, but it started raining, and the forecast says more rain is on the way.”

“We’re just stuck on the boat watching movies, playing games, and eating…”

After a bit more small talk with his sister, Yan Feifan ended the call, turned off his phone, and went to sleep.

Yan Feifan slept straight through until six the next morning.

When he got out of bed, he pulled back the curtains and looked outside. The rain was still falling, and even harder than it had been the night before.

Yan Feifan got off the bus and walked through the south entrance of the Affiliated Hospital. It was five minutes to seven.

He went to Guo Fan’s room first.

Before he even entered the hospital room, Yan Feifan could hear groans of pain, but the sound stopped the moment he pushed the door open.

“Mr. Yan…”

Guo Fan gritted his teeth and complained loudly, “You said the first two days post-op would be tough, but you didn’t say they’d be *this* tough!”

“My whole body is in so much pain, I didn’t sleep a wink all night!”

Yan Feifan explained softly, “With wounds all over your body, it’s bound to hurt. But they’re just superficial wounds; they’ll heal quickly.”

“It’ll stop hurting so much in just two or three days.”

Guo Fan pleaded, “Mr. Yan, can’t you prescribe me more painkillers? One or two pills at a time just isn’t cutting it.”

Yan Feifan said with a serious expression, “You’re a professional athlete. Too many painkillers aren’t good for your body.”

“A moderate amount of pain helps stimulate the recovery of your nerve endings. This extensive surgery caused significant trauma to them…”

He checked Guo Fan’s vital signs and the state of his wounds, then administered some injections of a recovery-boosting nutrient solution to the wounds around his body before leaving the room.

Next, Yan Feifan went to the plastic surgery center to check on the recovery of Zhang Han’s nose.

Afterward, he walked into the director’s office and found Mr. Wang fast asleep on the sofa, snoring away.

‘He probably performed plastic surgery last night on another celebrity who wanted to keep it under wraps,’ Yan Feifan guessed.

He didn’t disturb him, quietly backing out of the office.

At 9:20 AM, Yan Feifan received a call from Pan Lirong.

“Mr. Yan, is now a good time? I’d like to have a word with you.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep