A Man with Nerves of Steel (Joseph Hart) novel Chapter 227

Chapter 227

That afternoon, Joseph spent several hours performing a liver surgery. By the time he left the hospital, evening had already fallen. Without drawing attention to himself, he made his way back to the apartment where the mother and daughter pair stayed.

He handed the bag of medicine to the middle-aged woman, saying, “If you don’t take this, your condition will only get worse. A cough can turn into pneumonia. When that happens, your already struggling family will be in deeper trouble.”

The woman stared at him suspiciously, and the wariness in her gaze grew stronger.

Joseph said, “Don’t overthink it. I just don’t want my investment going to waste. This is all purely transactional. Don’t mistake me for a good person. If you don’t ask me who I am, I won’t ask you how you ended up like this.

“Still, if someone gives you trouble’ during this month, you can tell me. I’ll handle it for you.”

After sitting down for a short while, he heard the door open. The little girl had returned from school. The moment she saw him, she froze, then immediately turned around to leave again. “Hurry up and finish whatever you’re doing. I’ve got a lot of homework tonight.”

Joseph stopped her. “Get back here. We’re already done. Go do your homework. Feel free to ask me if there’s anything you don’t understand. I’ve got nothing better to do anyway.”

He pulled out a medical textbook, leaned back on the couch, and began reading.

The woman watched Joseph, but the more she observed him, the less she understood him. He’d bought medicine for her and was even entertaining her daughter. Now, he sat there reading a thick foreign-language book. He was a strange, mysterious man.

Soon, dinner was ready. But when she looked at the food, there was a trace of embarrassment on her face.

She’d only made enough for her and her daughter.

Still, she said to the little girl, “Go invite him to come eat.”

The girl walked over and was instantly distracted by the book in Joseph’s hands. She tried to get a better look, but she realized she couldn’t understand a single word. So, she asked, “What’s that book about?”

Joseph replied, “It’s a book that teaches people how to perform surgery. To put it simply, it’s a book about cutting people open.”

The girl’s eyes widened. “Why are you reading something like that? Can you even understand it?”

Joseph casually flipped a page. “This is a foreign edition medical textbook. I’ve been able to read books like this for more than ten years. I’m a doctor.”

The girl looked surprised. “So you’re a doctor! My mom made dinner and asked me to invite you.”

Joseph kept the thought to herself. Not long afterward, the woman came out and prepared the couch for him. After that, he lay down and went to sleep.

The next morning, he was up early: As he prepared to leave, he saw the woman helping Broke organize her schoolbag.

“Don’t you pay attention to her studies?” he asked.

“So what if her grades are bad? She’s transferring schools soon anyway, so it doesn’t matter,” Rosalie Sullivan said.

Joseph wondered, “Transferring schools? You’ll only end up transferring her to somewhere worse.”

After thinking about it, he took out ten thousand dollars. “Use this for her school fees.”

Rosalie stared at the money in shock. “Why are you helping us like this?”

Joseph shrugged. “There’s no particular reason. It’s not free. Just think of it as next month’s payment.”

The truth was that he’d gotten up during the night to use the bathroom and noticed an overdue payment notice lying on the door. Whether or not Brooke had dropped it accidentally, he found himself unable to simply ignore it once he saw it.