James Bolton's words took Ethan Lane by surprise. He was a businessman with a considerable operation, and, being seasoned in the business world, he was used to the practice of "asking for the sky, settling for the ground." He was also accustomed to haggling over any price, no matter what the other party asked for, because even a little bit is still something. But this time, James Bolton immediately offered a rock-bottom price with no room for negotiation, leaving the old business fox Ethan Lane with nothing to bargain over and unable to bring himself to haggle.

Compensation for lost work and car repairs was, after all, unavoidable for the party at fault, but in reality, the bulk of compensation in such accidents usually comes from medical expenses, nutritional costs, and emotional damages! Especially with injuries like James Bolton's head trauma, which are the easiest to claim large sums for. After all, current medical science's understanding of the brain is still quite limited; many injuries can't be detected by instruments and often rely on the patient's own account. On top of that, James Bolton himself was a doctor—if he wanted to fake symptoms to scam compensation or insurance, it would be almost impossible to catch. In the end, it wouldn't be out of the question for him to get a payout of several million.

But all these major claims were brushed aside by James Bolton with a mere curl of his lips. As for the cost of a single maintenance? Ethan Lane knew well that James Bolton's car was just a Wrangler worth a little over two hundred thousand yuan. Forget maintenance—even replacing it with a brand new one of the same model would still be well below Ethan Lane's psychological bottom line.

This left him, who had been prepared to deal with outrageous demands, ready for a long tug-of-war, and even prepared for a court battle, feeling as if he'd thrown a heavy punch into thin air—frustrated and powerless!

Looking at the much younger James Bolton in front of him, who seemed completely unconcerned, the usually shrewd and calculating Ethan Lane couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "I never expected there were still such honest and decent people in this world!"

James Bolton was generous, so Ethan Lane didn't haggle either, and they quickly reached a compensation agreement. Perhaps feeling a bit guilty, Ethan Lane even exchanged phone numbers with James Bolton before leaving, subtly hinting that he had some influence and would be willing to help if needed.

Linda Lane's mother never had any direct interaction with James Bolton from start to finish; she simply nodded gently at the end to express her gratitude for James Bolton's decision not to pursue the matter. It was Linda Lane who finally handed James Bolton a "good person card," though her words as she did so made James Bolton feel awkward no matter how he heard them. She said, "Weird uncle, even though your mouth is a bit foul, I guess you still count as a good person! Thank you!" It turned out this little girl wasn't as clueless as she seemed—she understood what was going on.

After seeing off Linda Lane's family, Frank Shelton sat down by James Bolton's bedside again, grumbling nonstop: "Boss, aren't you being a bit too generous? Just letting it go like that? Didn't you suffer for nothing then? Let me tell you, that Lin family should have plenty of money. I heard the car that girl was driving when she hit you was a gift from her old man for her eighteenth birthday, just after she got her license. Do you know what kind of car it was? An X6! Over a million yuan! With the injury you have, if you were a bit tougher, you could have easily squeezed a few hundred thousand, maybe even a million, out of them!"

To Frank Shelton's lament, James Bolton just smiled indifferently: "It's really nothing serious, not worth blackmailing them over. Sure, a few hundred thousand is a lot, but it's not like I can't live without it, right? To keep haggling and even go to court over that money—what a hassle!"

As he spoke, James Bolton got up from the bed and, heading toward the door, said to Frank Shelton, who also stood up, "Alright, I know my own injuries. Compared to a healthy person, I'm not much worse off. I won't stay here any longer. I'm going back to our department to check in with Mr. Collins, then I'll head home to rest. Actually, it's not bad—I can at least get another seven or eight days of sick leave out of this."

Mr. Collins's real name was Helen Collins, the head of the hospital's pharmacy department. Thanks to their shared "interests" and kickbacks, he and James Bolton had always gotten along well, so James Bolton affectionately called him 'Mr. Collins'.

Frank Shelton's thinking was understandable. In this money-driven society, it's no longer considered blameworthy for the injured party to squeeze compensation from the at-fault party—it's just the way things are. But James Bolton actually saw the accident as a blessing in disguise, and if he were to haggle over compensation, he felt it would be a bit much. After all, unlike those high officials and tycoons, he still had a moral bottom line. In fact, James Bolton felt that, since the accident had fulfilled his martial arts dream, he would have been willing to pay the other party tens of thousands himself!

Given James Bolton's relationship with the head of the pharmacy department, Mr. Collins, getting leave was no problem at all. In fact, James Bolton had only planned to take six or seven days off, but Mr. Collins waved his hand and gave him a full ten days. "You'd better just take it easy for a couple more days! Even if you can't let go of those few companies' kickbacks, a couple of days won't make a difference. Don't worry, your share will be kept for you." Mr. Collins said generously.

James Bolton didn't stand on ceremony—he took the leave, planning to use the time at home to map out his future life as a "martial hero."