“Village Chief, I’m wronged! I really just gave him a light push like this…” Fearing that Zhang Changhe wouldn’t believe her, Tian Juhua even gave an experimental push.
Zhang Changhe dusted his chest in disgust. “Talk properly, don’t go flailing your hands around!”
He then added: “Can his condition be compared to an ordinary person’s?”
Tian Juhua felt she wouldn’t be able to clear her name even if she jumped into the Yellow River. “I really didn’t use force! Then report it to the police! We’re injured too, and I want to go to the hospital for a checkup as well!”
Zhang Changhe looked at her. “Fine, report it to the police…”
“Wait, wait, wait…” Tong Tieshan shoved Tian Juhua to the side. “If we settle this privately, how do we resolve it?”
Tian Juhua refused to agree. “Why settle it privately?! Look at the injuries on my face… Ow, ow, ow…”
In her agitation, opening her mouth a bit too wide brought another wave of sour pain to her jaw, almost causing it to dislocate again.
She felt extremely wronged as well—her face was burning painfully, and her whole body hurt everywhere. “My dislocated jaw was done by this dead girl!”
Tong Xiaoqian raised a hand. “Don’t speak rubbish. Maybe it dislocated because you curse at people too much. If you want an injury inspection, that’s fine too, follow us along.”
The moment her words fell, the village women in the crowd who usually loved to curse at people couldn’t help but touch their own chins.
Tong Tieshan roared at Tian Juhua in anger, “You know jack shit!”
Right now, nobody dared to say whether Lei Yihong’s condition was real or faked—after all, the entire village knew he was near death earlier.
Now that the kid was lying there and his family wasn’t rushing to the hospital, who knew what huge pit was waiting for them!
Tong Xiaoqian looked at him. “Then according to what I said just now, go to the provincial capital hospital for a checkup. Someone from your family comes along, you pay the expenses, and make it quick—my husband can’t afford to wait. If he ends up paralyzed in bed and unable to take care of himself for the rest of his life, your family has to take responsibility too.”
Lying there with his eyes closed, the corner of Lei Yihong’s mouth twitched—this woman had arranged the rest of his life completely crystal clear.
Holding her chin in anxiety, Tian Juhua screamed loudly, “No way!”
Tong Xiaoqian turned around to walk away. “Village Chief, I’ll borrow the telephone at the village committee office.”
Tong Dahai panicked. “We can’t report it to the police!”
He was about to get married soon; if his partner’s family found out that their family ended up at the police station over a fight, wouldn’t the marriage call off?!
Tong Xiaoqian whispered a few words into Wang Yumei’s ear, and Wang Yumei turned around to go into the room, coming back out with a stack of receipts. The total cost of the last checkup was 633.65 yuan.
Inside were detailed receipts for train tickets, lodging slips, as well as various test receipts—blood tests, urine tests, ultrasound equipment, electrocardiograms, hospitalization fees, and so on.
Tong Xiaoqian pushed the receipts in her hand forward. “Either pay up according to this price, or follow us to get checked up.”
Tong Tieshan’s hands and mouth both trembled—over six hundred yuan!
This was catching them to shear their wool with all their might!
Tian Juhua clamored, “You guys are extorting us! Yesterday they all said the second Lei family’s son recovered…”
She turned back to look at the few old women who were discussing this matter yesterday, but those people waved their hands repeatedly. “Nobody said that, you heard wrong.”
“That’s right, we didn’t say it.”
Who would dare to give foolish testimony for this matter?
“Alright, you pay six hundred…” Zhang Changhe looked toward the Lei family members and Tong Xiaoqian again. “They are injured too, and need to apply medicine and get rabies vaccines as well. How about rounding off the change for them?”
Tong Xiaoqian nodded. “Sure! Hand over the money right now, otherwise I’ll report it to the police.”
Hearing this, Tian Juhua sat on the ground, opened her mouth wide, and began to cry, “Village Chief, you’re partial, wearing the same pair of pants as the old Lei family… Ergh…”
Her jaw dislocated again, preventing her from making a sound, unable to shut her mouth once more.
Tong Tieshan hurriedly sought help from the old village doctor.
Old Xu extended his hand. Gritting his teeth, Tong Tieshan pulled another five yuan out of Tian Juhua’s pocket and slapped it into his hand.
The old village doctor stepped forward and gave another series of rubs left and right. With a “crack” sound, he popped Tian Juhua’s jaw back in place. “I told you to be careful. It’ll easily become a habitual dislocation for you in the future.”
He took out a roll of gauze from his medical box and wrapped it around Tian Juhua’s lower jaw and head for a few turns. “Don’t eat hard stuff recently, and talk less, otherwise it’ll pop out again.”
Tian Juhua didn’t dare to speak anymore, otherwise another dislocation would cost five yuan!
She felt there were no good people in the village anymore. Old Xu used to help give people massages or treat minor ailments without even charging money sometimes, yet for her, a matter resolved in one minute cost her five yuan.
Tong Xiaoqian called over a villager who drove a *bengbeng* vehicle.
A *bengbeng* vehicle was also called a three-*bengzi*, which was a type of three-wheeled motorcycle with a rear tub; the moment it hit the road, it chugged with continuous loud pops and bounced endlessly. When encountering uneven roads, it bounced step by step, shaking people’s bodies up and down, hence earning its name.
The driver was named Xiao Lin. His family had three *bengbeng* vehicles and relied on this to make a living.
Although this place was a village, it was close to the town center; the *bengbeng* vehicle could reach the town in a few minutes, and reached Laibin City in just a little over ten minutes.
With a population of only forty-odd thousand, this small port city wasn’t very big.
People helped carry Lei Yihong onto the *bengbeng* vehicle, looking as if they were truly going to the hospital.
“I’m taking my husband to the hospital now. Speak up—report to the police, hand over the money, or come along to the hospital?”
Tong Xiaoqian really wasn’t afraid of them calling the police. With the profiteer’s current condition, when they reached the police station, even the police would tremble upon seeing him, terrified of getting stuck with trouble.
He looked like he could get off the *kang* bed, but gasped for breath every three steps, swaying as he walked, looking completely unable to stay alive.
For a person like this, even if he died tomorrow, if he died in your hands today, it would be your fault.
Tong Tieshan naturally understood this logic—what it meant to stick to you and blame you; you wouldn’t be able to explain yourself even with a mouth.
Walking past each other on the street, people would have to dodge him, otherwise, if he lay down on the ground, you’d have to carry the consequences away.
With gauze wrapped around her face, Tian Juhua grunted through her mouth, not daring to open her mouth wide. She understood in her heart, but she couldn’t bear to part with the money.
Tong Tieshan wore a bitter face. “Xiaoya, can it be a bit less? Your second aunt really didn’t mean to…”
“Report it to the police!” Without even waiting for him to finish, Tong Xiaoqian grabbed Tian Juhua by the collar and dragged her outward.
Planking her buttocks on the ground, Tian Juhua refused to get up no matter what. Tong Xiaoqian’s hand pinched the back of her neck, and she instantly felt a wave of sour pain in her neck, like having a stiff neck.
However, she had no time to think carefully, grunting through her mouth while pulling her body backward with all her strength.
Then another chaotic noise came from behind. Lei Wanguo brought along his younger brother, younger sister, several nephews, grand-nephews, plus the two elders of the family.
The Lei family was united, especially showing extra care for the second family who only had one son.
Lei Wanguo shouted in a loud voice, “Who bullied our second family?!”
“I’ll go get the money! It’s all a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding!” Tong Tieshan didn’t dare to delay any longer, sprinting toward home as fast as his legs could carry him.
When he ran back, he was panting heavily, out of breath, holding three one-hundred-yuan bills, several fifty-yuan bills, and ten-yuan bills in his hand.
Tong Xiaoqian snatched the money over and counted it.
Picking up a one-hundred-yuan bill, she held it up against the sunlight for a look—four old men’s heads, which were the hundred-yuan banknotes of this era.
“I’ll go over to repossess the house as soon as I come back,” she tossed out this sentence and got onto the *bengbeng* vehicle.
Xiao Lin’s *bengbeng* vehicle had a canopy on top. Crawling under the canopy, Wang Yumei asked in a low voice, “Xiaoya, are we really going to the hospital?”
Tong Xiaoqian answered softly, “Mm, going to take a look, and taking this opportunity to do a checkup as well.”
And incidentally take a stroll around the streets to see what the situation in the city was like.