Jiang Ye: "Brother Chen, I went to the police station last night and there haven't been any missing persons reports from the county public security bureau recently. I haven't heard of anyone losing their daughter in Hongqi Commune."
"Yeah." Han Jingchen responded calmly, seemingly not surprised at all.
Jiang Ye was anxious. "We have to go back to the camp tomorrow, so what should we do here? No...can we ask Weiguo's wife to look after us for a few days?"
The two of them don't have much vacation time, so they have to go back to the camp when the time comes.
Han Jingchen frowned and rejected the proposal directly: "Their children are too young to handle it."
Jiang Ye hesitated for a moment, "But, we don't know many people in An County. Apart from Weiguo's family, there is only Aihua's family left, but they are definitely not suitable either."
This time, the two of them were responsible for delivering Jiang Aihua's ashes and the pension.
Now, all the old and young in their family are still immersed in the grief of losing their family members, so how can they have the mind to take care of others?
"Then what do you say, Brother Chen? She's so ill now, and we don't know when she'll get better. We have to do everything we can to save her. Leaving her alone in the hospital now... isn't that good?"
After a moment of silence, Han Jingchen said, "Wait until she wakes up and ask her."
Pei Manning wanted to open her eyes and tell the two of them not to bother anyone else, but her lips could not move, her heavy eyelids stuck together, and the darkness opened its mouth to drag her into a deeper abyss.
When I woke up again, I didn't know how long I had slept. My head was groggy and aching as if it had exploded, and my ears were still buzzing.
A loud and resonant voice yelled, "Xu Youcai, that little bastard, my Jinbao's leg can't be healed, I'll make him pay for it with his life! Let me tell you, Zhou Xiaocui, the cost of the surgery, plus the cost of nutrition, will be at least two hundred! It will take a hundred days to heal a broken bone, my son won't be able to earn work points, what will the whole family eat and drink? The whole family depends on the distribution of food to survive, no, you Xu family will have to pay us another hundred!"
"What?! Pay money? Everyone knows that your son is idle all day long, how can he earn work points? Want to make money? No way!"
"Okay, Zhou Xiaocui! Your son broke my son's leg, and you, the Xu family, won't pay for it? I will report him to the police station right away, and I will put him in jail!"
"Your son is a hooligan. If he attacks me, what if my son doesn't fight back? My son Youcai's arm is still hanging. If you go and sue me, I'll just watch.
Who is in police station? "
"Zhou Xiaocui, how dare you scold my Jinbao, I..."
"Quiet! Quiet! No noise allowed in the ward!"
Pei Manning opened her eyes dazedly and saw the nurse walk in. She looked at the two families unhappily and said, "The hospital is not a place for you to quarrel. If you continue to quarrel, get out!"
Facing the nurses from the city hospital, the two of them felt a little in awe. Although they looked angry, they calmed down a little.
The nurse walked to Pei Manning's bed, checked the saline solution in the IV bottle, and asked Pei Manning to take her temperature again.
The heat has subsided a little.
Pei Manning stared at the infusion bottle and the thermometer, puzzled by these strange treatment methods, but because she was pretending to be mute and did not want to reveal her abnormality, she had to do as she was told.
Her bed was next to the innermost window. Just when she fell asleep, two families came in angrily. They were so busy arguing that they didn't pay any attention to her. When they saw her, their eyes lit up.
"Oh, this girl is so beautiful. What's wrong with her? Why is she in the hospital alone?" the woman asked with a smile.
Pei Manning consciously searched for Han Jingchen and Jiang Ye, but they were not there. There was a man with his leg in a sling sitting on the bed near the door. He turned around and stared at her with his triangular eyes. His look made her feel very uncomfortable.
She pursed her lips, pointed to her throat, and waved her hands at the woman to indicate that she couldn't speak.
"Hey? Miss, you can't speak. What's wrong with your mouth?" The woman asked inquiringly, "Is your throat swollen or are you mute?"
The nurse disliked the woman, but was quite protective of the pretty girl. She said unhappily, "She is not in a position to talk right now, so don't ask!"
When the woman heard this, she kept looking at Pei Manning, as if she was examining merchandise. She curled her lips and wanted to ask her name and where she was from.
Zhou Xiaocui sneered, "Liu Guihua, why are you listening to other girls? Do you want to eat swan meat just because they are good-looking and well-dressed? Everyone knows that your son is idle and still can't get married for many years. You hear about unmarried girls everywhere in the village. How dare you covet girls from the city?!"
She deliberately spoke loudly to remind Pei Manning to be careful of the mother and son. Her daughter was entangled with the rogue Wang Jinbao, otherwise her son would not have cut off Wang Jinbao's legs.
For the sake of her reputation as a lady, she held her anger and did not make a fuss about it.
Liu Guihua was furious when her past was exposed. All the old hatreds and new hatreds came to her head. "Zhou Xiaocui, you are such a conscienceless person.
You filthy thing, you dare to say that I, Jin Bao, am a lunatic. If I don’t tear you apart today, I’m not Liu anymore!”
Without saying anything, he rolled up his sleeves and started tearing people apart.
Wang Jinbao hung his legs and looked at Zhou Xiaocui with a sinister look.
"Liu Guihua, you shameless old bastard, how dare you try to kill me!" Zhou Xiaocui walked up to her with great momentum, without any fear at all.
The two men tore each other apart and cursed at each other. This time even the nurse couldn't persuade them to stop. "Hey, hey, hey, stop it right now..."
The ward was in an uproar, and many people gathered outside to watch the fun.
Just as the two were pulling people's hair, tearing their clothes, pinching and scratching their faces, the ward's half-closed door was pushed open.
The man who walked in was tall and slender, carrying a bag of things, with cold eyes and a two-meter-high aura, instantly making the ward silent.
Especially his new winter military uniform, with shearling cap, leather belt, and four-pocket jacket, which made him look like an officer, stunned everyone.
Han Jingchen stopped at the door, frowned, and glanced at the room with a cold gaze. He had only been away for less than half an hour, and the ward had become like this.
He stared at the two strange women. Their facial features were nothing like Pei Manning. Then he looked at the injured in the ward. One of the women looked somewhat similar. He had a rough idea in his mind.
"Are you awake?" Han Jingchen walked to Pei Manning's bed and put his things on the cabinet next to him.
Pei Manning nodded and breathed a sigh of relief.
It was the first time that Pei Manning witnessed such a fierce quarrel. She was shocked and at a loss. After all, she was used to the wives of the harem being superficial and indifferent. Even if they had a disagreement, they would at most make insinuations and would never quarrel or insult each other like this.
Just then, the saline solution for the infusion had almost dripped out, so the nurse pulled out the needle and asked her to press the cotton swab with her fingers.
Han Jingchen opened a few aluminum lunch boxes and took out a portion of white flour dumplings, a portion of pork ribs and winter melon soup, and a portion of stir-fried vegetables. They were very light and suitable for patients.
He handed the chopsticks to Pei Manning. Pei Manning saw that there was only one pair of chopsticks. She looked at him in surprise and asked him with her eyes if he wanted to eat with her.
Han Jingchen understood the confusion in her eyes and didn't say anything else: "I've eaten at the state-owned hotel."
Hearing this, Pei Manning stopped refusing. She didn't know that the meal, which seemed a bit simple to her, was actually a rare delicacy in that era of food and clothing shortages.
Liu Guihua smelled the aroma of meat and swallowed her saliva. The people in the city were given a pound of meat coupons every month, but the members of their production team could only eat meat during festivals.
Just a little bit of meat.
"Hey? Young man, this is your sister, right? No wonder you two look so energetic." She tried to get closer with a smile.
Han Jingchen saw her coming over, but he didn't explain. He raised his sword-like eyebrows and said, "Auntie, is there something wrong?"
Liu Guihua laughed shamelessly, "Young man, look at all these dumplings and vegetables. I guess your sister can't finish them all. Can I buy half for you?"
She didn't speak directly, thinking that the young man was shy and he was a soldier, who was said to be serving the people, so how could he have the nerve to actually take her money?
But after she finished speaking, Han Jingchen hadn't opened his mouth yet, Pei Manning had already picked up the iron lunch box and shook her head at Han Jingchen: No, I can finish it!
Although she didn't say anything, the meaning in her eyes was very clear.
Liu Guihua was not too happy. "Alas, my dear girl, it's a waste if you can't finish it. I don't have anywhere to eat in the city. How much did you spend? I'll buy you half of it. I won't take advantage of you!"
Pei Manning didn't like her. The woman's eyes sparkled. She didn't want to have anything to do with her at all, so she shook her head firmly.
Han Jingchen stood beside them, half smiling, his features were distinct, his eyes were narrow, and when he looked at people, his eyes were sharp: "Auntie, trading is not allowed. We soldiers must set an example and not engage in speculation in private."
Liu Guihua was shocked. What a guy! It was just half a box of dumplings, why did she take advantage of it?
Her face turned pale, and she didn't dare to say anything more. If she said more, she would be wrong. What if the soldier found some crime against her and dragged her out for criticism?
Speculation? Pei Manning was also stunned for a moment.
She found that she often couldn't understand what was said here, and seeing Liu Guihua being frightened like that, she realized that this must be a very serious matter.
Pei Manning frowned and kept this in mind.
Zhou Xiaocui stood at the door and sneered, enjoying watching Liu Guihua suffer. She spat inwardly, "You deserve it!" and turned around to go directly to her son and her man.
I don't know if they have finished the inspection?
In fact, there was no big problem with her son's arm, but in order to prevent the Wang family from defrauding him of money, their family split into two groups. Zhou Xiaocui was responsible for arguing with Liu Guihua to attract anger, while the father and son went to bandage the wound seriously so that it would look as serious as Wang Jinbao.
Liu Guihua stopped talking, and the ward finally became quiet.
"Eat quickly!" Han Jingchen lowered his head and saw Pei Manning was in a trance. He couldn't help but frowning. With the speed she ate, she would starve to death if she were in the army.
Pei Manning came back to his senses and quickened his chewing speed, but due to habit, he wasn't chewing much faster.
She was still eating, and Liu Guihua next to her was staring at her.
Pei Manning lowered her eyes and finished eating all the dumplings and vegetables. By the end, she was a little full, but there was nothing left. She was determined not to give Liu Guihua a chance to ask for more.
Han Jingchen looked at her with amusement and put away his aluminum lunch box. "I'm going out for a while. I'm next door. I'll be back soon."
Although these words were spoken to Pei Manning, they were actually meant for the other people in the ward to hear.