Everyone makes mistakes sometimes.
As I said this, I glanced at Lu Jia again. She hadn't given me a smile the entire time... I didn't know if it was because she was tired from the journey, or because she was disappointed in me.
I think the latter is more likely, because she
She had always opposed my food delivery work, and now that I've been in a car accident while delivering food, she's bound to feel some resentment.
...
Lu Jia poured me a glass of water, then sat down by my bedside. After a brief silence, she said to me, "Chen Jin has already given me your bank card... Just now downstairs, I paid another 10,000 yuan for your treatment... There's no money left in the card."
Do I still need to pay?
"I don't know... The hospital will notify me when the money runs out."
After a brief pause, Lu Jia said to me again, "Tell me honestly, is all your money in this card?"
"No, there are still two or three thousand yuan scattered on other cards."
"I heard from Chen Jin that you made more than three million yuan on the Jiulongju project. Did you spend it all so quickly?"
"One apartment in Chengdu, one apartment in Dali... you can do the math and see how much that costs."
"Less than three million... You didn't do anything else this year, so you should have at least four or five hundred thousand left."
I was a little annoyed, and immediately asked with a cold face, "Are you checking my accounts?"
“I didn’t mean that… I just hope you can be more restrained. We’re both almost 30 years old… You should know how many things we’ll need to spend money on in the future.”
"You just got back...you haven't even had a chance to sit down properly...is it really necessary to argue with me so clearly about these material things?"
After a moment of silence, Lu Jia finally gave me a smile and said, "Okay, if you don't want to hear it... I won't say it... The hospital cafeteria is open now, what do you want to eat? I'll go down and buy it for you."
"I'm not hungry... You must be tired from your journey, let's find a place to rest first."
"The bed next door is empty... I'll stay here for a few days... You have no one to take care of you, so it won't work."
As Lu Jia spoke, she opened her suitcase and took out her toiletries one by one.
...
During the process, someone else walked in from outside the door... Lu Jia and I looked at him at the same time. His hair was a mess, his denim jacket had several holes in the shoulders, and his body was covered with paint stains, some of which were still wet.
I remember him; he's the one who hit me with his van yesterday.
He came to my bedside carrying a snakeskin bag, then bowed his head and said to me, "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to bump into you... I don't have anything to make up for it, but I caught two chickens from home, so you can eat them to your heart's content... Here's some money... please take it."
As he spoke, he placed the snakeskin bag on the ground, then took out about five hundred yuan from his coat pocket and neatly placed it on the bedside table.
I smiled and said, "I know your family has it tough... The fact that you came to see me proves you're a conscientious and responsible person... That's hundreds of times better than those who cause accidents and flee the scene..."
…So, I don't want to hold this against you anymore… You're really having a tough time… Take the money back.”
He hesitated. It seemed that these five hundred yuan had already cost him everything he had. If it weren't for his conscience, he really wouldn't have been willing to take out the money.
I braced myself against the bed with one hand, and with the other, I grabbed the money and shoved it back into his pocket...
After thinking for a moment, I handed him the 10,000 yuan that the finance lady had given me from the bedside table, and said, "I respect you as a man... so I want to be your friend... take this money and use it... don't feel guilty about me... saving the child is the most important thing... consider this money a loan to you, and you can pay me back when you have more money."
"You're doing this... I... I really don't know what to do..."
"Take it, we're all men, stop dawdling."
"Then... give me your contact information... I'll definitely pay you back."
...
After the man left, I felt inexplicably relieved... Although it's true that one should take responsibility for causing trouble, I really didn't want to add insult to injury to this already precarious family... I actually hoped that one day he could return the 10,000 yuan to me, at least to prove that he had stabilized the family.
During the process, I subconsciously glanced at Lu Jia again. She was also looking at me with a very complicated expression, and then asked me in a low voice, "Michael, is what you're doing... really okay?... The traffic police have already made a judgment, and you're not going to let him bear the responsibility he should bear... Now you're even giving him 10,000 yuan... Do you think your money just falls from the sky?"
"What are you saying... It's only ten thousand yuan... I've already spent it on treating people to meals... Besides, I didn't give him the money for nothing... I want him to pay it back... Do you have to be so petty?"
What if he doesn't pay it back?
“If he hadn’t paid me back… he wouldn’t have come to the hospital to see me today… You saw it yourself, his family is so poor, yet he still gave me five hundred yuan… That five hundred yuan is much more important to him than that ten thousand yuan is to me… I don’t want to argue with you… but I really hope you can put away your petty-bourgeois perspective… Is it meaningful to measure everything in terms of money?”
(End of this chapter)
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