After Hua Kai returned with the water, she poured Hua Wanjiang a cup of hot water.
While eating, Hua Wanjiang said, "Do you think we can manage if we don't go there? Won't your grandpa be left unattended?"
Hua Kai said, "Dad, don't worry. If my uncles still want to live in the village, they won't dare. Otherwise, do they want to be cursed to death?"
"That's true. The houses and land are all in the village, so they wouldn't dare to act without any moral compass. Why don't you sneak over and take a look later?"
“My brother is there, don’t worry, he can handle things.”
“Okay, then we won’t go out. If something really happens, your brother will come over. But we really don’t have enough money.”
“If they really don’t care about the old man anymore, I’ll be able to raise enough money for the surgery. You eat and take a nap, I’ll wake you up when it’s time.”
"How can I possibly sleep?"
"They still need to sleep, otherwise how can we expect them to take care of us at night? We'll have to do our best."
"That's true, then I'll take a nap after I finish eating."
After finishing his meal, Hua Wanjiang dozed off in bed.
Hua Kai sat by the window looking downstairs. There were no cell phones or anything at the moment, so she didn't have much to do and just sat there watching the people coming and going outside.
Just after 8:30, Zheng Shuzhen arrived with Hua Wanhe and her third brother's daughter-in-law. They all had their own thoughts and were afraid that if they took the money out, they would never get it back, so they felt more at ease holding onto it.
Zheng Shuzhen entered the ward and, instead of looking for Hua Chongzhi, began searching for Hua Kai and Hua Wanjiang.
After looking around and not seeing them, he quickly asked Hua Chongzhi, "Old man, where are the eldest brother and Hua Kai?"
Hua Zhongzhi never expected that his wife, with whom he had shared a bed for many years, would be so indifferent to his health. She came and immediately asked Hua Kai about it. It was no wonder that Hua Kai had avoided her so early. He sighed and said, "The boss stayed up all night watching over me and didn't get much sleep. Hua Kai, take him to find a place to rest for a while."
Zheng Shuzhen was stunned. This was not how she thought. The person had to be here. If the person wasn't here, she couldn't do anything.
She said unhappily, "Why is he so delicate? He wasn't the only one who didn't sleep all night. Didn't the third and fourth brothers also stay here all night?"
Hua Chongzhi frowned and said, "Ask the third and fourth brothers where they were last night."
At this moment, the nurse came in: "Why are there so many people? Patients need to be quiet. This is the second surgery of the day. One or two family members can stay in the room, the rest of you go out. I need to take your temperature."
Zheng Shuzhen said to Hua Wanhai, "Fourth brother, you stay with me."
These bullies, seeing the nurses, didn't dare to act too recklessly. They all went outside and stood in the corridor, complaining because Huakai wasn't there, so they had to pay for it.
At this moment, Hua Wanhe saw Hua Qingyi standing to the side: "Do you know where your father is?"
Hua Qingyi wasn't stupid; he shook his head and said, "I don't know."
Hua Wanhe then asked, "What about the money your family should have contributed?"
Hua Qingyi said, "The money is with me. I'll give it to Grandma in a bit."
Hua Wanhe didn't know what to say, so Huo Yanping pulled Hua Wanhe aside and whispered to herself, "Anyway, the two of them only brought six hundred."
Hua Wanhu's wife also called Hua Wanhu aside and spoke to him in a low voice.
No one said anything to Hua Wanhai's wife, who was standing aside, but she was also extremely annoyed.
Hua Qingyi clutched the money, thought for a moment, and realized that with the nurse in the ward and witnesses present, it would be the perfect time to quickly go in and give the money to Zheng Shuzhen.
So Hua Qingyi went back into the ward and politely said to the nurse, "Nurse, I'm sorry to disturb your work. I forgot to give the money to my grandma. I'll leave after I give it to her."
After saying that, he took out the money, tore open the plastic bag, put the eight hundred yuan on the table, and said to Zheng Shuzhen, "Grandma, this is eight hundred yuan. You keep it. I'm going out now." Then he left, since the nurse had seen it.
After Hua Qingyi left, Zheng Shuzhen put the money in a bag and said to Hua Zhongzhi, "See? It's all clearly divided. Not a penny more, just eight hundred. He's so rich, and he's the eldest son, shouldn't he have given more?"
Hua Zhongzhi's back was already aching, and hearing Zheng Shuzhen's words made him even more furious. He took a deep breath and said, "Can you please stop talking?"
The nurse said to Zheng Shuzhen, "The patient lying here is about to have surgery. Instead of comforting her, you, as her family members, are adding fuel to the fire? Are you even family members?"
Zheng Shuzhen didn't dare to say anything more, and kept her head down without making a sound.
A doctor came in shortly after, asked Hua Zhongzhi some pre-operative questions, and then told the nurses to prepare for the operation, which would take place in half an hour later.
Hua Chongzhi doesn't seem so nervous and scared anymore. He was so angry with Zheng Shuzhen that he was thinking, "Once I'm better, I'm not going to live with you anymore."
After the doctor finished speaking with Hua Zhongzhi, he said to Hua Wanhai, "You're the patient's son, right? This is the surgical consent form; please sign it."
Hua Wanhai didn't want to take the responsibility himself, so he said to Zheng Shuzhen, "Mother, you should sign it."
Zheng Shuzhen said, "I can't write either, so what difference does it make who signs it?"
Hua Wanhai said, "Then how about letting my second and third brothers come in and sign together? I don't dare to do it myself."
The doctor frowned at him: "That's your father. He's already like this, what are you still thinking about? What are you family members thinking?"
Zheng Shuzhen said to Hua Wanhai, "Hurry up and sign it, or people will laugh at us!" If Hua Wanjiang were here, she would definitely make him sign it so that he could take responsibility if something went wrong. But he's not here, so it doesn't matter who signs it.
Hua Chongzhi lay on the bed, feeling like crying. Why did her son, whom she had always been devoted to, act like this at such a crucial moment?
Hua Wanhai reluctantly signed the document.
The doctor then said, "The family members should go and pay the bill."
Zheng Shuzhen can't find Hua Wanjiang and Hua Kai at all. What can Hua Qingyi do here alone? He can't handle any more trouble.
So he had no choice but to go out and have his sons put the money in his cloth bag, and then have his second and third sons accompany him to pay the fees.
The surgery cost 3,000 yuan, plus other miscellaneous expenses. I thought it would be 3,200 yuan for the four sons, but Hua Wanhe only took 600 yuan, so I didn't have enough money left.
Fortunately, Zheng Shuzhen had secretly sewed a pocket in her underwear and hidden a hundred dollars in it, which she had to take out now.
After paying the fee, Hua Zhongzhi was wheeled into the operating room.
Watching the man go inside, Zheng Shuzhen became a little scared and asked her fourth son, "Fourth son, is your father alright?"
Hua Wanhai, feeling the pinch of the money, shook his head: "It's alright, with such an expensive surgery, how could it not be done well?"
Hua Wanhe said, "That's not necessarily true. I heard that a back injury takes a long time to recover and the surgery is also high-risk."
Zheng Shuzhen was genuinely frightened: "What can happen? Will anyone die?"
Hua Wanhe shook his head: "No, but paralysis is possible."
"What? Paralyzed?" Zhao Xiuzhi, Hua Wanhai's wife, exclaimed. Because they lived with the old man, if he became paralyzed, she would have to take care of him every day. Thinking of this, she wanted to cry.
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