Listening to the doctor's explanation, Jia Dongxu's brows furrowed deeply. He couldn't understand why bad luck always seemed to plague his family. Whenever their situation improved slightly, this kind of thing would happen.
But now, lying in the hospital bed are his mother, wife, and child. Even though Jia Dongxu is extremely poor, he has no choice but to pay their medical bills. For the remaining amount, Jia Dongxu can only issue IOUs.
Watching his mother and wife being wheeled into the operating room, Jia Dongxu hugged Banggeng and cried. Banggeng, whose injury was to his foot, did not need to go into the operating room.
The doctor specifically asked Jia Dongxu to hold Banggeng, as this would make it easier to apply the cast. Even with Jia Dongxu holding him, Banggeng cried his heart out.
Children are always filled with fear of the unknown. If Jia Dongxu hadn't been there to comfort them, who knows what might have happened.
After the doctor finished putting on the cast, Bang Geng was moved to a ward. Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu, however, didn't get there so quickly; it wasn't until several hours later that they were wheeled back.
They were wheeled back in, but because they were under anesthesia, they didn't wake up. It wasn't until after 10 p.m. that they slowly woke up, and once they did, the ward was anything but quiet.
The one who caused the most trouble was naturally Jia Zhangshi. Seeing herself lying in bed, Jia Zhangshi would make a fuss whenever she had nothing to do.
"Mom, can you please stop making a scene? I have to go to work tomorrow. Things were just starting to get a little better at home, and now this has happened again. If I don't go to work, how are we going to get the money to pay off our debts? Do you even know how much money the three of you have spent this time?"
“This time you’ve not only spent all the money in the house, but you’ve also ended up owing more than ten yuan. If you keep making a fuss, I won’t be able to go to work in peace tomorrow.”
Hearing Jia Dongxu's words, Jia Zhangshi quieted down for a moment. Even Jia Zhangshi fell silent, so Qin Huairu dared not utter a sound.
"Dongxu, bring Xiaodang over here and feed her milk."
Upon hearing Qin Huairu's words, Jia Dongxu picked up Xiaodang, lifted Qin Huairu's clothes, and let Xiaodang climb up to drink milk.
The reason why Xiao Dang is still breastfeeding is mainly because the Jia family is struggling financially, and only in this way can Xiao Dang have enough nutrition.
The reason for this bizarre situation was naturally because of Jia Zhangshi. If Xiao Dang continued to drink milk, the Jia family would have half a person less to eat. This would not only reduce Xiao Dang's food supply, but might even mean that her own son would get a few sips.
As for whether Qin Huairu was nutritious or not, Jia Zhangshi didn't care at all. If there really wasn't enough breast milk, she could just let Xiaodang drink less; it was better than making Xiaodang eat solid food all the time.
After Xiao Dang had eaten and drunk her fill, Jia Dongxu placed her next to Jia Zhangshi. Bang Geng was placed next to Qin Huairu, and Jia Dongxu lay down on Bang Geng's bed alone.
As soon as it was light, Jia Dongxu left the hospital, returned to the courtyard house, made six breakfasts, ate them, delivered them to the hospital, and then went to work at the steel rolling mill.
It wasn't that Jia Dongxu didn't want to stay and take care of them; it was simply that he couldn't. The Jia family was facing a famine, and if they didn't hurry to earn money, the hospital might even have to go to the steel mill for payment.
As soon as Jia Dongxu reached the entrance of the steel rolling mill, he was stopped by the security personnel. Jia Dongxu was then immediately tied up by the security guards.
Wei Hua wouldn't kill them, but he wouldn't let them off easily either. The police station and the security department handled completely different matters. While the security department also had law enforcement powers, they generally wouldn't send people to the police station unless the steel mill's interests were truly harmed; for ordinary cases, they usually dealt with administrative penalties.
For things like theft, the usual punishment is only ten days to two weeks of solitary confinement. Then there's a major demerit or demotion. It's not like the police station, where they easily sentence people to three to five years in prison.
Wei Hua already knew about the Jia family's situation yesterday. To strike a snake, you must hit its vital spot; now is the best time to deal with the Jia family.
So as soon as Wei Hua arrived at work today, he reported the matter to the security department and directly named the suspect. Yi Zhonghai, having arrived earlier, had already been arrested before Jia Dongxu.
If it were anyone else, they might not have been tied up, but Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu were repeat offenders. Fortunately, they were all employees of the steel rolling mill, so the security guards didn't give them any special trouble. After taking them home, they took the key to the Jia family's house from Yi Zhonghai. They opened all the doors to the Jia family's house and began their investigation. They actually found nearly a hundred kilograms of grain in the Jia family's house.
"You two come and explain why your family has so much grain. If you can produce purchase receipts, this matter is fine. But if you can't, then you're in big trouble."
Upon hearing what the security officer said, Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu exchanged glances, unsure of what to say. Ultimately, Yi Zhonghai's mind worked faster, and he came up with a workaround. No matter how flawed the plan was, Yi Zhonghai had no choice but to bite the bullet and proceed.
"Comrade, this grain is what we have saved over the past few months. You all know the current situation. In order to have enough to eat in the future, we have been saving a little bit each month, and that's how we have saved so much grain."
Upon hearing Yi Zhonghai's words, the security personnel glanced at Wei Hua.
"Comrade, I have many minor flaws. I remember that some other things were actually mixed in with the grain I threw away. The main reason I discovered the grain was missing was because I was looking for something."
"Your family didn't hide anything in the grain, did you? If you did, tell us what it was. Don't wait until it's found and then say you hid something too. I don't believe there's such a coincidence in the world."
Hearing Wei Hua's words, Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu were both somewhat bewildered. This thing originally belonged to Wei Hua's family. They had no idea what Wei Hua had hidden inside, and now they could only place all their hopes on Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu.
“We don’t have the habit of hiding things in our grain. So there’s nothing in our grain.”
"Comrades, you must have all heard what Yi Zhonghai said. To prove whether these things were stolen by the Jia family, all we need to do is pour out the grain. I hid three chestnut cakes from Li's shop inside."
"By simply pouring out the grain, we can determine whether it was stolen by the Jia family or saved by them."
After speaking, Wei Hua immediately took out the receipts for the grain and chestnut cakes he had purchased. Wei Hua couldn't help but marvel at how practical the space was; even if he put three leftover chestnut cakes inside in front of everyone, no one would notice.
Needless to say, the result was obvious, since the food was exactly what Wei Hua had put in. Seeing the chestnut cakes peeking out of the grain, Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu wanted to beat Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi up. They hadn't even noticed such large chestnut cakes!
Now that it had been proven that the grain belonged to Wei Hua, the security personnel immediately put the large portion of grain that had been poured out back into the bag.
"Now you should have nothing to say, right? The chestnut cakes were hidden in the lower part of the grain, and Wei Hua couldn't possibly frame you in front of us."
Hearing what the security guards said, Yi Zhonghai panicked completely. Without implicating Jia Zhangshi, he could never clear his name. And if he did, his position in the Jia family would become even more awkward.
The same problem was troubling Jia Dongxu. Revealing his mother and wife would surely cause resentment. But if he didn't, he feared he would have a hard time working at the steel mill.
Having finally become a level-two worker, I might end up as a level-one fitter again. Or I might even end up like Yi Zhonghai, a temporary worker.
For the sake of his own and the Jia family's future, Jia Dongxu had no choice but to shift the blame onto his wife and mother.
"Comrade, we didn't steal these. My mom and my wife stole them."
Hearing Jia Dongxu's words, even the comrades in the security department looked down on him, thinking that Jia Dongxu had no sense of responsibility.
"Comrade Weihua, the matter has been investigated and clarified, but Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu are not employees of our steel rolling mill. We have no authority to punish them. You'd better go to the police station. Given what they did, they should be in jail for at least ten years, or even be sentenced to be put on the gallows."
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