After fiddling with the wire in the keyhole for a while, Shi Tian felt a smooth twist, and the lock fell to the ground. Then, with a gentle push, the door swung wide open.
He easily found the container for refining the oil, and by the bright moonlight outside, he took out the packet of white powder and poured it in with trembling hands.
Then, a blinding light shone before his eyes, almost making it impossible for him to open them. Immediately afterward, in the brief moment his mind went blank, a large number of people rushed in from all directions and surrounded him.
"You're under arrest."
The lead policeman, holding gleaming silver handcuffs, cuffed him behind his back. With the shop lights snapping on, and the suspect caught red-handed, nearby villagers swarmed forward, threatening to kill the poisoner.
After Shi Tian confessed, everyone realized that he had given them laxatives, which would only cause diarrhea for a couple of days and wouldn't kill anyone, so they breathed a sigh of relief.
While cooperating with the police in the arrest, Shi Tian not only had to compensate the villagers for their medical expenses, but also for Shi Shumei's losses. Furthermore, he would have to be detained for a few days to receive some "education."
That evening, after receiving the news, Shi Dajin, disregarding his urge to cause trouble next door, collapsed in front of his house, nearly having a relapse.
With the matter resolved, everyone headed to the hospital in high spirits. On the way, they reminisced about how Jiang Yu had rallied the villagers to catch the thief, and Bai Chen's passionate narration thrilled everyone.
When Bai Chen returned to the hospital, it was already past nine o'clock at night. After saying goodbye to everyone at the hospital entrance, he hurriedly went to find Liu Cui. Shi Shumei was extremely grateful, saying that if it weren't for Jiang Yu's idea, she probably would have not only suffered a loss in silence, but also lost her shop.
Now she fully believed in the power of her family. After returning to the ward, she explained the whole story to Shen Ci, and the couple's gratitude towards her was heartfelt. Shen Ci, in particular, thought about how he had initially misunderstood Jiang Yu because of rumors, and secretly scolded himself for not being able to distinguish right from wrong.
The next morning, almost all of Shi Yangyang's blood relatives gathered in the ward. Even Shen Suisui took a day off and came to the hospital with her grandmother and aunt to wait for the doctor to finish his rounds and do the matching test.
Compared to Shen Niannian, she was much more obedient. Moreover, girls are more thoughtful, and Shi Shumei was already thinking about having a little girl.
Since the blood typing test conducted at the town hospital between Shi Shumei and Shen Ci was unsuccessful, no further blood tests were performed this time. Shen Ying's idea was to have the elderly and children as a backup plan, while he and Shen Wan would go first.
When the two were taken to the treatment room, the doctor gave them some instructions and then called a nurse to draw blood. Shen Ying felt that this minor pain wouldn't bother him at all, so he had his blood drawn smoothly and sat down to the side.
By evening, she had witnessed firsthand the tourniquet being applied to her arm, the iodine disinfection, and the needle being inserted into her vein. As blood trickled out, beads of sweat covered her forehead. Without warning, she collapsed onto a bench in the treatment room.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
The nurse was a young woman who had only recently started working and had little experience with this kind of situation. Her voice caught the attention of an older nurse at the nurses' station, who came in and said that Shen Wan was fainting at the sight of blood.
The two men helped her into the ward, and after she lay down on the middle bed, they explained the situation to the tense people in the room.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and waited for the blood test results while taking care of Shen Wan.
During the brief moments when Shen Wan regained consciousness, a senior nurse came to check on her. In the course of their conversation, she mentioned that the child who had been on this bed, covered in tubes and brought to a special ward, had passed away in the early hours of the morning.
She said it was a real pity; the bone marrow donation was successful, but the surgery was too expensive for her family to afford, and they missed the best time for treatment.
Just as everyone was feeling sorry for the incident, the test results came back. The young nurse, seeing her colleague in the ward, handed her the test results and left.
The nurse glanced at the form, then looked at the person lying on the bed with a pleased expression and asked:
"You must be Shen Wan?"
The woman nodded, somewhat bewildered by the sudden roll call. Then, the nurse explained in another sentence:
"The results are in, and you're a match. Once you've paid the surgery fees, the surgery can be scheduled depending on your condition. Of course, my words are just for reference; to learn more, you should consult your attending physician."
However, the doctor is on duty at the outpatient clinic today, but should be able to come and discuss things with you in detail when he has some free time.
After she finished speaking, she got up and left the ward, leaving behind a room full of people with varying expressions.
"That's great! I knew my grandson was blessed by God and would be fine."
Zhao Meiyun spoke first, her voice filled with excitement. Shen Ci and Shi Shumei breathed a sigh of relief, their eyes filled with gratitude as they looked at Shen Wan.
But then, everyone fell into deep thought again. Before leaving, the nurse specifically explained that the surgery would cost around 100,000 yuan, not including treatment fees and other expenses.
Worried that the children might overhear them talking about such topics, apart from Shen Wan, who was still lying in the ward looking very weak and watching the three children, the other adults went to the stairwell and frowned.
The total amount Shi Shumei and Shen Ci had accumulated over the years, including the inheritance left by their parents before their deaths, was only about 20,000 yuan. Although this was much better than that of an average family, it was insignificant compared to the enormous medical expenses.
Even with her savings for her coffin, Zhao Meiyun didn't have more than three or four thousand yuan. She sighed and said she would go back and borrow from her neighbors, hoping to get some money as she could, rather than just sit and wait to die.
Shen Ying considered applying to the military, but there was a limit—ten thousand yuan was the maximum. However, most of his comrades were decent; he could borrow ten or twenty thousand yuan. But this enormous sum couldn't be repaid overnight.
After much deliberation, Shi Shumei made a crucial decision: she wanted to sell the oil shop for 30,000 to 50,000 yuan. However, finding a buyer wasn't something she could do immediately.
"If you sell the oil shop, how will you afford Yangyang's treatment and support him in the future?"
Under Jiang Yu's probing questions, the elder brother and his wife fell into deep thought.
"The most important thing now is to raise the money for the child's surgery. If something happens to Yangyang, what use will this shop be to us?"
Shi Shumei fully supports Shen Ci's suggestion. However, this still won't be enough money. Let's see if we can think of another way in the next couple of days.
"This afternoon, I'll go to the garment factory and talk to General Manager Su to see if we can settle the bonuses and performance bonuses ahead of schedule. If that doesn't work, I'll ask him for a loan. After all, it's a human life, and I don't think Su Yujing will stand idly by."
As she was leaving, Jiang Yu whispered her thoughts to Shen Ying.
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