Chapter Three Inside Story

  After eight o'clock, Cong Ye was supported by his sister-in-law for a thorough examination. Except for the brain stem injury, there were only minor injuries to the surface soft tissues of the body. Then, with Cong Ye's support, they took a taxi back to Qingcheng Medical Institute in Rizhao Lane.

  She first helped Cong Ye onto the small bed by the wall in the clinic, then began to clean up everything that had been knocked over last night. Cong Ye wanted to get down and help, but as soon as she moved, she felt dizzy and couldn't do anything, so she could only lie quietly on the bed. Her gaze inadvertently fell upon the business license and doctor's qualifications certificate hanging on the wall, where it was written "Yan Qingcheng" under the registrant section, Cong Ye finally understood why her sister-in-law's clinic was called "Qingcheng Medical Hall", it turned out that her sister-in-law was named Yan Qingcheng.

  After everything was in order, Yan Qingcheng walked to the bedside and asked:

  "Congye, do you like staying here or lying down in the back room?"

  "Sister-in-law, is the small courtyard in the back also yours?"

  There is a window on the back wall of the small bed, and Congye has already discovered that there is a courtyard behind it, more than two meters wide and five or six meters long. The north side of the courtyard is a low bungalow made of brick and stone, with a black tile roof. The house faces south and sits north, with a small room under the window on the east side, which looks like a kitchen. In the southwest corner of the courtyard, next to Congye's window, there is a small toilet made of hollow bricks, with a grass-green mosquito net hanging at the door.

  "Sister-in-law, will I staying here affect you?"

  "It won't work now, as Ri Yue Xiang is being demolished and relocated, most of the neighbors have left, sometimes for several days there are no patients coming to see a doctor."

  "Demolition and relocation? Sister-in-law, what's going on with those five people last night?"

  It wasn't until then that Cong Ye had a chance to ask about what was going on.

  Yan Qingcheng looked at Cong Ye and seemed to be hesitating about whether or not to tell him the truth. In the end, she still said to Cong Ye:

  "It's like that. Last year when spring began, the government had already ordered the residents of Rixin Street to relocate, and the developers had started signing demolition contracts with the households. But just then, news of Xiao Zhi's sacrifice had just arrived, and my mother suddenly fell ill. I was busy taking care of her in the hospital for over three months, until she passed away at the end of last summer. Only then did I return..."

  Yan Qingcheng hesitated again at this point,

  "My mother stayed in the ICU for three months, not only using up Xiaozhi's condolence money but also spending all my savings. Because I still need to pay for Xiaohui's tuition fees, once we move out, we won't have any more money to rent a house and there will be no income. So I asked the developer if they could temporarily provide a storefront that can continue to operate as a clinic. The cost can be deducted from the demolition compensation. Originally, based on the area, we were eligible for a three-bedroom apartment, but I told the developer that as long as they provide me with a temporary storefront, I can accept a two-bedroom apartment instead."

  "Is it that the developer disagrees?"

  Yan Qingcheng nodded, and Cong Ye discovered that her eyes were slightly red around the edges.

  "What's next?"

  "In order to help Xiao Hui with her tuition fees, I can only temporarily stay here for now, and didn't say that I would become a nail household. However, the developer repeatedly urged me, and two months ago, they even sent some social thugs to harass me continuously. The person who came last night was also sent by the developer."

  "Sister-in-law, how can you say that even if they were just ordinary people, they are still martyrs? Doesn't the government care?"

  "I went to the street office and also went to the district armed forces department, they also sent people out to negotiate with the developer, but it had no effect."

  "Does something like what happened last night happen often?"

  "This is the third time already."

  "Didn't your sister-in-law call the police?"

  "Reported every time, but no effect."

  "This is too much, how can this be?"

  "Never mind, Cong Ye, you just focus on recovering from your illness first and we'll talk about it later."

  Congye didn't say anything else, but instead slightly closed her eyes and thought of a solution.

  When he was discharged, the money he had on him was less than 3,000 yuan in total, which couldn't solve any problems. Not to mention helping his sister-in-law rent a medical building, it's likely that even his own medical expenses wouldn't be enough. What should he do? Should he call out to his comrades in the army? Before Cong Ye could think clearly, he heard a strange and eerie voice coming from the entrance of the medical building. Cong Ye opened his eyes and looked over, and surprisingly, it was the middle-aged man who had come to the medical building first last night.

  Wearing a pair of glasses and casual clothes, he gives people a refined and elegant feeling no matter how you look at him.

  "Yan, don't think the police will always help you. You reported it to them, didn't you? The first two times they just detained you for three days. This time, as you wished, you were detained for five days. However, in the morning, your boss paid to get you out."

  As he looked up, he saw Congye lying on the small bed. A middle-aged man walked over and smiled at Congye:

  "Quite resilient, a veteran of the troops? Awesome, took such a heavy hit and woke up in just one night, tsk tsk, awesome, admirable."

  "You beasts."

  "Scold all you want, scold all you want. There will come a day when you won't even have the energy to scold people. Now, Sun certain is just here to inform you that as long as you don't move out, we'll be coming here every night to report."

  Having said that, he glanced at the two of them and turned around to leave with a flourish.

  "Is there really no king's law?"

  "You just arrived and don't know, I heard that this developer has a big background, in Guanhai City no one dares to offend him, he can almost walk sideways."

  "Sister-in-law, can I use your phone for a moment?"

  "Okay."

  Yan Qingcheng handed her phone to Cong Ye on the bed, only to find that his classmate's record was still in the luggage of the hotel.

  "Sister-in-law, I want to go back to the hotel."

  "Tell me the address and I'll go, how can you act independently in your current state?"

  There was no way, Cong Ye handed over the hotel address and room key to Yan Qingcheng. After Yan Qingcheng left with the door closed, Cong Ye dialed Liu Bin's phone number, which he still remembered from when they were demobilized together.

  "Hello, I'm Liu Bin, who are you?"

  "Liu Bin, I am Cong Ye."

  "Cong Ye, where are you? How could you leave without even drinking a toast?"

  "Oh, I have something urgent, so I'll leave first."

  "What's wrong? Do you need your brother's help?"

  "I called you today because I need something from you."

  "Among brothers, there's no need to ask if it's a big deal or not, just give orders."

  Liu Bin's response on the other end of the phone was crisp and righteous, giving Cong Ye a bit of confidence. Cong Ye had never thought of borrowing money from others, let alone asking for favors, this was the first time.

  "Liu Bin, I need some money, see if you can lend me some."

  "How much?"

  "It's just 10,000 to 20,000 yuan, I can pay you back within a year at most."

  "What's still not returned? Alright, I haven't left the barracks yet. Once I get back home, I'll think of a way to deal with it. You wait for my call."

  "Thanks Liu Bin, just make this call when the time comes."

  "Alright, I've taken note of it, see you later."

  Because Liu Bin had already agreed over the phone, when Yan Qingcheng went to retrieve her luggage, Cong Ye didn't call anyone else. Another reason was that he didn't want his sister-in-law to know about him borrowing money from others.

  "Congye, aren't you going to make a phone call?"

  "Oh, when sister-in-law left, I just remembered a phone number and had already dialed it. If someone calls sister-in-law to find me in the next two days, please trouble sister-in-law to let me know."

  Next, Cong Ye tried to recover the damage to his brain stem under Yan Qingcheng's guidance. Because he remembered what that so-called "Sun Mou" said in the morning, Cong Ye would occasionally glance at the door. By dusk, he was staring at the door all the time. On the contrary, Yan Qingcheng seemed to have relaxed a lot, as if it had never been a big deal.

  As expected, at 8 o'clock in the evening, those five people came to Qingcheng Medical Hall again. This time, Cong Ye did not listen to Yan Qingcheng's advice, but stood up and stood by the bed, watching Wu Ren's movements closely, fearing that they would harm his sister-in-law.

  "Hey kid, I heard you can take a beating, so let's give you some more practice."

  After finishing, the four young men instantly surrounded Cong Ye, pushing Yan Qingcheng away as she tried to come up and protect Cong Ye. They then punched and kicked Cong Ye repeatedly. Cong Ye couldn't even control his own balance, let alone fight back. Seeing Cong Ye curled up in pain on the ground, Yan Qingcheng squeezed in without regard for her own safety, lying on top of Cong Ye's body to shield his vital areas, especially the already injured brain stem area.

  Just as the four men's fists and feet were about to land on Yan Qingcheng's body, Cong Ye's eyes turned red with rage. He suddenly stood up and pulled Yan Qingcheng behind him to the edge of the small bed. However, due to his excessive force, Cong Ye's body instantly shot forward and he fell onto the four men's feet.

  Four people, eight feet, took turns trampling on Cong Ye's body, and after the five of them reluctantly left, Cong Ye's consciousness became a bit fuzzy again. However, this time Cong Ye gritted his teeth and persisted, not letting himself completely pass out. Seeing Yan Qing Cheng was about to pick up the phone to call the police, Cong Ye shouted:

  "Sister-in-law, forget it. It's no use."

  "I'm not calling the police, I'm calling 120 for an ambulance."

  Cong Ye crawled two steps on the ground and came to Yan Qingcheng's feet, making an effort to raise his head and say:

  "Sister-in-law, don't call an ambulance, I'm fine. It's just a flesh wound, lying down will be okay."

  Yan Qingcheng's eyes were red, ignoring Cong Ye's words, still dialing. Cong Ye looked anxious, stretched out his hand to grab Yan Qingcheng's foot and pulled hard. He pulled Yan Qingcheng who was dialing, almost falling onto Cong Ye's body.

  Cong Ye, how can you be cured if you don't go to the hospital?

  "Sister-in-law, isn't this just a clinic?"

  Yan Qingshan hesitated for a moment, then put down the phone, picked up the leaves on the ground, sat on the edge of the bed, personally helped Congye take off his sweater, brought over a basin of clear water, and first washed Congye's face. Then he took out cotton balls and red medicine, and began to clean up the bruises on Congye's body. After that, he also let Congye take off his long pants and treated the wounds on his legs before supporting Congye to the west room of the north house in the backyard.

  "You sleep in my bed, I'll go to the east room and sleep on Xiaohui's bed."

  "Sister-in-law, I'll just stay in that small bed at the clinic."

  "Listen, how can people live there?"