A hundred flavors of life

Chapter 1360 Bao Yifan: I Want to Play a Joke on Him! (Please Subscribe!)
Andy hung up the phone and wanted to go to the hospital to check on the child, while Hua Shier wanted to see what was going on. The two immediately agreed and turned the car around to drive to the hospital.

On the way to the hospital, Hua Shier told Andy:
"Don't be a pushover when the time comes. That brat has parents and grandparents, so you don't need to worry about him. If you lend them money, ninety-nine percent of the debt will still fall on Fan Shengmei!"

Andy frowned slightly: "This isn't a good idea. The child is injured; what if Fan Xiaomei asks me for money?"

Hua Twelve chuckled:
"If Fan Shengmei really doesn't know what's good for her and still wants to borrow money, that's easy to handle. Doesn't her family still have a house? Just let them use that house as collateral, and that's it."

Andy looked conflicted: "But if they can't pay back the money, then they really won't have a house!"

Hua Twelve laughed:

"You're usually such a smart person, how come you can't get it right now!"

"If they can't pay back the money and still borrow from you, aren't they just determined to rip you off? You feel good about being ripped off by them, right?"

Some things are fine if they are not pointed out, but once they are exposed, everything becomes wrong. For example, some families raise money for their child's medical expenses on a crowdfunding platform, only to find out that the family owns two houses and a car.

Isn't this situation a case of having the means but taking advantage of others' kindness to make those kind people pay for it?

Hua Twelve continued:

"Besides, look at how Fan Shengmei's mother behaved today. That old woman doesn't know how to be grateful at all!"

“I lent them money so that Fan Shengmei’s father could have surgery as soon as possible. They should be grateful to me no matter what. But because of the mortgage issue, that old woman didn’t give me a good look. When we were leaving, she kept muttering that Fan Shengmei had made a bad choice of friends!”

Andy nodded:

“You’re right, so we’ll listen to you. It’s good to have Fan Shengmei’s brother and sister-in-law show up too. It’s better than letting Fan Shengmei shoulder all the burdens in their family. I think it’s really pitiful for Fan Shengmei to live in such a patriarchal family!”

Hua Twelve laughed upon hearing this:

"There's a saying that might not be entirely true, but I think it applies to Fan Shengmei: 'Every pitiful person has something hateful about them!' Her family owns two houses, one of which she paid the down payment for, but neither of them belongs to Fan Shengmei. She still has to send money home every month. She's thirty years old and hasn't saved a single penny. Does she not know this situation? Of course she does, but she's happy to accept it!"

"She wants to marry a rich man. People think she's trying to snag a rich husband, but that's not true. She just wants to find a bloodsucker to suck the blood of her whole family!"

"Otherwise, with the laws being so comprehensive now, if she doesn't want to be ripped off by her family, no one can force her, so you don't need to feel sorry for her!"

It was the same hospital where Fan's father was staying. When Hua Shier and Andy arrived, Qiu Yingying and Guan Juer were already there.

Outside the operating room, Fan's mother and Fan Shengmei were crying and sobbing, while Qiu Yingying and Guan Juer comforted them.

Andy came over and asked with concern, "How is the child?"

Fan's mother cried out, "Why is our family so unlucky!"

Fan Shengmei choked up and couldn't speak.

Qiu Yingying pulled the two aside to talk, so as not to provoke Fan Shengmei and her daughter.

When they got closer, Qiu Yingying said with a heavy heart:

"Lei Lei was badly injured. When I saw him, his face was scratched raw, the flesh was torn open, and there was blood all over his face and hands. I didn't dare to look at him for long."

Guan Juer nodded vigorously, her face pale, clearly terrified as well.

Andy frowned and said, "How could this happen?"

Qiu Yingying shook her head: "I don't know either. Guan Guan and I were playing games at the boss's house when we got a call from the property management and ran downstairs. Lei Lei was already injured!"

Hua Shierchao's three daughters said:

“I’ve said before that stray cats are risky, but for it to be as serious as Qiu Yingying described, I suspect there’s something else we don’t know!”

Just then, Manager Zhao from the property management company arrived in a hurry with two of their staff members.

Upon seeing Hua Twelve there, he immediately nodded in greeting:
"Mr. Wang is here too!"

Hua Shier nodded in response: "Manager Zhao is here because of the child, right? You go ahead with your work!"

Upon seeing Manager Zhao, Fan Shengmei wiped away her tears and immediately went to greet him:
"Manager Zhao, my nephew was scratched by a stray cat in our Joyful Song residential community. Your property management company also bears responsibility!"

When Fan's mother heard that it was the property manager who had come, she stopped crying, got up, and went over to argue:
"It's all your fault! If anything happens to my grandson, I'll never forgive you!"

Manager Zhao explained to Fan Shengmei:

"Ms. Fan, I understand your feelings about your child being injured, but we have already reviewed the surveillance footage, and this is not the responsibility of our property management!"

Fan Shengmei immediately became anxious: "Manager Zhao, what do you mean?"

Fan's mother grabbed Manager Zhao's clothes and started tearing at them:
"You're trying to shirk responsibility, aren't you? I'll fight you to the death!"

Manager Zhao, like a scholar encountering a soldier, couldn't reason with him, so he quickly said to Fan Shengmei:

"Miss Fan, quickly pull your mother away. Let's talk things over calmly!"

Fan Shengmei ignored them with red eyes, clearly dissatisfied with the property management company's attempt to shirk responsibility.

Hua Shier couldn't stand it any longer: "What are you all making a scene for? You're interfering with the doctor's treatment of the child. Let's see what you do about it!"

Upon hearing this, Fan's mother immediately stopped making a scene, but she still wouldn't let go of Manager Zhao.

Manager Zhao said to Fan Shengmei, "Ms. Fan, I brought the surveillance footage with me. You can see for yourself by watching the footage!"

He then instructed the employees who had followed him to take out their phones and play the surveillance footage stored on them.

The girls on the 22nd floor all wanted to see what had happened, so they all gathered around to watch.

Manager Zhao pulled up the surveillance video and played it on the spot. The video was probably edited to show the time period of the incident. At the beginning, Fan's mother was seen taking Lei Lei for a walk in the community.

Then Lei Lei seemed to see something and quickly ran out of the frame. What followed was a scene captured by another camera.

Lei Lei ran to the lawn, where there were two cat food bowls and seven or eight stray cats were eating the food that cat lovers in the community had given them. Ironically, there was a sign from the property management company prohibiting feeding stray cats right next to them.

The surveillance footage shows that Lei Lei, perhaps finding it amusing, ran over and kicked over a cat food bowl, startling several cats who raised their tails, arched their backs, and jumped away, then hissed at him from a distance.

At this moment, Fan's mother slowly followed, seemingly unconcerned about what was happening before her eyes. She simply waved to Lei Lei, as if calling him over.

Lei Lei completely ignored Fan's mother's calls and kicked over the remaining cat food bowl with another kick, seemingly quite pleased with himself.

But at this moment, a tabby cat did not run away like the other stray cats, but pounced directly on Lei Lei.

As soon as this cat moved, the other stray cats seemed to receive a command and swarmed to attack Lei Lei, frantically scratching and biting at the exposed skin on its face and arms.

Lei Lei was tackled to the ground and cried out in pain.

It was only then that Fan's mother realized the situation was dire and ran over screaming. The stray cats scattered in all directions, but by then, Lei Lei's exposed skin was covered in blood, a truly gruesome sight, as seen on the surveillance footage.

After reading this, everyone was speechless. All they could say was that behind every bratty kid is a bratty parent, and perhaps more than one.

The girls' gazes towards Fan's mother changed. "Your grandson kicked the cat bowl, didn't you see? You were just walking around with your hands behind your back, so unhurried. Oh, the stray cat is retaliating against your grandson, and you're getting anxious, blaming this and that. If you ask us, we'll blame you!"

Manager Zhao said to Fan Shengmei:

"Ms. Fan, you saw it, right? It was your child who kicked over the cat bowl and was attacked by the stray cat. Also, your mother was there at the time and didn't stop your child's behavior, so she also bears a lot of responsibility."

Fan Shengmei looked at her mother and complained, "Mom, Lei Lei has been so naughty, why didn't you do anything about him back then!"

Feeling the gazes of others, Fan's mother felt somewhat guilty, but upon hearing her daughter also complain about her, she immediately retorted angrily:

"You're blaming me too, aren't you? Your dad had surgery today, and I was so panicked. I was in a daze, and I still had to take care of the kids. Do you know how hard it was for me? Waaaaah!"

She then burst into tears.

At that moment, the operating room door opened, and the doctor came out, complaining, "This is a hospital, can't you all be quiet!"

Fan Shengmei quickly asked, "Doctor, how is my nephew?"

The doctor said directly:

"The situation is not good. Although the patient is not in life-threatening danger, the patient has scratches of varying degrees on the face and hands!"

"There is a deep laceration on his right cheek, extending to the periosteum, from his brow bone!"

"There are two serious injuries: the upper eyelid of the left eye was completely scratched through, the cornea was scratched, and the web of the hand was cut by a cat's claw, which injured the flexor tendon on the inside of the wrist and the superficial branch of the radial nerve."

"We have already disinfected and cleaned the patient's wound. Now we need to discuss the next steps of the surgery with your family!"

Fan Shengmei was extremely anxious and choked up as she said, "Please tell me!"

The doctor began to explain the pros and cons in detail:
"First, there's the facial plastic surgery suturing. The child is still young, and we want to avoid scarring on the face as much as possible. Therefore, the facial wounds cannot be simply sutured. We must have a plastic surgeon perform cosmetic suturing using extremely fine sutures to minimize scarring. This cost is much higher than regular suturing."

"Of course, if your financial situation doesn't allow it, you can use regular sutures!"

Mother Fan quickly said, "We'll use cosmetic sutures!"

The doctor nodded and continued:

"Even with cosmetic sutures, you'll still need more than one reconstructive plastic surgery procedure in the future!"

"In addition, corneal abrasions require corneal debridement and suturing. After the surgery, long-term use of eye drops to promote corneal growth and anti-inflammatory drugs is necessary, which is quite expensive. If the lacrimal gland is damaged or eyelid deformity is caused, a second surgery will be required. Otherwise, it will affect vision or even lead to facial disability."

Both Fan's mother and Fan Shengmei shed tears.

The doctor, who was used to this kind of thing, continued:

"Repairing the ruptured tendons and nerves in the wrist requires microsurgery. And judging from the patient's injury, the hand will be stiff after the surgery, requiring long-term, professional rehabilitation therapy. Otherwise, hand function, such as grasping and sensation, may be permanently damaged. Rehabilitation costs are calculated per course of treatment and can accumulate to a considerable amount." Fan Shengmei, her eyes red, asked weakly:

"Doctor, how much would all of these cost?"

The doctor estimated:
"The cost of the emergency treatment just now, plus the subsequent surgery, hospitalization, medication, and rehabilitation and other treatments, should all come up to 150,000 yuan!"

Everyone in Ode to Joy was somewhat surprised, not expecting that the treatment cost for the child's cat scratch would be more expensive than the surgery for Fan's father.

Fan's mother almost fainted, but fortunately Fan Shengmei caught her. Once she regained her senses, she cried out:
"Where would we get that much money? How did everything all come together like this? This is going to kill me!"

The doctor quickly said:

"I'm referring to the cost including follow-up treatment. You can pay the surgery fee now; it won't cost that much, so we can arrange the surgery!"

"Corneal repair and eyelid reconstruction will cost about 30,000 yuan, and hand nerve and tendon anastomosis will cost about 25,000 yuan. In addition, there will be vaccines and immunoglobulins. For the tetanus immunoglobulin, you will pay 60,000 yuan first, and any overpayment will be refunded and any underpayment will be collected!"

"As for the subsequent treatment costs, you can figure that out yourself!"

Fan's mother immediately knelt down before the cast of Ode to Joy:

"You're all Xiaomei's friends, you have to help us! We have nothing left, we're truly at our wits' end."

Andy, Qiu, and Guan rushed forward to help the old lady up, but she refused to get up and even made Fan Shengmei kneel down with her.

Fan Shengmei bit her lip, her eyes red, and remained silent.

Manager Zhao of Hua Shierchao said:
"Look, I told you to clean up those stray cats a long time ago. There have been precedents before. Now look what's happened. Don't say you're not responsible. If this goes to court, your property management company will at least be held partially responsible for failing to fulfill its safety obligations!"

Seeing that Hua Shier had spoken, Manager Zhao turned to Fan Shengmei, whose eyes were full of expectation, and said:

"Since Mr. Wang has spoken, and you've certainly had a tough time, we, the property management, will state that we're willing to cover 30% of the treatment costs. If you don't agree, then let's take it to court!"

Fan Shengmei nodded vigorously. She knew that the main responsibility lay with her mother for failing to fulfill her guardianship duties, and going to court would likely end there.

Hua Shierchao said to Fan Shengmei:
"You can ask Manager Zhao to help you check the surveillance footage and see who, besides Qu Xiaoxiao, regularly feeds the stray cats. They were all cleaned up last time, but they've come out again this time. Those who feed the cats also have to be held responsible. If we go to court, these people will have to bear at least 10% of the responsibility!"

Fan Shengmei burst into tears of joy, which saved her a lot of money: "Bai Chuan, thank you so much, I don't know what to do!"

Mother Fan said, "That's still not enough, Bai Chuan. We shouldn't trouble two people with one matter. Why don't you lend us the rest of the money?"

Hua Twelve chuckled:
"What are you saying? That child isn't mine either. If it were mine, I would have slapped him long ago. How dare he flirt with cats and dogs? I'd beat him to death!"

"Don't even think about getting money from me. But you still have a house at home, you can use it as collateral!"

Fan's mother immediately shook her head:

"I won't agree. If that house is mortgaged, where will my whole family live?"

Hua Shier chuckled and asked jokingly, "You can't live in a rented house? Is your house more important than your grandson?"

Seeing that he couldn't reason with her, Fan's mother turned to Andy:

"Daughter, I know this little bit of money is nothing to you, but please help Xiaomei out!"

Andy, recalling what Hua had told her on Route 12, said:
"Auntie, Fan Xiaomei is just the child's aunt. With such a serious incident happening to the child, you need to notify his parents to come and handle it!"

Fan Shengmei realized what was happening and immediately took out her phone to send a message to her brother and sister-in-law, telling them that their son was waiting to have surgery at this hospital.

Upon learning that his son was injured, the other party immediately replied:
"Your sister-in-law and I will be there soon!"

Fan Shengmei was taken aback. There was no need to ask; her brother and sister-in-law were also in Shanghai.

She told everyone what had happened, and Andy said:

"I can lend you the money, but the borrower cannot be Fan Xiaomei. You either need to use the property as collateral, or you need to get Fan Xiaomei's brother and sister-in-law, her aunt, and other members of your family to sign an IOU for me!"

As soon as she said that, everyone understood what she meant: she didn't want the debt to fall on Fan Shengmei.

It was unclear whether Fan's mother didn't understand or was pretending not to:
"Girl, Xiaomei just needs to sign. Do you think she won't pay you back? Saving a life is like putting out a fire!"

The doctor, who was standing nearby, finally understood what was going on. He looked at Fan Shengmei with pity and said:
"Auntie, although the surgery needs to be done as soon as possible, a little more time won't make a difference. We can wait for the child's parents to arrive!"

Mother Fan's face darkened, and she had nothing to say.

About half an hour later, a middle-aged couple in their forties rushed over. They were Fan Shengmei's brother and sister-in-law, Fan Shengying and her husband.

Upon hearing the current situation, the couple fainted, and the scene descended into chaos.

Hua Shier sneered, "It's alright, just press the philtrum, press it hard!"

As he spoke, he pressed down on Fan Shengying's philtrum and snapped both of her front teeth.

Fan Shengying's mouth was full of blood, and she suddenly screamed:
"What are you doing? Are you trying to kill someone? Pui pui!" He spat out two front teeth, then looked like he was about to cry.

"You can press my philtrum if you want, but you've knocked out my front teeth! How do you explain that?"

Hua Shier gave a cold laugh:
"I'm saving you, otherwise you would have bitten your tongue and committed suicide, understand? Get out of the way, I'll save your wife too!"

As soon as he finished speaking, his sister-in-law, who was leaning against Fan Shengmei's chest, sat up abruptly and said awkwardly:

"Well, I'm awake, so I won't bother you any longer, buddy!"

Everyone then realized that the couple didn't want to write an IOU and were just pretending to be confused, so they all looked at them with disdain.

Andy also lost her temper: "Fine, I don't want any IOUs from you now. If you want to borrow money, use the property certificate as collateral!"

No matter how they tried to persuade her, it didn't work, so they had no choice but to compromise.

Fan Shengmei's parents came out to escape debt and flee their home. They had all their valuables on them, and both property deeds were kept at apartment 2202. One of them had already been used as collateral. Fan Shengmei promised to give the remaining one to Andy when she returned.

Fan Shengying only then realized that her house had been mortgaged, and she angrily went to confront Fan Shengmei:

"Xiaomei, how could you collude with outsiders to cheat your own family? Get my property certificate back right now!"

Before Brother Fan could finish speaking, he was struck down by a large slap, which was Hua Twelve's doing.

Sister-in-law Fan shouted, "Why are you hitting people!"

Before Hua Shier could even change his stance, he swung his hand back and delivered another powerful blow, knocking Sister-in-law Fan to the ground again.

"Hitting someone? Was I hitting someone?"

"That money was for your father-in-law's medical treatment. How did it become a scam in your mouths? Don't you have any filial piety at all?"

Hua Shier pointed at Fan Shengying and her husband, who were still trying to explain:

"You two had better behave yourselves, or you'll be dumped into the Huangpu River in the middle of the night. Don't blame me for not warning you!"

Seeing Hua Shier and his wife, everyone in Ode to Joy felt a sense of satisfaction.

In the end, even after Fan Shengmei promised to use the property certificate as collateral, Andy still lent the money to her.

The property management company also offered 50,000 yuan and had the Fan family sign a "Compensation Agreement," promising that after receiving the compensation, they would no longer pursue the property management company's responsibility.

After the Fan family signed the agreement, the property management company immediately transferred 50,000 yuan to Fan Shengmei.

Andy also transferred 100,000 yuan to Fan Shengmei so she could pay for the child's surgery first.

Hua Shier and the others did not wait at the hospital, but went back to Joyful Ode to rest first. The next morning, they received a message from Fan Shengmei in the group, telling everyone that the surgery was successful and that the long recovery period was coming.

That afternoon, Bao Yifan had already obtained all the information that Hua Shier had made public.

Xiao Baozong sat in the presidential suite of the Hyatt on the Bund, his brows slightly furrowed:

"This Wang Baichuan is like a hedgehog, covered in thorns!"

He felt unable to bring himself to eat.

After looking at the documents for a while, Bao Yifan suddenly noticed the investigation data on Wang Baichuan's interpersonal relationships and then discovered what Fan Shengmei's family had been going through these past two days.

He raised an eyebrow, a hint of joy flashing in his eyes.

He waved his hand and instructed his assistant, "Contact the Fan family and tell them we can help them out of their predicament!"

That evening, apart from Fan Shengmei's sister-in-law who was taking care of two patients at the hospital, Fan's mother, Fan Shengying, and Fan Shengmei all stood in front of Bao Yifan.

Mr. Bao greeted us with a smile: "Please sit down. I know you're in trouble. I can help you and lend you money, the kind you don't have to pay back, but I have conditions!"

Fan Shengying's eyes lit up when she heard that the loan didn't need to be repaid: "Boss Bao, we're both from Nantong! I've heard so much about you. Just tell me if you need any help, and I'll definitely do my best!"

"it is good!"

Bao Yifan took out a photo of 'Wang Baichuan':
"You're all familiar with this person, right? I want to play a little joke on him, and you guys have to help me!"

Fan Shengmei sensed something was wrong:

"Mr. Bao, what kind of joke are you referring to? How can we help you?"

Bao Yifan said with a smile;
"This Wang Baichuan has a certificate, right? I want to help him make it seem real for a while, scare him a bit, and make him disappear for a few days so it will be easier for me to pursue Andy!"

Thanks to 08a, Little Tiger of the Demon Realm, and Brother Li Meng of the God of Death for their donations, and thanks to the brothers who voted for monthly tickets and recommendations. Thank you very much.