20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 878 Blood Exchange
The moment Jiang Lianheng fell, gunfire erupted again, and another bullet whistled through the air.

This time, everyone could see clearly that the bullet had hit Jiang Lianheng's shoulder. He swayed and fell heavily onto the podium.

Hai Xinnian was the first to react. He immediately drew his sidearm, darted onto the stage, identified the assassin in the crowd, and pulled the trigger.

Knowing that this was not a place to stay, the assassin took advantage of the chaos to fire two more shots to cover himself, and then turned around and tried to blend into the crowd.

The onlookers around him avoided him, but he didn't care. He just hung his right hand down and squeezed into wherever there were crowds.

With gunfire frequent and crowds dense, accidental injuries were inevitable.

In an instant, the people scattered in panic, shouting, "Murder! Murder!"

Boss Ren and his entourage, who were used to living in luxury, had never seen anything like this before. As soon as they heard the gunshots, they immediately turned around and rushed into the Hengshe Hall, closing both doors behind them.

On the podium, Hai Xinnian did not linger.

Unsure if there were any other assassins at the scene, he quickly bent down after firing the shot and dragged Jiang Lianheng along the steps behind the podium.

Wang Zhengnan had been waiting at the bottom of the steps for a while. As soon as he saw the New Year approaching, he quickly stepped forward to help Jiang Lianheng settle in a secluded corner below the stage.

"Where did it hit?" Wang Zhengnan asked urgently.

Hai Xinnian shook his head and also looked up and down.

The gunshot wound on his left shoulder goes without saying, but looking further down from his shoulder, one can see that Jiang Lianheng's abdomen has already been stained with blood.

"Godfather? Godfather!"

Hai Xinnian hurriedly pressed his hand against his godfather's wound, and blood slowly flowed through his fingers. When the cold wind blew, it instantly congealed into ochre-red patches.

Jiang Lianheng lay in his adopted son's arms, his eyes somewhat blank and empty.

He didn't grimace or cry out in pain; he looked like he had just woken up, slightly dazed. After a moment, he said, "For the New Year, ask your godmother to come see me..."

"Coming right away, coming right away!"

Hai Xinnian quickly gave a few perfunctory replies, then looked up and asked, "Second Uncle, where's the car?"

Wang Zhengnan stood up and called out loudly, "Xifeng, quickly tell someone to bring the car over!"

In fact, Li Zhengxi had wanted to lead his men to charge over for a long time.

Unfortunately, he had been trapped in place by the surrounding people while distributing millet. After the gunshot, he was going against the flow of people and couldn't get close for a while. In desperation, he simply punched down a few pedestrians, then drew his pistol, pointed it at the sky, and pulled the trigger several times to clear a path through the crowd.

The brothers followed closely behind, and when they heard Nanfeng shouting, they fired warning shots to disperse the crowd and led the Jiang family's car to the vicinity of the preaching platform.

Li Zhengxi rushed to a corner off the stage. Upon seeing Jiang Lianheng's injuries, his blood surged, his neck bulged with veins, and he hurriedly asked:
"Where is he? Where did he go?"

"They ran over there!"

Hai Xinnian turned his head and raised his chin, his hands still pressing firmly on Jiang Lianheng's wound.

"Damn it!" Li Zhengxi suddenly jumped up, making a move to lead his men to chase after them.

Unexpectedly, Wang Zhengnan hurriedly stopped him, saying, "Xifeng, don't chase after him!"

"Not going to chase?" Li Zhengxi's eyes widened.

Wang Zhengnan nodded and said, "At least you can't chase after him. It's so chaotic here, how can you be sure there aren't any other assassins around? Everything else is about saving our brother. You have to be responsible for getting him safely to the hospital!"

Li Zhengxi then realized what was happening.

At this point, catching the assassin in time is no longer the most urgent matter.

"You two, hurry up and go over there to arrest him!" Li Zhengxi turned around and ordered his men behind him, "The rest of you, come with me to carry the boss into the car. You lead the way to Shengjing Hospital, hurry up!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the car door not far away opened.

At this point, Jiang Lianheng's mind was already somewhat clouded.

He tilted his head and looked at Hai Xinnian, wanting to say something, but when the words reached his lips, he seemed to have forgotten them.

Hai Xinnian knew what his godfather was thinking, so he nodded and said, "Godfather, don't worry, my godmother will be here soon."

So Jiang Lianheng turned his head away and stopped looking at him.

Li Zhengxi dared not delay. With Hai Xinnian's help, he put his arms around Jiang Lianheng, pushed off with his feet, stood up, and ran towards the car, saying as he walked, "Xinnian, hurry home and report the news! Second brother, you sit in the passenger seat, I'll keep watch in the back!"

Wang Zhengnan followed Xifeng to the car and helped Jiang Lianheng settle down, but said, "I'm not going. There's not enough time. Let's split up and go back to report the news in the New Year. You take my brother to the hospital, and I'll go to the guild hall to call the various counters. It's not necessarily safe at home either. We need to tell the brothers to make preparations quickly."

"Alright!"

Li Zhengxi nodded, then closed the car door and shouted to the driver, "Go! Go!"

At a command, the brothers fired warning shots again, and the surrounding crowd shouted and quickly cleared the road.

Immediately afterwards, several more skilled men stood on the car's running board, drew their sidearms, and escorted the vehicle.

The driver slammed on the gas, speeding recklessly along the way, ignoring any pedestrians passing by, cursing that they deserved to be hit and killed, and sped straight towards Shengjing Shi Hospital.

The other brothers ran behind, naturally unable to catch up, but fortunately they all knew where the destination was, so they just kept running towards it.

When I arrived at Shi Hospital, even though it was almost the end of the year, there were still many patients in the lobby seeking treatment.

Li Zhengxi, carrying Jiang Lianheng, stood ramrod straight as he rushed into the hall, shouting urgently, "A doctor, a doctor!"

A commotion immediately broke out in the hall.

Seeing that Xifeng was carrying someone in his arms and that there were a few drops of blood where he walked, the nurse quickly pushed over a mobile hospital bed.

Li Zhengxi put Jiang Lianheng down and shouted, "It's a gunshot wound! Get him treated quickly! Where's the operating room? Hurry up and get him there!"

The nurse said, "Go over there and pay first."

Li Zhengxi hurriedly took out all the money from his pocket and handed it to his brother to handle. Then he urged, "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and get to the operating room. Are there any foreign doctors today?"

"Foreign doctors charge higher fees, so you'll have to pay extra."

"Saving lives is the priority, so hurry up! I'm right here, do you think I'd renege on my debt?"

"You still have to pay first, that's the rule."

"Fuck your rules! If you utter another word, I'll shoot you dead!"

Li Zhengxi drew his sidearm and pressed the muzzle against the nurse's forehead.

The nurses were immediately dumbfounded, frozen in place, unsure of what to say.

Li Zhengxi warned, "Do you know who he is? He's Jiang Lianheng! If you keep arguing with me and delay the rescue, I'll fucking send you to your grave!"

The nurses were quite surprised. Looking down again, they were filled with fear. It turned out that this was none other than Boss Jiang from Fengtian City. They were all a little scared.

Just then, a doctor suddenly ran over in the corridor.

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw that the person who came was a blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigner.

The foreign doctor had originally intended to come over and inquire about the situation, but upon seeing the injured person on the hospital bed, he immediately exclaimed in English, "Jesus Christ, isn't this Mr. Jiang? Quickly, take him to the operating room!"

It's easier to see the King of Hell than to deal with his underlings. This principle of human nature has never changed, no matter when or where.

The foreign doctor never mentioned money, not only because he had met Jiang Lianheng before, but also because Jiang Lianheng was one of the financial backers of Shi Hospital.

It's said that the dozens of beds in this hospital were donated by Jiang Lianheng in the past.

Over the past decade or so, the Jiang family has donated a considerable amount of money to organizations such as churches, hospitals, and schools. Although their initial intention was not to do good deeds but to spend money to buy a reputation, if we judge by their actions rather than their intentions, the Jiang family has indeed made many contributions to Shengjing Shi Hospital.

The foreign doctor didn't want anything to happen to such a wealthy client, so he immediately called in his expert colleagues and did everything he could to save Jiang Lianheng.

Li Zhengxi rushed towards the operating room with the crowd, only to be coldly turned away like all the other patients' families.

The nurse told him to rest in the corridor for a while.

Li Zhengxi was far from at ease, so he paced around outside the door like a millstone, occasionally peering through the crack in the door.

While worrying about him, he also wondered who was trying to assassinate Jiang Lianheng.

The first thought that came to mind was naturally Qin Huaimeng's remnants, but Qin Huaimeng had been dead for quite some time. If one were to avenge him, it would have to be one of Qin's staunch brothers.

The problem is, Lao Ye and the others have already been buried alive, so could there be any survivors?

However, even if there were any who escaped, what kind of great favor would it take for that assassin to take the risk and return to Fengtian alone to seek revenge?

Li Zhengxi frowned, then thought that it was possible that Japan was behind this.

After all, the Jiang family's burning of Qingqiu Society and shooting of Qin Huaimeng had aroused considerable dissatisfaction with the Japanese police department. Saito Rokuro regarded them as a thorn in his side, and even Takeda Shin seemed to have lost patience with Jiang Lianheng and tried to win over Qin Huaimeng instead.

A thousand and one thoughts surged into my mind.

It's not that the enemy is too strong, but that the enemy is hiding in the shadows, and you don't even know who the enemy is for a while.

As I was thinking, the operating room door suddenly opened.

The female nurse peeked out and looked around the corridor.

Seeing this, Li Zhengxi quickly went over and asked anxiously, "Where is the doctor? How is my brother now?"

The nurse said, "Mr. Jiang needs an emergency blood transfusion now."

"What blood transfusion?"

"Mr. Jiang has lost too much blood and needs someone to donate blood. Don't you understand?"

It's no wonder Xifeng couldn't understand; there are only a handful of hospitals in China that have mastered blood testing and donation technology, let alone any actual application cases.

Of course, blood transfusion is not difficult; the difficulty lies in how to preserve the blood.

It wasn't until two or three years ago that Peking Union Medical College Hospital introduced Western technology to preserve blood for emergency use by the wounded.

Even so, cases of blood transfusions remain extremely rare.

Fengtian had not yet established a blood bank, so if blood was needed, it could only be tested on the spot.

Upon hearing the explanation, Li Zhengxi immediately began unbuttoning his shirt and taking off his clothes without saying a word, volunteering, "Take mine, take more!"

The nurse quickly stopped him, saying, "Sir, your blood might not be effective."

"Whose blood is that?"

"Anyone could be involved."

The nurse tilted her head, looked behind Xifeng, and asked, "Are all those people yours?"

Li Zhengxi nodded and said, "Yes, they are all our brothers."

"Have them all come for testing."

"Alright, all of you, come here and listen to this nurse. Do whatever she tells you to do!"

The crowd stepped forward in response, but their steps were slow, and they seemed somewhat reluctant.

Li Zhengxi then asked, "Are there enough people?"

The nurse counted the number of people, including Xifeng, there were six in total, then shook her head and said, "I don't know either. If we're lucky, these people will be enough, but until the test results come out, we really can't determine whose blood can be used."

"Five or six more will be coming later. Should I call some more?"

"Of course, the more the better, preferably young people. How many can you call?"

"You don't need to worry about that. Does the hospital have a phone?"

"There's one in the dean's office."

"Which floor?"

"Third floor."

Li Zhengxi nodded, then instructed his men, "You all go with her quickly. I'll go upstairs to call for help and I'll be back in a bit. Remember, whoever can save the boss's life will be guaranteed a life of wealth and honor!"

After saying that, he immediately turned around and ran towards the stairs.

Despite this, the crowd's spirits were not high.

Don't be fooled by the fact that these guys are all online hustlers, with pistols on their belts, and willing to kill for the Jiang family. But when they heard about the blood test, they felt a little apprehensive. They thought the foreign doctor was going to harm them, and then they thought about things like blood essence, filial piety, and the soul. For the sake of saving face, even though they were unwilling, they still went with the nurse in the end.

When they arrived at the blood collection room, even these strong, upright men needed the gentle comfort of the young girl.

The nurse applied tourniquets to their wrists, then inserted needles into their veins, saying impatiently, "It's alright, you're all young and strong, in good physical condition. Just two tubes won't interfere with anything when you go home, and you can even produce blood yourself!"

"If it can produce blood, why do we have to donate blood?"

"That's a good point. If the rate of blood production can't keep up with the rate of blood loss, then of course you have to get a blood transfusion to keep the person alive."

"Does that mean we're destined to die young?"

The crowd looked uneasy and quickly asked a couple more questions.

Without looking up, the nurse said, "Oh dear, what's with all this talk about short lifespans? That's so ignorant! Drawing blood occasionally is good for your health. Come on, it's your turn. Sit down here."

Someone responded and came over, took off their cotton-padded coat, rolled up their sleeves, and couldn't help but lick their lips.

The nurse ignored her, quietly pushed the needle in, drew some blood, and immediately handed it to a colleague next to her for testing.

"Is this the end?"

The man pressed his hand to his elbow, hesitated for a moment, and finally couldn't help but speak up: "Nurse, I want to ask you something."

"Come on, hurry up!" the nurse said, gesturing to the other men. "Just tell me what you want to ask."

The man pursed his lips and then asked a rather ignorant and naive question.

"Nurse, if a person's entire body is replaced with someone else's blood, are they still the same person?"

(End of this chapter)