Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 759 A Year Away, You've Matured, You Need to Work Harder
When Guan Lei and Wu Haiquan entered the hospital, Wei Lai had already been wheeled into the operating room. Li Fuqiang, Lü Mazi, and the others were squatting or standing at the door. There was an old man lying on a trolley nearby. At this moment, Lü Mazi, Xiao Liu, and the other three were frowning and restless. Although they had brought Wei Lai to the hospital, the treatment would still cost money.

At this moment, Guan Lei walked over and said, "You don't need to worry about the money. Let's take this old man for a check-up first."

Wu Haiquan waved his hand: "Come with me, there's nothing you can do by waiting here."

Xiao Liu glanced at the group and nodded slightly: "Thank you."

In fact, he was the second-in-command in Wei Lai's gang because he was related to Wei Lai. He was apparently the son of Wei Lai's maternal uncle and the sixth son in his uncle's family.

Wu Haiquan led them to an office, where they exchanged a few words with a doctor before the doctor began examining the old man.

After examining him, the doctor said, "His leg can't be cured, but he can take some medicine to relieve the symptoms. When he's not feeling well, he can rub his knee and hip joint with a lit bottle of alcohol. He should be able to walk around in the spring, right?"

Xiao Liu nodded: "Yes! I spend most of the year lying on the kang (a heated brick bed), and when I suddenly stand up, I can't walk because I say my legs are weak."

The doctor shook his head and sighed, "His leg muscles have atrophied. How can he walk? Here's what we'll do: when you get back, when you have some free time, massage his muscles and get him moving around a bit. Don't let him just lie on the bed all the time."

Wu Haiquan chimed in, "Brother Meng, could you prescribe some medicine? Just something to help him fall asleep."

"Take some painkillers? But you can't take too many of these, just half a tablet at a time. You need to quit smoking and drinking while taking this medicine."

Xiao Liu glanced at Guan Lei, who smiled and said, "Brother Meng, then please prescribe some painkillers, thank you."

"Don't be so polite, doesn't he also need to be hospitalized?"

"Yeah, the person who came with him went into the operating room."

The doctor said, "You can stay in room 208. There are three beds in the room. You can leave someone to take care of the patient on the empty bed. It won't cost any extra money. I won't arrange for anyone else to stay there until you are discharged."

"Okay, thank you so much..."

Although Wu Haiquan was a minor leader in the coal mine, his father, Wu Zhouliang, had many connections in the mine. Xu Ning had previously asked him for help in treating Chen Hedong's older brother, and the person who was now performing the surgery on Wei Lai was his mentor.

After the doctor's visit, the old man was wheeled to the ward, leaving Lu Mazi and one other person to accompany him. The rest of the people went to the operating room on the first floor to wait. About six or seven minutes later, the operating room door was opened, and a young doctor came out and glanced at the crowd.

"Xiao Quan'er, the guy inside is taking a long time to heal. The shoulder wound has been treated, but there are a bunch of lead pellets above his knee. If they aren't all removed, he'll definitely suffer from chronic injuries in the future."

Wu Haiquan smiled and said, "Okay, then I'll trouble you. What would you like to eat? I'll go buy it now."

"No need, I just finished eating not long ago. It's getting dark already. You haven't eaten yet, have you? Go eat first. I reckon it'll be more than an hour before you can pay. I need to sign something in a bit."

After saying that, the doctor turned and went back to the operating room.

Guan Lei then said, "I'll go pay the bill..."

"Let's go together, the payment slip is with me."

Xiao Liu followed Guan Lei and Wu Haiquan to the payment counter, and was immediately dumbfounded when he heard that it would cost 36.8 yuan.

He didn't expect the surgery to be so expensive. Although it included some painkillers, painkillers only cost a few dollars.
Guan Lei paid the fees without saying anything, then turned around and handed the bill to Xiao Liu, saying, "I've prepaid for seven days of hospitalization and anti-inflammatory injections. You can stay at the hospital and keep watch over him. Here's the money, it's a little over 20 yuan, that should be enough for your food and drink these days."

Xiao Liu was a little confused and asked, "W-what do you mean?"

"How can I have that much time to stay in the hospital with you all? Now that I've done everything I can, I want to leave, and you can't stop me, can you?"

"No, no, that's not what I meant. I wanted to ask you what you're going to do with the money?"

"Don't you six need to eat while you're in the hospital? Do you have any money in your pockets?"

"No... I... you've made me speechless."

Wu Haiquan patted Xiao Liu on the shoulder with a smile and said, "What's wrong with not knowing how to speak? You should thank him. Besides, he's a local from Wanye, so it's only right that he helps you."

Xiao Liu fell silent for a moment, thinking to himself: If it weren't for those two shots you fired, my older brother wouldn't have had to suffer like this...

But then things took another turn. If they hadn't blocked the road, would Guan Lei and Li Fuqiang have fired their guns at Wei Lai?
As the saying goes, without a cause, there can be no effect.
"No need for thanks, anyway, I was the one who called your older brother."

Immediately afterwards, Guan Lei and Wu Haiquan left the payment counter, met up with Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu, and walked to the hospital entrance.

"Brother Quan, where are you going back to?"

Wu Haiquan said, "I have to wait a while until the doctor who performed the surgery is finished, then I'll take him to take a bath."

"Okay, my brother said you're going to Qing'an after the New Year?"

"Yeah, take your sister-in-law and the kids over for a couple of days. Hey, I heard Erning wants to open a whole auto repair shop? Is she short of money right now?"

Guan Lei scratched his head: "I don't know either. Anyway, my father-in-law and Uncle Lianfang invested 100,000 yuan. The Chai family in Wangxing also lent my brother more than 100,000 yuan. Whether they need it or not, my brother didn't say."

Wu Haiquan waved his hand and pouted: "Can I tell you about this? I called him last time and he said it was enough. I was thinking, if I wanted to open a car repair shop, wouldn't that cost four or five hundred thousand? The land alone would cost half of that..."

Li Fuqiang said, "He probably thought he'd talk to you about it during the New Year. You know he's very principled, while I'm not so quick-witted. Usually, we just do whatever he tells us to do. He doesn't talk to us about anything else."

"I know, you guys go back first, I'll go to Qing'an after the New Year."

"Okay..."

Just as Guan Lei and his two companions were about to leave, Xiao Liu suddenly jumped up from behind and said, "Brother, can I have your contact information?"

Guan Lei turned around, deliberately frowning, and said in an unfriendly tone, "What do you want my contact information for? Want to strangle me with the phone line and shoot me a couple of times?"

"No way, you've treated my brother and my father, how could I do such a thing? I was just worried that my brother would complain when he woke up, so I left you my contact information so I can thank you in the future."

Guan Lei smiled, took out a phone book from his pocket, tore off the last page, pointed to the two phone numbers on it, and said, "This is the phone number for Qing'an Village. You can just call Old Xu's house. This is the phone number for Wanye Village. If you call Old Wu's house, someone will be able to reach me."

Xiao Liu solemnly stuffed the paper with the phone number on it into his inner pocket, clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Thank you all. I'll treat you to a meal when my older brother gets better."

Guan Lei laughed and said, "You guys should think about how to make money without breaking the law. It's tough to get by these days. If you go down the wrong path, you'll be finished soon. Do something legitimate."

Hearing Guan Lei, who was much younger than him, say this, Xiao Liu's face didn't look very pleased, but he didn't refute it. After all, he could tell that this Guan Lei had some influence in Wanye. Otherwise, how could he have arranged the hospital with just one phone call? And even take out at least 70 yuan from his pocket? This couldn't be an ordinary person.

After Guan Lei, Li Fuqiang, and Wang Hu left, Xiao Liu followed Wu Haiquan and asked, "Brother, what do you guys do?" Wu Haiquan replied, "I work in a coal mine. I heard you guys rob people in Malian Mountain?"

Xiao Liu touched his nose sheepishly and said, "We've met a tough guy today. It's a lesson for us. We definitely can't do this kind of thing again."

"Find a respectable job."

“There’s something legitimate to do! But we’ve been unlucky. This autumn, we went up the mountain to make sticks but didn’t see anything. The old man also had a relapse. We didn’t make any money, and the medical treatment emptied the family’s savings. My older brother was so anxious and impulsive that he led us to do this.”

Wu Haiquan frowned: "Is 'pai gun' slang for going into the mountains to find ginseng?"

"Yes! My old man used to be a well-known ginseng master in Malian, but he retired from the business until he met my older brother and came back to work."

“Since he’s the head of the ginseng farm, he shouldn’t be short of money.”

"This old man has a bad life. Alas, his wife died of illness when his children were young. Six or seven years ago, his two children were tricked into going to Laojingou, and they still haven't been found. They must have been harmed. My elder brother's father used to be a 'pot steward' in the old man's gang. It was because of this friendship that the old man thought of helping us."

Upon hearing this, Wu Haiquan nodded and said, "The ginseng-carrying business is definitely profitable, and you've made the right choice by choosing this path."

"Yeah, that's true, he's just unlucky, every step he takes is a hurdle... Brother, I just heard that Guan Lei has leased several logging areas in the forest farm? That's pretty powerful."

"He only started to make it big in the last two years; before that, he was poorer than all of you."

The two chatted back and forth in the corridor for almost an hour, during which they talked about Guan Lei and Xu Ning, and Xiao Liu also revealed the details of their group.

"Ah, I've heard of Wanye Laojin Douzi. He had a good harvest this year, probably earned several thousand..."

Wu Haiquan laughed and said, "After losing several thousand points, there's actually not much left."

At that moment, the operating room door was pushed open, and a nurse and assistant pushed a cart out.

The doctor pointed to Wei Lai on the trolley and said, "Three pieces of his leg bone were broken. I set them back together, but it's easy for him to develop chronic problems after the injury heals."

Xiao Liu hurriedly asked, "Doctor, my older brother can't become a cripple, can he?"

"No, the kneecap isn't injured. At most, it'll just feel a bit uncomfortable on cloudy or rainy days. It takes a hundred days to recover from a broken bone, so it should be fine by April or May next year."

Wu Haiquan said, "Xiao Liu, push your older brother into the ward."

"Okay." Xiao Liu nodded, and then, along with a nurse, escorted him into the ward.

Wu Haiquan went out with the doctor, first to a restaurant to eat steamed dumplings with donkey meat filling, then to a bathhouse for a scrub, and only after finishing their business did they go home.

When Guan Lei, Li Fuqiang, and Wang Hu returned to the Wu family home in Wanye, Wu Zhouquan, Han Fang, and others were still awake and chatting on the kang (heated brick bed) in the east room.

Pan Yan and his two younger brothers sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), drinking tea with Wu Zhouquan and Wu Haitao. From this, it was clear that Wu Zhouquan did not treat Pan Yan as a child, but only as his in-law.

"Oh my god, you're finally back! Haven't eaten yet? The food's sitting in the pot, Haitao, hurry up and put it on the table."

Guan Lei laughed and said, "I've already passed the hunger pangs, ma'am, there's no rush."

As Han Fang put on her shoes and got out of bed, she said, "After you've calmed down from your hunger, have some honey water. You guys sit down for a while."

Wu Zhouquan also told them to sit down, and while Han Fang went to make honey water, Pan Xiao and Wu Haitao had already put down the table, picked up the bowls, and carried the dishes.

"I heard from Haitao that he made more than 160 yuan at the market?"

"Yeah, Haitao is quite hardworking, sir. It's not that he can't endure hardship, it's just that he's not settled. I reckon he'll be fine after he gets married. You can arrange another job for him then."

Wu Zhouquan nodded: "I never expected him to be able to hold on for so long. After he and Yaya get married, I'm thinking of having him set up a small workshop here to make honeycomb briquettes. What do you think?"

Guan Lei scratched his head: "Grandpa, don't ask me about this, I don't really know either. Why don't you ask my brother?"

"Haha, you kid... why do you ask your brother about everything? Just tell me."

Guan Lei smiled and said, "Uncle, I was afraid of saying something wrong and causing you more trouble."

“What trouble is there? I’m getting old, your brother-in-law drives around delivering goods all day, and you’ve been away for a year now, it’s time to grow up a bit.”

"Okay, then I'll share my opinion. Making honeycomb briquette workshops isn't a good idea. When I went to the provincial capital, I saw tools specifically for making honeycomb briquettes. It's just a mold. You buy coal slag, add some loess, sawdust, and water. It's quite simple to make and doesn't require much technology."

Guan Lei continued, "If we want to manufacture honeycomb briquettes with advanced technology, our costs will increase. We might as well let Haitao also make money in transportation."

Wu Zhouquan nodded upon hearing this: "I was thinking that people living in apartment buildings in the city all use honeycomb briquettes."

“Some buildings have connecting corridors, and each household does not have its own heating, so they definitely need honeycomb briquettes. But nowadays, buildings are equipped with radiators, so honeycomb briquettes will definitely be phased out in the future.”

"Yes, what you said is true, that's exactly the case."

Han Fang walked into the house and handed the honey water to the three of them, laughing and saying, "I knew Shi Tou would be mature after a year away from home. Look at him now, he's so articulate."

"Auntie, I was just talking nonsense."

"As long as it works... Hey, has Lianfang gained any weight?"

Guan Lei laughed and said, "Your face has become rounder."

"As long as she's round, that's fine. Giving birth is physically demanding. Don't just stand there doing nothing; go home and spend more time with her."

“I know. I’ve been going home almost every day lately. I usually eat and drink at my brother’s house. She eats whatever my sister-in-law eats.”

"Now only Hua'er's belly hasn't shown any signs of pregnancy, right? Tiger, is your mother worried?"

Wang Hu grinned and said, "To be honest, we are definitely a little anxious, but I've already told Hua'er that we're not in a rush to have children and will let nature take its course."

"You should take what you want; you need to work harder."

(End of this chapter)