Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

After Yan Bugui was sent to the hospital, no one from the Yan family returned to the courtyard, and the matter seemed to be over.

But an old man in his seventies fell from the second floor, injured his head, and missed the best time for rescue. He was lucky not to die on the spot.

Yi Zhonghai went to the hospital to see Yan Bugui the next day and learned that Yan Bugui's condition was not good. He would either become a vegetable and die, or spend money on head surgery to try to get a chance of waking up.

But when the three children of Yan Bugui heard about the high cost of the operation, they scattered like birds and beasts, just like the third aunt in the original book who was hospitalized and diagnosed with breast cancer.

When the last comrade fell, Yi Zhonghai was deeply saddened. On the way back, he felt mixed emotions. It was unknown whether Yi Zhonghai had a change of heart or something else, but after he came back, he kept active in the hospital, persuading the neighbors to help with money to raise money for Yan Bugui's surgery.

But the people in the courtyard are not stupid. The children of the Yan family are unwilling to contribute, so who among them is willing to be the scapegoat?

So there was not much progress on this matter, and the news spread outside.

"Alas, unkind parents make unfilial children!" Uncle Li from Yard 88 sighed after hearing the rumors about Yan Bugui. "Old Yan never understood this truth in his life. He always calculated everything. Now, he has calculated his own life. Now I guess only his wife cares about his life or death. No one else cares."

"What he meant was that if any of his three children had a little filial piety, they wouldn't expect others to call an ambulance."

"I heard that they extorted 420 yuan from Wangcai in the end. Wangcai did the same. Why did they give them money?"

"I'm afraid of trouble. Some people are just disgusting. They will argue whether they are right or wrong..."

As the old men were talking, a car horn sounded and Zeng Wangcai came back from doing some business.

"Uncle Li, what are you talking about? You look so sad." Zeng Wangcai locked the car and came over to ask.

"Wangcai is back?" Grandpa Li took the cigarette from Zeng Wangcai and said, "We are talking about the matter of your third uncle, Old Yan. I have heard about it. He is in a vegetative state... But it is not your fault. He is greedy. If you are worried that his family will continue to blackmail you, we old men will support you..."

"No, wait a minute, what do you mean by vegetative state?" Zeng Wangcai had been outside for a day and was not clear about Yan Bugui's condition.

But even if he knew, he would not express anything. He was greedy and did not educate his children well. Who could he blame?

Although Zeng Wangcai intended to hook up with Yan Jiecheng and his sister yesterday, if Yan Jiecheng and his sister themselves have no problems, it will be useless for anyone to hook up with them, and Zeng Wangcai will have no reason to give them money.

"He fell..." Uncle Li told some of what he knew, and just then he saw Yi Zhonghai coming out of the yard, "Old Yi, Old Yi, you're just in time, tell me about Old Yan."

Yi Zhonghai quickly lowered his head and came over.

In the past, Yi Zhonghai, an old man who had retired from his cadre position, would not have cared about his neighbors in Nanluoguxiang. But after the housing reform, his reputation declined. In order to survive here and to continue supporting Sha Zhu, he had to keep a low profile.

"what's up?"

"Speaking of Old Yan's matter, you've been to the hospital, right? Wangcai is here, so tell us about it."

Yi Zhonghai also wanted to talk to Zeng Wangcai, so he sat down and said, "Old Yan's condition is not very good. The doctor said it was too late to send him there, and it delayed the time for treatment. Now the doctor said that if conservative treatment is used, the person will just die. If you spend money on surgery, there is still a chance, but Old Yan is old and may not be able to endure the pain... The same goes for Xu Damao..."

"Hey, hey, hey..., stop!" Zeng Wangcai interrupted Yi Zhonghai, "Just talk about the matter, don't try to make trouble. This matter was clarified yesterday. Xu Damao went out to call me, but he didn't say he was going to call an ambulance. No one in the yard is moving. Do you expect Xu Damao to do anything?"

"That's not what I meant..." Yi Zhonghai's face changed slightly, "Forget it, I was wrong... or was it Old Yan, if Old Yan had the operation, there would still be a chance, if not, he would have lost his life.

"After I came back today, I walked around the courtyard. Everyone doesn't have that much money and can't provide support. But Zeng Wangcai, you are different. You have money. Do you think you can..."

This is Yi Zhonghai’s purpose, to ask Zeng Wangcai for money to rescue people.

"How many did Yan Jiecheng say?" Zeng Wangcai did not respond.

There's no way to respond to this. Yi Zhonghai is obviously looking for a sucker.

"They ran away!" Yi Zhonghai said in a muffled voice, "But don't worry, I'll go find them. You can't pay for this alone. I'll ask Yan Jiecheng and others to pay. I still have some savings, so I'll pay a part of it. But Old Yan is asking for a lot of money, so the big payout will depend on you."

"Money is not a big problem." Zeng Wangcai thought for a moment and said, "My problem is that surgery is risky. Let me be frank. What if something unexpected happens to Uncle San during the surgery? Have you thought about the consequences?"

Yi Zhonghai was slightly stunned. He had never thought about this.

"Yan Jiecheng and his two siblings are not easy to deal with." Zeng Wangcai continued, "You saw it yesterday. Their father fell down and insisted on extorting money from me. If I paid the money and his father had an accident during the operation, wouldn't he have to rely on me for the rest of his life? If you ask me, you should think about it yourself. Is your pension enough for them to extort money?"

Yi Zhonghai was silent. He had to admit that what Zeng Wangcai said made sense. He also thought that when he had asked people in the hospital to borrow money before, they were all hesitant and unwilling to pay. It turned out that they were concerned about this.

"What should we do? We can't just stand by and watch them die, right?"

"How about this, I'll go to the hospital." Zeng Wangcai said, "I'll ask the doctor first, and then talk to the third aunt."

"Wangcai, you are so loyal..." Uncle Li gave a thumbs up.

"Don't praise me. I don't like praises. I didn't say I was paying you." Zeng Wangcai shook his head and said, "You guys should be careful now that you're old. I'll go to the post office tomorrow to see if we can install a telephone in the shop. It will be convenient for me to call a taxi when I need something in the future."

The old men were instantly excited. They didn't even dare to think about installing a telephone.

There are private installers in the city now, but the installation fee is too expensive and most people simply cannot afford it.

Zeng Wangcai didn’t know how much it cost to install a landline phone now. He only remembered that in the 1990s, the installation fee was three thousand yuan, and later it increased to five thousand yuan. Even with this extremely expensive price, people who wanted to install the phone had to queue up.

Who could have imagined that after mobile phones became popular, landlines became useless. Later, after mobile phone numbers became obsolete, landlines also became the default scam numbers for ordinary people.

Zeng Wangcai’s Huayao has achieved a technological breakthrough and the signal base stations have been produced, but it is still in dispute with the relevant departments.

He originally wanted to skip directly between landline phones and pagers, but it seems that it will take time.

Zeng Wangcai was driving. It was the first time Yi Zhonghai rode in Zeng Wangcai's car, and the atmosphere in the car was very weird.

Yi Zhonghai wanted to speak, but he didn't know what to say, and Zeng Wangcai didn't want to speak at all. He went to see Yan Bugui for only one reason...

Such an important supporting character may be offline, I have to go and check it out.

When they arrived outside the ward, Auntie Zeng Wangcai saw her as if she had seen a savior, and ran over crying, "Wangcai...your uncle..."

"died?"