Chapter 39: A Little Later and It Would Have Been Two Deaths

The woman raced home on her bicycle, not even bothering to prop it up, tossing it carelessly aside as she shouted into the house, “Zhang Yong, I’ve been bullied!”

A man rushed out of the house barefoot, a wine bottle still in his hand. “Who dares bully my wife? They’re asking for it! Where are they? I’ll crack their skull open today!”

“At the textile factory gate, the wholesale seller of liangpi. They wouldn’t sell to me no matter what.”

Hearing it was the liangpi wholesaler, Zhang Yong threw down the bottle. “What’s going on?”

The woman explained the situation. After listening, Zhang Yong’s eyes rolled around a few times. “Wife, don’t be impulsive. If we offend them, we won’t be able to make money anymore. Go rest in the room, I’ll figure something out.”

“But I can’t swallow this!”

“For the sake of money, wife, just endure it. Once we make money, you can eat whatever you want, buy whatever you want.”

The woman stormed into the house, followed by Zhang Yong, who poured her a glass of water. After she finished drinking, he told her to lie down and rest, saying, “I’ll go to the state-run restaurant and buy two of your favorite dishes.”

The woman finally cheered up and went to lie down.

Zhang Yong went out, picked up his bicycle, and rode to the textile factory gate, stopping in front of the tricycle. “Are you the liangpi wholesalers? I’m Zhang Mei’s brother-in-law, Zhang Yong.”

Jiang Yiyi and Gu Yunchi sized him up, while Gu Yunze looked over from a distance.

“The thing is, my niece is sick, and my sister-in-law is taking care of her, so she can’t sell for now. That’s why my wife is filling in. My wife has a bad temper and speaks a bit harshly. If she offended you, I apologize on her behalf.”

Their words were contradictory. Jiang Yiyi remained calm. “I understand, but liangpi is food, so we have standards for sellers. You wait two days. We’ll assess your wife then.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll have my wife come back in two days.”

Once they left, Jiang Yiyi instructed Gu Yunchi and then had Gu Yunze take her to Zhang Mei’s house.

Zhang Mei’s door was locked.

Someone happened to be coming out. Jiang Yiyi approached and asked, “Sister, do you know where Zhang Mei’s family went?”

“Two days ago, her mother-in-law came and said she was taking her grandson to see a doctor. Zhang Mei wasn’t home at the time. When she came back, she went to look for them, but they haven’t returned.”

Zhang Mei’s mother-in-law had made a big fuss that day, buying food and clothes for the children. Although everyone in the alley knew Zhang Mei had been driven out, the grandmother came to see her grandchildren and take her grandson to the doctor, so no one dared to stop her.

After hearing the woman’s words and considering Zhang Yong and his wife’s earlier statements, Jiang Yiyi had a gut feeling that something had happened to Zhang Mei and her children. She was about to ask Gu Yunze to take her to find Cui Yong to investigate when the nearby courtyard gate opened and Zhao Lan stumbled out, her hair disheveled, barefoot, with bright red blood flowing down her legs.

“Help… help me!”

Before she could finish, she collapsed.

“Oh my god, what happened?”

The woman rushed over, but Jiang Yiyi was faster.

Zhao Lan grabbed her hand, gasping, “Save… save my child.”

“Yunze, quickly! Take her to the hospital!”

Gu Yunze dropped his bicycle, picked up Zhao Lan, and ran towards the hospital, Jiang Yiyi following with the bicycle.

The woman slapped her thigh, wanting to follow, but remembered she needed to make lunch. She hesitated for a moment, and Jiang Yiyi and the others were gone.

…

“Doctor!”

Gu Yunze rushed into the hospital carrying Zhao Lan, whose lower body was covered in blood, Jiang Yiyi close behind.

A doctor came running, and they carried Zhao Lan into the emergency room.

Gu Yunze collapsed onto a bench, his army green short-sleeved shirt soaked in blood. Jiang Yiyi had run all the way, and she wasn’t much better.

Before they could catch their breath, the emergency room door opened, and a nurse came out. “The patient needs immediate surgery. Family needs to sign.”

They didn’t move.

“What are you waiting for? Sign quickly!”

Taking a deep breath, Jiang Yiyi signed her name.

The nurse gave her another form. “Go pay over there.”

Jiang Yiyi paid, and the nurse returned to the emergency room.

Jiang Yiyi sat beside Gu Yunze, wanting to tell him to take off his shirt—the blood was terrifying—but thinking he wasn’t wearing anything underneath and that it would affect his soldier’s image, she swallowed her words.

“She’s Qin Gang’s mistress.”

Gu Yunze looked at her.

“Before my older sister divorced, she was with Qin Gang. I found out when I occasionally saw them while selling liangpi. But she saved Yunyang once.”

Jiang Yiyi explained how Gu Yunyang almost got kidnapped and how Zhao Lan saved him. If it weren’t for that, seeing Zhao Lan collapsed at the gate, she would have ignored her and left with Gu Yunze.

It wasn’t that she lacked sympathy; if it were someone else, she would definitely have helped. But Zhao Lan and Qin Gang were connected, and she didn’t want to get involved.

Gu Yunze clenched his fist. His older sister only said the Qin family treated her badly, not that Qin Gang had someone else.

An hour later, the emergency room door opened again, and a doctor came out, scolding Gu Yunze. “This is ridiculous! Abortion pills aren’t something to mess with! If you’d been even a little later, it would have been two deaths! You’re a soldier, how can you be so backward? What difference does it make if it’s a son or a daughter!”

“You’ve misunderstood. We have nothing to do with her…”

Jiang Yiyi quickly clarified. “My husband and I just happened to see her and brought her to the hospital.”

Having scolded the wrong person, the doctor felt embarrassed. “Where’s her family?”

“They haven’t come.”

“What do we do? The patient needs an IV drip, someone needs to stay.”

“I’ll stay. I’ll leave when her family arrives.”

The doctor explained the precautions, Jiang Yiyi noted them carefully. After Zhao Lan was wheeled out and settled into a ward, she said to Gu Yunze, “Go back to the workshop, change into your brother’s clothes, eat, and then come back.”

Gu Yunze wasn’t needed here; he was attracting too much attention.

“I’ll be back soon.”

If he didn’t need to change clothes, Gu Yunze wouldn’t have left. He was worried Qin Gang might come and blame Jiang Yiyi for the loss of the child.

Jiang Yiyi nodded.

After he left, Jiang Yiyi took a stool and sat by the bed, looking at Zhao Lan’s almost translucent face. Thinking of the doctor’s words and Zhao Lan’s plea for help, she realized Zhao Lan clearly wanted the child and wouldn’t have taken abortion pills.

It must have been Qin Gang who gave them to her. But Zhao Lan wasn’t stupid; she wouldn’t just take them because Qin Gang told her to. Moreover, judging from Zhao Lan’s desperate plea for help, Qin Gang probably wasn’t home.