Su Shuoci’s voice was like shards of ice striking Auntie Song, making her soul tremble.

She somewhat regretted provoking the legendary tough guy of the compound, even if he was now disabled!

But his eyes were still exceptionally fierce, like a sharp sword.

Auntie Song felt a surge of fear and wanted to slip away, but she was used to being domineering: “Our Song family is the wealthiest in the compound.”

This made Gu Jiaojiao laugh. For now, no one was wealthier than her!

She looked at Auntie Song with disdain and said, “Your Song family is wealthy? How much money do you have?”

Auntie Song was choked by this question. Her face turned red as she wanted to tell Gu Jiaojiao that their family was very wealthy, with at least over ten thousand yuan.

But in 1980, there was no such thing as the “ten-thousand-yuan household” recognition yet. She didn’t dare to say it, as it could bring trouble to the Song family.

Auntie Song said resentfully, “Why should I tell you? Anyway, you can’t compare to our Song family.”

Gu Jiaojiao continued to mock her: “Nowadays, equality is promoted, yet your Song family acts as if you’re superior.

This seriously undermines socialist unity. If word gets out, the punishment will be even harsher.”

Auntie Song: …

She was furious. In the past, Gu Jiaojiao would always be meek and submissive around her, even eager to fetch her foot-washing water.

She had never been so bold before. Who gave this bitch the courage?

If it weren’t for the crowd gathering around them, she would have slapped this bitch twice.

Song Zijie, seeing his usually victorious aunt being humiliated, couldn’t help but laugh unkindly.

The anger he had felt earlier was like a flame burning fiercely in his chest, scorching him with pain.

“Short-lived devil, what are you laughing at? Don’t you have any sense of being a Song family member? It doesn’t matter if you die, but think about your parents…”

Gu Jiaojiao saw that Song Zijie was so furious that he looked like he was about to collapse.

“Auntie, I sincerely advise you to leave now before you embarrass yourself further. Otherwise, I’m afraid I might not be able to stop myself from beating you to death.”

“Oh ho! You? With your sickness and disabilities, you think you can hit me?”

Auntie Song roared as she jumped off her bike, rolling up her sleeves as if to charge at Gu Jiaojiao.

Seeing the burly Auntie Song rushing at her in a rage, Gu Jiaojiao kicked out, hitting a pressure point below her knee. Auntie Song lost her balance and knelt before them.

The passersby didn’t see Gu Jiaojiao’s kick. They only saw Auntie Song get off her bike and kneel before the wheelchair.

“Auntie Song is so enlightened! She’s kneeling to thank our hero.”

“Auntie Song, since you’re so sincere, and your Song family is so wealthy, why not send some expensive medicinal herbs to help our hero heal his legs?”

“That’s right. Auntie Song is kneeling to show her sincerity.”

“Ah, we don’t have money. Should we kneel too?” a simpleton asked his companion.

His companion, of course, didn’t want to kneel. This was a new society, not like the feudal times.

“Since Auntie Song is kneeling, of course we should kneel too,” said Song Zijie’s follower, who had appeared out of nowhere.

After saying this, he actually knelt beside Auntie Song, looking sincerely at his boss.

In his heart, he repeated three times: I’m kneeling to my boss, not to any hero.

The simpleton, seeing the young man kneel to Auntie Song’s left, immediately knelt to her right.

He even muttered, “Thank you, hero, for your sacrifices. I don’t have money to heal your legs, but I sincerely thank you.”

Auntie Song’s legs were numb. She wanted to stand but couldn’t. She wanted to curse but didn’t know how to start.

Could she tell everyone that she had wanted to hit Gu Jiaojiao but was kicked down by that bitch instead?

Especially when she saw the smile in Gu Jiaojiao’s eyes, bright as the sun, she couldn’t even look directly at her.

Fuming, she wanted to vomit blood. “I didn’t kneel to them. I accidentally fell off my bike.”

“Ah! Auntie Song, how could you do that? Good thing I was sincerely thanking the hero.”

The simpleton stood up as he spoke, because he saw the young man on the left also standing up.

Auntie Song: …

She had never felt so humiliated before. “Gu Jiaojiao, you little bitch, aren’t you going to help me up?”

“I’ve wanted to help you up for a while, but my health is poor. Even walking makes me breathless!”

Gu Jiaojiao’s rosy cheeks were adorned with shallow dimples, and her eyes were full of sincerity.

Her earnest expression made everyone believe her. A man said angrily,

“You’re too much. I was going to help you up, but now I don’t want to.”

Even Song Zijie believed her. “We all wanted to help Auntie up, but we’re powerless!”

Everyone looked at the three with sympathy. Most people in the compound knew:

Song Zijie had been sick since childhood, Gu Jiaojiao had always been frail, and Su Shuoci was half-paralyzed.

People tend to sympathize with the weak, so they all began to criticize Auntie Song.

“We thought you were kneeling to thank our hero, but it turns out you just fell.”

“Auntie Song, don’t you know these three can’t help you up?”

“That’s right. Asking for help so arrogantly. Just because your Song family is wealthy, does that make you superior? Why haven’t you shared even a bun with us?”

Amid the crowd’s accusations, Gu Jiaojiao held onto the wheelchair, thanked everyone, and left.

Actually, she wanted to kick Auntie Song a couple more times, as she remembered how this aunt had bullied the original owner of her body.

But with so many people around, she couldn’t do it. She’d have to wait for another chance to retaliate.

Song Zijie saw everything clearly and was impressed that Gu Jiaojiao could kick his tall aunt to her knees with one foot.

As he followed her and distanced himself from the crowd, he said to Gu Jiaojiao, “Thank you for standing up for me. Otherwise, I would’ve been angered to death.”

“You’re that weak?”

“Yes, I was born with a heart condition. I can’t handle anger.” This was the first time Song Zijie had spoken about his illness to an outsider.

“Let me check your pulse.” Gu Jiaojiao had heard the Song family call Song Zijie a “short-lived devil” several times today.

She had guessed that Song Zijie might have a serious illness, but since he hadn’t mentioned it, she didn’t ask.

“You have congenital heart disease. If you had undergone surgical treatment before the age of five,

the malformed blood vessels could have been corrected, restoring normal heart function and achieving a complete cure.”

“What? You mean it can be cured? But the divine physician Jiang said it’s incurable and that I wouldn’t live past twenty-five.”

“If you hadn’t met me, you might not have lived past twenty-five. But now that you’ve met me, with a suitable liver donor, it can be cured.”

“What does heart disease have to do with the liver? You want to transplant someone else’s liver into me? Then I’d rather not be treated.”

“I’m not talking about transplanting an entire liver, just a small portion. It wouldn’t have much impact on the donor.

The main issue is that you missed the optimal treatment period, which led to liver necrosis.”

Gu Jiaojiao knew that people in this era were very conservative. Even close family members might not be willing to donate a part of their liver.

It would depend on how much Song Zijie’s family loved him.

“Sister-in-law, are you serious? How do we find a suitable donor?”