Zhuang Keluo nodded: "Yes! And it's not just these, including those policemen..." She pointed at the several particularly domineering-looking guys in front of her, as if surveying a vast territory: "They're all my second brother's subordinates' subordinates!"
Second brother's subordinates' subordinates?
Lu Chen almost choked. Was it really that exaggerated?
He deliberately said, "So you mean, if those guys dare to be rude to my brother, I'll be rude to them too, and then you can help me settle things?"
"A piece of cake!" Zhuang Keluo clapped her hands, nonchalantly: "Brother Chen, isn't it said that behind every successful man is a woman supporting him? Similarly, behind every awesome man is a woman supporting him, and behind you, of course, is me, the great girl!"
Lu Chen listened, only to find goosebumps on his skin.
Meanwhile, the situation was clearly escalating.
After the doctor in the white coat inquired about raising medical expenses from Gong Xiaoyi, the entire family looked very somber. Gong Xiaoyi seemed particularly distressed, timidly asking the doctor, "Didn't you say the medical expenses could be delayed for a couple more days? I'm trying to figure something out!" She addressed the doctor as Director Wan. Clearly, Director Wan held some kind of official position.
Director Wan then looked troubled and resorted to his old excuse.
He said that the hospital was, after all, a for-profit institution, not a welfare institution. Although he felt sorry for the Gong family of four and, out of compassion and a spirit of helping others, he had insisted on keeping them in the hospital despite their over 20,000 yuan in unpaid medical bills. However, during the leadership meeting that afternoon, other colleagues raised the issue, and the leaders unanimously agreed that there should be limits to helping others, and that hospital rules shouldn't be violated in this way.
If everyone acted this way, how could the hospital continue operating? If it couldn't continue operating, it couldn't serve more patients.
Therefore, he had no choice but to harden his heart and let the Gong family leave.
The 20,000+ yuan in medical expenses was only agreed upon after he tried hard to negotiate, with the hospital agreeing to temporarily put it on their account.
As he spoke, Director Wang said with a forced smile, "Xiao Yi, it's not that I don't want to help you, but the hospital has its difficulties, and so do I, right? Look, I won't press you for the 20,000+ yuan. If the hospital really pushes you, I can pay it back first. But if you raise the money, you must come to me and pay it back!"
"You must come to me, okay?"
Director Wang repeated this sentence, his words carrying a hidden meaning.
These words also brought a strange sense of shame and indignation to Gong Xiaoyi's face.
"Director Wang, you say we owe more than 20,000 yuan in medical expenses, fine! Then I'll go over the numbers with you now. There are some charges that I don't understand, where did they come from? Please tell me!"
Gong Xiaoyi seemed to be pushed to her limit, and shouted loudly. Then she turned to Huang Ailian: "Mom, give me those receipts!"
Huang Ailian trembled at Gong Xiaoyi's words, then said in a panic:
"Xiaoyi, all the receipts are gone! I don't know what happened, when they kicked us out, I was packing my things, and all these receipts...all gone..."
"All gone? What happened?" Gong Xiaoyi was stunned.
Those receipts were the hospital's various medical bills and examination lists.
Gong Xiaoyi had already sensed something was wrong.
Initially, she knew many hospitals were quite corrupt, charging exorbitant fees and ordering unnecessary procedures just to squeeze more money out of patients. The 100,000 yuan Lu Chen gave her was to be used for two patients and an injured person, and now that Gong Xiaoyi was in charge, she had to be careful with the money.
So, whenever there were any charges she didn't understand, she would circle them and ask the doctors and nurses, which led to several arguments. Then, Director Wang appeared and patiently explained things to Gong Xiaoyi. Gong Xiaoyi didn't understand these things very well and was somewhat confused, so she was easily fooled. To say she was fooled wasn't entirely accurate; Gong Xiaoyi didn't really believe Director Wang's words, but she couldn't find any specific problems.
Later, she inquired about the medical records of other patients at the hospital who had similar conditions and injuries to her parents and brother, comparing their bills. The difference was startling. Those patients' bills also included many tests and medications that the director hadn't mentioned, but compared to Gong Xiaoyi's, theirs were much better.
Gong Xiaoyi's bills, under similar circumstances, had significantly more items than theirs, at least a third more in cost!
Gong Xiaoyi really wanted to take these bills to Director Wang to take responsibility, or to a higher-level hospital leader, and have a serious discussion. However, she knew she only had the ability to identify problems, not solve them. So, she could only collect and organize these lists, marking down the issues she had identified, hoping they might be useful later.
And now, all these lists were gone!
"How could you be so careless! Those invoices and receipts are very important. You'll need them for medical insurance reimbursement later! How could you lose them so easily?"
Director Wang spoke with feigned concern, but his sinister and smug eyes betrayed him.
Gong Xiaoyi was trembling with anger, and tears welled up in the eyes of the sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl. These past few days had been incredibly difficult for her. Her frail shoulders had to support three adults, all of whom were either sick or injured. She had even resorted to stripping in nightclubs to pay for medical expenses, and now that she had the money to go to the hospital, she was being bullied by this kind of person!
She pointed fiercely at Director Wang: "It was you! You must have had our list stolen!"
Director Wang's face darkened: "I say, young lady, you're quite the talker, despite your young age. When did I have your list stolen? What use would I have for those things? You can't just say whatever you want, you know that you'll be held legally responsible for what you say?"
As he spoke, his eyes became even more sinister, his dead fish eyes fixed on Gong Xiaoyi.
Gong Xiaoyi felt a little scared under his gaze, but her overwhelming sense of grievance pushed her to the brink of fearlessness. The fees were so high, even higher than those for similar injured or sick patients, it was suffocating her!
She suddenly erupted, shouting, "Director Wang, it was you who took it! You're a bad person! A few days ago, the day before, you called me into your office and laid a hand on me! You said if I agreed, you'd try to reduce my parents' and brother's medical expenses! You charge us more than everyone else; you're just trying to force me!"
"You're not human! You don't deserve to be a doctor!"
Her outburst caused the onlookers to whisper amongst themselves, their gazes towards Director Wang filled with disdain. Clearly, they trusted the young woman.
Listening to this, Lu Chen's anger burned within him. He glared at Director Wang, his eyes flashing with murderous intent.
Zhuang Keluo was startled by Lu Chen's look and quickly said, "Brother Chen, that guy surnamed Wang isn't a good person, but you have to be careful. You can beat him half to death, cripple him, it's fine, I'll protect you! But killing him would be a problem, okay?"
Lu Chen gritted his teeth: "I'll beat him half to death first, then slowly kill him later!"
At this moment, Director Wang's face turned pale and then flushed before he unleashed his fury: "What are you saying, little girl? I, Wang Yulin, have been an upright person, an upright doctor, and a director for so many years, always devoting myself to my patients! Today, I'm being slandered by a little girl like you! The eyes of the masses are discerning, you..."
Gong Xiaoyi bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes, and smiled coldly. She turned around and got a very old Nokia phone from her father, pressed a few buttons, and then held it high.
Then, the phone emitted a very indistinct sound with a lot of static, like someone was speaking. The surrounding audience immediately and consciously ceased all noise.
The voice coming from the old Nokia phone gradually became clearer.
"...Xiao Yi, I feel so sorry for you. You're so young, and it's been so hard for you! Your parents are so sick, and your brother is so badly injured. It breaks my heart! Last night I even dreamt that you told me, 'Director Wan, please help me, I'll do anything for you...'"
"I'm just a compassionate person. Even if you asked me for help in a dream, I took it seriously. How about we become friends? If we're friends, we're family. I'll try my best to reduce your parents' and brother's medical expenses, and I'll even give you money to spend so you can live a good life. Tsk tsk...look at these little hands, so thin. Let me touch them..."
...
This voice was clearly that of Director Wang Yulin!
Hearing this, his face trembled, and he suddenly roared, "You despicable girl! I was trying my best to help you, but you actually forged this recording!"
Then he shouted to those around him, "Everyone, please don't believe this girl! She's a scoundrel! These kinds of recordings are easy to forge; you can do it with some software downloaded online!"
Gong Xiaoyi, her voice trembling with tears, said, word by word, "Yes, it's forged! Wang Yulin, we can call the police to come and verify it! You scum! You even bully a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl like me! What else wouldn't you do! You bastard! My family of three is already suffering so much, and you still have to kick us while we're down..."
She spoke and cried, tears streaming down her face, biting her lower lip hard, and screamed hoarsely:
"You bastard!"
Her shout jolted Gong Jiu, who had seemed somewhat dazed, back to his senses. He suddenly yelled back, "You bastard, how dare you bully my sister like this! I'll fight you to the death!"
With that, he shoved his wheelchair violently towards Wang Yulin.
His parents, filled with grief and rage, rushed forward after him.
Wang Yulin was furious. He shouted at the security guards and police officers around him, "What are you doing? Are you all just here to watch? Hurry up and grab them! Take them to the police station for questioning!"
At his shout, the security guards and police officers rushed forward, blocking Gong Jiu and his parents.
Wang Yulin, gritting his teeth, lunged at Gong Xiaoyi, growling, "You little bitch, I'll teach you a lesson!" He reached for her Nokia phone with one hand and raised his other to slap her.