141 Saving People

I figured that Sister Ye must have been harboring deep concerns when she called me. First, she was worried about whether I could be trusted, and second, she was afraid of implicating me.

"Sister Ye," I said, "the most urgent task right now is to treat your wound. Dragging it out will only make things much more complicated."

Ye Jiangxue gave a bitter smile. "I know, but I cannot go to the hospital. After I disappeared, Lin Jiajin manipulated public opinion, branding me as an embezzler who fled with company funds. My father's enterprise is a listed company; although he is the largest shareholder, it is not a private firm. Once the label of fleeing with funds is pinned on me, the police will undoubtedly issue a warrant for my arrest. Besides, I already shot out one of Lin Wensheng's eyes, so the Lin family is surely pulling out all the stops to track me down and eliminate me in secret."

I thought to myself that Sister Ye's worries and concerns were entirely justified. Since she dared not go to the hospital, how should we deal with the sleeve arrow lodged in her? I figured our only option was to find a private, small-scale clinic.

Suddenly, a person came to mind: Sister Fang's cousin. He was a quite capable surgeon and had once been Iron-head's attending physician. I remembered his surname was Zeng, but I had only crossed paths with him a few times. If I went to beg him, he would certainly be unwilling to help, as he would fear drawing unnecessary trouble upon himself.

I checked my phone and saw it was already around three in the morning. Disturbing someone's sleep at this hour was definitely impolite. Unless they were extremely close family, anyone would naturally be annoyed.

My relationship with Sister Fang was not close; I had only successfully introduced one business deal for her, and we had only dined together twice. Furthermore, she lived in Mingzhou; asking her to drive all the way from Mingzhou was completely out of the question.

Noticing my deep contemplation, Ye Jiangxue said, "Stop racking your brain. You might as well just pull the sleeve arrow out for me yourself; otherwise, there are no other good options."

Upon hearing this, I replied, "Even so, we'll have to wait until tomorrow. I need to go buy some gauze, anti-inflammatory medicine, alcohol, and things like that..."

Ye Jiangxue nodded helplessly. "I suppose that's the only way."

"There's no time to lose," I said. "You hide here while I go buy the medicine and daily necessities."

Ye Jiangxue nodded and said, "Then I must thank you. However, no pharmacies are open right now, so being anxious won't help."

I realized she was right, leaving me with no choice but to sit inside the house and worry anxiously. Seeing my restless appearance, Ye Jiangxue tried to comfort me. "You look exhausted too. Come up and get some rest! I'll wake you when the time comes."

Hearing this, I hopped onto the bed and lay down on my side beside her. Out of fear of brushing against her wound, I kept close to the edge of the bed.

I must have dozed off in a hazy sleep. When I raised my head to look outside, the sky was faintly brightening, and I guessed it must have been early morning.

Unable to restrain myself any longer, I got up, cradled Lone Shadow, walked to the village entrance, and sent a WeChat message to Lao Yu, the taxi driver, asking if he was awake yet. WeChat notifications were generally relatively soft; if the recipient was in a deep sleep, they definitely wouldn't hear it, unlike a loud phone ringtone. If he didn't respond, it meant he was fast asleep, and I shouldn't disturb him.

Lao Yu replied very quickly: "What's up? I just dropped someone off at their destination."

I thought to myself that this Lao Yu disregarded his physical health purely to make money, so I said, "Lao Yu, if your body can handle it, make another trip to Maple Forest Village and drive me back to Qingxi's urban district."

Lao Yu chuckled. "No problem. Just wait, I'll be right there." Private cars and ride-hailing services were becoming increasingly numerous, making the taxi business genuinely difficult, sometimes leaving drivers waiting for half a day without a single fare.

Since Lao Yu had finally encountered such a straightforward business transaction, how could he possibly give it up? After finishing the call, I waited at the village entrance and ran into Aunt Wang, who asked in surprise, "Xiaofeng, when did you get back?"

I smiled and said, "I've been back for several days already." I figured that since Sister Ye was hiding at my house, if any accidental noises slipped out for nearby villagers to hear, they would surely grow suspicious. Hence, I lied that I had returned long ago.

Aunt Wang laughed. "No wonder I felt like there was someone in your house—it turns out you were back."

I smiled without picking up the thread of conversation, thinking that Sister Ye hiding at my place had still left behind traces of clues.

Aunt Wang continued, "Xiaofeng, did you come alone, or did your older sister come with you? Have you been cooking meals at home these past few days?"

This woman simply loved gossiping and prying into other people's business. Giving an evasive answer, I replied, "With cars nowadays, traveling back and forth is very convenient. You can come in the morning and go back at night."

Aunt Wang remarked, "How come I haven't seen your sister's car? If your sister had driven here, she could have given me a ride to the town along the way."

"My sister," I said, "when she drove here last time, three of her tires were punctured, so she doesn't dare drive here anymore."

Aunt Wang chimed in with curses, "What a damned wretch! That's utterly malicious, puncturing all the tires like that."

Seeing me holding the puppy, Aunt Wang still wanted to chatter on and question me further, but I couldn't be bothered to pay her any more mind.

Before long, Lao Yu arrived driving his taxi, and Aunt Wang eagerly wanted to hitch a ride to her son's place in town. Lacking the heart to refuse, I took her along and let her off in town.

Fortunately, Lao Yu didn't ask why I had just arrived last night yet wanted to head back so early today, otherwise it would have been hard to maintain my lie in front of Aunt Wang. When we reached the urban district of Qingxi, it was a little past seven o'clock. Being the first lunar month, none of the pharmacies were open.

I had the taxi drop me off at Oasis Residential Compound. Reaching the gates, I called Fatty and asked what he was up to.

The guy cursed groggily, "Asshole, I'm still sleeping right now. What do you want from me?"

Annoyed, I snapped back, "Drive your car over here. I want to borrow it to run some errands."

Fatty asked in astonishment, "Are you kidding me? You used to drive a Mercedes G-Wagon; why would you want to borrow my piece-of-junk King Kong?"

"Stop talking nonsense," I said. "I'm waiting at the compound entrance. Within three minutes, bring the car out. I need it immediately."

Grumbling curses, Fatty got out of bed, drove the car out of the underground garage, and handed it over to me. He still lingeringly instructed me to be careful, as this was a second-hand new car he had bought less than two weeks ago.

Furious, I scolded, "Stop nagging. The money you won yesterday is enough to buy half of this piece-of-junk King Kong."

I placed Lone Shadow in the front passenger seat. The little fellow was very obedient and didn't run around blindly inside the car.

I drove to a pharmacy and bought alcohol, cotton balls, gauze, a scalpel, needle and thread, and anti-inflammatory medicine. Then I went to a supermarket and bought plenty of food items—ham sausages, instant noodles, milk—and even purchased several sets of women's clothing.

Perhaps because I had lived with Sister Li for over a month, I had learned what items were essential for women. Disregarding the strange looks from others, I bought a large pack of sanitary pads and several sets of women's underwear.

Naturally, to avoid embarrassment, all these items were packed into a large black bag.

By the time I finished purchasing everything, it was already nine o'clock. Eager to return, I sped back to my hometown, Maple Forest Village.