Chapter 89: A Chance Encounter in the Hospital Ward
"Would you look at that." Su Qing chuckled. "She can say those things, but nobody else can? Talk about a double standard. What are you, landlords? So overbearing."
"Who are you calling a landlord? Who?" The old woman practically jumped out of her skin. "My family has been poor peasants for eight generations!"
"Oh, Mom, that’s enough," Liu Suhua said. She knew Su Qing was dead set on getting an explanation today. She quickly turned to Su Qing. "Su Qing, I’m so sorry about what happened. She’s an old woman, can’t you just let it go for her sake?"
Liu Suhua was fuming inside. ’Su Qing is right, but she’s being completely unforgiving.’ On the surface, however, she didn’t dare let her anger show. She wasn’t afraid of Su Qing, but she was terrified of Pan Runqing. If he made trouble for her husband, her husband would probably kill her.
"I can let this go." After all, this was the Pan Family’s neighborhood, and Su Qing didn’t want to make the situation too ugly, which could create awkwardness for the Pan Family later. "But having her apologize and say she’s sorry—that’s not too much to ask, is it?"
"What? You want an old woman like me to apologize to a little slip of a girl like you? In your dreams!" The old woman immediately bristled at the suggestion.
"No apology? That’s fine, too. I’ll just go have a word with my Uncle Pan and let him sort this out with you." Su Qing raised an eyebrow. "My Uncle Pan’s sons are in the hospital right now. For you to be cursing them so viciously... let’s just see how he wants to handle this."
Liu Suhua panicked and whispered urgently to the old woman, "Mom, just apologize and get this over with! Otherwise, there’s going to be trouble later."
Naturally, the old woman refused.
So Liu Suhua played her trump card. "If you won’t do it, then tomorrow I’m buying you a ticket back home."
What? Back home?
The old woman dug in her heels even harder. Life back home was miserable; it was nothing like the comfortable life she had here with her son-in-law. There was no way she was going back.
"Fine, fine! It’s just an apology." The old woman finally caved. She turned to Su Qing and grumbled, "Sorry. Sorry. Is that good enough for you?"
Su Qing smiled at her words. "In that case, apology accepted. I hope you won’t make the same mistake again, ma’am. Otherwise, a simple ’sorry’ won’t be enough to fix things."
With that, Su Qing turned to Liu Suhua with a wide smile. "Don’t worry, I won’t say a word about this to Aunt Fu or Uncle Pan."
’Of course, she couldn’t control whether the gossiping neighbors would say anything.’
Su Qing quickly stir-fried three more dishes, packed everything into lunch boxes and a thermal container, and hurried to the hospital.
At that moment, in the Pan brothers’ room at the county hospital, two men arrived: Fang Lutian and A Cheng.
"I am so terribly sorry about this." Fang Lutian offered an envelope to Pan Runqing. "To think your two boys got caught up in this and were so seriously injured... I’m truly sorry. This money is just a small token of our remorse. I hope you won’t refuse it."
"But... you were victims in this as well." Pan Runqing had already learned from the police that one of the groups involved in the incident was also a target. Although he felt his sons had been terribly wronged, how could he take money from them? "Besides, you already helped us pay for the medical expenses."
"We should have been the ones to pay the medical fees from the start." Fang Lutian insisted, pressing the envelope into Pan Runqing’s hand. "If you don’t accept this, does that mean you can’t forgive us?"
"No, no, that’s not it at all! You were victims, too. We could never blame you for this," Fu Yuzhen said hurriedly.
"If you don’t blame us, then please take the money. It would ease our conscience. The boys were badly hurt, and they’ll need to build up their strength. Just think of this as covering their nutritional expenses." Fang Lutian’s tone was final, insisting that Fu Yuzhen and Pan Runqing accept the money.
Just as they were speaking, Su Qing entered the room carrying the food. She froze for a second when she saw Fang Lutian. She remembered him clearly. ’Isn’t he the man who wanted to buy ginseng from me last time?’
’I remember him saying he was with the An Family.’
’Could this attack have something to do with the An Family?’
"Xiao Qing, you’re here!" Fu Yuzhen was the first to spot her. She hurried over to take the containers from Su Qing’s hands. Seeing the stack of lunch boxes and the thermal container, she said, "Why did you make so many dishes? You’ve worked too hard."
Su Qing smiled. "It was no trouble. How are Brother Youming and You Shan?"
Su Qing glanced at the beds and saw that Pan Youming and Pan Youshan were still asleep.
Fu Yuzhen was visibly more relaxed. "You Shan’s injuries aren’t serious, he just needs to rest and recover. Youming woke up this morning. The doctor checked on him and said he’s doing quite well, we just have to watch out for infection."
"That’s good."
Fang Lutian hadn’t expected to run into Su Qing here either. He asked in surprise, "Miss Su, you all know each other?"
Fu Yuzhen and Pan Runqing were just as surprised. They looked from Su Qing to Fang Lutian. "You two know each other?"
Su Qing smiled at Fang Lutian and said, "This is my Aunt Fu and Uncle Pan."
Then she turned to Fu Yuzhen and Pan Runqing. "I’ve met Uncle Fang before, that’s how we know each other."
Hearing this, Pan Runqing immediately tried to give the envelope back to Fang Lutian. "Since we’re all acquaintances, you should take this back."
"Absolutely not." Fang Lutian quickly pushed the envelope back. "Your family were innocent victims in this mess. The fact that we’re all acquainted means we have even more reason to make amends. Please don’t refuse. Use it to buy the boys some nutritious food. Think of it as a small gift from me, as their uncle."
Su Qing raised an eyebrow. ’Well now, he’s certainly making himself at home, already calling himself their uncle.’
Still, Su Qing felt the Pan Family had every right to accept the money, considering how badly the boys had been hurt. So, she said with a smile, "Uncle Pan, you should accept Mr. Fang’s kind gesture."
"Exactly." Fang Lutian pressed the envelope firmly into Pan Runqing’s hand. "Take it. It’s settled."
Then, Fang Lutian turned to Su Qing with a smile. "And you, don’t be so formal with me. None of this ’Mr. Fang’ business. From now on, call me Uncle Fang."
Su Qing smiled, her lips pursed. "Alright, then I won’t be so formal. Uncle Fang."
"There we go, that’s more like it." Fang Lutian chuckled and stood up. "Alright, we’ll be on our way. You two take good care of the boys. I’ll come by to visit again when I have a free moment."
Pan Runqing quickly exchanged a few more pleasantries with him, and then Fang Lutian finally left with A Cheng.
After Fang Lutian and A Cheng were gone, Fu Yuzhen sighed. "That Mr. Fang doesn’t seem like an ordinary person."
Pan Runqing nodded in agreement. He then turned to Su Qing with a worried warning, "He really doesn’t seem like a regular person. If you have to deal with people like him, you need to be careful, understand?"
He then shook his head. "No, on second thought, it’s better if you don’t interact with them at all."
