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Chapter 134 Seeking Only a Clear Conscience
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Tragedy, suffocating tragedy...
At this moment, Lin Yao felt like he was Mr. Dongguo, the farmer in "The Farmer and the Snake." But in this world, wolves and snakes are very good at disguising themselves, each one appearing respectable and dignified, only revealing their ferocity when the truth is revealed.
In this world, are good people even allowed to live?
No wonder people don't help those who have fallen on the street, no wonder everyone turns a blind eye to people in emergencies asking for help, and no wonder drivers are unwilling to stop and give them a ride. I even heard a tour guide say online that when traveling abroad, if an elderly person falls and scatters their luggage at the airport, it's best not to help them. Just call the staff or police. Otherwise, if drugs or contraband are found on them or in their luggage, it will implicate the kind-hearted person who was trying to help, leaving you stranded in a foreign country, crying your eyes out.
This world has been corrupted by people whose conscience has been eaten by dogs!
Lin Yao grew increasingly angry and decided to learn from the old man in the fable of Mr. Dongguo and teach the ungrateful wolf a lesson. He couldn't let this family escape punishment, and he even hated the old man on his sickbed who repaid kindness with ingratitude.
No matter how weak you are, no matter how much torment and abuse you have endured from your son and daughter-in-law, you can't treat your savior like this. She's an old woman who should have died long ago, no matter how pitiful she may be.
Lin Yao watched all this coldly, without saying a word or trying to take back the phone that the middle-aged man had snatched from him, while he plotted how to punish the three people.
It is obviously wrong to indiscriminately show mercy without distinguishing between good and evil. Lin Yao has already tasted the bitter fruit. But in the crisis at that time, who knew whether the help they offered was good or evil? Before doing good deeds, do they have to find out about the other party's character and personality?
For a moment, Lin Yao felt a little dazed. He thought about the disaster victims his family had treated, and realized that there were some bad people or people of questionable character among them. Was that wrong?
"You think you can get away with this by not saying a word? Dream on." The middle-aged man, emboldened by the woman, became even more arrogant. "You hit my mother, and you're not getting away with this. We'll have her checked out at the hospital soon, and you'll be responsible for any problems until she's discharged from the hospital safe and sound. You'll also have to compensate us for any other losses."
The arrogant words in front of him seemed to drift from a great distance, making them difficult to hear clearly. Lin Yao's pupils were somewhat unfocused, not on the man in front of him, as he was still lost in his own thoughts. At this moment, he was very conflicted.
Having grown up in an environment where his parents doted on him, the only bad things he experienced were the indifference of his friends and classmates, the disgust of passersby when they saw him, and the disdain and relentless attacks from the Luo family. The real encounters with people and things in society happened in the last few months.
Having experienced hardship, Lin Yao had some beautiful ideas from a young age. His parents' careful guidance instilled in him a belief: to help more people escape suffering. But now, this unfair treatment is making his belief waver. Do other people's happiness and life and death really concern him? Should he really bear this responsibility?
"Speak up." The middle-aged man was clearly angered by Lin Yao's attitude. He grabbed Lin Yao's collar with his right hand, trying to lift him up and scold him, "Don't act like your mother has died. You have to pay compensation."
With a sharp look in his eyes, Lin Yao revealed a disgusted expression. He casually brushed the middle-aged man's hand away, the force of which made the man lose his balance and take a few steps back before regaining his footing.
"Get out of here." The two cold words were squeezed out from between Lin Yao's teeth. The coldness in his eyes made the middle-aged man, who was about to continue his outburst, tremble and dare not continue to threaten him. This seemingly gentle young man was not someone to be trifled with.
"Go on, Erzi! He bullied your mother, why are you being polite to him!" The middle-aged woman fanned the flames from the side, hands on her hips, her demeanor like that of a brothel madam in the old society, bossing around the pimp.
The middle-aged man, called Erzi, ignored his wife's words. Lin Yao's cold gaze made him somewhat afraid. He stuffed Lin Yao's phone into his pocket, took out his own phone, and started dialing to invite friends to come to the hospital for help.
The ward fell silent for a moment. Apart from the middle-aged man making a quiet phone call, there was no other conversation. The old man lay on the hospital bed, seemingly asleep. Lin Yao noticed the occasional trembling of his eyelashes. The old man was avoiding the situation.
"Well, this..." The attending physician stood at the door, looking at the situation in the room with some difficulty. She was half a party involved and obviously knew some of the situation when she received the patient, but she couldn't express her opinion at the moment, since she couldn't guarantee anything.
"Doctor, please call 110." Lin Yao sighed, having made up his mind to punish this family. He would let the old man go, but the middle-aged man and woman could be spared the death penalty, though they would not escape punishment. Since they wanted to extort money, he would let them lose money.
The room became even quieter, with only the middle-aged woman rambling on about some harsh words, but her momentum was clearly insufficient, and she was often interrupted by her husband's eyes, so she patiently waited for her backup.
Lin Yao remained silent. He had already seen the female doctor give a subtle nod, and now he should wait for the police to arrive. He had nothing to say to this shameless family who repaid kindness with enmity.
Before the police and their shameless support group arrived, the taxi driver, a burly man who was a bit overweight, shouted as soon as he entered, "What's going on? You're trying to do good deeds and now you're being extorted? What do you want?"
"Brother, don't be afraid. There's still law in this society. We can't let these scumbags get away with this." The driver rushed over and patted Lin Yao on the shoulder, then turned and yelled at the old man on the bed, "Old man, you can't talk back against your conscience. This young man and I saved your life. The doctor said that if you had been brought here any later, you would have died. Is this how you treat your benefactors?"
The old man's eyelids twitched violently, but quickly returned to normal. He pretended to be fast asleep and refused to open his eyes.
The driver clearly sensed that the old man was pretending to be asleep, but since the man was a patient, he couldn't force him. He was momentarily at a loss and could only give Lin Yao a wry smile, "Brother, call the police. It's my fault for getting you into this mess. Saving him was my idea."
"Can I borrow your phone?" Lin Yao smiled gently. He admired this straightforward Northeasterner. "Brother, what brings you here?"
"It's all because of the missing person notice on the traffic radio. Someone said that the Lei Feng-style volunteer at the city hospital was being extorted. I knew it was you as soon as I heard that, so I rushed over right away. There are also a lot of taxi drivers on their way to support us." The driver's hearty laughter dispelled the gloom in Lin Yao's heart.
Lin Yao used the taxi driver's phone to call Yi Yang, gave him a few brief instructions, and then hung up. Now that he didn't have to worry about the matter, he continued to ponder the things that hadn't made sense before, and even his conversation with the driver was only half-hearted.
The driver didn't bother Lin Yao any further, thinking that anyone would be frustrated in this situation, and he could understand the young man's bad mood. He let Lin Yao go and started dialing, calling for more colleagues to bolster his support.
People arrived one after another: police officers, the middle-aged man's friends, and a large group of taxi drivers, making the endocrinology ward very lively, with even the corridors filled with people.
The driver recounted the whole incident to the police, taking full responsibility for it, saying that he was the one who suggested stopping the car to help, which led to Lin Yao getting involved.
The middle-aged man referred to as Erzi was named Chen Shiwei. He claimed to be an official of the local tax bureau. The cronies he invited also spoke with great arrogance, suggesting they were all doing quite well in the area. One of them, a city management officer who was a distant relative, even tried to ingratiate himself with the police officer, saying that people in the same system were easier to talk to.
Lin Yao didn't say anything. When asked, he identified himself as Gu Nan. He didn't have his ID card with him. The police could understand that Chinese people don't carry their ID cards with them. However, during the mediation, Lin Yao refused to express his opinion because he had to wait for someone.
“The situation is unclear. The taxi driver was his accomplice, so his words cannot be used as testimony. But my mother is a real victim, and she's lying in a hospital bed waiting for treatment.” Chen Shiwei regained her confidence after seeing the police officers' good attitude. “My mother was brought here by them, and she identified him as the perpetrator. Officers, you must handle this matter impartially. We don't want to pursue this person's responsibility further. We just want him to pay my mother's medical expenses and give me back a healthy old woman. We have no other requests.”
Hearing Chen Shiwei's words, Lin Yao was furious. The other party was clearly trying to extort money from him, wanting him to pay for treatment of his diabetes and rheumatism. The attending physician's words were ignored by Chen Shiwei and the others; they didn't discuss the connection between diabetes and the accident at all, as if the old man had developed diabetes from the accident. Even the police only mediated, offering no fair opinion. It seemed the other party had considerable influence in the area.
The phone rang, and Lin Yao recognized it as his own. He reached out to Chen Shiwei and said, "Give me back my phone."
Chen Shiwei seemed to have Lin Yao, this outsider, figured out. He completely ignored him, turned off his ringing phone from his pocket, and put it back in his pocket. The police officer also seemed not to hear or see anything, and continued to work on the taxi driver, trying to persuade Lin Yao to accept mediation.
Just as the group of taxi drivers were getting increasingly indignant and noisy, a few people squeezed in from outside the door. "Excuse me, who is Mr. Gu Nan?"
Lin Yao and his men arrived a little late, but the middle-aged man's respectful attitude slightly calmed Lin Yao's resentment. He stood up, his face expressionless, and said, "It's me. You handle this. These people are terrible."
"Yes, Mr. Gu, please rest outside. I'll handle things here." The middle-aged man bowed slightly and answered respectfully, eliciting a collective gasp from those around him.
Seeing that Lin Yao was still sitting in the chair without moving, the middle-aged man understood his meaning. He wanted to watch the entire process. Recalling the words of the Yi family patriarch, he suddenly felt a little nervous.
"I am Zhang Keqiang. Please contact me if my client has any questions. The lawyer will be here shortly." Once Lin Yao's aura was gone, Zhang Keqiang seemed like a completely different person. His arrogance and power immediately became apparent, making the two police officers nervous.
"Brother, this might be a misunderstanding, please forgive me." With a humble smile, Chen Shi bowed and walked up to Lin Yao, handing him his phone and even turning it on for him before handing it over.
Lin Yao glanced at the other party coldly, without saying a word or taking the phone. He wondered to himself who this Zhang Keqiang was and how he could have such a great influence. He had already mentioned the sound of him inhaling earlier, so he must be a well-known figure in Yanji City. There was no need to continue; Chen Shiwei had already given in on his own initiative.