Chapter 542 Whose Fault Was the Mistake Back Then?
The medical personnel arrived quickly and left even faster. Zi Yisheng wanted to stay with his wife a little longer but was driven away. Ye Shengsong currently just wanted to be alone.
In the small seaside village, several children woke up early and sat by the sea. At first, it felt novel, but after a long time, all they saw was the endless expanse of the ocean.
"Brother, I miss Mom. Why hasn't she come to see me yet?"
Little Youyou sat on a stone, sighing like a little adult. He missed his mother too.
"Maybe Mom is still busy. Uncle A Long said Mom would come to pick us up soon."
Bai Shuoyang was about the same age as Little Youyou. He always missed his mother but never dared to say it or even hint at it.
"I don't want a mom. I don't like moms like Aunt Tangtang. She chases Ouyang He all day, which is very scary to watch."
Bai Shubo had no memory of a mother at all. Moreover, his recent interactions with Chen Tangtang had given him a negative impression of the word "mother."
Little Youyou glanced behind him and subtly shifted a little to the side. Someone was about to get beaten again.
"Bai Shubo, I look scary?"
"Ah~~, help, Aunt Tangtang is hitting people again. Grandma, save me quickly."
Chen Tangtang could now be described as a dark and sturdy mountain. When she ran, sand would fly high into the air.
Xia Hong sat at the courtyard entrance, resignedly shucking oysters. Her daughter-in-law was good at everything except having too much energy.
"Young people should live like Tangtang. Look at Shengsong; she's becoming less energetic every year."
Grandma Bai was getting older and preferred to sit and watch the children play.
"Shengsong is called steady, while this one is called a maniac. The two children at home are also taught by her to be more mischievous, even more so than Nezha's闹海 (Nezha's Havoc)."
Grandpa Bai and Old Master Ouyang were old chess partners. They could only listen and not participate in the women's conversations, otherwise, they would be the next to be ganged up on.
Tiantian also returned from a walk with Min Xing. Ever since being taken to the hospital and then brought here, accompanying him on walks had become a daily routine.
"Look at this scene of peace and harmony. Who would know that the outside world is already in turmoil?"
Tiantian glanced at Min Xing. This guy seemed like a different person since he was injured, either reciting poetry and couplets or lamenting the spring and autumn.
"Then why aren't you going out to help? Your injury is already healed, yet you still want me to accompany you."
"You're my goddaughter, who else would accompany me? I'm going to leave all my property to you in the future."
Tiantian was speechless and sat next to Xia Hong, helping to clean the seafood for lunch.
"You said you'd leave it to me, meaning I get the money after you die. Given your current state, I doubt you'll live to be a hundred, so the possibility of me inheriting your estate is almost zero."
The elders all laughed at Tiantian's "childish talk." Min Xing, however, was so angered that he clutched his chest and gasped.
"You ungrateful girl, I really raised an ungrateful girl."
"Min Xing, what's the situation outside? Haven't you heard any news?"
Old Master Bai finally voiced everyone's thoughts. They were living peacefully, but no one was truly at peace.
"I heard Shengsong and the others have safely returned to Mingcheng. Even if it's a war, it should be nearing its end."
"Alas, Shengsong should have been sent here. Staying with them would only make her a weapon for others to attack Yisheng."
"Old Master, don't you know your granddaughter? She wouldn't hide here and wait anxiously every day. Going with them is better for her health."
"A girl should be pampered at home. I used to think staying with Zi Yisheng was relatively safe, but this time I realized he himself is very dangerous."
Well, this was him worrying about his granddaughter and complaining about his grandson-in-law's dangerous job.
"Old Master, rest assured, your granddaughter is well protected. Even if Zi Yisheng has problems, she won't. And if Zi Yisheng himself has problems, then we'll all be annihilated. This is a matter of shared prosperity or ruin."
Old Master Bai understood. He just missed his granddaughter. She used to visit him every day for the past ten years, but now he couldn't even see her.
"He misses Shengsong. I think everyone here misses someone. Those children have been listless lately."
Grandma Bai watched the children in the distance, all tanned into little mud monkeys. Lately, they liked to sit and watch the sea early in the morning. She wondered what they were talking about.
The tranquility of the small village was not tainted by the outside clamor, but the situation in Mingcheng seemed to be getting more severe. After all, this turmoil had made many people seize the opportunity to make a name for themselves. Who wouldn't want such a rare opportunity that only comes once in a decade?
Zi Yisheng sat nervously in his office, waiting for the results, smoking one cigarette after another. Ouyang also paced anxiously outside the door. It could be said that Ye Shengsong's existence determined everything for Zi Yisheng.
At this moment, the old doctor walked in with a file under his arm. Ouyang immediately knocked on the door and welcomed the old doctor in.
"Young Master Zi, you should smoke less."
"What are the results?"
"Very bad. Did you all not notice her health problems over the years?"
Zi Yisheng snatched the report. Although it contained many professional terms, it did not prevent him from seeing the final result.
"Forty percent of the body is affected."
"Yes, you did remove a lot of this poison in the past, which is why it's only forty percent after all these years."
"Is there any other way?"
The old doctor sighed.
"There is only one method now: a full blood transfusion. However, this has a significant impact on the heart. And you know your wife has a very rare blood type, right?"
"I know. I had it checked when we found her back then. That's why the hospital has always kept a blood bag for her."
"This is not something one or two bags of blood can solve. At least ten people with the same blood type need to be found to provide enough blood for a full transfusion."
Zi Yisheng actually relaxed a bit. As long as it wasn't a death sentence, there was hope. He could find two out of the ten people now, two he had always prepared for his wife.
"Old Gu, how much time do I have?"
"Don't worry. Is your wife taking some medication to maintain her health? She can hold on for another year or two."
Medication? It was probably the medicinal water his wife made herself. It did have the effect of strengthening the body.
"Old Gu, I'd like to ask, there were three doctors who treated my wife's poisoning back then. Did they not discover that the poison hadn't been completely removed?"
Old Gu stroked his beard. He knew all three of them back then. He also heard that two of them were still close to Zi Yisheng.
"That's the terrifying part about the Baili family. Their family can be considered the ancestor of medicine and poison. No other family can achieve this. They injected the poison bit by bit with silver needles into the skin. As time went by, it was as if it had penetrated to the bone marrow. It was fortunate that those three were skilled enough and managed to remove most of it. However, the only oversight was that they neglected that even a tiny residue of the poison would spread throughout the blood, like cell division, multiplying from one to two, and two to four."
Zi Yisheng still couldn't believe that there were no issues with those three doctors.
"If you were the one treating it back then, would you have removed it completely?"
"Of course. This poison needs to be treated at least three times to be safe."
"Heh, meaning they all knew but no one proceeded with the second treatment?"
Old Gu did not reply. He truly didn't know why the second treatment wasn't performed. Zi Yisheng now understood. Even Old Fan and the others couldn't be considered entirely innocent.
"Old Gu, prepare the medicine. We'll start once I find ten people."
"Min Xing's pharmacy is fully open to me. Collecting all the medicinal ingredients should be quick."
Zi Yisheng nodded. Since Min Xing was injured, his pharmacy had been under his control, and now it would cooperate fully.
After seeing Old Gu off, Zi Yisheng left. He wanted to personally meet his two masters and hear what they had to say.
When Zi Yisheng placed Ye Shengsong's report in front of his two masters, they didn't understand what was happening. But after reading the report, they were in disbelief.
"This is impossible. I confirmed it many times back then when I treated Shengsong."
"That's right. We are both traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. We rely on observation, listening, questioning, and pulse-taking. If there were residual toxins, we wouldn't have been able to miss them."
Old Fan angrily threw down the documents. He wasn't angry at Zi Yisheng's suspicion of him but at how he could have made such a major mistake.
"No, we've been taking care of Shengsong's health all these years. How could it have spread to forty percent without us noticing? This point alone doesn't add up."
"This is also what I want to ask. If it was a mistake before, what about these past few years?"
Old Fan slumped dejectedly into his chair. He didn't understand either. He truly didn't understand.
"I pride myself on my excellent medical skills, yet such a major mistake occurred with my youngest disciple."
"Old Fan, the first thing now is to find the reason for this problem. Let's go over it again. Where did the mistake happen?"
Old Dang spoke a little more than usual. He was also anxious, but he knew he had to prove his innocence to resolve everything. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to rest in peace even if he died.
Zi Yisheng didn't trust anyone now. Unless the most convincing evidence was presented, he wouldn't let anyone off the hook.
"Yisheng, I know nothing I say now will help, and I can't even believe myself. You can lock us up first. We just need some medicinal ingredients and experimental equipment. You can release us when we find the reason. If we can't find it, I'd rather die in there for the rest of my life."
Old Fan had always been stubborn and could not forgive himself for making a mistake that harmed his precious disciple.
"Guards, take them directly to the laboratory. They are not to be released without my permission."
Ouyang never imagined that his two masters would be implicated. He felt as if someone was weaving a large net behind the scenes, trying to eliminate everyone around Young Master Zi one by one.
"Masters, please come with me."
"Yisheng, hurry up and treat Shengsong. This child has suffered too much."
Old Fan's already bent back could no longer straighten. Zi Yisheng watched as the two elders disappeared.
"Young Master Zi, I don't see any reason to suspect the masters. Especially Old Fan, he contacted Madam through the black market back then. It's impossible for him to have predicted everything that happened later."
Ouyang was about to say more but was stopped by Zi Yisheng raising his hand.
"After all, Shengsong was someone the Baili family kept under their watch since childhood. So, every move she made might never have been interrupted."
"I think this is all the work of Old Man Baili. He wants you to suspect everyone around you, leaving you with no one to rely on. You must not fall for it."
Zi Yisheng nodded. He had already noticed this. Since the incident, he had suspected everyone around him countless times. This was the key point in defeating him from the root.
"Take good care of the two masters. This incident is also a huge blow to them."
"Yes, I'll have someone take good care of them."
Ye Mu'en wandered alone on the streets, especially in Mingcheng's most famous slum. The people here lived difficult lives, and economic liberalization had not helped them at all.
When she saw someone sitting on the ground carefully organizing cardboard boxes beside them, she noticed that their legs hadn't moved at all.
Ye Mu'en quickly walked over and stood opposite the person, causing them to flinch.
"Stand up."
"I, I can't stand. My legs are broken."
Ye Mu'en immediately knelt down and felt the person's neck, but there were no signs of a fake skin. She felt disappointed, but not entirely.
"How did your legs get broken?"
"Someone broke them while I was walking on the street. I couldn't afford treatment, so I'm just enduring it like this."
"Broken? Did you offend someone?"
"People like us rarely have the chance to offend anyone. We walk the streets every day just to earn a living."
Ye Mu'en nodded and was about to leave, but she suddenly thought of the word "we" that the person had used.
"What do you mean by 'we'?"
"There are quite a few people like me whose legs have been broken."
Ye Mu'en frowned. How could so many people have their legs broken at the same time?
"Are you all acquainted?"
"No, but most of them, like me, are ragpickers. Everyone is saying that someone took action because they couldn't stand us yelling all over the place."
Absolutely not. It seemed that Old Man Baili was going to any lengths to hide his broken legs.
"What was the exact time of your injury?"
"Two months ago."
Heh, two months ago. This incident only happened less than ten days ago. Old Man Baili had been planning this for two months.
Ye Mu'en took out two hundred-yuan bills from her pocket and handed them to the person.
"Help me find people to count how many people are injured like you. This is your reward."
The person quickly took the money and carefully put it in their pocket.
"Are you going to help us treat our legs?"
Ye Mu'en hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"Really? Thank you, you're such a good person."
"I need a detailed list. It would be best if you could gather everyone together so I can send people to treat their injuries."
"Don't worry, such a great opportunity only needs to be spread by word of mouth for everyone to come."
Ye Mu'en thought for a moment and took out another hundred yuan, placing it on the ground.
"If you know of anyone, help me investigate all the people in Mingcheng who cannot walk, regardless of age or gender."
"There are many. Many people who can't walk prefer to stay at home and don't go out. This will take time."