Chapter 51

"Where does Yao Sihai live? I want to go and take a look," Qin Chuan said.

"I'll take you to the village secretary's house. It's not appropriate for me to handle this kind of matter," the villager clearly did not want to get involved.

"That's fine. Where is the village secretary's house?" Qin Chuan asked.

"Wait a moment." The villager washed his hands and feet in a pool beside the vegetable field, then put on a pair of slippers and walked onto the road.

"Get in the car." Qin Chuan opened the car door.

"No need. I'm all muddy. It's just a few steps away." The villager looked at the beautiful car and shook his head repeatedly.

Qin Chuan did not get into the car either but followed directly. Gao Zhanting drove the car and followed behind.

"You haven't started the land requisition here yet," Qin Chuan looked around. Although this village was not far from the Jiutan Development Zone, there seemed to be no activity here, and the main livelihood was still farming.

"Yes. The development in the zone is not going well. I heard that several real estate projects there have become ghost towns. Our Youzidong Village was originally planned for the second phase of the Jiutan Development Zone, but now that the first phase hasn't taken off, the second phase is likely to be abandoned," the villager did not seem to have any thoughts about the lack of land requisition and demolition.

"If you were to be relocated, you would all become millionaires or even multimillionaires," Qin Chuan said.

"Let me be honest with you. I actually don't want to be relocated. Now, without relocation, I have a few acres of land. Planting anything on one acre can easily earn me tens of thousands of yuan a year. After relocation, although we would get compensation, it would be a one-time payment. When the money runs out, we'll have no house, no land, and the government won't provide us with jobs. We farmers don't have any special skills, and we'll end up spending all our savings. In many places, after relocation, people get the compensation but don't know what to do with it. They end up gambling at home every day and losing everything in a few years. Look at us now, we have spacious houses, fruit trees around, and we grow our own vegetables and raise our own chickens, ducks, and geese. We don't have to spend a penny. In the future, without the land and the space around our houses, we'll have to spend money as soon as we open the door," the villager saw it clearly.

"That's true," Qin Chuan had heard many such stories. But he still envied these suburban farmers. A single relocation could be enough for an ordinary person to struggle for a lifetime.

In such a suburb, the village secretary was definitely not an ordinary person. The most beautiful house in the village was either the village chief's or a village cadre's. The village secretary's house in Youzidong Village was the best in the village.

When Qin Chuan followed the villager to the village chief's house, there were two mahjong tables set up, making it look more like a mahjong parlor.

"Secretary, a doctor from the Central Hospital is looking for Yao Sihai's house. What should we do?" the villager said to the secretary Yao Liangang, who was sitting at a mahjong table.

"Who's looking for Yao Sihai? Wait a moment, let me finish this round," Yao Liangang had a good hand and was hoping to win, so he was reluctant to stop.

Yao Liangang won a big hand and smiled, asking his tablemates for money: "It's not easy to win this hand, everyone pay up."

While asking his friends for money, Yao Liangang looked up and smiled at Qin Chuan: "It's the off-season now, nothing to do, so we play a few hands. We villagers play small stakes, not much to win or lose, not much fun. By the way, what do you need from Yao Sihai's family? I think no one is there. Yao Sihai is in the hospital in the city, and his two adopted sons have jobs."

"I'm a doctor from the Central Hospital. Yao Sihai is hospitalized in my department. No one has been there to take care of him, and he can't even get a meal. I came to see if there are any relatives who can take care of him. I heard he has two sons. I want to see if I can contact them. Yao Sihai suddenly fell ill these past two days, and it was almost fatal," Qin Chuan explained Yao Sihai's situation to the people of Youzidong Village.

Hearing Qin Chuan's words, the people of Youzidong Village immediately cursed: "Sihai raised two beasts. He raised them and sent them to university, and now that they have jobs, they turn their backs on him. Are they human? I think this should be reported to the TV station to expose them. Zhang Guiping is a city official, and he's doing something worse than pigs and dogs. He should be shown to the whole country as a negative example!"

"It's not that simple. Although Yao Sihai and Hu Yemei lived together, they didn't go through any legal procedures. Legally, they are not protected. Although Yao Sihai raised Zhang Guiping and Zhang Guishan and sent them to school, officially, they have no connection. Zhang Guiping and Zhang Guishan have never acknowledged Yao Sihai as their stepfather," Yao Liangang said.

"Yao Sihai has been picking up trash in Tanshan City for so many years, and all the money went to their education. Since they don't recognize him as their stepfather, shouldn't they at least pay back the money they spent on him? This is like wanting to have your cake and eat it too. Where is the logic in that?"

"Even if Zhang Guiping and Zhang Guishan don't acknowledge him, can't Hu Yemei? Now that Yao Sihai is sick, shouldn't Hu Yemei go and see him?"

Hearing this, Qin Chuan finally understood the situation with Yao Sihai's two sons. Hu Yemei's husband had died, and she had two stepsons. It was not easy for her to find a suitable match. Fortunately, Yao Sihai from Youzidong Village had not married, and after an introduction, he moved into Hu Yemei's home. Although they moved in together, they did not go through any legal procedures. After Zhang Guiping and Zhang Guishan graduated from university and got jobs, they took Hu Yemei to the city and no longer acknowledged Yao Sihai as their stepfather.

"Doesn't Yao Sihai have a sister?" Qin Chuan asked.

"He does have a sister. But when Yao Sihai moved into the Zhang family, his sister Yao Hong and her family were very opposed, fearing that Yao Sihai would be working for nothing. Now, it has proven their concerns. Yao Sihai was so devoted to Hu Yemei that he even quarreled with his sister's family. Yao Hong was still good and often visited Yao Sihai when he first fell ill. But she and her husband and children have argued many times over this matter."

"Right, shouldn't Yao Sihai have rural insurance? Now that he is hospitalized, he should be able to get some reimbursement from the insurance. Moreover, since he is not married to Hu Yemei, he should be eligible for the five guarantees and low-income assistance," Qin Chuan asked.

As soon as Qin Chuan finished speaking, everyone turned their eyes to Yao Liangang.

"Since Yao Sihai went to Tanshan City, he didn't pay for the rural insurance. When he was healthy, he made a good income from picking up trash, and we didn't know his situation. Now that he is in difficulty, we will include him in the list of needy households. But he won't be able to receive any assistance until next year," Yao Liangang said.

"Since I have understood Yao Sihai's situation, I don't need to go to his house. If anyone has contact with his sister, please let her know and see if she can visit him at the Central Hospital. Also, do you have any contact information for Zhang Guishan and Zhang Guiping?" Qin Chuan suddenly lost the desire to visit Yao Sihai's house.

"We will notify Yao Hong. But we don't have any contact information for Zhang Guiping and his brother. They are not from our village, and now that they are officials, they don't care about us villagers," Yao Liangang said.

Qin Chuan got back into the car.

"Where to now?" Gao Zhanting asked.

"Back," Qin Chuan said.

"Not going to Yao Sihai's house?" Gao Zhanting was puzzled. They had come all this way and hadn't done anything.

"Going there would be useless. There's no one at his house. It's just an old, dilapidated house," Qin Chuan shook his head.

"So this trip was in vain," Gao Zhanting understood that Qin Chuan had already found out what he needed.

"Not entirely. At least I know what I wanted to know," Qin Chuan explained what he had learned.

"The Zhang family is really heartless. When they needed money, he was their father, but now that he is old and sick, they completely ignore him," Gao Zhanting cursed the Zhang brothers.

"No wonder I heard that someone used to bring food to Yao Sihai. It might have been Hu Yemei. But I've never seen her at the Central Hospital," Qin Chuan said.

"I know Yao Sihai. Many people used to share their meals with him. But we in the emergency department don't dare to do that. After all, Yao Sihai has been occupying our emergency beds, and it's impossible to add more beds. Over the years, it has affected our department's income by hundreds of thousands of yuan. Director Cheng sighs whenever he sees Yao Sihai," Gao Zhanting said.

"That is indeed a headache for him," Qin Chuan couldn't help but laugh when he thought of the look on Cheng Guanhua's face when he saw Yao Sihai.

"Don't laugh. If you were the director, you wouldn't be much better than Director Cheng. Each department has a revenue target. Although it's not openly stated, the directors all keep track of it," Gao Zhanting said.

"You say we doctors work hard to make money for the hospital, but the hospital doesn't even give us a raise. We have to rely on gray income to live. In the end, the problems with the medical system are blamed on us doctors. Isn't that unfair?" Qin Chuan said.

"If you take gray income, it's not unfair. Nurses don't have extra income and are often beaten. They are the ones who are really wronged. By the way, let's not talk about this anymore. What do you plan to do about Yao Sihai?" Gao Zhanting said.

"See if I can contact Zhang Guiping. He is an official in Tanshan City. I'll try to find him and contact him," Qin Chuan said.

"If it were up to me, I would let it go. You've done enough," Gao Zhanting said.