Chapter 16

When Old Ye and Tang Zhendong returned to the street of small stalls near the train station, the older sister was still waiting at the same spot. Seeing Old Ye and Tang Zhendong return together, she happily greeted them.

"Master, you're back?"

Old Ye nodded, "Let's go. Where do you live?"

The older sister lived in a simple, old corridor-style apartment building not far from the Haicheng train station. How could there be a corridor-style apartment building near the train station? There was one in Haicheng.

This area was inhabited by long-term residents of the old city, who had lived there for decades.

Old Ye's building was relatively old, but when he entered her home, he suddenly felt that his own building seemed new in comparison. No matter what, Old Ye's building, though old, was still one of the better old buildings with three households per floor. The older sister's home, however, was a genuine corridor-style apartment.

What is a corridor-style apartment? It is a long corridor with residents living on one side, similar to modern apartments, but generally not on both sides, and each household's area is extremely small.

"Walk slowly, the hallway is dark."

The hallway was not only dark but also filled with a lot of clutter, including old sofas, tables, and coal briquettes used for winter heating.

"It's fine, it's fine." As Old Ye walked, he felt increasingly uneasy. He was also an old resident of Haicheng and knew that this area used to be the family housing of the coal company.

The coal company, during the planned economy era, was one of the best units. All the coal used for production and heating by various enterprises and residents had to be purchased through the coal company, which was a monopoly. At that time, the company was very profitable. However, after the reform and opening up, the planned economy turned into a market economy, and the coal company's business began to decline sharply.

Apart from the benefit of living in the company-provided corridor-style apartments, the employees of the coal company had no other perks. Not only were wages and bonuses not paid, but even medical expenses for treatment were not covered by the company.

Later, with the restructuring of state-owned enterprises, the original coal company was privatized, and these retired employees were even more neglected. They had worked for the country all their lives, but in their old age, they were laid off and received only meager pensions.

Old Ye had heard that the retired employees of the original coal company had protested many times in front of the municipal government due to pension issues.

However, the original site of the coal company had now been developed into real estate, leaving only these old residents of the corridor-style apartments.

"Please come in, please come in. The house is a bit messy, I'm sorry!" As soon as the older sister opened the door, Tang Zhendong could smell the strong herbal medicine scent inside.

Old Ye followed the older sister into the room. The old corridor-style apartment was like a dormitory, with larger units divided into one-bedroom apartments and smaller ones without any division, where sleeping and cooking were done in the same space.

However, the older sister's unit was relatively spacious, divided into a one-bedroom apartment. The living room, dining room, and kitchen were combined into one space.

"Master, please sit anywhere. The house is a bit crowded, I'll make you some tea first."

"Older sister, don't trouble yourself. Let's see the patient first."

"It's fine, I'll make the tea quickly, it'll be ready soon."

After a short while, the older sister brought out two cups of tea, with more tea stems than leaves, and a faint moldy smell. However, neither Tang Zhendong nor Old Ye were picky. On the contrary, after seeing the older sister's living conditions, Old Ye felt even more deeply how difficult it was for her to have taken out 3,000 yuan to buy his medicine without hesitation. This money might be her entire savings, her hope for curing her husband's illness.

"Master, wait a moment, I'll help my old man out." The older sister went in and helped her husband out of the inner room.

When the older sister brought her husband out, Tang Zhendong was clearly surprised.

Originally, from the older sister's description, her husband's illness was in the gastrointestinal tract, causing pain. However, from the perspective of feng shui and physiognomy, Tang Zhendong observed that the root of the problem was not in the gastrointestinal tract.

In feng shui, the southwest direction is the Kun trigram, which represents the female head of the household but also governs the stomachs of the entire family. This is logical because the female head of the household cooks for the family, naturally governing their stomachs.

Interestingly, the older sister's kitchen was precisely in the southwest direction, clean and tidy, and there was no conflict with the earth element of the Kun trigram. Therefore, Tang Zhendong was confident that this family, even if they were sick, would not have gastrointestinal issues.

In feng shui, the northwest direction is the Qian trigram, representing the male head of the household, which is this sickly man. Tang Zhendong was very curious to see what was placed in the northwest direction of the bedroom that the older sister had separated. However, it was not the right time to do so, as he was not the master; Old Ye was the one they had invited.

"Older sister, did you take your husband to the hospital to see a doctor?" At this moment, seeing the older sister's living conditions, Old Ye put aside his master's demeanor and only hoped to cure the old man's illness to repay her trust.

"We did go to the hospital. They did all sorts of tests, and just the examination fees cost several thousand yuan. They said to be hospitalized for observation, but they never said what the illness was."

Old Ye nodded. When people get sick, they usually think of going to the hospital first. However, sometimes hospitals are not very considerate. They conduct a series of tests regardless of the illness, which is good for those who are not short of money, as it serves as a detailed health check-up.

However, for the poor, if you have a headache, you should treat the head, but why check the stool? Each test costs money, and one or two tests are manageable, but a dozen tests together are unbearable for families like Wang Cuifeng's, who are both laid off.

When Wang Cuifeng's husband heard that the examination fees alone cost over 2,000 yuan in two days, he refused to be hospitalized. In fact, Wang Cuifeng had only saved about 10,000 yuan over the years, which was not enough for a few days of hospitalization. After four or five days, the money might be spent, and the illness might still not be diagnosed.

So, the old man insisted on being discharged, and she did not insist further.

"Old brother, where do you feel uncomfortable?" Old Ye was somewhat panicked when he heard that so many tests had been done at the hospital but no specific problem was found. He knew the exact issue with his own wife, who was also seriously ill, but this old couple had no idea what the problem was, which made him even more anxious.

"I always feel uncomfortable, but I can't pinpoint where. Sometimes I have a headache, sometimes a stomachache, and sometimes I feel chest tightness and shortness of breath."

When the old man described his symptoms, it completely confused Old Ye.

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