039 Familiar faces

Three days later, indeed, the first-tier prize was drawn. The news spread like wildfire, but for personal protection, the winner's name wasn't announced. My chance had come.

I shared this good news with Shi Jingxia. She thought I was joking, didn't take it seriously at all. Dragging her to the bank, we checked the balance. Staring at the string of numbers, her eyes widened.

"One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, two hundred thousand? So much?"

"Now do you believe it?"

She looked at me in astonishment, speechless.

I revealed my plan. When Shi Jingxia learned I wanted to use the money for her plastic surgery, she shook her head vehemently, refusing adamantly.

"We're not related, I can't take your money."

"This money is useless to me. Consider it a loan, alright?"

"No, I can't. This much money, I can't repay it in my lifetime."

"We'll talk about repaying it in the next lifetime then."

Finally, after my persistent persuasion, Shi Jingxia agreed, but she also set a condition, saying it's tough for everyone these days, and asked me to clear the accounts at the grocery store first.

The next day, under the pretext of visiting the grocery store, I wrapped up the subsequent matters, actually heading to Botong Tang.

Standing at the corner, seeing the closed gate, my heart immediately panicked. Although Botong Tang's open-door business was just a façade, there was no reason for them to close during broad daylight.

There was a vendor selling candied haws by the roadside, his small speaker playing the well-known song "Candied Haws." The vendor, with his sleeves rolled up, ducked his head, swaying left and right. He often set up his stall here, perhaps knowing something.

I pulled my hat down and approached.

"Give me a skewer of candied haws."

"Which one? Hawthorn or fruit?"

"Hawthorn, please. How much?"

"Two yuan."

I took a bite of the hawthorn, sour-sweet and icy, a genuine flavor.

"Buddy, just a casual question, why hasn't Botong Tang opened its doors?"

The vendor wiped the glass, rolled up his sleeves again, and sniffed, "Don't know, been like this for several days."

"Nothing happened, right?"

"Don't know, been like this for several days."

"You're here every day, haven't you noticed anything unusual?"

"Don't know, been like this for several days."

"Okay, forget it. You're busy, I'll leave. You dumbass."

With my phone in hand, I dialed each number one by one, but couldn't reach anyone. My heart pounded with anxiety.

Finally, gathering courage, I dialed Lin Canghai's number.

"Doot... Doot..."

The waiting tone sounded, but Lin Canghai didn't answer for a long time.

"Pick up, please, pick up."

After half a minute, Lin Canghai's voice came through the receiver.

"Guangting, haven't you learned your lesson?"

"Mr. Lin, I..."

Before I could finish speaking, Lin Canghai interrupted directly, "What's the matter, hurry up and say."

"Botong Tang is closed. Did something happen?"

There was silence on the other end of the line. After a moment, Lin Canghai sighed and said, "Chen Lao Da has been arrested."

"What? How is that possible? There's no news on TV or in the newspapers."

"Guangting, you're too naive. The reason for blocking the news is to avoid alerting the enemy. I found out through connections."

"What exactly happened?"

"The details are still unclear. I will handle this matter. Don't call me again. I will contact you."

*Beep beep beep.*

A dial tone sounded as Lin Canghai hung up the phone.

After careful examination, the doctor said that Shi Jingxia's skin defect was extensive and deep, requiring consideration of a skin flap transplant.

His explanation was too technical, I couldn't understand it at all. I only made one condition: no matter what, Shi Jingxia's face must be restored. Money was not an issue, so I even gave the doctor a red envelope of 3000 yuan.

The first surgery was very successful. A piece of skin and flesh was transplanted from the thigh, and the recovery was good. However, there would be some scar hyperplasia at the edges of the skin graft, so she had to wear a face bikini to prevent hyperplasia.

A month later, we went to the hospital again to undergo laser treatment to suppress scar hyperplasia, making the skin color and texture as normal and smooth as possible.

In the hospital, the doctor asked Shi Jingxia to remove the face bikini for examination. She asked me to wait outside, and I knew what she was thinking, so I waited for her in the hallway.

About an hour passed, and she still hadn't come out. I waited alone, anxious and bored, walking around. Suddenly, I spotted a familiar figure.

The person was wearing a camel-colored woolen coat, tied up in a ponytail, wearing black-framed glasses, and long leather boots, exuding an aristocratic aura everywhere, much like a Japanese female teacher I greatly respected.

"It's Bai Ruoxue!" I almost exclaimed.

At that moment, she was talking to a doctor. Quietly, I walked around. With a major discovery, it turned out that this person was not Bai Ruoxue, but Bai Family's young lady, Bai Ruoshui, Bai Ruoxue's sister.

Bai Ruoshui was the director of a local Red Light Welfare Institute, which mainly adopted children abandoned due to congenital disabilities. They even set up a "Love Island" specifically for abandoned infants.

Bai Ruoshui was even called an angel of love.

This time, she came mainly to discuss sponsorship matters with the institute. The institute wanted to use some money from the Red Light Welfare Institute to gain fame and advertise, so Bai Ruoshui came to help for the sake of the children, resulting in a win-win situation.

Both parties agreed to hold an event themed "Love Enters Campus, Connecting You, Me, and Them" on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month at the Red Light Welfare Institute.

During this month, I had been trying to contact Zhang Ling and the others, but I couldn't reach them. After a phone call with Lin Canghai, that number also became unreachable.

I was like a kite with a broken string, anxious.

Something big must have happened, probably related to the Bai Gang, but the Bai Gang was not like the Huo Ye, and no one knew their whereabouts. Bai Ruoshui should be a breakthrough.

As I was thinking about this, Shi Jingxia came to find me, holding a bag of medicines, all for scar removal.

She took off the face bikini, but there were still scars on her face, so she still wore a veil.

Just as we entered the house, we heard the sound of Shi's mother crying.

In less than a month, Shi Dashan was already unrecognizable.

He was so thin that he was just skin and bones, with unusually large joints, emitting a faint odor from his whole body, and needle marks all over his arms, shocking to see.

The thing was, the first batch of demolition compensation had already come down. Many families had already found new homes and were preparing to move after the Chinese New Year. However, Shi Dashan squandered all the demolition compensation, and even poisoned himself with drugs, ruining his health.

Just a few hours ago, he had injected an overdose of drugs, causing severe damage to his body functions and was in critical condition. Shi's mother brought him back.

Shi Dashan weakly said, "I don't have much time left. There's one last wish before I die."

Shi's mother said, "Shopkeeper, Xiaojing is back. Say what you want to say, we're all here."