"Miss, that woman with sputum-positive tuberculosis is dead. Her husband is furious and making a big fuss, demanding an explanation from us." Xiao Cai repeated.
Ye Zisu listened, utterly devoid of empathy, even finding the man's actions to be an unreasonable tantrum. "His wife already had pulmonary tuberculosis, a sputum-positive patient with an active infection, in the late stage. Without treatment, she wouldn't have lived much longer anyway.
"If we hadn't brought her to the capital for her to experience some city life before she died, she would have been gone long ago in that impoverished village. What does he have to be angry about?"
"Yes, that's what I told him, but he wouldn't listen. He insisted we lied to them, that we delayed his wife's treatment, causing her death. He also threatened to place his wife's body at the old manor's entrance tomorrow if we don't give him an explanation tonight," Xiao Cai chimed in.
Ye Zisu remained unmoved. "His wife was useless. My plan hasn't even been executed yet, and she's already dead. I haven't even asked him to compensate me for my losses, and he has the audacity to demand an explanation from me?"
The plan was to have this patient cause a scene at Yu He's clinic, after which she would report them, making it impossible for Yu He's clinic to operate in the capital. However, delays had prevented them from carrying out the plan.
Now that Qin Beiting had proposed to Yu He, causing a disturbance would be seen as a direct challenge. Not that it was impossible, but she hadn't expected that wretched woman to be so useless and die.
"I've told him everything I could, but he's just an unreasonable farmer. Moreover, I suspect he's being instigated by his family, trying to extort money," Xiao Cai said.
"Isn't the hundred thousand yuan we gave them enough?" Ye Zisu countered.
Xiao Cai dared not speak further. To appease them and ensure their silence and patience, Ye Zisu had indeed given them one hundred thousand yuan. However, Xiao Cai, having handled the transaction, had only given them forty thousand yuan, keeping the remaining sixty thousand for herself.
She felt she deserved sixty thousand for taking the risk of contagion to handle such matters for Ye Zisu.
"Give them another ten thousand yuan and tell him to be sensible and get lost!" Ye Zisu said sternly.
"Cough, yes." Xiao Cai acknowledged and retreated to call the farmer. Twenty minutes later, she returned.
"Third Miss, he refuses. He's demanding two million yuan. Otherwise, he'll move his wife's body to the old manor's entrance and invite reporters to make a scene! His wife had a contagious form of pulmonary tuberculosis. If he really brings it here, everyone in the Qin residence will likely be quarantined."
Ye Zisu's ears only registered the price: "What?! Two million!"
Qin Yongyi's monthly allowance wasn't even two million!
Although she was now the third young lady of the Qin family, Qin Yongyi was rather frugal, and her allowance wasn't substantial. To maintain the glamorous image of the third young lady, she had spent a lot of money and incurred significant debt from credit cards and online loans. Asking her to produce two million yuan at once was simply impossible.
"Is that worthless life of his wife worth two million? Who gave him the courage to ask for that? Let him cause trouble! I don't believe a mere farmer can make any significant disturbance at the Qin family's manor!"
Ye Zisu said indignantly.
The Qin family's old manor had tight security. He would likely be driven away before he even arrived!
Therefore, she wasn't afraid.
"Yes." Seeing her adopting a "what's the worst that could happen" attitude, Xiao Cai suddenly felt that demanding two million yuan had been too much.
In reality, the farmer had only asked for one million yuan; she had added another million herself. She had initially intended to extort Ye Zisu, as she had suffered a lot serving her and felt she deserved some compensation, especially since the Qin family wasn't short of money. She hadn't expected Ye Zisu to refuse.
"Also, if your cough hasn't cleared up, don't come back to work," Ye Zisu added, her tone filled with disdain, as if afraid of catching something from her.
Xiao Cai observed her contempt but responded with an unchanging expression, "Yes," and left.
Outside the courtyard, she called the farmer back. Her tone was unfriendly, "Our Third Miss says she has no money. If you have the capability, then come and cause trouble."
After saying that, she hung up the phone.
The next day.
Ye Zisu woke up early, intending to pay her respects to the elders for the New Year before attending a personal piano recital. While brushing her teeth, she felt a tickle in her throat and couldn't help but cough a few times.
She didn't pay much attention, assuming it was just the toothpaste irritating her throat.
After washing up, she went downstairs to have breakfast with Qin Yongyi. As soon as she sat down, a maid hurried in.
"Sixth Master, Third Miss, someone has brought a corpse to the entrance and is causing trouble, claiming the Third Miss caused his wife's death," the maid reported.
Hearing this, Ye Zisu's heart sank. Had the farmer really come to stir up trouble?!
"What's the situation?" Qin Yongyi asked Ye Zisu.
Ye Zisu suppressed her inner turmoil. "What are the security guards at the entrance doing? If someone is causing trouble, just drive them away!"
"The situation is not that simple. The farmer has also brought many media reporters to surround the entrance, accusing the Third Miss of disregarding human life and demanding an explanation from the family head. This has alarmed the family head, and he is already on his way and has asked you to go quickly." the maid said.
Although Qin Yongchao was under house arrest by Qin Beiting, he still held the position of family head. The main reason was that after Qin Beiting took over the Qin Corporation, he didn't assume the role of family head. With no one in the Qin family capable of challenging Qin Beiting, they let Qin Yongchao continue to hold the position.
While his influence was not as great as it once was, his decades of authority as family head were still considerable, making Ye Zisu quite fearful of him.
Hearing that Qin Yongchao had been alerted, she felt a bit apprehensive. She had just been punished by Qin Beiting, and now she had caused trouble again. If Qin Yongchao pursued the matter, she wouldn't be able to attend her piano recital in the afternoon.
"Father..." She looked at Qin Yongyi.
"What exactly happened?" Qin Yongyi asked.
"I was on a rural autumn excursion with my classmates and encountered a woman who had a medical emergency. Seeing that they were pitiful and had no money for treatment, I wanted to help them by bringing the woman back for treatment by the anonymous divine doctor.
"After all, the anonymous divine doctor is so skilled; treating pulmonary tuberculosis should not be a problem. I just didn't expect the wait for an appointment at Yu He's clinic to be so long. Before the woman could receive treatment, she passed away.
"The woman's husband now believes I caused his wife's death. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have meddled.
"It was just a moment of good intentions, but my kindness was met with ingratitude, leading to such a huge problem and troubling the family. I'm sorry..."
Ye Zisu finished, covering her face and crying, as if she were truly wronged after trying to do a good deed.
Qin Yongyi listened, then stood up and took her hand. "Since that's the case, let's explain it outside. We cannot let the media report maliciously and damage the Qin family's reputation. Don't be afraid, Father will protect you."
With his reassurance, Ye Zisu felt more confident. She wiped away her hastily produced tears and, before following him out, remembered to put on a mask.
However, as they got into the car and arrived at the main entrance, they discovered that in addition to reporters, there were also police officers, ambulances, and medical personnel in full protective suits and masks, setting up a cordon to separate the crowd.