Chapter 186: How Are You Still Cursing!
After seeing the amount, the old woman was obviously stunned for a moment. This sum of money could be said to be the largest amount of money she had ever seen!
She wanted to refuse, but thinking of the children in the courtyard who were starving, she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
“Take it, Dean. Being able to do a little for the children is also accumulating some merit for yourself.” Cao Weida stuffed the check into her hand, feeling her rough palm, thick fingers, and face stained with vegetable dirt. He felt a bit unsettled inside.
Undoubtedly, the Dean was a good person. In the eyes of selfish people, she was even a bit foolish.
But it was this silly person who had propped up a sky for the fatherless and motherless, displaced children in the courtyard!
Cao Weida thought he could never become such a person, but that didn’t stop him from respecting such people!
The Dean sighed softly and slowly nodded in agreement: “Then this old woman will thank the Boss on behalf of the children.”
“You’re too polite.”
After chatting a few words, the Dean took Cao Weida to the back courtyard to see the children here.
It’s said that children from poor families mature early, and these fatherless and motherless children were even more so.
Each one, though still young, had already learned to sweep the ground, plant crops, fertilize, and the like.
Sure enough, in the courtyard behind, every usable space had been turned into fields, so it looked a bit messy.
The fields were planted with high-yield sweet potatoes and potatoes.
The Dean said: “Grain is scarce nowadays, and the prices are too high. We can only secretly plant some. Though not much, it can add a few meals for the children. Please keep it confidential for this old woman, Boss.”
The two words ‘secretly’ revealed the hardship of these times.
He also understood why the Dean hadn’t wanted to bring him to the back courtyard before.
First, to protect the children and women; second, to prevent these fields from being discovered.
“Rest assured, Dean. I won’t tell anyone.” He didn’t say nonsense like ‘You won’t have to work so hard in the future; I’ll cover all the children’s meals.’
Even if it didn’t sound exaggerated, these children were orphans. They couldn’t stay in the orphanage forever; they would have to go out into the world eventually.
He didn’t want to raise them into good-for-nothings who reached out for clothes and opened their mouths for food. It was good for them to become sensible early, so they could understand reason sooner in the future and support themselves with their own hands.
He glanced at the buildings in this courtyard and counted the number of children here, getting a rough idea.
The buildings here were quite limited. If all those children were brought over, it would be stretched thin.
After all, this wasn’t a government-run orphanage; its scale was predictable.
With a rough plan in mind, he wandered a bit more with the Dean and then took his leave.
After leaving the orphanage, he hurried straight to the hospital without stopping.
“Doctor Zhu.”
“Boss, you’ve come.” Seeing Cao Weida arrive, Zhu Liwen quickly stood up to greet him.
Doctors had some connections.
After Cao Weida left, he had asked someone to look into it.
The news wasn’t hard to find. After all, not too many people knew Cao Weida, but not few either.
Only after getting the news did he realize that Beiping had quietly produced such a capable person!
His previous guess was right; Cao Weida indeed had a big background!
The key was, since becoming a patrolman, Cao Weida hadn’t done anything harmful to heaven or reason; instead, he had helped the people quite a bit.
If it were someone else, Ono Shiota and those little devils would probably have grown suspicious of Cao Weida and distanced themselves long ago. But strangely, Cao Weida still enjoyed their trust as always, which was quite baffling.
Naturally, the matter of Cao Weida partnering with Ono Shiota and them in business couldn’t be investigated, so Zhu Liwen couldn’t know about it.
But no matter the reason, he just needed to know that Cao Weida had astonishing influence!
His mind racing with thoughts, he showed some respect on his face: “Boss, are you here to visit the children?”
“Yes, I was a bit worried, so I came to check.” Cao Weida was used to others’ flattery and respect, but he had a good impression of this doctor, so his attitude was naturally much friendlier.
“Doctor Zhu, how are the children now?”
“I was just about to contact you, Boss.” Doctor Zhu said: “Those children were severely malnourished before, their bodies too weak. Many had inflamed infections at their wounds, and some were already severely inflamed before being brought here.”
“But our hospital has too few anti-inflammatory drugs. To use them, we need the Dean’s approval. The process is cumbersome, and it’s likely to be denied anyway.”
“There are also anesthetics. For fractures that aren’t severe, we can use traditional Chinese techniques to reset them, but for those already deformed, surgery is needed for repositioning.”
“The children are still young, their bones still growing. Operating now, even if they can’t fully recover in the future, can maximize the correction of the deformities.”
He took Cao Weida to look at each ward one by one. Inside, the rescued children lay on the beds. Clearly, they knew they had been saved by a kind person, and their faces now showed a bit of vitality again.
The nurses were applying medicine to them. Though it hurt terribly, they didn’t cry or fuss, their sensibility heartbreaking.
But those children whose bodies had been tortured beyond recognition still had deadened looks on their faces.
“These beasts!” Cao Weida, who had felt physical discomfort from Liu Zhan’s bloody introduction earlier, suddenly felt that carving thirty cuts into them might be too few after seeing these children!
“They truly are beasts, in this damn world.” Zhu Liwen sighed and said: “We’ve already planned the treatment, but without anesthetics and anti-inflammatory drugs, the surgeries simply can’t be done.”
“Rest assured, I’ll handle the medicine.” Cao Weida naturally couldn’t stand by; he understood Zhu Liwen’s difficulties.
Anti-inflammatory and anesthetic drugs were strictly controlled at this time, and in occupied territory, the Japanese Army controlled medicine even more tightly.
If the hospital wanted to use them, it had to follow regulations, usually going through application and approval processes.
Without certain relationships or enough money stuffed in, wanting to use these two medicines?
No chance!
However, what was extremely difficult for others was naturally a small matter for Cao Weida.
He had anti-inflammatory drugs in his space, the best one of this era—penicillin.
Anesthetics were easy to solve too. Unlike anti-inflammatory drugs, they weren’t scarce. As long as you had money or connections, it was just a matter of a word.
He knew Zhu Liwen had said it deliberately for him to hear, but he didn’t mind, as long as the intention was good.
Besides, he had brought the children, and the drugs were indeed controlled—that was fact. Even speaking bluntly about it was reasonable.
“Then I’ll trouble the Boss.” Zhu Liwen breathed a sigh of relief inside. This was one of the reasons he wanted to build a connection with Cao Weida—the man’s relationships were strong!
Beiping strictly controlled anti-inflammatory drugs, yet he agreed without the slightest hesitation!
Befriending this connection might prove useful someday; at critical moments, it could save lives!
After touring around, Cao Weida left the hospital and headed straight for the Japanese Navy office.
The Japanese Navy office was located at No. 7 Taijichang First Hutong, Dongjiaomin Lane. Upon arrival, Cao Weida walked right up confidently.
“Tomade!”
Unfortunately, just ten meters from the office, he was forced to stop by the sound of rifles being chambered.
He raised his hands high and shouted: “Don’t shoot! One of your own! I’m here to see Officer Meize Heiba!”
A translator dressed in translator uniform whispered a couple of words in the little devil’s ear, then walked over following behind that little devil.
“What do you do!”
Damn your dad’s do!
Cursing inwardly, he put on a neither humble nor arrogant smile: “Taijun, I’m here to see your Officer Meize Heiba. This is Cao Weida. Could you please pass on the message?”
“Mada!” After the translator translated, the little devil coldly said one word and turned to walk away.
“Hey! Why are you cursing?!” Cao Weida immediately got upset. Damn it, you little devil who’s about to become a scattered dog, just a watchdog at the door, look at how cocky you are!
The translator quickly smiled obsequiously and explained: “Cao Ye, Cao Ye! Don’t misunderstand. Taijun said that in Japanese, meaning for you to wait.”
“Oh? You know me?” Cao Weida looked at him doubtfully. This crappy Japanese really sounded awful.
Actually, no, some was nice-sounding, like suo ya mai die.
The translator smiled sycophantically: “Cao Ye, you’re buried in official duties, too busy to sit down. It’s normal not to know a nobody like me. But your heroic bearing—I’ve long admired your fame, Wen Ji has longed for it, wishing I could have paid a visit sooner.”
“But I’m lowly and dare not disturb you, Cao Ye. Seeing you here today is truly my honor!”
“.” Damn, this flattery was really slapping loud.
Sure enough, not just anyone could be a dog. To be a good dog, you had to learn to please the master!
“Where where, Brother Wen Ji flatters me. We’re all just working for the officers. I’m just a bit luckier.” Cao Weida responded with a smile. As the saying goes, it’s easy to deal with the king of hell but hard to deal with the little ghosts. Whether this translator was a die-hard damn traitor or not, better not to offend if possible.
These people might be hard-pressed to help you succeed, but ruining your affairs was all too easy for them.
He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handed it over: “This pack’s almost stale; I can’t finish it. Help me out and take it.”
Emotions stirred more on Wen Ji’s sycophantic face: “Aiyo, then thanks, Cao Ye.”
After taking the cigarettes, he glanced around and said softly: “Cao Ye, you should know that the Taijuns’ Army and Navy don’t get along. You coming here so boldly”
