Chapter 54: 2 Paths
The village chief pulled Hu Feng away and announced in a loud voice, "You have two options. Either report this to the officials and let the government decide, or settle it privately."
At the mention of officials, Old Mrs. Bai immediately lost her nerve. She wasn’t a fool; she knew she was in the wrong here. The incident from yesterday hadn’t even blown over, and now they’d caused another scene, this time involving the Hu family.
Even though Hu Feng had broken Dazhu’s arms, the Bai Family had injured Hu Changlin first. If they took this to the government, the officials wouldn’t necessarily take their side.
And with the business involving Zhao Lan and Bai Zhi, the Bai Family would likely suffer a major loss.
"How do we settle this privately?" Old Mrs. Bai asked the village chief.
The village chief glanced at the parties involved and said decisively, "Alright, I’ll make a suggestion, and you can see if it’s acceptable. The Bai Family injured Old Hu, and now Hu Feng has injured Dazhu. Each family will pay for its own medical costs. That way, nobody owes anyone anything."
Old Mrs. Bai winced, feeling the financial blow. But it seemed there was no other way. Trying to extort the money from Hu Feng wasn’t going to be easy.
In her heart, she cursed Zhao Lan and Bai Zhi a million times over. She glared at the mother and daughter again and again, wishing she could carve the flesh from their bodies piece by piece to pay off the debt.
"Yes or no? Give me a straight answer," the village chief said impatiently.
Old Mrs. Bai finally nodded. She had no choice but to agree. ’If I had known it would come to this, I never should have brought Dazhu along. One impulsive move, and so much money down the drain. That’s my lifeblood you’re talking about!’
Liu was about to pull Doctor Lu over to treat Bai Dazhu, but the doctor said, "I can treat him, but we have to agree on the price first. That way you can’t accuse me of gouging you later."
Old Mrs. Bai thought, ’This is bad.’ She quickly clutched her forehead, crying out that her head ached and trying to look as pitiful as possible.
Doctor Lu was wise to her tricks and remained unaffected. He got straight to the point, "Since you don’t have to pay for Old Hu’s medical fee, let’s talk about the fees for Zhao Lan and Bai Dazhu."
He glanced at Bai Dazhu’s massively swollen arms, knowing exactly how bad they were. He then stated, "It’s two taels of silver per arm. Zhao Lan’s treatment is already done. For Bai Dazhu’s two arms, that makes a total of six taels of silver."
The moment Old Mrs. Bai heard six taels of silver, she flew into a rage. Her head stopped aching, the tightness in her chest vanished. She pointed at Doctor Lu and shrieked, "What? Six taels of silver? You—why don’t you just go rob someone? Do you take our Bai Family for a bunch of suckers?"
Doctor Lu shrugged. "That’s fine. If you think it’s too expensive, you don’t have to get him treated. The clinic in town is only a few dozen li from Huangtuo Village. You can take Dazhu there for treatment right now and see how much they charge."
The village chief chimed in, "Last month, Old Sun broke his leg when Doctor Lu happened to be out of the village. A Sun Family member took Old Sun to town for treatment, and it cost a full five taels of silver. You should think it over and decide for yourself."
Doctor Lu added, "It’s up to you whether you treat Bai Dazhu or not. But I’ve already treated Zhao Lan. You need to give me her two taels of silver first."
Old Mrs. Bai was so furious she was about to start screaming again, but Liu pulled her aside and whispered, "Mother, now is not the time to lose your temper. Let’s have him treat Dazhu first. After he’s done, we’ll just claim we don’t have any money. What can he do to us then?"
Old Mrs. Bai’s eyes lit up. ’That’s a brilliant idea! So he wants to cheat me? Hmph, we’ll see who’s cheating who in the end.’
Old Mrs. Bai’s expression shifted dramatically, her anger vanishing in an instant. She turned to Doctor Lu and said, "It’s already getting late. I’m afraid we won’t make it to town in time. Wouldn’t Dazhu just have to suffer for another night? Fine, treat him here. We’ll have to trouble you, Doctor Lu."