Chapter 607: Chapter 607: This Is Extortion
Li Yufei smiled faintly: "I don’t have time to take you to the hospital, calling an ambulance to send you is the same."
For such a simple personal injury accident, it’s usually handed over to the insurance company directly, which is more convenient.
The young man said coldly: "Do you think I’m unaware? When this kind of accident happens, you call the insurance company and the ambulance throws me in the hospital, then you don’t care."
Li Yufei: "Don’t worry, I will pay all your expenses upfront."
The young man said coldly: "Talk is cheap, I won’t believe you."
Li Yufei was momentarily at a loss for words.
She looked at him.
In front of her, the young man appeared to be around twenty years old, about six feet tall, with a well-built physique. Her driving speed wasn’t overly fast but not slow either; if it weren’t for his youth and good physical condition, he wouldn’t have just suffered minor injuries.
Originally, she was in the wrong for this matter.
She didn’t want to waste time on these complicated procedures, but it was apparent that he didn’t trust her.
Li Yufei said: "Get in the car."
Using his uninjured hand, the young man opened the car door and sat in the back seat.
His pitch-black, icy eyes narrowed slightly, and he scrutinized Li Yufei’s appearance through the rear-view mirror.
Li Yufei felt uncomfortable throughout the drive. The lateness and her earlier distraction had led to the accident, which made her concentrate more and pay extra attention to the traffic behind, thus she glanced back occasionally.
Every time she looked at the rear-view mirror, she saw the young man’s eyes.
He was observing her.
Unlike a man observing a woman, his gaze was filled with scrutiny and aggression.
Luckily, they soon arrived at a nearby hospital.
When registering, the young man took out his ID.
Li Yufei unintentionally glanced at it.
Rong Ling, twenty-three years old.
She was somewhat surprised; he looked slender and weak, dressed simply in white sneakers and a black sweatshirt, so she initially thought he was a high school student, not expecting him to be twenty-three already.
Rong Ling took the registration medical card and turned to her, saying: "On the third floor, need to get an X-ray."
Li Yufei, "Okay, let’s hurry."
Junjun was still waiting for her at home.
Rong Ling looked at her, half smiling, "I’d like to hurry too; if you drove more carefully, we wouldn’t be here."
Li Yufei knew she was at fault and didn’t continue the topic.
After the examination, the doctor’s conclusion was a fracture; it takes a hundred days for tendons and bones to heal. Rong Ling’s hand wouldn’t be able to move for at least three and a half months and can’t do heavy work.
"Come back in five days for a dressing change." The doctor wrote a line in the medical record, "Any allergies to medications?"
Rong Ling said: "None."
The doctor pointed outside, "You can go get the medication, one is for external spraying and one for oral use. Be careful not to get them wet to avoid infection."
Rong Ling, "Okay."
Li Yufei took Rong Ling’s medical card, paid for the medication, and bought it.
She put the medical card in a bag and handed it along with the medicine to him, "Let’s discuss the compensation."
"Compensation?"
"Since I hit you, besides the medical expenses, the lost wages and emotional distress fees should also be compensated to you."
Li Yufei always handles matters flawlessly.
Whatever can be solved directly, she doesn’t drag it out.
Upon hearing this, Rong Ling half-smiled and, without much small talk, directly stated a number, "Since everyone’s time is precious, let’s not waste it. You see, for the next three months, I can’t work. As for compensation, $30,000."
$30,000...
$30,000 sounds like an extortionate figure.
Li Yufei glanced at him displeased, then stepped closer to him slowly, murmuring: "$30,000? That’s extortion."
Rong Ling: "$30,000, is it expensive?"
Li Yufei: "It’s only your hand that’s broken."
"Only? The watch on your wrist costs more than $30,000, yet my hand is not as valuable as your watch?"
Like a cold black thorn, Rong Ling sharply and flamboyantly attacked her.
Li Yufei furrowed her brow; he was only in his early twenties, and she was reluctant to position him as an "adversary," but his rude remarks and demanding attitude annoyed her immensely.
However, tens of thousands of dollars weren’t worth wasting time for her.
She opened her briefcase, roughly looking at the cash inside, which seemed to be around $50,000.
Li Yufei raised an eyebrow slightly: "Oh? Only $50,000."
She took out all the money, pinched it between her index finger and thumb, and extended her wrist outward to hand it over.
Rong Ling reached out to grab the stack of money from her hand, suddenly, Li Yufei dodged his movement.
"Listen, $50,000, and we’re even."
With that, she expressionlessly let go of the money.
The fluttering banknotes, like red rain, slid from the top of his wet hair and scattered on the ground, each corner of the bill grazed his cheek with a cold, fragmented sting.
Her voice, cold and unfeeling like a divine creator, reached his ears, "I’ve seen many people, but you’re the first young person I’ve seen like this."
Li Yufei stepped over the money at her feet and walked away without looking back.
Rong Ling, expressionless, bent down, half-knelt, and began to pick up the scattered bills with his uninjured hand, one by one.
"One, two, three... seventeen, eighteen..."
He murmured the count of the bills, just like he used to count the money handed over by customers at night stalls since childhood.
He carefully smoothed out the creases on each bill, respecting and cherishing the money immensely.
No more, no less, exactly $50,000.
Rong Ling cautiously shoved the money into his sweatshirt and covered it with his hand, letting out a long breath.
The boy walked to the door.
The rain continued to drizzle persistently.
He pulled up his hoodie, protected his broken hand, and rushed into the rain without looking back.
Suburbs.
The taxi stopped in front of a small clinic.
Rong Ling got out of the car, paid the fare, and turned to walk to the clinic’s door.
By then, the door was already closed.
He bit his lip and knocked on the door.
"Bang bang bang—"
"Bang bang bang—"
The urgent knocking startled the people inside the house.
The door was opened from the inside.
An old traditional Chinese medicine doctor with a receding hairline pulled open the metal curtain door, looking outside.
At this moment, the boy was completely soaked.
"Xiao Ling?"
Rong Ling said: "Doctor Fan, I’ve fractured my hand; could you please set the bone for me?"
This clinic was located in a winding alley, but Doctor Fan was a retired veteran traditional Chinese medicine doctor and, though his skills were decent, importantly, his fees were affordable.
In the hospital, fractures cost nothing less than tens of thousands; with Doctor Fan, maybe it only takes a little over a thousand to treat.
Doctor Fan frowned and said: "How did the fracture happen?... Come in first!"
Rong Ling lowered his head and walked in.
Doctor Fan turned on the light.
The light flickered for a while before finally illuminating.
Rong Ling lowered his head and sat on a stool, silently rolling up his sleeve...