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Chapter 140: Chapter 140: Child Drowns
"She’s not coming?" Teacher Fu found this interesting and asked a few more questions out of curiosity, "Is she not coming back at all or just temporarily unavailable? She didn’t hand the business over to you, did she?"
Though Tong Yao was young, it was easy to tell from her presence while standing next to He Fang that Tong Yao was the boss and He Fang worked for her. Now that the boss had suddenly disappeared and the employee was at work daily as usual, that was nothing unusual. However, the sudden drop in milk tea prices was a bit odd.
What’s more important, his girlfriend had mentioned yesterday that the taste of the milk tea had changed and it was not as good as before. So, he couldn’t help but ask a few questions.
As an adult, the few cents difference in price didn’t make much of a difference to Teacher Fu. Compared to before, he would rather the milk tea be a bit more expensive and taste better. If he was looking for a cheap alternative, he would just have a soda, it’s more refreshing in the summer.
Seeing that she couldn’t dodge the question, He Fang awkwardly laughed and said through gritted teeth, "We’ve split the responsibilities. Now she sells her stuff, and I sell mine."
"You’ve split up?" Teacher Fu was taken aback and then something seemed off about how he looked at He Fang.
Anyone who wasn’t a fool could guess what was going on. Most likely, He Fang lowered her prices to steal business after learning the trade from Tong Yao. Her products were inferior because she cut corners. In plain terms, she was taking advantage of the young girl.
Tong Yao must have been really upset to not come and put up her stall here anymore. She might have moved her stall to the second school.
Having thought about this, Teacher Fu felt rather uncomfortable looking at He Fang again. No one with decent principles would condone this kind of behavior. He gave his money to He Fang, grabbed his milk tea and left without saying a word.
He muttered to himself, "I’m not buying milk tea here anymore. He Fang has bad character and her products aren’t good either."
Yuan Erhua in the school had also stopped selling milk tea after just one day. He couldn’t buy from He Fang either. Seems like he had to go to the second school if he wanted authentic milk tea from now on.
He Fang was embarrassed and her face turned red when she saw Teacher Fu’s cold face. She knew better than anyone that what she did was wrong, but she was just trying to make a living!
Yes, everyone is just trying to make a living. One should not look down on others. Perhaps if Teacher Fu were in her position, he would do even worse things.
Thinking like this, He Fang felt a little better.
"Love is like a gust of wind, making me lose myself in the storm. I bet my youth on life, in the end..." Tong Yao sang off-tune as she hopped her way to the residential area. Almost at the entrance, she paused, turned around and quickly moved towards the beehive.
Dozens, or even hundreds of bees were going in and out of the hive. The sheer number of holes made Tong Yao’s scalp tingle, and she got goosebumps all over. When she thought she saw something moving inside the holes, she was about to turn around and run. Suppressing the urge to flee, she looked around and saw no one else, so she jumped up and shouted at the bees.
"Hey! Guys in yellow jackets! Can one of you come and talk to me?"
The beehive was about four to five meters above the ground. Tong Yao put her hand to her ear, but she couldn’t hear any conversation coming from the bees. After waiting for a while, it seemed like the bees were ignoring her completely as they continued to enter and exit the hive.
"Mister Bee, come down and let’s talk for a bit. I have something to discuss with you." Tong Yao shouted again, but sadly, those in yellow jackets were stubborn and acted as if she didn’t exist. They didn’t even bother looking at her.
The sun was scorching hot at that moment, making her feel dizzy and disoriented. There was no breeze at all. Tong Yao, possibly overwhelmed by the heat, was frustrated with the bees’ indifference towards her. She then made a decision she later regretted terribly - shaking the large tree that the hive was on.
Tong Yao could swear to heaven that she only gently shook the tree. But the ensuing events were completely out of her control. The bees swarmed out towards her like a battle squad with a buzzing ’vroom’. Luckily Tong Yao reacted quickly and ran incredibly fast as soon as she sensed something was off.
Still, a few vengeful bees kept up with her despite her quick pace. Sharp pains shot through her nose and cheek as they stung her there, followed by noticeable swelling.
Where the bees had stung were even more painful than a needle prick. Even though the injuries were not big, they were incredibly painful. After a short while, her nose had swelled up to resemble a character from a TV show, and there was a significant bump on her cheek. The pain made her gasp for air.
Luckily, not all the bees had attacked. Otherwise, she would have been in serious danger.
Dang it! She had underestimated them. These creatures were not to be messed with.
As the swelling on her cheek and nose worsened, Tong Yao’s eyes were reduced to tiny slits. Anyone looking at her wouldn’t be able to recognize her. Bee stings were poisonous and she didn’t take it lightly, she ran towards the hospital, clutching her face. 𝑛𝘰𝘷𝑝𝘶𝑏.𝑐𝘰𝘮
It wasn’t work hours yet and there were only a few patients waiting for the medical staff outside the hospital. There weren’t many people around. Tong Yao was deciding whether she should go upstairs and find Si Chen, when suddenly she heard a commotion outside.
"Hurry, hurry, where’s the doctor? Where’s the hospital doctor? Come save him, the kid is about to die..."
Tong turned and saw three burly men rushing in. One of them was carrying a boy about twelve to thirteen years old on his back. The men looked panicked, sweating and looking flushed. The boy was dripping wet and turning blue. His arms hung loosely and he appeared unconscious.
"Where is the doctor? Where is he? The boy is drowning. We need help now..."
With no doctors in sight, the three men babbled incoherently in their panic, they were going in circles as they carried the unconscious boy. Someone mentioned, "The doctors aren’t here yet." This caused the faces of the men to turn ashen.
Seeing this, Tong Yao ran to the second floor to the doctor’s on-call room but she couldn’t find anyone. When she returned to the hospital’s lobby, she found that the men had laid the boy down and were trying to scoop water out of the boy’s throat.
The other people present naturally distanced themselves from the scene but Tong Yao took a few steps forward.
"Move out of the way!"
Tong’s shout made the three men jump. Perhaps they were desperate for help as they really made way for Tong Yao.
Tong Yao bent over, picked up the young boy and held him by his waist, in an attempt to drain water from his body. The boy was skinny and despite appearing to be twelve or thirteen, did not weigh more than sixty pounds.
As Tong Yao moved, the boy vomited a lot of water, although his limbs continued to hang loosely and showed no sign of consciousness.
Seeing this, the three men were overjoyed, shouting, "Water’s coming out! Water’s coming out!"
