Chapter 10: Rescue

  Just as Zhao Yong and others were planning to "borrow money" from Xiao Ping, he had already arrived at the Huayuan Hotel. Sun Lin bought 300 catties of vegetables according to the old rules and introduced several colleagues to Xiao Ping. These people are either the head chefs of large hotels or specialized in purchasing ingredients, all of whom can be considered professionals. They all knew why Sun Lin's dish was so popular, and naturally they didn't hesitate to buy it, leaving no leftovers soon.

  Everyone had high hopes for Xiao Ping, who could grow such top-grade vegetables, and they all exchanged contact information with him. When Xiao Ping left the Flower Garden Restaurant, his pocket contained not only over 30,000 yuan but also several business cards from head chefs or purchasing managers of large hotels. Thirty thousand yuan was certainly not a small amount for Xiao Ping, but what he valued more were those business cards from the chefs and purchasers. This showed that he had already begun to step into this circle, which would undoubtedly be of great help to his future development.

  Recalling the scene where several big chefs rushed to buy their own vegetables and even quarreled over them, Xiao Ping realized that he had grown too few vegetables. Now he is facing a problem of supply not meeting demand, and the only solution is to expand the scale. However, the land in Chengzhong Village is limited, so Xiao Ping can only look for other places to develop.

  Apart from the place for planting vegetables, another factor that restricts Xiao Ping's development is the supply of spiritual liquid. This problem is not difficult to solve, as long as he is willing to spend money and buy enough jade stones for the Lian Yao Hu to absorb.

  He didn't even have time to warm up the money he had just earned, and he rushed to the antique market. He strolled around several stalls selling jade materials in the market, and soon a large package of jade materials appeared in his hands. Those sellers thought that Xiao Ping was the boss of a jade processing factory because he bought so many jade materials at once. They were very polite to Xiao Ping, offering him cigarettes and asking him to leave his phone number, saying they would contact him first if they had good goods in the future.

  Xiao Ping knew that he would definitely need a lot of jade in the future, so he tacitly accepted his identity and exchanged contact information with several jade sellers. After all, having more friends and connections is always a good thing.

  After buying a pack of jade material, Xiao Ping's pocket was left with less than 10,000 yuan. However, Xiao Ping didn't feel heartbroken as he spared no expense to upgrade his Alchemy Cauldron. If the Alchemy Cauldron hadn't had a weak response to other jade materials, perhaps not a single cent would have been left in Xiao Ping's pocket.

  Xiao Ping was fairly satisfied with today's gains and slowly pushed the tricycle towards the outside of the market. He had only walked a short distance when he saw a large crowd gathered in front, but didn't know what they were looking at. Curious, Xiao Ping squeezed in to take a look and saw an old man dressed in simple clothes lying on the ground with a streak of fresh blood flowing from the back of his head, apparently having hit his head when he suddenly fell over. Next to the old man stood a little girl who looked like she was only five or six years old, crying sadly, probably his granddaughter.

  The scene before him made Xiao Ping's brain buzz, and he felt a rush of hot blood to his forehead. He involuntarily pushed away the people in front of him and shouted: "What are you looking at? Hurry up and save them!"

  Someone in the crowd said: "We've already dialed 120, but they said the ambulance is busy and we have to wait."

  "Then let's send him to the hospital first, this matter can't wait!" Xiao Ping didn't just say it, he really went forward and prepared to help the old man up.

  "Don't be impulsive, young man." A kind-hearted person reminded Xiao Ping: "Nowadays, people's hearts are separated by a layer of skin, beware of being cheated!"

  Xiao Ping's movements also stopped for a moment after hearing this. The little girl seemed to have seen Xiao Ping's hesitation and begged him with tears in her eyes: "Uncle, please save my grandfather!"

  Under the little girl's pleading gaze, Xiao Ping could no longer care about anything else, and gently picked up the old man, not forgetting to say to the little girl: "Follow me!"

  The little girl nodded obediently, wiped away her tears and followed behind Xiao Ping. Xiao Ping came to the tricycle, gently placed the old man on it, then also lifted the little girl onto the vehicle.

  "Hold on tight and support your grandfather at the same time, got it?" Xiao Ping reminded him before getting into the car and rushing to the nearest hospital.

  Xiao Ping pedaled the tricycle as hard as he could, trying to go faster while keeping his balance. The sobbing of the little girl behind him echoed from time to time, reminding Xiao Ping of what had happened that year. That year, Xiao Ping was only in his third year of high school, and his grandfather, who relied on him for support, accidentally fell and hurt himself. At the time, Xiao Ping's body was not good, and he couldn't take his grandfather to the hospital in time, resulting in the old man falling ill. Although his life was saved, he never fully recovered and passed away when he was over 50 years old.

  This matter has always been a thorn in Xiao Ping's heart, and every time he thinks about it, he feels very sad. Today, when he encountered such a thing, Xiao Ping immediately thought of his own feelings back then, so he took the initiative to handle this matter.

  The tricycle was pedaled swiftly by Xiao Ping, and soon they arrived at the nearest hospital. He rushed to the emergency department with the old man in his arms. Xiao Ping held the old man aloft with both arms, minimizing the impact on him as much as possible, but this meant that all of the old man's weight was now borne by his arms. The old man was tall and heavy, weighing at least 178 pounds, but Xiao Ping seemed to be handling it with ease, breathing steadily as if nothing was out of the ordinary. If he hadn't been mindful of the little girl following behind him, he could have gone even faster.

  Xiao Ping handed the unconscious old man over to the doctor and also paid 5,000 yuan for his medical expenses. As he watched the doctors start their busy rescue work, he finally had time to talk to the little girl. He kindly asked her: "Little sister, what's your name? Where do you live? Do you know your parents' phone number?"

  "My name is Zhang Jiaman." The little girl said politely: "I know mom's phone number, but there is no phone..."

  Xiao Ping hastily took out his phone and said: "Quickly call your mom and tell her that Grandpa is ill, he's currently at the Sixth People's Hospital, ask her to come quickly."

  "Thank you, uncle. Mom will be here soon." The little girl quickly returned the phone to Xiao Ping and asked anxiously while looking at the operating room: "Uncle, do you think Grandpa will be okay?"

  Xiao Ping patted the little girl's head: "Don't worry, your grandfather will be fine."

  Zhang Jiameng nodded in agreement and waited quietly for the surgery to end. Having helped this far, Xiao Ping could have left already. But he couldn't bear to leave the little girl alone, so he decided to stay a while longer until her family arrived.

  Who knew that this wait would be for several hours, even the elderly were pushed out of the operating room, but Zhang Jiamu's mother had not arrived yet. This made Xiao Ping somewhat unhappy, muttering to himself that this little girl's mother was really something, her father had encountered such a big thing and she was still dawdling, truly not a qualified daughter.

  "Who is the family member of the old man?" a doctor came out and asked loudly.

  Xiao Ping looked at the poor little girl beside him and sighed silently before walking forward, saying: "I'll do it."

  The doctor looked at Xiao Ping with a puzzled expression, thinking that family members were just family members, and there was no such thing as "even if". However, the doctor wouldn't bother with so much, and seriously said to Xiao Ping: "Fortunately, you sent him over in time, and the patient's life is no longer in danger. But the blood clot in his brain has compressed the nerves, and that location cannot be operated on, so whether he can fully recover depends on the patient himself. You can go see him now, but don't give him anything to eat or drink, not even water."

  "Alright, thank you doctor." Xiao Ping thanked the doctor and then took Zhang Jiaman to the ward to see her grandfather.

  The old man lay motionless on the hospital bed, with an IV drip in his hand and an oxygen mask on his face, looking very bad. Zhang Jiamu saw her grandfather like this, and her small mouth pouted as if she was about to cry. The little girl was really well-behaved, afraid of disturbing her grandfather, so she quickly covered her mouth with her hands, but tears still flowed down her face.

  Looking at the poor little girl, Xiao Ping couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy. Especially when he thought of his own grandfather who was in a similar situation back then, he felt that he couldn't just stand by and do nothing. Looking at the old man who was unconscious, he thought to himself: There are still three drops of spiritual liquid left, forget it, I'll use one drop to save him. This old man is really lucky.

  Xiao Ping whispered to Zhang Jiameng, "Don't cry, little Jiameng. Uncle has medicine that can cure your grandfather's illness. How about giving it to him now?"

  In Zhang Jiameng's young heart, Xiao Ping had already become a trustworthy person. After hearing this, the little girl nodded without hesitation and said: "Okay, Uncle, hurry up and give Grandpa his medicine, let him get better soon!"

  "Just wait here, Uncle will go get the medicine and be right back." Xiao Ping instructed the little girl a few words, took a cup and hid into the bathroom of the ward.

  Xiao Ping certainly couldn't take out the Lian Yao Hu in front of others, so he had to use other methods to get the old man to drink the spiritual liquid. He first put a small amount of cool water into the cup, then carefully added a drop of spiritual liquid to it, and finally hid the Lian Yao Hu and returned to the sickroom.

  "Uncle, is this the medicine that can cure Grandpa?" Zhang Jiamian curiously asked, looking at the water that had just covered the bottom of the cup.

  "Really." Xiao Ping smiled at the little girl and said: "As long as your grandfather takes my medicine, he will get better soon."

  Xiao Ping removed the old man's oxygen mask while speaking, slowly pouring water with spiritual liquid into his mouth. Seeing the old man drink all the water in the cup, Xiao Ping also secretly let out a sigh of relief, knowing that he would recover soon.

  Just then, a stern female voice came from the doorway: "What are you doing?!"

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