“I thought they were informed immediately by the platoon. Why did they only arrive now?” For the past few days, Jiang Yao was busy taking care of Lu Xingzhi and Colonel Lin, and basically handed the responsibility for Sergeant Ge over to the medical staff of the hospital.
Wu Pengxin was just about to speak when Major Zhu arrived. He probably heard their conversation as he continued, “Sergeant Ge’s mother is yet another difficult character to deal with.”
Major Zhu had nothing but pity in his eyes when Sergeant Ge was mentioned. He was a reliable man, competent, socially adept and had overall good character. The only mistakes he made was being born into the Ge family and had Sun Cuimei as his wife.
That was probably the end of Sergeant Ge’s career. This incident had a very bad impact on the platoon. Even though Major Zhu tried his best negotiating with the platoon to pay for Sergeant Ge’s hospital charges, the superiors decided to discharge Sergeant Ge once he was nursed back to health.
With Sergeant Ge’s current rank, it was evident that he would not land any good-paying job even with the platoon pulling strings behind the scene.
“We called his family the day the accident happened. However, his mother told us that they did not have enough money to buy the train tickets needed to come here. They wanted us to lend them a hundred yuan as ticket money. We pooled the money and sent it their way, wanting them to come over as soon as possible. If only we knew they would arrive so late!”
Major Zhu was getting angrier the more he continued, “Whatever it was, as long as they are here. I arranged for some of my men to fetch them at the train station, seeing it is Sergeant Ge’s mother. Damn it! We got two more unannounced visitors, with one being a ten-year-old boy! They immediately asked to go see the city, wanting to do some sightseeing using my men as their private driver!”
Listening to Major Zhu, Jiang Yao was at a loss for words. It was outrageous, prompting the usually genteel Major Zhu to swear and curse!
Even with her son in trouble, Madam Ge was unwilling to spend a single dime of hers. And yet, she was shameless enough to ask for a sum of money from his son’s comrades, probably to pay for the extras.
Sergeant Ge did not have his own place, where would they stay?
It was a big mess. Anyone with a little common sense would know that Madam Ge took the opportunity and brought them here for a little sightseeing. They probably did not think of their accommodation and food options after arriving, assuming that the people in Sergeant Ge’s platoon would help arrange it for them.
“Major Zhu, are you looking for Xingzhi or Colonel Lin?” Jiang Yao had nothing nice to say about Madam Ge but did not show her displeasure.
“Both,” Major Zhu said. “Sergeant Ge wanted to see them both after learning about their improved conditions. I believe Sergeant Ge wants to transfer to a village hospital once his condition allows.”