But the family insisted that there was something wrong with the ingredients at Gourmet City, demanding a substantial amount of compensation. They even threatened that if they were not compensated, they would sue and smear Gourmet City’s reputation until it stank.
Xiaofeng had a headache.
In Lihua Village, she asked Su Peng to handle the situation while she made a trip to the city.
Upon arriving in the city, she went directly to the hospital where the customer had already been taken. What was happening would have to wait until the doctor came out.
The customer’s wife, seeing Xiaofeng approach, seemed skeptical, "The person responsible you mentioned, could it be her?"
Looking so young, it was hard to believe that someone of her age could be a boss and a serious character.
"Director Su, this is the customer’s wife. The customer is currently inside being examined; we’ll know the situation in a bit."
"I’m telling you, my man got sick eating at your place. If something happens to him and you don’t compensate us with a hundred thousand or eighty thousand, you’ll see what happens," the woman said with a thick waist and a round body, her voice loud and rough, looking like she meant business.
"Auntie," Xiaofeng certainly was not intimidated by the woman’s fierce appearance. "Let’s see what the doctor says first. If it is our fault, we will definitely admit it. If it isn’t, you can’t falsely accuse us, right?"
As they were speaking, the doctor came out.
"Who is Chen Erwang’s family member?"
The woman stepped forward, "Doctor, that’s me."
"Your husband has acute appendicitis and urgently needs surgery; you need to sign here," the doctor said, presenting a paper. "It’s acute; there’s no avoiding surgery."
Upon hearing the doctor’s words, the woman started arguing fiercely, "Are you mistaken? How could my man possibly get appendicitis? He has a stomach issue because he ate expired or contaminated food."
Reminded of something, Chen Erwang’s wife pointed at the doctor and then at Su Xiaofeng, "You’re all in this together, aren’t you? Conspiring against my husband. I’m telling you, you can do the surgery, but you’ll have to cover the surgical expenses and also compensate us thirty thousand yuan."
The doctor, rendered speechless by her words, said, "Be reasonable, Chen Erwang definitely has acute appendicitis. If you don’t believe it, you can get a second opinion at another hospital."
"Sister, you heard it too, big brother has acute appendicitis. It has nothing to do with us. Why don’t you sign the paper and let the doctor prepare for the surgery? Otherwise, big brother will suffer, right?" Zhao Xi started to suspect that the customer might have had a preexisting condition and then had eaten something he shouldn’t have, leading to the flare-up.
Now that the doctor confirmed it was acute appendicitis, his stress was also relieved.
"Nonsense, I don’t believe it," Chen Erwang’s wife flat out disbelieved, "My Erwang has always been healthy, carrying loads of two hundred pounds as if it’s nothing; how on earth could he have acute appendicitis? We won’t do the surgery, I’ve heard that surgery can weaken the body, and if my man can’t carry loads afterward, we still rely on his earnings to support the family."
In short, cutting open Chen Erwang was definitely out of the question; "It must be related to the food your place served; otherwise, why would he suddenly have such severe stomach pain? You owe us money, thirty thousand yuan."
Can surgeries be performed just like that? After the surgery, the body is never the same.
The doctor listened to her and couldn’t help but laugh and cry, "It’s just a minor surgery to remove the appendix. Once it’s removed, you won’t have appendicitis anymore and it won’t greatly affect your health. How could it ruin your body?"
"Don’t lie to me. There are several people from our village who got worse right after having surgery," Erwang’s wife had a strong aversion to surgery, "I won’t have the surgery. Just prescribe some medicine."
"Auntie," Xiaofeng lightly began, "if the doctor says you need surgery, you should listen to the doctor’s advice. I’ve also heard that this kind of illness can be deadly if you don’t have surgery. If you don’t believe me, you can ask the uncle, ask how much pain he’s in. After the surgery, he’ll still be able to work, but if he doesn’t have it, he’ll suffer from this pain every so often, and won’t be able to work at all."
"I’ll have the surgery, but you have to compensate me thirty thousand yuan. Otherwise, I won’t have the surgery. If my husband has any problems, I’ll hold you accountable, and if you don’t pay, I’ll sue you until you do."
"Big sister, listen to the doctor. Let’s go ahead with the surgery, and we can discuss any issues afterward. It’s not okay to keep leaving the brother in pain without surgery, right?" Zhao Xi was obviously anxious as the other party hesitated over the surgery.
"In case something happens during this process, it would be even harder to explain, ’Boss Su, what do you think?’"
Xiaofeng looked at the woman, "Auntie, you should have the surgery first, and we can talk about everything else afterward."
After all, human life is paramount, and now is not the time to reason.
Chen Erwang emerged from the ward, his face pale from pain, leaning on the door frame, "Wife, the surgery, I need the surgery. I can’t bear it."
The pain was just too much.
Erwang’s wife hesitantly wrote down her name to consent to the surgery.
"I’m telling you, if anything happens to my husband, none of you will get away with it," Erwang’s wife stared intently at Xiaofeng and Zhao Xi, deeply worried they might flee.
With the man already in the operating room, Xiaofeng was no longer afraid she would make an unreasonable scene: "Auntie, the uncle got sick in our shop, but the doctor said it’s not a problem with the food, it’s his own health issue. From my standpoint, I shouldn’t pay a penny. But considering that he fell ill in my place, out of care, we can offer a hundred yuan for nutritional support. However, asking for thirty thousand yuan right off the bat, that’s definitely not possible."
"How can it not be your problem? If not for your food, how could my husband have gotten sick? He didn’t get sick earlier, and not later, but right in your store," the auntie became anxious when she heard there was no compensation, "You have to take the main responsibility for this, one hundred yuan is definitely not enough."
"Brother Zhao, what did the uncle eat in our shop?"
"A bowl of hot and sour rice noodles for each."
"Right, not long after eating, my husband was in so much pain he couldn’t get up from the ground. It must have been something wrong with the food, my husband was in such good health before, and just after eating a bowl of your noodles, now he needs surgery. Surgery is so debilitating, we don’t even know if he can work afterward."
"Auntie," Xiaofeng listened to her, a slight smile forming, "if there was something wrong with our food, why did only the uncle have problems, while you are completely fine?"
From her tone, it seemed she had some misunderstandings about the word ’surgery.’"