Yong County Train Station!
In the waiting hall, Li Yi, Tang Xue, Long Zhanjun, and the others were waiting to board their train.
Today, they were heading to Chang’an City!
Joining them on the trip were Long Zhanjun’s mother, Jiang Yuefang, his younger sister Long Xiaofeng, and Wei Da’an, nicknamed “Loach”!
There was also a girl of about fifteen or sixteen named Zhou Ling. She was the younger sister of Long Zhanjun’s other subordinate, Zhou Chong, and had come to help look after Jiang Yuefang and Long Xiaofeng.
After all, both the mother and daughter were suffering from serious illnesses, and since Long Zhanjun and Mudskipper were both men, certain tasks were simply not convenient for them to handle.
After passing through ticket inspection, the group of seven made their way to the platform to wait for the train!
“Woo-woo…”
Accompanied by a long, drawn-out whistle, a green-painted train chugged its way into the station and came to a stop beside the platform.
The doors opened, and a few scattered passengers disembarked, followed by the boarding of the other passengers!
Since Long Xiaofeng was in very poor health and couldn’t sit for long periods, Long Zhanjun had pulled some strings to secure four sleeper tickets.
Consequently, when boarding, Tang Xue, Jiang Yuefang, Long Xiaofeng, and Zhou Ling went to the sleeper car at the rear, while Li Yi, accompanied by Long Zhanjun and Niqiu, boarded the standard hard-seat car at the front.
It wasn’t that they were unwilling to buy a few more sleeper tickets; rather, there was a quota for sleeper berths, and they weren’t eligible to purchase them!
Fortunately, the train ride from Yong County to Chang’an City was only two and a half hours—a mere trifle for a group of grown men!
The train wasn’t very crowded, so the three of them quickly found their seats and sat down!
Then Li Yi asked, “Dalong, we don’t know how long we’ll be gone this time. Have you settled everything back home?”
Long Zhanjun knew Li Yi was asking about the younger brothers under his command, so he replied immediately, “Don’t worry, Brother Yi. Everything’s been taken care of. With Zhou Chong there, nothing should go wrong in the short term!”
“Good to hear!”
“By the way, Brother Yi, I just got word that Tang Bing is getting married!” Long Zhanjun said, dropping a bombshell.
“Oh, is it Tan Cheng?”
“No, it’s Liu Ermao!”
“What? Isn’t that stupid woman all over that wimp from the Tan family? How come she suddenly wants to marry a Liu?” Li Yi asked immediately.
“According to our sources, the Tan family found out that Tan Cheng lost his job because of that stupid woman. Plus, with Tang Jizhong and his wife getting arrested, the Tang family’s reputation is in the gutter, so they’re absolutely refusing to let Tang Bing into the family!”
“That makes sense, but the thing is, Tang Bing doesn’t have to marry that Liu guy either. I hear he’s almost forty this year, while Tang Bing isn’t even seventeen yet—that’s a pretty big age gap!” Li Yi said.
“Rumor has it that the Tang family accepted a dowry from that Liu Ermaozi. They’re demanding either double the dowry back or the bride herself!”
Long Zhanjun continued, “Those two old men from the Tang family didn’t want to cough up the money, so in the end they decided to marry off that stupid woman Tang Bing to him, and Liu Ermao agreed!”
“Did Tang Bing agree to it herself?”
“What could she do if she didn’t want to? She doesn’t have a say in the matter!” Long Zhanjun said.
Li Yi’s lips curled up slightly as he said, “She really did bring this on herself!”
That stupid woman had been egging the Tang family on from the very beginning to marry Tang Xue off to that Director Liu—Liu Ermaozi—so she could get a new job.
It goes without saying that those so-called dowry payments were the money they received for selling Tang Xue.
But who would’ve thought that in the end, she’d be the one sold off? Truly, what goes around comes around; karma is a wheel that turns. Just look up—heaven spares no one.
“Brother Yi, should we get involved in this?” Long Zhanjun asked.
“No need. We’ll just deal with them all together later!” Li Yi said indifferently.
“Alright!”
…….
At 1:00 p.m., the train finally pulled into the station!
The group immediately got off the train and went to the sleeper car to fetch the women.
Since it was already late in the day, they weren’t sure they’d find a good doctor at the hospital, so Li Yi decided to stay in town first. He planned to find out which doctors were reputable before taking them to see a doctor.
After all, Long Zhanjun’s mother and sister weren’t suffering from ordinary illnesses; they required highly skilled doctors—it wasn’t a matter of just finding any doctor to make do.
After leaving the train station, Li Yi immediately hailed two taxis and instructed the drivers to take them directly to the guesthouse nearest to the Municipal People’s Hospital.
The drivers knew the area like the back of their hands and quickly dropped them off at the entrance of the State-Owned Second Guesthouse.
Although the State-Owned Second Guesthouse wasn’t as luxurious as the Sixth Guesthouse where Li Yi and his group had stayed before, its decor was still quite nice.
So upon entering, everyone—including Long Zhanjun—felt a bit intimidated!
When they learned that the cheapest rate for a single night’s stay here was 8 yuan, they were all stunned!
But what they never expected was that Li Yi didn’t book the standard rooms at 8 yuan a night; instead, he reserved three deluxe standard rooms at 12 yuan each.
Good grief, that came to 36 yuan for the night—equivalent to a month’s salary for a second-level worker.
To be honest, even Tang Xue was a bit shocked by Li Yi’s extravagance!
But she knew her man’s character—whatever he did, he had his reasons—so Tang Xue didn’t ask any questions.
And so, amidst the stunned expressions of everyone present, the group checked into the Chang’an State-Owned Second Guesthouse!
That afternoon, Li Yi sent Long Zhanjun to the City First People’s Hospital to make inquiries. After confirming the details about the doctors, he decided to take her for a checkup first thing the next morning.
Of course, Li Yi also asked Long Zhanjun to look into the obstetricians and gynecologists at the hospital; he planned to take Tang Xue for a prenatal checkup the next day.
Early the next morning, everyone got up!
After all, this was the city hospital, and many people came here for treatment every day. They needed to arrive early to get in line and pick up a number; if they were too late, they might not get one, especially for the specialists.
So even though they lived relatively close by, they still had to get up early.
After a quick wash, the group headed straight to the City First People’s Hospital, not far from the guesthouse, without even stopping for breakfast.
Since they had already done their research beforehand, they quickly picked up their numbers upon arrival and waited patiently for the doctor to arrive!
At 8:00 a.m., the doctors began arriving one after another. With the help of Ni Qiu and Zhou Ling, Long Zhanjun took his mother and younger sister to the cardiology department, while Li Yi took Tang Xue to the obstetrics and gynecology department!
“Do we really need to get checked? I don’t think it’s necessary—it’s a waste of money!”
Tang Xue personally felt this prenatal checkup was unnecessary, since she was feeling great right now.
She was eating well, sleeping soundly, and no longer suffering from morning sickness, so she felt coming here was just a waste of money.
Li Yi smiled and said, “It won’t cost much. Let’s just get checked out—we’re here anyway!”
“Alright, then!”
“Don’t worry, the checkup will be quick and won’t hurt at all. Relax!” Li Yi reassured her.
“Okay!”
Actually, the main reason Li Yi insisted on coming was that he’d noticed something was off with Tang Xue.
For one thing, her appetite had become quite alarming. It had been fine a while back, but because of her frequent morning sickness, Li Yi hadn’t really known how much she was actually eating.
But lately, the morning sickness had subsided, and it was plain to see just how much she was eating every day.
Take last night, for example. Li Yi took everyone to the state-run restaurant downstairs from the guesthouse to eat mutton soup with flatbread.
Li Yi himself had a bowl of mutton soup and one steamed bun, but for Tang Xue, a bowl of mutton soup and two buns weren’t enough—she even took two roujiamo home with her.
When he woke up this morning, Li Yi found that those two roujiamo were gone too—clearly, the little minx had eaten them.
To be honest, Tang Xue’s appetite lately has been downright scary!
It wouldn’t be so bad if it were just her appetite—but there’s something off about her belly, too!
Her baby bump was already so noticeable at just three months—Li Yi seriously wondered if she was even carrying just one baby!
To Li Yi, it didn’t really matter whether Tang Xue was carrying one or two—as long as they were his children.
But in this era of questionable medical care, if she were carrying twins—especially living in the countryside—the risks of childbirth would be far too great.
So Li Yi had to find out for sure whether Tang Xue was carrying one or two!