Chapter 140: Standing outThe foreman breathed a sigh of relief: "Okay, the first prize is 2000! Is there anyone else who wants to go down to the mine?" This sentence was like a bomb dropped into the crowd, causing an uproar. Everyone started whispering, talking to each other, and... getting eager to try. At that time, our annual salary was only about 5000 yuan. Now we get half a year's salary all at once. It would be hard for anyone not to be tempted. The second person quickly stood up and said, "I want to go too!" As soon as he finished speaking, the family, who had originally quieted down, threw an iron basin at the man, hitting him squarely on his helmet, making a loud "clang" sound. "running dog!!" They said so. The person who was hit immediately covered his head and pointed at me and said, "I'm not the only one who agreed. That person took more than me! Why don't you go find them!" A man stood up from the family and, as expected, came towards me. He came over, grabbed my collar, and said, "Do you know that our Huazi is still in a coma in the hospital? They killed people, and you are still helping them? You stand on their side for money?"
I knew that if I stood up, I would become the target of public criticism. I had already thought about this before I stood up. I also knew that this would embarrass the family to some extent, so I just lowered my head: "I'm sorry, but I can't help it." I said in a low voice. The man became even more angry: "What do you mean there is no way? You are just greedy for that little bit of money and don't care about human life!" I gritted my teeth, thinking of their pain, and didn't refute. I just took a long breath and said, "I really have no other choice." "Pa!" I was also slapped in the face. The one who hit me was an old woman. Perhaps because of her age, the blow from her hand did not hurt my face very much. However, she then spat in my face: "Bah! Scum!" By this time, the crowd had almost reacted, and many people began to speak up for the family. "Yeah, it's only 2000 yuan, and he was the first one to agree." "It doesn't look like a good thing." The man who grabbed my collar became even more arrogant when he saw that many people were speaking up for him: "You should also have a taste of what it feels like when something happens to your family!" …… I could have endured it until I heard these words. I punched him in the face. I was very strong and the man was caught off guard, so I knocked him back a few steps and he fell to the ground. "Only the lives of your family members are lives, and the lives of our family members are not lives, right?" I yelled, "My daughter! Leukemia! Treatment costs 40,000 yuan!! If you give me the money, I won't go down to the mine, will you?" The surrounding area suddenly became quiet. The family also quieted down. The man sitting on the ground supported himself with his hands and did not move for a long time.
If I could see what I looked like, I would probably see myself with red eyes, looking like I was about to kill someone. I really don't want to care about anything now. If someone can give me 40,000 yuan now, I might really kill someone for him. I walked towards the mine entrance with a fierce look on my face and without another word. Wherever he passed, the crowds automatically parted. The foreman at the mine entrance came over, patted me on the shoulder and handed me a safety helmet. Then he called out, "Is there anyone else?" I didn't stay there any longer, but went straight down to the mine. Later, a few more people came down. When we had ten of us, we went to the fourth floor that had just been blown up. In fact, we didn't have to do anything on this trip, it was just to show it to the other miners who were scared. If we can get out of here safely, the people in the mine will not be so panicked, and the subsequent work can be carried out normally. There is indeed no big problem in the mine. A group of us stayed in the mine for a day and nothing happened. When we finally came out of the mine, the foreman took out a stack of banknotes and distributed them to us one by one. The first one was given to me. The foreman signaled to me with his eyes, and I knew he wanted me to count in front of everyone. I hesitated for a moment, but still took out the stack of money and counted it one by one. Two thousand dollars in total. After the count was over, the foreman started to applaud, and some people around him also cheered. I didn't understand why he was clapping, and I didn't know what there was to cheer about. I was anxious to get home to see my daughter. In less than a week, the results of whether our bone marrow is a match will be out. Because of this mining experience, the next day, the rumor in the mine that "you can't go down here, you will die if you go down" was refuted, and most people resumed their daily work. The family still came, holding their broken copper and iron, and howling from time to time when someone passed by. But no one paid any attention to them. Everyone has their own things to do and everyone has their own family. No one has any reason to give up their own life for someone else's family affairs. I saw that some of them were even wearing white mourning clothes, and I couldn't help but be speechless. The miner was clearly still lying in the hospital, just unconscious, not dead, so why was he wearing mourning clothes? Isn't this a curse on him? If something happened to my family, I would definitely stay by their side and take care of them day and night. Coming here to make a scene will not help at all. The mines gradually became busy again and resumed operations. After nearly a week, the miner who was hit by the stone finally succumbed to the attack. His condition deteriorated rapidly and he eventually died. But that family didn't come to make trouble again. I heard that it was because the mine compensated them 50,000 yuan. See, money can solve most problems.
A life, exchanged for fifty thousand dollars. If... my life... …… My daughter's bone marrow matching result is about to come out, but I have to go to work in the mine and don't have time to go and get the result in person. So, I asked my wife to take our daughter to the hospital to get the results, and also to take the 5,000 yuan that I had scraped together to pay the money we owed to the hospital for the medicine and the money for subsequent treatment. I was anxiously waiting to go back in the evening to see if our family had any bone marrow that could be transplanted to my daughter, but someone asked me to go to the mine, saying that there was someone looking for someone outside. When I looked up, I saw my wife waiting for me with an anxious and painful look on her face. How could she be here? Didn't she take her daughter to the city hospital today? Even if it was just a round trip to the city, there wouldn't be enough time. I walked closer and was about to ask her what was wrong, but the moment she saw me, her legs went weak and she fell to the ground. "The money... the money was stolen..." Her mouth opened wide, her face twisted, and she curled up in pain. When people are in extreme pain, they can't even make a sound when they cry. I couldn't hold on any longer and my head started to feel dizzy. "How could the money be robbed?" That was the fortune we had saved for so many years by living frugally. It was the money I borrowed from every family with a flattering face. It was the money I earned by working in the mines, risking my life and being scolded for being greedy. Obviously, I had already put the money in a small cloth bag and asked my wife to keep it close to her body, how could it be stolen? How can someone steal someone else's life-saving money!!! I seemed to see fate opening its bloody mouth and swallowing me into its belly. There was no air around me, and it kept squeezing me until I could no longer struggle and was completely swallowed up. The world around me went dark. I fainted.