Chapter 4

"Where's your kidney?" the man's voice echoed in the bathroom.

"Where's my kidney?" Zhao Pengcheng murmured and repeated the question, his mind blank.

"Where's your kidney?"

"I don't know, I don't know..." Zhao Pengcheng doesn't know why he wants to answer. He seems to have no obligation to answer, but he can't refuse.

"Don't worry, think about it slowly. Only when you think about it can you get your kidney back."

"Yes, I'm not in a hurry. I'll remember."

Zhao Pengcheng looked very painful. His violently gasping lungs pushed the water in the bathtub out of waves.

"You sold it?"

"Sold by me? It seems... Yes."

"Who did you sell it to?"

"Who did I sell it to?" Zhao Pengcheng was stunned and looked up at the person who asked him.

The man was standing at the bathroom door, very close to him, but he suddenly couldn't see the man's face clearly, leaving only a hazy outline, like a ghost.

The crow outside the window croaked again.

Zhao Pengcheng trembled: "I sold it to the kidney collector."

"Who is the recipient?"

……

Hu Xing opened her mouth in surprise across the glass. She saw Aoki standing there motionless after putting the popsicle, and then chatted with the suspect casually. The guy who had been silent for more than 30 hours and seemed to be asleep actually spoke.

……

"I don't know the person who receives the kidney. He is old enough to lead the line."

"Who is Lao Yu?"

"Yu Jianguo from the Security Department of our hospital."

"How many kidneys did you sell?"

"A total of... Seven or eight."

Sitting behind the interrogation table, Shi Dazhuang bit his teeth and scolded "shit!"

……

Zhao Pengcheng lay in the bathtub, no longer as nervous as he was at the beginning, and began to tell his story.

Lao Yu is my hometown, from a village. He and my father have a generation. In the past, I called him uncle Yu. After he came to our hospital to work, I called him old.

When we were young, we were poor in the mountains and couldn't afford to go to school. I have a sister who is beautiful and smart. She has good grades in school. Everyone says she is the Golden Phoenix in the mountain.

In order to let my sister go to school, I followed Uncle Yu to work in the city after graduating from junior high school. After playing for a year, my father let me go back, said my sister didn't go to school and let me go to school.

I didn't know until I went back. My sister was ill.

At that time, I didn't know what disease was. The township health center couldn't see it. I didn't have money to go to a big hospital. I kept it at home.

When I was at school, I felt very sad and felt very sorry for my sister.

My sister said to me, "brother, you can study well, go to college, and be a doctor in the future, you can cure my disease."

I secretly swear that I must be admitted to medical school and become a doctor.

I worked very hard. I spent three years in high school and only finished it in two years. But my sister's health is getting worse and worse.

I felt I couldn't wait any longer, so I went to the city to beg uncle Yu. Uncle Yu was very generous. He helped us contact the hospital and paid the hospitalization expenses in advance.

The doctor said it was too late. It has developed into chronic renal failure and needs a kidney replacement.

At that time, my family, including several of my relatives, all came to have an examination, and only I met the matching conditions.

The day the matching results came out, my college admission notice also arrived. I was admitted to Medical University.

I remember clearly that day, my father sat on the steps at the back door of the hospital and cried all night. He said, "baby is a college student. Baby can't go to college without waist!"

Uncle Yu secretly told my father that he could contact the source of kidney and simply buy one. My father asked how much it was, and uncle Yu said 50000. At that time, 50000 was astronomical for us. Uncle Yu patted his chest and said he wanted to do something about the money.

Later, uncle Yu and several uncles in our village raised money together and contacted the source of kidney. My father let me go to college.

When I left, my sister lay on the hospital bed and smiled and said to me that when she recovered, she would also be admitted to medical school. I said I'd go to the road for you first. I'm waiting for you.

At that time, the communication conditions were not as developed as they are now. I could only contact my family by writing letters at school. Occasionally, I call a public phone to the village. When I get through, I ask someone to call my father, and I hang up. In twenty minutes, when I called again, my father was on the other side of the phone.

My father always says that the family is fine and your sister is fine. The school is so far away. Don't come back during the holiday. It's a waste of money.

I know my family owes a lot of debt. I do odd jobs during the holidays and earn my tuition and living expenses.

When I was a senior, I got the qualification of graduate student escort and the special scholarship.

I'm going home for the new year with my scholarship and work savings. I want to give my family and villagers a big surprise. I have to cheer my sister up. She's almost going to take the college entrance examination.

I didn't know until I got home that my sister was gone. Those letters to me were written by my father who asked the children studying in the village to imitate my sister's handwriting.

My sister didn't have a kidney transplant at all. The kidney source contacted by Uncle Yu has an accident.

The man owed a gambling debt before he thought of selling his kidney. After receiving uncle Yu's deposit, he went back and wanted to increase the price, saying he would enjoy it while his kidney was still there.

He took the money to go whoring and was caught by the police. The police brought the kidney selling gang in one pot. Uncle Yu was also implicated and sentenced to three years.

Originally, if I rushed back in time, I might have saved my sister. But my father kept it from me in order to let me read at ease. Everyone kept it from me. They all said that it was not easy to be a college student in the mountains. I couldn't lose my waist to study.

I had a big quarrel with my family about this. I know my father is good for me. I also know that after uncle Yu was arrested, the family really can't afford the operation fee. But I can't help thinking of my sister.

Later, my father fell ill. Two years later, he passed.

Uncle Yu spent several years in society after he got out of prison. He didn't get along very well. At that time, I was already working in the city hospital. He came to me and said, "baby, don't blame your uncle or your father for your sister."

I don't blame him. Uncle Yu is a good man. I don't blame my father. Everyone is gone. If I had insisted on using my own kidney, my sister would not have died. And the man who sold his kidney and reneged. Such a man should die.

I asked the leader for a relationship and arranged uncle Yu in the Security Department of the hospital.

We often drink together, talk about the past, say my father, say my sister, say his ugly deeds and feats in prison. Sometimes when I drink too much, I will cry with my head in my arms.

Once, he said, "nephew, don't call me uncle in the future. Call me old. As soon as you call me uncle, I want to cry."

From then on, I called him old.

……

Zhao Pengcheng closed his eyes and talked like a dream. Hu Xing clearly saw from the surveillance video that two lines of clear tears flowed from the corners of his eyes and fell down his cheeks into his collar.

Shi Dazhuang's face was heavy and he made records in his notebook with a pen. As the person in charge of the case, he has a lot to ask the suspect. But at this time, he can only watch Aoki play, and he can't work hard at all.

"What happened later?" Aoki asked.

"Later..."

"About two years ago," Zhao Pengcheng murmured, "Lao Yu said he saw the guy who promised to sell his kidney to us and turned back. He was wearing a big gold chain and looked like a dog. He was seeing a doctor in our hospital."