Chapter 381 - Old Man By The Road
But Karen"s cousin failed to notice the sullen expression on Cheyenne"s face and said excitedly, "Cheyenne, when are you going to divorce Lucas? If you get divorced, I"ll introduce my niece to him. Well, since your mom said that you guys don"t want him in your family anymore, let us have him. Don"t allow benefits to go to others!"
Cheyenne"s face became even more sullen, and she glanced at Karen furiously. She had already told Karen countless times that she would never divorce Lucas, so she couldn"t understand why Karen refused to listen and even told her relatives that they were going to get a divorce.
Considering that there were so many people present, Cheyenne suppressed her anger and tried her best to stay calm as she said, "Aunt, Mom is just kidding. Lucas is my husband, and we"re in a very loving relations.h.i.+p. We don"t have plans to get divorced!"
Karen"s cousin was instantly disappointed, and she lamented, "Huh? You aren"t getting a divorce? What a pity!"
Cheyenne was enraged. Who in their right mind would blatantly express their hopes for a married couple to divorce so that she can matchmake her relative with someone else"s husband? What an oddball!
——
Meanwhile, Lucas had already left the Solar Corporation and decided to head straight to the hotel he and William had agreed to check into because he had nothing else planned for the day.
While driving on a street with few pedestrians, Lucas suddenly discovered that the road ahead was blocked by a large group of people crowding around the roadside for some reason.
Lucas pulled over near the road and immediately heard the incessant sounds of discussion coming from outside the car.
"That man is so old and seems quite pitiful!"
"He does look very pitiful, but who dares to help him up? These days, who dares to do good deeds like helping the elderly up unless they have millions in the bank! If he ends up being a conman and accuses you of causing his injury, you won"t be able to afford the compensation even if you go bankrupt!"
"That"s right. There are so many con artists who pretend to be pitiful and vulnerable out there these days, but once you go lend them a helping hand, they"ll grab you tightly and refuse to let go. They"ll accuse you of knocking them over and causing them to get hurt, then insist that you compensate them for their medical expenses. When the time comes, you won"t be able to explain yourself clearly!"
"Exactly. We must refrain from touching the elderly on the streets these days! I was at a relative"s place the other day, and I saw an old man lying on the streets. A kind-hearted young man walked over to help him up, but the old man turned out to be a swindler. In the end, the poor young man had to compensate tens of thousands of dollars, and now, he and his family are still facing many people showing up at their door to scold them every day!"
"That"s right. It"s not that the elderly have become vile, but rather, the crooks have gotten old. Anyway, I don"t have the guts to go help him up. I"m too poor to afford the consequences!"
...
Lucas got a rough idea of what was happening and reckoned that an elderly man had probably collapsed onto the ground on the road ahead.
However, there were many bystanders crowding around him and watching, but none of them dared to go forward to help.
Lucas got out of his car without hesitation and squeezed his way through the crowd to get to the front. He saw a white-haired old man lying on the ground, his face deathly pale. He seemed to be having breathing difficulties, and his body was convulsing incessantly. He even made multiple attempts to reach his hand into his breast pocket, but they were all futile because his hand would slip down every single time.
Lucas was shocked, and he immediately dashed forward to rescue him.
He had spent many years in the army and could tell at a glance that the old man in front of him wasn"t a conman pretending to be distressed. But he was showing symptoms of a heart attack, and the situation was extremely urgent. If the old man wasn"t rescued in time, he would probably die before the ambulance arrived.
Seeing that the old man had tried to reach into his pocket several times, Lucas guessed that his emergency medication should be inside his pocket.
"Sir, hang in there!" Lucas muttered softly while reaching for the emergency medication in the pocket of the old man"s clothing.
At this moment, someone placed their hand on Lucas"s arm to stop him.
"Young man, take my advice. Don"t think you"re doing good by helping him! These days, kindness doesn"t necessarily beget kindness. This old man is probably pretending to be ill. Don"t get yourself into big trouble by trying to save others!" The person speaking was a middle-aged man in his forties who seemed to have been in a similar situation before.
"Let go!" Lucas yelled and then broke free from that middle-aged man"s grip. He then continued to reach his hand into the old man"s breast pocket.
The middle-aged man felt that Lucas was disregarding his kind intentions and couldn"t help snapping indignantly, "Hah, ignorant young man. I was kind enough to advise you, but you refuse to listen. Once you get swindled and end up going bankrupt trying to pay the compensation, you"ll regret your decision now!"
The others around also nodded one after another and chimed in, "Exactly. This man clearly doesn"t know any better. We"re persuading him out of kindness because we"re afraid that he might get cheated by a conman, but he isn"t grateful at all!"
"Hmph, if he gets scammed later, he totally deserves it. Well, he"ll only have himself to blame for choosing not to heed our advice!
"There are too many self-righteous people like him in this world. That"s why there are so many con artists these days. If everyone minds their own business, those con artists won"t get the chance to cheat anyone, and they"ll gradually die out!"
"Yes! Let"s just wait and see how he regrets it later!"
...
Lucas ignored their remarks and simply reached into the old man"s pocket. Soon, he found a small and delicate vial labeled with the words "Enhanced Aspirin".
Lucas poured two pills into the old man"s mouth and quickly grabbed a bottle of water from his car before coming over again to give the old man some water to wash the pills down. He then unb.u.t.toned a few b.u.t.tons below the collar of the old man"s s.h.i.+rt so that the old man could breathe properly while leaning against Lucas"s arm.
Immediately afterward, Lucas called the ambulance and explained the situation in detail to the dispatcher.
After a while, the old man"s breathing gradually became calmer, and the tension on his face eased up. He was no longer as pale as before, and he even slowly opened his eyes.
Seeing that the old man had regained consciousness and his complexion had become much better, the bystanders finally realized that the old man on the ground didn"t seem to be a conman and had really suffered a heart attack.
"He… seems to have really had a heart attack."
"Yeah, the old man"s complexion is obviously better. He probably didn"t use makeup to make himself look pale! Besides, he didn"t grab the young man and insist that he compensate him either…"
"d.a.m.n it. He"s actually really sick! We actually thought he was a conman… Fortunately, this young man rescued him. Otherwise, this old man would have really died!"
"Thank G.o.d!"
Seeing that the old man"s face had eased up greatly and that he could even sit up by himself, Lucas let go of him and stood up.
He looked around at the bystanders and said loudly, "I understand that you don"t dare to help others without consideration because you"re worried about getting scammed. But in this world, crooks are a minority after all. Sometimes, the people we encounter might really be in need of help. There are many ways to prevent yourself from being cheated by others, such as taking pictures of the situation before giving help or asking the others around you to bear witness. An alternative would be to call 911 directly.
"If every one of us can do the same, we won"t have to watch others suffer and die in agony."
Seeing that the people standing around were either deep in thought or coming to a sudden realization, Lucas left without saying anything else.