Free Web NovelChapter 229: Chapter 229: Trouble
After buying the cosmetics, they stayed in Wenzhou for another day, picking up quite a few knickknacks that weren’t available back in the Northeast.
The trip wasn’t as long as their journey to the Soviet Union, but they still ended up with bags of all sizes.
Despite being loaded down with bags, everyone was happy. These items should sell well, and more importantly, they now had the cosmetics—the key to opening doors with high-ranking officials in the Soviet Union. With these, they had hope. They were all excited.
When they arrived in Harbin, they didn’t linger and bought tickets to head straight back.
They went to the Sun Family’s home first. It had become their gathering spot. Whenever Dingzi was away, his grandmother would stay at the Suns’. She could take care of herself and keep Grandma Sun company. With Aunt Zhao also there, they knew everyone was in good hands.
They planned to store all the merchandise at the Sun residence, taking only what they intended to give as gifts. Once they bought their tickets to the Soviet Union, they would regroup there.
When they got to the Sun Family’s home, Sun Jiaming opened the door. The group walked inside, but before they could even set their things down, Aunt Zhao said urgently, "Gu’er, Jia Ming, you two need to get to the hospital, quickly."
Gu’er and Sun Jiaming both froze.
"What happened to Grandma?"
Sun Jiaming looked extremely anxious; he thought something had happened to his grandmother.
"No, no, it’s Li Hua. It’s Gu’er’s mother. She’s in the hospital."
Aunt Zhao quickly shook her head.
Gu’er’s heart skipped a beat. ’How could it be my adoptive mother? I remember she was never hospitalized in my past life.’
"What happened?"
Gu’er’s voice trembled. In both lifetimes, no matter how weak Li Hua was, she had raised her. She never abandoned her, even during the hardest of times. Gu’er owed her for her upbringing. freewēbnoveℓ.com
"That father of yours, Zhou Mazi, came home drunk in the middle of the night and went crazy. For some reason, he beat your mother within an inch of her life. Her head was covered in blood, and she lay unconscious on the kang for two days with no one even checking on her. It wasn’t until your Uncle Zhao went back and ran into those Zhou siblings arguing at the door that he found out. He asked them what was going on and learned your mom was still lying on the kang. He went to check, couldn’t wake her up, and brought Li Hua to the city in his cart. We didn’t know what to do at first, but we eventually found your family—your real dad—and he helped get her to the hospital. They said something about bleeding in her head and that she has two broken bones. It sounds like she needs some kind of surgery. Anyway, it all sounds terrifying. Your dad told me to have you go to the hospital as soon as you got back. It’s Yonghong Hospital."
Aunt Zhao sighed as she spoke. ’That Zhou Mazi is truly not human. How could he beat his wife so viciously? And those Zhou siblings... that’s their own mother, yet they didn’t even care. They’re worse than animals.’
Listening to Aunt Zhao, Gu’er couldn’t stop trembling. ’How could this happen? How?! Didn’t I warn Zhou Mazi? How could he be so violent? This never happened in my past life. It was my fault for being careless. I thought my adoptive mother would just be left without support later in life, that nothing else would happen to her. That’s why I didn’t make any arrangements.’
’Zhou Feng’er, Zhou Duo’er, Zhou Cai, you’re not human!’
But right now, no matter how furious Gu’er was, there was no way to vent her anger.
"I’m going to the hospital."
After saying this, Gu’er pounded down the stairs. She had to see her adoptive mother. She couldn’t let anything happen to her.
Sun Jiaming said a quick word to Aunt Zhao and followed Gu’er down.
Li Zhi and Dingzi exchanged a look. With something like this happening, they couldn’t just stand by. They should go and see what was going on.
Dingzi looked at his grandmother.
"Go on, hurry. See if there’s anything you can do to help."
Grandma Dingzi urged her grandson on.
Dingzi nodded to his grandmother, then rushed down the stairs with Li Zhi.
In the car, Gu’er’s fists were clenched tightly, her gaze icy. She couldn’t help but blame herself. ’Was this calamity a result of me and Sun Jiaming leaving the village? Did Zhou Mazi feel like he had no one to fear anymore?’
After getting out of the car, Gu’er ran frantically toward the hospital. She rushed to the information desk to ask which floor Li Hua was on. As soon as the nurse told her, she bolted up the stairs.
Sun Jiaming, Li Zhi, and Dingzi followed silently behind. They had almost never seen Gu’er like this.
Outside the hospital room, Gu’er saw Lin Shan talking with a doctor.
"Dad! Dad! My mom... how is my mom?"
Gu’er ran over in a few strides, grabbed Lin Shan’s clothes, and asked anxiously.
"Gu’er, you’re back. Your mother... her condition isn’t good."
Lin Shan looked at Gu’er. He should have been happy that she was back, but instead, this tragedy had occurred. It was heartbreaking.
Lin Shan and the doctor explained Li Hua’s condition.
Li Hua had suffered a severe blow to the head, causing slow internal bleeding. The bleeding wasn’t excessive, but there was a blood clot in her skull pressing on a nerve. The doctor recommended surgery to remove it. In addition, Li Hua had several fractures, but thankfully, her internal organs weren’t damaged. Otherwise, this would have been truly life-threatening.
However, the surgery carried risks and required a family member’s signature. But from the moment the patient was brought to the hospital, through all the examinations, until now, not a single person from the Zhou family had shown up. Besides, other than Zhou Mazi, the other Zhou family members weren’t adults and couldn’t sign.
"I’ll sign. I’m her daughter."
Gu’er knew the surgery was risky, but she had faith. She believed her adoptive mother would be all right. She was still waiting for the chance to repay her.
The doctor glanced at Gu’er, a troubled look on his face. He knew her relationship with the patient; Mr. Lin had explained it. Although she was a daughter, she wasn’t related by blood. Moreover, Gu’er’s household registration had already been transferred, so she couldn’t legally sign for Li Hua. Especially since he’d heard the patient’s legal family were a bunch of scoundrels—if there were even the slightest problem with the surgery, they would definitely cause trouble for the hospital. Therefore, they had to have a signature from a legal family member.
Lin Shan explained the hospital’s predicament to Gu’er, and she understood. But she was frantic.
"I’ll go find that bastard Zhou Mazi."
"I’ll go. You wait here. Don’t worry, even if I have to tie him up, I’ll drag him here."
Sun Jiaming grabbed Gu’er’s shoulders. She was being impulsive, and he couldn’t let her go.
"I’ll go too."
Dingzi stood beside Sun Jiaming. He wanted to see for himself what kind of bastard could beat his own wife like this.
"I already asked Uncle Zhao to go back and find him, but I’m not sure he’ll be able to handle Zhou Mazi. It’s better if Jia Ming and Dingzi go. It’s safer."
Lin Shan said.
"Okay, hire a car and go. You have to bring him here. If he’s not at home, he’ll definitely be somewhere gambling."
Gu’er forced herself to calm down. ’Zhou Mazi, and you Zhou siblings... just you wait.’
Sun Jiaming and Dingzi went off to find Zhou Mazi, while Li Zhi stayed with Gu’er.
"I’ve already paid a thousand for the hospital fees, but the surgery will probably cost a lot more. I’ll go back and figure something out. You guys stay here with her for now. Let me know if anything comes up. I have to get back to my unit; I still have work to finish."
Lin Shan patted Gu’er’s shoulder, his heart aching for her. He had neglected a lot of work for Li Hua’s sake, but he was willing to do it. He knew what Li Hua meant to Gu’er.
——————
Thank you, Xiao Han Wei Yu, for the monthly ticket. I still haven’t figured out why the afternoon Chapter didn’t post. I had it on auto-publish. If I hadn’t checked tonight, I wouldn’t have even known it failed to post. So strange.
