Free Web NovelChapter 234: Chapter 234: The Zhou Family Is in Chaos
It was the middle of the night when Li Hua woke up.
She opened her eyes, dazed and unsure of her surroundings.
Her mind was a blank.
It took a while for her to slowly come to her senses.
She felt a pounding in her head, as if someone were hammering it from the inside. The pain was excruciating. Slowly, her memories returned. She remembered her husband coming home and announcing he had sold their daughter to an old gambler.
Her daughter had cried and thrown a fit. ’My eldest is already gone,’ she thought. ’If my second daughter is sold to an old gambler, what future will she have?’
So she had told her husband no. She never expected him to strike her so brutally.
The memory made Li Hua shudder.
That slight shudder was enough to startle Gu’er, who had been dozing by the bedside. Gu’er’s eyes fluttered open, and she saw that Li Hua was awake.
"Mom? Mom, you’re awake?"
Gu’er exclaimed in pleasant surprise.
At the sound of Gu’er’s voice, Sun Jiaming hurried over. freewebnøvel.com
Li Hua’s lips moved, but no words came out.
’Am I in the hospital? Why are Gu’er and Sun Jiaming here?’
"Mom, don’t worry, and please don’t move. You’ve had surgery. The doctor said you need to stay still."
Gu’er could see the confusion in Li Hua’s eyes, but she didn’t explain, simply comforting her in a soft voice and urging her not to move.
Gu’er spoke for a little while, gently explaining Li Hua’s condition, and Li Hua slowly drifted off to sleep again.
Gu’er gently rested her head on Sun Jiaming’s shoulder. He hadn’t gone home for the past two days, staying with her through the night to keep watch. With him by her side, Gu’er finally felt like she had someone to lean on.
Li Hua didn’t fully regain consciousness until the following afternoon. She looked much better and was able to speak, albeit slowly.
Li Hua asked about the Zhou family.
Gu’er told her they were all still in the village. Zhou Mazi had come to sign the papers and then left.
A shadow fell over Li Hua’s eyes. She remembered how Zhou Mazi had beaten and cursed her. She remembered how her entire body had ached, her head throbbed, and she couldn’t even move. She had called out to her children, but Zhou Feng’er had just cried and blamed her, saying she was useless and couldn’t protect her, that she deserved to be beaten to death.
Zhou Duo’er and Zhou Cai hadn’t helped either, even finding her to be a nuisance. She had barely managed to crawl onto the *kang* bed herself. Waves of dizziness washed over her, and her body was in agony. She called out to her three children, but not a single one came to help her.
Dizzy and nauseous, she had called for Feng’er and Du’er to bring her a basin, but they pretended not to hear. In her delirium, she heard Zhou Mazi curse that she was bad luck and if she died, he’d just find a new wife. She heard Zhou Cai say to leave her be, that she’d be fine after a couple of days in bed. She heard her two daughters muttering about her, blaming her.
A chill crept through Li Hua’s body. ’I don’t understand why it’s like this,’ she thought. ’I gave Zhou Mazi three children. I served him without complaint, even though he’s useless, even though he loves to drink and gamble. I never resented him. I did everything I was supposed to do and endured everything I had to endure. Why has he never treated me with a shred of kindness? Why doesn’t he even see me as a human being?’ freewebnøvel.com
’And my three children... I gave birth to them, I raised them. I gave them my all. I would go hungry just to make sure they had a bite to eat. They had a better life in the Zhou family than Gu’er ever did, because they were Zhou Mazi’s own flesh and blood. But how do they treat me?’
’I’m their mother. I don’t hold it against them. But when I was being beaten like that, not a single one of them came to check on me. Instead, they thought I was useless, that I deserved to die. Are these really my children? Even an enemy wouldn’t be so cruel.’
For the first time, the very first time, Li Hua felt her heart turn to ice. She felt that life was completely devoid of hope. Being alive was worse than being dead; it was just endless suffering.
"Mom, don’t be sad. Don’t you still have me? I’m your daughter. You don’t want me anymore?"
Gu’er saw the despair in Li Hua’s eyes, and her own heart ached terribly. ’Heaven has been kind to me,’ she thought, ’giving me a second chance at life and so much more. But it has been so cruel to my adoptive mother. She has suffered far too much. But I won’t let her suffer anymore.’
Li Hua looked at Gu’er, whose eyes were red and swollen. Tears blurred her own vision. In the end, Gu’er was the only one by her side. Only Gu’er truly treated her like a mother and was genuinely kind to her.
Through her tears, Li Hua nodded at Gu’er.
By the fourth day, Li Hua seemed much more spirited than she had been and was able to have small conversations with Gu’er.
Around noon, as Gu’er was helping Li Hua drink some water, someone burst into the room.
’Gu’er frowned. ’Li Zhi and Dingzi have been busy preparing the shipment for the Soviet Union, and Sun Jiaming just went downstairs to buy food. Who would be running into the hospital room like this?’’
She turned to look. Li Hua also looked toward the newcomer, and a flicker of joy crossed her face. It was Zhou Duo’er.
"Mom, you’re awake! Big Sis, you and Mom have to come back with me, quickly! Everything’s a total mess at home. Please, hurry back and help."
Upon entering the room and seeing Li Hua awake, Zhou Duo’er didn’t even bother asking about her condition before demanding that she and Gu’er return with her.
Li Hua immediately grew anxious. It was a completely subconscious reaction. That was her home, after all—with her husband and her three children.
"Mom, don’t move! How can you go back in this condition? There’s no point in getting worked up if you can’t go anywhere."
As she tried to get up, Gu’er firmly held her down.
Gu’er shot a look at Zhou Duo’er.
Zhou Duo’er flinched.
"I... I had no other choice! Big Sis, you have no idea! Dad nearly beat Second Sister to death! He was about to tie her up and sell her to some old man, but then people from the village committee showed up. They said they were going to arrest Dad, and he started fighting them! The whole house is a battlefield. I had no choice but to run away! Mom, Big Sis, please, just go back and take a look. I really don’t know what to do."
Zhou Duo’er was on the verge of tears. The house had been in chaos for the past two days. That day, their dad had caught Second Sister, dragged her home, and given her a beating. He then locked the door to keep her from getting out.
Later, he beat her again and told the old man to come to the house to take her away.
Second Sister had called out to her, telling her to go to the village committee and report their dad. She said it was her only chance. But Zhou Duo’er was scared. She didn’t dare. She didn’t know what to do. Then today, the old man came to collect the girl, the village committee showed up, and a lot of the elders came over too. Everyone was shouting at their house. Dad insisted it was their family’s business and told everyone to stay out of it, demanding that the old man take Second Sister away.
The old man seemed hesitant about whether he should take her. Then Second Sister started crying and threatening to kill herself, and Dad started fighting with the others. Finally, someone suggested she come to the city to find Mom and Gu’er, saying they could help. That’s why she had run all the way here.
’Gu’er could imagine the scene perfectly. The whole reason she had let Zhou Mazi go back was so the Zhou family would tear itself apart. The messier, the better. The person who gave Zhou Duo’er this idea was definitely no friend—probably one of Zhou Mei’s cronies. I’m not getting involved in this. I’d be happy if the Zhou family fought every single day.’
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Thank you to Mango Bubble for the peace charm, and thank you all for your support.
