Luo Chen suddenly raised his head and shouted, "Who cares about your money? We never intended to kill her, much less you!"

Xiao Yunying's head had been throbbing since she woke up in the evening. Rubbing her temples, she didn't think much of it and asked the question that had been nagging at her:

"Then let me ask you, the day I woke up was the day Lin Shi rescued Xiao Yunying from Xishan. Why was I lying on the ground? At that time, Xiao Yunying had a high fever. Did Lin Shi just drag her back and leave her lying on the ground?"

Luo Chen understood the implication in her stepmother's words: "You think I'm the one who put her on the ground?!"

Xiao Yunying said directly, "I have doubts, that's why I'm asking you now."

Luo Chen's initial panic upon learning of her stepmother's departure was overwhelmed by a deep sense of grievance, and her eyes welled up with tears. She shouted:

"That's right, it's me. I've wanted her dead for a long time. Only when she's dead will she stop beating us every day, and we won't have to worry about her selling our younger siblings. Are you satisfied now?"

After saying that, he grabbed the divorce papers and ran out.

Xiao Yunying stopped rubbing her temples: "His behavior... could it be that I've misunderstood him?"

Xiao Yunying rubbed her hair in frustration. Even if he wasn't the one who did it last time, she had heard what happened last night with her own ears, so it couldn't be wrong, right?

"This kid didn't take the money. Never mind, I'll give it to him tomorrow."

Xiao Yunying threw the silver into the supermarket, closed the door, took off her coat, lay down on the bed, covered herself with the quilt, and prepared to sleep.

She thought she might have trouble sleeping that night because she slept all afternoon, but she fell asleep quite quickly and soon drifted off to sleep.

The next day, she was unable to leave on her own.

Because she had a high fever, so high that she fell into a coma.

She didn't get up in the morning. Luo Chen didn't want to face Xiao Yunying because of what happened last night, and she was also worried that she would leave quietly, so she asked Luo Xin to try pushing the door of her room.

The door wasn't locked, and Luo Chen was relieved to see that her stepmother was still asleep. She then went to the kitchen to cook porridge.

The porridge left for his stepmother was repeatedly reheated and cooled, and by almost noon she still hadn't gotten up, so Luo Yang realized something was wrong.

After calling out twice at the door with no response, Luo Yang pushed the door open and entered. He saw Xiao Yunying with her cheeks flushed, eyes closed, and lips chapped from dryness. He quickly asked Luo Chen to pour water for his stepmother and went to fetch the village's third uncle, who knew medicine.

The old man felt Xiao Yunying's pulse: "This is bad, her fever is too high. We need to take her to the city clinic right away. Go and call Yunying's parents."

Upon receiving the news, Mu Lianrong hurriedly urged her old man to hitch up the oxcart and pull Xiao Yunying towards the city.

When Xiao Yunying opened her eyes and regained consciousness, she was lying on an oxcart covered with two blankets, heading towards the city.

Sitting next to her, Mu Lianrong couldn't hide her anxiety: "Daughter, you're awake."

It took Xiao Yunying a while to regain her senses, and she asked in a hoarse voice, "Mother, what happened to me?"

"You developed a high fever and fainted from it."

Xiao Yunying turned and looked around. The road on both sides was lined with withered, yellowed weeds and trees; it didn't look like a road into the city. She glanced past Luo Chen sitting at the back of the carriage and said to Mu Lianrong:

"Mom, I think I can still be saved. Don't rush to take me up the mountain and bury me."

Mu Lianrong spat three times: "Pah, pah, pah, what nonsense are you talking about? This is a small road into the city, which is closer than the main road. Your third grandfather said that you have a high fever and you need to go to the city clinic to find a doctor as soon as possible."

Xiao Yunying breathed a sigh of relief; it turned out they weren't going to bury her.

He tilted his head towards Luo Chen and asked, "What's he doing here?"

Are they monitoring whether they're dead or alive?

Mu Lianrong tucked the blanket around her daughter's neck: "He insisted on coming along. He wouldn't let us get on the bus, so he ran behind us. Your father was worried, so he let him on."

Xiao Yunying sighed. She was in so much pain that she had no energy left to outwit this unlucky child.

Mu Lianrong thought she was feeling unwell: "Girl, hang in there a little longer, we'll be in the city soon."

Xiao Yunying nodded, closed her eyes, and drifted off into a daze, not even realizing when she had entered the city.

When Mu Lianrong called her, she realized they had arrived at the clinic. She climbed down from the oxcart and was helped inside by her parents.

Several people were waiting in line for their appointments. When it was Xiao Yunying's turn, the senior doctor asked her to sit opposite him, placed a handkerchief on her wrist, and took her pulse.

Xiao Yunying cooperated with the old doctor as he examined her right hand and then her left. As the old doctor's expression became more and more serious, she felt a little flustered and muttered to herself.

Doctor, I just have a bad cold and a high fever. Don't be so serious, it's kind of scary.

She was terrified that the doctor's first words would be, "Eat whatever you want." She waited anxiously for the doctor to give her the results.