Chapter 11 Returning to Grandmother's Home in Suzhou
Zhong Qiao was blown by the wind and snow, and was bumpy all the way, and developed a low fever.
In this confused, half-true and half-false state.
She had a dream.
She dreamed that she was back in the delivery room, like a childbearing machine without dignity, and the doctor delivered her baby roughly.
They were so unscrupulous and didn't care about Zhong Qiao's feelings. They "rummaged around" in her belly just to find her "son".
Then, she lay on the hospital bed, and the stitches on her belly broke off inch by inch, like a ghost story her mother had told her when she was a child.
It turns out that a big bloody hole can really be formed in a person's belly.
She was forcibly tied up by several people and pushed into the cold delivery room.
The sharp scalpel peeled off the thread on the belly inch by inch.
The pain that stirs in the flesh and blood is so deep that it penetrates into the bone marrow, comparable to torture, making people unable to live or die. It is better to end it quickly and decisively.
She cried and screamed in pain, but no one paid attention to her feelings.
No one seemed to be able to see her. She was floating in the air, separated from the world. Her body was lifeless and was being "dug" at by people.
——She died just like that.
Zhong Qiao's whole body trembled, and he suddenly opened his eyes, his back covered in sweat.
The first thing that caught my eyes was not the cold delivery room, not the small tiled house with holes and leaks, nor the ceiling that I saw for the last time when I was strangled to death in my previous life, but the walls with overlapping beige and light green colors.
Old magazines were still posted on the walls, and the sunlight stretched the old TV set with a knitted cover very long.
Zhong Qiao looked around in confusion, and first felt the fragrance of floral water. Then he lowered his head and saw that he was covered with a red quilt with clusters of flowers on it, mainly peonies.
Soft and thick.
She also changed into clean, fitting clothes.
I turned my head and looked again. The bed was right next to the window, and the wind and snow outside had stopped.
There were dead green plants on the flower bed in front of the window. Through the window covered with newspaper, a few young children were jumping around in the yard, some playing marbles and some playing cat's tuck.
Two women were washing clothes, chatting from time to time.
The colorful bubbles in the wooden basin floated in the air and were chased by a little spotted dog.
Zhong Qiao unexpectedly felt as if he were in another world.
Along with the long and deep memories, she seemed to remember.
This is my grandmother’s courtyard house in Suzhou.
When she was young, she went to pick foxtail grass on the river bank to carry a ring, and she slipped and fell into the water. It was the river dam outside this old house.
I often heard my mother say that my grandparents missed this courtyard house very much when they were in Hong Kong, and even wanted to return here to live out their retirement when they got old.
Unexpectedly, after several decades, the Zhong family went around in circles and returned to their old home in Suzhou.
"Qiao Qiao."
The door was pushed open.
Zhong Qiao turned his head to look.
Mr. and Mrs. Zhong were standing at the door, holding food in their hands, looking at her with concern.
"Dad, Mom."
Zhong Qiao forced a faint smile, propped himself up halfway and prepared to get up.
"Ouch, Qiao Qiao, don't move."
Mother Zhong exclaimed, took a few steps forward, held the food in one hand, helped Zhong Qiao up, and put a soft pillow behind her waist.
Familiar nagging: "You kid, you don't know how to take care of yourself. Why get up? It's better to lie down and recuperate."
Mr. Zhong silently placed the small table on her bed and piled the dishes in front of her. After a long pause, he muffled his words and said, "Are you feeling better?"
Zhong Qiao was surprised for a moment.
This is probably because in the previous life, my parents had a typical Chinese education, with my mother being unconditionally gentle and my father being old-fashioned and strict.
Mr. Zhong is a serious man who is not good at communication.
Whenever he is at home, the house is always dead and silent.
No matter what she did, even if she got full marks on the test and won a scholarship, Mr. Zhong would only ask her to work harder.
Under such extreme repression, a compliment became a luxury in the Zhong family.
It was because of this that she was deceived by Xu Shaojun that year. It was obviously a very clumsy lie. She only needed to tell her parents and go to the hospital for a re-examination. But when she was in front of Zhong's father, she didn't dare to say it out loud.
Later, they started arguing.
Zhong Qiao said she was pregnant, but her father didn't believe her and angrily told her to get out.
This angry remark made me, a young and hot-headed person, take it seriously.
From then on, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait were separated.
"I'm fine, just a little dizzy." Zhong Qiao answered in a low voice, twisting the quilt with his fingers, feeling a little awkward.
"You don't know, you had a fever as soon as you got home. Your mother was so worried that she stayed up all night to watch over you."
Father Zhong glanced at his wife with red eyes, feeling distressed. He then looked at his daughter who had been lost and found again. He mumbled a complaint but couldn't bring himself to say it.
"But luckily, Dr. Ji next door, who returned from studying abroad, saw you and gave you an injection and some medicine. It's normal to feel dizzy now. Your body is too weak and needs nourishment. You'll be fine in a few days."
Mother Zhong interrupted and warned carefully, "Qiao Qiao, Doctor Ji said that you've had two children in a row and your nutrition isn't enough. You mustn't be exposed to the wind recently, otherwise you'll develop chronic illnesses in the future."
Zhong Qiao lowered his eyes, feeling that Doctor Ji's name sounded familiar. After thinking about it, his mind was blank. He felt very dizzy because of the low fever that had not yet healed.
She stopped thinking about it and nodded: "I will stay in the yard and won't go out."
He glanced around, "Where are grandma and grandpa?"
Mr. Zhong replied, "Your grandparents have taken your sisters and your second uncle to the countryside. They won't be back for more than a month."
Zhong Qiao glanced at him and nodded softly.
Although they had only been separated for a year and a half at this point, for Zhong Qiao, who had lived two lives, she and her father had been separated for more than ten years.
At this time, Father Zhong was not angry to death with her, but she remembered that when Father Zhong learned that she had eloped with Xu Shaojun, he was so angry that he fainted on the spot, lost all his energy and blood, and died within two years.
Zhong Qiao took a quick glance and discovered that Mr. Zhong had dark bags under his eyes and a head full of white hair, looking ten years older than his peers.
And all this stems from my own willfulness.
She opened her mouth to say something, but when the words came to her lips, she couldn't say anything.
After all, he was living his life over again, but his parents were not. If he asked Mr. Zhong to go to the hospital for a physical examination without any reason, it might backfire.
Moreover, in his previous life, Mr. Zhong said that he died of anger and frustration, but there was no specific date.
Zhong Qiao thought about it and felt that there was something fishy going on. He needed to think things over carefully...
Mother Zhong noticed that she was hesitant to speak, and quickly asked, "Qiao Qiao, are you feeling unwell?"
What Zhong Qiao wanted to say got stuck in his throat, and he finally asked something irrelevant, "Um...how's Wanwan?"
Mr. and Mrs. Zhong were stunned for a moment, and after a moment, they realized that Zhong Qiao was talking about the little girl.
Both of them had complicated expressions.
They didn't like Xu Shaojun in the first place. When they first met him, they thought he was quite ambitious. But after experiencing some things, they felt that he seemed elegant on the surface, but was actually fake and loved to say nice things.
Therefore, they refused to continue to support his studies.
This little girl is from the Xu family. They don't even want to acknowledge Xu Shaojun as their father, so how could they acknowledge this little girl?
Father Zhong snorted coldly and said unhappily, "Throw it to Mrs. Qian's house next door and ask her to help feed it."
After saying that, he stopped talking, just piled the food on the small table and sat alone beside it.
Zhong Qiao pursed her lips, hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "Mom and Dad, I know you don't like Wanwan, but she is my child, and I must keep her by my side in the future."
Mr. Zhong felt sorry for his daughter and suppressed his anger, but when he heard this, it was as if he had touched a reverse scale and he exploded.
"How are you going to support her? She didn't even study hard, and she's even getting a divorce! Who knows how many people will laugh at her when the time comes! If you ask me, send this child away as soon as possible, and you go back to school—"
The voice stopped abruptly. When the corner of his clothes was frantically pulled by Zhong's mother, Zhong's father stood there in a daze. His face twitched slightly due to anger, and his chest heaved violently uncontrollably.
His lips trembled, and his expression was as frightened as a child who had made a mistake, and his movements became awkward.
Mr. Zhong felt a little regretful. His temper was really...
Zhong Qiao lowered his head and did not see all this.
Her lips were pursed into a line, and her fair fingers stirred the lean meat slices in the bowl with chopsticks.
In my previous life, when I was young and hot-headed and couldn’t stand hearing such words, I would definitely have quarreled with Mr. Zhong.
But in this life, she is already in her thirties. Her father was angered to death by her, and it was a pain in her heart that had suffocated her for more than ten years.
Now, after regaining her child, she once again heard Mr. Zhong's words, which seemed harsh but were actually caring. As a parent herself, she could understand Mr. Zhong's words from a parent's perspective.
Yes, a good girl was raised to become a college student, but ended up marrying a poor student as if possessed by a demon. She gave birth to two children, never finished her studies, and got divorced.
It was a really bad hand of cards played badly.
If it were in other families, the parents would have been angry at their lack of fighting spirit and would have beaten and scolded them severely!
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