On the other side, at Deputy Captain Tong’s home.
As soon as Deputy Head Tong came back, he asked Li Chunmei with a stern face:
"Did you say something bad about Captain Gu's wife today? Li Chunmei, could you please stop causing trouble for me? Tell me yourself, who have you gotten along well with since you came to the army?"
When Li Chunmei saw her husband talking about Li Xia, she said angrily, "You only know how to side with others, and you don't care whether your wife is bullied outside."
Deputy Head Tong said: "You are just a piece of meat, how can you be bullied?
"Captain Gu's wife has been in the newspapers. She is a reasonable person. If you don't recruit her, how can she bully you? You still have the nerve to say that she bullies you. Captain Gu has come to me for this matter. If you still want to do this, just go back to your hometown!"
Deputy Captain Tong was really pissed off by his stupid wife. She couldn't be persuaded or taught, and she wouldn't listen.
He and Li Chunmei were arranged by their families, and they had no feelings for each other.
If he wasn't afraid that his daughters would have a hard time living in the countryside, he wouldn't have wanted Li Chunmei to join the army.
Li Chunmei was still not convinced, but when she heard that she was going to be sent back to the countryside.
She shrank her neck and closed her mouth.
My hometown is very poor and there is a shortage of water.
When she was in her hometown, she could only take a bath twice a year, and she had to work in the fields even when she was pregnant.
After joining the army, her life became much more comfortable.
She no longer had to work in the fields to earn work points, as her daughter did all the housework for her and she only had to talk.
If any of her daughters did something wrong, she would beat her. In her own words, even the landlords in the past did not live as happily as she does now.
She hasn't had enough of this good life, she doesn't want to go back to her hometown!
Seeing that Li Chunmei stopped talking, Deputy Captain Tong thought she was scared and knew she had to be obedient, so he didn't say anything.
As soon as Deputy Head Tong left, Li Chunmei muttered quietly, "You didn't even know how to protect your wife when she was bullied by outsiders. It's because I married a man like you who is so servile that I have to endure so much bullying outside."
"You say it well, no son, no son, and you like daughters too, but in fact, aren't you disgusted with me for not being able to give your Tong family a boy?
I must give birth to a son this time, and then I'll see who dares to look down on me! Li Xia, Tao Mengju, do you think you are the only ones who can give birth to sons? I can give birth to one too! I, Li Chunmei, am no worse than you!"
Thinking of this, Li Chunmei hurriedly took out the packet of medicine she had hidden.
This medicine was a sex-changing drug that she asked her mother to get from a very powerful person in her hometown last month.
I heard that if you drink this sex-changing medicine, even if you are pregnant with a daughter, you can turn it into a son.
Li Chunmei's face was full of smiles when she thought that she would soon give birth to a son.
"Mom, are you sick? Why are you taking medicine?" The eldest daughter Zhaodi walked in and said in a low voice.
Li Chunmei glared at her and drank the powder in the cup. "Why didn't you tell me before you came in? You acted like a ghost and scared the baby in my belly. Can you afford to pay for it? You are a useless fool and a money-loser!"
Tong Zhaodi shrank back in fear, not daring to resist, and allowed herself to be scolded.
"The food is ready, we can eat now." Tong Zhaodi said in a low voice.
…
The next day, Li Xia learned from Mrs. Tao that Li Chunmei was hospitalized.
"What's wrong with her?" Li Xia asked curiously.
When I saw Li Chunmei yesterday, she was still full of energy. How come she was suddenly hospitalized?
Mrs. Tao whispered, "I heard that she suddenly had a severe stomachache in the middle of the night last night and was bleeding. Deputy Commander Tong immediately sent her to the military hospital. I don't know if the baby in her belly is okay.
Xiao Li, why did she suddenly have a stomachache? It was such a coincidence. We had a fight yesterday and she had a stomachache that night. I was really afraid that she would blame us for it.
Mrs. Tao had a bitter face and sighed heavily.
"If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have asked you to go with me to Li Chunmei to argue. I'm fine, but I'm afraid this matter will implicate my old Ma and your captain Gu."
Mrs. Tao's worries were not unreasonable. No matter what caused Li Chunmei's stomachache, given her personality, she would most likely put the blame on Li Xia and Mrs. Tao.
Li Xia comforted her, "Sister-in-law, don't worry. There were so many people here yesterday, and I didn't say anything to you or Li Chunmei.
Besides, she was the first to slander us, and we were just reasoning with her. Which pregnant woman would have a stomachache after hearing a few words from others? I have never heard of it.
Besides, there are doctors in the hospital. They can definitely find out why Li Chunmei has a stomachache."
"Okay, I'll listen to you. I'm not in a hurry." said Mrs. Tao.
But despite this, her constant squeezing of her hands showed that she was nervous.
…
In the afternoon, Gu Weicheng came back.
When Li Xia saw him, even though he hadn't spoken yet, she guessed why he came back.
"What happened? Is the child saved?" Li Xia asked the first question.
No matter what, the child is innocent, and Li Xia doesn't want anything to happen to the unborn child.
Gu Weicheng shook his head: "The child was not saved. It was born, but it was stillborn."
Li Xia's heart tightened and her brows furrowed. "What did the doctor say? What caused it? How could it suddenly become like this?"
Thinking of Li Chunmei, Li Xia sighed again: "Li Chunmei will definitely say that she was mad at me and Sister Tao, right?"
She actually guessed it right.
Gu Weicheng nodded: "That's what Li Chunmei said."
For this reason, Political Commissar Shen called him to his office. In fact, Political Commissar Shen asked him whether he wanted to call Li Xia as well, but he said he could go alone.
"But the doctor believed that Li Chunmei had been pregnant for more than six months and the fetus was very stable at this stage. It was impossible for her to miscarry just because of a few words from others.
The doctor asked Li Chunmei if she had taken anything she shouldn't have, and she said no. But her daughter Tong Zhaodi said she saw her taking medicine, and after the doctor checked the medicine, he found that it was the medicine that caused the miscarriage.
"Medicine? What medicine?" Li Xia asked.
Gu Weicheng pursed his lips and said, "The fetus-changing medicine."
A sex-changing drug?
Li Xia understood everything. She had read an article before about women in the past who would seek folk prescriptions, or drugs to change the sex of their babies, in order to have children.
This article found many examples, including those of women who gave birth to stillborn babies after taking the drug, those who gave birth to children who were neither male nor female, commonly known as hermaphrodites, and those who gave birth to children with various deformities.
This kind of sex-changing medicine cannot change the fetus at all. Instead, it will harm the baby in the womb.
She really didn't expect that Li Chunmei would go so crazy as to take "sex-changing medicine" in order to have a son!
"I heard that Li Chunmei was originally pregnant with a son, but unfortunately the baby died at birth because of the sex-changing medicine she took," said Gu Weicheng.
Li Xia sighed after hearing this. In fact, as long as Li Chunmei did nothing and went through the pregnancy peacefully, she would be able to give birth to the son she had always dreamed of.
But she was superstitious and killed her son with her own hands.