On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Qiao Xifeng was taken to a mental hospital by Shen Xiao.
Unexpectedly, neither of the couple, Qiao Changgui and Ge Liuping, objected.
On the contrary, the third uncle Qiao Changhai felt very guilty. After Qiao Xifeng was forcibly admitted to the hospital, he returned home.
I found the thickest quilt in the house and went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy a new washbasin, soap, toilet paper, toothpaste and toothbrush. I bought two new sets of clothes, from top to bottom, even a vest and underwear.
After the purchase, Qiao Changgui hired a rickshaw and took it to the mental hospital. I saw Qiao Xifeng, who had been given an injection of sedative and was still sleeping soundly on the hospital bed.
Qiao Changhai felt extremely upset, so he went out and bought some bread, honey egg cakes and two bags of milk powder. He filled the bedside table next to her bed with them before returning home.
It was already dark, and it was snowing heavily outside. The rickshaw drivers had all gone home.
By the time Qiao Changhai walked back home, it was almost seven o'clock.
"Dad, why did you come back just now? Shen Xiao and I looked for you for a long time but couldn't find you. Where did you go?"
When Qiao Baozhu saw her adoptive father coming home, she hurried to greet him. She touched his cotton-padded jacket which had already gone cold, and felt so distressed.
"My sweater is freezing cold. Mom, go make a bowl of brown sugar and ginger water for my dad, and I'll pour some water for him to wash his feet so he can warm himself up.
Chen Xiao, go carry another basket of wood into the house and heat up the kang in our dad's room. ”
Listening to his daughter running around for him, Qiao Changhai felt much more relieved.
He let Qiao Baozhu take off her cotton-padded jacket and sweater and change into dry autumn clothes and a newly knitted sweater.
Sitting on a chair, my feet were numb from soaking in water with mugwort.
“Oh…”
Qiao Changhai let out a long sigh and shivered comfortably. He felt as if all the pores on his body were opened and the cold air in his body was rushing out.
Seeing that Qiao Changhai looked tired, Qiao Baozhu didn't ask any more questions and went to the kitchen to serve the dishes.
After Qiao Changhai finished a bowl of brown sugar ginger water, Qiao Baozhu heated up the food in the pot again. He wiped his feet and walked to the dining table.
Seeing four pairs of bowls and chopsticks on the table, he couldn't help but frowned: "You haven't eaten yet?"
Qiao Baozhu smiled and said, "We have all kinds of snacks at home, so our mouths are always full."
Others might not know, but how could Qiao Changhai not know?
Our family has been living a good life in the past two years, and we always have biscuits, caozi cakes and other cakes on hand. But Bao Huihua was never willing to eat it, unless it was spoiled or hairy, then she would be willing to take a bite.
Shen Xiao is a person who never eats snacks.
In this family, only Qiao Baozhu was not hungry. The other two must have been starving from waiting for him.
"Well, I'm not happy so I'm going to go out for a walk. Why did you wait for me? Okay, let's stop talking and eat."
Everyone then picked up their chopsticks to eat. Everyone was very hungry, so no one spoke. They just picked up their chopsticks and ate like crazy.
Seeing everyone put down their chopsticks, Qiao Changhai looked at the little food left and said quietly, "Last night was New Year's Eve, and there are still a lot of leftovers at home. I'll heat them up tomorrow and give them to Xifeng at the hospital."
Afraid that Qiao Baozhu and Shen Xiao would be unhappy, he quickly explained: "The canteen chef is on holiday, so the doctor on duty will steam steamed buns and pickles for them.
It’s New Year’s Day, and I can’t bear it. I won’t send you off until the canteen chef goes to work. ”
Qiao Changhai waited for a long time but didn't hear Qiao Baozhu say anything, so he thought she was unhappy.
Looking up at her daughter with a pleading look, Qiao Baozhu sighed.
"Dad, there's no leftovers at home. Cook more tomorrow and I'll deliver it."
Qiao Changhai was stunned and blurted out, "Sanshi'er cooked a large table of meat, but we hardly ate any of it. Baozhu, Dad knows that Xifeng was wronging you by cutting you. But... alas, this child has brought this upon himself."
"Dad, I'm not reluctant to part with the meat. Before Qiao Changgui and his wife left, they took away all the leftovers from our house. My mom also felt that it was hard to send Qiao Xifeng to a mental hospital during the Chinese New Year. When she heard that the hospital cafeteria was closed for the holiday, she wrapped all the vegetables in oil paper and asked them to take them over."
"ah?"
Qiao Changhai was surprised: "There is nothing to eat in Xifeng's cupboard!"
"Don't even mention food, I bought the toothpaste, toothbrush, washbasin, soap, and change of clothes.
I was worried that she would be hungry during these days, so I bought her some dry food. The second brother and his friends delivered the food to the wrong ward! ”
As he said that, Qiao Changhai stood up, turned around and put his clothes on. Judging from his attitude, he actually wanted to go to the mental hospital to find the food.
Before he even buttoned his clothes, Qiao Changhai understood instantly.
His face was dark, and he looked at Qiao Baozhu, Shen Xiao, and Bao Huihua in disbelief.
"They didn't send Xifeng any food? They took our leftovers home?"
Shen Xiao frowned and nodded: “It should be like this.”
Qiao Changhai cried out in sorrow, "Why? Xifeng is their most beloved child. Why don't they send her something to eat?"
Seeing her adoptive father's look of regret, Qiao Baozhu whispered to Shen Xiao, "Xifeng has been raised as a golden phoenix since she was young. Except for being respectful to the eldest wife, the other uncles and aunts are not happy with her."
"My dad still feels sorry for a niece like her. As an uncle to this extent, there is nothing I can say."
Shen Xiao knew that Qiao Baozhu was unhappy and her words would be as harsh as a knife.
He stood up and pulled Qiao Changhai over. The father-in-law and son-in-law sat on the edge of the kang. Shen Xiao lit a cigarette and handed it to him.
After Qiao Changhai took a puff of cigarette and calmed down, he slowly persuaded him.
"Qiao Xifeng's mood is changeable, even Zhao Haiyang and I can't tell. This means that she blames the misfortune of her marriage on the original exchange marriage. I have asked Qiao Changgui and his wife, they have always been very ignorant, thinking that Qiao Xifeng was born with a golden destiny and is destined to be a phoenix that flies to the tree.
On the eve of her wedding, Qiao Xifeng had a beautiful dream. She dreamed that Zhao Haiyang's family was not only well-off but also that he would become a high-ranking official in the future. She inherited her parents' habit of daydreaming, and tried every possible means to send Zhao Haiyang to college, even if it meant making a fool of herself. Now that her dream is shattered, instead of reflecting on herself, she blames Baozhu and me.
A person like this will definitely get into trouble in the future even if I don't send her to a mental hospital. ”
Shen Xiao’s words did not move Qiao Changhai. Qiao Changhai admitted that these were facts, but he just didn't feel happy.
"Dad, you can't understand why my biological parents would let me send Qiao Xifeng to a mental hospital, right?"
Qiao Changhai nodded: "Yes, why? I know they don't care about Baozhu. If they loved Baozhu, they wouldn't have treated her so harshly. But Xifeng is different. How can they just ignore the child they have loved for twenty years?"
Shen Xiao sneered: "I didn't love Qiao Xifeng that much in the past, but my wife's life was so miserable that Qiao Xifeng seemed to be living a good life.
The second wife has five children. If Baozhu hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have known that she had a biological sister. What they didn’t know was that their eldest sister was sold away. The money was used to help Qiao Guangming get married. ”
Qiao Changhai opened his mouth and said, "Da Ya'er is the first daughter, so it's normal to ask for more betrothal gifts. That's not called selling a daughter, it's just, it's just... Alas, it's not easy for a poor family to live."
Qiao Baozhu curled her lips and said, "Why not sell it? My eldest sister has never returned to her parents' home since she got married. On the second day of the Chinese New Year, they didn't go to my eldest sister's house to pick her up.
After I got married, I also visited my eldest sister’s family. My eldest sister didn't have a good life in her husband's family. I wanted to help her, so I secretly hid money for her. The eldest sister chased him two miles away to get the money back.
My eldest sister told me that her parents sold her to her husband’s family as an animal, and she severed all ties with her parents. Even if she was starved to death or beaten to death in her husband's family, she would never take a blade of grass from her parents' family.
She also told me not to look for her anymore because we were not sisters at all, and she accepted her fate. ”
Qiao Baozhu felt so upset that she tried hard to hold back her tears.
He took a deep breath and gritted his teeth as he said, "They dote on Qiao Xifeng because they want her to marry into a good family and help their son after she gets married.
After I got married, he came to me again and again to beg me. Since he couldn't get the upper hand over me, he used all kinds of disgusting means to force me to surrender.
Now that Zhao Haiyang is divorced and Qiao Xifeng is remarried, they feel that Qiao Xifeng will not be able to marry into a wealthy family even if she remarries. I was thinking about her three thousand dollars. ”
It would have to be Zhao Haiyang's ability to make the rich woman willing to spend three thousand yuan to buy his freedom.
"They hope Qiao Xifeng will be locked up in a mental hospital for life. After all, it wasn't them who did it. When they return to the village, they will push the responsibility onto Shen Xiao. This way they can pretend to be pitiful and deceive the villagers' trust."
"Three thousand yuan is a sum that rural people cannot earn even after farming for many years. That black-hearted couple and their two useless sons have escaped poverty and are now living a good life thanks to Qiao Xifeng."
This just proves that Qiao Xifeng is born under the element of gold.
"I guess they really wanted to give our leftovers to Qiao Xifeng. When they opened the oil paper package halfway, they found pork elbows, fish, and a big fat chicken that they hadn't eaten much."
"I was so greedy that I just took it home and enjoyed it myself."
Shen Xiao nodded: "Baozhu paid for the hospitalization fee for the mental hospital for five years, which solved their worries."
Qiao Xifeng's mess was completely dealt with.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
