Ma Dexiang suffered so much today that when he was asked to pay the bill, he was distracted.
"Comrade! This is one dollar, not ten dollars! Comrade!"
Ma Dexiang came back to his senses with a start. Looking at the banknotes in his hand, he said awkwardly, "Well, I'll pay later..."
Then he ran back to the ward, hoping to borrow some money from Lin Guoqing. The cost of a caesarean section was too high. A normal birth in the hospital would only cost 5 yuan.
He brought 50 yuan with him when he went out today. Did he spend it all just like that?
Under normal circumstances, Lin Guoqing would not have had much cash on him, but he had just returned from the provincial capital after selling eggs today. Before he had time to put the money in the drawer, he rushed to the Ma family. Now he took out more than 30 yuan, which stunned Ma Dexiang.
Lin Guoqing directly gave all the money to Ma Dexiang,
"Here should be thirty-three dollars and thirty-seven cents. Brother-in-law, take this for now and remember to pay it back when the time comes."
Ma Dexiang looked at the money in his hand, then looked at Lin Yulan, who was lying on the hospital bed, crying out in pain with her eyes closed, and sighed deeply. If only he had known earlier that he couldn't give birth to a son, their family could have saved so much money, and Yulan wouldn't have to suffer like this.
Liang Shengdi didn't appreciate his hindsight confession at all, and when Lin Yulan woke up, she started cursing again.
"Okay, you don't have to have a baby now even if you want to. The doctor said it'll be a caesarian section and you have to rest for three years. In three years, your daughter will be married. Do you plan to stay with your daughter during the confinement period?"
Lin Yulan looked embarrassed, but she was still worried when she saw her little daughter lying in her arms.
"Mom, you don't know..."
"I don't know shit!" Lin Guoqing stood aside and got angry. "Sister, we are all fools. You are the only smart ones, right? Just because your brother-in-law's mother said a few words to apologize to our ancestors, you have to risk your life to give birth to them?
What about your daughters before you? They are really worthless, right? Look at you, Erni!
As he said that, he pulled Ma Erni up from the bedside and stood in a place where Lin Yulan could see her whole body at a glance.
"I've never seen her wear new clothes since she was born. Look at the shoes on her feet, the soles are almost falling off! Are she and Dani both earning work points? Even if they don't earn much, don't they have enough money to buy a new pair of cloth shoes?
You and your brother-in-law only know how to have children, but after they are born you don't care about them and let that old woman exploit them! What the hell do you know? "
Liang Shengdi snorted coldly, "Those who know me will say you are my daughter, but those who don't will think you are my mother! Look at how old you have become! When Dani finds her husband, your son-in-law must not call you grandma when he comes to visit for the first time!"
…
Chen Chunhua just stood by and listened to her mother-in-law and husband arguing with her aunt. After her son-in-law paid the fee and came in, they listened to it all again. Both of them, along with Erni who came to help, looked embarrassed.
Ma Dexiang: "Mom, National Day...we understand. We really won't have any more children..."
Liang Shengdi raised her eyelids and asked, "What if your mother says she is sorry to our ancestors again?"
Ma Dexiang wiped his sweat, "...That's my fault. I'm sorry to our ancestors. I'll tell her..."
Lin Yulan had been in the operating room before and didn't know anything about the chromosome issue. Hearing her husband take all the responsibility, she was so moved that Liang Shengdi rolled her eyes again. How on earth had she given birth to such a stupid daughter?
"There's no point in saying anything else. Just ask your mother to return the work points earned by Dani and Erni to them. And!" Liang Shengdi emphasized her tone.
"Don't sell the eggs from your chickens for money! Yulan is in confinement after her birth! She just had surgery, so give her brown sugar eggs every day to nourish her! She has to stay in confinement for the full two months! Do you understand?"
Ma Dexiang quickly said that he understood, the eggs and brown sugar will definitely not be missing for a day!
Liang Shengdi was finally satisfied and looked back at Lin Yulan.
"You're stupid, and you've been stupid for so many years. I can't do anything about it. We definitely can't give you chickens and eggs, but I'll try to give you a fish every day and make fish soup. It's good for milk production and nourishing your body."
Lin Yulan's mouth twitched, mainly wanting to refute her mother's words that she was stupid, but she gave up in the end for fear of being scolded again.
Lin Yulan will have to stay in the hospital for a few more days, so Ma Dexiang decided to go home to pack some things and money, and also have a talk with his mother about the possibility that his mother-in-law might come and destroy the house if he doesn't change his mind.
He asked Erni to stay and look after her mother and younger sister and come back tomorrow to take over. He then went back to the village with Lin Guoqing and his family of three, riding on a bullock cart and bicycle.
Lin Guoqing rode his bicycle directly to Lin Fuqiang's house, and the ox cart was parked in front of Ma Dexiang's house. The driver was busy going back to sleep.
When Old Lady Ma learned that it was another daughter, she curled her lips and said that she would continue next year. Then she was told that it was a caesarean section and she could not have another child for three years and had to rest well.
She was just about to explode. It was just a cut. Is it really that precious? And what about the double confinement period? Double bullshit!
The next second, my son said he didn't want to have any more children. The doctor said that the inability to have a son is not a woman's problem, but a man's problem. There is no such thing as giving birth to a son in his blood. Even if he has 10 more children, he still won't be able to have a son.
Liang Shengdi stood at the foot of the Ma family's courtyard wall. She listened to the old woman Ma's cries and screams with satisfaction, then waved to Chen Chunhua, "Let's go home. It will be dawn if we don't go back soon!"
Chen Chunhua suppressed her laughter, "Mom, are you happy now?"
"Happy, so happy!" Liang Shengdi said with her big teeth showing, without any scruples.
"That old woman keeps rambling on about her ancestors who have nothing to do with her. Only your eldest sister is stupid enough to listen to her and feel sorry for her. I wonder if those damned ancestors can even remember who they are!
Now it's her son who's wronging the ancestors. Let's see if she'll kneel down before the ancestral tablets and kowtow to confess her sins every day!"
Chen Chunhua was silent for a moment, wanting to say that she was being frank and asked her ancestors not to blame her. But then she thought that the ancestors of the Lin family actually had little to do with her, and she was too lazy to acknowledge the ancestors of the Shen family.
Sometimes, it is better to think as clearly as Liang Shengdi did. In this era when people cannot even take care of the living, how can we care about the dead who have been gone for hundreds of years?
Putting aside this strange circle of thinking, Shen Chunhua changed the topic.
"Mom...actually, we have a lot of chickens at home now, so it's okay to stew one for Big Sister to nourish her body."
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