Chapter 62 Showing off everywhere while carrying the bastard child
Zhao Qingda's New Year was more bitter than bitter herbs.
Li Yugu's condition deteriorated rapidly before the Lunar New Year, and he could no longer get out of bed. He spent most of his time either in a daze or groaning softly in pain.
Tie Tou lay on the bed, occasionally twitching uncontrollably, drooling, and making indistinct, silly-sounding noises. He needed to be cleaned and fed liquid food constantly.
Wang Juan is busy from morning till night, and she also has to endure the torment of her mother-in-law's illness and her son's mental disability. She is burning with anger.
Her face was never sunny; she was always crying and complaining that Zhao Qingda was incompetent, unable to even manage to exchange houses with Zhao Fei, leaving the whole family to suffer in this "haunted house."
On New Year's Eve, the dumplings at home were hastily made by Wang Juan, with thick skins and little filling, and half of them broke after cooking.
Li Yugu managed to eat two, but then he coughed so badly he couldn't breathe.
Tie Tou spat the dumpling paste that was being fed into his mouth all over the place.
Wang Juan tidied up while tears streamed down her face, muttering nothing but depressing words.
Looking at the room full of sick, mentally challenged, and crying people, Zhao Qingda felt as if a million ants were crawling all over him.
He only ate two of the broken dumplings before feeling bloated in his stomach. He threw down his chopsticks and said, "I'm not eating anymore!" He put on his cotton-padded coat and went out the door, plunging into the smoke-filled card room.
The people at the card table were his usual drinking buddies. Seeing that he looked unwell, they deliberately teased him, "Hey, Qingda, instead of staying home with your beautiful wife and precious son during the New Year, you're here having fun?"
"Yeah, I heard your mother is quite ill? Tsk tsk, it's like when it rains, it pours."
"Hey, tell me, did you do too many bad things in the past? I heard your ex-wife, Wen Xiaoxiao, ran off with someone else? And she even cheated on you? Haha!"
These malicious jokes were like a red-hot needle, piercing Zhao Qingda's most sensitive nerve of humiliation.
His face turned ashen instantly, and the string of "reason" in his mind snapped.
He suddenly stood up, grabbed the edge of the card table with both hands, and used all his strength to lift it upwards!
"Crash—!" Playing cards, loose change, and teacups were scattered all over the floor, leaving a mess.
"Fuck your mothers! If you keep talking nonsense, I'll kill you all!" Zhao Qingda roared, his eyes bloodshot, pointing at the stunned card players. The scars on his face distorted in the dim light.
After yelling, he didn't even look at the chaos and cursing behind him, and slammed the door as he left.
When he got home, he didn't even wash up. He took off his clothes and crawled into the cold bed, covering his head with the blanket.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the sounds of firecrackers and children's laughter could be faintly heard outside. He lay on the bed, motionless, neither eating nor drinking.
Like a lifeless corpse, it slept all day.
Wang Juan called him several times, but he acted as if he didn't hear her.
The second day of the Lunar New Year is traditionally the day for parents to visit their wives' parents' home.
Wang Juan had already finished getting ready, but seeing him still looking so lifeless, she angrily went up and pulled off his blanket: "Zhao Qingda! Get up! You're coming to my mom's house with me today! Don't just stay in bed all the time!"
Unable to bear her nagging any longer, Zhao Qingda got up with a sullen face, wiped his face haphazardly, and put on his clothes.
The two carried simple holiday gifts and rode their bicycles back to the Wang family home.
Wang Juan's parents knew about their daughter's situation. Seeing their son-in-law's unshaven and gloomy appearance, and then looking at their daughter's haggard face, they became angry.
At the dinner table, after a few drinks, Wang Juan's father began to berate her: "Qingda, I'm not trying to be mean, but when you two got together, her mother and I were against it. We felt ashamed. But then Tietou came along, and we had no choice. Now, you haven't even had a proper wedding, and you're just living together like this without any clear explanation. Our Wang family is a respectable family, and because of this, Wang Juan's mother and I have been the subject of a lot of gossip!"
Zhao Qingda lowered his head and drank without saying a word.
"Now look what's happened," Wang's father said, getting angrier as he spoke. "The child is in such a state! I heard you wanted to exchange houses with Zhao Fei to get some good feng shui, and you can't even handle this simple matter? Tell me, what kind of person are you? What kind of life is Xiao Juan living with you!"
As Wang Juan listened to her father's words, tears of grievance streamed down her face.
Zhao Qingda's face burned, and the anger in his heart surged, but he dared not vent it at his father-in-law's house. He could only endure it, and the meal tasted like chewing wax, leaving him full of resentment.
The two rode their bikes home in the cold wind, without exchanging a word the whole way.
Zhao Qingda went to the bathroom at home, and then heard Wang Juan's panicked cry from inside: "Qingda! Qingda, come quick! Mom... Mom won't wake up!"
Zhao Qingda's heart skipped a beat, and he rushed into the house.
Li Yugu lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), his eyes closed, his face ashen. No matter how much Wang Juan shook him and called out to him, he did not respond at all, and his breathing was so weak that it was almost imperceptible.
"Mom!" Zhao Qingda panicked and rushed over to check her breathing, his hands trembling.
He didn't care about anything else and rushed to the alley entrance to flag down a three-wheeled taxi. Together with Wang Juan, they hurriedly lifted Li Yugu, who was so thin he was just skin and bones, into the vehicle.
"To the hospital! Quickly!" Zhao Qingda roared.
Upon arriving at the hospital, the emergency room doctor's expression turned grave upon seeing the patient's condition: "The patient's condition is very dangerous. Late-stage lung cancer has caused multiple complications. Our resources here are limited, so I suggest transferring him to a large hospital in the city immediately. Perhaps... we can buy him some more time."
Zhao Qingda's mind went blank; all he could do was nod.
The hospital helped arrange an ambulance, which sped Li Yugu to a neighboring city—the city with the best medical facilities in the province.
But fate is so ironic; this city is the very place where Wen Xiaoxiao and her children struggled to survive.
Meanwhile, in this unfamiliar city.
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the streets were quieter than usual, but some shops were still open, creating a relaxed atmosphere unique to the holiday season.
Wen Xiaoxiao thought that the children had been cooped up at home for several days and it was time to take them out for some fresh air.
She dressed Yizhen and Yibao in thick, warm cotton-padded coats, put on hats and gloves, and then wrapped three-month-old Wen Xiaogai tightly in a baby carrier, carrying her on her chest.
"Let's go, Mom will take you to see the street." She locked the shop door, took her two daughters' little hands, and walked onto the street in the winter sun.
Yizhen and Yibao were extremely excited; they hadn't gone out to "play" like this in a long time.
The two little figures walked one after the other with curious steps, looking around. When they saw lantern sellers or sugar figurine sellers, they couldn't move their feet and pointed and exclaimed "Ah ah!"
Wen Xiaoxiao patiently stayed with them, occasionally buying the cheapest candied hawthorn, breaking it open and sharing it with them. Watching them lick the sugar coating with satisfaction, she felt a sweet warmth in her heart.
Wen Xiaogai, nestled in his arms, opened her big, dark eyes and looked curiously at this bustling world.
The children were tired by noon.
Wen Xiaoxiao touched her pocket, and with a determined heart, she decided to splurge this once.
She led the children into a small restaurant that looked clean but shouldn't be too expensive, and ordered a bowl of shredded pork noodles, two small bowls of wontons, and two small steamed buns.
The food had just been served when the children ate it with great relish.
While carefully feeding Yizhen and Yibao, Wen Xiaoxiao kept an eye on the small change on her chest.
Just then, the restaurant's curtain was lifted, and a disheveled man with a furrowed brow walked in dejectedly—it was Zhao Qingda.
Li Yugu regained consciousness briefly after being rescued, but he was extremely weak and agitated. He refused to stay in the hospital and insisted on going home, saying he would rather die at home.
No matter how the doctor and Zhao Qingda tried to persuade her, it was no use. Considering her condition and the shortage of hospital beds, the doctor had no choice but to agree to her discharge, but required her family to sign a consent form and that she would bear the consequences herself.
Having no other choice, Zhao Qingda completed the formalities and temporarily settled his mother in the ambulance, asking the driver to wait a while.
Thinking that his mother hadn't eaten all day and that the driver had worked hard, he went out to find a nearby restaurant to buy some food to take back home.
He never expected that he would run into the woman he thought had disappeared long ago, or even that she might be dead, here in this completely unfamiliar city—Wen Xiaoxiao!
The moment Wen Xiaoxiao looked up and saw Zhao Qingda, it felt as if all the blood in her body had frozen!
My scalp tingled, and my stomach churned—it was a stress response triggered by fear and disgust ingrained in my very bones.
She almost wanted to grab the child and run away immediately, but her body slowed down a beat due to shock and sudden stiffness.
Zhao Qingda also saw them.
His gaze was first drawn to two little girls in red cotton-padded jackets who were eating with their heads down, and then settled on Wen Xiaoxiao's face, which, although thin, was still familiar and was now filled with panic.
He stood there stunned for a full three seconds, and then a surge of anger, a mixture of long-suppressed resentment and twisted rage at the sight of the "traitor," suddenly welled up inside him.
He walked a few steps to Wen Xiaoxiao's desk, a malicious sneer curling his lips. His voice wasn't loud, but every word was like a knife, clearly piercing Wen Xiaoxiao's ears:
"Oh? Who do we have here? Wen Xiaoxiao? Didn't you have the guts to run away? What, bringing these bastards out to embarrass yourself? Didn't you find yourself a lover?"
His voice carried a sense of cathartic pleasure.
Wen Xiaoxiao's face instantly drained of color, and her lips trembled.
She instinctively tried to shield the children behind her. Yizhen and Yibao were frightened by the sudden appearance of the strange man and their mother's frightened appearance, and they pouted as if about to cry.
Wen Xiaogai in her arms seemed to sense the tense atmosphere and began to squirm uncomfortably.
"Zhao Qingda! Watch your mouth!" Wen Xiaoxiao's voice trembled as she tried to suppress it, but it was sharp and desperate. "We're already divorced! Get out! Don't disgust people here!"
"I'm disgusting?" Zhao Qingda raised his voice, attracting the attention of other diners in the restaurant. "You're the disgusting one! You cheated on me, had a bastard child, and still have the nerve to run away? Let me tell you, Wen Xiaoxiao, you'll never be clean for the rest of your life! You'll be a slut wherever you go! And these two little bastards..." His finger was almost poking at Yi Zhen and Yi Bao.
"Qingda! Who...who are you arguing with?" A weak voice, accompanied by violent coughing, came from the doorway.
Suddenly, Li Yugu shakily shuffled into the restaurant entrance.
She probably heard her son arguing with someone and forced herself to stay awake.
Her gaze first fell on her agitated son, and then, following the direction Zhao Qingda pointed, she saw the two little girls in red coats sitting by the table, looking at her with wide, dark eyes, completely frightened.
In that instant, Li Yugu's cloudy eyes widened suddenly.
Although the children have grown up a bit, their eyebrows, their features... overlap with the photos of Zhao Qingda when he was a child, and the appearance of Wen Xiaoxiao, which she remembers.
This is...her granddaughter? Those twin granddaughters? A precious gem?
Her gaze slowly shifted to Wen Xiaoxiao's pale face, which was filled with defensiveness and hatred, and then to the face of the small baby she was carrying on her chest.
"Xiao... Xiaoxiao?" Li Yugu's chapped lips trembled, uttering barely audible sounds.
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