Upon arriving at the hospital, Qi Zhijun, his face deathly pale and his voice trembling, cried out, "Doctor! Doctor, save my mother! Hurry! Come and save her!"
"Hurry up, turn left and go to the last examination room. Follow me," the nurse hurriedly led the way.
After Qi's mother took her inside for a check-up, Qi Zhifang stood by the door against the wall, silently shedding tears. Qi Zhijun sat on a chair in the corridor, his back bent low and his hands covering his head. Xiao Cui sat next to him.
Time seemed to stand still, oblivious to the delicate snowflakes drifting outside the window, carrying away the most resilient leaf from the tree. It's hard to say whether this fallen leaf should blame the merciless wind and snow, or the tree's failure to hold on…
At this moment, for some reason, Qi Zhijun was not thinking about his mother's safety or the emotions of those around him, but rather about Wei Shuqing.
"Zhijun, don't drink it. I'll pour you a hot cup again." Wei Shuqing put down what she was doing and walked to the water bottle that was only three steps away from her. She picked it up, shook it, and said ingratiatingly, "Look at my brain, I forgot to fill the thermos after get off work. I'll go outside to get some later." After saying that, she walked away with a trot.
"Zhijun, the food is a bit cold. I'll go heat it up! Wait a moment." With that, he stuffed the cornbread in his hand into his mouth in a few bites, then picked out the better dishes from the table, folded them into a lunchbox, and put it on the stove.
"Zhijun, put this thermos under your feet. Cold starts from the feet, so you won't get sick when you're old." She shivered as she put on her thermos, wrapped in her coat...
Qi Zhifang, who had been so angry with her parents that she hadn't even wiped away her tears, came back and saw her washing her feet. She immediately knelt down and wiped her feet.
Back then, I was so impatient, thinking she wasn't tired at all, just wasting her time doing useless things. Now I realize that a glass of cold water, a cold meal, a chilly day can tell if you're loved. I murmured almost silently, "Shuqing, I'm cold..."
"The patient has a heart condition, and the extreme emotional distress caused a brief shock. Her condition has stabilized now, and you can go in. However, please be careful not to agitate her or cause her emotional fluctuations. Also, please give her extra nutrition! Her body is severely depleted, so I gave her a glucose injection. You can go back after the injection." The doctor came out and spoke to himself. Qi Zhijun stopped daydreaming and forced himself to listen to the doctor's instructions, nodding repeatedly. After they went inside, Qi's mother turned her face to the wall and closed her eyes.
With tears in his eyes, Qi Zhijun said, "Mom, don't be sad. It was my fault. Take good care of yourself! I'll listen to you from now on." For the past two months, he and Xiao Cui have been going out every few days to improve their meals, eating meat and oily food. How could his mother, who usually eats bland and watery food, stand it?
When he looked at Qi Zhifang again, his eyes were filled with disgust, but he suppressed it in an instant.
Turning to Xiao Cui, he said, "Go buy some food and come back. Mom hasn't eaten yet!"
After Xiao Cui nodded and turned to leave, the mother and her two children remained quietly in that space.
After waiting for more than ten minutes, Xiao Cui brought back a bowl of plain noodles and said, "It's almost the end of the year, there's not much to sell, have a bowl of plain noodles first!"
Qi Zhijun took the chopsticks and reached out. His mother's eyes and mouth were tightly closed. Qi Zhijun slowly knelt down and choked out, "Mom, please eat something! It's all my fault, no matter what. Once you're better, I'll accept whatever punishment you give me. Please, just eat one bite!"
Qi's mother remained silent, but her trembling eyelids, the tears streaming down her face, and her forced smile all told Qi Zhijun that she could hear everything, but she didn't want to speak.
Qi Zhijun remained kneeling and refused to get up, calling her "Mom" repeatedly. After a stalemate lasting at least ten minutes, Qi's mother finally told him to get up and fed him a bowl of noodles.
And the budding ambition of Qi Zhijun was ruthlessly nipped in the bud this time!
After finishing her meal, Qi's mother didn't even lift her eyelids, maintaining a haughty posture as she began to lecture Qi Zhifang. Looking at Qi Zhifang, she said earnestly, "Fangzi, you've seen it too. Several arguments at home were because of you. You need to change that habit. You still have children to raise. Dongdong is struggling to support himself and has to take care of Honghong. Are you really going to just abandon them as his mother? Life costs money everywhere. You can't just be comfortable on your own."
Although Qi Zhifang was still unconvinced, she softened her tone and said, "Mom, I understand."
She then turned to look at Qi Zhijun, sighed, and said with a mixture of reproach and heartache, "Zhijun, I know that after your father passed away, you were the one holding this family together. You're the head of the family! You have to take responsibility for everything. The old man cruelly left us, a widow and her children. In those famine years, we carried such a huge debt, but we never abandoned each other, and the whole family survived..."
Hearing this, Xiao Cui cursed inwardly, thinking how the old man was really good at stirring up trouble, insisting on bringing up those things, as if afraid Qi Zhijun would forget that he had chosen to remain uninvolved when the Qi family was in trouble. This was deliberate provocation! Observing Qi Zhijun's expression, Xiao Cui also felt uneasy.
"Fangzi did something wrong back then, but wasn't her original intention also for the sake of this family? Didn't most of those money and tickets go towards buying things for your wedding?"
Watches, sewing machines, bicycles, cotton, clothes, furniture, including all the gifts you gave as part of the wedding ceremony. This is no small amount. Fangzi gave it all away without hiding a single thing, so others can criticize her, but can we?
Although Fangzi is a troublemaker and always causes trouble, when difficulties arise, shouldn't our whole family still shoulder the burden? If the whole family doesn't unite, how can this family survive? As the old saying goes, harmony in the family brings prosperity, while discord in the family leads to decline! Mom isn't saying this to shirk responsibility, but to tell you that when difficulties arise, you still need your blood relatives.
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