Liu Meijuan huddled in the corner, trembling.
At that moment, she finally realized.
The man before her was no longer a puppet she could control at will.
When Su Mingde approached her again, she couldn't help but let out a scream that sounded inhuman, and crawled towards the door on all fours.
"roll!"
Su Mingde suddenly shouted, startling Liu Meijuan.
She didn't even bother to pick up her fallen high heels, and stumbled barefoot out of the ward.
Her hysterical cries and the nurses' gasps echoed down the corridor.
Su Mingde stood there, looking at his trembling right hand.
My palms burned with pain, yet there was an indescribable sense of pleasure.
After Liu Meijuan was driven away, the entire ward finally fell silent, and the Wang family did not send anyone else to plead for leniency.
The next morning, Wang Xiufen and Grandpa Su came to deliver food to Su Jianguo and the others. They weren't used to eating out all the time, and they preferred home-cooked meals.
The ward was filled with the aroma of millet porridge. Wang Xiufen had just taken the pickled cucumbers out of the glass jar, the green cucumber strips covered with a few sesame seeds.
Grandpa Su sat in a chair by the window, squinting as he watched his eldest son and several grandsons eat.
"Dad, try this."
Su Mingfu placed a fried egg into Su Jianguo's bowl, then turned to the old man and spoke.
"Grandpa, you have no idea, those slaps my second brother gave me yesterday were so satisfying! Liu Meijuan's face was swollen like a steamed bun..."
Su Mingqiang also recounted Su Mingde's heroic deeds from yesterday.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the small ward was warm and harmonious.
Su Jianguo was drinking porridge when he suddenly heard three restrained knocks on the door.
Looking up, I saw an elderly man standing at the door, wearing a faded navy blue Zhongshan suit. His gray hair was neatly combed, and he was leaning on a jujube wood cane with his right hand and carrying a blue cloth bundle in his left.
"Sir, have you come to the wrong ward?"
Su Jianguo thought the patient had entered the wrong room, so he put down his bowl and asked.
The old man did not answer immediately, his gaze slowly sweeping around the ward before finally settling on Old Master Su.
The moment the two elderly people looked at each other, Su Jianguo noticed that they both straightened their backs at the same time.
That's the kind of alertness unique to people who have experienced life and death.
"This must be Brother Su."
The old man spoke, his voice somewhat hoarse.
"I am Wang Defa's father."
In the ward, everyone's eyes turned to look at him.
"sit."
Grandpa Su pointed to the stool by the bed and said in a calm voice.
"Xiufen, pour tea for the guests."
Wang Xiufen hurriedly went to pour tea for this old man, Mr. Wang.
Old Master Wang didn't touch the teacup. His trembling fingers untied the knot of the bundle, revealing a faded mahogany box.
When the lid was lifted, the musty smell of tung oil mixed with the scent of mothballs filled the ward.
Old Master Wang said slowly.
“Brother, I’ve inquired about the mistakes my youngest son and grandson made. It was their fault to begin with, and they should admit their mistakes. I shouldn’t have come.”
With that, Old Master Wang sighed and continued.
"However, my old lady at home has been crying the whole time, and last night she even threatened to commit suicide."
“We came together during the War of Resistance Against Japan. I can neglect my son and grandson, but I cannot neglect her.”
Seeing that the Su family did not respond, Old Master Wang was not in a hurry and slowly took out the contents of the mahogany box.
"Brother Su, in my whole life, I have five sons, but no daughters."
The old man took out a rusty bullet casing.
"These are the belongings of Defa's elder brother. He was only seventeen years old when the battle of Taiyuan took place in 1949..."
Su Jianguo looked over upon hearing the sound.
Inside the box were four different bullet casings neatly arranged, each with a yellowed photograph underneath.
The young people in the photo are wearing military uniforms from different periods, and the outline of Wang Defa can still be vaguely seen in their eyes and brows.
"On his third day in the army, the second brother encountered an ambush and blocked a machine gun emplacement with his body."
Grandpa Wang's fingernail scratched the dent on the bullet casing.
"During the Korean War, the third brother was killed by an incendiary bomb while trying to retrieve the body of his fallen comrade..."
Grandpa Su suddenly started coughing, and Wang Xiufen quickly patted his back.
After his coughing and wheezing subsided, Old Master Su asked in a hoarse voice.
"So you spoiled your living son into a useless piece of trash?"
Old Master Wang hunched over as if he had been whipped.
He took out a brown paper envelope from his inner pocket and poured out four certificates and a family photo.
In the family photo, the young Wang Defa stands in the center, smiling happily.
"My wife burns incense for these photos every day."
The old man's rough fingertips brushed against the glass photo frame.
"After her four sons died, she would often wake up in the middle of the night, barefoot, and run to Defa's room to check if he was still breathing."
“At that time, I had not yet retired and was very busy with work. Defa was spoiled rotten by her. By the time I found out, it was too late. I tried many methods, but I couldn’t educate him properly.”
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