Kind people took pity on Zhu Xiaofei and gave her some clothes to wear. With clothes and food, she could manage to survive her life of begging.
Spring, summer, and autumn are fine; you can find a quiet place at night, lie down, and sleep soundly until dawn.
But winter brought suffering, as she couldn't sleep at night because of the cold.
One night, the northeast wind was very strong and it was very cold. She slept in a sheltered spot in the urban village and fell ill from the cold.
The next morning, a kind grandmother took her home to treat her illness. She only had a bad cold and recovered in a few days.
Grandma felt sorry for her and later let her live in her home.
Grandma's husband died early, her son died and her wife remarried, so she raised her grandson alone.
My grandmother's family wasn't well-off either; they couldn't afford to support her if she lived at home.
Zhu Xiaofei would go out during the day to ask for some pocket money, and when she was hungry, she would go to restaurants to beg for food. At night, she would go back to her grandmother's house to stay. She did this day after day, year after year, otherwise she would have frozen to death long ago.
My grandmother lives in an urban village, and her area was developed by developers this year.
Last month, Grandma said, "Daughter, it's not that Grandma doesn't want to take you in, but the houses here are starting to be demolished, and I'll have to rent a place with my grandson. Life in the countryside has been pretty much over the years. I'll buy you a train ticket home."
Now that Zhu Xiaofei is grown up, she wants to go back to her hometown. She hasn't visited her parents' graves in all these years, and she wants to go home to burn some paper money for them.
As July begins, many people start renting and moving, and demolishing houses begins in many places. Zhu Xiaofei can hear and see everything, no matter who says they can't.
That evening, Grandma said, "Daughter, everyone in our village has moved away. The developer has been urging me to move many times. Where are you planning to go?"
Zhu Xiaofei asked, "Grandma, what's the date today?"
Grandma said, "Today is July 27th."
Zhu Xiaofei remembers her father's death anniversary clearly. Tomorrow is the anniversary of her father's death. She handed her savings to her grandmother and said, "Grandma, this is all the money I have left. Could you help me get to the bus station tomorrow? Tomorrow is my father's death anniversary, and I want to go back to visit his grave."
The old lady glanced at the change Zhu Xiaofei handed her; it was less than 20 yuan in total, money she had earned by begging for food.
After looking at the money, Grandma helped her put it back in her pocket. She said, "In your current condition, can you really take the bus home by yourself? Keep this money for yourself for later use. I'll call a taxi for you tomorrow and take you straight home."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Xiaofei knelt down before the old woman, weeping, and said, "Grandma, if I hadn't met you all these years, I'd probably be dead long ago. I'm afraid I can never repay your kindness in this lifetime."
The old woman pulled Zhu Xiaofei up from the ground and said, "Child, don't be like this. Grandma doesn't expect you to repay me anything. It's all because Grandma's family is too poor. Otherwise, we wouldn't have let you live in our house begging all these years. Grandma has the ability to help you get home. From now on, you'll have to rely on yourself to survive."
As Zhu Xiaofei was leaving today, she said, "Grandma, could you leave me the address of your rented apartment? If my eyesight is ever restored, I want to come back and visit you."
"I'm moving out today. I'll only be staying here for two days at most. You probably won't be able to find me when you come back. Besides, I haven't even found a place yet, and I don't even know where I'm renting it."
After the old lady finished speaking, she took out a small notebook, wrote down an address in it, and handed the notebook to Zhu Xiaofei, saying, "This is my sister's address. When your eyesight improves, you can find my sister and then you can find me."
Zhu Xiaofei is in such a difficult situation that it is hard for her to find her way home by car. This morning, the old lady took out more than 100 yuan to call a taxi for her and asked the taxi driver to take her directly to her hometown village.
The taxi driver stopped in front of her house after asking around.
Little did Zhu Xiaofei know that after she got out of the taxi, the driver told her that her old house had long since collapsed.
After the taxi left, she groped her way into the yard, sat on the ground, and cried.
Later, her neighbors bought her some paper money for burning and took it to her ancestral grave. They lit the paper money for her at her parents' graves and sent it back.
Zhu Xiaofei knelt in front of her parents' graves and cried for a long time. If she had left right after visiting the graves, Li Yufei wouldn't have met her this morning.
After hearing this, Li Yufei reached out and wiped away Zhu Xiaofei's tears. He said, "It's all my fault. My sister has suffered all these years."
Zhu Xiaofei said, "I used to hate you, but I don't anymore, because you're a good person. Maybe this is all my fate."
In the afternoon, Dongqing took Zhu Xiaofei to the hospital for a check-up. The doctor said that there was nothing wrong with Zhu Xiaofei's eyes, but they couldn't find out what the cause was.
The county and city hospitals currently have outdated medical equipment, so I suggest he take Zhu Xiaofei to a large hospital in the provincial capital for a check-up tomorrow.
After dinner, Li Yuzhu led Zhu Xiaofei to her bedroom and said, "Go to sleep. I'll take you to the provincial capital for treatment tomorrow."
With tears in her eyes, Zhu Xiaofei said, "How much would it cost to get treatment at a big hospital in the provincial capital? And even then, there's no guarantee of a cure. I'm not going to get treatment."
Li Yuzhu said, "Our family has the ability to treat your illness. As long as there is a glimmer of hope, I will help you cure your eyes."
No one wants to live their whole life blind. Zhu Xiaofei longed to regain her sight. After listening to her sister's words, she nodded with tears in her eyes.
Li Yuzhu wiped away her tears and said, "Why are you crying again? Go to sleep."
After saying that, Li Yuzhu turned off the bedroom light, turned around and walked out of the bedroom.
The light was useless to Zhu Xiaofei. She groped her way off her clothes and then lay down to sleep.
The next day, before dawn, Dongqing and his wife drove to his father-in-law's house.
When it was time to get in the car, Li Yufei insisted on going too, but Li Yuzhu said, "Dongqing, you have so much to do at the company, you don't need to go. My brother and I will go with your sister!"
Dong Qing said, "Okay, be careful on the road."
The provincial capital is more than 90 kilometers away from my hometown, and I arrived at the hospital before 8 a.m.
Li Yuzhu drove the car into the hospital parking lot and parked it. Li Yufei helped Zhu Xiaofei out of the car, and the two siblings helped her walk towards Menzhenlou.
They entered the outpatient hall on the first floor. Li Yufei registered for an appointment with an ophthalmology specialist, and the siblings helped Zhu Xiaofei into the ophthalmology clinic.
After a medical examination, the doctor said, "The cause of her blindness is indeed not in her eyes. A corneal transplant would not improve the situation. The examination revealed that she had suffered a severe head injury before. We need to know how she was injured."
How could Li Yuzhu and her brother know that Zhu Xiaofei had been injured before? Li Yuzhu asked, "Little sister, how did you get injured back then?"
Zhu Xiaofei then recounted the details of her injury years ago;
Back then, Zhu Xiaofei's family raised two goats, and during summer vacation, she would go up the mountain to herd the goats every day.
That afternoon, she was herding sheep on the mountain when blasting rocks caused a stone fragment to fall on her head and injure her. Ever since then, she has suffered from insomnia.
After listening, the doctor said, "That's right. Her blindness is due to a brain injury. The damaged area is located in the visual center, and the optic nerve has been severely damaged, which led to her blindness."
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