Before her second sister breathed her last in her previous life, she lay on her sickbed, holding Dongqing's hand, and said with tears in her eyes, "Brother, it's time for your second sister to go to the underworld to see our parents. I will tell them that their son is very promising and has made a name for himself over the years. Our Dong family can finally hold our heads high. Tell your wife Li Yuzhu, who has been dead for nearly forty years, that you owe no one in this life except her. You owe her your life. If you are reborn and marry her, you must repay the debt you owed her in your previous life. Do you understand, my silly brother?"
Dong Qing's heart broke after hearing his second sister's words. He truly owed nothing to anyone but his deceased wife, Li Yuzhu. He owed her two lives. He didn't know if there was an afterlife, but if there was, he would definitely repay the debt he owed in this life.
Unexpectedly, God gave me a second life after death, giving me the opportunity to pay off my debts.
Dongqing grabbed his second sister's hand and cried, "Second sister, your brother will transfer you to another hospital right away. We'll go to a big city for treatment. If it doesn't work in China, we'll go abroad. You're only sixty-four years old this year. You can't just leave like this..."
However, his second sister didn't hear the rest of what he said. She unconsciously let go of her brother's hand and fell onto the bed. She closed her eyes, and tears streamed down her aged face. She left this world forever, leaving behind her once disappointing brother.
The words his second sister spoke before her death in his previous life were etched into Dong Qing's mind, and he would never forget them for the rest of his life.
In this life, Dong Qing met his second sister again. She was still as young and beautiful as ever. He regretted not being able to be reborn five years earlier. If he had, he could have reunited with his deceased father. In this era, neither parents are alive anymore.
Amidst the siblings' sobs, the brother-in-law came out of the bedroom and asked, "Dongqing, stop crying. What happened? Why are you in such a mess?"
Dong Qing wiped away her tears and said, "Second brother-in-law, Yu Zhu had a difficult childbirth. I just took her to the People's Hospital in a handcart, but she was already unconscious when we got there. I don't know if she'll survive."
No matter how much Dong Ermei usually hated her younger brother, she couldn't muster any hatred for him at this moment. She cried out, "You've come to our house to ask for money, haven't you?"
After hearing this, Dong Qing nodded with tears in his eyes.
Dong Ermei said, "We have money at home, but we can't keep it all at home or in the bank. We can't withdraw it right now. We only have a little over a hundred yuan in cash. Here's what we'll do: you come in and take a shower, change into your brother-in-law's clothes, and your brother-in-law and I will go to the hospital first. You ride my bicycle and ask my eldest sister and third sister for some cash. Even if the three of us can't raise enough, we won't be far short. We'll talk to the hospital and withdraw the money to make up the difference by dawn."
Dong Qing suddenly knelt on the ground and cried, "Second Sister, I was just being ignorant before, please hit me!"
Dong Ermei cried when she saw her younger brother's unusual behavior. She pulled him up from the ground, crying, "I'm so glad you've come to your senses. Our parents died early, and you're the only brother in our family. My eldest sister, third sister, and I have no one else but you. We're so disappointed in you, do you know that, my silly little brother?"
After the second sister finished speaking, she burst into tears. Her cries contained joy at her brother's awakening, and she finally saw hope for their Dong family in him.
The second brother-in-law said, "It's a good thing that your brother has come to his senses. Ermei, you and your brother shouldn't cry anymore. Let your brother come inside and take a bath!"
Dong Qing was covered in mud. Dong Ermei said, "Take off your clothes and throw them outside. Your second sister will wash them for you when it's light."
After hearing this, Dongqing nodded, took off his wet clothes and threw them outside the door, then walked into his second sister's house wearing only a pair of shorts.
His second sister found him a set of her husband's clothes, handed them to him at the bathroom door, and also gave him a pair of slippers, telling him to go into the bathroom and take a shower.
He only walked around the living room once, leaving muddy footprints all over the floor. Dong Ermei took a mop and cleaned the cement floor.
Dongqing quickly finished showering, put on his clothes, and came out of the bathroom. His second sister found him a pair of shoes, but they were too big for him. He wore size 40 shoes, while his brother-in-law wore size 43. They looked like small boats and he couldn't wear them at all.
Dong Ermei also wears size 40 shoes, but all her shoes are women's shoes; she can't let her younger brother walk barefoot.
In the end, she found him a pair of her own white sneakers. Although it wasn't very elegant for a boy to wear such shoes, they could at least cover up the flaws. She said, "You can only wear your second sister's shoes now."
Dongqing had no choice but to take off her slippers, put on her second sister's shoes, and then follow her second sister and brother-in-law out of the house.
Downstairs, Dong Ermei handed her younger brother a raincoat, saying, "You ride my bicycle to your eldest and third sisters' houses, and your brother-in-law and I will ride one bicycle to the hospital first."
They were siblings, so Dongqing didn't say many polite words. He appreciated his sister's kindness in his heart, nodded, put on his raincoat, got on his second sister's women's bicycle, and rode in the rain to his eldest sister's house.
Although the rain was slapping my face so hard I couldn't open my eyes, I wasn't as destitute as when I went to my second sister's house. At least my clothes were dry, I had a pair of my second sister's shoes on my feet, and I had a bicycle to get around.
Only then did he realize that he was not alone. He could not blame his three older sisters for distancing themselves from him; he could only blame himself for being so useless.
His current realization is all because he owed his wife too much in his past life. Perhaps God gave him a second chance to repay his debt. He owes his wife one life, no, he owes her two lives along with the son in her womb.
He didn't owe his three older sisters much in his previous life. After his wife passed away, he finally realized his mistake and stopped gambling. He worked hard to earn money and gradually paid off his gambling debts.
After his wife died in his previous life, his three older sisters hated him to the core after learning the truth. That very day, one of his sisters went to his house and, seeing her brother and sister-in-law lying in a pool of blood, the second sister slapped Dongqing several times while crying, shouting, "Why wasn't it you who died? Why didn't you die?!"
Even on her deathbed in her previous life, Dong Qing never forgot her second sister's words; those words were etched into her mind for life.
After his wife died in his previous life, his three older sisters ignored him for many years. After he turned thirty, his three older sisters saw hope in him and gradually reconciled with him. The grudge between the siblings in their previous life was finally resolved.
Lost in thought, Dongqing braved the rain to reach her eldest sister's door, raised her hand and knocked several times.
Perhaps the older sister saw him through the peephole, and without asking who it was, she opened the door. Dong Damei said, "What a rare guest! You didn't get lost, did you? What are you doing at my house in the middle of the night? You didn't come here to ask me to pay off your gambling debts, did you?"
In his previous life, his eldest sister had passed away six years ago. After being reborn, Dong Qing had the opportunity to meet her again. Unconsciously, he said with tears in his eyes, "My eldest sister is still so beautiful, so young and pretty."
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