Chapter One: A Life of Toil, A Desolate Old Age
Zhang Chunxue lay stiffly on the bed, her throat dry and itchy.
Water...she wants to drink water.
She laboriously turned her eyes to look at the sofa diagonally opposite her, where her eldest daughter-in-law, Li Hongjuan, was nestled, engrossed in scrolling through her phone.
Zhang Chunxue was anxious, and a weak gasp escaped her throat, "Water...water..."
Li Hongjuan appeared to still be wearing headphones, her fingers swiping rapidly across the screen, a slight smile occasionally flickering across her lips, perhaps from watching some video.
An uncontrollable rage, mixed with a helpless sorrow, suddenly surged into Zhang Chunxue's heart.
A nanny! She clearly wanted to hire a nanny!
She has her own pension and savings, which is more than enough to hire a nanny!
But what did those three "filial" sons say?
"Mom, hiring outsiders is too expensive! Besides, we don't trust them with our own care. We'll take care of you ourselves!"
Take care of yourself? Is this all the care they provide?
They take turns, and all day long they either stare at their phones and smile like idiots or doze off in their chairs!
They would put the food on the bedside table and let it get cold and spoiled without even lifting their eyelids!
The more Zhang Chunxue thought about it, the angrier she became. The faint sound in her throat finally rose a little, turning into a series of indistinct "Ah... Ah..." sounds.
Finally, Li Hongjuan heard it.
Reluctantly, she took off one earphone, her brow furrowed, and turned her head. "What are you yelling for? What do you want now?"
Looking at her young yet harsh face, Zhang Chunxue mustered all her strength to squeeze out a single word, "Water..."
Li Hongjuan heard this clearly, and her impatience deepened. She stood up and crossed her arms.
"Drink! Drink! Drink! All you ever do is drink water! I just wiped you down and changed your diaper, and you want to drink water again? What's the point of drinking so much? What if you wet your pants and soak the sheets? Then I'll have to clean up after you!"
After saying that, she didn't look at Zhang Chunxue again, walked straight back to the sofa, and put her headphones back on.
Zhang Chunxue stared intently at her retreating figure, her eyes reddening with anger and humiliation.
She, Zhang Chunxue, has been a powerful figure for most of her life!
When she was young, in the village, later in the factory, and then in her sons' homes, she was always the one who had the final say. Who dared to give her a hard time?
But what about now?
He's old, paralyzed, and can't even speak clearly anymore. He's fallen to the point where he has to watch his daughter-in-law's face and can't even get a sip of water from her!
What kind of mess is this?!
In her life, she gave birth to three sons, one daughter, and even picked up a little mute boy from the fields.
In her early years, because she favored boys over girls and thought that girls were a waste of money, she accepted a dishonest dowry in order to save money for her sons and married her eighteen-year-old daughter to a gambling-addicted and abusive old man!
She still remembered how her daughter cried and begged her before her wedding, and how she heartlessly pushed her daughter away...
And what happened? Within a few months, the daughter was beaten to death, her body covered in sores!
For those three wretched sons, she racked her brains, trying every possible way to save money to send them to work as laborers. Later, when they went into business, she shamelessly helped them with everything. She even took care of their children and their grandchildren...
But she had sacrificed so much for her three sons, and now that she was old, they treated her like this.
After she became paralyzed in bed, her three sons initially came to care for her, but after taking all her property, they stopped coming to visit her.
As for the three daughters-in-law, the second daughter-in-law, who married into the family later, never came to see her, let alone take care of her. The eldest and third daughters-in-law claimed to take care of her, but when they came, they would just sit on the side playing on their phones. Sometimes they would ignore her when she urinated and only change her pants at night. Poor thing, her pants were wet with urine many times.
Even so, they continued to beat and scold her. Later, in order to reduce the frequency of her urination, they gave her water to drink twice a day.
And the grandchildren and great-grandchildren she raised were even less willing to visit her. Some would turn around and leave as soon as they reached the door, disgusted by the stench in her room, completely forgetting that they used to pester her for pocket money.
Zhang Chunxue was filled with resentment, but she couldn't even move. What could she do? She could only curse these unfilial descendants in her heart.
Zhang Chunxue felt her strength being drained away little by little, and her vision began to blur.
Is she... about to die?
After an unknown amount of time, the door was silently pushed open a crack, and a thin figure slipped in along the wall.
He's a little mute! Zhang Xiaoyang!
Zhang Xiaoyang looked at Zhang Chunxue, who was emaciated and almost lifeless on the bed, and his eyes immediately turned red. Then, he gestured to Zhang Chunxue and left home with her on his back.
Zhang Chunxue lay on Zhang Xiaoyang's back, tears streaming down her face.
This little mute boy, whom she bossed around and treated like free labor, had never received a kind word from her.
He always ate the leftover scraps on the table, and wore the hand-me-downs of his three older brothers. Whenever there was heavy or tiring work to be done at home, he was the first person they thought of.
But now...
When she was being so tormented by her own son and daughter-in-law, unable even to get a sip of water, and left only to wait for death...
It turned out that it was this little mute girl, whom she looked down on the most and sometimes couldn't even be bothered to remember, who carried her out of this "home"!
Zhang Xiaoyang rushed Zhang Chunxue to the hospital as quickly as possible.
"The situation is very bad. She has late-stage kidney failure, electrolyte imbalance, and long-term malnutrition..." The doctor looked at the young man in front of him, whose face was flushed with anxiety but who could not utter a sound, and sighed. "The old lady is also old and her health is too poor... To be honest, there is not much that can be done. Prepare for the worst."
Zhang Xiaoyang was completely stunned when he heard this!
He suddenly grabbed the doctor's white coat, his eyes wide open, and he let out a series of rapid and desperate "Ah! Ah!" sounds. Then he knelt on the ground and kowtowed several times to the doctor.
He raised his head, his face streaked with tears and snot, still staring intently at the doctor with his bloodshot eyes, pleading silently.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Chunxue's tears flowed even more fiercely.
This silly boy! She treated him so badly, why was he so good to her?
Just then, hurried footsteps came from behind. "Mom! Mom! How are you?"
She is Zhou Mingli, the second daughter-in-law who divorced the second son long ago!
She divorced her second son more than 30 years ago and had no contact with him for a long time. I don't know where she got the news from.
When Zhou Mingli saw Zhang Chunxue lying on the hospital bed, looking emaciated and barely clinging to life, her eyes instantly welled up with tears.
She rushed to the bedside, both shocked and furious. "What happened? How have the boss and the others been taking care of you?"
Immediately, she turned and grabbed the doctor's arm, her voice trembling with tears, "Doctor! Please, save my mother! A kidney transplant! Is a kidney transplant possible? Money is no object! I'll pay any price! I'll sell everything I own, I'll go bankrupt, but I'll save her!"
Upon hearing the words "kidney transplant," Zhang Xiaoyang, who was kneeling on the ground, suddenly lit up. He got up, rushed to Zhou Mingli and the doctor, pointed at himself more forcefully, and patted his lower back!
Zhou Mingli was stunned for a moment, then realized what he meant, her voice trembling, "He...he means he's willing to donate a kidney?"
The doctor frowned. "No! This is too impulsive! You're so young. What will you do after donating a kidney?"
But Zhang Xiaoyang's attitude was unusually firm. He held the doctor's arm tightly, pointed to his waist, and then to Zhang Chunxue, his eyes almost overflowing with pleading.
Zhang Chunxue lay in bed, witnessing all of this, her heart breaking.
No! Don't!
She wanted to scream, to stop this foolish child!
She has already ruined her daughter's life; she can't ruin this poor little mute girl's too!
But she could only make a faint "ho...ho..." sound from her throat.
Die!
If she dies, the little mute boy won't have to suffer this knife wound!
She, Zhang Chunxue, had committed countless sins her whole life, but now she was willing to exchange her wretched life for a whole body for the little mute boy. It was all worth it!
It seemed that God heard her heartfelt prayers.
"Beep—beep—beep—" The ECG monitor by the bedside suddenly emitted a sharp and piercing alarm!
The wavy line on the screen instantly turned into a straight line!
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