The rain was pouring down as if someone were dumping basins of water from the sky, not giving anyone a moment to breathe.
The road inside the compound was originally just dirt. After the downpour, it had long turned into a swamp of mud.
Every step sank half a foot deep. When pulling a foot out, it made a dull plop sound — exhausting beyond words.
Su Man carried Da Bao on her back. It felt like the air in her lungs had been sucked dry, burning painfully.
Over sixty jin (around 30+ kg). Normally she could manage a few steps, but hurrying through this muddy rainy night was pure torture.
Her legs felt filled with lead — every lift took all her strength.
“Mom… I can’t… I can’t walk anymore…”
Er Bao followed behind, clutching the corner of Su Man’s clothes with one hand and wiping rain off his face with the other, crying until his voice turned hoarse.
His short legs stumbled unevenly in the mud. One shoe had long been lost; his bare foot stepped into the icy sludge.
Su Man stopped and gasped heavily. Rain ran from her hair into her eyes, stinging sharply.
She couldn’t stop.
If she stopped, the strength holding her up would vanish — and she’d never stand again.
“Er Bao! No crying!”
She turned back and shouted fiercely under the weak flashlight beam.
“What’s the use of crying? Will crying make your brother better?”
“Hold the flashlight steady! Light the road! If you make your brother fall, I’ll smack your butt till it blooms!”
Er Bao was so frightened he forced his tears back and raised the flashlight with trembling sobs.
Su Man adjusted Da Bao on her back, bouncing him higher.
The child burned with fever, limp against her, completely unconscious.
“Da Bao, listen to me.”
She gritted her teeth and moved forward step by step, muttering into his ear.
“Aren’t you usually tough? Didn’t you want to shoot me with your slingshot?”
“So why are you cowardly now? Already collapsed?”
“If you’re a real man, hold on!”
“When you recover we’ll fight again — if I don’t discipline you properly, I’ll take your surname!”
Rain mixed with sweat soaked her shirt, clinging uncomfortably to her body.
Suddenly — her foot slipped.
A stone hidden under the mud.
Her balance failed and she lunged forward.
At the instant she fell, instinctively she didn’t reach to break the fall — instead she twisted back to shield Da Bao.
Bang!
Her knees slammed onto sharp gravel.
The piercing pain shot through her body like electricity. Her vision went black — she nearly fainted.
Her pants tore instantly. Blood mixed with mud and flowed out.
But she ignored the pain.
“Da Bao! Da Bao, are you okay?!”
She lay in the mud and checked the child first.
Luckily, cushioned by her body, Da Bao wasn’t hurt — only groaned faintly.
“Mom!”
Er Bao screamed and rushed forward to pull her.
“Don’t touch me!”
She sucked in a cold breath, forehead covered in sweat.
She tried moving her legs — her kneecaps felt shattered.
Normally she would lie there and refuse to get up.
But not now.
In this wilderness, with no village ahead and no shop behind — if they stayed here, Da Bao would die.
Su Man bit her tongue, using the metallic taste of blood to force her mind awake.
“Get… up…”
She shouted to herself inside her mind.
Hands pressed into mud, nails digging into the earth, trembling — she slowly pushed herself upright.
Blood ran down her pant leg, leaving faint red traces in the mud.
“Walk.”
She forced the word through clenched teeth.
She didn’t know how she finished that final kilometer.
Her mind was blank except for one thought:
Reach the health station.
When the small white building with lights finally appeared, it looked like the most beautiful light in the world.
“Doctor! Help! Save him!”
She kicked open the clinic door and shouted with her last strength.
The one on duty was an elderly military doctor surnamed Li, wearing reading glasses and reading a newspaper.
He looked up — the newspaper fell from his hands in shock.
A woman stood at the door like a mud-covered monkey.
Soaked, hair stuck to her face, pants covered in blood and mud.
But her eyes were terrifyingly bright.
A large unconscious child on her back, a barefoot little child in her hand.
She looked worse than someone returning from the battlefield.
“Oh my! What happened?!”
Doctor Li hurried over and took the child.
The moment the weight left her back, the strength supporting her vanished.
Her legs gave out. She slid down the doorframe and collapsed onto the ground, gasping like a dying fish.
“Acute pneumonia! Fever at 40°C!”
Doctor Li checked Da Bao’s forehead and lungs — his face changed drastically.
“Quick! Fever shot! IV drip! Another half hour and this child would’ve burned stupid!”
Nurses rushed the boy into the emergency room.
Er Bao cried loudly, clinging to Su Man’s leg.
Leaning against the wall, she weakly patted his head.
“Don’t cry… your brother’s fine…”
After a long time, Doctor Li stabilized Da Bao and came out, sighing as he looked at the unmoving Su Man.
“I say, Lu family’s daughter-in-law — you’re really reckless.”
“Your leg is injured like this and you still carried such a heavy child this far?”
“Come, let me treat your wound.”
She waved her hand and tried to stand — but her legs were numb.
“Doctor Li… leave me first.”
“Is Da Bao really okay?”
“He’s out of danger for now. We watch tonight — once the fever drops, he’ll be fine.”
He helped her to a chair and cut open her pant leg.
Seeing the mangled knee, even the battle-hardened old doctor inhaled sharply.
“Tsk… the flesh is turned over, full of sand.”
“You, a stepmother, are harsher on yourself than a real mother.”
“Harsh on yourself — but truly risking your life for the child.”
Su Man’s face was pale, yet she forced a faint smile.
“Doctor Li, you say that…”
“Once they call me Mom after entering the Lu family, they’re my own flesh.”
“What stepmother or real mother — a mother’s heart is the same.”
A young nurse beside them reddened her eyes.
“Sister-in-law, you’re really good.”
“I almost believed the rumors in the compound that you abused the children.”
“Next time anyone dares slander you, I’ll be the first to tear her mouth!”
Su Man only smiled.
Alcohol hit the wound — her body trembled, cold sweat soaking her back.
But she didn’t make a sound.
She looked through the emergency room door crack at the small figure on the bed.
Tonight’s suffering…
was not in vain.
Not only had she saved a life — she would completely shatter the rumors in the compound.