When her brother, Ning Xingde, saw her, tears immediately streamed down his face.
“Yueyue! Something happened to Mom—she’s been poisoned! She was perfectly fine, so how could she suddenly be poisoned? The doctors are trying to save her, but it doesn’t look good. I have to hurry and gather money for the medical bills. The doctor said we need another thirty yuan. Do you have any money on you?”
Ning Yue barely had any money. After searching through her pockets for a long time, she managed to find only sixty cents.
Disappointed, Ning Xingde rushed off to borrow money.
Looking at the doors of the emergency room, Ning Yue burst into tears and nearly collapsed.
Several villagers who had come to the hospital tried to comfort her.
“Ning Yue, none of us expected your mother to be poisoned either. But you have to stay strong. When she comes out, you’ll need to take care of her.”
“That’s right. But we have to find out what poisoned her. Whoever did this can’t be allowed to get away with it. People don’t just get poisoned for no reason. Someone had to spend money to buy that poison.”
Ning Yue’s lips turned pale. She couldn’t say a word.
How had she forgotten to tell her mother that she had poisoned the well?
And her mother usually used their own well. Why had she suddenly decided to use the well outside her second aunt’s house?
Why wasn’t Yan Bingqin dead?
Why wasn’t Ning Lu dead?
Why was it her mother instead?
Ning Yue closed her eyes, her heart filled with agony.
Just then, Ning Lu walked over.
“Ning Yue! I’m worried about Auntie too, but the most important thing right now is figuring out what poison she took. Otherwise, the doctors can’t treat her properly. The doctor just told me that they need to know what kind of poison it is as soon as possible.
But how could we possibly know that? So Auntie may very well…”
A flicker of hope ignited in Ning Yue’s heart.
“My mom was poisoned with a herbicide called Green Death!”
Ning Lu stared at her.
“So you’re the one who poisoned the well? You put it into the well outside my house?”
The villagers who had come with them all looked at Ning Yue in disbelief.
“You really put poison in the well?”
“Have you lost your mind?”
“You poured Green Death into a drinking well?”
“Ning Yue, that well was outside your second aunt’s house. Even if you didn’t mean to kill your own mother, you were obviously trying to kill your aunt and cousin! How can you be so vicious?”
At that moment, the doors of the emergency room opened.
The doctors and nurses wheeled Wei Xiaomei out.
“We’re sorry. We’ve done everything we could. The poison was too powerful. There’s nothing more we can do. The family should prepare themselves…”
Ning Yue let out a heartbroken scream and rushed to the bedside, falling to her knees.
“Mom! Mom!”
Wei Xiaomei’s face had turned purple.
Her swollen lips had taken on an unnatural bluish color.
Her eyes were unfocused, and sweat poured down her face as she repeatedly clawed at her scalp, trapped in unimaginable agony. The sight sent chills down everyone’s spine.
Ning Yue broke down sobbing.
She knelt before the doctors and begged.
“Please! Please save my mother! She was poisoned by Green Death! Isn’t there anything you can do? Please! I’ll kneel, I’ll bow, I’ll do anything! I can’t live without my mother!”
She cried so pitifully that it brought tears to many eyes.
But Ning Lu only felt cold inside.
So Ning Yue understood how important a mother was to someone?
Then how could she have been so cruel as to try to kill Ning Lu and her mother?
Unfortunately, no matter how desperately Ning Yue cried, the doctors were powerless.
“The toxicity of this chemical is simply too strong. Even if we had known its name from the very beginning, we still couldn’t have saved her.
Farmers should know better than anyone that Green Death must be opened near a riverbank and its packaging disposed of immediately afterward. How did it end up in a drinking well?”
One villager angrily pointed at Ning Yue.
“You killed your own mother and still have the nerve to cry? You’re worse than an animal!”
Ning Lu had already arranged for someone to notify the police.
The officers soon arrived.
They came to take Ning Yue into custody.
Tears filled Wei Xiaomei’s eyes as she struggled to raise a hand in her final moments.
“I… don’t blame her…
The well… belonged to me…
The one who died… was me…
I… forgive her…”
After speaking, her hand fell limply to the bed.
Her eyes remained wide open.
She died without closing them.
Everyone fell silent.
Ning Xingde returned at that moment, drenched in sweat after borrowing money and full of hope that his mother could still be saved.
Instead, he dropped to his knees and broke into uncontrollable sobs.
Ning Yue let out a piercing scream, her eyes bloodshot.
Then she turned toward Ning Lu, who stood beside the bed.
Her heart was overflowing with hatred.
The one who should have died was Yan Bingqin.
The one who should have died was Ning Lu.
Suddenly, Ning Yue leapt to her feet and lunged at Ning Lu.
She intended to shove Ning Lu out the hospital window.
No one expected the attack.
Ning Lu reacted instantly and stepped aside.
Ning Yue missed her target.
Her body lost its balance, and she tumbled through the wide-open window.
Ning Xingde finally realized what had happened and screamed:
“Yueyue!”
On the same day Wei Xiaomei died, Ning Yue fell from the hospital window and broke her leg.
The incident became the biggest news in the entire village.
Ning Tiedan was still being held in detention.
Ning Xingde had no choice but to organize a simple funeral for his mother while Ning Yue remained hospitalized.
When Yan Bingqin learned the full story, she still felt shaken.
“Lulu, thank goodness you moved out of the way in time. Otherwise, that vicious girl would have killed you!
She must have been poisoning us with those fattening chemicals for a long time. There’s no evidence left now. I’ve searched every corner of the house.
Still, she’s finally received her punishment. Her mother is dead, and her own leg is broken.
People like her will never live a happy life.
By the way, your Uncle Xie called the village today. I’ve already spoken with him. His mission will end in a month, and rather than making him travel all the way here, we’ll go directly to the military family compound to see him.”
Ning Lu’s eyes lit up.
“Really, Mom? That’s wonderful!”
A gentle smile appeared on Yan Bingqin’s face.
She had never expected Xie Linsheng’s attitude over the phone to be so warm. Their conversation had felt like two old friends catching up after years apart.
He spoke more than he used to, and he was sincere. He genuinely wanted to build a life with her.
Yan Bingqin gently stroked Ning Lu’s cheek.
“Lulu, even though I’m remarrying, don’t worry. No one will ever bully you. As long as I live, I’ll protect you.”
Ning Lu happily leaned against her mother’s shoulder.
“Mom, I love being with you. I want to be your little cotton-padded jacket forever.”
But for now, they had many things to do.
First, they needed to deal with their property.
Their homestead, farmland, and house all needed to be sold.
Then there was the most important task of all:
Losing weight.
Yan Bingqin looked worried.
“Lulu, we’re both so overweight. Can we really lose it?
If we can’t, I’ll be too embarrassed to join the military community. Everyone will look at us differently.”
Ning Lu nodded firmly.
“Mom, don’t worry. As long as no one is poisoning us anymore, if we stick to our weight-loss plan, we’ll definitely lose the weight.”
Just as she finished speaking, someone began pounding violently on the front gate.
Ning Tiedan had somehow returned from detention.
His face was dark with anger as he shouted toward the house:
“Yan Bingqin! Ning Lu! Get out here right now!
You killed my wife, and Yueyue has a broken leg now!
If you have even a shred of conscience left, get out here and discuss compensation!”