“Sign it? Why should I sign it?”
Jiang Yan let out a cold laugh.
“You went out and broke it fooling around, and now you expect me to sign so we can spend everything we have on your treatment? What for? Let it stay broken. That’s just fine. It’ll be peaceful!”
The words sounded so heartless—and felt so good to say.
So this was what it felt like not to swallow her grievances, but to say exactly what she wanted. It was wonderful!
“Jiang Yan, you… fine!”
Wang Xuezhong was trembling with pain. Any movement, even speaking, made him feel like he was about to die from it.
But the Jiang Yan before him seemed like a stranger.
The timid, meek woman who was always afraid of making trouble wouldn’t have said things like that.
But he was too weak to argue with her, so he could only tell the nurse, “If she won’t sign, I will!”
He reached for the form, but the nurse quickly moved it out of reach. His hand grabbed at empty air, and he broke into another sweat from the pain.
“That won’t do!”
The nurse explained firmly, “A family member has to sign. Every operation carries risks, and this isn’t a minor procedure. It’s quite difficult.”
Wang Xuezhong panicked, afraid he’d end up impotent for the rest of his life.
“I’ll take responsibility for the risks myself. Isn’t that enough?”
“No!”
The nurse answered bluntly. If he died on the operating table, would it make any difference whether he’d signed the form or not?
“The hospital has rules. You can’t sign for yourself. It has to be a family member—or you can get a supervisor from your workplace to come.”
His supervisor had just run off. Even if he hadn’t, the man wouldn’t have wanted to shoulder that responsibility.
Wang Xuezhong had no choice but to call for his son.
“Chuanzhi, come sign it. Hurry!”
He was in agony—real agony. Every second hurt. Even the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed pulled at the pain.
Hearing his father call him, Wang Chuanzhi hesitantly stepped forward. He was about to take the form when the nurse stopped him.
“Hey, this boy is only fifteen, right? He’s a minor. He can’t sign!”
The nurse took the form away.
“Decide quickly. Once the window passes, there’ll be no point in operating.”
In the busy clinic, the corner where Wang Xuezhong lay felt especially quiet—and awkward.
“Jiang Yan, I’m begging you. Just sign it!”
“Begging me? What do you have to beg with?”
A scornful smile tugged at Jiang Yan’s lips. That rainy Saturday evening, when their son had a fever, she had begged Wang Xuezhong not to go on his business trip and to take the boy to the hospital first.
But had begging done any good?
Wang Xuezhong had insisted that work was more important and gone anyway. He knew Jiang Yan was timid and wouldn’t ask anyone else for help, yet he hadn’t found someone to lend her a hand.
In the end, Jiang Yan had carried their son—almost heavier than she was—through the rain to a small clinic, all by herself.
Their son’s fever came down. Jiang Yan, who was on her period, came down with a fever herself.
Back then, she hadn’t known the truth and had simply thought he cared about his work. Now she knew: what he cared about was his mistress.
“Don’t you know Liu Yingying is going to accuse you of rape?”
Jiang Yan’s gaze was cold and indifferent, as if she were enjoying a show, as she stared at Wang Xuezhong.
“Even if they treat you, you’ll still be executed. Why waste medical resources?”
“Don’t try to turn us against each other!”
Wang Xuezhong was in too much pain to muster much strength, but he still tried to defend Liu Yingying.
“She was just scared. If she hadn’t said that, they would’ve beaten her to death. But she’d never accuse me!
Sign the form, now. If you leave me unable to recover, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life!”
Fine. Just fine!
What a considerate man. What an understanding man. And what a threat: “You’ll regret it for the rest of your life”!
She had already died once. Was Jiang Yan supposed to be afraid?
“I won’t sign anything concerning you except the divorce papers!”
With that, Jiang Yan turned and walked away.
“Wait!”
Wang Xuezhong felt himself about to pass out from the pain again. He could only force himself to keep going, trying to persuade Jiang Yan.
“You want a divorce, but I have to agree to it, right? Sign the surgery form, and I’ll divorce you right away!”
Jiang Yan stopped, but didn’t turn around.
“I’ve been living like a widow all these years. I’m in no hurry to get divorced.”
How could she trust a scumbag’s word?
She would divorce him, absolutely—but she would never sign that form!
Jiang Yan walked to the door, took her daughter’s hand, and left.
“Hey, miss…”
The police officer tried to stop her, but couldn’t.
“If he’s convicted of rape, let me know the day he’s executed. I’ll pay for the bullet!”
Leaving those words behind, Jiang Yan walked away with her daughter without looking back.
This was a difficult situation. The police officer was at a loss, too.
Wang Xuezhong’s operation would cost a lot—probably over ten thousand yuan—and the state wasn’t going to pay for it. The factory was in financial trouble as well. Releasing such a large sum would require a meeting and a decision.
Most importantly, the operation carried risks, but without it, the worst that could happen was that he might suffer complications. He wouldn’t die!
It wasn’t essential surgery!
Wang Xuezhong was frantic with pain, but with no money and no one to sign, all he could do was stare at the ceiling and watch his chance for surgery slip away, bit by bit.
His hatred for Jiang Yan grew with every passing second.
“Ah-choo!”
Jiang Yan sneezed, rubbed her nose, and went on packing.
She was moving out, leaving this disgusting place behind.
“Mom, are we really moving away?”
Wang Xiaoya was worried.
“What about my brother and Dad?”
She was a kind girl, forced to understand things no child her age should have to. She knew her father had done wrong, but blood was thicker than water, and she still worried about him.
Jiang Yan glanced at her daughter without stopping what she was doing.
She wouldn’t tell her daughter that Wang Xuezhong’s threat—“You’ll regret it for the rest of your life”—was no empty words.
Like father, like son. Wang Chuanzhi could kill his own mother. How much better could Wang Xuezhong be than his son?
“You can choose now. Are you coming with Mom, or staying behind to take care of your dad?”
Jiang Yan’s face showed little emotion. She even looked somewhat numb.
Her daughter had inherited her timidity. Until the day she died, Jiang Yan had never known whether her daughter, like her son, had ever resented her.
She had had no means of supporting herself, yet she’d chosen to leave the marriage with nothing. She had lived such a hard life, making sacrifices that moved only herself. Her children, in truth, had looked down on her for it.
“Your dad did wrong, but he didn’t break the law. Most likely, he’ll still be able to keep his job as head of the logistics department. He has a house and money. You’d have an easier life with him.
“So choose: are you coming with me to wander, or staying here?”
This wasn’t a period of severe crackdowns. The charge of “hooliganism” couldn’t be stretched that far. As long as Jiang Yan didn’t go to the factory and drink pesticide, the worst Wang Xuezhong would face was suspension pending review.
Jiang Yan slung her bag over her shoulder and looked seriously at her daughter. She wanted to know what the girl truly thought.
“Mom, I’m coming with you!”
Her daughter’s hand slipped into hers.
“You’ve already lost everything. You can’t lose me too, right?”
Jiang Yan’s nose stung and her eyes reddened, but she smiled as she pulled her daughter into her arms.
“This is only temporary. Soon, we’ll have everything we need, and our lives will be better than they are now!”
She led her daughter out of the dormitory building. The neighbors asked her, “Jiang Yan, where are you two going?”
She didn’t answer. Without looking back, she left. Then she took a bus to a residential area in the city.
This was the Civil Servants’ Residential Compound. The residents were generally decent, and a few apartments were available to rent.
In her previous life, she and her children had slept on the streets until a kind older woman took them in. After that, they became tenants in the woman’s home.
Later, when the compound was redeveloped, the woman’s children either went abroad or moved to Jingbei, and she wanted to sell the house.
Jiang Yan bought it.
A few years later, the entire compound was demolished. The house brought in over a million yuan, along with eligibility to purchase an affordable housing unit.
With that money, Jiang Yan gradually built a better life for herself.
That older woman—and that house—had been the benefactors who changed her life!
Following the familiar route, she found the woman’s home and knocked.
“Who is it?”
The door opened, and a round-faced older woman with long earlobes leaned halfway out, eyeing Jiang Yan and her daughter in confusion.