“Internal bleeding in the patient’s abdominal cavity requires immediate surgery, otherwise it will be life-threatening. Family members, please sign the consent form quickly!”
“Doctor, are you overestimating the situation? I see she only has mild abdominal pain, and the symptoms aren’t too obvious. Does she really need surgery now? Let’s admit her for observation first. Perhaps her condition will gradually improve.”
“I’m sorry, but the condition is urgent! Every minute of delay puts the patient at greater risk. The family must make a decision quickly and cooperate with the treatment. This is a crucial choice for the patient’s health!”
Leng Hui woke up to this scene—the doctor, concerned for the patient’s safety, urging the family to sign.
The family members were an old woman and a grown man.
The man, looking pained, pulled the old woman aside and whispered, “Mom, let’s listen to the doctor. My wife had a bad fall.”
The old woman wore a troubled expression and said bitterly, “Son, it’s not that I don’t agree to the surgery, but you know how much money it will cost. You know the family’s situation—our monthly expenses are high, and your sister just had a baby.”
Mention of childbirth triggered a flood of images in Leng Hui’s mind, along with the final moment of plunging down the steep slope.
There were six people in the emergency room besides the old woman and the man.
One was the emergency doctor who had just spoken, and another was a nurse attending to the patient.
There were two patients: Tang Lin, who was in so much pain she was frowning and nearly in shock, and Leng Hui.
From her memories, she learned that Tang Lin, who was close to shock, was the original host’s mother.
That day, the original host’s aunt had gone into labor. Upon hearing the news, the old woman—the original host’s grandmother—had sent Tang Lin to visit her sister-in-law by bicycle.
However, after the rain, the road was still wet and muddy. Tang Lin and Leng Hui, who was riding on the back, had fallen down a steep slope together.
Tang Lin, who was riding in front, had suffered the worst injuries. Leng Hui was slightly better off, with only some abrasions and bruises.
Tang Lin was not so lucky.
Her abdomen had hit a rock during the fall, breaking one of her ribs and injuring her spleen, causing internal bleeding. Without prompt intervention to stop the bleeding, her life would be at risk.
Leng Hui knew Tang Lin’s injuries so clearly because she found the plot somewhat familiar. It took her a while to recall that this was a period novel she had read a few days ago.
Tang Lin was a cannon fodder character who died in the first chapter, while Leng Hui was the female lead’s foil.
The Old Lady Leng before her favored her daughter and the second branch of the family but showed no concern for the first branch, treating them like the Leng family’s beasts of burden.
Leng Yongkang looked at his wife in agony, then at his reluctant mother. After a moment of hesitation, he pleaded softly, “Mom, could you advance the money first? After my wife’s surgery, I’ll go to my workplace and get an advance on next month’s salary. We can’t just stand by and do nothing, can we?”
“No! Do you want the whole family to live on nothing but air for the rest of the month just for your wife?” Old Lady Leng pinched him hard when no one was looking. “Let me tell you, even if I had money, I wouldn’t spend it on an outsider like her. If I’m spending, it should be on my daughter. Who does she think she is? Besides, I don’t have the money anyway.”
Old Lady Leng made it perfectly clear: she had no money to give, only her life to offer. Getting money out of her would be like expecting the sun to rise from the west.
“The patient’s blood pressure is dropping. Have you family members made a decision? She needs surgery immediately!” The doctor grew anxious as he watched the patient’s declining vital signs.
Encountering family members who valued money more than life itself was frustrating—no amount of urgency seemed to get through to them.
The doctor wished he could crack open their heads to see if they were filled with nothing but water.
From the original host’s memories, Leng Hui knew Old Lady Leng had a habit of sewing a hidden pocket into her underwear, where she stashed money whenever she went out. The pocket was so deep that even pickpockets couldn’t get to it.
“Ah! What do you think you’re doing, you worthless girl?”
Ignoring her dizziness, Leng Hui lunged at Old Lady Leng without a word and yanked down her pants. In a flash, she pulled out a wad of cash from the underwear pocket.
“You good-for-nothing! Give me back my money!” Old Lady Leng fumbled to fasten her pants while glaring viciously at Leng Hui.
Disgusted, Leng Hui wiped the money on a bedsheet—it carried an indescribable stench from its hiding place. “My mother needs this money to save her life. How dare you hoard it? Planning to take it to your grave?”
“Xiao Hui, how could you snatch your grandmother’s money? Give it back to her now!”
Leng Yongkang, stunned by Leng Hui’s actions, finally snapped out of it and immediately sided with the old woman, scolding his daughter.
Leng Hui didn’t even spare a glance at the spineless man. She stuffed the money into her own pocket, shuffled out in her slippers, and didn’t give them a chance to reclaim it.
“I’m going to pay now. Doctor, please arrange my mother’s surgery right away.”
As she reached the door, Old Lady Leng tried to block her path, but Leng Hui shoved her aside without hesitation. Had Leng Yongkang not caught her from behind, the old woman might have collapsed on the spot.
Both Old Lady Leng and Leng Yongkang broke out in a cold sweat. Once she recovered, the old woman launched into a furious tirade, spewing vulgar insults that made the doctors and nurses frown in distaste.
However, the patient’s surgery was the priority, and the medical staff had no time to waste on the shrewish Old Lady Leng.
“Useless fool!”
As her daughter-in-law Tang Lin was hurriedly wheeled into the operating room by the medical team, only Old Lady Leng and her son remained in the emergency room.
Fuming over the stolen money, Old Lady Leng dropped her gentle motherly act in front of her son. She suddenly pinched the soft flesh on Leng Yongkang’s waist, hard. “It’s all because of that worthless daughter of yours! She nearly killed me today!”
“That money was meant for our living expenses for the next two months. Now that your good-for-nothing daughter has stolen it, how are we supposed to survive? By drinking the northwest wind?”
Leng Yongkang rubbed his sore waist, watching as his mother shut her eyes and wailed, spraying saliva everywhere. Disgust flickered in his eyes, and he instinctively took a step back.
“Mom, tomorrow I’ll go to my workplace and get an advance on my salary. Even if I starve, I won’t let you go hungry.”
Hearing that he would withdraw his salary early the next day, Old Lady Leng calmed down slightly.
She walked to the bedside and sat down, taking off her shoes before pulling her legs up onto the bed and hugging them. She began sighing heavily, “Look at how old you are now, yet you’ve never given me a moment’s peace since you were little. Do you have any idea how hard it’s been for me, a widow, to raise you three siblings alone after your father passed away? Now that you’re all finally married, when trouble strikes, I still have to dig into my burial savings to bail you out!”
Leng Yongkang glanced toward the hospital room door and whispered, “Mom, there’s no other way. Who could have guessed my wife would fall so badly? If we don’t treat her, it could be fatal.”
“Better if it kills her!”
Taking her money was like taking her life.
Faced with the choice between her own life and someone else’s, Old Lady Leng unhesitatingly chose her own. “That barren hen—it’d be better if she died. While you’re still young, find yourself a new wife who can give you a son. Otherwise, are you trying to let your branch of the family line die out?”
Leng Yongkang hung his head in shame and anger. Having no heir was his most deeply hidden sore spot.
He wished no one would ever bring it up.