Su Nian’s gaze followed Fubao’s inner voice and landed on the Women’s Director’s face.
Staring at the Women’s Director’s features, which had softened as she coaxed Fubao, Su Nian sighed inwardly.
The Women’s Director had a fierce appearance, but she was a kind and warm-hearted person. It was a pity her fate was so poor.
She had heard that the Women’s Director was a female militia member in her youth. With her husband, who had sacrificed his life, she had given birth to five children, but only one had survived. The surviving child was sickly and had spent their entire life dependent on medicine.
The Women’s Director had raised the child all by herself, enduring many hardships over the years.
In just a few days, her son was about to get married, yet Fubao said she would end up lonely and desolate. Had some misfortune occurred?
Su Nian’s heart sank. She decided to talk to Fubao about the Women’s Director when they were alone, to see if she could uncover the crux of the problem from Fubao’s inner thoughts and change things in advance.
Along the way, the Women’s Director, as if opening a long-closed floodgate, chattered on and on, sharing her parenting experiences with Su Nian.
With one teaching and the other learning, the tractor arrived at the town before they knew it.
Large banners hung across the street, and loudspeakers broadcasted mobilization slogans.
The lively environment excited Fubao. Her small, chubby hands pushed open her swaddling blanket, revealing a rosy little face. Her grape-black eyes darted around.
[Wow, so many people, and such pretty red banners.]
[I want to stay here, I don’t want to go to the hospital. The big bad guy will be hiding at the hospital soon to do bad things. He’ll team up with the bad granny to slander Mama and ruin Mama’s reputation.]
Su Nian’s fists tightened. She looked up in the direction of the Commune Health Center, her eyes glinting with ridicule.
Chen Yaozu had been hiding by the back window, waiting for her to come get the money. He hadn’t seen what happened in the front yard and didn’t yet know that Chen Pozi’s act of fainting to frame her had already been exposed.
She was very much looking forward to Chen Yaozu’s clown-like performance.
[We’re almost at the hospital. Bad granny is about to get a shot in the butt.]
The milky-scented little dumpling was like a small sun, chasing away all the gloom. The coldness in Su Nian’s eyes, born from Chen Yaozu and his mother, faded. She lowered her head to kiss Fubao’s little hand, her gaze turning gentle.
“Mmm, Mama’s Fubao smells so good, like a little milk ball. I want to take a bite.”
[Mama is unhappy. I’ll let Mama bite my hand, lots and lots of bites.]
Fubao gurgled and laughed, pushing her pair of dimpled, chubby hands toward Su Nian’s face, trying to cheer her up.
Her adorable and well-behaved appearance made Su Nian’s eyes well up. Her heart felt as if it were soaking in warm water, warm and soft. “Fubao is offering Mama her hand to eat, right? So good!”
[I’ll give Mama my hand to eat in exchange for Mama’s happiness.]
“Fubao is so good.”
How could a man ever be as good as a daughter?
Su Nian’s almond-shaped eyes curved into a pair of crescent moons. She unfolded Fubao’s small hand and laid it flat in her palm. One large and one small, they would depend on each other. “Mama promises, I will definitely let you grow up happy.”
Not a single person in the Chen family was any good.
Even if it was just for Fubao, she had to stomp the Chen Yaozu family into the mud, divorce him, and leave!
While she was lost in thought, the tractor had already stopped at the entrance of the commune hospital. Chen Pozi, who had fainted from a fever, was carried into the health center to be examined by a doctor.
Chen Pozi kept complaining of pain in her chest and abdomen, and she also had a high fever. To be safe, the doctor instructed that she be admitted for an IV drip and observed until the fever subsided.
This outcome was all within Su Nian’s calculations.
Since the doctor couldn’t find a cause for Chen Pozi’s chest and abdominal pain, he wouldn’t jump to conclusions and would definitely keep her for a thorough examination. The fever was an unexpected bonus that Chen Pozi had brought upon herself.
With Chen Pozi admitted to the hospital, the next step of her plan could begin.
“She still needs to be kept in the hospital for observation. What should I do?”
Su Nian held Fubao and said to the Women’s Director in distress, “We left in such a hurry. I only remembered to grab my mother-in-law’s clothes and forgot to bring Fubao’s things. I didn’t bring a single diaper.”
The Women’s Director immediately comforted her, “Don’t worry. A round trip on the tractor won’t take much time. I’ll ask the comrade to make another trip back.”
“Thank you, Director. Yaozu did something shameful and I don’t know where he’s hiding. I’m all alone with the baby, so I really can’t manage running back and forth. I’m sorry to trouble everyone.”
Su Nian’s eyes reddened. Holding Fubao, she bowed to the Women’s Director. “It’s all thanks to you coming along, Director. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known what to do.”
At Su Nian’s mention, the Women’s Director finally remembered that from the time Chen Pozi had faked her faint to cause trouble until now, they hadn’t seen even a shadow of Chen Yaozu. She frowned at once, muttering to herself.
Was Chen Yaozu too afraid to show his face because he had a guilty conscience after being caught red-handed acting like a hooligan by the villagers?
This matter of Chen Pozi fainting to slander Su Nian, was it something Chen Pozi came up with on her own to divert everyone’s attention, or was it something the mother and son had plotted together?
“You asked Wang Chunhua to remind Comrade Chen. His own mother is sick, so he has to come no matter what. When he gets here, have him share some of the burden.”
“You watch Chen Pozi for now. I’ll have them take the tractor back to get the things for the hospital stay.”
Watching the Women’s Director’s back disappear down the health center corridor, Su Nian held Fubao, a deep darkness in her eyes.
As soon as the villagers opened the door and entered the house, they would discover that her room had been ransacked and her money was missing.
At that point, she could report it to the public security, use their power to make Chen Yaozu’s name infamous, and seize the opportunity to demand a divorce…
After a flurry of activity, by the time Chen Pozi was settled in a hospital room, it was already noon.
Using the excuse of buying food, Su Nian handed Fubao to the Women’s Director, then ducked into a small alley and hurried toward the west end of town.
She had followed them to town for more than just exposing Chen Yaozu for ransacking her room.
She and Chen Yaozu were husband and wife. Even if he stole her money, it would most likely be classified as a domestic dispute in the end.
What she wanted was for Chen Yaozu to pay the price for his actions, to have him serve a long prison sentence, not get off with a light mediation.
To achieve this goal, she first had to find that hooligan from the back mountain and get him to come forward to expose and identify Chen Yaozu for hiring him to frame and assault her.
It takes a villain to deal with a villain. To ‘persuade’ the hooligan to turn himself in and testify, she had to get the hooligan’s boss to step in!
Twenty minutes later, a panting Su Nian stopped in front of an inconspicuous little courtyard. Lowering her voice, she knocked on the gate.
“Is anyone here? I’d like to look at some coffins.”