Wang Xiuying held back the fire in her chest, but she didn’t dare to make arrangements directly anymore, asking Qiao Nian for her input instead.
She was genuinely terrified that this lawless woman, Qiao Nian, would cause another scene in the hospital; Dachuan’s body couldn’t withstand any more turmoil.
She had already compromised and swallowed enough wrong for one day.
Qiao Nian was surprisingly easy to talk to, showing a gentle expression as she said, “Alright, Mom, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of Dachuan. You all can head home with peace of mind.”
Internally, Qiao Nian was sneering: Go back, all of you go back, and let’s see if you can actually sleep peacefully at home tonight.
Wang Xiuying suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. When she first came home earlier, this wretched woman had worn the exact same gentle expression while cooking porridge in the room, only to start screaming and shouting in the courtyard a moment later.
Just as Wang Xiuying was feeling uncertain and suspicious, Li Dachuan spoke up at the right moment, “Mom, take the kids back first. Come over tomorrow morning to drop off food. Qiao Nian staying here to keep me company is enough.”
Li Dachuan looked at Qiao Nian with growing satisfaction, thinking she was someone who truly cared about her in-laws and kept him in her thoughts.
Before coming over, the three brothers—Li Dajun and his siblings—had also been instructed by Wang Xiuying, so they didn’t dare disturb Li Dachuan’s rest now, following closely behind her.
Wang Xiuying nodded, uttered a few instructions, and was just about to leave with the three children when she heard Li Dachuan let out a muffled groan.
When she turned around, she saw Li Dachuan lying on the hospital bed, his face turned purplish-cyan, his breathing rapid and shallow, and white foam oozing from the corner of his mouth.
Wang Xiuying panicked, her voice cracking frantically, “Dachuan! Dachuan, what’s wrong with you? Don’t scare your mother!”
Immediately after, a heart-wrenching shout echoed through the room, “Doctor! Doctor! Save him, quick!”
Li Yumei hurriedly ran out to find a doctor.
Frightened out of their wits, the three children threw themselves against Li Dachuan’s bed, wailing loudly.
The doctor rushed over, flipped Li Dachuan’s eyelids open to check, and took a look at his current condition—it was clearly identical to when he was brought in yesterday.
The doctor’s eyebrows knitted tightly together, “What is wrong with you family members? He just ingested rat poison yesterday, and looking at him now, he’s almost certainly poisoned again!”
He truly had never seen a family where someone accidentally ate rat poison for the first time and managed to consume a second dose on the very same day.
Wang Xiuying began to stammer, “Rat… rat poison? We didn’t…”
Just as Wang Xiuying was about to deny it, Qiao Nian’s bowl of porridge suddenly flashed through her mind. The suppressed rage rushed straight to the top of her head. Reaching out her hands, she lunged straight for Qiao Nian’s hair, “I know now! It’s you, you wretched woman! You were up to no good all along, you just wanted to poison my Dachuan to death! Murdering your own husband—you venomous shrew!”
How could Qiao Nian possibly let herself be beaten? She fought back while shouting back accusations, “Framing me again, are you? The very first day I stepped through your door, the three children were already scheming how to kill me, and the eldest personally poisoned his own father! You, the old one, slander me out of thin air! This millet belongs to your family, and this rat poison also belongs to your family, yet you still want to pin it on me! How can your whole family be so evil? You’re all just driving me to my death! Fine then, I’ll fight you to the death!”
“Qiao Nian, how dare you hit my mom!”
Li Yumei couldn’t remain indifferent seeing her mother being hit. A surge of anger rushed straight to her head, making her forget her previous fear as she charged toward Qiao Nian as well.
“That’s right, you two are exactly who I’m hitting!”
Qiao Nian fought off two people at once, without losing an inch of ground.
“Quiet! Quiet!”
The doctor barked loudly, “This is a hospital! If you want to fight, take it outside!”
With the three women fighting, the patient groaning, and the children wailing, the ward was thrown into utter chaos.
Li Dachuan was pulled out again by the doctors and nurses to have his stomach pumped, while Wang Xiuying collapsed into Li Yumei’s arms, sobbing loudly.
Qiao Nian straightened her ruffled hair, breathing heavily.
Beating people up really is hard labor!
Qiao Nian glanced at the weeping Wang Xiuying. Indeed, wicked people could only be cured by someone even more ruthless.
In her past life, she had been submissive and endured everything quietly—and did she get a good outcome?
No!
Instead, people just saw her as a soft pushover that anyone could step on whenever they wanted.
From now on, when dealing with people like this, she just needed to get physical directly. Who cared about respecting elders or proper order? As long as she was in the right, she could stand her ground.
And even if she wasn’t in the right, she had to make herself in the right.
Her own satisfaction was the only thing that mattered most.
Just like that bowl of porridge today—the rat poison was, of course, put in the porridge by her.
Otherwise, was she crazy? Why would she care whether Li Dachuan lived or died!
She still remembered in her previous life when she came out from having her stomach pumped, the doctor said her body was weak, and that she had barely managed to snatch her life back.
Rat poison was potent; even a fully grown adult male wouldn’t be able to handle it if he suffered through it twice.
She just wanted to see if this sturdy Li Dachuan could endure it, that’s all.
After all, she could beat Wang Xiuying, she could beat Li Yumei, and she could beat the three children, but she might not necessarily win against Li Dachuan in a fight.
If Li Dachuan’s health deteriorated, then she would be able to beat him! Leaving him with one breath of life was already her being merciful.
Besides, the millet belonged to the Li family, the poison belonged to the Li family, and the Li family even had a culprit with a prior record—so what did Li Dachuan’s poisoning have to do with her?
Qiao Nian successfully convinced herself.
Wang Xiuying, on the other hand, was growing angrier the more she thought about it.
“Dachuan was fasting this afternoon, and the only thing that entered his mouth was that bowl of porridge, yet this wretched woman Qiao Nian won’t admit it, and I can’t even beat her in a fight.”
Only on the very first day this woman was married into the family, her family members had either been beaten or sent to the hospital—this Qiao Nian was a jinx to their family!
Wang Xiuying’s voice was hoarse from anger, and she pointed her finger at Qiao Nian, “Good! Fine! Fine! You won’t admit it, right? I’m reporting this to the police! I’m going to have you locked up and rot in prison for the rest of your life!”
“Go! Hurry up and go! Go right now!”
Qiao Nian wasn’t about to indulge her in the slightest, pointing straight at Li Dajun, “Hurry up and go! Whether I end up inside or not I don’t know, but your precious eldest grandson is definitely going in!”
Wang Xiuying knew crystal clear in her heart what was going on with that first bowl of porridge. As much as she hated Qiao Nian, it was impossible for her to sacrifice her eldest grandson just to get revenge on her.
The moment Wang Xiuying realized that she couldn’t out-argue her, out-curse her, or out-fight her, she felt suffocated to death with sheer frustration.
Could it be that she was truly going to become the first mother-in-law to be completely walked all over by a daughter-in-law?
Looking at Li Yumei, who was softly trying to comfort her from the side, a scheme formed in her mind.
Pulling her close, she whispered something into her ear. Li Yumei hesitated for a long moment, but ultimately nodded her head.
Qiao Nian naturally saw the mother and daughter whispering in secret, but she couldn’t be bothered to care.
Water comes, earth blocks; troops arrive, generals ward off.
Right now, every day she lived was a bonus, and every moment these people suffered was just her collecting interest.
Qiao Nian didn’t even wait for Li Dachuan to come out of the emergency room before heading back. Now that she had met the man, she naturally didn’t want to waste any more time here.
Li Yumei hadn’t married far away, so she rode her bicycle back that night, since she still had business to take care of tomorrow.
Wang Xiuying stayed at the hospital with the three children. Since Qiao Nian had gone home, Wang Xiuying didn’t dare leave her grandsons under Qiao Nian’s nose right now, terrified that Qiao Nian might beat her grandsons again for no reason.
Even though today was Sunday, she couldn’t even care about whether the three children would make it to school tomorrow.