“Nono, just hold on a little longer!”
Li Wanqing gently stroked her daughter’s burning-hot cheek. “Mom will definitely save you!”
A sharp glint flashed through Li Wanqing’s eyes. She went back into the room, found a cloth baby carrier, and strapped her daughter onto her back before heading into the kitchen.
When she came back out, she was holding a kitchen knife!
Bang!
Li Wanqing kicked the door open and charged straight toward Liu Yufen.
If talking didn’t work, then she would use force!
Money! She had to get the money today!
“You damn wretch, are you looking to get yourself killed?!” Liu Yufen clutched her chest, obviously terrified.
When she saw the kitchen knife in Li Wanqing’s hand, she was so frightened that her legs nearly gave out.
“You… What are you trying to do?”
This shameless woman couldn’t possibly have gone crazy, could she?!
“Where’s the money?”
Li Wanqing pointed the kitchen knife at Liu Yufen. She wished she could chop this old hag down right then and there!
“A toad wearing flowers—getting too full of yourself!”
“You want money? There’s none! If you want my life, take it! If you’ve got the guts, then chop me up!”
Liu Yufen sounded tough, but she was panicking inside!
Her eldest son had taken his wife and their son back to her family home yesterday. They wouldn’t return until the afternoon.
Her husband had also gone wandering off somewhere early that morning.
She was the only one at home!
If this shameless woman really had gone crazy, Liu Yufen was afraid she would suffer badly!
Li Wanqing ignored Liu Yufen’s hysterical shouting and began rummaging through the room.
That old hag had hidden the money so carefully. Where could she have put it?
【The cabinet… Grandma hid the money… in the cabinet… A small… metal box.】
Li Wanqing’s heart leaped with joy.
Following her daughter’s inner voice, she quickly found a green metal box.
The moment Liu Yufen saw it, she rushed over without a second thought.
“My money!”
Li Wanqing turned around and waved the knife.
Liu Yufen immediately stopped in her tracks, terrified.
“You shameless bitch! If you dare touch my money, I’ll make sure you regret it!”
This woman really was crazy!
She would report her to the brigade office, report her to the army, and make sure her third son divorced this crazy woman!
Li Wanqing raised an eyebrow. Deliberately right in front of Liu Yufen, she opened the box and casually grabbed several bills from inside.
“I’m waiting for you to make me regret it!”
Some of the money in this box had been earned through the original owner’s blood, sweat, and endless labor. Why couldn’t she take it?
After the original owner married Cheng Baichuan, his family had never liked her.
Even after she handed over all the money and ration coupons she had, she still couldn’t win their approval.
And because Cheng Baichuan had completely ignored her after their marriage, his family became even more overbearing.
All the dirty and exhausting household chores fell on the original owner. Even when she was pregnant, she was never allowed to stop.
The years of hard labor eventually caused her to give birth prematurely, yet the Cheng family still tried to smear her reputation!
Now she only wanted some money to get her daughter treated, but even after begging everyone she could think of, they still refused to give her anything!
The original owner might have been able to endure it, but Li Wanqing couldn’t!
Now that she had the money, Li Wanqing didn’t dare waste another moment.
She threw the metal box onto the floor, hoisted her daughter onto her back, and headed outside.
The moment she stepped through the doorway, Liu Yufen’s vicious curses came from behind her.
“You damned wretch! Thirty yuan! What kind of illness needs that much money?! You might as well buy yourself a coffin!”
Li Wanqing’s expression turned cold.
A family like this… Who knew whether the original owner had ever regretted marrying into it?
But now that the original owner was dead, whether she regretted it or not no longer mattered!
If Li Wanqing had to stay in a family like this, she would lose her temper every minute of every day!
She couldn’t care less how crazy Liu Yufen became.
All she wanted was to save her daughter!
With her daughter strapped to her back, Li Wanqing ran all the way to the village clinic.
“Doctor! Doctor! My daughter has a high fever! Please, save her!”
“Put the child down, quickly!”
Meng Renjie was the doctor at Renxing Brigade’s clinic. He was an experienced doctor who had been transferred there from the provincial hospital.
He had excellent medical skills and an even better sense of medical ethics.
Seeing Li Wanqing rush in with her daughter on her back, clearly frantic, he immediately stepped forward to help.
After taking the child’s temperature and examining her condition, he couldn’t help but scold her.
“How do you take care of your child? You waited until her fever got this bad before bringing her here!”
The brigade clinic had limited medical facilities. Once a fever developed into meningitis, there would be little they could do.
There was no way they could get the child to the provincial hospital in time!
Li Wanqing was so frightened that she was almost in tears.
If she had noticed her daughter’s condition earlier, if she hadn’t hesitated for so long, would her child have suffered less?
“Doctor Meng, it’s all my fault. Please, please save my child.”
Li Wanqing bowed deeply to him.
Meng Renjie had been about to continue scolding her, but he immediately fell silent.
The third son of the Cheng family’s wife was truly a pitiful woman!
Fortunately, motherhood had made her strong. At least now, she was finally acting like a mother.
As Meng Renjie prepared the medicine, he asked, “Is she allergic to penicillin?”
Li Wanqing thought for a moment before shaking her head.
“I don’t know. We should do a skin test first.”
Cheng Nuo had been born prematurely and had been weak ever since birth.
Yet the Cheng family had never once brought the child to the clinic. Naturally, she had never had a skin test.
To be safe, they should test her first.
Meng Renjie glanced at her.
At least she knew what she was doing and wasn’t making things up just to save herself some trouble.
As a doctor, he feared nothing more than patients’ family members hiding important information simply because they didn’t want to deal with the hassle.
The skin test was much more painful than an injection.
But the feverish child was already barely conscious. She only gave a faint, groggy “Mm…” in response.
Li Wanqing’s heart ached even more.
The skin test would take around fifteen minutes, so Li Wanqing also asked for some alcohol and cotton balls.
Physical cooling could at least make her daughter a little more comfortable. Otherwise, the poor child would suffer terribly!
“You know quite a bit,” Meng Renjie remarked with a raised eyebrow.
Li Wanqing smiled awkwardly.
“I read about it in a book before, but I’ve never actually done it myself.”
Meng Renjie nodded and said nothing more.
After bringing the supplies over, he began teaching her how to wipe down the child’s body.
“Don’t use the alcohol directly. Dilute it first, otherwise it will be too irritating and could damage the child’s skin.”
“The alcohol should be warmed slightly. It shouldn’t be too cold or too hot, otherwise it will make her uncomfortable.”
“You can wipe the neck, armpits, and groin area. But don’t wipe the chest, stomach, back of the neck, or soles of the feet.”
“Test it on a small area first. If there’s any redness or swelling, or if the child feels itchy, don’t use it.”
Meng Renjie truly was a good doctor. He explained everything carefully, step by step.
Li Wanqing listened just as carefully.
In her previous life, she had never raised a child. She only knew that alcohol could be used to help reduce a fever. She had no idea there were so many things to pay attention to.
“Did you remember everything?” Meng Renjie asked.
Li Wanqing nodded gratefully.
“Thank you, Doctor Meng. I remember everything.”
Meng Renjie nodded in satisfaction.
“Then I’ll leave her to you. I’ll go prepare the medicine.”
It was only when Li Wanqing began wiping down her little daughter’s body that she truly understood what it meant to be skin and bones.
There was barely any flesh on the tiny child’s body. Even touching her felt like pressing against nothing but bones.
Premature babies were generally more frail and thin, but as long as they received enough nutrition afterward, they wouldn’t necessarily be any weaker than full-term babies.
Clearly, the Cheng family had never intended to raise this child properly.
The original owner had simply been too weak, and even though she wanted to protect her daughter, she had been powerless to do so.
The more Li Wanqing looked at the child, the more her heart ached.
Tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.
Suddenly, a tiny hand reached out and gently wiped away the tears at the corner of her eye.
“…Mommy… Ah… Ah…”