“It’s already at the terminal stage. You should be hospitalized as soon as possible…”
Su Erbao walked out of the hospital like a wandering ghost, limping with every step.
She had finally saved enough money to buy a house, yet fate had played such a cruel joke on her.
She had liver cancer, and it was terminal…
Because she had dreamed of having a home of her own, she had taken on every dirty and exhausting job imaginable, surviving on only three or four hours of sleep a day for years.
In the end, she had saved enough for the house, but her life had reached its end.
“Brother, how could Mom just pass away so suddenly? Wasn’t she fine last night? Xinyu and I had already contacted a hospital abroad for her…”
A strange yet familiar voice reached her ears, finally snapping Su Erbao out of her daze.
She looked toward the voice, and once she saw the speaker’s face clearly, she froze on the spot.
Because the man speaking… was her father, Su Dagui, who had supposedly been dead for forty years!
He was also the source of every bit of suffering in her life!
Su Erbao’s head buzzed as she looked at the five people standing there. Every one of them looked glamorous and affluent.
Aside from her father, Su Dagui, three others were also familiar faces.
Her uncle, Su Dafu; her cousin, Su Wen; and her female cousin, Su Xiuxiu.
She walked toward them instinctively, wanting to make sure she hadn’t seen wrong. But as soon as she approached, she was violently shoved to the ground.
“Where did this old beggar woman come from? Get lost!”
Su Dagui didn’t recognize Su Erbao. He shielded the jewel-bedecked woman beside him and spat viciously at the daughter he had long since put out of his mind.
Not satisfied with just cursing her, he gave Su Erbao two harsh kicks.
Looking at the man’s furious expression, Su Erbao was finally certain—this was indeed her father.
“Dagui, why are you bothering with a beggar woman? What we need to consider now is how to handle the funeral.” Uncle Su Dafu cast a look of disgust at Su Erbao, who was curled on the ground, too pained to crawl back up.
Su Dagui’s face was full of indignation as he spat at Su Erbao again. “So damn unlucky!”
The eldest cousin, Su Wen, immediately chimed in. “Uncle, you shouldn’t have to dirty your own hands to teach a beggar woman like this a lesson. Let me do it, let me do it.”
As he spoke, he kicked Su Erbao heavily twice.
Su Erbao’s forehead was drenched in sweat from the pain. She clutched her stomach, glaring deathly at Su Wen.
Back then, if it weren’t for Su Wen’s marriage, her gravely ill mother wouldn’t have had a moment of soft-heartedness and lent out her pension money.
They had said it was just for show and would be returned after the wedding. But once the money was gone, it was like a meat bun thrown at a dog—it never came back. As a result, her mother’s illness grew worse and worse until she was dragged to her death.
After her mother died, she and her sister, Dabao, were kicked out of the Su family in the freezing midwinter. It was because she slipped on the snow that she ended up with a crippled leg!
At this moment, Su Xiuxiu spoke up. She was wearing an expensive-looking suit and reached out to tug at Su Wen.
“That’s enough. Don’t embarrass us on the street. What if someone takes a photo and puts it in the news? My mother-in-law has already been critical of me lately.”
Su Wen rolled his eyes at her. “A woman should stay home and serve her husband and children after getting married. Instead of being a wealthy lady of leisure, you insist on coming out to do business. Of course people are going to have an opinion!”
Su Erbao’s gaze landed on Su Xiuxiu, her eyes practically bleeding with hatred.
Years ago, her elder sister had worked so hard to get into university. It was Su Xiuxiu who framed Dabao, making it look like she had slept with Su Xiuxiu’s fiancé, and then intentionally led the villagers to catch them, forcing Dabao to marry that wife-beater.
Later, Su Xiuxiu even stole her sister’s admission notice and took her place at the university.
If it hadn’t been for Su Xiuxiu, her sister would have had a bright and glorious future, instead of dying alongside her unborn child at the hands of that abusive man!
“Aya! This dead beggar woman dares to glare at us!” Noticing Su Erbao’s gaze, Su Wen felt insulted and raised his foot to kick her in the stomach again.
Su Erbao felt as if her internal organs had shifted. she wanted to call for help, but she couldn’t make a sound…
Fortunately, not long after, a driver arrived in a million-dollar sedan to pick up Su Dagui and the wealthy woman who hadn’t spoken.
Then Su Xiuxiu went to the side to pull out a red sedan, picking up Su Dafu and Su Wen before speeding away.
Su Erbao lay on the ground. A metallic sweetness rose in her throat, and she opened her mouth to spit out a large amount of blood. Her vision grew increasingly blurred.
She was unwilling, she was furious, but she was powerless.
She could feel her life force rapidly draining away.
Before she died, countless images flashed through her mind, and she finally understood the whole truth.
When Su Dagui was working at the steel mill, he had been scouted by a wealthy woman who came to inspect the site with the leadership. To get rid of his wife and two daughters, he simply staged a fake death and became a matrilocal son-in-law to the widowed rich woman.
Afraid the secret would get out and the rich woman would learn he had a wife and daughters in the countryside, he intentionally let his sick wife die. He then had Old Mrs. Su and the eldest branch of the family drive the two sisters out of the house, wanting them to perish on their own.
He hadn’t expected that even under such difficult circumstances, Dabao would manage to build a life for both of them.
But after Su Xiuxiu got engaged, she met another wealthy young master. The eldest branch didn’t want to return the betrothal gift, so they plotted to force Dabao to marry that abusive man instead.
After her sister died, Su Erbao had fled the village overnight to work in the city, which was an accidental escape from the eldest branch’s schemes.
Because if she hadn’t left that day, what awaited her was a widower in his forties!
Meanwhile, the eldest branch and Su Dagui worked hand in glove, their lives getting better and better.
Su Dafu started a livestock farm in the village, and his business was booming.
With Su Dagui’s help, Su Wen got into transportation and was now the owner of a large logistics company.
Su Xiuxiu had also used Su Dagui’s connections to marry a second-generation wealthy man and now owned her own garment factory.
As for Su Dagui, he was a famous real estate tycoon. He and his wife were very much in love and had a pair of excellent fraternal twins.
“If life could start over, I would definitely… definitely…”
Su Erbao murmured, drawing her last breath amidst a surge of resentment.
Su Erbao was woken up by the sound of crying.
The crying was intermittent, sounding like someone was struggling to catch their breath.
She snapped her eyes open and met the gaze of Wang Lihua, who was half-lying on the bed in tears.
Sitting by the bed were Old Mrs. Su and the eldest aunt, Liu Xianghua. The crying she heard was coming from Old Mrs. Su.
“Second daughter-in-law, Su Wen’s girlfriend said that if we can’t come up with the three-hundred-yuan betrothal gift, the wedding is off. You know she’s a city girl, and Su Wen’s job depends on his future father-in-law…”
Old Mrs. Su wiped her tears and, in a spot Wang Lihua couldn’t see, reached out to pinch Liu Xianghua’s lower back.
Liu Xianghua let out a loud “waa” and started wailing. “Lihua, your sister-in-law is only asking you this once…”
She held up a finger, gesturing. “Just once. Su Wen is the apple of my eye!”
“As soon as his wedding is over, I’ll return the money immediately! I definitely won’t delay you going to the city for medical treatment!”
“He’s your biological nephew, too. You only have Dabao and Erbao, two girls. When the two of them get married in the future, they’ll need to rely on him, their older brother, for support…”