5
Mom, Don’t Die
Seventh Uncle was the most senior elder in the Li Family. Having served as a soldier in the past, he was known for his fairness and impartiality, earning deep respect from everyone in the Production Team. Whether it was members of the Li surname or other families, whenever a household division occurred, Seventh Uncle would be invited to serve as a witness.
Now that Li Xiuran had brought him here, it was clear he was determined to proceed with the division.
Gu Wenshu suddenly felt that this man was truly reliable. She smiled and said, “Sanbao, can you help Mommy take care of your little sister? Daddy and Mommy will be back soon.” She kissed her son’s cheek firmly. “Good boy, can you do that?”
Sanbao’s little face flushed red from his mother’s kiss. Hearing her request, the little man puffed out his chest and declared, “Mommy, I’ll take good care of my sister. We won’t leave the room.”
After speaking, he tightly held his sister’s hand.
Gu Wenshu noticed the little one’s hand trembling slightly.
Thinking about how he had been sold off by the original owner earlier that day, she realized he was still frightened and hadn’t fully recovered from the shock.
At this thought, she sighed softly. She couldn’t bring herself to take the two children to the main hall to witness the household division, worried that any arguments might scare them.
At this moment, she deeply missed the little snacks from modern supermarkets that could comfort children. Unfortunately, the original owner was extremely poor, and there was nothing at home. With this realization, a sharp pain suddenly shot through her head. Frowning, she leaned against the bed, breathing heavily, her face instantly turning pale and cold sweat beading on her forehead.
The siblings were terrified by their mother’s condition. Xiao Ni’er burst into tears, crying, “Mommy, Mommy, don’t die!”
“Xiao Ni’er will be good and listen to Mommy. Don’t die!”
They had heard that Gousheng’s mother had died after being in pain. Seeing Mommy in so much pain, would she die too?
She knew that dying meant never seeing someone again. She didn’t want Mommy to die.
She crawled over to her mother, crying as she took Mommy’s hand and blew on it. “Hoo hoo, hoo hoo, it won’t hurt anymore. Mommy, don’t die.”
Gu Wenshu was in too much pain to speak. Seeing how frightened her children were, she mustered her strength to pull them into her arms. “Don’t worry, Mommy is fine.”
Sanbao, tears in his eyes, was about to say something when he suddenly heard his father calling from outside to open the door. He quickly struggled out of his mother’s embrace and went to open it.
As soon as the door opened and he saw his father, he could no longer hold back his tears. “Daddy, save Mommy!”
Even if Mommy sometimes hit him and his sister, he still wanted her to be okay. He didn’t want to end up like Gousheng, a child without a mother.
Li Xiuran hurried to the bedside and found the woman holding Xiao Ni’er pale, her clothes drenched and her face covered in sweat. Raising an eyebrow, he took his daughter and set her down on the edge of the bed before turning to Gu Wenshu. “Are you alright?”
Gu Wenshu leaned against the bed, weakly replying, “My head was hurting badly just now, but it seems a bit better now.”
After speaking, she glanced at the siblings, who were staring at her anxiously. “I’m fine, I just scared them.” Closing her eyes, an image of a supermarket warehouse flashed in her mind.
It felt as if she were standing inside the warehouse, with shelves filled with all kinds of supplies within her reach.
Suddenly, the pain in her head subsided, and she heard the man’s voice again: “Do you need me to call Doctor Xie for you?”
Meeting the man’s worried gaze, she was momentarily stunned before shaking her head. “It doesn’t hurt now. It must have been from when your mother and sister-in-law pushed me down this morning.”
After speaking, she reached back to touch the back of her head, inhaling sharply at the pain.
The original owner had died from exactly such a blow.
Since waking up, her nerves had been so tense that the pain seemed less noticeable. Only when relaxing with the children did the ache begin to surge through her.
Li Xiuran moved closer, tilting her head to examine the back of her skull. He found a large swollen bump with dried blood stains trailing down her neck—clear evidence of how severe the injury had been, all caused by his own mother and sister-in-law.
In a low voice, he said, “I’ll take you to the Health Clinic to treat the wound. If your head still hurts afterward, we’ll need to go to the Commune Hospital for further examination.”
Gu Wenshu shook her head. “Settling the family separation comes first. We can deal with other matters later.”
Given the current situation, nothing was more urgent than dividing the household. Without achieving this separation, she couldn’t feel at ease.
Li Xiuran glanced at her as she stood up, brushed past him, and carried Xiao Ni’er out. She felt it safer to keep the child within sight.
Pressing his lips together, he stepped forward, took their son’s hand, and followed them out.
The main hall was filled with people. When they entered, Granny Li fixed her with a venomous stare, looking ready to pounce and tear her apart.
She had always disliked Gu Wenshu’s striking beauty, believing such a woman was beyond their family’s station. She feared that having this daughter-in-law would eventually bring disaster upon them. Now it seemed she wasn’t just a seductress but a jinx who had caused her third son’s military discharge.
Through gritted teeth, she demanded, “Was it you who asked Xiuran to separate the family?”
Her question drew disapproving looks from the elders present, who held that families shouldn’t divide while parents lived.
Gu Wenshu held Xiao Ni tightly. “If we don’t separate, should we wait for you and sister-in-law to sell my two children?”
Granny Li’s eyes bulged with rage as she stood and pointed accusingly at Gu Wenshu. “You little slut! How dare you spout such nonsense!”
“We never planned to sell the children!” Chen Hongzhen also flared up, unwilling to bear a ruined reputation in the village. “It was you who couldn’t hold on and wanted to sell them to marry a butcher! The butcher even came to our house—many people saw it!”
“Everyone in the village knows about the incident with the two children. Those traffickers have been handed over to the Public Security Bureau. Why don’t we all go see who brought them here?” Gu Wenshu sneered. “I heard they were sister-in-law’s relatives from her maiden family.”
“The butcher was arranged by my stepmother. She took fifty yuan to sell me off, but I beat that scoundrel up, and the children’s father threw him out. Sister-in-law will bite at anything—are you a dog?”
Chen Hongzhen had been the one to contact the traffickers. Gu Wenshu didn’t know if Chen had met them personally, but this opportunistic sister-in-law was surely too guilty to confront them.
Sure enough, Chen Hongzhen’s face paled at the mention of the traffickers.
She was consumed by guilt, terrified that the Public Security Bureau might trace the crime back to her.
Everyone instantly understood her reaction, but since the child had been found, they didn’t want to make a fuss about it. If word got out that someone in their brigade had tried to sell their own niece or nephew, it would surely affect the marriage prospects of the young men and women in the Production Team.
Seated in the main seat, Seventh Uncle, white-haired but spirited, glanced at them and said, “Enough. Since you’ve decided to divide the family, sit down and discuss clearly how to do it.”
“As for those other heartless acts, I don’t want to see them happen again. Otherwise, you might as well stop using the Li surname.”
Everyone present understood what Seventh Uncle meant by “heartless acts,” and not a single person dared to speak up.
Li Xiuran gently tugged Gu Wenshu, and the two of them, holding their child, sat on the only remaining bench in the hall.
He said calmly, “I was the one who proposed dividing the family.”
“I was discharged from the military due to injury, and my body requires long-term medication and medical care, which will cost a significant amount of money.” He glanced at Granny Li and continued, “Today, in front of all the elders, I want to make things clear. If Mom and Dad don’t want to divide the family, I can accept that too.”
“In fact, it’s livelier when a big family lives together. With my poor health, I need help with many tasks, and living together means we can support each other.”
He looked at his parents, as well as his elder brother and sister-in-law, and asked, “Don’t you agree, Mom and Dad, Brother and Sister-in-law?”