Chapter 48: Chapter 48 Doctor
“Mother, she hurt Chuner, who is now lying on the bed,” Xuexue stamped her foot in anger and cried out.
The foster mother was just too blindly filial in her past life, which led to her tragic death.
“My Chuner!” Upon hearing that Chuner had been injured by Old Lady Mo, Madam Xie dropped everything, threw the carrying pole onto the ground, and rushed back to the room.
“Psh! A money-loser like that, worth all the fuss?” Auntie Sun curled her lips in disdain.
“Even a money-loser is better than your infertile Xiaoqiang,” Xuexue, who was about to follow Madam Xie inside, turned her head and coldly dropped the remark upon hearing Auntie Sun’s words.
In her previous life, it was almost laughable: the Mo family was so intent on finding a concubine for Mo Xiaoqiang, hoping to bear him a son to continue the family line, but ironically, Auntie Sun, after marrying into the Mo family, failed to produce any children for years. Later on, the Mo family discovered that before marrying Mo Xiaoqiang, Auntie Sun had spent a few years in the brothel in the county, entertaining a multitude of men; presumably, her womb might have been damaged, rendering her barren.
Only afterward did Old Lady Mo come to know of it, which infuriated her to near-death. She had treasured Auntie Sun like a precious gem for years, only to learn she was a prostitute, and moreover, the sterile kind.
“You little cheap person, what nonsense are you speaking? It’s your mother who can’t bear children,” Auntie Sun retorted indignantly after Xuexue had vanished.
Madam Xie forcefully pushed open the door of the thatched cottage, only to see Chuner lying on the bed with her eyes tightly shut, her face devoid of color. She hurried to the bedside, calling out, “Chuner, Chuner, what’s wrong with you?”
“Mother, have you returned? It hurts so much,” Chuner faintly responded upon hearing Madam Xie’s cries.
“Let mother have a look.”
With a pained expression, Madam Xie lifted Chuner’s clothes, revealing scars all over her body. The back was especially covered in a large stain of blood. Perhaps because of the time passed, the clothing had stuck to the wounds. As Madam Xie gently moved it, Chuner couldn’t help but cry from the pain.
“Mother, don’t move, please hurry and fetch the doctor,” Xuexue, who came in and saw the situation, quickly stopped Madam Xie.
“Yes, yes, the doctor,” Madam Xie was frantic. Luckily, Xuexue reminded her. She stood up shakily, her face panicked, and said, “Xuexue, hurry, go.”
Madam Xie then rushed out again to call for a doctor.
Xuexue sat beside the bed, looking at the lifeless Chuner, filled with regret. If only she had taken her to the market earlier: “Don’t be afraid Chuner, Mother has gone to fetch the doctor.”
At that moment, faint sobs from Madam Xie could be heard.
“Be good, Chuner. Sister will go pour you some water to drink,” Xuexue guessed trouble had befallen her mother once more. She thought of stepping out to take a look, unwilling to let her mother be at a disadvantage.
“Mm! Sister, come back quickly, Chuner is scared,” Chuner murmured with parched lips, still in pain from Old Lady Mo’s brutal beating earlier on the day when no one was home to help her; she had not even had a drop of water, and now her life was hanging by a thread.
“Sister will be back soon.”
After saying that, Xuexue turned and left.
Old Lady Mo, grabbing Madam Xie by the arm, bellowed, “You reckless woman, why call a doctor? Don’t you care about the cost of silver?”
“Mother-in-law, if we don’t get a doctor, I’m afraid Chuner won’t make it through the night,” Madam Xie, thinking of Chuner barely clinging to life in bed awaiting a doctor, was suddenly overwhelmed with grief and broke into loud wails.
“What an exaggeration, Sister, talking as if Chuner is on her deathbed, Mother-in-law only lightly scolded her,” Auntie Sun interjected with a mocking tone.