Before she had finished her words, Chiang Songtao’s vision went black, and with a thud, he collapsed onto the ground.
Ho Laidi screamed in horror.
"Ah! Old man! Old man, what’s happened to you!"
Chiang Lidong, who had just stopped crying, was startled again and began to wail loudly.
Chiang Baoguo was not home as he had gone to work, and Chiang Baohe was sleeping inside the house. Hearing the noise outside, he immediately got up, grabbed the crutch by his bed, propped it under his arm, and started hopping towards the door. However, as he crossed the threshold, he wasn’t quite nimble with the crutch and stumbled over it, falling heavily to the ground.
With a loud crash, the bridge of his nose, which had just been set, broke again.
Song Xiyun rushed out of the kitchen and, seeing one person had fallen inside and another had fainted outside, was in a total panic, not knowing what to do. She finally saw her crying son and ran over to him, wiping his tears and snot with her sleeve and repeatedly asking, "Dongdong, stop crying, tell mom, who hit you or who scolded you? Mom will go and settle the score for you, get you some justice!"
Ho Laidi shouted angrily at the top of her lungs, "You blockhead! Come help your dad! Your dad has fainted; you pig-brained, eating so much all the time you’re probably stuffing it up your ass!"
Only then did Song Xiyun hurriedly go to help Chiang Songtao.
Fortunately, Ho Laidi was quite strong, and with Song Xiyun’s help, they managed to get Chiang Songtao into the house, both of their hair in disarray.
"Mom! Hurry! My nose hurts so bad!" Chiang Baohe got up, sat at the threshold, and yelled. Not only had he broken his nasal bone, but he had also chipped a front tooth, and now his face and mouth were covered in blood.
Ho Laidi ran out in a hurry and was startled by his appearance. "Baohe, what happened to you?"
"It’s all because of my brother! What kind of crappy crutches did he buy? They’re no good, no good at all! They’ve almost killed me!"
Bloodied mouth and face, Chiang Baohe ranted furiously, looking quite revolting. With her partner fainted, Ho Laidi was anxious to fetch Doctor Huang, her mind unsettled and impatient, and she somewhat resented him, remarking sharply, "What do you mean the crutches are no good? Can’t you just go slower?"
It seemed that Chiang Baohe truly lacked coordination as he had never mastered using the crutches with ease. Thus, even though he had the crutches, he mostly stayed inside.
His temper grew worse, and he became increasingly sullen, often yelling at everyone for no reason. Sometimes at night, when his leg pain prevented him from sleeping, he’d wake the whole family, leaving no one at peace.
Ho Laidi, managing the household and dealing with such a troublesome son, was worn out, and she appeared to have aged a lot during this time.
Otherwise, why would she have been so eager for Chiang Songtao to persuade Chiang Songhai to let Chiang Baohe move to town? That way, Second Chiang and his family could take care of Baohe.
But just as she mentioned this, it enraged Baohe, who immediately swung his crutch at her, "Slow down my ass! If you hadn’t shouted so loudly, I might have thought Dad was dead, do you think I wouldn’t be in a hurry?"
With his nose, mouth, and leg in pain, and psychologically twisted by the recent events, Chiang Baohe felt that Ho Laidi had never really cared about his marriage. She hadn’t even managed to persuade Zou Xiaoling after all this time, so he already harbored resentment towards her. In a moment of heated anger, he put too much force into his swing.
With a loud bang, even Song Xiyun could hear it.