Chapter 64: Chapter 64: The Missing Child
Outside the window, a sudden peal of thunder coincided with the sound of the door being kicked open.
Ma Zhuzi’s pipe fell to the ground with a crash.
At the door, Lin Chunju stumbled in.
“Xiaofang, Xiaofang, where are you?”
Yue Jiandong, holding Yue Qingqing, hurriedly followed, with Ma Shulin standing behind him and many of the village women who loved a spectacle.
These women were all speaking at once.
“What just happened? How did it suddenly start thundering when it was clear just a moment ago?”
“It’s as if the heaven is angry.”
“Eh, what a strong smell of blood, did Ma Jinbao’s family just slaughter a chicken?”
The leader of the women immediately realized something, “It’s not a chicken, it’s that this woman has just given birth.”
While they chattered outside, Lin Chunju searched from one room to another and finally found the room where Yue Xiaofang was.
Ma Cuicui sat on the ground, with Li Zhaodi standing beside her, frozen like a statue.
A pillow was thrown on the floor, and the daughter, whose life or death was uncertain, lay on the bed.
“Xiaofang!” Lin Chunju threw herself onto the bed, her face covered in tears.
Yue Jiandong’s eyes were full of rage, “What have you done to Xiaofang?”
Li Zhaodi, scared, kept retreating, almost wishing she could merge with the wall.
“I… I did nothing.” She had had no chance to act yet.
Hearing this dialogue, Ma Shulin immediately realized something was wrong and hastily burst in.
The onlookers, never too big on privacy, also followed suit, standing outside and peering in.
Upon seeing Yue Xiaofang’s tragic state on the bed, they could not help but sigh.
This woman from another village might be dead.
Ma Shulin, irate, demanded, “Ma Zhuzi, what happened here?”
Ma Zhuzi’s hand trembled, but he answered steadily, “My daughter-in-law just had a baby; it’s nothing serious.”
Mayor Ma was almost laughable in his anger, “Are you all blind? This is not serious?”
Lin Chunju lay beside the bed, touching her daughter’s cheek over and over, as if she were soulless.
“Xiaofang, don’t scare me. Wake up, your mom is taking you home now. Open your eyes and see, your brother is here too. Don’t be afraid; there’s nothing to fear now.”
Yue Jiandong, no longer interested in settling scores with this family, reached out to check his sister’s breath and forehead temperature.
“Mom, Xiaofang is still breathing, we need to get her to the clinic fast.”
Lin Chunju snapped out of it, and they wrapped Yue Xiaofang tightly in a quilt.
Yue Jiandong carefully carried his sister out the door, with Lin Chunju holding Yue Qingqing right behind him.
Watching the Yue family leave, Ma Shulin glared menacingly at Li Zhaodi.
“You better explain yourselves clearly; she is in this state, why didn’t you send her to the clinic?”
Li Zhaodi, who had been shivering ever since the Yue family entered, found her courage again now that they were gone.
“Mayor Ma, which childbirth isn’t perilous? It’s just a little sickness and pain.”
This heart-wrenching statement was too much even for the bystanders.
All that blood on the bed—could a mother-in-law really just stand by and watch indifferently? Is she even human?
The leading woman said sarcastically, “Your daughter-in-law was almost dying from childbirth the day before yesterday, and you let her suffer at home for two days? How is this different from murder?”
Feeling guilty, Li Zhaodi hid the pillow behind her back.
“You gossiping wretch, stop spreading lies; how did I commit murder?”
Seeing her reaction, onlookers immediately began to speculate.
Why is she trembling? Maybe there’s truth to the accusation? If Yue Xiaofang’s family hadn’t arrived, she probably would have died in Ma Jinbao’s house.
Ma Shulin suddenly realized something was amiss, “You just gave birth the day before yesterday, where’s the baby?”
This shocked everyone, and they only then realized—for a woman who just gave birth lying on the bed, why was there no sign of a baby?
After such a big commotion upon their arrival, not even a cry was heard.
Just then, a metallic clanging sound came from the entrance.
The crowd looked up and saw Ma Jinbao, who hadn’t appeared until now, coming home.
In his hand, he held an iron shovel, and upon closer inspection, fresh mud was still clinging to it.