At that time, Gu Chunhai was still on a long-distance trip and not at home. At noon, my second sister-in-law had a bit of food and cakes, and started having reactions soon after.
Gu Chunmei could never forget the scene from that day.
The heart-wrenching screams of my second sister-in-law, and the basin after basin of icy water scared a young girl like me, who hadn't even married yet, to death.
If it weren't for the experienced Wang from the neighboring village, I'm afraid my second sister-in-law and her pair of nieces and nephews would have been gone. Read full story at novel·fire.net
A mother and three lives, gone just like that.
Even thinking about it now makes her tremble all over, feeling unbearably cold.
At the time, Wang asked whether to save the mother or the baby.
"Of course, save the baby," Old Mrs. Gu said very confidently.
The expression and tone of that declaration are still vivid in her memory, and it was from that moment that Gu Chunmei felt an estrangement towards her own mother.
Putting herself in my place, if her future mother-in-law chose to save the baby while she was giving birth, how would she feel?
And if something happened to my second sister-in-law, given how deeply my second brother loved her, it'd be a wonder if this family could even manage to keep going afterward.
Fortunately, my second sister-in-law was tough enough to make it through.
But Wang said that this delivery was perilous. Yao Ruanqian suffered so severely that if she didn't receive good care afterward, she might...
But in the end, my second sister-in-law never managed to pull through.
"Why did she suddenly go into labor?" Gu Lingling asked suspiciously.
"I don't know either." Gu Chunmei sighed, "I asked Wang about it, and like you said, with twins, it's quite possible to have an early birth."
"But..." Gu Chunmei paused at this point.
"But what?" Gu Lingling asked anxiously.
"It's nothing really, just that if your mother hadn't been in good health as a young girl, you two might not have been as healthy when you were born." Gu Chunmei said with a smile.
"Alright, let's not talk about that anymore. I heard that your younger uncle came by the house to borrow some grain the other day?" Gu Chunmei changed the topic.
But Gu Lingling felt that "but" wasn't entirely honest.
"Yeah, he came by, got scolded by grandpa, and then my dad gave him a good beating." Gu Lingling didn't pursue the topic further.
Gu Chunmei sighed in relief.
Blame her for suddenly recalling Wang's words.
She remembered Wang had asked Old Mrs. Gu at the time, "Why are the contractions so severe? Did she eat something wrong?"
But her second sister-in-law hadn't eaten anything special at noon; she had eaten the same as everyone else. What could've been wrong?
Old Mrs. Gu and Wang Meili had both said the same at that time.
But if she told this to Gu Lingling, Gu Chunmei feared the child would overthink, so she changed the topic.
"Serves him right! He needed a good beating," Gu Chunmei said, greatly disappointed with this younger brother, "How could he even dare to come back? If he dare comes again next time, let someone send word to your aunt and see if I don't straighten him out."
"I doubt they'll dare to come again." After all, getting beaten like that by Gu Chunhai must have taught them a lesson.
If they really got them angry and Old Sir Gu got so mad that he went to the factory to complain, Gu Chunli would hardly be able to keep his job.
"Why don't you come to auntie's place for a few days?" Gu Chunmei suggested, "Last time you mentioned you'd teach Yu Jiao and the others to write."
"If Yu Jiao and the others want to write, I'll give them a few copybooks to learn from. It's almost New Year's, and I want to start preparing slowly," Gu Lingling politely declined Gu Chunmei's invitation.
She took out the red book quotes she copied from the cabinet and handed it to Gu Chunmei.
However, in her heart, she thought about visiting Beishui Village in a few days to personally ask Wang what really happened that day.