Liao Zhaoji wasn’t sure if she hid in the house or had already returned to her maternal home, as she didn’t show up for lunch.
Today was the first day of laying the foundation for the new house, and in addition to the workers hired, the Ruan Family invited quite a few people for a meal, filling two large tables.
Ruan Jiaojiao had a poor appetite and couldn’t eat anything; despite Ruanlin Family’s coaxing for a long while, she only managed to eat a few more mouthfuls.
The Ruanlin Family had no choice but to make her a cup of malted milk to drink, considering it a substitute for a meal.
However, no one expected that due to the incident during the day, Ruan Jiaojiao developed a high fever that evening.
Ruan Jiaojiao fell into a nightmare.
In the dream, the Ruanlin Lady passed away early when Little Jiaojiao was just six years old. The reason... was because Jiaojiao wanted to eat mulberries from a steep slope behind the mountain. At the time, her brothers were not at home, and with Jiaojiao insisting urgently, the Ruanlin Lady had to climb up by herself. On her way down, she lost her grip on the tree branch, fell down the slope, was stricken by a paralyzing stroke, and passed away that very night.
What was terrifying was that Ruanlin kept calling out Ruan Jiaojiao’s name until her death, but Jiaojiao, repulsed by her stroke-contorted face and afraid, kept her distance and refused to approach. In the end, Ruanlin passed away with a twisted mouth, reaching out her hand, and her eyes still open...
The original Ruan Jiaojiao felt no remorse and kept pressing the Ruan Family to make her delicious food because she was hungry.
Seeing all this, Fatty the cat cried in sorrow, wanting to go over and hold Ruanlin’s hand, to tell her she was there, but no matter how she yelled or ran, she couldn’t get through... She cried in the dream, and in reality, she was also crying, convulsing in Ruanlin’s arms.
"Granny, granny, granny..." she reached out her hands gropingly in mid-air, her voice hoarse.
Ruanlin’s heart felt like it was breaking with her calls.
In a frenzy, she held her while urging Ruan Jianguo to cycle faster.
Ruanlin never imagined that Jiaojiao would go into convulsions because of what happened during the day; now she was overwhelmed with regret, her guts turning green with it. If anything happened to her Little Jiaojiao, she would never let Liao Zhaoji get away with it!
The early spring night was cool, but Ruan Jianguo was soaked in cold sweat from pedaling. Arriving at the hospital, he jumped off the bicycle, scooped up Ruan Jiaojiao from Ruanlin’s arms and ran toward the hospital entrance.
The duty doctor was startled.
It was coincidentally that this duty doctor was the same one who had been the primary physician for Ruan Jiaojiao before.
Seeing Ruan Jiaojiao burning with fever and convulsions in Ruan Jianguo’s arms, he immediately became grave and directed them to the emergency room.
By the time Ruan Jiaojiao’s condition stabilized, the sky was already bright.
After talking with the doctor in the office for a while, Ruan Jianguo came out to see Ruanlin sitting beside the hospital bed, slapping her own face without stopping. He hurried over to stop her, "Mom, what are you doing!"
"It’s all my fault! If I hadn’t beaten Liao Zhaoji during the day, our little darling wouldn’t have gotten frightened."
In the countryside, according to the old folks’ saying, a sudden high fever like Ruan Jiaojiao’s was due to excessive fright, a convulsion brought on by shock.
"It’s not your fault, the doctor said it’s because Jiaojiao’s constitution is weak, which has led to habitual high fevers. There have been large fluctuations in the weather these days, and the temperature difference between morning and evening is also big; that’s why Jiaojiao developed a fever," Ruan Jianguo explained.
"Really?" Ruanlin Family wasn’t convinced.
Ruan Jianguo nodded earnestly.
Ruanlin felt slightly better, but turning her head to look at Jiaojiao’s flushed face, she was overwhelmed with guilt again, feeling that she still hadn’t taken good enough care of Jiaojiao, which had caused the fever.