The Perinatal Family Members beside them, who had been watching the whole time, chimed in, “Exactly! Aren’t you here too? You’re a grown man—how could you not take care of a child?”
“What kind of taking care does it need? Look at my family—aren’t they all doing fine here in the hospital?”
By this time, the wave of layoffs had already started, but since the neighboring city was an industrial hub, many people still had to work.
Even those who didn’t go to factories would set up small stalls outside to make money. Who had the time to watch children? Everyone just brought all the kids to the hospital wards, letting them run around and play freely.
At mealtimes, they would get extra bowls of food at the canteen, and in the evening, they’d take them back home to sleep.
Not bringing the children to the hospital wasn’t an option either. The kids were too young and hadn’t started kindergarten.
Since everyone at home was working, there was no one to watch them except bringing them to the hospital and keeping an eye on them there.
“If your wife misses the child, just bring the kid over for her to see for a moment. It’s no big deal,” someone said.
Mother Zhao spoke pitifully, “Younger sister, unlike you city folks, coming to the hospital for us is no easy task. We’re from Shui Bu Town, so bringing my daughter-in-law here means taking a taxi, spending who knows how much money.
And then making the trip back again to pick up the child—how much more money will that cost? On top of that, I’m not well and get carsick easily. It’s barely manageable for me to take care of her alone, and now there’s this little one too. I really can’t do it!”
As she spoke, she held her forehead and groaned in pain, her strength fading as she said, “If I collapse, Zongbao will have to take care of me.
Then he’ll be left to care for the three of us—old, young, and little. How on earth could he manage?” She pleaded to Xu Huiqing, “My dear, I beg you, please stop causing trouble. I’m sorry—I really am. Just let me and Zongbao be. Can’t you have a peaceful confinement?”
Her sunken cheeks, sparse hair, and gaunt frame made her look fragile and unwell.
Hearing this, the others began to sympathize with her and urged Xu Huiqing, “Miss, why don’t you listen to your mother-in-law? Take care of the little one first and get your strength back. The child won’t run away or be lost at home. There’s no need to worry so much.”
“That’s right. I can see your mother-in-law hasn’t had it easy either. She’s nothing but skin and bones, yet she’s taking care of you during your confinement.
Sometimes, people just need to have some conscience. It wasn’t right for your mother-in-law to spit in your porridge, but from yesterday until now, she’s been feeding your son carefully, bottle by bottle, without missing a beat. Even if you don’t feel for your mother-in-law, don’t you at least care about your son?”
Mother Zhao wiped away tears, “The poor child hasn’t even had a drop of his mother’s milk since birth.”
At this, the family members in the ward seemed to forget that Xu Huiqing had just been wheeled out of the emergency room and had only just eaten her first meal. Instead, they began to sympathize with Mother Zhao and the child born to Xu Huiqing.
“It’s pitiful. This child has had nothing but misfortune since birth. His mother almost died.”
“No way. For the next couple of days, he can eat at my wife’s place. She has plenty of milk!” A proud voice declared, “I’ve been raising chickens for a while now. My daughter-in-law has half a chicken every day, plus a big bowl of crucian carp tofu soup. Her milk flow is incredible!”
That was indeed something she was proud to say.
Compared to Mother Zhao, she was a far kinder mother-in-law!
Zhao Zongbao, seeing his mother had said enough, immediately promised, “Alright, once you get home, I’ll have Second Sister bring Xiao Xi back. Then I’ll call First Sister, Second Sister, and Third Sister to come help take care of you. With so many people looking after you, you just focus on your confinement and get well, okay?”
Xu Huiqing knew it was impossible to rely on Zhao Zongbao to bring Xiao Xi back.
She was aware the woman in that other household was still a few months away from giving birth, and until the child was born, they were still taking decent care of Xiao Xi.
Even though her heart ached and she was tormented by worry, she understood—just as the Nurse Head had advised—that she needed to recuperate first. Without good health, how could she find her daughter? How could she take care of her?
Fortunately, unlike her past life, she didn’t have to search the entire world for her daughter anymore. She already knew exactly where her daughter was.
Suppressing the anxiety and pain that felt like being slowly torn apart, she forced herself to calm down, closed her eyes, and tried to rest well.
Zhao Zongbao couldn’t stay in the hospital for even an hour before he grew restless. Finding an excuse, he said, “Huiqing, I’m going to the outskirts to see if I can find some Old Mother Chickens for you. I’ll buy a couple of Old Mother Chickens and some fish for you to eat!”
With that, he ran out and disappeared.
Mother Zhao heaved a sigh of relief when her son left. She no longer looked as pitiful or tense as when he was around and focused entirely on taking care of her precious eldest grandson. Seeing Xu Huiqing awake, she wanted to express milk for her again.
Xu Huiqing dodged her outstretched hand and said, “Mom, the doctor just gave me medication. Milk produced after taking medicine can’t be fed to the baby; it will affect his health. The hospital has formula; please feed him formula these next few days.”
Mother Zhao’s hand paused, then withdrew, but she muttered, “You… I don’t even know what to say to you. You get yourself almost sick over such a small thing. When I was pregnant with Pan Di, even when I was about to give birth, I was still carrying water. Such a huge water jar—every day I carried it all by myself. Three days after giving birth, I was already milking cows and working in the fields. If everyone were as delicate as you, life wouldn’t be livable, and people shouldn’t live!”
Her words instantly resonated with many family members of similar age in the ward.
“That’s real hardship. I returned to work seven days after giving birth. Didn’t stop even on New Year’s Eve—started again on New Year’s Day. No minor injuries stopped us from being on the front line!”
“Those days were like that! Back then, it was tough. Forget chicken soup, we’d eat anything just to fill our stomachs!”
Mother Zhao wiped her tears, “You younger folks are city people with supply grain and better lives. When I was pregnant, there wasn’t even enough to eat. I was so hungry I ate grass and dug up roots! Once, I ate a handful of beans and got scolded by my mother-in-law from one end of the village to the other. Even so, she couldn’t move off her bed in the last few years of her life—it was me who cared for her. In the end, she took my hand and said sorry. She said, ‘You’re the good one.’”
Those words made all the suffering she had endured feel worthwhile.
Mother Zhao was a strange woman.
When she was young, her father-in-law and mother-in-law didn’t treat her as a person. Her father-in-law, a grown man, even beat his daughter-in-law. S
he said her mother-in-law was not as cruel as others made her out to be, but during the last years when her mother-in-law was bedridden and unable to move, it was she who patiently cared for her—cleaning, feeding, everything.
Zhao’s father was also quick to anger and scold her, but she took care of him meticulously as well.
Her five daughters had seen from a young age how she was bullied by the grandparents. They helped her stand up for herself, helped with chores, fought for her. Yet, she often scolded them harshly behind their backs, using the most insulting words, making them feel worthless.
But for Zhao Zongbao, who would frequently reprimand her by pointing his finger, she cared for him like a King of Little Emperors.
When Xu Huiqing was younger and didn’t understand, she confided in Xu Mother during visits home, expressing her confusion.
Xu Mother told her, “Isn’t it good your husband protects you? So many women want to marry such a man and can’t. His five older sisters take care of the maternal side. Everything belongs to your husband’s family. No uncles or brothers are fighting with him. Isn’t that great?”
Back then, there was no saying like “don’t marry a man with too many older sisters” or “one sister-in-law, two mothers-in-law, five sisters-in-law, and six mothers-in-law above your head.” People around envied her fortune. Her husband was the only son of the family, with many little sisters-in-law to care for her side of the family. The Zhao family was a rare, ideal household.
Everyone said so, and she believed it too. But year after year, only she knew how suffocating it was to live in such a family.
Now, as she listened to Mother Zhao and the other Perinatal Family Members talking nearby, she felt like an outsider watching from the sidelines, her heart utterly unmoved.
She would never hear the kind of advice from others again, “Your mother-in-law suffered a lot when she was young. You should be more filial to her!”
Some people’s suffering was theirs to bear—like her mother-in-law’s, and like hers.
***
Zhao Zongbao claimed he had gone to buy Old Mother Chickens and crucian carp, but he never returned. For three whole days, no one saw him.
Mother Zhao dared not cause any more trouble, especially with so many family members watching in the ward. At mealtimes, the Perinatal Family Members called her down to get food with them, serving the same dishes—either chicken soup or fish soup—foods suitable for confinement.
She had no chance to spit in the food anymore.
When she bought chicken soup noodles or fish soup noodles for Xu Huiqing, she only ate a single steamed bun and a bowl of plain congee herself. Seeing this, people in the ward started advising Xu Huiqing, “Your mother-in-law isn’t easy. She gives you chicken soup noodles but only nibbles on a dry steamed bun herself.”
Others noticed Mother Zhao’s frail figure and urged her, “The canteen food isn’t expensive. You should eat something good yourself. Look at how thin you’ve become!”
Mother Zhao, biting on a dry steamed bun, looked pitiful and said, “Younger sister, I’m just an old country woman—not like you city folk with salaries. I only have as much money as my son gives me. It’s never enough even to buy meals for my daughter-in-law, let alone more.”
At her words, the older mothers in the ward sighed in empathy.
One woman, with a bold and straightforward nature, said, “I’m telling you, Old Sister, just go get your food from the canteen first. When your daughter-in-law is discharged, you can settle accounts together. Your son won’t refuse to give you money just because you ate two extra pieces of fish.”
Their town was surrounded by rivers and waterways, and fish were never in short supply all year round.
Mother Zhao would not tolerate anyone speaking ill of her son and immediately defended him loudly, “No way. My son is so filial and cares for his wife so much. The other day, he even said he’d buy Old Mother Chickens for my daughter-in-law. He doesn’t know the city well and can’t find his way around, but he’s still thinking of buying Old Mother Chickens for her!”
The family members on sick leave agreed on the surface but sneered inwardly.
That night, Zhao Zongbao, who had been missing for two days, finally appeared at the entrance of the obstetrics ward.
The family members noticed he came empty-handed and a few deliberately sarcastic voices asked, “Hey! Didn’t you say you went to buy Old Mother Chickens for your wife? Where are they?”
Zhao Zongbao always spoke so charmingly, but not a single word was truthful.
Saying he was buying Old Mother Chickens for Xu Huiqing was just an excuse. Once outside the ward, he forgot all about it.
Was the city’s disco no fun? Was the skating rink not worth it?
He was exactly at the age to enjoy himself. Shui Bu Town had nothing to offer, but the neighboring city dazzled with color and excitement. He had long since lost himself in the fun and forgotten about buying chickens for his wife.
He thought to come to the hospital just because Xu Huiqing had been there three days and was about to be discharged.
When someone mentioned Old Mother Chickens, he suddenly remembered that a few days ago, he had said he would buy some for his wife.
Yawning from exhaustion after dancing disco all night and skating all day, he said, “I went to the countryside these past two days looking for Old Mother Chickens, but no one would sell. They only raise them for their own use.”
The questioner immediately said, “Why go to the countryside? I have some at home. I raised over twenty chickens for my daughter-in-law’s confinement. She eats half a chicken a day and can’t finish it all. How many do you want? I’ll share a few with you!”
Zhao Zongbao was caught off guard. Mother Zhao thought he was serious about buying Old Mother Chickens and hurriedly said, “There’s chicken soup at the hospital. Why buy Old Mother Chickens? We don’t know this city; even if we bought them, there’d be nowhere to cook!”
The kind-hearted Perinatal Family Members said, “Ha, the chickens at the hospital canteen are all from farms. They can’t compare to my home-raised Old Mother Chickens. Besides, the chicken soup at the hospital barely has any meat. What good is that? At home, I stew half a chicken or a whole chicken. If you want, I can cook some for your daughter-in-law while I stew mine. You won’t have to cook yourself, and I promise she’ll get plenty of meat!”
Originally, she was mocking the mother and son, but now she was genuinely selling her chickens. She raised more than thirty chickens, and her in-laws sent seven or eight more. Their small city house had a garden with vegetables, and over forty chickens crowed at dawn, almost driving the household crazy.
Zhao Zongbao then approached Xu Huiqing and smiled, asking, “Huiqing, I’m listening to you. If you want chicken, we’ll have these chickens. If you don’t want any, I’ll just go home and buy something for you to eat.”
Lying on the hospital bed, having rested well and eaten well for two days, Xu Huiqing looked at Zhao Zongbao with grateful eyes and turned to the family member next to her bed, saying, “Big Sister, I’ll trouble you these next few days.”
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