CH 4

Cold, it’s really cold. Yu Xiao couldn’t stop himself from shivering and shouted in his head from time to time. A vague voice came from afar. Although he couldn’t hear it clearly, the warm hands touching him made him feel familiar, just like his mother’s hands. However, his mother has been dead for more than twenty years now. Sure enough, was he hallucinating because he was experiencing the so-called loneliness after death?

But really, he wanted to see his mother again, even if it was just a picture of her. Hopefully, he can see her at least one more time.

He didn’t know if his desire was too strong or he was having hallucinations, but when Yu Xiao opened his eyes in daze, he really saw his mother who has been dead for more than twenty years. But why does his mother look so much younger?

Yu Xiao didn’t have time to think further about it and fell into a deep sleep. He didn’t see the worried expression on the young woman’s face in front of him.

“Xiaoxiao, what’s wrong?” The young woman asked anxiously, “Are you feeling uncomfortable?”

“Ah? No, no. Mom, when will I be discharged from the hospital?” Yu Xiao came back to his senses and asked with his eyebrows furrowed together.

A week had passed since he woke up. From the initial shock to the occasional surprise now, he has slowly accepted the fact that he had gone back to when he was just ten years old. Although he was still perplexed as to why he would encounter this kind of bizarre thing, which only happens in novels. But thinking of it, he was still very lucky that he had gone to the time when he was just ten years old, at least his beloved mother was still alive and healthy.

“We’ll leave the hospital after your body is healed.”

“But mom, our family doesn’t have that much money to pay for the hospital fee, right?” Yu Xiao clearly remembered that at this time, their family basically did not have any savings. The main source of their family’s income was from his mother who was working in a factory, with an income of 30 to 40 yuan a month.

This money was considered a good income in the 1980s, as the consumption at this time was not as expensive as that of later generations. For instance, the pork at this time only cost 80 to 90 cents per catty, but later on the price increased up to 60 to 70 yuan a catty.

The 30 yuan something was enough to support their family’s living expenses for a month. But because of Yu Xiao’s father’s addiction in gambling and alcohol, the money that was originally enough to buy food and clothes was spent quickly, causing them to be hungry from time to time.

Because Yu Xiao’s grandmother was an exceedingly controlling person and directly held the financial power in the family, adding to the fact that she preferred her youngest daughter and greatly despised her eldest son, Yu Xiao’s family didn’t have it easy. Yu Xiao’s mother not only had to work hard to support the family, she also had to endure the constant criticism from her mother-in-law and sister-in-law.

Just like what happened this time. Yu Xiao was pushed from behind by his cousin, who was his aunt’s son, into the river. Although the depth of this river was less than two meters, for a ten-year-old child it was very deep. It was now late in autumn and the temperature of the river was around two to three degrees.

This made Yu Xiao, who was born prematurely and has always been poor in health, flutter helplessly in water as he didn’t know how to swim. He swallowed a lot of water and his body soon sank into the river.

As for the cousin who pushed him into the river, after seeing him drown into the water, the mischievous look on his face was changed into a panicked look. He immediately looked around to see if anyone else witnessed what he did before running away quickly. He didn’t even ask anyone to help Yu Xiao out of the river.

It was Yu Xiao’s mother who was holding a washbasin full of dirty clothes and intending to wash them at the river, noticed that someone was drowning in the river. She hurriedly dropped the washbasin on the ground and jumped into the river to save the drowning person.

It’s just she didn’t expect that the drowning person was her own child. As soon as she saw her son’s appearance, she panicked. She immediately carried him and ran towards the nearest hospital in the town.

The nearest hospital was about five to six miles away from their home. She didn’t care about anything and directly ran with all her might. At this moment, only one thought was left in her mind: Hurry up! She needs to hurry up!

When she finally saw the gate of the hospital, Yu Xiao’s mother burst into tears. She rushed into the hospital with great strides and shouted loudly, “Doctor! Doctor! Please save my child! Please!”

“What’s wrong with this child?” The family members of the other patients surrounded her. They quickly helped her carry the child onto the bed and pushed him to the emergency room.

“He, he fell into the river. Is my child alright? Please save him!” With a worried expression, she begged the medical staff in front of her.

“Don’t worry, we will try our best to save him. You can wait outside.” After a nurse at the side said this, she directly closed the door of the emergency room.

Looking at the red light that was turned on, she felt extremely tormented in her heart. Strength slowly left her body and she slumped on the cold floor helplessly. She continued to stare nervously at the operating room, for fear that some bad news would come out.

Time passed in this way. Minute by minute, until three hours later, but the operating room was still lit up. As the time went on, her heart became more and more uneasy.

At last, the door of the operating room finally opened after five hours. Yu Xiao’s mother was so nervous that she failed to get up from the ground several times. She took a deep breath and finally stood with the help of the wall.

She stumbled forward and grabbed the doctor’s clothes. “Doctor, how is he?”

The doctor who was pulled immediately reacted and supported her to stand up. He comforted her, “It’s alright now. Your son’s life is not in danger anymore. However, he is in comatose. But don’t worry, he will wake up by tomorrow.”

“Okay, okay, that’s good. I’m now relieved. Thank you, thank you doctor!” When she heard what the doctor said, her heart that was hanging for a long time finally calmed down.

After sending her son to the ward, she remembered that she haven’t paid the hospital fee yet, as she was too nervous and in a hurry when she arrived at the hospital just now.

Thinking of this, she ran straight to the hospital without carrying any money with her. She explained the situation to the medical staff and went home again in a hurry. She had to get the money first before that man could take it away.

Finally, she was able to return home before that man came back. She carefully took out her wages she had hidden in the house and was about to leave with it when she heard the familiar voice downstairs. She unconsciously stuffed the money into her pocket, but before she could stuff it completely, the door was kicked open by the man.

A strong of smell of alcohol assaulted the entire room as a noticeably drunk voice rang out. “Stinky bitch, hurry up and give me the money. Take it out now.”

“I, I don’t have any money.” She quietly shrank her head and replied with a small voice. The money was her son’s life-saving money and there was no way that would give it to this man just to be spent for gambling. The woman who had always been obedient and timid decided to finally resist for that sake of her son’s life.

“You don’t have money? You, who do you think you are lying to? Huh?” The man evidently didn’t believe her words. He angrily walked towards her direction and pulled her skirts while cursing at her. “Speak! The money, where did you put it? Believe it or not, if you don’t say it, I will kill you!”

“I, I really didn’t lie to you. I really, really don’t have money.”

“Fart! I went to your factory just now. They said that wages were paid the day before yesterday. Don’t think about lying to me.”

“I’m not, I’m not lying!”

“Ah? How dare you lie to me? See if I don’t beat you to death!” When the man finished his words, he unceremoniously pushed her on the ground and pulled out his belt before slamming it on her body fiercely.

“Ah! Stop, stop hitting me. I really didn’t lie to you.” Yu Xiao’s mother rolled around on the ground in pain while resisting the belt that was constantly being drawn to her.

“Heh! I will say it again, you stinky bitch, where did you hide the money?” The man finally stopped his violent whipping when he saw the money that fell out from her pocket. He picked it up and patted it proudly.

“No, no, that’s Xiaoxiao’s life-saving money.” She quickly crawled up from the ground and hugged the man’s thigh. She begged: “Xiaoxiao fell into the river. He’s in the hospital right now and I need to use the money to pay for his hospital’s bill. Please, return that to me. Next month, I will give you all my salary! Okay?”

“Get out!” The man kicked her violently which caused her to slam on the ground again. “If that bastard is dead, then let him be dead. What do you mean by money? Get out, don’t spoil my happiness!”

Yu Xiao’s mother revealed a trace of struggle as she looked at the departing figure of the man, but when she thought her son who was still lying weakly in the hospital, she hardened her heart and quickly made a decision: No matter what, she can’t let the money be taken away by him. Absolutely not!

She looked at the man’s swaying figure who began to walk down the stairs and made up her mind. She exerted all her strength to stand up, walked towards his back with light steps before stretching out her hand to push him.

She watched the man fall directly from the stairs. But because the height that fell from was not high, he just passed out and didn’t bleed.

Then she checked carefully whether the man was still fine or not. She grabbed the man’s hand that’s still holding the money tightly and took the money out. With the money in her hand, she quickly ran to the hospital. She had to pay the hospital bill now.

After giving the money to the hospital, Yu Xiao’s mother finally heaved a sigh of relief. Now, she just needs to wait for her Xiaoxiao to wake up.

While she was waiting at the hospital, the man who she pushed down from the stairs finally woke up. This time, his mind was clear and he can remember what happened before. The pain from his body made him pause for a bit before he exploded like a bomb. A ferocious expression appeared on his face. “Stinky bitch, you dare to push me. It looks like you didn’t want to live anymore! Alright, then I will help you!”

Yu Xiao used to be ignorant in his past life. He recklessly stopped his parents from divorcing, causing his mother to pass away due to overworking when she was just forty years old.

No one knew, but what the man did today only made Yu Xiao more determined not to stop and even speed up the divorce of his parents in the near future.