“I have nothing to say. I’ve heard Professor Tan mention that old lady at least ten times. Is this the only example he can give? Besides, that old lady’s son owns a factory and has the money to support his mother. We don’t have that kind of means. Either sell your house, or forget it. You decide.” Ya Ping looked at Li Juan’s retreating figure, feeling a pang of sadness.
Yaping discussed the difficulties with her sister, who said, "How can Lijuan be so selfish? She can't even bear the loss of interest, and she calls herself family! She has no humanity at all! I'll go get the principal back tomorrow, and you can throw it at her. Anyway, the money is in her hands; she can take it or leave it. We can't sell Mom's house. If we sell it, will Mom live with Lijuan? Can Lijuan take good care of her? I've heard Mom say so many times that your wife is lazy and good-for-nothing. Besides, have you thought about what if Mom gets sick later? What will we sell then?" Yaping didn't say a word.
The next day, my sister called again: "Yaping, we need to think of another way. The factory manager won't agree to withdraw our investment. All the money has been tied up in equipment, and there's no output yet, so how can we pay back the money? It'll take at least a year. The factory wants us to think of a solution first, and they'll pay us back with interest after a year. Don't worry, I'm going to Mudanjiang right now to go to Dad's factory and ask for the money. What kind of world is this! We work hard our whole lives, and when we're old and need to collect our debts, nobody cares!"
Yaping's father is about to start his second course of treatment, and Yaping is as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.
A week later, Guan Hua called: "Ya Ping! The company has agreed to reimburse 70% of the first phase. I'll negotiate the second phase later. You should raise the money and start the second phase as soon as possible!"
Yaping's heart soared with joy, like a light balloon floating in mid-air. "Lijuan! Could you borrow 30,000 yuan from your mother for an emergency? I'll borrow another 30,000 yuan from my workplace. My dad's company has agreed to reimburse it. We only need to pay 30%!"
"Really?! That's great news! It feels like two of the three mountains have been moved!" Lijuan was busy going home to ask for money.
Yaping and his family drove into the hospital in a large entourage.
"We are satisfied with the results of the first phase of treatment!" Professor Tan pointed to the newly taken X-rays and showed them to Yaping. "It's under control as we expected. However, this second phase is a huge test of physical strength. Chemotherapy kills both cancer cells and healthy cells, and with such a high dosage, I'm worried your father's body won't be able to handle it! Fortunately, our hospital recently imported a batch of anti-radiation Western medicine specifically for high-ranking officials, and the effects are excellent. I specially reserved a few doses for your father so he has enough strength to keep going. It's like a race; if you run ahead of the disease, you win; if you run behind, you lose. But this medicine is quite expensive, nearly two thousand yuan per dose!"
"Doctor, I've heard that traditional Chinese medicine is quite effective in assisting cancer treatment, and it seems to be less expensive. What do you think?"
"Traditional Chinese medicine, how should I put it? It's like superstition; the key is to believe. If you believe it's effective, then it will be effective. Many people don't even take medicine, saying that practicing Falun Gong can fight cancer! Do you believe that? If everyone were like that, there would be no need to open Western medicine hospitals. Of course, I'm not saying that traditional Chinese medicine is useless; it's very useful, taking a slow and gradual approach. I think after completing these three stages of treatment, it can be used as an adjunct to traditional Chinese medicine treatment. If you want to switch to Chinese medicine, we can consider it; I can add a few doses of prepared Chinese medicine to the prescription. You see... do we still need to use this imported Western medicine?"
"I'll go and discuss it with my family."
"Let me know when you've finished discussing it, so I can adjust the prescription. Hospital beds are very tight lately, and I can't guarantee your father will have a bed! If not, you'll have to wait."
"Dr. Tan, there's no need to discuss it anymore. I've made the decision. Please use the medicine as you see fit!" Ya Ping immediately replied, understanding the implication in his words.
"Lijuan, my dad was asking me today why you haven't been visiting him lately," Yaping said, trying to comfort Lijuan. Lijuan had been looking gloomy lately, rarely smiling.
"I look down on it, I want to save on transportation costs."
“Lijuan, don’t be like this. This is only temporary. Once Dad’s medical expenses are reimbursed, things won’t be so hard for us.”
“I don’t find it difficult at all; I’m doing quite well. To save your family money for medicine, I’ve started going back to my parents’ house for meals every day, and the food is pretty good.”
"Don't keep saying 'your family,' we're already husband and wife, we're a family."
“I’m not treated like a human being in your family! Does my word carry any weight? Does anyone even acknowledge me? So, the definition of a wife in your society is someone who works when she’s supposed to, and works when she’s not supposed to; who doesn’t speak when she shouldn’t, and doesn’t speak when she should. Humph! You’d better urge your sister to send the money over quickly! Your dad’s injection costs 2000 a day, and I’ve already developed high blood pressure. I hope that when I faint and end up in the hospital, firstly, you can call my family out of humanitarian spirit and have my mom send the money; secondly, don’t use my medical funds. Consider this my will. Take your hand away, I’m tired, I’m not in the mood.”
Yaping withdrew his hand and sighed.
Just as the second course of treatment was about to end, devastating news came from Mudanjiang!
"Yaping! I've been staying in the factory manager's office at my parents' factory! In the end, they only reimbursed me four hundred! That's not even enough for my round-trip transportation and food expenses here! What am I going to do?!" Guanhua's voice trembled with tears on the phone. "Ah!" Yaping gasped, speechless.
"Li Yaping! I don't care! Tell your sister to sell your mother's house right now! And tomorrow, get your father discharged from the hospital! Did your sister conspire with you to make me come home and scam money?! Damn it! If you don't pay back the money we borrowed, I'll fight you to the death!" Lijuan's eyes blazed with fury upon hearing the news, completely disregarding the fact that Yaping's mother was sitting right next to her. The outburst of that vulgar language was particularly cathartic, fully expressing the anger she had been harboring.
"Lijuan! You! You! You! This is too much! Who didn't intentionally cheat you out of your money! The family is in trouble now, and instead of helping out as a daughter-in-law, you're doing this! Are you even human?! You, you, you!" Yaping's mother stood up from the sofa, her finger trembling as she pointed at Lijuan.
"What right do you have to talk to me like that? You're the worst person in the world! Oh! When your family needs money, I'm your wife; when your family needs work, I'm your wife! Other than that, have you ever considered me part of your family? You! You still have the nerve to talk to me! Your own husband is sick, and you're reluctant to sell the house, not to mention that half of the house's value is your husband's! You're two-faced, sweet-talking, and treacherous—you're the most vicious one! All you do is badmouth me to your son; what else can you do? Your husband is sick, and my mother paid for it! Let me tell you, you old hag! If we're talking about who's human, everyone in my family is better than you! If it weren't for the fact that you're Yaping's mother, I would have thrown you out long ago! And I'm planning to follow your example in the future; when your son is sick, I'll leave him in the hospital to die. What's the big deal if he dies? I can remarry! I won't sell this house either; I'll keep it to house people later!"
Yaping's mother let out a low growl and fell back onto the sofa with her face tilted back.
"If you want to die, fall forward! You won't get hurt if you fall on the sofa!" Lijuan said angrily.
"Hu Lijuan! I'll kill you!!! ...
Suddenly, Yaping snapped back to reality and released his grip. Lijuan collapsed to the ground, not breathing for a long time. Yaping panicked and quickly pinched Lijuan's nose with one hand and her philtrum with the other. Over there, Yaping's mother was also lying motionless.
After a long while, Lijuan coughed loudly, tears streaming silently down her face, and said in a hoarse voice, "Go see your mother!"
Yaping's mother's face was ashen, her jaw clenched. Yaping pushed and shook her, but she didn't respond. "Mom! Mom!" Yaping burst into tears.
Lijuan started dialing 120 for emergency medical assistance.
Yaping's family is now in dire straits: two elderly people in the hospital, a dejected son, and a daughter-in-law covered in injuries.
"Tell your sister to come and take care of your parents." Lijuan said this, then picked up her packed bundle and went back to her parents' home.
"Oh dear! Why do you look so pale!" As soon as Lijuan entered the door, her mother exclaimed, "Didn't you sleep last night? Did you go to take care of a patient? Your eyes are bloodshot! Oh dear! Why is your neck so purple?!" Lijuan's mother touched Lijuan's neck. Tears streamed down Lijuan's face, and she didn't say a word.
“Yaping! He hit you! You son of a bitch! You heartless bastard! We gave them money and things they wanted! And in the end, they even abused my daughter! I’m calling 110 to report this! Arrest that son of a bitch!” Lijuan’s mother said, then picked up the phone.
Lijuan grabbed her mother and cried as she stopped her, "Mom!" Then, sobbing, she recounted what had happened, "It was my fault. I got angry and yelled at his mother. She's already in the hospital. Don't blame Yaping. I'm so scared myself. Luckily, his mother survived, otherwise, I would have gone to jail."
"Oh dear! You little brat! What did you say to his mother that made her sick?"
“I…I…I scolded her for not selling the house so she could remarry with it after her father died.” Lijuan finished speaking, then couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly. “You brat, you can be angry as you are, but how can you speak so recklessly? No wonder she has to be hospitalized. Sigh! A perfectly good family, ruined by that old man! If it weren’t for this old man’s misdeeds, you two would be living a very good life in Shanghai! What are you going to do now?!”
"Mom! I think they're unlikely to pay back the money they borrowed. They're destitute, they don't have a single penny left. Their company promised to reimburse them, but they're now denying it. Please don't pressure me for money right now! Otherwise, I'll kill myself!"
"I shouldn't have lent you the money in the first place. Northerners don't keep their word! They might have all ganged up on us to swindle us. You're honest and naive, how could you possibly fight them? Forget it. I'll just pawn it! There's a Shanghai saying, 'Consider this money a gift for your medical treatment,' and now it's really come true—it's like I've given it to them for medical treatment. What are you going to do now? Divorce Yaping? If his father hadn't died, you'd be dragged down to your death."
“If it weren’t for his parents, Yaping and I would be doing quite well. I think Yaping is a very conscientious person overall. His mother didn’t care whether his father got treatment or not, but he insisted on getting treatment. He’s a good person. If I didn’t feel sorry for him, I would have stopped caring about his family a long time ago.”
"Can you control the valve? His dad isn't going to die anytime soon, how much more will they smash in? Are you going to keep filling it in? I'm not giving them any more. I'll only be cheated once."
"Don't worry! No matter what, I'll make them sell the house this time. We'll deal with the rest later. I feel like we've been tricked during this hospitalization. That Professor Tan is a greedy professor who only knows how to get people to send money, completely disregarding people's ability to pay. He wants to squeeze every last drop of blood out of us. I'm determined to get his father out of the hospital and get him checked out at another hospital. If that doesn't work, we'll just wait to die at home. We've done everything we could; we can't let him lose his life."
"Yes! This time you have to be firm and act like the head of the household. If Yaping doesn't listen to you, then divorce him! Oh dear, even divorce won't work. We still have 100,000 yuan held as collateral at his house! He really doesn't have any foresight. From now on, it's not safe to put the money anywhere else, so we'll put it in the bank. Even if the interest is lower, at least it's still ours. However, you can't go back for now. You have to wait for Yaping to come and pick you up and apologize. Otherwise, if you go back on your own initiative, he'll beat you without any restraint next time, and you have to punish him. Also, if you go back now, you'll definitely have to take care of his old parents. You're already so thin, how can you take care of them?"
“I really can’t take care of them anymore. I need to stay home and write more to earn some extra money, otherwise I won’t even have money for food. I’ll ask his sister to take care of them. They’re all children, who says daughters don’t have an obligation to support their parents? I’ll definitely come when you need me in the future.”
When Lijuan went to work, Sister Cai could tell at a glance that something had happened at home. "Why do you look so miserable? Your face is pale. Don't let your father-in-law's illness ruin you!" Tears immediately welled up in Lijuan's eyes. She told Sister Cai to go outside and talk, and pulled Sister Cai downstairs.
"Sister Cai, I must have been crazy to say such a thing. But Ya Ping was too cruel; he almost strangled me to death," Li Juan sobbed uncontrollably.