Chapter 50: The Miserable and Collapsing Xiao Jiliang

Chapter 50: The Miserable and Collapsing Xiao Jiliang

The three siblings, Zhao Long, Zhao Hu, and their sister, huddled on the bed, not daring to make a sound or move. They all hid their heads under the covers, holding their breath.

They could sense that something major had happened.

Something even bigger than when their father was beaten and sent to the hospital.

"Whimpering, sneezing, achoo, achoo!"

"Achoo!"

Xiao Jiliang, her hair wet, wrapped in a blanket, and her voice hoarse, kept pounding on Su An's door.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

"Su An, you damned slut, get out here! You shameless and unfilial thing, how could you do something so sick? Are you crazy?"

"Get out here and die! I’m gonna take you down with me!!"

"Come out here, aaah, achoo!"

"Wuuu, are you even human? Even animals aren't like you! Aren't you afraid of being struck by lightning? You’ve been slept with by everyone and anyone, our family’s been cursed for generations..."

Su An, listening to the sporadic curses from outside, felt no emotional reaction. She had heard these insults so many times before, they barely registered anymore.

Without a second thought, she grabbed a tissue from her bag, tore off a piece, balled it up, and shoved it in her ear.

Then she pulled the covers over her head and drifted off to sleep.

As the early morning dawned, Xiao Jiliang wobbled out, wrapped in a blanket, supporting herself against the wall. She had been crying all night.

She had a high fever.

"Cough, cough, cough~"

People heading out for work, school, or grocery shopping, and others getting some exercise made the downstairs area lively.

Curious onlookers quickly gathered around her.

"Hey, Auntie Xiao, what's up with you?"

Wang Manying, carrying a vegetable basket, saw Xiao Jiliang about to fall and quickly moved forward to support her.

The moment she touched her, she felt the intense heat. Seeing Xiao Jiliang's red, swollen eyes and chapped lips, Wang Manying's heart sank.

She quickly probed Xiao Jiliang's forehead. "Wow, you're burning up!"

"You have a fever?"

Other neighbors also checked her temperature. "Oh, she really does have a fever."

"She was fine yesterday. What happened overnight to make her so sick?"

"Quick, go to the hospital for an IV drip."

There was still a long battle ahead, and she needed to rest well and regain her strength, or else she wouldn't be able to drive the entire Zhao family mad. It would be a disservice to the more than a decade of abuse she endured in her previous life and the two lives lost.

"Oh dear, with Daxing still in the hospital, the kids being so young, and Auntie Xiao sick too."

Auntie Xiao, managing to evoke everyone's sympathy with her pitiful state, immediately grabbed Wang Manying's arm and sought her help.

"Manying, could you please call Xiao Yu and tell her what's happening at my place? Ask her to come back."

"Cough, cough, cough."

"I'll write the phone number for you."

Faced with the neighbors' concern and thinking about her experience from the night before, Auntie Xiao couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with sadness.

Even a high fever couldn’t stop her from wanting to air her grievances.

She felt so hurt, so wronged. She felt like she had been utterly humiliated...

"You don’t understand. At my age, I was humiliated by Su An, that shameless girl, riding... *sob*... riding on... *sob*... oh... *hic*..."

Li Baohua patted Auntie Xiao's back to help her calm down while comforting her. "Oh, stop crying, stop crying. We all know, you talk about it all the time, how the new daughter-in-law treats you like you’re nothing, riding roughshod over you."

"I'm saying, you always get so worked up over nothing. Why let her treating you like dirt bother you so much just because she doesn’t do what you want?"

Liu Dama, with a sarcastic tone, added, "Yeah, exactly. You need to chill out. Holding grudges will only make you sick. Is it really worth it?"

"And then you’d blame Xiao Su for treating you like dirt."

Auntie Xiao choked, "No, it's not like that, this time it's real, cough, cough, cough, she really rode on... *sob*... my head and treated me like dirt..."

Liu Dama grinned, cutting Auntie Xiao off. "Oh~ so you’re saying, all the previous times were wrongly blamed on her?"

"And this time it’s real?"

"Hmph, anyway, I don’t believe a word some people say."

"If you hadn’t picked a fight with her, why would she even bother with you? I'm telling you, people should be kind. Do you think everyone is like Li Li, who you can boss around however you want?"

Auntie Xiao, already feeling unwell, was choked by Liu Dama's words and coughed even more.

"No, it's not like that, I'm serious, that ill-mannered Su An rode on... my head..."

At this point, even Wang Manying, who usually got along with her, couldn’t take it anymore.

"Alright, alright, Auntie Xiao, stop saying it, go to the hospital now. You always have to argue and compete with others, we get it, okay? We all know Su An is unfilial, treating you like dirt, alright? Now, let’s go to the hospital."

"Cough, cough, cough. I'm telling the truth—why don’t you believe me?"

"Cough, cough, cough."

"Okay, okay, we believe you, we believe you. I think Liu Dama is right, you have such a small temper, it’s not a big deal."

Auntie Xiao waved her hands, trying to explain to Wang Manying, but was led outside by Li Baohua and Wang Manying.

"No, it's not... cough, cough, cough."

Realizing she couldn’t get through and having earned a reputation for being narrow-minded, Auntie Xiao, already feverish, became so anxious and angry that she blacked out.

"Hey, hey, Auntie Xiao, Auntie Xiao?"

"Oh dear, it’s really not worth getting so upset over. Take care of yourself."

Su An slept until late morning. The sunlight streaming in from the windowsill was blinding, and she woke up groggy.

She got out of bed, brushed her teeth, and washed her face, then went to the kitchen to scavenge for something to eat.

The kitchen cabinets were locked again. Su An curled her lips in disdain, still not getting the hint.

She gave the cabinet door a kick, and the freshly fixed door, just repaired a few days ago, broke again.

She rummaged around but found nothing decent—not even an egg.

She poured out a small half-pot of oil and mixed shredded carrots with flour to make herself a vegetable pancake. She also took out a salted duck egg from the jar to cobble together a meal for breakfast and lunch.

She walked into Xiao Jiliang's room to take a look but found no one.

The living room was empty too.

No one was home—not even Zhao Feng. The front door was wide open, so they must have gone out.

Su An washed the clothes she had changed the day before and hung them on the window of her room to dry.

She also went out to buy six new locks and several door hinges. Holding a hammer, she started hammering them onto the doors.

With nothing better to do, was it really too much to lock her door with seven locks?

Like a line of locks from the top of the door to the bottom, she secured them one by one. If that mother and son had the energy to pick the locks, they could take their time.