Lin Wanyi’s heart pounded violently.
She shook off Wang Keke’s hand and dashed toward the crowd.
When the villagers saw her, they parted to make way:
“Here, Wanyi, your mom’s over here. Hurry and come see—she’s passed out.”
He Jingchun clutched her chest:
“It’s not my fault, Wanyi. It really has nothing to do with me.
“I didn’t even touch her. She slapped me, and then she just collapsed.”
Lin Wanyi knelt on the ground and lifted Li Suhua into her arms. She quickly dialed 120, then called Lin Jiajun.
Li Suhua lay unconscious, her eyes tightly shut.
Lin Wanyi kept calling out to her:
“Mom, Mom, Mom, wake up, please wake up. Mom.”
Li Suhua didn’t respond. Wang Keke was also on the ground, crying and shouting for her grandmother.
He Jingchun kept yelling:
“It’s got nothing to do with me! Nothing to do with me!”
“If it’s got nothing to do with you, then who’s to blame?”
Lin Wanyi snapped, screaming at her:
“If you hadn’t said all those horrible things, if you hadn’t deliberately tried to upset my mom, would she have collapsed?
“You think saying it’s not your fault makes it true? I’m telling you—if my mom’s okay, fine. But if she has any problem whatsoever, I’ll make sure you pay for it.”
He Jingchun stumbled back several steps in fright:
“Don’t you threaten me. You are a mistress, plain and simple. I didn’t say anything wrong. Who are you trying to fool?
“She collapsed because of you. It’s not my fault. Your temper caused this. Don’t try to dump it all on me.
“Don’t even think about it.”
Lin Wanyi had no time to argue. She had to get Li Suhua to the hospital immediately.
Her mother had a history of cerebral infarction. She couldn’t get angry or worked up.
Every second dragged by, and Lin Wanyi lived in agony with every passing moment.
She didn’t dare imagine what would happen if her mother never woke up.
How could she bear it if her mother left her the same way her father had?
Ever since learning Li Suhua showed early signs of a stroke, Lin Wanyi had been constantly searching online for information about stroke aftereffects.
She knew all too well that severe strokes could turn a person into a vegetable.
Li Suhua wasn’t even sixty yet. She was still so young. She couldn’t just end up like that.
The ambulance finally arrived. Lin Wanyi anxiously told the doctor:
“Doctor, my mom has pre-stroke symptoms. Please save her. Please.”
The medical team quickly loaded Li Suhua into the ambulance.
They hooked her up to an oxygen tube, and the vehicle sped off toward the hospital, sirens blaring.
Lin Wanyi sat in the ambulance holding Wang Keke. Keke was scared, and she asked:
“Mom, is Grandma going to be okay? She’ll wake up, right?”
Lin Wanyi hugged her tight:
“Yes, she’ll be fine. She’ll definitely be fine.”
The ambulance arrived at the hospital, and Li Suhua was rushed into the emergency room.
Lin Wanyi and Wang Keke waited anxiously outside. About ten minutes later, Lin Jiajun showed up, drenched in sweat.
“Sis, what the hell happened? How did Mom suddenly collapse?”
Wang Keke immediately spoke up:
“Someone falsely accused Mom of being a mistress. Grandma got so angry she fought with her, and then she fainted.”
“Who? Who was it?”
Lin Jiajun paced the hallway with his hands on his hips:
“Who the hell has been spouting nonsense? I’m going back to their house right now to demand the truth. Who gave them the right to spread lies?”
As he spoke, he pulled out his phone and shouted into the village group chat:
“Who in this village has been spreading rumors that my sister is a mistress? Whoever it is, come out right now and apologize to her.
“My mom is in the hospital right now. If anything happens to her, I swear I won’t let any of you gossiping bastards off the hook.”
His message instantly triggered people in the group to distance themselves, one after another typing:
“Wasn’t me. I didn’t say anything.”
“Me neither.”
“Not me either.”
Everyone was covering their own backs. Lin Jiajun directly tagged He Jingchun:
“You’d better find proof that my sister is a mistress, or you’re going to deal with me.”
With that, he angrily turned off his phone and didn’t look at it again.
Lin Wanyi tried to calm him:
“Focus on Mom first. We can deal with everything else later.”
Lin Jiajun nodded, and the three of them stared together at the emergency room doors.
A doctor came out to inform them:
“Our preliminary diagnosis is a blockage in a major blood vessel due to a clot. We’ll need to perform surgery, but don’t worry—it’s not a major procedure.
“It’s minimally invasive. You got her here very quickly, so her recovery shouldn’t be too complicated.
“Please go ahead and handle the admission and payment.”
Lin Jiajun rushed off to take care the paperwork. Lin Wanyi felt a huge weight lift from her heart.
She told Wang Keke:
“It’s okay. Grandma will be fine. It’s just a small surgery. No worries.”
She was reassuring both Keke and herself.
It had only been six months since her father had suddenly left her.
They had raised her for over twenty years, and she hadn’t even had the chance to repay him before he was gone.
If her mother were taken from her so abruptly too, she wouldn’t be able to handle it. She would completely break down.
She couldn’t let her mother come to harm. Absolutely not.
So she sat on the hallway bench holding Wang Keke, waiting and waiting.
Until Chen Hui called her:
“Sis, where did you and Keke go? Mom’s not home either. Did you all go out?”
Lin Wanyi didn’t want Chen Hui to worry—she was pregnant and the pregnancy was still delicate.
She simply told her:
“Mom wasn’t feeling well, so Keke and I brought her to the hospital for a checkup. We’ll be back later. Don’t worry.”
Lin Jiajun, who had returned after paying the fees, overheard the conversation.
Lin Wanyi said to him: “The doctor said it’s a minor surgery. I’ll stay here and keep watch. You should go back, so Huihui doesn’t worry.”
Lin Jiajun refused to leave:
“It’s fine. I’ll call her and explain. I still want to wait until Mom’s surgery is over.
“A stroke is no small thing. At her age, who knows if there will be any aftereffects.”
They all waited together in the corridor for Li Suhua’s surgery to finish.
Back home, Chen Hui was alone when Zhao Yulan called her downstairs:
“Huizi, your mom’s been hospitalized for surgery, and you’re still here?”
“What? Surgery? What surgery?”
Chen Hui had no idea what was going on.
Zhao Yulan showed her phone:
“Look—Jiajun posted in the village group. Your mom passed out and went to the hospital.”
Chen Hui panicked.
After living with Li Suhua for several years, she saw her as her own mother.
Seeing Lin Jiajun’s angry messages made her realize just how serious things were.
She didn’t dare wait for Lin Jiajun to come pick her up. She hailed a cab and headed straight to the hospital.
When Chen Hui appeared outside the operating room, Lin Jiajun immediately pulled her onto a chair:
“How did you come? Who told you?”
Ignoring his question, Chen Hui asked instead:
“What happened to Mom? Why does she need surgery? Is it serious? How long has she been in there?”
Afraid of upsetting her, Lin Wanyi quickly reassured her:
“It’s not serious. Just a blocked blood vessel. We caught it early and got her to the hospital in time.
“It’s fine. The doctor said it’s just a minimally invasive procedure. Don’t get worked up, okay? You’ve got your baby to think about.”
