Xiao Mandong stood where she was, her mind buzzing.
Xiaoli’s mother was right in front of her. Cui Lijuan was plump and well-fed, with a fleshy, fair, clean-looking face. She wore a neat cotton-padded jacket, her hands tucked into her sleeves.
Tang Jing, standing beside her, looked even more respectable. She wore little leather shoes, black trousers, and a brand-new cotton-padded jacket, with a plaid scarf wrapped around her neck—clearly not a cheap one.
Yet the image of Xiaoli flashed through Xiao Mandong’s mind: her hair was dry and yellow, tied messily like a bundle of straw. She was so thin that she looked skin and bones, with barely any flesh on her face and sharply protruding cheekbones. Her hands were covered in chilblain cracks, some of them still oozing blood. In weather this cold, she wore only a thin, worn cloth jacket, her lips blue from the chill.
And then there was Bowen, whose body was mottled with purple and blue bruises. His old injuries had not even healed before new ones were added, the scars overlapping in a horrifying display. He had suffered serious internal injuries as well.
Xiao Mandong truly could not understand why some people did not love their own children, yet treated other people’s children so well. Wasn’t there something wrong with them? When they bought new clothes for someone else’s child, did they never stop to wonder whether their own child was hungry or freezing?
“What are you looking at?” Cui Lijuan asked, growing uncomfortable under her stare. She frowned and instinctively rubbed at her face. There was something strange about the way this woman was looking at her, and it made her deeply uneasy.
“Doctor Xiao, you’ve been through more in life, so you must be more understanding than our Tang Jing. Give her a little leeway. Young girls are sensitive about their pride—don’t hold it against her.”
“Today’s incident wasn’t entirely one-sided. How about this? The two of you apologize to each other, and we’ll consider the matter settled. We all live in the same residential compound, so we’ll be seeing each other all the time. There’s no need to make such a small matter so ugly, don’t you agree?”
Cui Lijuan’s voice was gentle. She knew Tang Jing well. The girl had lost her temper today because she could not bear people pointing and whispering about her after she had been transferred to another position. It was understandable that a young girl cared about her reputation. As long as she gave Tang Jing a way out, the matter would pass. If it continued to escalate, no one would benefit.
Besides, Doctor Xiao was highly valued by the hospital director. For the sake of future relations, she could not afford to openly oppose her.
Surely Doctor Xiao would not refuse to show the department chief’s wife some respect. The weather was bitterly cold, and her husband would be returning soon. She wanted to settle the matter quickly, before he saw what was happening.
Before Xiao Mandong could respond, Qi Yuqing stepped forward and spoke up for her.
“Sister Cui, what are you talking about? Doctor Xiao did nothing wrong by saving a patient. Why should she apologize to Tang Jing? Are you saying that from now on, whenever there’s a patient Tang Jing can’t treat at the hospital, they should simply wait to die? And if someone else steps in to save them and Tang Jing feels bad, that person has to apologize and comfort her?”
She truly had not expected someone who looked as honest and meek as Cui Lijuan to say something like that. The person who had requested Tang Jing’s transfer was her father. What did any of this have to do with Xiao Mandong? Was Cui Lijuan afraid to confront her own brother and had come here looking for an easy target instead?
Cui Lijuan grew flustered. “You… What are you saying? When did I ever say patients should wait to die? I only wanted Doctor Xiao not to make an issue of it. They’re about the same age, and they both studied medicine. I’m sure they have plenty in common to talk about. If they clear the air, they could even become friends in the future. Tang Jing was spoiled by us and has a bit of a temper, but you should try to understand her too. She’s been without parents since she was little. The poor child really has had it hard.”
“You really are a devoted mother,” Xiao Mandong said sarcastically. “So because she’s young, everyone is supposed to accommodate her? She may not have a mother of her own, but she certainly hasn’t lacked maternal love from you. Still, the way you raise her is called ‘spoiling someone to death.’ I honestly can’t tell whether you love her or hate her.”
The sarcasm in Xiao Mandong’s voice was impossible to miss. Looking at Cui Lijuan and Tang Jing, she thought they truly deserved each other—they wore exactly the same sort of face. It was no wonder Tang Jing had behaved this way.
At first, Xiao Mandong had thought there might be some explanation for why Cui Lijuan neglected her own child while protecting someone else’s. But now that she thought about it, what explanation could there be? It was simply a choice made after weighing the benefits.
“You… How can you drive a wedge between us?” Cui Lijuan protested. “Everyone in the residential compound has seen how well I’ve treated Tang Jing all these years. What ‘spoiling someone to death’? You’re talking nonsense! You’re being completely unreasonable. I asked you to apologize because I was trying to help you. Didn’t you see me signaling you? If you both just say you’re sorry, we can all go home and live in peace. Why are you being so petty? It’s only a sentence or two—it’s not as if you’ll lose a piece of flesh.”
Xiao Mandong’s words had left Cui Lijuan rattled. She had always maintained the image of being a kind and devoted aunt. How could this wretched girl accuse her of deliberately ruining Tang Jing?
“If you’re wrong, you’re wrong. If you’re not, you’re not. I’m not going to confuse right and wrong the way you do.”
Xiao Mandong felt genuinely sorry for that girl, Xiaoli. Compared with Wang Meixia, Cui Lijuan was no better—in fact, she was even worse.
“You girl… honestly…” Cui Lijuan had not finished speaking when she suddenly stopped.
A middle-aged man strode toward them, dressed in a Sun Yat-sen suit, his face as dark as the bottom of a cooking pot.
It was Tang Guanshan. He walked up and glared fiercely at Cui Lijuan.
“Cui Lijuan, how old are you? And you still bring Jingjing out here to make trouble. She’s young and doesn’t know better, but don’t you? I know you care about her and can’t bear to see her suffer, but what position the hospital assigns her has nothing to do with Doctor Xiao.”
“I didn’t bring her here. I didn’t!” Cui Lijuan snapped back. “Your precious niece insisted on coming to make a scene. What was I supposed to do? I tried to pull her away and reason with her—I even bruised my arm—and all I got was, ‘Mind your own business.’ And now suddenly it’s all my fault?”
When she heard her husband once again trying to sacrifice her dignity to protect Tang Jing, Cui Lijuan felt as though her chest were blocked. She was especially hurt. They were husband and wife—why was it that every time Tang Jing caused trouble, Tang Guanshan always found a way to make her clean up the mess? She truly could not understand his behavior.
“Cui Lijuan…”
Tang Guanshan growled at her. He had not expected her to contradict him in public. What was wrong with this woman lately? She was always speaking with barbs in her voice. If the hospital leaders learned what had happened today, Tang Jing would almost certainly be disciplined.
Tang Jing had not even secured a permanent position. The job at the cashier’s office had been arranged by the hospital leaders out of consideration for him. What was wrong with taking some responsibility for the girl? Cui Lijuan was a permanent employee, and the leaders generally would not say anything to her. Why was she being so difficult today?
Tang Guanshan believed that everything wrong with Tang Jing was Cui Lijuan’s fault. Cui Lijuan had been the one raising her all these years, and she had turned a once-excellent, well-behaved child into what she was now.
…………
