Before Cui Lijuan could even walk out of the hospital, she spotted a crowd gathered around the billing office.
She covered her stomach instinctively, wanting to squeeze closer to see what was going on.
Before she could push her way into the crowd, she saw Tang Jing step out from inside, followed by two police officers.
Tang Jing looked terrible, her eyes were red and puffy. The moment she lifted her head and caught sight of Cui Lijuan, her eyes lit up at once. Without even paying any mind to the police officers behind her, she ran straight over.
"Aunt Er," she grabbed Cui Lijuan's arm in a desperate grip, her voice trembling with pleading, "go tell the police right now, tell them that you were the one who gave that medicine."
Cui Lijuan froze in shock. "What did you say?"
"You're pregnant. Even if it was you who slipped the medicine, nothing serious will happen to you. Besides, that's your own son. All you did was make him sleep a little, how big of a deal could that be? Please, Auntie, if you don't help me, I'm done for. Aunt Er, you have to save me..."
Tang Jing's hands were shaking all over. She was truly terrified this time. All she had wanted to do was make that fool quiet down for a little while, how could things have blown up this badly?
Cui Lijuan's face darkened instantly. She stepped back instinctively, pressing a protective hand tighter to her stomach. Take the blame for her? Over my dead body.
Then a thought suddenly struck her. If Tang Jing was gone, wouldn't Tang Guanshan's attention fall entirely on her and her baby from now on? He would never dote on Tang Jing all day every day anymore.
She took a deep breath, stepped forward to take Tang Jing's hand, and said in a soft, gentle voice,
"Don't worry. Go on with them, nothing bad will happen. Your auntie will figure something out, I promise."
A flicker of hope flashed across Tang Jing's face. "Thank you, Aunt Er."
Urged on by the police officers, Tang Jing could only leave with them, craning her neck to look back over and over again.
Cui Lijuan watched her receding figure, the gentle look on her face fading away into coldness.
If it weren't for Tang Jing, her last child would have been old enough to start primary school this year, wouldn't it? Would it have been a boy or a girl? Save her? As if. Not kicking her while she's down was already the most mercy she could offer.
She walked to the hospital gate and stood there for a long time in the cold wind.
She stroked her stomach. She couldn't let her child grow up without a father...
Instead of heading home, she went straight to the police station to ask about Tang Guanshan's situation.
She had just stepped inside the station when she heard Liu Pingchuan talking to someone around the corner, his tone almost a growl. She stopped in her tracks instinctively.
Zhao Hu's voice rang out, sharp and agitated. "What the hell have you done? You're the one who locked that guy up, I didn't know a single thing about it. Why the hell are they dragging me down with you to get punished?"
Liu Pingchuan kept apologizing. "Brother Hu, I never expected things to turn out this bad. That bastard just lashed out and started punching, I couldn't stop him in time. I'm really sorry, I'll think of a way to talk it over with the chief, I won't let you get dragged into this mess, I swear."
Liu Pingchuan turned around and spotted Cui Lijuan right then, the dissatisfaction in his eyes completely unconcealed. "What are you doing here? Your family is going to get me in so much trouble."
He turned to leave right after, but Cui Lijuan hurried forward and grabbed his arm.
"Little Liu, wait a second. I came here to ask, is there any way to get Old Tang's case dropped? If that works out, then the station won't punish you two so harshly, right?"
Hearing Cui Lijuan's words, Liu Pingchuan stopped in his tracks. He turned to glance at her, stayed silent for a few seconds, then sighed, his tone softening.
"Let me be straight with you," the man said. "The most serious charge against Section Chief Tang right now is that he beat someone in the interrogation room. If you can get that woman named Shi Xiaoli to write a letter of forgiveness, stating that the whole incident is just a conflict between father and daughter, there's a chance the court will agree to drop the case."
Cui Lijuan did not fully understand the fine legal details, but she got the gist of it completely. If she wanted to make this mess go away, she had to start with Xiaoli. After leaving the police station, she kept turning the problem over in her mind the whole way, trying to figure out how to get Xiaoli to let Tang Guanshan off the hook.
The thought of washing her hands of him did cross her mind, but the baby in her belly needed a father. If Tang Guanshan ended up in prison, what would she do? How could she raise the child all on her own?
Cui Lijuan tossed and turned all night at home, unable to sleep a wink. The next morning, she headed to the hospital again.
This time she came with breakfast, and had specially boiled two eggs for Xiaoli.
Xiaoli, who was lying in the hospital bed, saw her walk in, rolled over, and closed her eyes.
Cui Lijuan's teeth itched with irritation at the sight of that attitude. She set the lunchbox down, gritted her teeth, and forced her tone to sound as gentle as possible.
"Xiaoli, I know I've wronged you. Tell me, what conditions do you want to agree to write that letter of forgiveness?"
Xiaoli slowly sat up in bed and looked her in the eye.
"I want you to sign your job over to me."
Cui Lijuan's face instantly hardened.
"And I want five hundred yuan in compensation."
Cui Lijuan was so furious her hands started shaking, but she fought hard to rein in her temper.
"There's one more thing. My brother and I want to sever ties with you — the kind that gets announced in the newspaper."
Cui Lijuan's eyes went wide with shock. "Shi Xiaoli, have you lost your mind?"
"Those are my three conditions. Not a single one can be waived if you want that letter of forgiveness." Xiaoli adjusted her breathing slowly, doing her best to keep her voice steady.
Sister Mandong had been right after all. She knew for sure this woman would come running to save Tang Guanshan.
Sister Mandong had told her: Beating someone is the least of the troubles Tang Guanshan is facing right now. Take this chance to negotiate terms with Cui Lijuan. As long as your requests aren't completely unreasonable, she'll agree to them. You'll get everything you want, and Tang Guanshan still won't get away scot-free.
Cui Lijuan stared at her in utter disbelief, never imagining this stubborn girl's appetite would be so huge.
"Shi Xiaoli... how can you be so cruel? Money isn't enough for you, you have to take my job too, and even demand we sever our family ties?" Cui Lijuan itched to scream at her, but she couldn't. She swallowed her anger over and over again.
"Tang Guanshan beat me. It's only right that I get compensation, isn't it? I want your job so I'll have a steady income to take care of my brother. Don't you remember that it was because you left and took every last penny from the house that my brother missed his chance to go to the hospital? And I want to sever ties with you because you don't deserve to be a mother..."
Cui Lijuan's chest heaved violently. She clutched her stomach, gasping for breath in big, ragged gulps.
She was so close to slapping the life right out of this stubborn, nasty girl.
"Ugh... ugh..." She had never had morning sickness before, but suddenly she was overcome with dry heaves. She doubled over by the trash can, retching again and again, unable to bring anything up — only choking so hard that tears streamed down her face.
Cui Lijuan forced herself to steady her breathing, wiped her mouth, and looked at Xiaoli with red, swollen eyes.
"Xiaoli, Mom knows I've wronged you all these years. But your stepfather isn't a bad man at heart. He just has a quick temper, and he didn't mean to hurt anyone. Can't you do this for Mom's sake? Just let him off this once? Please?"
With that, Cui Lijuan dropped straight to her knees.
"Xiaoli, I'm begging you... please leave me a way to survive."
Shi Xiaoli could not help letting out a cold laugh. "When you forced my brother and me to go back to that village, did you ever think about leaving us a way out?" Xiaoli's tone was completely calm, as if she was talking about something utterly trivial, but under the covers, her hands were clenched tight around the bedsheet.
Cui Lijuan was just about to open her mouth to explain when Xiao Mandong pushed the door and walked in. She acted as if she did not see Cui Lijuan at all, heading straight for Xiaoli's bedside.
"Finished talking?"
Xiaoli nodded.
