NOVPUBChapter 99: Chapter 99 Waiting to Die
Chapter 99 -99 Waiting to Die
Bai Jianguo paused. Bai Mei’s words echoed in his mind. By now, the family’s savings had been frittered away by Bai Mei, leaving no place to complain. The police station simply did not believe that the money around the old lady had already ended up in their hands.
Yet, treating the illness had already cost over two hundred yuan. With the fines paid, over a hundred yuan had been handed over, leaving just over two hundred in their possession. He had already sent a telegram to Bai Song today, asking him to send money home. Even if Bai Song couldn’t send back four or five hundred yuan, there should definitely be at least one or two hundred yuan.
If they followed through with Bai Mei’s suggestion to marry her off, that would be another two hundred yuan for the dowry.
If so, adding it all up, they could still come away with five or six hundred yuan in hand. This should just about cover Bai Zhuang’s wedding costs, albeit the dowry might have to be a notch lower than before. Times were different now.
There was still another son, Bai Shan, to consider. They couldn’t use all the family’s money for Bai Zhuang’s wedding. What would be left for Bai Shan’s wedding?
With this in mind, Bai Jianguo’s anger subsided.
“Bai Shan, lock Bai Mei in her room for me, and seal the windows too,” Bai Jianguo ordered, his cunning and sly nature emerging. “Don’t let her out until she’s married off. That girl has grown too bold, thinking of stealing money from home today; tomorrow, she might sneak off in the middle of the night. Without dowry money, neither of you brothers will be able to marry. You see to it.”
Today, Bai Mei had shown up in the county town with the family’s money in hand. Bai Jianguo was no fool; he knew this daughter had turned into an ingrate. He figured she had probably planned to take the family’s money and run off somewhere else.
It seems she was intercepted just in time. Otherwise, if Bai Mei had been left to die, she probably wouldn’t have shown her face.
He was also aware that Bai Mei was unwilling to marry Fang Xiaoshan. If the man Li Chunhua found for Bai Xiao was any indication, she would be no prize. Bai Mei probably feared jumping into a fire pit, and he had not wanted his daughter to jump either. But now, if not Bai Mei, then who?
After all, Bai Mei’s reputation had been thoroughly ruined after what happened with Fang Xiaoshan. If she didn’t marry him, she could forget marrying anyone else. At least, by marrying Fang Xiaoshan, they could retrieve two hundred yuan as dowry money.
With these words, Bai Jianguo effectively blocked Bai Mei’s way out.
Upon hearing this, Bai Shan and Bai Zhuang, without a word, pushed Bai Mei into her room, locked the door, and began to seal the windows with wood.
This time, escaping would not be easy for Bai Mei.
Hao Fang came out cursing, carrying the old lady’s trousers with a strong smell of urine that had everyone covering their noses and avoiding her.
“Look at this, look at this! The old lady’s wet her pants again. How can anyone live in this room? When my son gets married, if there’s this smell here, who among the visitors would deign to step inside?” Hao Fang complained.
Bai Jianguo hadn’t yet decided what to do with the old lady, while Hao Fang tossed the trousers into a corner, impatient with attending to the urine-soaked clothing.
“Why not move the old lady into Bai Xiao’s old room? Otherwise, no one will live in this one. Besides, now that she’s like this, it’s inappropriate for her to stay here. Clean up this house, and they can live separately once they’re married,” Hao Fang suggested.
Bai Jianguo’s eyes lit up, but he could not voice his agreement. With two other sons around, such words might make him appear unfilial.
“The final decision at home is still yours,” Bai Jianguo said with an air of integrity. “Make sure everything is taken care of for the old lady, her eating, drinking, and all. In these next few days, don’t move her yet. First, get that room cleaned up and looking decent.”
Hao Fang pouted, knowing full well Bai Jianguo would agree.
“Sure, the arrangements for the old lady will definitely be thorough.”
One afternoon, many people from the village came to see the old lady, but unfortunately no one could understand what the old lady was saying. Seeing her condition, most people thought that this time, she was truly bound to the bed. After giving half-hearted words of comfort, they all left one after another.
“Doesn’t every family have an elderly person who falls ill? Being bedridden, it’s Bai Jianguo’s turn to bear the burden.”
Nobody would have thought that by evening, Hao Fang and Bai Jianguo had moved the old lady into the small, rundown shed next to the pigsty where Bai Xiao used to live. Without much cleaning up, they simply laid the bedding on the kang bed and shifted her there directly.
Li Chunhua lay on the kang bed, stunned.
Covered with bedding that was probably originally for Bai Xiao, it was light but carried a lingering foul smell.
As she lay there, she couldn’t understand why she was undergoing such great retribution.
At this moment in her heart, she felt she was indeed facing retribution. How swiftly it came! She had once thrown Bai Xiao into this room, and now it was her turn to be discarded here.
She truly felt as though heaven wouldn’t respond to her calls, and earth wouldn’t lend her any help.
They hadn’t given the old lady any food at noon, and for dinner, Hao Fang just brought over a half bowl of corn paste, set it on the edge of the kang, and left.
Although the stench from the pigsty was nauseating, Li Chunhua knew that if she didn’t eat, she would starve to death.
Barely managing to crawl to the edge of the kang, her hands couldn’t lift the bowl. Trying to drink from the edge, she couldn’t control her body and tumbled right off the edge of the kang, scattering the corn paste on the ground and breaking the bowl into several pieces.
Li Chunhua lay there crying.
She had planned for a lifetime, counting on her two sons. When she was young and married into the Bai Family, her husband was gentle and the household was ruled by her. She never faced opposition in this home, and even her in-laws gave her their respect. But now, things had turned for the worse. After the sons grew up and her husband passed away, she had placed her hopes on her older son. If only Bai Song, kind and gentle, were here, would she ever have ended up in such straits?
It was because of the loss of her eldest son that she had no choice but to rely on her only remaining son. She had wholeheartedly schemed for her son’s future, these past years skimping on food and money, always favoring her younger son’s family. Wasn’t her merciless exploitation of Bai Song and his wife all to ensure she had someone to care for her in her old age?
The younger son always had sweet words, flattering her and wheedling away her valuables.
Now she saw the truth: Bai Jianguo and his wife were nothing but wolves.
It had only been a few days, no more than three to five, since they knew she was bedridden and of no use, and they had already shown their true colors.
They had thrown her into this broken house, clearly just waiting for her to die.
As long as no one discovered her, she could starve to death.
Li Chunhua clenched her teeth in hatred, but now she couldn’t even get up from the ground by herself, and even if she could call out, no one would hear her.
Now, she truly regretted it all.
