Back To The 80s-Chapter 45: Strange_1
The group arrived at the hospital. Gu Xiaobei told Li Hao to take Liu Cuicui upstairs first and wait at the entrance of the outpatient clinic. He would sign in and then go upstairs to find them.
Jin Cheng looked bored as he trailed behind Gu Xiaobei. Gu Xiaobei gave him a glare, then ignored him and went to sign in.
After a series of examinations, the doctor shot them a look and said, "The child cannot be saved. Pay now and have a surgical abortion."
Gu Xiaobei understood why the doctor disliked them. It was only a matter of days and they had already rushed a pregnant woman to the hospital, this time resulting in the loss of the child.
Gu Xiaobei went to pay, but it required a deposit of thirty yuan. He was embarrassed as he only had twenty-one yuan in his pocket. Just as he was worrying, someone handed him ten yuan from the side.
He turned to look and saw Jin Cheng, looking smug, holding out the ten yuan note. Gu Xiaobei, in urgent need of cash, had no choice but to take it, grudgingly saying, "Thank you."
After paying, Gu Xiaobei turned to leave without a second glance at Jin Cheng, who shouted, "Hey, Gu Xiaobei, you’re really impolite!"
Liao Qing planned to sneak out to buy some porridge for her child while he was sleeping. She told the family of another patient in the room to keep an eye on her child, then ran off.
Just as she reached the lobby, she heard someone call out for Gu Xiaobei. She froze, watching Gu Xiaobei walking upstairs, and unconsciously followed suit.
Liao Qing knew Gu Xiaodong had a sister named Gu Xiaobei, but had never met her. Hearing Gu Xiaobei’s name now, she wanted to see if this Gu Xiaobei was in fact Gu Xiaodong’s sister.
If true, she might be able to fulfill her wish through Gu Xiaobei.
Liao Qing followed Gu Xiaobei upstairs and saw him pass a stack of papers to a young man before turning around. Liao Qing recognized Gu Xiaobei as Gu Xiaodong’s sister after seeing her face.
Gu Xiaobei did bear some resemblance to Gu Xiaodong. Liao Qing looked at Gu Xiaobei, calculating on how to approach her.
Gu Xiaobei found the woman passing by her odd. The woman had a look of recognition in her eyes, but Gu Xiaobei was certain she had no recollection of her from her original owner’s memory.
After Liu Cuicui’s surgery, she was placed in a four-person ward. Little Liao Zhe was in the third bed of the same ward, and Liu Cuicui was in the fourth.
After settling everyone down, it was past noon. Liao Qing simply gave Gu Xiaobei a glance then focused on coaxing her child.
Gu Xiaobei didn’t think much of it, perhaps the woman had mistaken her for someone else?
Jin Cheng walked in carrying a few aluminium lunch boxes. He walked up to Gu Xiaobei, offering them out as if bestowing charity, "Here, have some meat dumplings."
Gu Xiaobei was hungry, and seeing Liu Cuicui lying there pale, she figured she’d need something to eat too. So she took the boxes without hesitation.
She handed two lunch boxes to Li Hao, instructing, "Feed Cuicui first."
She opened her own box and used the hot water from the bedside table to rinse her chopsticks. Just as she was about to eat, she heard a child’s voice next to her saying, "Mama, eat, dumplings. Mama, dumplings."
Gu Xiaobei turned to see a one-year-old boy staring at her lunch box. With his round, wide eyes and adorable looks, she found him irresistible. Gu Xiaobei broke a dumpling apart and held a small piece up to Little Liao Zhe’s mouth, saying, "What a beautiful baby, open up..."
Little Liao Zhe obligingly opened his mouth wide and crunched down on the piece. Liao Qing felt somewhat embarrassed and said, "Thank you, you don’t have to feed him. He’s already had lunch."
Gu Xiaobei wasn’t concerned and, smiling, said, "It’s no trouble. There are too many dumplings in the box for me alone." Just then, Little Liao Zhe swallowed the dumpling in his mouth and opened up again, looking like a baby bird awaiting feeding. His adorable and innocent expression was irresistibly cute.
Gu Xiaobei laughed and used her chopsticks to feed half a dumpling into Little Liao Zhe’s mouth.
Liao Qing felt a pang of sadness at this heartwarming picture of aunts and nephew sharing a meal. It reinforced her determination to return her child to the Gu family as soon as possible.
If she abruptly revealed the truth to Gu Xiaobei now, Gu Xiaodong would certainly be furious with her. After suffering at Gu Xiaodong’s hand for several years, she knew full well his ruthless and cold-hearted nature.
So, her only option was to first try to get into Gu Xiaobei’s good graces and slowly integrate her child into the family.
Little Liao Zhe ate eight dumplings before he stopped. By then, Li Hao had finished feeding Liu Cuicui and finished his own meal. Gu Xiaobei quickly gulped down the remaining dumplings.
After tidying up the lunchboxes, she handed them back to Jin Cheng, "Could you please return these?"
Jin Cheng was so anger that his eyes twitched. If the Boss hadn’t warned him that if anything happened to this woman, he would have to end his own life, he wouldn’t endure this thankless task at all.
Back at the company, with Gu Xiaobei’s group away at the hospital, Liu Ying was less arrogant and chose to sit in a cool corner by the wall. Wang Chuanjiang followed suit, regretting following this woman to the city.
Life in the village was hard, but in the city, they had no place to stay. Life in the city was no better than in the village. Plus, how would Chi Xiaoyue treat him when she discovered he had left without a word?
Seeing this, Ling Yun said, "We’re not currently hiring, but you can stay the night. You should return to your village tomorrow."
Liu Ying dared not say a word. Her arrogance was usually reserved for her family and those she looked down on. But the woman before her, despite her gentle and demure looks, had a fierce look in her eyes.
Liu Ying was at a loss for what to do next. She had hoped Li Hao’s sister could quickly find jobs for both of them, not just for herself and her sister.
But things had taken an unexpected turn. Even her own sister was affected by such a light push.
The two downtrodden people kept quiet. Ling Yun cast a cool glance at them. The woman was unreasonable, and the man was incompetent. Despite their good looks, it would be a miracle if they found work in the city.
Wang Chuanjiang thought aloud, "Yingzi, why don’t we go back to the village first? I can go look for some work."
"I’m not going back. You know just how the villagers judge me. During the day, they spit at me and at night, they hurl feces at my door. I’d rather starve and die outside than go back." Liu Ying truly despised the villagers. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
Ever since she married into the family at Zhang village and her husband died less than a year later of tuberculosis, she’s despised by everyone in the village. The entirety of Zhang village was essentially one big family, so sleeping with Wang Chuanjiang made her the enemy of the entire village. Everyday was a torment for her.
"Then how about you stay at your sister’s place while I go look for work?" Wang Chuanjiang proposed.
"That works, I’m the only one remaining now. I want to see if she dares to kick me out." Liu Ying thought any option was better than going back to the village.
"Alright, I’ll go look for work tomorrow morning and bring you news in the evening." Wang Chuanjiang thought it would be best to check on Chi Xiaoyue first.
