Chapter 494: Extra: Jiang Zhi's Story (2)

Extra: Jiang Zhi's Story (2)

Extra: Jiang Zhi's Story (2)

Seeing the cold surgical instruments by the bed, Jiang Zhi's heart suddenly tightened.

In a moment, those forceps would end a life, and she was the mastermind.

Jiang Zhi closed her eyes.

In an instant, many, many things flashed through her mind: the image of her uncle and aunt walking with their son and daughter, a family of four, and then the sight of the two elders of the Chen family, who, because they had no children, would not dare to lift their heads while walking in the residential compound.

To prevent her parents-in-law from taking their anger out on her, Chen Yun told them that he was the one who was infertile.

If they knew she was pregnant and that the Chen family would have an heir, she wondered how happy they would be.

And then there was Chen Yun; he treated her so well, so very well.

"Crying?"

Chen Yun was indeed crying; he did not know why he was crying, perhaps because he was worried about his wife being in pain in the operating room, or perhaps because of the child in his wife's womb that shared a mysterious connection with him.

Huh?

Chen Yun realized something was wrong, and sure enough, as soon as he looked up, he saw his wife, who should have been lying in the operating room, standing right in front of him.

"Chen Yun, I was thinking, how about I be brave, and I give it a try to see if I can be a good mother?"

Chen Yun grabbed her in a hug and then burst into loud sobs.

He was full of self-reproach, "Wife, it's all my fault."

Because just after his wife entered the operating room, he had seen the hospital wheel in a woman who had died from a difficult labor.

Only then did he realize what a dangerous thing it was to continue the family line.

When women give birth, they bleed, and they can die.

It is the same principle as a man going to the battlefield.

If a man from any family goes to the battlefield, his family members will be extremely worried, even unable to stop themselves from weeping bitterly.

But when a woman is pregnant, everyone is very happy, blessing her with the joy of welcoming new life, and no one worries for the pregnant woman.

"We won't have children; I don't want you to have children," Chen Yun said, "Where is the doctor?"

The doctor, who had just come out of the operating room without being able to perform the surgery, did not have a pleasant look for them; she had already put on her surgical gown and sterile gloves, only for this woman to suddenly run off the operating table, and she felt she had been played.

"What is it? Have you two even made up your minds?"

"I want to have surgery." Chen Yun wiped away his tears.

Doctor:...

"Are you a woman too?"

"I am a man," Chen Yun hurriedly emphasized, "I want to have a vasectomy, to accompany my wife; she is having an abortion."

Doctor:...

This man was dressed like a highly educated intellectual, but she hadn't expected him to have something wrong with his brain.

"Are you two planning to play house at the hospital? This is a hospital! And you want to have surgery together? Do I need to arrange side-by-side beds for you two?"

"Can you?" Chen Yun did not understand the sarcasm, "That would be really troub..."

Then he was dragged away by Jiang Zhi.

"Stop embarrassing yourself! Hurry home, I'm afraid the doctor will want to take a scalpel to you next!"

Chen Yun told his wife about the woman who had died from a difficult labor that he had just seen.

"It's perfectly fine if we don't have children; I don't think it's worth taking this risk."

Compared to a child, he wanted her more.

"Silly," Jiang Zhi had already firmed up her decision by now, "You can also die from heavy bleeding during an abortion."

"So Chen Yun, let's prepare to be a father and mother."

Upon hearing the news of Jiang Zhi's pregnancy, the Chen parents were both very happy; every day, whenever she had time, Mother Chen would make delicious food and bring it to their home.

Mother Chen was a good mother-in-law; her cooking was better than other mothers-in-law, and she spoke more kindly than other mothers-in-law.

She did not say that these nutritious meals were for her eldest grandson, but rather that Jiang Zhi had worked hard being pregnant.

Father Chen was also very happy; knowing his daughter-in-law was pregnant, he had a smile on his face and enjoyed chatting with the neighbors.

When Si Rong learned that her niece was pregnant, she prepared two sets of comfortable maternity clothes for her.

"Now that you have a child, you must take even better care of yourself."

Jiang Zhi liked listening to her aunt talk to her; she hoped that one day she could also be a woman as elegant yet resilient as her aunt.

The person who was the opposite of her aunt was her mother.

After Jiang Qi learned she was pregnant, she returned to the country, only to also be sporting a big belly.

The Jiang Family was collectively shocked.

"How absurd! How old are you now? And you're still having children?" Hu Qian was very angry.

She felt that there was such a thing as karma in this life; all the worry she had been spared by her husband and two sons had all been poured into this daughter.

"Mom! I'm only fifty-three, it's the prime of my life!" The reason Jiang Qi did not like Huaguo was precisely this, "Abroad, at my age, I'm no different from a young girl."

Everyone:...

Everyone asked Jiang Zhi to persuade her mother, but Jiang Zhi did not try to persuade her much.

Everyone has their own life to lead; this was what Jiang Qi had told her when she was seven years old.

Just like that, Jiang Qi had her child abroad, and her daughter had her child in the country; she could not take care of her, because she was barely able to look after herself.

Although she kept labeling herself as a young girl, Jiang Qi still felt the obvious aging of her body after giving birth.

Especially abroad, where women do not observe the postpartum confinement period, and neither their husbands nor mothers-in-law take care of them.

She not only had to take care of herself but also the child, and the bitterness was beyond words.

Within half a year, she started arguing with her husband incessantly, and then, in a fit of anger, she took the child and returned to the country.

She had assumed her husband would chase after her to the country to apologize, but to her surprise, he didn't at all; she heard from a friend that the husband who had always praised her as a "little girl" had, after she left, immediately found a real little girl, which nearly infuriated Jiang Qi to death.

Jiang Zhi's life, however, was the complete opposite; after giving birth to her daughter, Jiang Zhi spent forty-five days in postpartum confinement, and her parents-in-law scrambled to hold their granddaughter, so she rarely held her except to breastfeed.

After returning to the country, Jiang Qi heard her mother talk about the treatment her daughter received at her in-laws' house and felt envious, even discussing it with Jiang Zhi, "Since your parents-in-law like children so much, why not send your younger brother over for them to take care of too? I really don't know how to take care of children, as you know best."

Jiang Zhi:...

"People should do what they ought to do at their age," she was no longer the little girl who would only swallow her grievances, "My parents-in-law don't like children; they like children who share their bloodline. If you want to find someone to take care of the one you gave birth to, you'd better go find your parents-in-law!"

Jiang Qi was nearly bursting with rage; if you don't raise them yourself, they aren't close to you!

She made up her mind to raise her child herself.

But she was older now, and she couldn't find any good jobs in the country, so in the end, she had no choice but to return abroad.

Jiang Zhi's life was calm and happy; she discovered that being a mother wasn't actually difficult—as long as it was a normal, responsible woman, she would do her best to love her child after giving birth.

She taught her baby to walk, taught her baby to speak, and praised her baby for being wonderful; sometimes she felt as if she were growing up all over again with her baby.

It was also after becoming a mother that she had to confirm the suspicion she had in her childhood: she had truly never been earnestly loved by her mother.

Yet Jiang Qi paid her grandmother's living expenses on time every month; how should one put it? It could be considered a kind of upbringing, perhaps.

Once, she had been anxious about this for a very long time.

The subject of her anxiety was roughly: how is a child who was never loved by their parents supposed to show filial piety to their parents in the future?

Later, she figured it out and made peace with herself; in the future, she would pay her mother's old-age expenses on time, occasionally buy some gifts, and if she fell ill, she could take her to see a doctor.

But as for that "motherly kindness and filial piety," I'm sorry, but she couldn't do the things she never learned when she was young.

So, when Jiang Qi was eighty and was sent back to the country by the son she had given birth to in her fifties, Jiang Zhi sent her to a nursing home.

At this time, a relative jumped out and called her heartless, asking why she didn't take care of her mother herself, saying that sending her to a nursing home was unseemly, and so on.

Jiang Zhi just calmly said that otherwise, they could send Jiang Qi to their house, and the relative shut their mouth.

People are just like that; only when the slap lands on their own face do they know the pain.

Jiang Qi didn't want to stay in the nursing home and accused her daughter, "You are unfilial! Look at Jiang Siyu; even though your uncle and aunt are so old, they are both being taken care of personally by the two siblings!"

"Perhaps that's because they grew up by their uncle and aunt's side when they were small," Jiang Zhi put down her things, not even intending to sit for a while, "But you reminded me; I was also raised by my uncle and aunt when I was small, so I should go take care of them more."

"You just hate me! You hate that I gave birth to you and went abroad without taking care of you, don't you?" Jiang Qi shouted.

This daughter was simply going to be the death of her.

"Yes! Can I not hate you?" Jiang Zhi looked back, her eyes glistening, "When I needed an embrace, when I needed support, you couldn't give it to me. Now I cannot give it to you either, because if I gave it to you, I would be helping you bully that little girl who used to cry secretly in the night back then; she is very pitiful."

Jiang Zhi got up and left.

Chen Yun knew the knot in the hearts of this mother and daughter, and he knew they had the same temperament.

So he quietly rented a house for his mother-in-law and found a nanny to take care of her.

Later, Jiang Zhi seemed to know, but she only hugged him and then said nothing, as if she had tacitly accepted it.

That night when she returned home after arguing with her mother, she was very fearful, because if Jiang Qi had the same fiery temper as she did when she was young and committed suicide in the nursing home, it would have become a knot in her heart for the rest of her life.

Two years later, Jiang Qi passed away; Jiang Zhi did not cry, but she held a funeral for her, which could be considered fulfilling their final bond as mother and daughter.

Only, she hadn't expected Jiang Qi to leave behind a suicide note.

In that note, she left her a company she owned overseas.

The last words were only one sentence: A-Zhi, Mother owes you.

Jiang Zhi was streaming with tears.

She had thought Jiang Qi had only left her a small company, but she hadn't expected that someone would be willing to spend one hundred million to buy it.

Jiang Zhi did not sell it; that was the final memento Jiang Qi had left her.

It was also a proof, proof that she had once been a person loved by her mother.