Chapter 81: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 81

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

"Still short by over ten thousand."

Li Yaozu smoked, sighed, with a worried and bitter expression.

Li Xiulan's heart trembled inside.

She had already spent several thousand on building the new house.

Now she had only a little over ten thousand left on hand.

If she took this money out, how would she build the new house?

And she still hadn't paid Lin Dajun and Zhou Hongwei's wages!

But if she didn't take this money out, wouldn't she have to watch her mother pass away helplessly?

In this world, some choices are just this cruel.

Either give up the future and choose to linger on.

Or choose to be cold-blooded and heartless, letting guilt weigh on her conscience for a lifetime.

Li Xiulan didn't know what to do.

Her house had just built the column bodies and was about to pour the first-floor roof; this matter was stuck in limbo...

"Big Brother! Little Sister!"

Just then, Second Brother Li Jiahao walked over.

His face bore pain.

Looking back at the relatives and friends visiting inside the house, he gritted his teeth and said in a low voice:

"Why not... let's not treat Mom's illness anymore..."

When Li Jiahao said these words, his lips were trembling.

He knew what these words meant.

It meant unfilial!

It meant heartless!

It meant spending the rest of his life in guilt!

But he felt that even so, he had to make such a choice!

Because this was the most correct choice!

"Even if we scrape together enough money for surgery, it might not cure it; late-stage cancer, he won't live much longer, we might as well keep the money; we all have children who need care, and there are many places to spend money; saying this might be cruel, but it's the truth!"

Li Jiahao deliberately kept his voice down, afraid the guests in the Living Room would hear these words.

As the eldest brother, Li Yaozu's heart trembled slightly inside.

He took a hard drag on his cigarette.

He couldn't speak.

Because he knew his second brother was speaking the Honest Truth.

He actually also tended to just let it go, he just didn't want to bear the moral guilt, so he didn't say what was in his heart.

"Second Brother, saying such words, do you still have a conscience!"

Li Xiulan was very angry, "That's our mother, not a pig or a cow, how can you say give up just like that!"

She felt Second Brother, as the Big Man of the family, should have some responsibility; how could he say such irresponsible words!

"Hehe, Little Sister, your words are sharp, but we're still short by over ten thousand even after scraping together from everywhere; are you going to come up with this over ten thousand? Even if you want to, you can't come up with so much money, right!"

Li Jiahao sneered.

Anyone could blame him, but Li Xiulan couldn't.

These years it had always been him and Li Yaozu taking care of their mother; Li Xiulan, since marrying out, rarely returned home and had never fulfilled her responsibility as a child; how could she say that to him!

"I'll put up ten thousand; if it's still not enough, we'll try our best to think of other methods!"

Li Xiulan's gaze became determined.

Just now she still had a bit of struggle inside, but now she had made her decision.

For a Poor Person like her, money was important, but not doing things that violated her own moral concepts was even more important.

Her moral concept was to love relatives, to be filial, and to fulfill the responsibility of being a child.

When Li Xiulan said this, both brothers Li Yaozu and Li Jiahao showed surprise.

"Little Sister, I know your economy isn't comfortable, and you still have three sons to raise; you'll have places to use money in the future no less than us; are you sure you really want to take out ten thousand to treat our mother?"

Li Yaozu looked at Li Xiulan, his eyes full of Stunned/Surprised.

"Even if you're willing, your husband probably isn't willing; ten thousand yuan isn't a small amount; why don't you go back and ask your husband first! Don't cause conflict over this matter!"

Li Jiahao said this.

He actually hoped Li Xiulan wouldn't put up money.

As long as Li Xiulan didn't put up money, he would have an excuse to say they hadn't scraped together enough money, and could righteously say they had tried their best.

Neither would he lose both person and money, nor would he have to bear so much moral guilt.

However, Li Xiulan said:

"No need to ask him; the money at home I decide; he won't have any opinion! Tomorrow I'll send the money over; then we'll take our mother to the Hospital together!"

Li Xiulan had said it to this extent; Li Yaozu and Li Jiahao naturally couldn't say anything more.

If they still refute, that would be heartless.

"Alright alright, then you bring the money tomorrow, and we'll go to the hospital together then."

This afternoon, Li Xiulan returned home with a heavy mood.

Waiting until Wang Dashan and Wang Erhai returned home after school.

She then called all three sons over and said to them seriously and solemnly:

"Tomorrow I'm taking you all to the maternal grandmother for treatment at the big city hospital, this trip might take several days before returning, so these few days you must get up yourselves, cook meals yourselves, bathe yourselves, sleep yourselves, additionally you must feed the chickens, ducks, pigs and dogs, don't let them starve to death, understand?"

The three sons seeing their mother's face full of sadness, all obediently nodded in agreement, no longer mischievous.

"Mom, what's wrong with maternal grandmother?"

Wang Dashan asked this one sentence.

"Maternal grandmother is sick, a very serious illness."

Li Xiulan spoke thus.

The next day early morning, Li Xiulan as usual got up early to wash clothes and cook, feed pigs and feed chickens, after eating breakfast, she took the passbook and went to the town's rural credit cooperative, withdrawing all the savings inside the passbook.

When returning home from town, the time was already past nine in the morning.

At this time Lin Dajun and Zhou Hongwei had already arrived at the construction site and started work.

Li Xiulan went and explained the situation to them frankly.

"Dajun Shu, Hongwei Ge, my mother has a serious illness, needs a lot of money for treatment, this house of mine might not be built, how about we stop work, later I will settle your wages clearly."

Lin Dajun and Zhou Hongwei both had faces full of stunned surprise.

"Xiulan, this house has only been built halfway, you're just going to give up like this?"

Lin Dajun couldn't help but feel sympathy.

Li Xiulan said with a bitter smile:

"Not giving up, just delaying a bit before restarting, later when there's money, it will definitely be built."

Li Xiulan having said this, Lin Dajun and Zhou Hongwei then didn't say anything more.

They stopped work and went back that very day.

And after Li Xiulan informed them of this news, she hurriedly took the money and rushed to her maternal home.

At the maternal home, eldest brother Li Yaozu had long ago hired a minivan.

Waiting for Li Xiulan to arrive with the money, they immediately helped mother onto the minivan, then together departed for the city.

This was the first time in Li Xiulan's life entering a city.

Previously Li Xiulan had never even gone to the county town!

A full three-plus hours of travel.

The minivan only then entered the city.

This wasn't a big city like Yangcheng or Pengcheng, just a third-tier city near the hometown.

But this third-tier city's medical conditions were also much better than the hometown's rural towns.

The minivan drove straight to the hospital entrance.

Li Yaozu paid the driver the fare, then together with Li Jiahao and Li Xiulan helped mother get off the car, walking unsteadily into the hospital gate.

Li Xiulan looked up and saw the hospital was packed with people, even more lively than the town's market day.

Lively to the point of suffocation.

Making Li Xiulan feel somewhat dizzy.

Somewhat unaccustomed.