“Zhang Dage, you should also examine Lao Su. It would be best to prescribe him some stomach medicine, painkillers, and fever reducers.”
Just as Zhang Hong and Su Huaiyuan thought the medical consultation was over, unexpectedly, Qiao Jiuru pointed at Su Huaiyuan again, asking Zhang Hong to examine him and even requesting prescriptions.
Zhang Hong: …
Su Huaiyuan: …No, he’s not sick!
The two men couldn’t help but look at each other, finding today’s Qiao Jiuru a bit strange.
“Prescribe them, prescribe them, Zhang Dage, they’ll really be useful. Even if we don’t use them, Xiao Wan over there can use them.”
However, in the next moment, Zhang Hong and Su Huaiyuan understood Qiao Jiuru’s words.
Xiao Wan was the eldest daughter-in-law of Su Huaiyuan and Qiao Jiuru. The family privately called her Xiao Wan. Her actual name was Zhou Wanwan, and her parents were also intellectuals, though not teaching at Peking University, but at Beijing Normal University, and they had been sent down before the New Year.
When the Su Family learned of the Zhou family’s predicament, they went around trying to help their in-laws and find connections, which is why the Zhou family was eventually sent down to the Northeast. When the Zhou family got into trouble, they proactively severed their superficial ties with their daughter, Zhou Wanwan.
Fortunately, the Zhou family members were all adults with no children. On the train to the Northeast, the Su Family had also pulled strings to secretly send them 800 yuan and many tickets, as well as bedding, luggage, and clothing.
In her previous life, Qiao Jiuru remembered that all the Zhou family members returned safely, although they suffered a lot. Yet, the family was whole and complete, unlike the Su family…
Zhang Hong naturally knew the Zhou family as well. When the Zhou family got into trouble, he also secretly provided some help.
So, at that moment, he immediately took Su Huaiyuan’s pulse without a word and then wrote out a prescription.
Thus, half an hour later, when the couple left the Hospital, they were carrying a bag of medicine.
It was almost noon. Su Huaiyuan rode his bicycle, carrying his wife, rushing home. After returning home, he still had to cook for his son, daughter-in-law, and a pair of young grandsons.
However, as the couple rode their bicycle past the bank between the Hospital and Peking University, Qiao Jiuru patted her husband’s back.
“Lao Su, I brought the passbook. Let’s go to the bank to withdraw some money first.”
Ah?! Withdraw money?! Why suddenly want to withdraw money?! Su Huaiyuan thought the family might not have enough money, so he immediately stopped the bicycle at the bank entrance as instructed by his wife.
Qiao Jiuru went in to withdraw money, while he waited at the entrance. In a short while, Qiao Jiuru came out. After leaving the bank, they didn’t go anywhere else; the two of them just went straight home.
As the two rode their bicycles into the family compound, they encountered the same people from the courtyard earlier. Everyone was either knitting sweaters, mending clothes, or peeling vegetables.
“Lao Su, Lao Qiao, you’re back?! How is it?! What did the doctor say?!”
“I think Sister Qiao shouldn’t have any major problems, otherwise she wouldn’t have returned so quickly.”
“Lao Qiao, are you alright?!”
“After going to the Hospital, Professor Qiao’s complexion looks much better than before. She probably didn’t rest well and was tired.”
“I think so too. The weather hasn’t been good lately, maybe it’s just a cold.”
“Didn’t Dabao and Xiaobao have a cold and fever?! Maybe Lao Qiao caught it from taking care of them.”
…
Although Qiao Jiuru was a university teacher, she still managed most of the household affairs. When she had time, she would chat with neighbors or female colleagues in the compound whom she got along with, or go to the Department Store, Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and buy groceries. Although she didn’t know everyone in the family compound, there were many familiar faces and people she knew quite well from daily interactions.
“Much better, thank you all for your concern. I really did catch a cold and was tired, plus my stomach wasn’t well, so the doctor prescribed some cold and stomach medicine.”
Qiao Jiuru greeted everyone with her usual voice, as always. Aside from her slightly poor complexion, there was nothing unusual.
“Then you should go back and lie down to rest well.”
“Lao Qiao, you should rest when you need to. The children aren’t well yet, you can’t collapse again.”
“Yes, yes, yes, go back quickly.”
When everyone heard that it was indeed as they had thought, and learned what they wanted to know, they let the couple go.
Upon arriving home, Su Huaiyuan immediately went to pour water for his wife, preparing to serve her medicine, and then go cook.
However, as soon as he poured the water and turned around, he found that his wife had not only locked the main gate of the courtyard but also double-locked the front door of the house.
Su Huaiyuan: …
However, he didn’t ask anything, he just showed the water cup in his hand to his wife.
“Lao Su, come inside, I have something to tell you.”
Qiao Jiuru not only didn’t take the water cup, but she also spoke softly to him while turning on the black-and-white television in the living room.
Su Huaiyuan: …
Although he didn’t understand what his wife was doing, he was obedient and trusted her wholeheartedly.
So, when he carried the water cup and medicine, following his wife into their room, he was surprised to find that Qiao Jiuru went straight to turn on the radio he kept in the room.
Having just arrived home and then turning on both the television and the radio, Su Huaiyuan, no matter how slow or foolish, felt that his wife was very unusual.
“Take your medicine first, then we’ll talk.”
But no matter what was happening, he still believed that taking the medicine now was the priority.
Qiao Jiuru was not a coy person. Even with a thousand words and anxieties in her heart at that moment, she swallowed the medicine her husband handed her without hesitation, even as her eyes reddened.
“We’re not in a hurry, take your time.”
Su Huaiyuan’s expression remained unchanged. He spoke calmly and unhurriedly, gently patting his wife’s hand.
Qiao Jiuru’s tears immediately flowed. There was grievance, fear, terror, unease, helplessness, and resignation, but even more, a fire was burning in her heart.
She looked at her husband with such an incredibly complex expression and gaze, and her husband said nothing, only gripping her hand more tightly, then returning a firm and warm strength.
“Huaiyuan, I wasn’t sick this morning; I had a very long and terrifying dream. In the dream, our family was sent down. It was very sudden, and we didn’t have time to prepare anything. Dabao and Xiaobao had only just recovered for a few days, then they were frightened, and they passed away within a few months of being with us. Xiao Tong couldn’t bear such a blow and became seriously ill; as a result, she also passed away a few months later. Then Xiao Ze held on for over a year and also left, and in the end, only the two of us old folks were left…”
Even though this was something from her previous life, even now that she had been reborn, that heart-wrenching, suffocating pain and sorrow were still deeply imprinted in her soul.
Qiao Jiuru couldn’t stop crying uncontrollably. As she spoke of such a tragic event, her voice trembled immensely, yet her words clearly reached her husband’s ears.
Su Huaiyuan’s whole body trembled, his eyes filled with disbelief and shock. Then, in the next moment, he tightly embraced his trembling wife.
He completely and unhesitatingly believed his wife’s words. At this moment, his heart was filled with nothing but pain. If such a thing had happened to them, it would undoubtedly be a fatal blow to his wife.
“Aru, tell me in detail.”
“Okay…”