Chapter 5: Your Son or the Bicycle—Pick One

Zhao Sihai froze for a second, but in the end, still reached out and stopped her—
then gently took Zhao An’an into his arms.

“You’re still injured—let me take you both to the clinic.”

Bai Ruoqiao clenched her fists, but didn’t resist.
She just untied the ropes from Zhao An’an’s hands and feet.

“Quick! You two head straight to the clinic—we’ll handle things here,” Fang Hanwu shouted.

The crowd echoed in agreement.

“There’s a bicycle under the porch—take that, it’ll be faster!”

Someone pointed to the bike beneath the porch.

But that shout seemed to pierce Old Lady Zhao’s lungs— she howled out,
“No one is allowed to touch that bicycle! That’s my son’s!”

“Yeah, yeah, your son’s. So now your son needs to use it,” someone replied sarcastically.

Everyone knew what she really meant, and they were furious.
They started mocking her.

They were all sons—why was this old woman so blatantly biased?

But Old Lady Zhao didn’t get the sarcasm.
Still cursing, she lunged toward the crowd.

“That’s my precious Bao’er’s bike—I dare anyone to touch it!”

“Hah! Zhao Granny, you’re shameless. Everyone knows it was Sihai who bought the ticket and paid for the bike for Bai Zhiqing.
How did it suddenly become your third son’s?!”

“No wonder Bai Zhiqing’s always rushing but never takes the bike—turns out it’s been hijacked!”

“Still making trouble even now? Zhao Jinlan, you really have no conscience.”

The villagers were filled with righteous anger and scolded her without restraint.

Old Lady Zhao didn’t care, yelling that she’d fight anyone who touched the bike.

The village head and the team leader were fuming—veins bulging on their foreheads.

What kind of damn mess is this?!

The village head roared, “Zhao Jinlan, are you insane?!”

Should never have taken this family in, he thought bitterly.

Zhao Sihai, however, didn’t want to waste more time.

He pushed through the crowd and strode toward Zhao Third Son, who was still sprawled out like a dead dog, wailing non-stop.

The crowd immediately understood what he was going to do—and broke into laughter.

Someone chuckled, “Zhao Granny—pick one: your son, or the bicycle!”

“Easy! The bike, obviously. She’s still got another son, but bikes are hard to come by, heh.”

“Sihai—don’t kill him, alright? He’s still gotta be handed over to the police later.”

Old Lady Zhao froze.

She saw Zhao Sihai walking up to her precious son, and her heart nearly stopped.

“Zhao Sihai, don’t you dare!”

But Zhao Sihai ignored her, bent down, and reached to grab Zhao Third Son by the collar.

Zhao Third Son shrieked in terror.

Zhao Genzhi’s face turned pale. He immediately shouted,
“I know where the key is! Sihai, calm down—I’ll go get it!”

Even he was frightened by Zhao Sihai’s sudden eruption.

He had never imagined that this usually quiet and tolerant fourth son
could explode like this.

Glancing sideways at Bai Ruoqiao and her child, he felt a flicker of anger too.

What the hell was that old woman thinking?!

Not long after, Zhao Genzhi came back with the bike key.

Zhao Sihai took it with a grim face and said nothing more.
He quickly left with his wife and child, rushing to the clinic.

Old Lady Zhao wanted to block them, but she was also terrified Zhao Sihai really would beat her son to death.

So she could only glare resentfully at the doorway.

Finally, the village head stepped up.

“Well then, now let’s get down to business…”

—

At the clinic, inside the commune courtyard—

It was the middle of the night, and everything was silent.

The two of them knocked for a while before anyone came to the door.

The person held a kerosene lamp, the wind whistling around them.

Shielding the flame with one hand, the man didn’t see clearly who was outside,
and asked in a groggy voice,

“Who is it? Coming out here in the dead of night—can’t it wait till morning?”

Being dragged out of bed, Grandpa Wang was cranky.

Bai Ruoqiao finally recognized who it was
and quickly called out:

“Grandpa Wang—it’s me, Bai Ruoqiao. An’an has a fever!”

Hearing that, Grandpa Wang was startled.

He brought the kerosene lamp closer and saw Zhao Sihai holding a pale An’an,
with Bai Ruoqiao standing beside him.

“Oh, it’s Bai Zhiqing! Quick, quick—come in!”

—

Inside the clinic, Su Suihua had been sleeping at her desk. Hearing the knock,
she didn’t even have time to grab her coat and rushed out to open the door.

As she ran, she reached out to pull the cord hanging outside the corridor to switch on the lightbulb.

“Comrade Su, An’an is sick. Please get things ready for Comrade Bai—I’ll go next door and call Dr. Liu.”

Grandpa Wang gave his instructions crisply, then darted off in a flash.

Su Suihua had already seen who it was and felt a jolt in her heart.

“Qiaoqiao, come in quickly!”

“Suihua-jie…”
Seeing the gentle Su Suihua, Bai Ruoqiao’s eyes began to well up.

Her voice was hoarse: “Suihua-jie, An’an has a low fever and won’t wake up.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Don’t worry—the doctor will be here soon.”

Su Suihua immediately reached out to feel An’an’s forehead.
Feeling that it wasn’t too hot, she finally let out a small sigh of relief.

Then she quickly led them into an empty patient room.

Su Suihua was also a “sent-down youth” assigned to Nanyang Village,
but she had arrived a few years earlier than Bai Ruoqiao and was five years older—a graceful and intellectual older sister figure.

When Bai Ruoqiao first arrived, Suihua had looked after her often.

Later, after Bai gave birth to An’an—a premature baby born weak and frail—
she and Su Suihua grew even closer, especially since Suihua worked at the clinic.

And she had another important identity:
She was An’an’s goddess-mother (godmother).

Unfortunately, in her past life, Su Suihua met a tragic end.

Bai had only learned about it much later—
After failing her college entrance exams, Suihua was urgently summoned home to marry.

Later, it was said her husband cheated on her.
They had a heated argument, and she took a bad fall—
dying during a difficult labor.

Yet barely a month after the deaths of both his wife and child,
that scumbag had already remarried.

Bai Ruoqiao always suspected that Suihua’s death hadn’t been so simple.
But with time passed, there was no way to investigate further.

Of course, she hadn’t let that scumbag off easy in her previous life.
She tore his whole family apart—leaving them in shambles,
scattered and broken,
not a single one spared.

Dr. Liu soon arrived. After examining An’an, he finally exhaled in relief.

“It’s just a mild fever—nothing serious. Let’s start him on IV fluids.
But since he’s constitutionally weak, it’s best to keep him overnight for observation, just in case it worsens or recurs.”

Zhao An’an and Bai Ruoqiao were practically regulars at the clinic,
so everyone here knew them well.

“Thank you, Dr. Liu.”

Bai Ruoqiao bowed in gratitude.

Dr. Liu nodded, then looked toward the silent Zhao Sihai.

“And this is…?”

Bai turned to Zhao Sihai and introduced him,
“This is my husband, Zhao Sihai. He just returned to the village after being discharged from the army.”

“Oh, Comrade Zhao! Thank you for your service.”

“Thank you—and sorry to trouble you so late, Dr. Liu,” Zhao Sihai replied politely.

“No trouble at all. I’ll head out now. If anything comes up, just have Comrade Su call me,” Dr. Liu instructed before leaving.

Su Suihua also went to retrieve the medicine.

The room suddenly quieted.
Only the husband and wife remained, staring at their sleeping child.

The atmosphere grew heavy.

Bai Ruoqiao looked at her son’s pale little face—
and couldn’t help but remember the last glimpse of him from her past life.

That moment had haunted her ever since—
a nightmare she could never wake from.

Her tears began to fall uncontrollably, drop after heavy drop.

Suddenly, Zhao Sihai turned her toward him,
pulled her into his arms,
and said in a low, hoarse voice:

“Qiaoqiao… An’an will be fine. Don’t cry…”

But those words only made her cry harder.

Still, she did her best to stifle the sound,
afraid of waking An’an.

Zhao Sihai stood stiffly, not knowing what to do.

Just then, Su Suihua returned with the medicine.

She cleared her throat softly to announce her presence.

Only then did Bai Ruoqiao pull back and turn away to wipe her tears.

Su Suihua assumed she was just worried about An’an and sighed inwardly.

She hoped that An’an’s body could be properly nursed back to health in the future.

Such a sweet, well-behaved, and understanding child—
if he had to live with chronic illness his whole life…

Just imagining it made her heart ache.

She skillfully hooked up the IV bottle for Zhao An’an.

Bai Ruoqiao watched the needle pierce her son’s skin—and felt a sharp pain in her own heart.

An’an seemed to feel it too.
He furrowed his tiny brows and slowly opened his eyes.

He opened his mouth, wanting to cry—but as if afraid to,
he only whispered weakly:

“…A-ma…”

His voice was like a fragile kitten’s—soft and shallow—enough to melt anyone’s heart.