Chapter 4: Hospital Expenses Are Ridiculously High

At noon, Wu Xiuxiu’s older brother, Wu Zhipeng, came to the hospital to visit her.

The original body had been rushed to the hospital the previous night after being caught in a heavy downpour. Wu Zhipeng was the first to discover her high fever and immediately sent her to the hospital for treatment. He and their mother, Ding Hongjuan, stayed by her side all night without sleep.

However, after daybreak, Wu Zhipeng requested leave from his factory to stay until the original body’s fever subsided and she woke up. But the factory leaders refused his request, so he had to return to work. As soon as he got off work at noon, he rushed to the hospital.

Seeing his sister awake and her fever gone, Wu Zhipeng was overjoyed. After his joy subsided, he scolded her, blaming her for being foolish and not discussing it with the family before going out in the rain, almost burning herself to death.

Wu Xiuxiu quickly apologized to her brother, promising that she would never do it again.

Seeing his sister obediently admitting her mistake and sincerely apologizing, Wu Zhipeng curled his lips, revealing a doting smile. He asked his wife, Dong Xiaoye, to cook some sugar water eggs for Wu Xiuxiu to nourish her body, and specifically instructed her to cook plenty.

As soon as he arrived, he heard his mother and wife mention the doctor’s advice that his sister was very weak and needed to be well-nourished.

At this time, resources were scarce, and ordinary people were generally poor. In the eyes of most people, sugar water eggs were the most nourishing food.

Seeing Dong Xiaoye bring over the cooked sugar water eggs, Wu Xiuxiu was a little surprised.

There were actually four whole eggs.

She knew that eggs were a precious commodity at this time. Eggs were particularly scarce this year, and each person in their area was only supplied with two eggs per month, and they needed egg coupons to buy them.

The Wu family had four people, so they could only buy eight eggs a month.

Yet, Dong Xiaoye had cooked four eggs for her in one go, using half the family’s monthly supply.

Although Wu Zhipeng had told her to cook more eggs for her sister’s recovery, ordinary sisters-in-law wouldn’t be willing to cook so many. It showed how good she was to her little sister-in-law.

Wu Xiuxiu was a little touched and carefully recalled Dong Xiaoye in her mind.

She discovered that Dong Xiaoye was particularly gentle and kind, and had always been good to the original body, treating her like her own sister.

This was because Wu Zhipeng had told her that he only had this one sister, and that his father had asked him to take good care of her. He had asked Dong Xiaoye to be kind to the original body.

Dong Xiaoye loved Wu Zhipeng very much, so she was very kind to his little sister-in-law.

Wu Zhipeng also doted on the original body and was very good to her.

But the person who loved and cared for the original body the most was her own mother, Ding Hongjuan.

Although the Wu family’s living conditions were only average, whenever there was something delicious, she would always give it to the original body first. Every month, she would save and scrimp to give the original body five yuan as pocket money.

Five yuan was a significant amount of money at this time. Wu Zhipeng’s monthly salary was only thirty-six yuan, and this thirty-six yuan had to support the four members of the Wu family.

Only Wu Zhipeng had a job and income, so the Wu family relied entirely on his salary to survive.

Wu Zhipeng only kept ten yuan for himself, which he and his wife shared. The remaining twenty-six yuan was given to his mother for the family’s living expenses.

After receiving the money, Ding Hongjuan would always find ways to reduce living expenses and save five yuan for the original body’s pocket money.

After recalling all this, Wu Xiuxiu sighed in her heart: The original body was truly a lucky person, with so many loving family members, and even her sister-in-law was kind to her.

She was fortunate to have transmigrated into the original body’s body. From now on, she would have a family who loved her.

Due to her unfortunate family situation in her previous life, she had been bullied and abused by her biological father and stepmother. She had always longed for a group of loving family members.

She never expected that this wish would be fulfilled through transmigration.

“You silly girl, what are you staring at? Quickly eat your eggs! Sugar water eggs are very nourishing. After eating them, you won’t be so weak.”

Seeing her daughter staring at the sugar water eggs in a daze, Ding Hongjuan frowned and spoke.

“Xiuxiu, are you too weak to scoop the eggs yourself? Let your elder brother’s wife feed you.” Wu Zhipeng said with concern.

“Xiuxiu, let me feed you.” Dong Xiaoye nodded, used a white porcelain spoon to scoop out an egg from the brown sugar water, and brought it to her little sister-in-law’s mouth.

Wu Xiuxiu immediately came back to her senses and quickly opened her mouth to eat the egg. It had just been cooked and then soaked in sweet brown sugar water, so it was very fragrant.

Delicious!

“Thank you, Mom, thank you, sister-in-law, and thank you, brother. You are all so good to me.” After finishing the egg, Wu Xiuxiu looked up at her family standing by the bed and sincerely thanked them.

In her previous life, when she was sick, no one cared for her, let alone cook sugar water eggs for her. No one would stay by her side while she ate, and no one would feed her.

“You are the precious daughter of our Wu family. If we don’t treat you well, who else would we treat well?” Ding Hongjuan reached out to touch her daughter’s head, her face full of doting.

“Give me the egg, I’ll feed her.” Ding Hongjuan looked at her daughter-in-law and took the egg from her hand. She scooped out a plump egg and, before bringing it to her daughter’s mouth, carefully blew on it gently, afraid that it would be hot and burn her daughter.

Seeing this, a warm current flowed through Wu Xiuxiu’s heart, making it feel warm and fuzzy.

When Ding Hongjuan handed her the egg and she ate it, Wu Xiuxiu felt it was even more delicious than the previous egg. Her eyes curved into crescent moons.

“Look at you, smiling so happily. Is it that delicious? … There are two more, eat them quickly.”

Ding Hongjuan looked at her daughter’s expression and laughed. She immediately fed her daughter another egg.

Before bringing it to her daughter’s mouth, she still carefully blew on it gently.

Wu Xiuxiu realized that she must have been too weak, as she ate all four eggs in one go.

After finishing, she drank the entire bowl of sugar water under her mother’s feeding. Her stomach felt a little full, but her body had regained some energy and strength, not as weak as before.

It seemed that eating this sugar water and eggs was quite effective!

“Gurgling…gurgling…” Suddenly, Wu Zhipeng’s stomach rumbled, and everyone immediately looked at him.

Wu Zhipeng blushed, scratching the back of his head awkwardly, “I didn’t eat breakfast this morning, and now my stomach is very hungry.”

“I’ll go back and cook right away…Mom, you must be hungry too. I’ll bring it to you when it’s ready.” Dong Xiaoye immediately said, looking considerate.

The Wu family lived quite close to the hospital, just a seven or eight-minute walk away. The sugar water and eggs were also brought over by her after cooking them at home.

“Sister-in-law, you don’t have to be so hard-working. You don’t need to run back home to cook and bring it to my mom and brother. You can get food at the cafeteria for the three of you…

The hospital has a cafeteria.” Wu Xiuxiu said.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t take food out of her space in front of them. Otherwise, she had many delicious things in her space that she could bring out for them to eat.

“The things in the hospital are ridiculously expensive…Everything in the hospital is expensive. I heard from people in the next ward that even a bowl of plain porridge in the cafeteria is three times more expensive than outside. It’s like they’re robbing people.

I’ll still go home and cook and bring it to Mom and your brother. I’ll eat with them later.” Dong Xiaoye immediately waved her hand.

“I heard that everything in the hospital canteen is said to be three times more expensive than outside. You absolutely cannot buy food from the hospital canteen, why waste that money.” Ding Hongjuan nodded in agreement.

Wu Zhipeng also nodded, “Our factory’s canteen is much better, everything is sold cheaply.

I eat at our factory canteen by myself, and I can eat my fill for two cents, and I can even eat three or four dishes.”

So cheap! Wu Xiuxiu was a little surprised.

You know, at this time, to eat three or four dishes at a restaurant, it would cost a yuan, even all vegetarian dishes would cost more than a yuan.

“Speaking of our factory’s canteen, our factory recently changed chefs, and the new chef is really good. The dishes he makes are delicious, especially the braised pork, just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

Xiuxiu, you have to get well soon. When you’re better, brother will take you to our factory canteen to eat braised pork. Don’t you love eating braised pork?”

Wu Zhipeng suddenly looked at his sister with an expression like he remembered something, and said lovingly.

“Okay, thank you, brother.” Wu Xiuxiu nodded, feeling another wave of warmth flowing into her heart, making her feel warm.

This new brother, new mother, and new sister-in-law are all so kind to me. I must treat them as my real family, and I must be kind to them in the future.

“Mom, Xiaoye, when Xiuxiu is well and discharged from the hospital, I’ll take her to the factory canteen to eat something good. You guys come along too, eat some good stuff.” Wu Zhipeng looked at his mother and wife.

“I saw a colleague of mine take his whole family of five to the canteen to eat. They ordered five dishes, two meat and three vegetables, plus two pounds of rice, and it only cost one yuan and three cents, it’s such a good deal.

Our family of four can go too, we can also order two meat and three vegetables, plus two pounds of rice, and have a good meal.”

Brother’s factory is so good, not only can you bring a family member to eat at the canteen, you can even bring the whole family to eat.

However, I had read articles specifically introducing factories of this era before, and it said that factories of this era were like a big family. Although the wages were much lower than in modern times, they were good to their employees.

For example, employees could often bring their families to eat at the factory canteen, the food was cheap and delicious.

“Okay, you’re going to get paid soon, when Xiuxiu is discharged from the hospital, use your wages to take our whole family to your factory canteen to have a good meal.”

Ding Hongjuan nodded, her eyes curved into a smile.

Dong Xiaoye also nodded, her eyes curved into a smile. Seeing her family all smiling, Wu Xiuxiu also smiled.

She really likes her current family, she likes the current family atmosphere.

She has a feeling that she will live a good and happy life in this family, in this era!

After Dong Xiaoye left, Wu Zhipeng heard from his mother, Ding Hongjuan, about his wife’s idea of finding Liu the matchmaker to arrange a blind date for his sister, so that his sister could find a good partner to marry, and she wouldn’t have to go to the countryside.

He agreed with his wife’s idea.

He told his sister not to be averse to blind dates, he and Dong Xiaoye met through a blind date arranged by his colleague, and he and Dong Xiaoye got along very well and have been quite happy after marriage.

But he also reminded his sister not to rush into marriage just to escape going to the countryside. If she finds the blind date to be okay, don’t just marry him randomly.

Marriage is about her lifelong happiness. When going on blind dates, you must be very selective, see more men, compare who is better, who is more suitable for you before deciding who to marry. Don’t just decide to marry after seeing one or two people.

Hearing her brother tell her to see more men, Wu Xiuxiu felt overwhelmed.

Modern people don’t like blind dates, and she’s no exception.

To see more men, to go on more blind dates, she was scared just thinking about it.

She just hoped that Liu the matchmaker wouldn’t arrange any misfits for her. Ideally, she would be introduced to someone who is good in all aspects right away. If she thinks he’s okay and has a feeling of attraction, she’ll marry him.

As a novel lover, she has a bit of a girlish heart. Even though she is forced to get married quickly to avoid going to the countryside, she must meet a man who makes her heart flutter before she gets married.

If he doesn’t make her heart flutter, no matter how good his conditions are, she won’t marry him.