Chapter 6: Bedwetting

Widow Ji had left the hospital not long when the doctor came for rounds.

Seeing the doctor, Zhang Caihua was a bit nervous and quickly greeted, “The doctor is here.”

The doctor nodded. “How is the mother’s condition?”

“She hasn’t woken up since yesterday. My mother said maybe she’s tired from the difficult labor and needs more rest.” Zhang Caihua reported honestly.

The doctor was surprised. The woman was admitted yesterday afternoon around three o’clock. Now it was already nine o’clock and she was still unconscious?

He quickly checked her body—pulse, eyes, and other signs were normal. Though pale and thin, she was better than many others now.

During the pregnancy, Ji Aihua had shamelessly asked people to exchange things and send them to her every few days. Although the original owner was not selfish, pregnancy made her put her child first.

Compared to those pale and weak people of the time, she was indeed better off.

The doctor found nothing wrong, then gave her an intravenous drip of glucose, which was nutritious and beneficial to the body. This was Qin Zhan’s private instruction to the doctor.

However, Zhang Caihua and others at the Ji family did not understand this and thought the glucose was some kind of medicine because Ning Xin had a hard C-section.

After checking on the baby and finding no problems, the doctor said, “The glucose drip will finish soon. Both the mother and baby are temporarily fine.”

“Thank you, doctor.” Zhang Caihua was very careful not to neglect anything.

…

Yangguang Production Team

Widow Ji had not met any adults on her way; it was work time and everyone was in the fields.

She first returned home and saw the bag Qin Zhan had left yesterday in the main room. It was placed exactly as it had been the day before. No one in the Ji family dared to open it without her permission.

Inside the bag, besides Ji Aihua’s clothes, medals, and martyr certificate, there was a paper bag containing the death certificate and other documents Qin Zhan mentioned.

Widow Ji did not know what was needed for cancellation of the household registration. She was illiterate, but her children could read some characters. When they were too young to work, Widow Ji had sent them to school. Later, when they were old enough to work and had big appetites, they stopped attending school.

Widow Ji went to the field to find Second Brother Ji, planning to have him look over the documents.

Along her way, everyone naturally noticed her. Those who had no grievances with Widow Ji felt sorry for the Ji family. Those who were friendly felt sympathy. Those who disliked her secretly mocked.

Although no one spoke, Widow Ji clearly sensed the looks. She kept a solemn and expressionless face as she walked towards Second Brother Ji in the field.

When Widow Ji found Second Brother Ji in the field where he was working, she called out from the shore. “Second Brother, come home with me for a while.”

Second Brother Ji, upon hearing his mother’s voice, hurriedly picked up his hoe and went up. “Mom, why are you here?”

Widow Ji said, “Your wife is watching over at the hospital. I came back to get the household registration book. I need to go to the police station to cancel your elder brother’s registration.”

Second Brother Ji’s eyes turned red again.

When the mother and son returned home, Widow Ji let him look at the documents in the paper bag. “Take a look at what’s written in here.”

Although Second Brother Ji had only attended school for a few years, he could read more than well enough. “What’s written here is Eldest Brother’s death certificate documents, there’s nothing else.”

Widow Ji nodded. “I need to go to the team leader to get a certification. You go and call the team leader.”

Second Brother Ji replied, “Alright.”

Widow Ji waited at the entrance of the village committee yard for a while before she saw the team leader come over. With the military certificate in hand, the team leader marked Ji Aihua as deceased on the villagers’ registry and naturally also issued a death certificate for Ji Aihua to Widow Ji.

Because of military-related matters, although Ji Aihua’s household registration had been transferred, the village still kept related records.

During the process, the team leader also sighed and offered a few words of comfort to Widow Ji. But in such matters, no amount of comfort would be of use.

When Widow Ji returned to the town, she first went to the police station to cancel Ji Aihua’s household registration, then went to the post office to deposit the money. It was already noon by then, and she went directly to the hospital.

When Widow Ji arrived at the hospital and saw that her eldest daughter-in-law was still sleeping, she said to Zhang Caihua, “You go home first. I will stay at the hospital for the next few days until the eldest daughter-in-law can be discharged. You just come in the morning to bring me breakfast, lunch, and dinner. No need to bring food for the eldest daughter-in-law for now. We don’t know when she’ll wake up.”

Mainly, the wild vegetable soup and such that were brought were not nutritious. Now that she had money and food coupons in hand, if the eldest daughter-in-law woke up, she could always go buy something nutritious for her.

“I understand, Mom.” Zhang Caihua carefully remembered. “Mom, after you left this morning, the doctor came to check on Eldest Sister-in-law and Xiao Dong. The doctor said they’re physically fine. This morning he also gave Eldest Sister-in-law a bottle of glucose. Also, Xiao Dong was just fed with milk about half an hour ago.”

Widow Ji nodded. “Got it.”

After tidying up the ward, Zhang Caihua took away the baby’s used diapers. She planned to wash them today, dry them by the fire, and bring them back tomorrow.

After Zhang Caihua left, Widow Ji sat back down by the hospital bed and stared at her grandson. She had accepted her son’s death very quickly, and because she had her grandson, she became especially strong.

As Widow Ji was watching the little baby, Ning Xin’s soul was screaming: I can’t hold it in any longer… I’m going to wet myself… Damn it, why can’t I wake up, why can’t I control my body… ah…

With her scream, the urine seemed to have been switched on and flowed out all at once.

And Ning Xin… completely froze.

Widow Ji moved her nose. She seemed to smell the scent of urine. Freshly released urine had a particularly strong smell, and Widow Ji caught it right away. But she thought it was her grandson who peed, so she immediately lifted the little blanket covering the mother and child. As soon as the blanket was lifted, the urine smell got even stronger.

Then Widow Ji swiftly unfastened the diaper, only to find it dry with no trace of urine.

Widow Ji fell silent and turned her gaze toward her daughter-in-law’s legs. September was still warm, and the pants were thin. Wet pants from urine were quite obvious.

Widow Ji accepted it well. Her eldest daughter-in-law had been sleeping since yesterday afternoon until now, and it was normal to have to urinate. Also, after childbirth, women could experience urinary incontinence. Widow Ji didn’t mind changing her daughter-in-law’s pants herself, but since the daughter-in-law had a caesarean, she was afraid of hurting her and had to wake her up.

“Eldest Daughter-in-law… Eldest Daughter-in-law…”

Ning Xin heard Widow Ji calling her and couldn’t help but think: Did she find out I wet the bed? Or is she calling me for something else? Did she notice or not?

“Eldest Daughter-in-law… Eldest Daughter-in-law…”

Widow Ji called for a long time without getting a response. Even if she was ignorant, she still felt something wasn’t right. No matter how weak or sleepy a postpartum woman was, it was impossible to have no reaction at all when being called.

But it should be fine.

The second daughter-in-law said before leaving that the doctor came to check in the morning and said that both the eldest daughter-in-law and the baby were fine.

Thinking of this, she felt reassured again. Since she couldn’t wake the eldest daughter-in-law, she might as well go ahead and change her pants.

Widow Ji, not yet fifty years old, although not well-nourished due to the times, had built up strength through years of manual labor. She carefully changed Ning Xin’s pants and placed the wet pants into a bundle off to the side.

Fortunately, the second daughter-in-law, being experienced, not only brought clothes for the baby yesterday but also brought what the eldest daughter-in-law needed.

Ning Xin didn’t need to guess anymore. Widow Ji was changing her pants—she could feel it. So… her wetting the bed had been found out by Widow Ji.