Chapter 25: Too Tired to Even Lift Her Head

Fortunately, there were many people around, and she was quickly pulled out of the water.

She had only swallowed a few mouthfuls of water and coughed continuously after being pulled out. There were no major symptoms.

After her condition eased, she kept crying. Zhou Xiaoju and her brother also cried along with her, looking very pitiful.

Such a commotion naturally reached the ears of Zhou Shugen and his wife next door.

Before Zhou Shugen could get nervous, his wife rushed out and yelled, “Why are you pretending to be pitiful here? If you really want to die, find a quiet night and die quietly. That way you can die thoroughly. You’re trying to die in public, making it seem like you’re in the right, aren’t you? I think you don’t want to die yourself, you want to force me to die, right? Fine, I’ll do you a favor. Let’s all just die. I’ll die and take someone with me. Don’t think you’ll have a good life, you and your whole family. If I die, don’t think you’ll live either!”

Zhou Shugen quickly tried to persuade her, “What are you talking about? Who wants you to die? Forget it, let’s pack up and go back to the city. I won’t come back again, okay?”

Zhou Shugen’s father squatted in the yard, his head hanging low, his face hidden from view. He couldn’t be feeling good.

There were muffled sobs coming from inside the house, starting from a low, suppressed sound, then turning into a breakdown. It was his paralyzed mother.

The woman continued to nag, “If you want to go back to the city, go back. If you want to come back, come back. Do you think you have the final say in everything? I’m telling you, I’m not that easy to bully. If you don’t get rid of this woman, if you want to have two families, it’s not going to happen. If you piss me off, none of us will have a good time.”

Xiaoju’s mother heard that she was going to be driven away again, and she started crying and trying to jump into the river.

Zhou Shugen knelt down in front of her with a thud. The atmosphere suddenly became cold, and no one spoke. Xiaoju’s mother also sobbed and stopped struggling.

“I… I know I’m sorry. I’m a worthless piece of trash. It’s all my fault that things turned out like this. But we…” He lowered his head in shame, not daring to look at her. After a moment, he mustered up his courage, “We’ve been divorced for so many years. You said you had nowhere to go, so I let you stay at home. You understand me. Just leave!”

Xiaoju’s mother broke down again, “I agreed to divorce you because you promised you wouldn’t drive me away. All these years, I haven’t even wanted you. I took care of your children and your parents. Now you want to drive me away. Where am I supposed to go?”

Her initial attempt to kill herself might have been a show for others, but now, every word was heartfelt.

Men, no matter what, still have a home. Even if it’s poor and dilapidated, it’s still a retreat. But what do women have?

If they weren’t driven to desperation, who would want to live such a pathetic life?

“You’re all forcing me to die. I’ll just die and do as you please. You can all have a good life. Don’t stop me. Please, let me die…”

Xiaoju’s mother, although thin, had been doing farm work for years and still had some strength. She struggled, and several women couldn’t hold her down. It was the men who came to help, tying her to a tree with a rope. She still cried and screamed, her eyes bloodshot, her whole body in a frenzy.

She was undoubtedly pitiful, and many women silently shed tears, condemning Zhou Shugen.

But what good did it do?

If you really think about it, both women were innocent. The one who was wrong was Zhou Shugen.

The men who had envied Zhou Shugen before couldn’t help but sigh.

Everyone used to think he was lucky. He had a caring wife outside to live with, and at home, he had someone to help take care of his paralyzed mother and children. It was a heavenly life.

Now it seemed that this heavenly life wasn’t something everyone could handle.

Shiliu kept saying how pitiful she was, saying that Zhou Shugen was a heartless bastard, and that his current wife was also quite pitiful. She was deceived into marrying him, but it was a new society now, and no woman could stand a man having two families.

Jiang Nian felt a surge of frustration.

It was the man’s fault, but everyone was advising the women, because if either of the two women was willing to take a step back, the matter could be resolved.

But they all ignored the fact that they had no way out, so they could only make things difficult for each other, desperately forcing each other for their own sake.

Xiaoju’s mother had a sudden episode, and someone called out to her, “Doctor Jiang, come and see what’s wrong with her.”

She was emotionally unstable at the moment. Others had tied her to the tree to save her, but because she was struggling, her skin was scratched by the rope, and her whole body was trembling and twitching because of her anger, clearly something was wrong.

Jiang Nian took out a silver needle and pricked a point on her head. The woman instantly fainted, and her twitching body calmed down.

She then examined her.

Her hands moved continuously, pressing on her chest. After a while, the woman woke up. Although she was no longer twitching, she was still crying.

The excessive stimulation had caused her heart to beat irregularly. If this continued, she wouldn’t be able to calm down, and it would cause serious problems.

Jiang Nian didn’t hesitate. She pried open her mouth and fed her a pill, making her faint again.

“Doctor Jiang, how is my mother? Please, save my mother…” Zhou Xiaoju begged Jiang Nian with hope.

“Your mother’s illness is not in her body, but in her mind. I can only make her temporarily unconscious, but if she wakes up and her emotions are still unstable, she may have heart problems.”

She had just taken her pulse and found that the woman’s heart was already a little weak, but as long as she didn’t experience a major blow beyond her body’s capacity, she might never get sick in her life.

But once she started to get sick, any emotional fluctuations in the future could trigger arrhythmia again.

The severity depended on her emotional control, so it was unpredictable.

Zhou Xiaoju was only 16 years old. Faced with this situation, she didn’t know what to do.

Jiang Nian often saw her busy figure on the mountain and had a good impression of the girl.

Perhaps out of sympathy, she took out a bottle of medicine from her pocket, using it as a cover, and handed it to her, “Her emotions are fluctuating too much. Even if she wakes up, she probably won’t be able to calm down for a while. It’s best to keep her unconscious for a few days. This is a sleeping drug. When she wakes up, open the bottle and let her smell it. It will make her fall unconscious again. If there are any physical problems, you can come and find me.”

“Thank you.” Zhou Xiaoju choked out.

When Jiang Nian went out, Zhou Shugen and his current wife were leaving.

As she passed by them, Zhou Shugen suddenly shivered.

He turned his head and saw his wife’s unfriendly look. He chuckled, “It’s… quite cold today!”

“I think it’s not the weather that’s cold, it’s your heart that’s cold, because your good deed went bad!”

Zhou Shugen looked distressed, “Can you stop saying that? It was so many years ago with her. After the divorce, I really haven’t had anything to do with her. Now all I care about is you and the children. You see, she’s like that. If we really force her to death, we’ll be in trouble too, won’t we? I really promise you, I won’t come back again, okay?”

If it weren’t for the fact that they had to live together in the future, how could the woman give up so easily.

But as soon as night fell, Zhou Shugen, who had wanted to make a good impression and coax his wife, discovered that no matter how hard he tried, no matter what methods he used, his little thing seemed to have lost its function, and he couldn’t get it up.

The woman was annoyed and frustrated by him, but she couldn’t vent her anger. She waved her hand in disgust, “Go away, are you annoying me?”

“I… I’m probably tired today. Forget it, let’s sleep.” Zhou Shugen made an excuse for himself.

He didn’t know that he wasn’t just tired today, but possibly in the future, he would be too “tired” to even lift his head.