CHAPTER 334: CHAPTER 334: STEPPING OUT OF THE SICKROOM

Song Yuantao clutched the child’s blood test report, a disheartened figure seated on a bench outside the hospital, his rage having reached its apex and now turned into a chilling calm.

"The blood type doesn’t match; the child’s blood type is Type B, definitely not his biological daughter." Song Yuanhuan stared at his and Wang Qinghua’s test reports, frozen as if struck by lightning upon seeing the Type A blood written above.

Had he been cuckolded? Become the eternal fool, even raising another man’s child? How laughable!

After sitting in the cold wind for a full half-hour, Song Yuantao bitterly put away the test reports and headed towards the living quarters of the county hospital. Inside the infirmary, Wang Qinghua’s little girl wailed once again, with Wang Qinghua frantically trying to soothe her daughter. Upon seeing Song Yuantao walk into the room, she immediately burst into a rant, "Are you dead or what? I sent you to get your daughter’s blood test report, and did you lose it in the latrine? Useless trash." Wang Qinghua’s scolding was sharp and distasteful.

"..." Song Yuantao silently looked up, his gaze towards Wang Qinghua extremely complicated.

"What are you looking at me for? Go warm up the medicine with hot water and feed it to your daughter!" Wang Qinghua, startled by Song Yuantao’s eyes, hesitantly continued to bark orders at him instinctively.

Song Yuantao glanced at Wang Qinghua and then at the little girl again before turning around to pour hot water from the kettle next to the nightstand, grinding the western medicine pills into powder, placing them in a small cup, and mixing them with the hot water until the medicine dissolved evenly.

With visible irritation, Wang Qinghua carefully held the small cup, feeding it to her daughter, but her eyes occasionally darted to Song Yuantao, "I asked you to borrow money from Xu Xiuxiu for the child’s treatment, did you ask her?" This was Wang Qinghua’s current focus, borrowing money for the child’s medical treatment was crucial.

Despite her dislike for her well-educated and capable brother and sister-in-law which only made her feel more inadequate, she had to admit that her daughter’s premature birth was partially due to her educated son Song Chengguang’s contribution. Additionally, considering Xu Xiuxiu’s wealth, which relieved her of the headache of borrowing money, Wang Qinghua instinctively felt that Xu Xiuxiu was at least somewhat useful.

"I didn’t go." Song Yuantao sat on a chair beside the sickbed, his head hung low.

"What?" Wang Qinghua, having just fed the bitter medicine to her crying daughter, was already in an especially irritable mood. Her anger flared upon hearing that Song Yuantao hadn’t asked Xu Xiuxiu for a loan, "Song Yuantao, you good-for-nothing, what’s the matter with you? If you don’t borrow money from Xu Xiuxiu, do you want to watch our daughter die of sickness? The doctor said that although diabetes isn’t fatal, the treatment will cost quite a bit of money! I’m warning you, you must borrow the money today, and if you don’t get two thousand yuan, don’t bother coming back." Wang Qinghua placed her crying daughter on the sickbed, unconcerned with her tears, and charged towards Song Yuantao, poking his forehead with her raised hand.

"I won’t go." Song Yuantao refused, batting away Wang Qinghua’s hand, looking like he was on the verge of erupting.

"You won’t go?" Wang Qinghua’s tone suddenly rose, staring at her slapped hand, "Alright, Song Yuantao, I never expected you to be such a heartless man, willing to just watch your own daughter die without trying to borrow money. What are you thinking? Is your pride and dignity so important? You heartless creature, you should have been the one to die off instead!" Wang Qinghua raged, even grabbing the kettle with the intent to hurl it at Song Yuantao.

Because she was used to losing her temper, and because Song Yuantao had always indulged her, Wang Qinghua failed to realize something was off with him and selfishly went on being angry.

"What peace of mind are you talking about, Wang Qinghua? Let me tell you, if she were my little girl, even if it meant smashing pots to sell and begging on the streets, I would cure her illness!" Song Yuantao also yelled, grabbing the kettle Wang Qinghua was about to smash and hurled it to the ground with a loud bang.

The inner lining of the kettle instantly shattered, and the hot water started to slowly seep out.

"Wah!" The little girl on the hospital bed started crying even harder after the kettle hit the floor, even showing signs of struggling to breathe.

The other patients in the room were also disturbed by the commotion. Initially, they were already troubled by the child’s incessant crying, but they tolerated it since she was a child with a severe illness—this was the norm in a general ward, after all: cheap, but noisy with many people.

But now, this couple was quarreling loudly over the cost of their child’s medical treatment. No one had the patience for it, so soon enough, a nurse from the hospital was called in.

"What are you implying, Song Yuantao?" Wang Qinghua felt a bit guilty, hesitating for a long while before mustering up the courage to ask, "Isn’t she your daughter? Huh!" The sheer nerve it took to ask that question was immense. Wang Qinghua vaguely felt that something wasn’t quite right.

The words Song Yuantao had just spoken had struck her hard. She thought of that person from the village, and wondered if...

"Whether she’s my daughter, don’t you know that better than anyone? Wang Qinghua, you whore, slut!" Song Yuantao’s eyes reddened with fury as he cursed, "You dare cheat on me behind my back, and make a fool of me?" He was so angry that he almost wanted to tear apart the woman in front of him who had brought him such shame.

Good heavens! Wang Qinghua gasped in shock, her eyes wide with terror, looking at Song Yuantao who had not rested well these past two days due to their child’s diabetes; his eyes were bloodshot, and his furious, intimidating glare was frightening. Wang Qinghua was petrified in an instant.

"Family of patient in bed 5, what is going on here? Stop making such a commotion. If you want to fight, take it home. Do you have no consideration for the rest of the patients needing rest? Don’t you know making noise is prohibited in the hospital? You’re causing trouble for the patients, understand?" The nurse trying to mediate and stop them was an older woman, who maybe has been a nurse long enough to see all sorts of bizarre things, dealing with Song Yuantao and Wang Qinghua was just another trip and a waste of saliva for a little education.

"How can you behave like this as parents when your child is crying so hard she can’t even catch her breath, and yet you still want to argue!" said the nurse, picking up the crying baby from the hospital bed to comfort her, and the loud wailing finally quieted down a bit.

Wang Qinghua came to her senses, and with a terrified look glanced at Song Yuantao. She had never imagined quiet Song Yuantao could have such a frightening moment: "Thank you so much! Nurse." Turning her head, Wang Qinghua took her little girl from the nurse and moved to one side.

Song Yuantao watched Wang Qinghua and then turned to leave the room.