CHAPTER 651: CHAPTER 650: THE RADICALS AND THE CONSERVATIVES

Li Dahe didn’t tell He Aimin about Zhao Cuixia fainting, mainly because he was worried that Old Li Family would take advantage of the situation to come around pretending to care.

Even if they had to meet, it would have to wait until Zhao Cuixia had recovered.

Otherwise, the energy to retaliate wouldn’t be there.

Zhao Cuixia was rather lucky, thank goodness Lin Nianhe happened to pass by—if it had been someone else, they might have walked past eight times without hearing the child’s crying.

She was in a daze and only opened her eyes around noon, and when she woke up, it was the most chaotic time at the Zhao Family.

The people there were divided into two groups: the radicals and the conservatives.

The radicals wanted to go and chop off the Zhao family’s Uncle’s paws;

The conservatives thought the radicals were too conservative.

"Whether to chop off hands or not, we can talk about that later. I can’t even bear to touch a finger of my little sister, yet he dared to harm her, risking her life—tell me, if he hadn’t done that lousy thing, would my sister risk carrying her child back to her mother’s house early in the morning in the snow?"

"At first, I liked him because he seemed honest and hard-working. Otherwise, what did we want from his family? Desired his family’s three shabby rooms and a house full of sisters-in-law? Village chief, you must stand up for our Cuixia; this time, she was lucky to encounter Miss Lin. Otherwise, she and her child would’ve lost their lives!"

"We must divorce! The child should stay with our family; if his family doesn’t agree, I’ll take Cuixia back to my mother’s house and make it so he can never see his child for the rest of his life!"

Zhao Cuixia’s eyes moved, and tears slid down her temples, wetting the pillow.

She opened her mouth, speaking feebly: "Mom..."

Widow Zhao didn’t hear her.

She was moved, holding Yu Xiangqin’s hand.

"Brother..."

Zhao Zhuangshi didn’t hear her.

He was instructing Li Erdun to gather people to prepare for a confrontation.

"Sister-in-law..."

Yu Xiangqin didn’t hear her.

She was pursing her lips and shaking off Widow Zhao’s hand, urging her to focus on the matter at hand instead of this drama.

Zhao Cuixia: "..."

Touched, but so helpless.

Finally, Wang Hong noticed her.

"Enough! Stop arguing, Huahua has woken up." Wang Hong brought over some warm water, helped Zhao Cuixia sit up, and said, "Drink slowly, don’t scald yourself."

"Oh my child, you’re finally awake!" Widow Zhao, with her eyes swollen, rushed to the side of the bed, looking at Zhao Cuixia’s pale face, and again began to cry.

Leaning on Wang Hong’s hand, Zhao Cuixia drank most of the cup of water. She felt sore all over, as if she had been beaten up in a sack, her head hurt, her throat hurt, and there was not a single spot on her body that felt comfortable.

"Mom..."

She had just opened her mouth when the tears fell again.

"Don’t cry, this is nothing. Mom’s here." Widow Zhao was surprisingly strong now, bringing over medicine and saying, "Be a good girl, take your medicine first, you still have a fever."

"Where’s the child?" asked Zhao Cuixia.

"She’s fine, your Aunt Li took her to your sister-in-law from the Wang Family to nurse," Widow Zhao fed her the medicine, "We’ll let the child sleep at your sister-in-law’s to avoid frightening her."

Zhao Cuixia was relieved and swallowed the medicine.

Before the bitterness had time to spread across her lips and teeth, a piece of candy was stuffed into her mouth. The sweet, milky flavor immediately chased away the bitterness.

"Huahua, tell Mom, what exactly happened?" Widow Zhao held her hand with furrowed brows.

In fact, until now, all they knew was what Li Dahe had learned over the phone.

The snowstorm was too heavy, and it was difficult for Zhao Zhuangshi to send someone out for news.

Recalling last night, Zhao Cuixia’s eyes couldn’t help but redden again.

During her pregnancy, she suffered from severe morning sickness, utterly drained of energy every day, and couldn’t pay attention to what Li Gang was busying himself with. Childbirth came with complications, and after completing her confinement period, it took her another three months to fully recover.

She gave birth to a daughter, her sister-in-law and sister at home would always pick on her, and even her mother-in-law couldn’t bother to care much.

She alone had to take care of the baby’s needs, and fearing her child would have no good days ahead, she tried to save as much money as possible by working tirelessly, making Head Flowers day in and day out without lifting her head up.

While she was pregnant, struggling to give birth, and immersed in making money to support her daughter, Li Gang had been dragged into playing cards.

At first, it was just for fun, without involving money. But later, nobody knows who started it, saying a little gambling for pleasure...

Where does gambling ever bring pleasure?

The stakes in the card games grew higher and higher, and Li Gang would sometimes win and sometimes lose.

Until last month, they went to a gambling house in the county.

In one night, Li Gang racked up a debt of eight hundred yuan.

Seven hundred and ninety of which was loan shark money.

Li Gang, of course, dared not tell his family, but the money had to be paid back.

Where would the money come from?

The only way Li Gang could think of to make big money was to play cards. He chalked up that night’s loss to bad luck and resolutely plunged back into the card games.

Throughout, there were losses and wins, and as of last night, he owed the gambling house two thousand yuan, principal plus interest.

The debt collectors came to the house, and the matter was finally exposed.

His mother handed over the last two hundred and fifty yuan they had saved, but the other party was still not satisfied, they wanted to take away the child, saying if the money was not returned in three days, they would sell the child.

Zhao Cuixia was originally stunned by this sudden turn of events, but as soon as she heard they wanted to take away her daughter, she instantly snapped back to reality, grabbing the candlestick and smashing it at anyone who came close.

She was crazy with rage, and it was only after invoking Zhao Zhuangshi’s name that those people temporarily gave up the idea of taking the child away.

But before they left, they took everything of value in the house, and threatened to chop off one of Li Gang’s fingers if the money was not returned in three days, saying if the money was still not paid, they would continue to cut.

Faced with such a large sum of money, the sister-in-laws were not willing to intervene; some even said a mere girl could solve the issue, and Zhao Cuixia foolishly tried to stop them.

Seeing their strange glances, Zhao Cuixia panicked, held a kitchen knife, and guarded her daughter for a whole night, and ran out as soon as day broke the next morning.

"Mother, I can’t live like this anymore..."

Zhao Cuixia’s tears flowed non-stop, and she cried uncontrollably while leaning in Widow Zhao’s arms.

Widow Zhao was furious to the point of grinding her teeth.

"Are you out of your mind?" Widow Zhao scolded her furiously, "They don’t care about you or your daughter, so why didn’t you say anything?"

Whenever Zhao Cuixia returned to her maternal home, she was always smiling, speaking well of everyone, and when Widow Zhao visited the Li family, they also behaved decently.

Zhao Cuixia was at a loss for words, just crying.

"Damn it, I will kill him!"

Zhao Zhuangshi was red with anger, clenched his fists, and was about to go out.

He had just taken two steps when Uncle Guan slapped him on the head, "Where do you think you’re going? If you kill someone, then what? You gonna sit in jail and take bullets, and forget about your mother, your wife, your sister?"

Zhao Zhuangshi stubbornly asked, "Then what should we do?"

Li Dahe gave him a kick and then turned to ask Zhao Cuixia, "Cuixia, tell me, do you want a divorce or what? If you want a divorce, I will find Old He; gambling away money, selling the child, it’s non-negotiable; if you don’t want a divorce, let’s come up with some terms to resolve this issue."

Zhao Cuixia opened her mouth, but the word "divorce" couldn’t come out.

If she got divorced, where would she go? Her mother and brother wouldn’t mind her presence, but would the sister-in-law be unhappy?

She...

As she hesitated, no one else spoke up. Divorce is not a trivial matter; they dared not make such a suggestion.

"What are you contemplating? Are you going to wait and celebrate the New Year with this bastard if you don’t divorce him?"

While others dared not to speak, Yu Xiangqin blurted out without hesitation.