When the others saw Xu Huiqing’s alarming state, they were all terrified. They rushed into the hallway in a chaotic scramble, shouting, “Doctor! Doctor!”
“Doctor, come quickly! Someone’s dying here!”
Xu Huiqing’s appearance was truly frightening. Her face was as pale as paper, cold sweat poured down her forehead like rain, and her teeth were clenched so tightly they ground audibly. Everyone assumed it was postpartum eclampsia.
The reason they were so nervous was that just two days prior, the hospital had admitted another postpartum mother with eclampsia. She had barely arrived and hadn’t even made it into the resuscitation room before she was gone. The incident had nearly scared the other mothers in the maternity ward out of their wits. The accompanying family members, especially fathers- and mothers-in-law who had conflicts with their daughters-in-law, didn’t dare stir up any trouble during that time.
Their usual bickering and quarrels were one thing, but none of them ever intended to threaten their daughter-in-law’s life.
So when the Women’s Director mentioned it might be epilepsy, everyone turned pale with fright, terrified that Xu Huiqing might have an incident right there in their ward. With so many newborn babies in the room, whose souls were still so light and fragile, what if their daughters, daughters-in-law, grandsons, or granddaughters were frightened into illness? Besides, they were also genuinely afraid that Xu Huiqing would simply die.
People are compassionate by nature. As long as a situation doesn’t conflict with their own interests, they can maintain considerable goodwill.
Soon, the doctors rushed over upon hearing the commotion. Seeing Xu Huiqing’s condition, they immediately pushed her bed out with the nurses. “To the resuscitation room, now!”
It helped that this hospital was the province’s first Maternal and Child Health Hospital. Although the beds weren’t as maneuverable as those decades later, they were still equipped with swivel casters underneath. The nurses worked with incredible speed and efficiency, wheeling the postpartum mother toward the resuscitation room.
The duty nurse in the ward knew Mother Zhao was the one causing trouble. Completely disregarding the fact that she was still sitting on the bed, she pushed it forward, forcing Mother Zhao, whose feet were still on the ground, to lurch sideways. She stumbled off the bed and would have fallen if Zhao Zongbao hadn’t caught her.
Mother Zhao was completely stunned. She asked the families accompanying patients in the postpartum ward, “Wh-what… what’s eclampsia?”
In truth, during the sixties and seventies, many women in rural areas suffered from epilepsy. Why had so few people heard of the disease? Because medical care was so limited, and those women with epilepsy who were unlucky simply didn’t survive.
At this point, the family members in the ward had no patience for her anymore. They scolded her: “Oh, for goodness’ sake, you old woman! Your daughter-in-law gave you a big, healthy grandson, and I saw how happy you were! So why do you have to torment her like this? You’ve tormented a perfectly fine daughter-in-law until she’s sick. If this happy event turns into a funeral, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life!”
“Just two days ago, they brought in a postpartum mother, barely in her twenties, with this same postpartum eclampsia. She didn’t even make it into the resuscitation room before she was gone!”
“Your daughter-in-law gave you a big grandson. What a joyous occasion, so why is an old woman like you stirring up trouble? No matter what anyone says about my bad temper, I’ve never tormented my daughter-in-law during her confinement month!”
Many of them had only heard about this postpartum eclampsia illness during their hospital stay in the past few days. Before this, they’d never known about it either.
With everyone chiming in one after another, Mother Zhao’s face went ashen with fear. She had truly never intended to threaten her daughter-in-law’s life. She was merely following the pattern her own mother-in-law had set. Back then, her mother-in-law had tormented her just like this. Now that she was the mother-in-law, she naturally had to put on the airs of one and assert her authority. Otherwise, how could she be called a mother-in-law?
Hadn’t every daughter-in-law gone through this? What made her so special?
How could she have known this girl would be so useless? She hadn’t even done anything, so how could she get this… whatever eclampsia thing?
Her mouth opened and closed, opened and closed again. Wronged tears streamed down her face. Suddenly, she slapped her thigh. “Oh, my god~~ I’m being so wrongly accused here~~ I really didn’t torment her!”
All she did was spit into her daughter-in-law’s porridge. Compared to the methods her own mother-in-law had used to torment her back in the day, how could that even be called torment?!
Zhao Zongbao, who had been playing dead in silence the entire time, suddenly came alive again as if jolted by electricity. He roared at Mother Zhao, “Enough! What’s the use of crying now? I gave you money to buy food, and what did you buy? She just gave birth, and you make her drink porridge? Didn’t I give you a whole yuan? One yuan, and all you buy is porridge? Go get proper food, now!”
Startled by his shout, Mother Zhao shivered and didn’t dare cry anymore. She scrambled to her feet, nodding desperately. “Alright, alright, I’ll go buy food. What about chicken noodle soup? Is that okay?”
With that, she couldn’t bear to stay in the ward a moment longer and rushed out.
The others in the ward were also startled by Zhao Zongbao’s outburst. A sudden silence fell over the room. They watched Mother Zhao flee in fright, then looked at the furious Zhao Zongbao, thinking: Is this man her son? A son speaking to his mother like this? If he were theirs, they’d beat this ungrateful wretch to death!
Zhao Zongbao ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.
He was the little emperor of the Zhao family, coddled and worshipped by all. He was long accustomed to having everyone around him revolve around his interests. He never had to do anything; his grandparents, parents, and five older sisters would proactively present everything he needed right before him. They fought amongst themselves fiercely, but he never needed to lift a finger. They would speak for him, fight for him, and charge into battle on his behalf.
He had been so conditioned to this pattern that it had become instinct, a skill he had mastered without ever needing to learn!
So after Xu Huiqing married into the Zhao family, even though he and Xu Huiqing had a good relationship, he still instinctively sought to suppress her and wear down her edges. The entire Zhao family surrounded Xu Huiqing, brainwashing her and putting her in her place. He knew about it, yet he treated it as normal, as his due. Each time Xu Huiqing was about to explode, he would step in and play the good guy.
If her halo and edges as a college student weren’t ground away, how could she obediently stay home, center her life around him, slave away for him, and slave away for the Zhao family? All he needed to do was symbolically scold his family members when she was on the verge of rebelling, and he would become the good man, the good husband who cherished her in everyone else’s eyes. This, in turn, made his family target her even more, perfectly achieving his goal.
This wasn’t even the result of deliberate scheming. It was something he had naturally learned from his upbringing, something as intrinsic to him as instinct.
Just like right now.
But even he hadn’t expected that a mere childbirth could lead to such a severe situation, that it might actually cost Xu Huiqing her life!
This was not what he wanted to see. Xu Huiqing was a college graduate, naturally beautiful, with a gentle and virtuous temperament. They had only been married four years, a time when their feelings for each other were at their peak. He didn’t want to watch her die just like that.
He couldn’t help but run to the outside of the resuscitation room, feeling restless and worried, putting on a show of being frantic with concern. He stopped a doctor walking by. “Doctor, how is my wife doing?”
Xu Huiqing heard everything happening around her with perfect clarity. The pain wracking her body was undeniably real. Every detail—the expressions on the doctors’ faces, the medical equipment in the resuscitation room, the sharp scent of disinfectant filling her nose—all told her that this was no dream. This was reality!
This was real!
The realization almost made her weep with joy.
The doctor, however, was forcefully prying her mouth open to prevent her from biting off her own tongue, while constantly reminding her: “Can you hear me? Don’t bite down, don’t bite! Relax! Open your mouth!”
Once Xu Huiqing knew this was reality and not a dream, it felt as if she had found hope to live again. She was going to live well. She was going to take good care of her body. Her daughter was still waiting for her to pick her up!
Her body itself wasn’t diseased. The trembling and jaw-clenching weren’t due to epilepsy.
The doctor’s words echoed repeatedly in her ears. An overwhelming desire to survive made her reflexively want to follow the doctor’s instructions. Unconsciously, she relaxed her teeth, no longer clenching her molars with deathly force.
Noticing that she had truly relaxed, the doctor was overjoyed. He hadn’t expected the patient to be able to control her own muscles. He continued to soothe her: “Yes, relax. It’s a minor issue, nothing major. Relax your body as well. Everything is fine!”
Postpartum eclampsia can be triggered by various factors, such as hypertensive disorders during pregnancy, cerebrovascular abnormalities, metabolic disorders, and so on.
Although Xu Huiqing’s muscle spasms and rapid breathing were triggered by the shock of her daughter’s incident in her past life, and not true epilepsy, the possibility of it actually developing into epilepsy could not be ruled out.
With Xu Huiqing actively cooperating with the doctors, after their emergency treatment and care, she was quickly stabilized. This brought a collective sigh of relief from the medical team.
By now, Mother Zhao had returned from the cafeteria with a bowl of chicken noodle soup. She stood pitifully outside the resuscitation room, clutching the soup and gazing at the door with anxious eyes.
Afraid that her son, Zhao Zongbao, would blame her, she cautiously approached him and offered him the soup. “Zongbao, have you had breakfast? Why don’t you eat something first?” She glanced up at the resuscitation room. “I don’t think Huiqing will be out that quickly. After you finish, I’ll go buy more.”
Zhao Zongbao had already eaten breakfast before coming. As someone who had been the center of the universe since childhood, he would never let himself go hungry. Hearing this, he glanced at the chicken noodle soup his mother had brought back and said impatiently and irritably, “What were you doing earlier? I gave you money specifically to buy food! Food! And you bring up a bowl of porridge!” He jabbed a finger at her nose. “If something really happens to Huiqing, we’ll see how you handle it!”
His words made Mother Zhao shrink her neck back. Tears streaming down her face, she meekly and submissively tried to placate him. “I know it’s my fault, I know I was wrong. Son, listen to your mother, just eat a couple bites, just a couple bites!”
She always knew what mattered most to her. As long as her son was there, as long as her son forgave her, she had nothing to fear.
So even at this moment, what filled her mind wasn’t guilt toward Xu Huiqing, but the need to placate her son, to ensure Zhao Zongbao wouldn’t hold a grudge against her.
Mother Zhao was his mother, after all. Seeing her so pitiful and wretched, even Zhao Zongbao’s greatest anger dissipated somewhat. His tone was no longer the raging fury from the ward earlier. His face still dark, he said, “When Huiqing comes out, whatever she wants to eat, you buy it for her. No more of your petty tricks! Let her finish her confinement month peacefully. If you can’t take proper care of her, I’ll call Eldest Sister and Second Sister and the rest of them to come help!”
His sisters were all married now, with their own families and children. Yet the matter-of-fact tone with which he said he would summon them to care for Xu Huiqing showed he didn’t spare a single thought for whether his sisters’ children could be separated from their mothers, or if they also needed care, or if their own households could spare them.
Ever since he was a child, whenever he had any need, the entire family had to orbit around him, with his needs and commands as the supreme directive.
Mother Zhao didn’t dare talk back. At this moment, she appeared to be nothing more than a pitiful, wronged, thin, and frail old woman.
When the door to the resuscitation room finally opened, both members of the Zhao family rushed forward, anxiously asking the doctor, “Doctor, how is my wife? Is she alright?”
The doctors had no intention of telling the family it wasn’t eclampsia. Of course, they also didn’t say it was, because the mother could potentially be agitated to the point of developing true postpartum eclampsia later on. Sometimes, making the situation sound more serious and scaring the family members who didn’t treat the mother like a human being was all for the sake of ensuring the mother received better care.
Looking at the mother and son of the Zhao family, the doctor nodded wearily and said, “She’s been stabilized. However, the mother already suffered a major postpartum hemorrhage, and she hasn’t completely pulled through the danger zone yet. She absolutely cannot be subjected to any more stress. If something were to happen to her, the medical expenses would be the least of your worries. I believe that as her family, you wouldn’t want any harm to come to your loved one, correct?”
Zhao Zongbao quickly smiled and said, “Yes, yes, yes. This was a lapse in care. I wasn’t in the ward today and had no idea what my mother was doing. I’ve already scolded her. This won’t happen again. Thank you, Doctor.”
The doctor merely gave a curt nod and walked away.