Chapter 9: Cutting flesh to repay mother, quenching thirst with plums

The second day of the Lunar New Year. The day of the surgery.

"Oh my god, I've been hospitalized for 4 days and I've lost 6 pounds!"

Ling Yue returned from the Nurse station, rubbing her stomach back and forth in disbelief.

She had gained weight due to work stress and had two layers of fat on her belly, but this time she was so hungry that only one layer remained.

The little girl's mother was combing the hair of her daughter who had just woken up.

Hearing Ling Yue say this, she offered a comforting smile. "Being sick and hospitalized is like that. Once you're fully recovered, you can eat something good to make up for it. Hey, are you having your surgery today?"

Ling Yue stretched her body in the open space. "I'm going into the operating room at ten."

The little girl's mother looked up at the wall clock. "There are still two hours left, you should hurry up and lie down. Didn't the doctor say you have to fast for 24 hours after the surgery? Don't waste your energy."

"My back hurts, my tailbone hurts, and my butt hurts too." Ling Yue clenched her fists and pounded her lower back, her sallow little face full of dread for the surgery.

The old grandmother nodded in understanding. "That's because you've been lying down for too long; you really need to move around more."

Ling Yue walked over slowly. "That's great. You're being discharged today. I hope you stay healthy and worry-free in the future, and are happy every day."

The old grandfather had packed everything up—just one luggage bag. Hearing Ling Yue say this, he revealed a heartfelt smile.

The old grandmother knew her husband was a man of few words, so she spoke for him: "We also wish you a speedy recovery, and for that little girl over there to get better soon, and hopefully never get sick again in her life."

"Ah, thank you, Grandma." The little girl's hair was messy, and she was still groggy and not fully awake. Prompted softly by her mother, she said it without any soul.

Seeing her confused expression, the adults all burst into laughter.

Ling Yue watched as the old grandfather helped the old grandmother leave.

After a while, a Nurse came to clean the bed.

Her stomach felt so empty, and Ling Yue didn't dare to move anymore, so she just lay on the bed and read a novel.

Just as she was reading a scene where the male and female leads were making out and about to take their clothes off, a WeChat message popped up.

Ling Yue clicked on it. Mao Wenjie had sent a message. Then he retracted it.

The scumbag is having a seizure. Ling Yue ignored it.

On the other side, Mao Wenjie stared intently at his phone. One minute, two minutes, three minutes... thirty minutes!

It had been thirty minutes since he retracted the message. However, it had been an hour since he posted on his Moments!

Why didn't she take the initiative to ask him? Why wasn't she apologizing yet?

Did she go into the operating room? Did she not see the message? That's not right, she said it was at ten o'clock that day. It's only nine o'clock now.

Fine, fine, fine, playing hard to get, huh! Let's see who can hold out longer!

Mao Wenjie threw his phone away in frustration and tossed and turned on the bed; he didn't even have the mood to play games anymore.

At the hospital. "Ling Yue, it's time for your surgery." The Nurse came over to remind her.

Ling Yue knew there would be many inconveniences after the surgery, so she hired a caregiver. She silenced her phone and gave it to the caregiver for safekeeping.

At Ling Yue's strong insistence, all documents regarding the surgery were signed by her personally.

Although it was a minimally invasive surgery, it was still under general anesthesia. The temperature in the operating room was quite low. The smell wasn't very pleasant either.

The doctor and the Nurse were making preparations. No one was speaking; it was too quiet. Ling Yue felt a bit unaccustomed to it. "Doctor."

"Hmm?" The doctor stopped their preparations and looked at her.

"Can you give me the tumor once you cut it out?"

"According to medical regulations, no." The doctor's attitude was clear and firm.

Ling Yue looked at the ceiling and let out a sigh of regret. "Then can you at least take a photo for me?"

"That's possible." The young girl must be keeping the photo to motivate herself to live a good life in the future; how could he not help fulfill this small wish?

Perhaps the anesthesia was taking effect; Ling Yue felt a bit sleepy. She closed her eyes, her mind uncontrollably wandering.

Once she was fully recovered, she would go traveling. Dali, Sanya, Xinjiang, Lhasa...

She would buy pretty clothes. And learn to do makeup.

Her current rental apartment was too far from the company; she needed to move to one closer. The resentment value of the corporate slaves must be very high; she couldn't let it go...

It felt like she had just taken a nap. When she woke up, she was back in the ward. The surgery was a success. She had to fast for 24 hours first to see how things went. The discharge time was TBD.

The little girl's mother brought apple and yam puree and vegetable porridge today.

After the old grandmother left, a new patient arrived in the ward. He was actually eating small wontons! They smelled so good, so delicious!

The growling of her stomach drowned out the sound of the instruments. The caregiver used a cotton swab dipped in water to moisten Ling Yue's lips. "Don't look, don't smell." Her words were so cold!

Ling Yue's hometown. The mess covering the living room floor had long been cleaned up, but two-thirds of the house was empty.

The sofa and coffee table were all ruined. Ling Guofu couldn't bear to spend money, so he went and bought a few plastic stools to put there.

The refrigerator, television, rice cooker, microwave, and space heater were all gone. After the police left, Aunt and her group made a surprise return, swarming into the house and looting everything.

The shoe cabinet at the entrance was also smashed to pieces; the door was gone, leaving only two pairs of summer sandals sitting inside all alone.

At this very moment, a heavy atmosphere of decadence drifted through the empty Ling household.

Guan Xuemei originally worked at the neighborhood office. As a mediator, she couldn't even resolve her own family conflicts and was also complained about by Aunt, Fourth Aunt, and Youngest Aunt every few days.

Lacking morals and quality, cursing her brother and sister-in-law caused public outrage, and failing her seriously ill daughter incited public anger. News spreads fast in a small county, and in just a few days, the Ling family's scandals had spread far and wide.

It was a beautiful, sunny morning, with magpies circling the eaves and a rainbow hanging high. Just as Guan Xuemei arrived at the neighborhood office, she received notice that she had been fired.

Not only was her 1,800-a-month job gone, but her close friends had all blocked her, clearly intending to draw a line. Guan Xuemei was so angry that she cursed at home, viciously insulting the families of the backstabbing villains one by one, which led to complaints from neighbors and inevitably brought the police to her door for a lecture.

Once the police left, the more Guan Xuemei thought about it, the more stifled she felt, and she passed out from anger. She was still lying in bed, unable to get up.

Ling Hui locked himself in his room, going on a hunger strike to commemorate his dead romance.

However, the truth was that the fact that he used his sister's life-saving money as a dowry had somehow spread. His elementary and high school classmates, whom he hadn't been in contact with for years, were discussing his family's affairs in group chats he was in, without any hesitation. Their words were sharp and mean, hurting his fragile heart.

Even his colleagues at work were holding a short video from who knows where, asking him to his face if that was him.

Damn, damn, damn! He had never been so humiliated in his life. Stepping outside felt like the neighbors' spit could drown him.

Especially that big dog downstairs named Heizhuang. When Ling Yue was around, she loved feeding it bones. For the past few days, who knows if it was having a spasm or what, but every time Ling Hui passed by its shop, that damn dog would rush out and bark wildly at him.

Truly, kind people are bullied by dogs! He wouldn't go out anymore, alright!

And the one in the family with the least reaction, the most unaffected, was Ling Guofu. As the saying goes, if a person has no shame, they are invincible.

No matter what others said or how his colleagues confronted him, Ling Guofu acted as if he didn't see it, going to work and coming home as usual.

Quit his job and hide at home out of shame? Hiding is useless, and he has no money! Let others gossip; he won't lose a piece of flesh.

The two big buddhas at home weren't eating, so he bought fried rice and beer downstairs for himself, scrolling through TikTok China to earn small gold coins while enjoying his dinner.

"Knock, knock, knock." Someone was knocking on the door. Ling Guofu took a sip of beer and got up. Checking the peephole and seeing a courier, he slowly opened the door.

"Is Guan Xuemei home? A letter for her." The courier took out a very thick envelope and handed it to Ling Guofu.

Ling Guofu reached out, but then pulled his hand back, thinking, "I hope this isn't cash on delivery." "Who sent it?"

"Hangzhou, someone named Ling." The courier scratched his head. "Don't you know them? Then maybe I delivered it to the wrong place."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Ling Guofu grabbed the courier. Hangzhou, surname Ling—that must be Ling Yue. And the envelope is so thick, could it be...!

"It's a letter for my wife, give it to me." Ling Guofu snatched the package impatiently and signed for it.

Just as he was about to close the door, the courier stuck his foot in to block it. "What are you doing? Pay up!"

Damn, it really was cash on delivery! Ling Guofu pulled out 10 yuan as if he were digging out his own heart. "Here."

"Tsk." The courier was speechless. "This is SF Express, it's 23 yuan."

"So expensive?!" Ling Guofu exclaimed! 23, he could eat two meals with that. Regular shipping is only 10 yuan; that damn daughter doesn't know how to save money at all.

He sluggishly pulled a few small bills from another pocket in his pants. "Here, here, here."

The courier took the money and left immediately, not even looking back.

"Who sent it?" Guan Xuemei, still with a fever-reducing patch on her forehead, appeared silently behind Ling Guofu like a ghost.

Ling Guofu felt a wave of sorrow and reluctantly handed the envelope to Guan Xuemei. "Ling Yue."

"This damn girl, she still knows to send things back, and it's so thick... Hmph, I suppose she still has a conscience." Guan Xuemei's headache instantly vanished, and she ripped off the fever-reducing patch and tossed it into the trash can beside her.

She sat on the plastic stool and ripped open the envelope, eagerly pulling out the contents. What on earth is this? It's wrapped in a plastic bag?

Hehehehe!!! Guan Xuemei unwrapped the package layer by layer. The more she unwrapped, the thinner it got, and the thinner it got, the more curious she became. Finally, she saw a photo.

On the front, a bottle containing a tiny tumor; you couldn't even tell without looking closely. On the back, two lines of large characters. First line: Cutting flesh to repay my mother. Second line: What a pity, Ling Hui! You don't deserve to eat my flesh, so just quench your thirst by looking at plums.

For Ling Guofu? Not a single word. If he likes being invisible, then he can stay invisible to the end; he doesn't deserve to be mentioned by her.

"Ah!!!" Guan Xuemei's scream, like a fart on an airplane, echoed through the sky. She had just let out a howl before passing out.

She knocked Ling Guofu to the ground, and the back of his head hit the floor with a crisp "thud."

"Ling Hui! Ling Hui!" Ling Guofu couldn't get up, and his head hurt, so he could only hope his youngest son would save him.

Ling Hui was curled up in his quilt, listening to love songs to heal his heartbreak; the cries for help outside couldn't enter his ears, and certainly couldn't enter his heart.

At the hospital. [resentment value: 12%] [resentment value: 24%] ... [resentment value: 39%] Ling Yue was scrolling through TikTok China.

Who would be harboring resentment against her at this time? Oh, she remembered. Ling Yue pulled up the courier tracking on her phone; the package showed as signed for.

No wonder there was a fluctuation in the resentment value. Hehe, it's a pity she couldn't send the real tumor back. It's just that this wave of resentment was too small; she thought she could reach 100.

Little did Ling Yue know, the biggest source of resentment, Guan Xuemei, had passed out, and Ling Hui was locked away and completely oblivious. All this resentment came solely from Ling Guofu.