My head hurts!
Feeling dizzy as though the world is spinning!?
What's wrong with me?
Yu Jiao could not help but reach out to rub her head, feeling a complete darkness before her eyes, she couldn't even open them.
Could it be that her life is coming to an end?
But maybe it's not so bad. Since Fu Zhan is gone, she has no attachments left alone in the world. Who knows, perhaps she might meet him at the Bridge of Helplessness in the afterlife and get another chance to repay him for his kindness.
"What are you talking about, how unfair!"
"Yu Lao Er, go and see which family loves their sister-in-law so much!"
"I, Liu Chunhua, haven't enjoyed a bit of happiness since I married you. I've been working like a horse for you, and now you're complaining because I can't talk!"
"I'm telling you, if she doesn't marry, your father might as well wait to die in bed!"
"What a heartless act! I'm taking Wenwen back to my mother's house!"
Yu Jiao felt like she was dreaming. How could she hear her sister-in-law's voice?
Is it about her niece Wenwen again?
She has already said that it's impossible to arrange a position for him, are they still not giving up?
Looks like she has to have a serious talk!
Yu Jiao was just getting up when her heavy body pulled her back to the bed. It seemed she really was growing old, useless. As she was about to speak, a harsh scolding interrupted,
"Enough! You’re prattling on as chatty as an old crone! It's not your place to dictate matters concerning our Yu family!"
Those... weren't those Second Brother's voice?
But didn't Second Brother pass away two years ago...
Could it be that she, Yu Jiao, was back among her family in the afterlife?
They said troublemakers go unpunished, but she wondered how her robust Second Sister-in-law had died. Is she still causing ripples even in death?”
“That’s enough! Both of you! As for you, Second Brother, your choice indeed leaves much to be desired.”
“And our little sister is at least a high school student, we can't just send her off to suffer in that kind of family. Even if I were in the underworld, I would still have no way to explain this to our mother.”
That was Big Brother!
That was Big Brother's voice!
Yu Jiao seemed to hear her Big Brother's voice.
Hadn’t Big Brother and his wife left this world twenty years ago?
So, was the whole family meeting again?
Yu Jiao massaged her aching head, she wanted to ask for a drink of water, yet didn't know whether her housekeeper had arrived...
Blinking open her hazy eyes, instead of the all-white ceiling and bright lights, ...
The...?
Dim light, wooden beams overhead, a mud-brick wall when I turn my head.
Am I seeing things?
Yu Jiao stretched out her hand. She had taken good care of herself in later life, but could never fully erase the hardships of her youth, baring them on her hands etched by the passage of time.
But this was definitely not a pair of hands as tender, delicate, and free from calluses. They are slender with well-proportioned joints.
Struggling, Yu Jiao propped herself up to see an old-fashioned dressing table next to her. It was made by her elder brother when she was young, the square mirror on it was still the old-fashioned type with a wire frame.
Hurry up and take a closer look, isn't this how she looked when she was 17 or 18?
Could it be, she's alive again?
Could the voices she just heard actually be those of her parents?
Wait a minute!
Does that mean my father is still alive!
Considering this, Yu Jiao attempts to struggle to her feet.
She must catch up. In her past life, Yu Jiao was pampered for over a decade by her father, Yu Laodie.
However, when Yu Laodie fell seriously ill, he arranged for Yu Jiao to marry a stranger. She had always blamed her father for this.
How tragic!
At the time when Yu Jiao heard her father was marrying her to a crude and disabled man, she could only sense her father's greed for the 500-dollar dowry.
Later, she truly believed her stepmother's words that her father wished to find a wife for his fourth son before his death.
In a fit of anger, Yu Jiao expressed many harsh words, only to have her father pass away shortly after.
After marrying into the Fu family, she was constantly tested and tormented. Fu Zhan rarely returned home, always cold and distant. Even worse, he sent images from the army, featuring a picture of him and a young girl from the art troupe.
Yu Jiao, in her desperation, ran away with a young man from the village. Unfortunately, an unexpected accident on a slick road caused the loss of their unborn child.
Yu Jiao clearly remembered Fu Zhan's livid face at that moment. But whenever she thought of how his sisters treated her, his mother's scoldings, and Fu Zhan's indifference, she adamantly believed that she did nothing wrong.
Eventually, she stood firm and divorced him.
But this led to her wandering for over a decade.
It wasn't until Fu Zhan found her again that she began a complicated second half of her life.
Of course, all of this is something to be told later.
Yu Jiao resolved to visit her father no matter what, in order to sincerely apologize for her immaturity and inability to understand his heartache.
“Clang——”
Struggling to rise, her weak arm swiped a porcelain cup off the table, causing a crisp sound as it hit the floor.
"Little sister!”
"Jiao Jiao is awake."
"Go check it out quick."
Upon hearing the commotion, people outside the house swarmed into the room like bees.
As soon as the door opened, the cold winter wind flooded in with the crowd, making Yu Jiao shiver.
Only then did she begin to observe these people before her.
"Little sis, are you feeling any better?"
The person who spoke was Yu Guoqiang, the eldest in the Yu family. Standing beside him with a worried look was his wife, Chen Xiu Mei.
Yu Jiao remembers that they already have three children, all girls.
The second girl, Yu Yue, is 15 years old.
The third girl, Yu Meng, is 10 years old.
The fifth girl, Yu Lan, is 3 years old.
"That's right, little sis, don't listen to your second sister-in-law's gibberish, just focus on recuperating," said the speaker at this time, who was her second brother, Yu Guofu. He figured that his little sister must have heard the quarrel outside and was intending to get up.
With that said, Yu Guofu gave the woman next to him a stern glance.
The woman next to him who was just about to speak, now sulkily closed her mouth, was indeed the second sister-in-law, Liu Chun Hua.
Following them were their two daughters and young son.
Da-ya Yu Shu, 16 years old.
Four-ya Yu Lian, 8 years old.
Yu Wen, 4 years old.
Further behind are Third Brother Yu Guoping and Third Sister-in-Law Wang Yuefang, with their two sons peering in through the doorway.
Yu Sheng, 12 years old.
Yu Liang, 6 years old.
And the absent Fourth Brother, Yu Guoan, 20 years old.
Yu Jiao looks at these faces that have become younger, and for a moment, she cannot come to her senses.
"I'm fine. Where's dad? How is dad?"
Once she snaps back to reality, Yu Jiao begins to ask anxiously, tears uncontrollably falling from her eyes.
"Don't worry, little sister, Dad is alright."
Yu Guofu speaks up, his mouth twitching.
"What do you mean alright, he’s lying in his bed, barely alive!"
Liu Chunhua speaks irritably. The mother-in-law passed away years ago. She served this household like an ox and a horse ever since she married in. Now, she will also have to take care of this old man.
"Liu Chunhua! If you don't know how to talk, get lost! Second Brother, keep your wife in check."
Yu Guoqiang, the eldest sibling, still maintains some authority. Amidst this commotion, Liu Chunhua realizes she has angered the big brother and quiets down, sneaking off to the side.
"The doctor from the township clinic said it's a head injury. He bandaged it up and said that we'll have to wait and see if he regains consciousness."
Elder sister-in-law Chen Xiumei explains worriedly.
Their father-in-law serves as the village's barefoot doctor. Besides earning his daily labor points, he would earn a small additional income treating villagers. He’s undoubtedly the breadwinner of their family.
