Wang Dong opened his mouth to say something, but at this moment, the old Mrs. Wang began to gasp for breath.
"Mom! Is your asthma acting up again? Daughter-in-law! Where's the medicine? Mom's medicine!"
Only then did Liu Chen shift her gaze to the middle-aged woman Wang Dong called his mother. She was wearing a red down jacket, which looked new, as were her shoes. On her ears, she wore a pair of small, slightly tarnished gold earrings.
In her previous life, although Wang Dong was her former employer, she hadn't learned much about his family. Now, it seemed Wang Dong's mother didn't hold a high status in the family?
Wang Dong's mother took out a small inhaler from her pocket and quickly sprayed it into the old lady's mouth. The old lady took a deep breath, and her expression relaxed.
"My body can't handle the hospital anymore. Dong Dong, you and your wife stay here. Grandma will take your parents and go back to our hometown."
Old Mrs. Wang turned and walked away, her words seeming sincere.
Then, she walked to the elevator door, smiled, and turned back to persuade her eldest grandson not to leave with her.
She found no one…
In the entire hospital corridor, it was just her, her son and daughter-in-law, and absolutely no sign of Wang Dong…
"Pfft!"
A passing young nurse had overheard the whole conversation by the ward door. Seeing the old lady's embarrassed look, she couldn't help but let out a laugh.
Hearing the laugh, Old Mrs. Wang's face turned even redder, like a pig's liver. Her daughter-in-law quickly took out her asthma inhaler from her bag and held it in front of her.
Old Mrs. Wang took two forceful puffs, and her face turned even worse.
…
Inside the ward, no one spoke after Old Mrs. Wang left.
Seeing her aunt's pale face and remembering the nurse's advice not to agitate her, Liu Chen blinked and walked to the other side of the hospital bed.
She sat down on a chair and took her aunt's hands, which were dangling over the quilt.
"Aunt, I think you were very happy dating Uncle Wang Dong. Pregnancy is a happy thing. Now it's all become so unhappy just because of marriage. So, Aunt, don't get married. Just be with Uncle Wang Dong."
Her words made the adults laugh, thinking that a child didn't understand and spoke innocently.
Only Hu Min, looking at Chen Chen's steady and determined eyes, knew—she was serious.
Knowing that a single mother raising a child had its difficulties, Liu Fang spoke first, "Min Min, don't listen to Chen Chen's nonsense."
"Min Min, I…"
Just as Wang Dong started to speak, Hu Min looked at him, suddenly smiled, and said,
"I think Chen Chen's suggestion is good. We'll live now as we will in the future. The child is ours. The household registration will be under my name. As for the house, if you're willing to let me live there, I will. If not, I'll work hard and buy a small two-bedroom apartment to live in with the child, which will be enough."
"You know, my parents barely took care of me when I was young. So, I think getting married or not isn't that important to the child, as long as we both love her."
Hearing Hu Min's words, Wang Dong opened and closed his mouth, but he never said the sentence Hu Min most wanted to hear.
Hu Min felt her heart suddenly harden. It was strange. In the past, with Wang Dong's attitude, she would have been very sad and wanted to compromise. But now.
Thinking of the child in her womb, Hu Min hoped that after the child was born, she would feel her complete love and a warm family atmosphere.
With this thought, Hu Min blinked, smiled gently at Wang Dong, and then clearly issued a farewell order.
"Wang Dong, I'm tired. You should go back. I'll call you when I've rested."
Wang Dong opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, he silently got up, said goodbye to everyone in the ward, and left.
After Wang Dong left, Liu Fang sat down on the empty chair beside the hospital bed and reached out to stroke Hu Min's hair.
"Don't worry, girl. It's always like this when a girl gets married. Even if she wasn't pregnant, there would be this kind of tug-of-war. Wang Dong is a good boy. His parents seem honest, but the old lady is a bit difficult to deal with. But this is normal. If the family wasn't shrewd, Wang Dong's family wouldn't have accumulated the wealth for him to do business.
You just focus on your pregnancy, and I'll talk to them."
After hearing this, Hu Min, who had been able to smile and tell Wang Dong she was tired just moments ago, suddenly had tears welling up in her eyes.
"Sister-in-law!"
After crying for a while, Hu Min finally succumbed to her fatigue and fell into a deep sleep. The sky outside the window began to darken.
Liu Fang closed the slightly ajar window and then turned to Liu Chen and her mother and grandmother, who were dozing on the bed, and said softly, "Mom, Sis, I'll drive you home. I'll pack a meal for Min Min and bring it to her so she can celebrate New Year's Eve."
The mother and daughter nodded, not saying anything about celebrating New Year's Eve in the hospital being unlucky.
Liu Chen said she would stay to keep her aunt company in case she woke up and felt scared seeing no one.
After Liu Fang turned off the room lights and gently closed the door, the room, which had felt a bit crowded, suddenly became quiet.
Opening QQ, countless New Year's greetings continuously refreshed the message list, almost causing Liu Chen's Nokia music phone to freeze.
Fortunately, the Nokia was sturdy and managed to refresh all the messages.
The fastest one to update was the class group chat for Class 6 of Senior High.
Clicking on it.
It turned out everyone was posting pictures of their New Year's Eve dinner.
Pictures of New Year's Eve meals flashed one after another in the QQ group. Because the screen was small and the resolution wasn't high, and most classmates didn't pay much attention to lighting when taking photos, they just took them casually.
In fact, they didn't look as fancy or as appetizing as the New Year's Eve dinners that became popular on certain social media platforms in later years.
But it was these messy New Year's Eve dinner photos that naturally brought a smile to Liu Chen's face.
Lai Jielun: [Image]
[Image]
[Image]
The pictures took a while to load, consuming a lot of data.
As soon as they appeared, the classmates who had previously shared their New Year's Eve dinner photos burst into loud, merciless laughter.
Liu Chen looked at the table full of dark dishes that occupied her phone screen, and for a moment, she was speechless…
Lai Jielun: My dad prepared New Year's Eve dinner this year. I feel like the wound from my appendicitis is already starting to ache, brothers!
"Sister Lai Jing is very wise."
Her aunt's voice suddenly came from behind her, startling Liu Chen and almost making her drop her phone.
Holding the phone steady, Liu Chen turned around and looked at her aunt lying on the hospital bed.
"Aunt? You're awake?"
Hu Min nodded.
"I've had enough sleep and I've figured things out."
As she spoke, she smiled and rubbed Liu Chen's head.
"Money is a bastard. It's better to have it yourself than to rely on others."