Chapter 357 - 355: Hardline

Chapter 357: Chapter 355: Hardline

"I can’t go on! You’re trying to kill me! Don’t you know my Tianci is on his last breath? And you still favor your granddaughter, refusing to save my son’s life. Now you come here trying to force your son and daughter-in-law to divorce? You’re utterly heartless! My life is so bitter... How did I end up with in-laws like you..."

Guo Xiuying flopped onto the ground, wailing and wiping away her tears. She had already made up her mind. Even if she had to throw a fit and make a scene, she was going to send her daughter to Xu Banxian today. Seeing her son, Zhang Tianci, getting sicker and sicker, she recalled Xu Banxian’s words and believed them more strongly than ever.

She was afraid that if she didn’t send her daughter over today, her son really wouldn’t make it. ’If my son is going to die, what do I have left to fear?’

With that thought, Guo Xiuying shot to her feet. Head thrust forward and face twisted with ferocity, she charged straight at Wen Xiu, screaming, "If you won’t let me live, if you won’t let my son live, I’ll fight you to the death today!"

The others were startled. Chen Shulan reacted quickly, pulling Wen Xiu aside. Guo Xiuying lunged at empty air and tumbled to the ground. She scrambled back up, ready to charge at Wen Xiu again. Zhang Dazhuang and Zhang Daquan shoved Zhang Weimin, their faces filled with anger. "Hurry up and get a hold of your wife!"

Zhang Weimin had no choice but to lunge forward and wrap his arms around Guo Xiuying, yelling, "Can you stop this madness?"

"Am I the crazy one? It’s them! Let go of me! I’m going to take them all down with me!" Guo Xiuying shrieked like a madwoman.

Wen Xiu was livid. She rushed over and viciously slapped Guo Xiuying across the face several times. "Take us down with you?" she snarled. "As if a worthless life like yours is even worthy."

Guo Xiuying was stunned.

Zhang Weimin, still holding Guo Xiuying, was also stunned. Both of them stared at Wen Xiu in utter disbelief. It was no wonder they couldn’t believe it. Zhang Weimin, in particular, had almost never seen his mother lose her temper or even raise her voice, let alone hit someone, in his entire life.

"You... you..." After a moment of shock, Guo Xiuying quickly recovered and started wailing again. "My mother-in-law hit me! She’s using her money to bully her daughter-in-law’s poor family..." As she yelled, she began to struggle violently. "Let go of me! I’m going to kill her!"

*SLAP.*

Wen Xiu raised her hand and delivered two more slaps. "Shut your mouth!" she roared. "You disgraceful creature! Don’t you know full well what you’ve done? If you really want to scream for the whole world to hear, go ahead! If you’re not afraid of the shame, the Zhang family is even less so. Do you dare let Weimin know about certain things right now? If you do, I’ll expose everything this instant. I’ll even call the entire village and your family over to listen in. Let’s see if they’ll say I was wrong to hit you!"

Guo Xiuying froze. Staring at the naked contempt in Wen Xiu’s eyes, her face suddenly turned pale, and her whole body began to tremble uncontrollably like a sieve. She suddenly suspected that Wen Xiu knew her deepest secret. Otherwise, how could someone who had always been so meek suddenly become so forceful?

’Impossible.’

’That incident was so secret. Besides herself, only Xu Banxian knew about it. She would never tell, and Xu Banxian certainly wasn’t stupid enough to go around revealing it.’

But as she looked at Wen Xiu again, she suddenly felt uncertain.

"If you don’t want people to know, don’t do it in the first place." Wen Xiu snorted coldly. "Did you really think no one would ever find out about the shameful things you’ve done? Don’t you know that walls have ears? Once you’ve done something, it’s impossible for no one to know. Think about it. If you want to keep making a scene, go on. We’ll see who loses out in the end."

Then Wen Xiu turned to the completely bewildered Zhang Weimin and said, "Let her go. I’d like to see just how much nerve she really has."

"What are you two talking about in riddles? Did she do something she’s guilty about and hide it from me?" Zhang Weimin grew anxious. He looked suspiciously from Wen Xiu to Guo Xiuying, then pleaded with Wen Xiu, "Mom, what is it? Just tell me. Aren’t I your son?"

"Oh, so you do remember you’re my son," Wen Xiu said, rolling her eyes. She then shot Guo Xiuying a mocking smile. "What are you asking for? Stay out of it. You’ll find out when the time is right."

Zhang Weimin was furious but helpless. Before he could say anything more, Guo Xiuying suddenly gritted her teeth, glared at Wen Xiu with hatred in her eyes, and said, "Fine, take Laidi. But if Tianci dies because of this, you will be the ones who killed him."

"We won’t accept that blame," Wen Xiu sneered. "If he really dies, it will be because you, his own mother, delayed his treatment. No matter how you spin it, the blame can’t be placed on us. And let me tell you, before we came here, we already went to the village to make a phone call. An ambulance will be here soon. When it arrives, I’ll have someone go with him to the hospital. As for you, you’d better not go. You’d probably just cause trouble. He might even get better faster without you there making a mess of things."

"By what right? That’s my son! Whether he goes to the hospital or not is my business! By what right do you get to meddle in everything?" Guo Xiuying was on the verge of hysterics, her face twisted into a savage expression.

"By the right that he still carries the surname Zhang! So naturally, we, the Zhang Family, will make the decision," Zhang Daquan stepped forward and declared righteously. "This was a decision made by the clan. The child is so sick, yet you refuse to take him to the hospital. You may not value his life, but our clan values the lives of its members. If you think this decision is wrong or you refuse to accept it, you can go to the ancestral hall right now and have his name struck from the family register."

"You’re all on her side," Guo Xiuying said resentfully. "Isn’t it just because she has some stinking money?"

"Don’t try to change the subject. When someone’s sick, they see a doctor. I’ve never heard of a mother who has the means but refuses to get her sick child proper care, instead going to some half-baked charlatan like Xu Banxian to be fed who-knows-what kind of junk. I think you’re the one who wants your child dead! Your in-laws have gone so far as to pay to send your son to the hospital, and you think they’re wrong? There’s no such logic anywhere in the world. How do you still have the nerve to stand here and curse them?"

Chen Shulan looked at Guo Xiuying with contempt. At first, she’d been skeptical about what Wen Xiu had implied, but now, seeing how a few threats made Guo Xiuying’s attitude change so drastically out of guilt, what was there left to misunderstand? How could she respect such a shameless person? Naturally, her tone could no longer be pleasant.

Guo Xiuying opened her mouth, wanting to say more, but when she saw the mocking faces of the people in front of her, who looked as if they knew everything, and her husband Zhang Weimin on the side, who never stopped staring at her with that strange, suspicious gaze, she suddenly felt as if a hand were gripping her throat. She couldn’t make a sound.

In the end, Guo Xiuying could only swallow her anger and watch helplessly as the ambulance from town arrived. Hospital staff rushed into the house with a stretcher and carried her son, Zhang Tianci, away as if they were robbers. Then, she watched as Wen Xiu and Chen Shulan packed a bag with her son’s clothes and other necessities, handing it to a village woman she barely knew.

Seeing the woman with the bag about to get into the ambulance, she suddenly ran over, tears streaming down her face, and dropped to her knees before Wen Xiu with a thud. She kowtowed desperately. "I’m his real mother! Please, I’m begging you, let me go to the hospital with him!"