Chapter 125: Chapter 122: Your Money Is Ill-Gotten

Lin Lan patted his head. “Great-Grandma is fine. She’s just inside getting some X-rays. You go home and eat with your aunt. Mommy will come back once Great-Grandma is feeling a little better.”

Little Douzi glanced at the door to the radiology room. “How long until Great-Grandma comes out?”

Seeing his little brow furrowed, Lin Lan said softly, “She’ll come out as soon as the doctor figures out what’s wrong with her.”

“Oh!” Little Douzi reached out and took Lin Yuezhen’s hand. “Come back soon, Mommy.”

Lin Lan nodded. “Okay! Go on home!”

Lin Yuezhen nodded, handed the money pouch to Lin Lan, and left, leading a reluctant Little Douzi who kept looking back every few steps.

Lin Lan waited outside for a while before a nurse came out, pushing the now-conscious old woman in a wheelchair.

She looked at Lin Lan and said, “I’m fine. I just need some painkillers. I don’t need to be hospitalized.”

The nurse leaned over and looked at the old woman disapprovingly. “Ma’am, your lumbar spine issue is quite serious. You must be hospitalized for treatment. Otherwise, you might end up bedridden.”

The old woman’s voice trembled as she asked, “Miss, are you saying that if I don’t stay in the hospital, I’ll become paralyzed?” The thought of being confined to a bed sent a shiver down her spine.

“Ma’am, Doctor Wang in orthopedics is highly skilled. If he says he can treat you, you can rest assured!” Seeing her state, the nurse didn’t dare to frighten her any further.

Lin Lan also offered gentle reassurance. “Grand-aunt, don’t worry. If the doctor says you should be hospitalized for treatment, it means he’s confident he can cure you.”

“Alright! I’ll be hospitalized!” the old woman said, then looked at Lin Lan. “I’ll have to trouble you with things at home.”

“Of course. You just focus on getting better,” Lin Lan replied.

The nurse handed a form to Lin Lan. “Go pay the admission fee, then take the form to the orthopedics department on the first floor of the inpatient building.”

“Okay, I’ll go pay now.” Lin Lan took the form and walked toward the cashier’s office.

After she paid the fee and got the old woman settled in the inpatient department, a frowning Yang Dingbang arrived with Dandan, following behind Yao Xiuyun.

Lin Lan explained the situation to Yang Dingbang. “You watch her for a bit. I’m going back to get some toiletries and a change of clothes.”

Yang Dingbang nodded. “Sister-in-law, thank you for your trouble.”

“It’s no trouble at all.” Lin Lan looked at Dandan. “Do you want to go back with your auntie?”

Dandan, looking a little frightened, shook their head. “I’ll go back later.”

Yao Xiuyun, seeing she couldn’t be of much help by staying, said, “I’ll go back to the office, get my bike, and give you a ride home.”

“Okay!”

Lin Lan and Yao Xiuyun left the hospital room. As if by some twist of fate, they ran right into Sun Xiuhua, who was coming out of the adjacent room carrying a bedpan.

Sun Xiuhua froze for a moment upon seeing them, then gave Yao Xiuyun an ingratiating smile before hurrying away.

Once the two of them were out of the inpatient building, Lin Lan asked Yao Xiuyun, “How did your check-up go?”

Yao Xiuyun smiled and shook her head. “It was a false alarm.”

“That’s good. If you don’t want any more children, you should really use some form of birth control. The surgery is hard on your body.”

Yao Xiuyun nodded. “I’ll go next month.”

Yang Dingbang asked Dandan to watch the old woman while he went to find the doctor on duty. The doctor explained the diagnosis to him.

The old woman had lumbar spondylolisthesis, which caused weakness in her legs and led to the fall. Fortunately, the examination showed it wasn’t too severe.

The doctor instructed him that during her hospitalization and recovery, she must avoid excessive bending and lifting heavy objects. Any extra strain on her lower back could negatively impact her treatment, so plenty of rest was recommended.

Yang Dingbang nodded in understanding and sat down next to Dandan, looking at the old woman. “Grandma, are you feeling any better?”

The old woman nodded. “The doctor gave me a few injections. My back isn’t as swollen and painful, and I can lie down now. My head is still a little dizzy, though.”

“It’s all thanks to Sister-in-law. Otherwise…” Yang Dingbang didn’t dare to finish the thought.

The old woman glanced at Dandan, who was anxiously clutching her hand. “I’m fine now. You should take Dandan home first. The hospital has caregivers for hire; you should get one. Lin Lan is busy with her business, so we shouldn’t trouble her.”

Yang Dingbang nodded. “I’ll go hire a caregiver now.” He then went out, asked a nurse, and hired a strong, able-bodied woman in her forties to look after the old woman. Only then did he take Dandan home.

Lin Lan went back to get the old woman’s clothes and toiletries. When she saw that the toothbrush was so worn down the bristles were flat, she sighed, went to her own home to grab a new one, and then rode her bike to deliver everything to the hospital.

The old woman looked at her gratefully. “It’s all thanks to you. Otherwise, this old bag of bones would have been done for.”

“Don’t say that.” Seeing that some color had returned to her face, Lin Lan felt relieved. “From now on, if you’re not feeling well, remember to have Little Douzi come and tell me.”

“Okay!” The old woman then pointed to the caregiver standing nearby. “Don’t you worry. Ding Bang hired Sister Li to take care of me.”

Sister Li looked at Lin Lan with a wide smile. “Don’t you worry, little sister. I’ve been working in this hospital for over ten years. I’ll definitely take good care of the old lady.”

“Thank you for your trouble.” Lin Lan thought about why the ever-frugal old woman would agree to hire a caregiver and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Coming out of the hospital, she ran into a hurrying Yang Dingbang at the gate. The two exchanged a few pleasantries and went their separate ways.

Back in the hospital room, Yang Dingbang looked at the sleeping old woman. He recalled Dandan mentioning that their great-grandmother never used to care if they went to their auntie’s house, but recently she had been constantly telling them not to go over there.

’Have they had some kind of falling-out?’ he wondered. ’I’ll have to find a chance to ask about it.’

After Lin Lan got back, she went to the old woman’s house to help feed the pigs, then locked the gate and went home.

The next morning, she went out early to buy some pig trotters and large bones to make soup. In the afternoon, she went with Yang Liying, Yang Meihua, and a few other clan relatives to visit the old woman in the hospital.

The old woman was delighted to see so many visitors and happily told everyone that she was feeling much better. Her back wasn’t swollen or painful anymore, and she could sleep through the night.

If she had known, she would have come to the hospital for a few shots sooner, and then she wouldn’t have fallen and hurt her forehead.

The eldest uncle’s wife chuckled. “You all are just like that. Grandpa was also saying he wasn’t feeling well yesterday. The old man said he’d bring him to the hospital, but he stubbornly refused to come.”

“When you get old, you’re just afraid of troubling you youngsters!” the old woman said with a sigh. She looked at the woman and said, “Chunhua, when you go back, tell him what happened to me. Tell him to get himself checked out quickly, so he doesn’t drag it out and end up suffering for it.”

“Alright. You just focus on getting well. Lin Lan is looking after things at home for you!”

The old woman smiled and nodded. “I’m always at ease when Lin Lan is handling things.”

After visiting the old woman and reminding her to rest well, the group went home together.

「Two days later.」

The production brigade began distributing grain according to work points. Everyone from the first production team gathered at the threshing ground, cheerfully crowding around the team accountant’s desk to calculate their work points, money, and grain rations.

Some families, with several able-bodied workers, earned two or three hundred yuan for the year after their work points were tallied up. The head of the household would receive the money, grinning from ear to ear.

Lin Lan watched their happy faces. ’My own calculation will probably come out to less than twenty yuan,’ she thought. After a while, it was her turn to go up and settle her account.

Her work points came out to thirteen yuan and seven jiao, and four hundred fifty jin of grain. Adding the two hundred jin of grain ration for Little Douzi, that was the total food supply for mother and son for the year.

’Sigh! After a whole year of toiling under the sun and in the rain, I’m still twenty yuan in debt to the brigade. I’ll even have to pay an extra six yuan and three jiao out of my own pocket just to clear it.’

Accountant Jin handed the calculated slip to Zhang Jun, who was responsible for disbursing the money and stamping the records.

Zhang Jun glanced at Lin Lan, then slowly counted out thirteen yuan and seven jiao. He kept the money pinched in his hand, leaned back in his chair, and looked down his nose at her. “Wife of the youngest Yang, you owe the brigade twenty yuan. Don’t you plan on paying it back?”

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