665 Unable to Take Care of Oneself
Li Xiong and Sun Ying greeted everyone they knew and everybody looked at the couple enviously.
No one knew that the things they were wearing were all picked up from the trash.
“Mother! We’re back!” Li Xiong shouted as he walked into the courtyard.
Zhao Hong was washing Old Madam Li’s pants in the courtyard. Old Madam Li often became frightened inexplicably and then peed her pants, so Zhao Hong had to constantly help the old woman change her clothes and wipe her body.
She wondered if she owed the old woman a debt in their previous lives!
“Who are you…” Zhao Hong looked at Li Xiong and Sun Ying in puzzlement.
Sun Ying sashayed gracefully and walked up to Zhao Hong. “Eldest sister-in-law, don’t you remember me? I’m Sun Ying!”
Zhao Hong smiled awkwardly and said, “Ah… I remember now! It’s been a long time since we last met. You’ve become so beautiful that I don’t even recognize you.”
“That’s true. I’m unlike you, eldest sister-in-law. You’ve aged a lot after these few years. Look at your hands, they’re no different from mother’s hands,” Sun Ying said mockingly as she pointed at Zhao Hong’s hands.
Zhao Hong hid her hands behind her back and lowered her head as she said, “Yes… I have to do chores at home every day. My life is definitely not as comfortable as your life in the city.”
Sun Ying sized up the courtyard in disdain. Previously, when she first married into the family, it was not so dilapidated. Now, the house looked like it was almost unfit for habitation.
Even if they sold this house, it would not be worth much. At most, they would be able to buy a place like their current 10-square-meter dilapidated unit in the city.
“Isn’t mother going to die? Have you ordered the coffin yet?” Sun Ying asked.
Zhao Hong quickly said, “She’s not dying! She’s just crazy! She’s still in good health! She’s just traumatized…”
Sun Ying pursed her lips impatiently. They had only returned home because she thought that Old Madam Li was about to die. If the old woman was not dead yet, why were they asked to come back! That old woman was now so muddle-headed that she could not remember anything at all. Did she want them to come back and take care of her?
“Eldest sister-in-law, where’s my eldest brother?” Li Xiong asked.
“Your eldest brother… Your eldest brother went to the county city to work and rarely comes back,” Zhao Hong said with a forced smile.
She did not want Li Xiong to know that Li Dong did not return home at all. Otherwise, what if he took the opportunity to bully her and her two daughters?
Other than the Li family house, they had no other place to stay. Only by guarding this place could Zhao Hong have a roof over her head.
“Then who’s the one who asks me to come back, my eldest brother or you?” Li Xiong asked as he narrowed his eyes.
Zhao Hong stammered and could not speak. Sun Ying was unwilling to waste her time in the courtyard, so she decided to go into the house with Li Xiong to rest instead of waiting for Zhao Hong’s answer.
As soon as she pushed open the door, the stench of urine hit them in the face, causing Sun Ying and Li Xiong to hurriedly run to the side and vomit. Old Madam Li would pee her pants every once in a while. Sometimes, Zhao Hong was unable to help her change her clothes immediately, so the smell had slowly seeped into every corner of the house.
This house was inhabitable now, not even the west room.
“What’s going on!” Sun Ying shouted angrily.
“Mother has lost control of her bowels and bladder now. I still have to go to the fields to work, so sometimes I’m so busy that I don’t have time to clean up after her. That’s why there’s a smell in the house,” Zhao Hong explained.
Li Xiong closed the door silently. Other than this house, they had nowhere else to stay. They were just pretending to be rich and did not actually have any money to go to the guest house in the county city.
Sun Ying pulled Li Xiong aside and said, “Don’t you have a younger sister living nearby? Let’s go to her place for a few days.”
Li Xiong said awkwardly, “You mean Li Gui. She even dared to kill her mother, let alone us. I dare not go to her place.”
“Then what do you think we should do! Do we really have to live in a house that smells like the toilet!” Sun Ying said angrily.
Other than Li Gui, he still had another younger sister, Li Juan. They used to get along quite well, but he did not know if she still acknowledged him as her older brother after so many years.
“Let’s go and look for my youngest sister. I really dare not go to Li Gui’s place…” Li Xiong whispered.
Sun Ying had no choice but to agree with Li Xiong. She picked up her luggage and prepared to leave the courtyard. This place was so dirty that she did not want to stay for another second!
As long as she endured through this period of time, her good days would come! By then, her father would be able to live a good life with her and she would no longer have to work as a scavenger.
