On the evening of September 30th, Luo Yujiao stepped back into the home where she had lived for eighteen years with incredibly complex emotions.
“Jiaojiao.” Seeing Luo Yujiao return, Luo Yujiao’s mother, Li Xiuqin, her eyes reddened, felt both guilt and heartache.
Guilt because ten years ago, she couldn’t stop her husband from gambling, even selling their daughter. Heartache because of the suffering this third daughter had endured over the years.
This place wasn't far from where Luo Yujiao was married, within the same county. Naturally, they knew how their daughter was living. But what could she do besides secretly shed tears? The man of the house was hopelessly addicted to gambling, she herself hadn’t given birth to a son, and she couldn’t control her husband, leading to their current plight.
“Mom.” Luo Yujiao looked at her mother, who was over sixty, her eyes also red, tears welling up.
She naturally understood her mother’s helplessness, knowing that because she hadn’t given birth to a son, she was oppressed by her father at home. Her mother was not faring any better.
“Mom, Jiaojiao, come in and talk,” at this moment, Luo Er Yi (Second Aunt) Luo Yin Jiao spoke.
“Third Sister.” A middle-aged man beside Luo Yin Jiao spoke; he was Luo Yin Jiao’s husband, Wang Hu.
“Second Sister, Second Brother-in-law.” Luo Yujiao greeted them. “Where are Big Sister and Big Brother-in-law?”
Luo Yujiao had two older sisters: Big Sister Jinjiao and Second Sister Yin Jiao. She was the third daughter, Yujiao, and the only one not yet thirty. Big Sister Jinjiao was already forty, and Second Sister Yin Jiao was not young either, with Yujiao being the youngest.
In fact, between Yin Jiao and Yujiao, there should have been several other girls, but after pregnancy, they were all found to be girls and were aborted. Later, they feared that another abortion might lead to sterilization, so they chose to give birth, which resulted in Luo Yujiao.
After Luo Yujiao was born, Li Xiuqin indeed did not conceive again!
“Big Sister and Big Brother-in-law will arrive tomorrow morning; they are a bit far from here,” Luo Yin Jiao said.
If their father hadn’t been critically ill, their Big Sister would not have returned. This was because their father had borrowed a lot of money from Big Sister’s family, but it was all lost to gambling.
Luo Yin Jiao’s family had also paid off a considerable amount of their father’s gambling debts. However, their father’s gambling was incorrigible. Later, when their father was nearly beaten to death, they didn’t intervene. After that, although their father, Luo Ergou, still gambled, no one was willing to lend him money.
Not long after, Luo Yujiao saw her father, whom she had hated for ten years, lying on the bed, on the verge of death.
“Third Girl, I, I am sorry to you. Can you forgive your father? Dad regrets it. Dad shouldn’t have gambled. If time could turn back, I would never touch gambling again!” Luo Ergou wept, his eyes full of remorse. As the saying goes, a person facing death speaks kindly.
“Dad.” Looking at her dying and regretful father, Luo Yujiao’s eyes reddened, and she burst into tears.
In fact, before her father fell into the bad habit of gambling, although he didn’t have a son, he was very good to his daughters and kind to their mother. But after he started gambling fifteen years ago, he completely changed.
Their once affluent family fortune was gambled away by him.
He borrowed money from Big Sister’s family, from Second Sister’s family, and lost it all. Promises were made again and again, but he never repented. In the end, he lost hundreds of thousands. To repay the gambling debts, he married off his own daughter to get a considerable dowry.
The man Luo Yujiao was married to, Li Dapao, was also a gambler, but he had a wealthier family. However, on his wedding day, Li Dapao got into a brawl and was castrated, resulting in Luo Yujiao having not a single good day after marriage and being bullied daily.
Luo Yujiao was relatively lucky; although she was bullied, her body remained intact. And although she had gone through a marriage ceremony, she did not have a marriage certificate.
This was because in many places, people marry first and then get the marriage certificate. By that time, Li Dapao had become a eunuch, and his personality had become twisted. How could he possibly go to get a marriage certificate?
“You will be alright, you will definitely be alright.” Luo Yujiao looked at her listless father, and all the hatred in her heart dissipated at this moment.
Most importantly, she was a very kind-hearted person.
And this person, despite doing many wrong things, had repented. She was willing to forgive him this once, especially since she was living happily now. The misfortunes of the past were, after all, in the past.
“Third Girl, can you forgive your dad?” Luo Ergou asked with hope in his eyes.
“Yes, I forgive you. You will get better,” Luo Yujiao said, sobbing.
Seeing his daughter forgive him, Luo Ergou’s face showed a relieved smile, and then he closed his eyes, falling asleep with a smile.
Luo Yujiao was startled, thinking her father had died. When she realized he had merely fallen asleep, she couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
…
The Luo family’s home could be described as bare.
There wasn’t even a decent piece of furniture. In the living room, several people were chatting.
“Yujiao, do you really want to save Dad?” Luo Yin Jiao asked her third sister, Luo Yujiao, earnestly.
“Dad is like this now, can he still be saved?” Wang Hu asked in surprise.
“Yes!” Li Xiuqin also couldn’t help but say.
“Someone named Yang Feilong, whom Yujiao knows, can save him,” Luo Yin Jiao said. She had witnessed Yang Feilong’s medical skills before. If he could save her sister when she was in such a state, perhaps he could save their father too. Not to live to a hundred, but perhaps another ten or twenty years wasn’t impossible, as their father was only sixty now.
Of course, she didn’t know the current relationship between her sister and Yang Feilong, but she knew they were in frequent contact and even doing business together. In her opinion, Yang Feilong was interested in her sister’s daughter.
“Really?” Wang Hu and Li Xiuqin couldn’t help but look at Luo Yujiao.
“I’ve spoken to Feilong. He was supposed to come with me today but was delayed by something. However, he told me he could arrive by tomorrow morning,” Luo Yujiao said. Looking at her second brother-in-law and mother’s gazes, she added, “Before he sees Dad, I’m not sure if he can do it, but letting Dad live another ten or eight years should be no problem.”
“Yang Feilong’s medical skills are that high?” Wang Hu gasped.
“Is he that amazing?” Li Xiuqin was also extremely surprised.
“Yes. If there’s anyone else who can save my dad, I think it would be him!” Luo Yujiao smiled, showing blind faith in Yang Feilong.
Normally, Li Xiuqin, upon hearing her daughter say someone could save her difficult father, should have been overjoyed. However, a hint of inexplicable worry surfaced in her eyes. She wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words for a moment.
Time flew by, and the night passed quickly.
On the morning of October 1st, about an hour after breakfast, Luo Yujiao’s Big Sister and Big Brother-in-law also arrived.
“Big Sister, Big Brother-in-law.” Luo Yujiao looked at her Big Sister and Big Brother-in-law with a complicated expression.
Because back then, Big Sister and Big Brother-in-law could have saved her, but they were unwilling to provide the hundreds of thousands to their father to settle his gambling debts, which led their father to make the decision that almost sold her off. In fact, she knew they refused because they understood their father’s character – greedy and incorrigible. They worried that even if they paid hundreds of thousands to settle his debts, their father would continue gambling, and they just didn’t want to be threatened by their father again.
“Third Sister.” Seeing Luo Yujiao, Luo Jinjiao and her husband, Chang Hui, looked at Luo Yujiao with complex expressions.
Chang Hui was fine, as he had only met Luo Yujiao a few times.
But for Luo Jinjiao, this was her own sister, whom she had watched grow up. At that time, she had the ability to save her but didn't want to be threatened by her father again, so she stood by and watched her sister fall into a fiery pit.
From then on, she rarely returned. Only during festivals did she send gifts to her mother via express delivery. She didn't send money because even if she did, it would ultimately be gambled away by their father.