Song Yitang saw the man collapse and, afraid that she had killed him by accident, trembled as she checked for his breathing.
Relieved when she felt him still breathing, Song Yitang hastily dropped the stick and turned to help Liu Fen.
Seeing Liu Fen's condition, Song Yitang didn't say a word, picked her up on her back, and started jogging, with blood dripping on her own head, frightening several students passing by.
The doorman, Du Xingyi, saw Song Yitang carrying someone from a distance, and after seeing the extent of the injuries, hurried to open the school gate and accompanied Song Yitang to the hospital.
The nearest clinic was over a kilometer away and both had to take turns carrying her, watching as Liu Fen gradually lost her vitality.
Song Yitang was extremely anxious inside, yet she had no solution.
If only she were a doctor.
By the time they got to the clinic, Liu Fen's injuries were very serious. The clinic's facilities weren't sufficient for treatment, they could only bandage her up temporarily and had to send her to the county hospital for examination.
But there were no rickshaws on this small town, and the bus only ran three times a day, with the only remaining one at three in the afternoon, yet it was only noon.
Song Yitang was in a state of utter chaos, sitting on the chair, frantic.
"Child, wait here, I'm going to find a way," said Uncle Du, the doorman Du Xingyi, before he left the clinic.
Soon, Uncle Du somehow managed to find a bullock cart.
The two hurried to the county hospital, fortunate that it was close, taking only an hour to get there.
After a series of examinations, Liu Fen was finally rushed into surgery, but Song Yitang was still unable to relax, anxiously waiting outside the operating room.
"Child, you've done your best, take a rest," Uncle Du called her over to sit.
Song Yitang refused, "No, Uncle Du, I prefer to stand."
Her back pain was unbearable, and standing made her feel a bit better. Her focus had been entirely on Teacher Liu earlier, but now that things had calmed down, she remembered that she too was injured.
"I'm the one who caused Teacher Liu's injury, I'm such a sinner!" Uncle Du covered his face in regret, showing profound self-reproach.
Later, Song Yitang learned from Uncle Du that he had been the one to set up Liu Fen with Quan Tongjiang.
Initially, Quan Tongjiang treated Liu Fen extremely well, attentive and thoughtful, not letting her do anything.
But after Liu Fen gave birth to a girl, their relationship began to change, and after having three more girls, their relationship completely deteriorated.
Quan Tongjiang, being the only son in the family, placed a lot of value on his progeny, and the successive death of his parents the year before last dealt a big blow to him.
Quan Tongjiang, who was always honest and decent, faced ridicule of ending his family line with no more descendants. He began to drink heavily, sold his two youngest daughters, took a mistress, and gave all his money to her.
When Liu Fen found out, a violent fight broke out between the husband and wife. Liu Fen, being the weaker party, had thought of divorce and fleeing, but Quan Tongjiang kept a tight hold on their eldest daughter, using her as leverage to threaten Liu Fen.
Liu Fen had no choice but to suffer in silence for her daughter's sake.
After hearing this, Song Yitang felt extremely angry, her fists clenched tightly, thinking she should have hit him a few more times earlier.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the operation light went off, and the doctor came out through the door.
"The patient is now out of life-threatening danger and needs to rest well during this period."
"Remember to pay the fees, family members. I'll explain her condition in detail during tomorrow morning's rounds."
The two nodded and thanked the doctor.
"By the way, Uncle Du, Quan Tongjiang was knocked unconscious by me in the school library, please go back and check on the situation first," Song Yitang said.
"I'll stay here with Teacher Liu."
Uncle Du furrowed his brow, wanting to refuse, and scoffed, "Let him die there! I'm not going to bother with him."
"I'm here, you go back and take a look. If things blow up, it won't be easy to explain to the school administration," she replied.
After Uncle Du found her reasoning sound and she reassured him multiple times, he left feeling more at ease.
A nurse came to check on the ward and was startled to see Song Yitang's appearance, offering her some clean clothes of her own.
"Here are some clean clothes of mine, go freshen up."
Seeing that Song Yitang wanted to refuse, the nurse teased her, "With that look, I'm afraid the patient will faint from shock when she wakes up."
"Thank you!" Song Yitang then accepted the clothes, and the nurse asked another colleague to take her back to the dormitory for a hot bath.
Seeing her reflection in the mirror, half her face smeared with blood and her white collar stained red, Song Yitang stepped back in fright.
No wonder Uncle Du had been urging her to wash her face earlier.
Liu Fen had been unconscious for a whole day and night, and the next morning, Uncle Du rushed to the hospital early.
He even brought chicken soup and cooked several eggs for Song Yitang, instructing her to warm them up for Liu Fen once she awoke.
It was his way of making up for his past mistake, as if it weren't for him insisting on bringing the two together, Liu Fen wouldn't have ended up like this.
Liu Fen slowly awoke in the afternoon, and upon opening her eyes, saw Song Yitang crouched on the floor, leaning on a stool as she worked on her papers.
Song Yitang looked up to see Liu Fen awake and stood up, putting down her pen.
"Teacher Liu, you're awake, do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"
Liu Fen smiled silently and replied, "No, you've worked hard."
"It's nothing, Teacher Liu. You should rest well and recover."
Song Yitang poured water for Liu Fen to drink, knowing she was weak, then sat beside her peeling oranges to place on the bedside table.
"Let me tell you something," Liu Fen said, looking at the ceiling, her emotions unreadable and her thoughts myriad.
"Teacher Liu, you've just woken up, you should rest for now."
Song Yitang didn't want Liu Fen to talk too much; she had only just awoken and she was worried that it might cause too much emotional upheaval.
But Liu Fen just laughed and reassured her with a few words before beginning her story.
"My husband and I were once very loving, but when he discovered I couldn't bear a son, with his parents' instigation, he began to beat me."
"Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore. I ran away with Junjun, but we were caught before we left the village. Once we got home, he chopped off my little finger."
Song Yitang listened and then noticed Liu Fen's right hand was missing a little finger.
"But I still wouldn't give up, so I took Junjun and ran again. This time we were close to success, we even got on the bus."
"But I underestimated the extent of his madness; he stopped the bus and got hit, yet he clenched his teeth through the pain to drag us back."
After Liu Fen and her daughter Quan Shaojun were caught and brought back home again, to completely break Liu Fen's spirit and prevent further escape attempts, her daughter Junjun had her leg broken and became crippled, doomed to never run far in this life.
Liu Fen, in utter despair, tried to commit suicide only to be stopped by her daughter.
Despite suffering many hardships, Junjun was still full of hope for life and even persuaded Liu Fen.
For her daughter's sake, she silently endured her husband's brutal beatings. Once he saw she no longer thought of running away, Quan Tongjiang gradually let his guard down.
But his parents kept inciting him, often twisting the truth, making Liu Fen's life very hard.
So she had to be even more filial than before, acting in a way to shut the old couple up.
The mother-in-law had heard from others that donkey meat was nutritious, so she had Liu Fen buy it frequently to prepare meals for her.
Donkey meat indeed was a delicacy, nourishing to the Yin and Yang, replenishing qi and enriching the blood.
But the mother-in-law overlooked one fact: donkey meat is a warm food, which for someone with a chronic illness, consuming warm foods regularly is a big taboo.
"You have no idea how satisfying it felt to fall asleep every night to the sounds of her painful groans."
Eventually, due to prolonged consumption, the mother-in-law's health began to deteriorate, but she kept insisting on eating donkey meat, convinced her neighbor wouldn't deceive her.
The father-in-law loved fishing and upon returning always clamored for mung bean soup, which she made. But unexpectedly, the father-in-law and a few friends had dog meat for lunch that day.
Mung bean soup paired with dog meat, and by nightfall, he was no more.
The mother-in-law couldn't bear the shock and soon followed her husband due to a heart attack.
Song Yitang, deeply shaken but silent, could only look sympathetically at the weeping person on the hospital bed.