Mo Xiuzhi led Mo Shaoxing and Doctor Xu into the firewood shed.
Madam Ruan was lying on the ragged wooden bed, lifelessly still, with no sound to indicate whether she was dead or alive.
"Oh dear! Sister Xiuzhi, why is your mother sleeping in such a dilapidated place?" Mo Shaoxing looked around the firewood shed.
The shed contained nothing but a narrow, rotting bed plank, some firewood, and a few pieces of dried cow dung. The environment couldn't be worse—just stepping through the doorway, one was assaulted by a pungent odor.
"My dad kicked my mother out, not allowing her to sleep in the room. I had no choice but to bring her here.
As Xiuzhi spoke of this, she was overwhelmed with distress. Today had brought more suffering than the sum of her hardships over the past decade.
Mo Shaoxing: "Don't be sad; this too shall pass."
Doctor Xu set down his medicine chest and moved forward to take her pulse.