That night was in the dead of night, and the surroundings were as quiet as a deserted village, but I couldn't fall asleep inexplicably. At this time, there was a sudden crackle outside the door, as if something had fallen to the ground. The sound was not loud, but in the silent night, it was so loud that I couldn't lie down anymore, so I got out of bed, opened the door, turned on the light, and the scene in front of me suddenly stunned me.
A man hung dangling from the beam of the roof opposite, and this person I not only knew, but also familiar with, was my neighbor, an old woman. I rushed forward, picked up the stool (the crackling sound must have been made when the stool fell to the ground), stood up, hugged her waist, and untied the noose. The old woman was short, less than 1.6 meters tall and weighed less than 100 pounds, and I easily rescued her.
The person was already unconscious, and as soon as she sniffed and breathed, she hurried downstairs to call her son. The son and daughter-in-law rushed upstairs, shouting and swearing in the ground, the implication was that the old woman was tired of being nervous, sorry for them, this was harming them. I reminded them to rush to the hospital and save them, and helped dial 120 for emergency services**.
The old woman stayed in the ICU for a week and was rescued.
The old woman and I were neighbors at the door. The sixth floor is the highest floor of our building, and the top floor is open with a staircase leading to it. In the whole community, there are six such buildings, which are dormitories built by a factory 30 years ago. In 1998, the factory closed down, and then the housing reform, and in the following ten years, many workers sold their houses, or bought new houses, or went to other places to develop, and I have been living here.
On the other side, it turned out to be my co-worker, who sold the house in 2000, and the buyer sublet it soon after moving in, and then resold it, and the old woman's family was the third buyer. Ten years ago, there was a leak in the roof, so I took the opportunity to build a roof and build a small cabin as a study and calligraphy room, which is very warm and elegant. Sometimes I read late at night, or I am tired of writing and writing, so I go straight to sleep. In the study, which was filled with the smell of books and ink, I slept very soundly.
That night was an accident, and I didn't want to save the old woman's life.
The old woman has a family of five: her, a son, a daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters. The son is as thin as a monkey, the daughter-in-law is as fat as a winter melon, and how fat the daughter-in-law is, how thin the son is. The daughter-in-law is not only fat, but also short and ugly, shorter than the old woman, and has a very short temper, roaring at every turn.
The son goes out early and returns late to work, so quiet that he can't feel his presence, and the daughter-in-law works in a factory, and she also goes out early and returns late, often working night shifts. If you don't make a sound, you basically can't feel her existence, once the lion roars, it will be level eight**. It seems to be inherited by the mother, and the two daughters (one is six or seven years old, one is eleven or twelve years old) who usually seem to be quiet, also break the silence from time to time and make a "lion cub roar", while the lion roars and stomps on the floor, as if performing an anesthesia-free operation, the floor shakes the ground, which is even more terrifying.
I was so frightened that I wanted to rush out the door and slap them with the soles of my shoes and knock out all their teeth, so that they wouldn't let out such a huge lion roar. The reason why I often sleep in the small study is also to escape the noise, although it cannot be completely avoided, but it is always better to be separated by one floor.
The daughter-in-law rarely talks to the old woman, and when she does, she scolds and scolds. Once I found out that she was carrying an old woman's ear and roaring a lion. What kind of character the daughter-in-law is, you can imagine. The son also rarely spoke to the old woman, and although he spoke loudly, he did not scold, mainly so that she could hear. The two little granddaughters, when they talked to her, were also vicious.
The old woman had silver hair, and both of her front and front teeth had been lost, and she was severely out of the wind, and coupled with her deafness, communication was difficult. Every time we met, I only smiled and nodded at her, and rarely spoke. She smiled at me and nodded, but always humbly stepped aside, for fear of getting in my way. She also often cleans the stairways, wipes down the handrails of the stairs and the outside door of my house, which is very touching to me.
My understanding is that the reason why old women are so humble is first of all due to kindness and simplicity. Secondly, I often give her some cardboard shells, plastic bottles, waste books and newspapers and other "small favors", she accumulates to a certain extent, and sends them to the scrap collection station to exchange some change. In addition to picking up her granddaughter to and from school, doing laundry and cooking, she often picks up waste on the street.
Old women generally do not wash clothes at home, but go downstairs to do so. There is a hand-pressed deep water well downstairs, when the electric pump pumped water for the whole factory to drink (use), after the factory closed, the electric pump no longer pumped water, and the organic repair workers transformed it into a hand-pressed well. One is good water, the other is economical, every day, especially in the morning and evening of summer and autumn, there is always a group of aunts gathered by the well, while washing clothes and vegetables, while the parents are short.
The old woman went downstairs to wash clothes, mainly to save, which is also a hard requirement for her daughter-in-law. The hardships at the bottom are not something that ordinary people can imagine.
The old woman was about seventy years old, her body looked quite tough, and she was carrying a large bucket of clothes up and down the stairs, and she didn't feel very struggling. But she had severe gallstones, I heard at least three times, and she was crying in pain in the middle of the night. The son, especially the daughter-in-law, dragged her out and scolded her every time to send her to the hospital to hang the bottle, and it was good to hang it up.
I hated her daughter-in-law terribly, and I didn't have a good impression of her son, and I never talked to them and turned a blind eye. Last winter, I was sunbathing in the sun on the top floor with an older woman, who had just been discharged from the hospital that day. I couldn't help but suggest to her, and it took a lot of effort to make her understand: your gallstones are frequent, which means that they are getting more and more serious, and it is best to have your gallbladder surgically removed, otherwise it will occur more and more frequently in the future.
It took me a lot of effort to understand what she said: she had wanted to have surgery for a long time, but her son and daughter-in-law wouldn't let her do it and didn't want to spend the money.
I was silent, not knowing what to say. The heart said that there is no agricultural insurance, and gallbladder removal is not a major operation, and it doesn't cost much, but I didn't say it after all.
Shortly before the old woman hanged herself, she was hospitalized with a gallstone attack. At the time of the seizure, the whole family was not at home. I couldn't stand her wailing, so I knocked on the door, but it was unlocked, and I walked straight in. This is the first time I've been in her house. The same area and the same structure, but I felt as if I had entered another space: it was too crowded. The house includes the construction area, only more than 60 square meters, my husband and wife live quite spacious, a family of five, it is not crowded but torture.
The old woman rolled all over the bed in pain—the bed was so small that two rolls in a row would roll to the floor. I asked her if she could remember her son's daughter-in-law's mobile phone number, but fortunately, she remembered her son's. I called her son's cell phone, who was working in the countryside and would be back in two hours. I said what about your wife, and he said I'll call her on her phone to see.
Three minutes later, he called back and said that his wife's ** couldn't get through, and he was rushing back. I said that when you arrive, your mother may die of pain, so let's take her to the hospital first. He didn't express any special gratitude, just said thank you. It was the old woman, lying in the ambulance, wailing and thanking Dade.
On the third day of discharge, the old woman hanged herself.
On the top floor of the old woman's house, there was no room, only a roof was built to prevent leakage. The roof is two meters high and is supported by six hollow steel columns. For her, who is less than 1.6 meters tall, it is quite difficult to stand on two stacked stools on a dark night, thread the rope through the steel beam, and then put the knot around her neck. Perhaps it was the belief in mortality that made her do this.
As for how she left the room without being noticed by her son and daughter-in-law, it is unknown. After the old woman was discharged from the hospital, I never saw her again. I asked my wife, who could sleep peacefully even when thunder and fire, inquired on the side and said that she was staying at my daughter's house.
The old woman's son and daughter-in-law have not expressed any expression of their "righteousness and courage" to me. I can't help but "spend the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain": do they hate me in their hearts for saving the old woman, maybe they wish she died, she died, for them, maybe it means reducing the burden?
When I think about it, I can't help but shiver all over my body. However, there was one thing that made me happy, and that was that the old woman's daughter-in-law and granddaughter suddenly fell silent, and almost stopped roaring. If their lion's roar is because of an old woman, then I hope she will stay at her daughter's house forever and not come back to ......