The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

Chapter 576: Chapter 567: The Stepmother Who Refuses to Be a Stepping Stone

During winter, the factory that Anning started began to purchase lots of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and various kinds of fruits.

Moreover, the mineral water factory had already started production, and Anning spent a sum of money on television and newspaper advertisements, heavily promoting it, and the mineral water sales were quite good.

Afterwards, the beverage factory began production. Since the mineral water had sold well and received positive feedback, the beverages under the same brand naturally also sold very well.

By the time it was almost New Year’s, the production of chips and snacks had also started to be sent to major cities.

Anning was incredibly busy this winter.

Not only did she have to oversee production, but she also had to manage everything; one person was really too busy and too tired. It wasn’t until Xiao Yuan introduced her to several management talents that Anning was able to relax a bit.

In the Provincial City, Anning sometimes couldn’t make it back. She was concerned about the children, so she spent money to hire a nanny to cook and clean for the children every day.

Fortunately, Liu Qi and Li Jingyu were now in the Provincial City, and with several children living together, the older ones were able to look after the younger ones, so Anning didn’t need to worry too much.

On this day, Anning returned to Li Jiazhuang. It was the end of the year, and she was there to distribute bonuses to the workers.

Because she was so busy, and it started snowing heavily from the morning, the weather was cold, and the roads were slippery, Anning didn’t drive back to the Provincial City and decided to simply spend the night at the factory.

It was on this very night that something happened to the Li family again.

Li Jinghan had always been living with the elder couple, Li Baolai and Zhang Fengfeng.

The weather had changed too quickly these past days, warming and cooling suddenly, and the child, after heating up from running outside, took off his clothes, which resulted in catching a cold.

Initially, it was just a cough and a runny nose, and Zhang Fengfeng gave Li Jinghan some medicine.

Seeing that Li Jinghan’s symptoms eased after taking the medicine, she thought the illness was not serious and didn’t pay much further attention.

But today, when it snowed, a few children called Li Jinghan out to play. Zhang Fengfeng didn’t notice for a moment, and Li Jinghan went out to have a snowball fight with them. When he returned because he had gotten hot, he took off his outer coat.

Zhang Fengfeng also scolded him a few times and, worried that he would catch a cold again, specifically boiled ginger sugar water and forced him to drink a big bowl.

But sometimes, whatever you’re afraid of is exactly what happens.

After dinner that evening, Li Jinghan became listless. Zhang Fengfeng didn’t think much of it, thinking the child must be tired from playing, so she let him rest early.

But in the middle of the night, Li Jinghan began to talk nonsense with a high fever.

Zhang Fengfeng got the thermometer to take Li Jinghan’s temperature, and it gave her a shock—his fever was nearly forty degrees.

Zhang Fengfeng hurriedly woke up Li Baolai, and the old couple gave Li Jinghan fever-reducing medicine, and after a while, the fever went down.

Nevertheless, despite this, the old couple didn’t dare go back to sleep and stayed up watching over Li Jinghan. Less than an hour later, the fever came back. The child’s fever was so high his little face was bright red, and he kept groaning.

Zhang Fengfeng was really scared and asked Li Baolai to watch Li Jinghan while she picked up the phone and called Li Zhifang.

Because of Zhang Fengfeng’s illness before, the Li brothers were very worried and we went to the trouble of installing a telephone for her, specifically so she could ask for help if anything happened.

Now, in the middle of the night when everyone was sound asleep, Zhang Fengfeng made the call. Li Zhifang was sleeping soundly and didn’t hear the phone.

Wang Baozhu heard it, picked up the phone, and recognized Zhang Fengfeng’s voice: ”Zhifang, it’s your mother, come over quickly...”

With a click, Wang Baozhu hung up the phone.

In her mind, it was Zhang Fengfeng who fell ill or something.

She now loathed Zhang Fengfeng so much that she didn’t want Li Zhifang to even bother with Zhang Fengfeng.

For fear that Zhang Fengfeng might call again, Wang Baozhu even went as far as to unplug the telephone line.

Zhang Fengfeng, after being hung up on, was seething with rage. When she tried to call back, there was no way to get through.

Furious, she glanced over at Li Jinghan still burning with fever, and with the snow outside not letting up—it seemed to be getting heavier—Zhang Fengfeng hurriedly wrapped herself in a padded jacket and said to Li Baolai, ”Look after the child, I’ll go and get Lao Si to take the child to the hospital.”

Li Baolai was worried, ”I should go.”

Zhang Fengfeng shook her hand, ”Let me do it. You’ve just twisted your ankle the other day, and it still hasn’t healed. It’s snowing heavily on this late night. What if you fall again?”

Seeing that Li Baolai was still worried, she added, ”It’s not far anyway. I’ll be careful and take a flashlight...”

Li Baolai thought it over and it made sense. It wasn’t far after all, and it wouldn’t take long to get there; it should be fine.

Worried for his child, he agreed to let Zhang Fengfeng go and call Li Zhifang.

Zhang Fengfeng donned a coat, took a flashlight, and left, while Li Baolai sat on the kang taking care of Li Jinghan, trying fever-reducing medication and physical cooling. Seeing his child delirious with fever, Li Baolai’s eyes were full of worry.

Zhang Fengfeng stepped out of the house, looking at the snowflakes filling the sky, her anger growing as she thought about Wang Baozhu’s attitude on the phone call.

Beyond anger, she felt a touch of sadness.

Among the six Li brothers, Zhang Fengfeng did admittedly favor Li Zhifang.

Of the six, the other five were capable and successful—only Li Zhifang seemed candid and simple, good for nothing but farming. Zhang Fengfeng often worried that this son would struggle in life, always looking out for him a little more.

Of course, she did not favor him excessively, unlike some parents who would bleed their other children dry to support their favored one. She was discreet about it, not noticeable from the outside, but Zhang Fengfeng knew well that over the years she quietly gave Li Zhifang quite a lot of extra help.

Yet even so, Li Zhifang was utterly ungrateful to his parents, obeying Wang Baozhu’s every word; his mother getting hung up on in the middle of the night was truly despicable.

In such cold weather, it was really not suitable for the elderly to be out and about, especially for someone with a slight heart condition.

But Zhang Fengfeng had to go out in this condition, with grief and anger heavy in her heart.

After walking a short distance, she felt so unwell, a sense of suffocation and a sharp pain in the region of her heart.

Zhang Fengfeng’s legs gave out, and she stumbled and fell.

Amidst such heavy snowfall, she took a hard fall and could not get up.

Zhang Fengfeng thought of Li Jinghan at home; if she didn’t urgently call for help and his fever caused brain damage, what would happen?

Ignoring her own discomfort and unable to stand, she used her hands to crawl forward. All she thought was that even if she had to crawl, she needed to get to someone quickly.

As she crawled, Zhang Fengfeng tried to shout for help.

The cold north wind poured into her mouth and scattered her cries.

Zhang Fengfeng lost her strength and closed her eyes in frustration.

She felt incredibly cold, the warmth draining from her body bit by bit, and she thought that this time she might not make it.

She was truly worried—worried about Li Baolai, worried about Li Jinghan.