Three Women in the Cage

Zhang Erfa clung to the door and said unwillingly: "If you want to disown me, that's fine, but you must always repay my kindness. After all, I gave birth to you. Although you are not satisfied, you cannot erase this fact. As long as you help me take grandma to the hospital and arrange a bed for her, I will not bother you in the future."

Yaya said in disbelief: "Why can't you send it there yourself? Why do you want us to send it there? Is it because we work in the hospital?"

"What are you trying to prove? What are you trying to prove in front of your brothers, in front of your mother? What's there to brag about? Why are you just trying to be superficial? Just do what you can. Why be so hypocritical? What's the point?"

"Besides, if we send them there, what will happen next? Aren't you going to pay for it yourself? Aren't you going to stay and take care of them? You can't just rely on me! Besides, I work there, not the dean. What right do I have to help you?"

"Besides, I'm in the oncology department. Does she have a tumor? If not, I can't arrange a bed for her. You should go through the normal procedures and go wherever you need to go. Don't use me as a cover."

"Go away! Don't come here again. I don't want to hate you, nor do I want to forgive you. I just ask you to ignore us like before..."

After saying that, he didn't even look at Zhang Erfa and slowly closed the door.

Zhang Erfa stared at the closed door, standing there in a daze, not reacting for a long time.

It turns out that one day, he will be abandoned by his wife and daughter. Is all this retribution for his actions?

No one to rely on in old age, no one to rely on in old age, he finally became the person who had no one to rely on in old age, haha, he smiled bitterly, he never thought that this day would come.

Zhang Erfa didn't know how he got back. When he got back to the old house, he didn't go to visit Zhang's mother immediately. Instead, he fell on the bed, closed his eyes, and thought about his life.

In his entire life, he had never been looked down upon by anyone, and now, even his own children looked down upon him. Only now did he realize how sad his life was...

What exactly went wrong? Where did it all start?

He could no longer distinguish right from wrong. He had been living in a muddle all his life. In the end, he didn't even know who he was or why he lived.

Later, Zhang's mother learned that Zhang Erfa was driven out by the mother and daughter. She called angrily and questioned Yaya fiercely on the phone: "Zhang Erfa is your father. Why did you listen to your mother's nonsense and drive your father out? You will be punished by God. I tell you, quickly pick up your father and take me to your hospital. Otherwise, I will make it impossible for you to stay in the hospital."

Yaya was infuriated by her shamelessness and retorted: "Whatever you want. If you are not afraid that I will expose how you bullied my mother and show your ugly faces, then just come ahead. Do you think we are still the weak and unresisting people we used to be? Let me tell you, we are not afraid of anyone now..."

Mother Zhang threw the phone to the ground angrily and cursed: "You are all ungrateful. You were taught this by that stinky woman Yang Yu. You are all equally annoying. From now on, we will just go our separate ways and have nothing to do with each other."

Later, for some reason, Zhang's mother did not go to the hospital to make a scene, and Zhang Erfa did not go to make a scene either.

After a while, Zhang's mother passed away. Zhang Erfa called and begged Yang Yu, "My mother is gone. No matter how much you resent her, you should come and see her off on this final journey. Come too, my children!"

Yang Yu sarcastically said, "What's there to give as a gift? When my parents left, did you ever ask them about it? You probably still don't know when they left!"

"I have long given up on you, and you shouldn't have any expectations of me either. Let's just leave it like this for the rest of our lives! Everything about you has nothing to do with us, and everything about us has nothing to do with you. I will never think of you again, and I will never stop thinking about you until I die..."

Looking at the hung up phone, Zhang Erfa felt powerless. Wasn't he willing to give himself this last bit of dignity?

Yes, Yang Yu was right. He had never cared about Yang Yu, so how could he care about his father-in-law and mother-in-law? He really didn't know when his father-in-law and mother-in-law passed away.

Did he feel guilty? He hadn't felt any guilt before, but now, slowly, he began to empathize with some things, and he understood more and more what Yang Yu had felt.

Every day he stayed in this house, he felt the pain Yang Yu once suffered, the kind of isolation, abandonment, and helplessness.

He seemed to want to make amends, but found that he didn't even have a reason to do so.

That day, at Zhang's mother's funeral, among all the relatives who came, except Zhang Erfa who was alone, the rest were all family members. At that moment, he felt an endless loneliness and sadness.

He thought he would become a joke, but in the end, the three sisters still came. They stood a few meters away from the funeral and watched everything indifferently.

The villagers almost didn't recognize them, and there was a questioning look on everyone's face. As Zhang Erfa came forward to greet them with mixed feelings of sadness and joy, those people were surprised to realize that these were the three daughters of Yang Yu's family.

Unexpectedly, after not seeing them for a few years, they have matured a lot and grown a lot taller.

Several people looked at her with envy, whispering privately: "Hey, it's Yang Yu's family. She's grown so tall and mature. I can hardly recognize her."

"That's right. I heard that he is working in a hospital now and is doing well. Yang Yu is enjoying himself..."

"Hey, why isn't Yang Yu here? All three children are here, why isn't she here?"

"I'm afraid she won't be able to come. Alas, other people are different now."

The three sisters passed by them calmly. Those people looked at them, gave up their seats on their own initiative, and surrounded the three sisters as if they were looking at something strange.

Zhang Erfa handed over the mourning handkerchief and said with relief: "You are here after all..."

The three sisters did not take the mourning handkerchiefs. Yaya said indifferently: "We are just here to take a look. Forget about the mourning handkerchiefs."

Zhang Erfa had tears in his eyes, but he said nothing in the end and silently put the mourning handkerchief back.

Later, the funeral procession left, and the three sisters stood there, watching the procession getting farther and farther away until they could no longer see it...

It’s great that there is one less piece of hatred in this world...

Since then, Zhang Erfa stayed in the old house and became a lonely and helpless empty-nest old man.

He guarded the old house day and night, experiencing the misery of being helpless in old age, waiting, holding on, and hoping that at the end of the road, he would be able to find back everything he had lost.

However, what is lost is lost. No matter how much you regret, you can never go back and cannot get it back.

Day after day, year after year, Zhang Erfa sat on the bench in the yard all day, looking blankly ahead. No one knew what he was looking at. It was as if he had returned to the past, as he had done countless times before, sitting silently on the bench, always gazing and gazing...