Chapter 54 Is Daddy Stupid?

I could only repeat what my master had told me: "His brain might be injured, causing him to fall into a coma!"

The lady was extremely worried. She parted Niu Zhenqing's hair and was stunned to see blood slowly seeping out. Flustered, she rushed to the main room to fetch a roll of paper towels to wipe it away, longing so much for him to wake up!

Standing to one side, unable to help with anything, I felt quite depressed. I remembered the lady making a phone call on the balcony—how on earth had she ended up in a physical fight with Niu Zhenqing?

It seemed his suspicions ran far too deep, terrified that his wife might run off with someone else: "How foolish! Beating her like that wasn't that the same as pushing the lady away? Could a beating possibly make her cling closer to him?"

Niu Zhenqing was hardly a clever man; I had no idea why the lady had fallen in love with him in the past, leading their lives into such a predicament nowadays.

The cell phone chimed with a melodious tune...

The lady picked it up from the floor, glanced at the screen, swiped to answer, and held it to her ear in silence.

After a long moment, a voice came through: "Hello, are you listening?"

Unfamiliar with this strange woman, the lady could only probe cautiously: "Is something the matter?"

The voice on the other end hesitated for a moment before saying, "It's like this: the ritual you booked is scheduled for tomorrow. Do make time to come over, preferably by nine in the morning. We cannot wait for latecomers."

The lady thought about it, feeling uncertain, and brushed it off: "Alright, alright, let's leave it at that!" She hung up and tossed the phone onto the sofa.

Hearing this instantly annoyed me! The entity within me detested such superstitious nonsense, so I asked tactfully: "Mom, with Dad in this state, do we still need to go through with the ritual?"

With her mind in a chaotic whirl and unable to sort out her thoughts, the lady weighed the current situation: "The money has already been paid; we have to go through with it!"

Niu Zhenqing lay motionless on the floor, showing no signs of waking. The lady tried to lift him onto the sofa, but despite exerting all her strength, she couldn't budge him.

Unable to bear watching any longer, I firmly gripped his collar and hoisted him up, tossing him casually onto the sofa. As he bounced a couple of times, a miracle occurred: Niu Zhenqing's eyes twitched, and he actually opened them. Looking bewildered, he cried out, "Wife, where are we? Why did you bring me here?"

This sentence startled me immensely! Niu Zhenqing spoke with absolute clarity, his lips moving naturally without impairing his voice. What on earth was going on?

The lady was even more shocked, her eyes nearly popping out of her head. After pondering for a long while without finding an answer, she finally turned her gaze to me and asked, "Is Dad... has he lost his mind?"

Her words jolted me, as I hadn't reacted immediately myself. "Brain damage can very well lead to this kind of condition."

Niu Zhenqing paid no attention to what we were saying. He began to sing his favorite song: "The two of us came to the lingering little bridge; that was the place where we first fell in love. The deep night is quiet and still; the moon shines high above. In the instant of a kiss, we enter a sweet smile..."

The lady stared dumbly at Niu Zhenqing: with bloodstains clinging to his hair, bobbing up and down like a madman. Overcome with distress and losing all control, she clutched me tightly and wept, sobbing, "Your dad has lost his mind, what are we going to do?"

After turning it over in my mind, I finally found an answer and whispered comfortingly, "It's even better if he's lost his mind. Now no one will ever come to make trouble for us again, right?"

The lady, God knows what was going through her mind, actually held me and burst into loud sobs, her tears soaking through my sleeve as she whispered, "This family is ruined! How are we going to live our lives from now on?"

Knowing that the lady was having an affair, I didn't support it at all, and could only console her thus: "You can go out and find work, and I can do the same!"

The phone on the sofa started singing again. The lady reached out, picked it up, answered, and held it to her ear. In less than a minute, the caller's voice came through: "I've just thought about it! The situation you mentioned won't work! Let's discuss it after we've looked into it further!"

The lady wailed tearfully, "None of that matters now! Niu Zhenqing has lost his mind!"

I shifted my gaze to him. He really was different now; crouching by the wall, doing a handstand, then collapsing limply onto the floor, rolling back and forth and unable to stand up...

The caller's laughter seemed as though the person themselves was about to crawl right out of the phone, delirious with excitement! He shouted out in pure joy: "That's wonderful! It's even better if he's dead!"

I was quite familiar with that voice; it came through loud and clear. So the lady had been talking to him all this time! No wonder a jealous Niu Zhenqing had flown into a rage and viciously battered the lady's head with a wooden club—only to end up turning himself into a complete fool.

After rolling about limply near the wall for a while, Niu Zhenqing finally managed to scramble up. He ran over to me, swaying unsteadily, and cried out, "Madam, let's play together!"

Like the lady, seeing him like this made him seem even more endearing than when he was sane; he didn't feel quite so hateful anymore!

The lady continued her phone call, her heart brimming with endless things to say: "Someone called just now—our ritual is scheduled for tomorrow (which happens to be Saturday), and we must arrive before 9:00 AM; otherwise, we'll have to wait again."

The matter of the ritual had been brought up by Scarface, but he hesitated, waiting a long time before saying, "I have a meeting on Saturday, I can't go!"

Hearing this, the lady was deeply displeased and naturally had objections: "Meetings can be postponed or you can ask for leave, this matter cannot wait!"

Knowing his own situation, Scarface had many things he couldn't let the lady find out about: "You take Zhengtai with you instead. If the money isn't enough, I'll transfer some to you. Let me know when you get back."

The lady, practical as always, focused on the key issue: the money. "Transfer it right now."

Since Scarface had already agreed, going back on his word immediately probably wouldn't do. After hesitating for a good while, he finally said, "Alright." The call was disconnected.

The lady gripped the phone tightly in both hands. After a long wait, a notification popped up. Opening it, she saw a transfer of five hundred yuan. She felt thoroughly depressed: Scarface was truly stingy!

I, on the other hand, was quite content; if he refused to give a single cent, there really was nothing one could do.

The phone screen displayed 19:22 in the evening, which reminded us that we hadn't eaten yet. The lady wanted to order takeout, but she had never done it before...

However, I knew how to use the internet. A quick search showed me how. I fumbled with the lady's phone for a while, had her set the password, made the payment, and waited.

Niu Zhenqing ran over to the lady every now and then, shouting, "Wife, get me a bowl with lots of meat." Then he would trot over to me and say, "Madam, you should eat one with lots of meat too, alright?"

I never expected that losing one's mind could make someone quite this endearing; all past grievances and hatreds simply vanished.

In truth, Niu Zhenqing had no business calling me "Madam." Both the lady and I had our reservations about it, but since his brain was malfunctioning, we simply had to endure it...

The lady had plenty of thoughts running through her mind. She beckoned Niu Zhenqing over and asked, "How do you know I'm your wife?"

He flashed a silly, naive smile, grasped the lady's hand tightly, and said as he sat on the sofa, "The person who brings warmth to me every day—she is my wife."

The lady tried a different test: "What relation am I to you?"

This question reduced Niu Zhenqing to a helpless simpleton. He thought hard, clawing fiercely at his hair with his hands, a look of profound distress crossing his face, but he failed to find the answer. Finally, he said, "I don't know!"

Deeply disappointed, the lady pondered for a moment before coming up with a new idea. She pointed at me and asked, "What relation is she to you?"

Niu Zhenqing stood up, wobbling as he walked back and forth, until he stopped beside me. He grabbed my hand tightly, a yearning look in his eyes, and pleaded, "Tell me, won't you?"

This really put me on the spot! Even when Niu Zhenqing wasn't out of his mind, I had never once thought of acknowledging him as a father; now that he had turned foolish, it was even less possible. How on earth was I supposed to answer? After considering for a long while, I said, "Go ask Mom, okay?"

Niu Zhenqing immediately spun around and yelled, "Mom, tell me! Otherwise, I'm going to throw a tantrum."

The lady didn't particularly care for him addressing her that way, but curious to see how he would throw a tantrum, she casually replied, "Show me how you throw a tantrum?"

Niu Zhenqing collapsed limply to the floor, kicking his legs wildly into the air and letting out "ah-ah" noises. He rolled back and forth for a long time before finally stopping and crying out, "Mom, will you tell me?"

The phone chimed with a melodious tune. The lady glanced at it, swiped to answer, and remained silent.

A moment later, a voice came through: "I'm with the takeout delivery, where is your house?"

The lady gave the address, hung up, and went to open the door...

Niu Zhenqing scrambled up from the floor, shouting, "Mom, I want to go too; wait for me..."

The more I thought about it, the stranger it felt. Niu Zhenqing's brain seemed incapable of processing new thoughts, fixing entirely upon whatever he had been told last.

The door opened, and a young man in his twenties wearing a delivery uniform walked up from the stairwell...