Then, Zhou Hongmei sat down and told her mother in detail everything she knew. The process wasn't entirely fabricated; she merely exaggerated the facts slightly and sowed discord appropriately.
For example, what was originally just a suspicion.
Hu Lin didn't want to spend money on her son's continued treatment.
This was directly declared a certainty by Zhou Hongmei.
Another instance, Zhou Shou's mere speculation that his mother might embezzle his compensation was presented as Hu Lin wanting to embezzle her son's compensation to subsidize her own family.
After her embellished description.
With her stirring the pot, she ignited raging fires.
Indubitably, this immediately ignited two emotions in her mother's heart: anger and heartache. Anger at her daughter-in-law's actions, and heartache for her grandson's plight.
Following this, of course, was packing up her belongings.
Closing the door, she dragged her husband along.
And they immediately rushed to their son's house.
Prepared to see their grandson, and to back him up and stand by him, even if it meant selling everything they had, they would get their grandson treated.
When Li Sujuan arrived at her son's house and discovered that her eldest grandson was indeed paralyzed, the family war naturally erupted swiftly. She was simultaneously heartbroken for her eldest grandson and furious that her daughter-in-law had kept such a significant event from her, almost as if she were rebelling.
Then, she immediately demanded to take her eldest grandson to see a doctor.
Zhou Shou was also clearly unwilling to accept being paralyzed like this, destined to lie in bed forever. Furthermore, he believed he could still be cured. How could he be paralyzed without even suffering a comminuted fracture?
So, he quickly joined his grandmother.
In the ranks of those who vilified his mother, Hu Lin.
He vehemently demanded that his mother must get him treated.
He declared that the doctors who said it couldn't be treated were definitely quacks, or that their hospital lacked the capability. As long as he was transferred to a good hospital with good doctors, he would definitely be cured.
It had to be said, Zhou Shou had a strong survival instinct.
At this moment, Hu Lin genuinely wanted to reason with them, explaining that this kind of nerve damage was currently untreatable by any hospital nationwide, and even abroad. Instead of spending money in hospitals with no hope of a cure, it was better to save it for his future.
However, her words were completely unheard, or rather, no one was willing to accept or understand them. In fact, the more she spoke, the more Li Sujuan and Zhou Shou, grandmother and grandson, suspected she had ulterior motives.
Coupled with her unwillingness to hand over the compensation money.
The conflict between them naturally escalated, eventually devolving into public shouting matches and even physical altercations in broad daylight.
It became incredibly ugly.
Matters that originally few people knew about gradually became common knowledge due to their arguments and insults.
Later, it even escalated to arguments within the house.
And some nosy neighbors would join in the shouting outside their doors or downstairs, arguing about who was more in the right.
Meanwhile, Zhou Hongmei was responsible for secretly recording everything daily.
Then she sent the proceedings to Ding Yun. Ding Yun, apart from an initial payment of ten thousand yuan, only gave her a thousand or eight hundred yuan each time afterward, treating it as entertainment.
But even so, Zhou Hongmei happily continued to send her reports, as where else could she find a job paying a thousand or eight hundred yuan a day?
Regarding this, Ding Yun greatly admired Zhou Hongmei.
She truly did as she said, promising that the Zhou family would have no peace, and the Zhou family indeed had no peace.
Whether in terms of efficiency or results.
Ding Yun was extremely satisfied.
As for Hu Lin's original plan to continue seeking out Ding Yun, trying every means to marry her son to Ding Yun, it naturally subsided temporarily due to the recent family disputes and commotion.
This saved Ding Yun a lot of trouble.
In the following years, although Ding Yun didn't continuously monitor the Zhou family, she still occasionally received the latest intelligence from Zhou Hongmei, so her understanding of the Zhou family never wavered, and she was well aware of their experiences.
Initially, Hu Lin could barely hold her own against her mother-in-law and son, stubbornly refusing to hand over all the compensation money to her mother-in-law or son for safekeeping. However, as they argued, her husband, Zhou Ling, began to waver, thinking that he had only one son and if there was a possibility of curing him,
Even going bankrupt would be worthwhile.
At this point, Hu Lin began to weaken.
Coupled with the fact that nearby neighbors and friends were generally aware of what had happened in their family, and most people felt Hu Lin's actions were inappropriate. Since she had a considerable amount of compensation money, why not try to continue treating her son? What if he was cured? Even if he couldn't be fully cured, a slight recovery would be good.
Her family opposed her, and outsiders also thought she was wrong.
Even public opinion was not in her favor.
How could Hu Lin possibly persist?
So, in the end, she had no choice but to completely give up and compromise, handing over all the compensation money and the like, entrusting it to them for their son's treatment.
Having received the compensation money, Li Sujuan and Zhou Shou.
Immediately rushed to seek medical help.
They went to ordinary hospitals, Xiehe Hospital, top-tier tertiary hospitals, integrated Chinese and Western medicine hospitals, and even private hospitals, and so on. Wherever there was a rumor of a cure, they went. Finally, they did find a hospital willing to treat them. As for the results, they spent all the compensation money, and even sold their house, yet Zhou Shou still couldn't stand up.
In fact, when the compensation money was depleted.
Hu Lin had expressed that since the compensation money was spent and there was no significant improvement, they should simply give up. Continuing treatment would undoubtedly be a bottomless pit.
However, the doctor at the private hospital treating Zhou Shou managed to fool them into believing that the treatment had already shown some results and that giving up now would be a complete waste of effort.
And Zhou Shou also claimed that he did feel something.
It seemed to be working.
Hu Lin's suggestion was once again rejected, and their family also sold their house, using the money from the sale to continue treatment. The result, naturally, was no cure.
In fact, by the later stages, their family was no longer purely focused on curing Zhou Shou, but had fallen into a gambling-like cycle. They had already invested so much, and it seemed to be having some effect, so how could they bear to give up? If they gave up, all the money they had invested so far would be wasted.
It was this mindset that drove them to continue investing.
Until finally, they were almost completely drained of money.
Only then did they reluctantly end it and feel regret.
But by this time, regret was too late. At the same time, Zhou Shou even felt that the treatment was effective and perhaps with a little more money, he could truly stand up.
He wanted his parents to borrow money to continue his treatment.
Even if it meant taking out loans, they had to treat him.
Or to continue demanding compensation from the film crew.
In short, he was unwilling and unconvinced.
But his parents were disheartened. And knowing clearly that they couldn't rely on their son for old-age support,
How could they not leave themselves a way out?
So, they were no longer willing.