Wang Laozhu's face was waxen yellow, his eye sockets had sunken in, his cheeks were severely emaciated, and his lips were so dry that they had started to peel. He laid there breathing faintly, completely unconscious.
The bedding on the bed was stained with indistinct yellow marks, and the kang was ice-cold to the touch.
Wang Yongzhu's face darkened instantly, "On such a cold day, why didn't you even light the kang for dad? He's sick now, can he endure the cold? Is this how you take care of dad?"
Lady Qian hurriedly covered her nose and stepped forward to explain, "Little sister, you've got it wrong! It's not that we don't want to light the kang for dad, it's just that these past few days the money spent on the doctor has been flowing out like running water. Here in the city, it's not like the countryside where you can just chop some firewood from the mountains without paying. Everything costs money in the city, buying firewood requires silver!"