Although the information didn't match, the Public Security Bureau couldn't refuse to let the family go back, so they finally allowed Ding Dayang and his family to return temporarily.
The specific situation would depend on their investigation.
The matter of treatment naturally came to nothing.
As Ding Dayang walked out of the Public Security Bureau, he was undoubtedly filled with despair. He genuinely felt that he had no hope left, that he could never return to his original self. So many shamans and fortune tellers couldn't help, the county hospital couldn't find any problems, and they even said he had always been a woman. It could be said that he had exhausted all the diagnostic methods and treatment avenues available to him.
Not only him, but also his biological parents and Wu Hua.
They were all basically in despair.
After all, at this point, they truly had no other options. Their family's financial resources were not enough to support them in going to the county or even the prefectural hospitals for further examination. If they didn't choose to give up, what else could they do?
The words "helplessness" were enough to describe their situation.
But no matter what, this matter still had some positive impact. In the recent period, Ding Dayang had not gone out drinking, nor had he hit his wife Wu Hua. Although it might be because he had no mood to drink or hit anyone at the moment, it was still a good sign.
After returning from the hospital, Ding Dayang continued to lock himself in the room, not stepping out of the house at all. He didn't even go out for daily meals or to use the toilet.
Firstly, he didn't want to be seen in his current state.
Secondly, he naturally had a lingering fear of the outhouse.
As for sleeping with Wu Hua at night, that was even more impossible. So, the situation in their home now was that Ding Dayang slept alone in one room, and basically ate, drank, and used the toilet in that room. Wu Hua would go in to tidy up for him every day, but couldn't enter at other times.
Wu Hua, on the other hand, squeezed into a room with her two daughters.
Overall, the situation was similar to when her husband had passed away and they had an additional unmarried daughter who never left the house. The burden of life had suddenly increased.
After all, their family was not wealthy to begin with, and they had spent a lot of money on shamans, charm water, exorcisms, and hospital checkups for Ding Dayang.
If his own parents hadn't chipped in a bit.
It wouldn't have been just a lack of money, but debt.
To save money, or rather, because they had no money to spend, their three meals a day consisted purely of whatever they had planted in the fields. At most, they would occasionally have an egg or duck egg to add some variety, but other meat was out of the question.
Zhao Di, Ding Yun, and Wu Hua could accept this, as they hadn't eaten well before. Only Ding Dayang, who used to like to buy meat every few days, or pool money with his cronies to buy pig's head meat and have a drink, found it unbearable.
Within half a month, he started complaining during meals.
He grumbled in his room.
Wu Hua, whether because she was now certain she was facing a woman and had gained confidence, or for some other reason of lacking money, did not indulge Ding Dayang.
She argued with him through the door.
She said that he wasn't going to work, and that he had spent so much money recently, with no income for the family, only expenses. She asked what else they could eat. She also said that when winter arrived, they wouldn't even have this, and would have to eat salted vegetables with congee.
Not long after that.
Ding Dayang seemed to get a little better. He stopped staying cooped up at home every day and started going out every few days. He also started drinking again, and would occasionally stay out all night.
However, Wu Hua subconsciously still considered him a man.
And didn't pay much attention to it.
His not returning saved a dinner.
…
Meanwhile, at the Public Security Bureau, after finding some time, they specifically sent several staff members to the countryside to investigate. Not long after, they returned with the investigation report, looking bewildered, helpless, and conflicted. When the other staff members at the Public Security Bureau read the report, their emotions were similar, feeling a sense of collapsing worldviews.
"So their family wasn't spouting nonsense?"
"But how is this possible? This isn't scientific!"
"I've only heard that some special animals can change from male to female, or vice versa, but that's animals. I've never heard of humans having this ability. It's like something out of 'Approaching the Unknown'."
"The whole village says so, so it shouldn't be fake. Collective hysteria doesn't usually last for over a decade. Besides, Wu Hua has been living with her husband for over ten years. It's impossible for them to distinguish between a man and a woman, and they even have two children."
"Could there be something wrong with their cesspool?"
"Should we report this?"
"Generally, only special incidents that could threaten public order need to be reported. A man changing into a woman shouldn't threaten public order, right? And this is just an isolated incident. Let's file it for now. If a second case appears later, then it needs to be reported.
If not, then forget it, don't bother. You have no idea how troublesome it is to report a special incident, how many procedures are involved. I don't want to write a report of tens of thousands of words."
"That's true, so we won't report it."
"Then how should we handle Ding Dayang's household registration later? His household registration still says he's a man, but he's already become a woman now?"
"Oh, don't worry about that. If he comes to change his household registration later, we'll help him change it.
If he doesn't come, then that's how it is."
"Yes, it's better to have one less thing than one more. This isn't our fault, it's his own problem. Household registration isn't something we have to change just because his gender has changed; he has to apply for it himself."
"Alright, this matter ends here. Don't tell anyone else and make a big fuss about it."
…
Meanwhile, Ding Yun.
After losing the already sporadic and meager income from Ding Dayang, she started thinking about how to earn some money. Her mother was unwilling to even set up a stall at the market to sell vegetables and eggs, thinking it was too unprofessional and embarrassing.
With her mother being unreliable.
Ding Yun naturally had to rely on herself.
However, she was too young to drop out of school and work, and no one would hire her. She also couldn't drop out to start a business. So, after much deliberation, Ding Yun could only set her sights on submitting manuscripts.
Firstly, the manuscript fees were not low, around seven to eight yuan per thousand characters, and some could even fetch tens or hundreds per thousand characters.
Secondly, given her age, submitting manuscripts was the only viable option. Otherwise, what could she submit? If she submitted scientific papers, no one would believe she wrote them.
In short, this was the best choice.
To avoid appearing too unusual, Ding Yun didn't dare to write novels with too much depth. She only wrote interesting fairy tales or child-like poems.
Because Ding Yun had been busy writing works suitable for her age and using her spare time to collect trash for money to buy envelopes and stamps, she hadn't paid attention to her family.
She hadn't even noticed what her father had been doing.
Until three months later, when she had received three rejection letters and seven remittance advices totaling four hundred and thirty-nine yuan, and was preparing to confront her mother with these.
Ding Dayang was brought back covered in blood.
He was brought back by his group of cronies and Ding Shuigen. Ding Shuigen also said that she had a miscarriage…