“Cough…”
Yan Huan kept on coughing and she was losing her voice. Although she had been taking injections all this while, but that did not ease her persistent coughing which was painful to even listen to. Everyone was worried that the cough might injure her throat.
“Come Huanhuan, drink some loquat snow pear soup. I made it just for you. You will feel a lot better after you drink it.”
Yi Ling took the spoon and placed it in front of Yan Huan. However, Yan Huan remained still. She was staring at the wall in front of her with nothing but blankness.
Yi Ling held the spoonful of soup closer to her mouth but she refused to take a sip. Suddenly, Yi Ling accidentally jiggled her fingers, causing the soup to spill on Yan Huan’s clothes. Even so, she did not budge an inch as if she had lost her soul, neither eating nor drinking anything at all.
“Huanhuan! I beg you. Could you please just take a sip?”
Once again, Yi Ling ladled out some snow pear soup but she could no longer hide her feelings anymore. As she was trying to pass the spoonful of soup to Yan Huan, she placed the spoon back into the bowl immediately. Afterwards, she turned away and covered her mouth. Unexpectedly, she burst into tears like an isolated beast licking its wound helplessly at the corner.
She took the spoon again and placed it in front of Yan Huan. She wanted to force herself to smile in front of her but she failed regardless how hard she tried. Crying was the only thing that she wanted to do now, but what was the point of crying? Would that make Yan Huan start eating?
When she was forced to wake up from sleep, she would not eat or drink anything.
Now that she was awake, she refused to eat or drink anything at all.
Was she trying to starve herself to death?
The door was pushed open and Ye Shuyun walked in.
“Auntie…” Yi Ling quickly put the bowl down and suddenly broke into tears upon seeing Ye Shuyun.
“Still not eating?” Just by a glance of the bowl on the table, Ye Shuyun knew that Yan Huan refused to eat again. She sat down and placed her hand on Yan Huan’s forehead. She could feel that her body temperature was slightly lower than that of ordinary people and in addition to that, she had not been eating and drinking for a long period of time. If this situation remained unchanged, Yan Huan would definitely starve herself to death.
“She refused to eat.” Yi Ling took the bowl once again. The entire bowl of soup still remained untouched. Actually, it was fine if she chose not to eat anything but at least they should convince her to drink something even though it was only a sip.
Ye Shuyun touched the bowl in Yi Ling’s hand and she realized that the soup had turned cold.
“Yi Ling. I think you should heat the soup up. It’s already cold.”
“Alright.” Yi Ling took the bowl and walked toward the kitchen. However, as she walked to the entrance, she stopped and turned back at Yan Huan with her bloodshot eyes. Shen then shook her head and gently shut the door.
She walked blindly for half a day and at the end of the day, she had no idea what she was supposed to do with the bowl in her hand.
“Heat the soup up. Yes! Heat the soup up. The soup is cold and it needs to be heated up in the hospital kitchen.”
On the other hand, Yan Huan had fallen asleep again while closing her eyes in the ward. Ye Shuyun covered her well in the blanket and held her hand. At this moment, the hand that she was holding was covered with wounds without any single patch of flawless skin, not even the back of her hand. Her body could no longer withstand any injection, not to mention giving her a nutrient injection.
That was why she had to eat and recover on her own will.
Ye Shuyun caressed Yan Huan’s hair in a gentle manner. Her fingers were as warm as Lu Yi’s.
“When Lu Yi was born, he seldom cried.” She was talking about his son, not knowing whether Yan Huan was listening or not.
“When he was two years old, he barely ate as well. Lei Qingyi and him were about the same age but Lei Qingyi had started to talk at that time. He could even call daddy and mummy. However, not for Lu Yi. No matter how we teased, forced, or threatened him, neither would he cry nor call daddy and mummy. Your dad and I were worried that Lu Yi was mute at that time. Therefore, we took him for check-ups at a few hospitals but all the results had shown that everything was normal. Perhaps it was the child himself who was slow-witted, causing him to have a hard time to learn how to talk.”
“Your dad and I had accepted the fact that our son was nowhere near smart. But regardless of how stupid he was, that didn’t change the fact that he was still our child.”
“Although Lu Yi was not so smart, he was very healthy and he would seldom fall sick. Everything was fine apart from the fact that he could barely talk and cry. When Lu Yi turned three years old, he did not talk much either but no matter how slow-witted a child is, he still has to go to school. You can’t stop him from going to school just because he is slow-witted, right? That would make him even more stupid.”
“So your dad and I ended up sending him to kindergarten as well. That time I was worried that this stupid child of mine would be bullied by his peers. And guess what?” Ye Shuyun smiled as she thought of her son during his childhood. That time he was still a little child cradled in her arms. She wiped her tears and continued her story.
“One day when I was sending him to kindergarten, the teacher called us over, saying that Lu Yi had beaten somebody up.”
“By the time I saw Lu Yi, he was still holding Lei Qingyi’s hand. Lei Qingyi was a skinny boy back then, contrary to his current tall and sturdy figure. Lei Qingyi was like a tiny bean sprout when he was three years old.”
“I remember asking Lu Yi why he was in a fight.”
“I didn’t expect my stupid son to answer me. Surprisingly, he took a glance at me and answered me in a clear and distinct manner. He told me that there was somebody who bullied his little brother and that’s why he chose to fight back.”
“That was the first time I heard him talking so much at once.”
“When we were back home, I asked him. I asked him when did he learn to talk so much but he told me that he had forgotten. Anyway, he already knew how to respond when Lei Qingyi started to talk. Then I asked again why he chose not to speak a single word previously even though he had learned how. Well, he said he did not feel like saying anything that time.”
Ye Shuyun was smiling as she talked but at the same time, there were tears between her smiles.
She wiped away her tears and placed her hand on Yan Huan’s face once again, “Lu Yi knew how to protect others since he was young. That was how he used to be. Though he was inclined to keep his thoughts to himself, he knew exactly what he had to do. Since he is no longer here, you are all we have. Although you are our daughter-in-law, we still treat you as our own daughter.”
“So Huanhuan. Please do me a favour and live a full life, for Lu Yi.”
“Knock knock…” A knocking sound came from the other side of the door. Ye Shuyun wiped her tears in a hurry before standing up to reach for the door. It was then that she missed the sight of a teardrop rolling down from the corner of Yan Huan’s eye and went traceless upon soaking into the pillow, like it never happened.
As Ye Shuyun opened the door, Yi Ling walked in with the bowl of soup in her hands. However, as she came in and saw Yan Huan sleeping, she felt that the soup was getting heavier in her hands.
