The next morning, Wei Ronghua’s parents visited the Fu Family’s old house.
The two elders were concerned about their daughter’s current situation and took the opportunity to visit Mr. Fu, having heard that he was also facing health issues.
Previously, Mr. Fu had shut his doors to visitors, refusing to see anyone, but he couldn’t stop people from visiting their daughter.
Aware that guests had arrived, the butler assisted Mr. Fu out of his bedroom to et the two elders in the tea room, where they sat and chatted for a while. Fu Yuling had just woken up and hadn’t had breakfast; she ca in yawning and greeted them obediently, "Grandpa, Grandma, how co you’re here?"
Liu Ying held her granddaughter’s hand and asked her to sit beside her, "Ca to see your grandfather."
Deep in her heart, she was thinking about her daughter, but what she said was her visit to Mr. Fu; it was an essential courtesy. Her daughter had lost her husband, and Mr. Fu lost his son, sharing the sa grief.
After ntioning Mr. Fu, Liu Ying then inquired about her own daughter’s health, "Has your mom recovered a bit?"
Fu Yuling intertwined her arm with her grandma’s and frowned slightly, "Mom has been taking dicine all along. She had a fever yesterday afternoon, and we called a doctor to the house for an IV. Before bed last night, I checked on her in her room; she was asleep at that ti."
Liu Ying suggested going upstairs to see her daughter, leaving the two old n to talk in the tea room.
Fu Yuling accompanied her upstairs, saying softly as they climbed the stairs, "I think mom’s illness is due to her worries. She keeps saying that dad’s car accident is her fault."
"What do you an?"
At nearly eighty, Liu Ying’s hair was half white, but she was relatively healthy. Hearing this, she turned to look at her granddaughter, her expression sowhat serious.
"Fei Bai said that on the day dad had the accident, he had an argunt with mom. Mom was crying in her room, and dad left the house angrily." Fu Yuling sighed, "Maybe dad was too emotional when he went out, wasn’t careful while driving, and crashed into a construction site barrier. There just happened to be an excavator parked inside; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been hurt so seriously. He didn’t survive when they brought him to the hospital. As for why they argued, I’m not sure."
Fei Bai hadn’t shared these details with anyone else, fearing others would bla his mother. After his father’s death, his mother was already guilt-ridden and sorrowful, and he didn’t want her to be criticized by others.
Upon reaching the second floor, Fu Yuling went to open the door first.
Knowing her mother was coming, Wei Ronghua hadn’t stayed in bed but changed into ho attire, sitting by the bed, staring idly at a spot waiting.
She had tried hard to gather her spirits, but her condition still appeared poor.
Upon hearing the door open, Wei Ronghua slowly turned around, looking toward the entrance as she heard Fu Yuling say, "Mom, Grandma is here to see you."
Wei Ronghua placed her palms together, fingers interlocked, calmly saying, "You go outside first; your grandma and I have so things to discuss."
Fu Yuling obediently left, helping them close the door.
Liu Ying raised her hand to fan in front of her nose, speaking to her daughter without holding back, "Why does your room have such a strong dicinal sll? You haven’t opened the windows to ventilate; can one recover quickly in such an environnt?"
As she spoke, Liu Ying picked up the blanket and clothes from the floor and casually placed them on the sofa, throwing the used dicine packaging into the trash bin, pulling open the curtains by the window.
The sumr sunlight stread in, sowhat glaring.
Having not seen the sun for a long ti, Wei Ronghua’s eyes were not accustod to the strong light; she instinctively squinted and raised a hand to shield her eyes.
Liu Ying opened a window, letting the natural breeze blow in, replacing the room’s stale air. The temperature was still not high enough in the morning, not yet ti to turn on the air conditioning.
After doing these things, Liu Ying turned around, looking at her noticeably thinner daughter with sunken cheeks that made her cheekbones prominent, and oddly swollen eyes, she couldn’t help but tear up.
The last eting was after Fu Zhengjun’s funeral; she hadn’t looked this alarmingly thin at that ti.
"Mom understands, Zhengjun’s passing has been hard on you, and seeing you like this pains too." Liu Ying sat beside her, holding her cold hand, "Life has to go on, so you shouldn’t mistreat yourself. You still have your dad and ; should anything happen to you, what would we do?"
Wei Ronghua handed her a tissue, her own eyes reddened.
She had cried far too many tis, her eyes swelling and recovering, over and over; it seed she had drained this life’s supply of tears in recent tis. Each ti she shed tears, it accompanied a stinging pain—she felt she might go blind.
"Mom, have you been in touch with ng Lin?"
Holding back her tears, Wei Ronghua uttered her first words to her mother.
Liu Ying, montarily stunned, accepted the tissue to wipe her tears before asking, "Tell truthfully, why are you suddenly asking for your Aunt ng Lin’s contact?"
"Please don’t ask for now," Wei Ronghua did not wish to say.
From their phone conversation last night, Liu Ying naturally had assisted in inquiring, pulling out a folded note from her wide-leg pants pocket and handing it to her, "The old phone number is long unused, but I did so asking around among my folks, here’s your Aunt ng Lin’s new contact."
Wei Ronghua clenched the note in her palm, thinking that so things better be clarified.
The mother and daughter talked for nearly an hour, with Wei Ronghua assuring her mother that she would take her dicine on ti, cooperatively seek treatnt from doctors, and not worry her anymore, leaving Liu Ying sowhat relieved.
As she got up to leave, Liu Ying saw the pile of dicine on the table, frowning once again, "Why so much dicine, are you taking all these?"
Wei Ronghua did not conceal her condition, "Since Zhengjun’s passing, I haven’t been able to sleep, always waking abruptly from nightmares at night; the doctor prescribed sleeping pills. A few days ago, an old Chinese doctor ca to discuss health dications for Mr. Fu, and he also examined , prescribing so calming traditional dicine mainly to treat palpitations and insomnia. I’ve been constantly catching colds, so cold dicine is unavoidable."
Liu Ying couldn’t help but worry after hearing this, "These dicines shouldn’t be mixed; dicine is three parts poison; even the healthiest body can be deteriorated. The doctor should have instructed you about this; you need to pay more attention and not indiscriminately seek cures in desperation. Open up, go out more, and you’ll recover naturally."
Wei Ronghua agreed to each point.
After escorting her mother out, Wei Ronghua sat on the sofa, unfolding the crumpled note in her hand, unable to wait, imdiately picking up her phone to dial the number.
With so effort, she jogged ng Lin’s mory about who she was, conscious of being forgotten given the nurous patients ng Lin had treated over decades as a doctor.
Over the phone, ng Lin said, "Ah, Ronghua, is there sothing you need from ?"
Anxious to know, Wei Ronghua cut straight to the point, asking, "Do you rember when I was pregnant with twins?"
"Yes, I recall; since the day you were diagnosed pregnant, I handled every subsequent prenatal check-up record," ng Lin replied with a laugh, "I may not rember other expectant mothers as well, but your mother specifically asked to take good care of you, so I paid special attention. Later, I heard you delivered more than a month prematurely, it was quite concerning, but thankfully, both you and the children were safe."
Due to the unexpected onset of labor triggering complications, Wei Ronghua was sent to a nearby hospital, not the one where ng Lin worked, leaving ng Lin less inford about subsequent events.
Wei Ronghua sought confirmation, "Regarding the last check-up, were you sure both babies in my womb were alright?" She spoke, her fingers clenching, torn between the dread of knowing and the need to know.
On the phone was sudden silence; ng Lin felt like she was being questioned after all these years, finding it quite baffling.
Realizing her tone might be inappropriate, Wei Ronghua softened her voice, sincerely saying, "Aunt ng Lin, I apologize for being abrupt; I’m quite worried about my daughter who has a heart condition, and recently I’ve been thinking about so past events which led to ask you."
After pondering, ng Lin hesitantly asked, "Is it... a congenital heart condition?"
The fact that Fu Yuling had a heart condition wasn’t tightly kept, but indeed few knew about it; ng Lin was entirely unaware, hence her surprise.
At that mont, Wei Ronghua did not deny it: "Yes, she’s had it since birth."
"How could that be?!" ng Lin’s voice shifted, markedly bewildered, "I rember from your last prenatal check-up that both children were healthy and developing well. I even told you the girl was growing better than the boy. As you might know, twins might sotis compete for nutrients. The girl in your womb was slightly larger than the boy, visibly absorbing nutrients better. A heart condition was even more unlikely; it can be detected via echocardiograms, and I checked each ti you ca for a prenatal visit very carefully."
ng Lin found it implausible, strongly convinced she didn’t make a mistake, repeatedly affirming, "Are you certain your daughter’s heart condition is congenital and not caused by other factors during infancy?"
How Wei Ronghua hung up the phone, she couldn’t recall, only knowing when she raised her head, she saw a starkly pale face in the mirror on her vanity.
How could this be...
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