Chapter 2: Becoming a Well-Behaved Daughter
“Hiss… so uncomfortable, feels like I can’t breathe…”
Late at night, she tossed and turned alone on the bed, the tightness in her chest forcing Xu Jiu to struggle upright and hurriedly swallow the pills already prepared on the bedside table.
After doing this, she collapsed back in near exhaustion, quietly waiting for the medicine to take effect, feeling during the process as if she had taken a trip to hell and back.
“This is life after surgery…”
“How did the original owner of this body endure this kind of pain to grow up this big, really wouldn’t want to commit suicide…”
She didn’t understand, because as someone who once had a healthy body, her current condition could be said to be the worst possible, to the point where she even had a bit of trouble accepting that she had suddenly turned from a healthy normal person into a patient.
Not to mention the illness she had sounded serious, the kind that could kill you on the spot if you weren’t careful, and she could feel it just from her own sensations.
“This is really crippled…”
“With someone like me, what can I do in the future…”
She turned her head somewhat dejectedly, in the dark and quiet hospital room there was a thoughtful warm lamp specially lit by her family for her, like a firefly in the night attracting her somewhat lifeless heart.
The hospital’s care standards were excellent, not only were the medical conditions and room location the best, but as long as she had any emergency, she could directly call the nursing staff for help through the button on the bedside, it was said that for her, the hospital had specially arranged a batch of medical staff to rotate shifts, from these it was not difficult to see how much effort her parents had put into maintaining her fragile life.
To the point that even though she was very unfamiliar with this body’s family, she still felt waves of long-lost warmth through these small careful actions.
And she knew very well in her heart that if no one was willing to pay for her like this, she probably wouldn’t have lived until now.
“Huu…”
“I won’t have to stay in the hospital like this for the rest of my life… is the beginning of life also the end…”
She was lost in thought for a long time, thinking about her future, although she didn’t want to be so pessimistic, but for now, she really couldn’t see any way to escape her current situation.
To this, she helplessly sighed.
Time passed day by day, hospital life gradually made her accustomed, because of the weakness brought by heart disease, if she wanted to get out of bed and move on her own, she had to sit in a wheelchair.
Yes, a person with sound limbs was actually so weak that she could only move with a wheelchair, the key was that she wasn’t truly disabled, purely because exercise now would increase the burden on her body, thus easily triggering risks to her heart.
It was also speechless, this made her not know what meaning there was in her being alive, feeling that she was from head to toe just a burden to others.
“Xiao Jiu, feeling better lately?”
On a sunny morning, the woman pushed the wheelchair girl strolling along the garden path, her words carrying a bit of gentle concern.
“Mm…”
“Your complexion looks better than before, see, Mommy said as long as you cooperate with treatment, getting better is just a matter of time, so baby you don’t have to always be so pessimistic.”
She still responded woodenly with a light hum, completely indifferent to the woman’s words, on the contrary, at the moment she was more willing to greedily enjoy this hard-won natural breeze as much as possible.
The oppression and stuffiness in the hospital room made her abnormally long for these sights that were once everywhere, if not for others worrying that her fragile body couldn’t stay outside too long, otherwise she would want to sit quietly here forever.
“Mom…”
“Mm, what is it?”
“…”
“You said, when can I go out… I feel like I can’t achieve true recovery, but I don’t want to stay here for the rest of my life…”
She gently turned her head, looking at the other with eyes carrying a trace of pleading.
“Baby…”
“You’re tired of staying in this room, if that’s the case, Mommy can help you apply to switch to a new one…”
“No.”
“?”
“What I want is… to go home.”
“Mom, I know you’re doing it for my own good, but living just to stay alive like this, for me, really has no meaning at all, and… it’s not what I truly want.”
“…Baby.”
She deliberately pretended to look very sad, trying to move the other with this posture, while also gambling on her position as a daughter in the other’s heart.
“Mom, this is my only wish…”
“Please.”
“…”
She could see traces of struggle in the other’s eyes, at the same time Xu Jiu’s heart was also anxiously waiting, because she really didn’t want to live in this narrow world more painfully than being alive.
Even if it was only one year of life to let her enjoy all this.
“Baby, don’t be anxious first, I can’t decide this matter alone, even if I agree, I still have to ask your dad’s opinion.”
“Is that so…”
“Mm, and, I have to talk to the doctors about your current physical condition, if they can allow you to return to daily life with certain protective measures, then I won’t stop you.”
“Wu…”
Xu Jiu’s heart couldn’t help but sink upon hearing this, originally just hearing the previous words she thought the other had agreed, didn’t expect that truly escaping the sea of suffering was still so difficult.
If only others could personally experience her hardship, then others would immediately understand her urgency to escape the status quo.
Although, she also knew this was her delusion.
“Mommy knows baby you’ve had a hard time these years, and knows you miss home, but this isn’t us wanting to stop you from getting all this, it’s just…”
Saying this, even the strong woman started to sob.
The sudden change left Xu Jiu somewhat stunned, her original intention was just to test the waters, how did testing end up making the other cry.
“Mom, are you okay…”
The woman wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and shook her head, somewhat embarrassedly turning her face to the side.
“Sorry baby, letting you see Mommy’s ugly side.”
“Sorry.”
“You don’t need to be sorry to me, child, actually it’s me and your dad who are sorry to you, it’s us who brought you into this world, yet couldn’t give you everything like a normal person… we’re too useless.”
Wiping dry her tears, the woman’s eyes were slightly red.
“…It’s okay, I never blamed you.”
Hearing this, the woman was somewhat choked with sobs, Xu Jiu felt she hadn’t said anything wrong, how come the more mature and understanding she showed, the harder the other cried.
Could it be she had to deliberately act unlikable…
Not long after, she felt her whole person fall into a embrace full of tenderness, it was so unfamiliar yet warm, this made her throat involuntarily dry and tremble lightly.
“Mom…”
“Baby rest assured, no matter what… Mommy will fulfill your wish, in this life I have no other requests, as long as you grow up safely with a smile, that is the happiest thing for me.”
“…Mm.”