Seeing her daughter not speaking, Bai Zhixi’s gaze dimmed, then she smiled again, "Keep talking, I feel so much better when I listen to you speak, the pain is much less. Tell me more about your major."
Major? Wan Chu’er thought for a moment, it seemed that she had chosen Computer Science and Technology.
She said, "My major is Computer Technology. I think computers are very powerful, they can do so many things... and I should be able to make a lot of money working in the future."
In her previous life, the small factory she worked at bought a management software for over five hundred thousand yuan, a fact that made quite an impression on her.
Once, when the software was being updated, a young man arrived. While chatting with the people in the factory, they mentioned that he had developed the management software on his own in two months.
At the time, she was astonished.
One person, two months, five hundred thousand.
It looked like a very high income indeed.
So, when she was choosing her college major, she didn’t know much about any other fields and opted for computer science, thinking even if she couldn’t match the young man’s capabilities, she would not go hungry when computers became more widespread.
Bai Zhixi thought for a moment, then said, "You mean computers, right? I saw the hotel manager bought one for his son. If you go to university, you should buy one for yourself too."
Wan Chu’er nodded indifferently and said, "Okay."
Suddenly, Bai Zhixi grabbed her daughter’s hand, pleading, "Promise me, enjoy your university life."
Looking at Bai Zhixi’s pleading eyes, Wan Chu’er turned away; she couldn’t make that promise.
"Mmm..." Bai Zhixi clenched her teeth tightly, her face showing agony, even cold sweat broke out on her forehead.
"Promise your mother, okay?" She insisted.
Seeing Bai Zhixi in pain, Wan Chu’er wanted to do something, but felt helpless. Her eyes brimmed with tears, stubbornly refusing to fall, "Mother, please..."
Ask me not to force myself?
Bai Zhixi let go of Wan Chu’er’s hand, gave a pained smile, and managed "Okay, okay, okay..." before she collapsed onto the bed.
"Mother!" Wan Chu’er cried out in horror.
She quickly reached out to check Bai Zhixi’s breathing, shaking so much she could barely feel it. Finally sensing Bai Zhixi’s faint breath, her heart slowly settled down.
For a moment, Wan Chu’er felt like she had been pulled from water, gasping for air heavily, her breath shaking. A few seconds later, she seemed to remember something and immediately tried to go out to call a doctor.
But as she turned around, she fell to the ground, hitting her head against the corner of the table, and suddenly saw black.
Touching her head, she felt something wet, and seeing the fresh red on her fingers, she felt drops hitting the floor.
Wan Chu’er grabbed a towel, pressed it against her head, and staggered up from the floor and ran out.
The hospital’s doctors and nurses were startled to see her; one nurse came over to bandage her, but Wan Chu’er dodged, urgently saying, "My mother passed out, please, go check on her."
For various reasons, the hospital staff was familiar with the mother and daughter. Immediately, one doctor said, "You get your wound wrapped up here, I’ll go check on her," and he rushed to the ward.
Wan Chu’er struggled to follow; a nurse had no choice but to press on her wound and helped her to the ward as well.
After checking, the doctor instructed a nurse to add some medication to an IV bag and then turned to Wan Chu’er, who was standing by:
"Your mother probably fainted due to excessive emotion..."
He wasn’t sure how to break the news to the girl in front of him.
How desperately Wan Chu’er was worried about her mother was known to all in the hospital; he just couldn’t bear to upset her.
After a pause, the doctor still said, "... Try to accommodate your mother’s wishes. Her days are numbered. You don’t want to leave yourself with any regrets....."
Chuchu, such a clever girl, understood the doctor’s words crystal clear, and knew exactly what he meant.
When she recalled Bai Zhixi’s sudden fainting right before, she felt dejected all of a sudden, standing there dazedly, lost in thought.
The doctor shook his head and walked away heavy-hearted.
The nurse pulled her to a seat, then brought the medical kit, cleaning, disinfecting, stitching, applying medicine, and bandaging her wound, saying regretfully, "This is likely to leave a scar."
Once the ward quieted down again, Wan Chu’er slowly sat by the hospital bed, took Bai Zhixi’s hand, and gently whispered, "Mom, I’m sorry."
The next day, after Bai Zhixi regained consciousness, her usual gentleness was gone; she no longer smiled, constantly wore a stern face, and started to nitpick at Wan Chu’er with dissatisfaction.
Wan Chu’er naturally indulged her in everything, even feeling happy to do so.
During mealtime, Bai Zhixi pushed away the spoon that her daughter was offering, and said harshly, "You’re not my daughter!"
Wan Chu’er was taken aback, "I am your daughter."
"Then you tell me, what will you do when I’m dead?"
Wan Chu’er pursed her lips, silent, too proud by nature to lie.
Bai Zhixi asked, "Will you go to college?"
She had the look of someone who would not rest until things were made clear.
Wan Chu’er looked at Bai Zhixi imploringly and said, "Mom, can we eat first, please?"
"Don’t try that with me, will you go to college?"
"Today’s porridge has the shrimp you love to eat, it’s really delicious."
"Will you go to college?"
"I don’t deserve to be your mom! If you want to infuriate me to death, then don’t answer." Bai Zhixi started to breathe heavily due to her emotions.
Afraid, Wan Chu’er quickly said, "Mom, don’t be angry, I beg you, please don’t be angry."
"I’m begging... begging you too." After Bai Zhixi struggled to say these words, she fainted once again.
After the commotion, Wan Chu’er couldn’t help but start crying.
Then Xiao Bai arrived. Hearing Wan Chu’er’s sad cries, he was startled and quickly entered the room.
"Chuchu, what’s wrong?"
Wan Chu’er sobbed, agonizingly, "I made my mom faint from anger again."
Xiao Bai’s eyes widened in disbelief, unable to trust what he was hearing. Chuchu was always so filial to Bai Zhixi; it seemed impossible that she would cause her mother to faint from anger, and there was even a ’again’.
Wan Chu’er gave a bitter smile, wiped her tears, and said nothing.
Xiao Bai jumped around, asking several more times, but couldn’t pry open Wan Chu’er’s lips; he couldn’t even find out how she got the wound on her forehead. Eventually, he had to learn what happened from the nurse and became even more frantic and anxious.
Without understanding what was actually going on, Xiao Bai couldn’t leave; he stayed in the hospital room, waiting for Bai Zhixi to wake up, his eyes wandering restlessly.