Before he was born, Taozhi had already arrived at their home, and every day after his birth, Taozhi was there, by his side.
It was said that from the moment he was born and brought to this home, Taozhi had considered itself his possession, always staying close to him at every moment.
Everyone knew Taozhi was very fond of him, and as he grew up, he came to be very fond of Taozhi, too.
Seventeen years had passed, and Taozhi had long become part of his family.
But today, Taozhi left him.
From now on, there would be no Taozhi anymore, no chance to see Taozhi ever again.
Shen Wenzhou clenched his teeth, his head felt stuffy and uncomfortable, he didn’t know what he could do at this moment.
In the end, he did as he usually would, first doing a few sets of exercises and then, seeing it was about time, went to take a shower and prepared to rest.
When he lay down in bed, because the door wasn’t closed tightly, Shen Wenzhou could still faintly hear the noises coming from outside.
But he knew it didn’t matter if he closed the door anymore, because there would no longer be a little cat sneaking into his bedroom in the middle of the night.
Shen Wenzhou didn’t know at what point he fell asleep, only that in his dreams, he experienced the pain of losing Taozhi over and over again.
When he was jolted awake from the nightmares, he would realize Taozhi truly was dead, then uncontrollably drift back into a drowsy sleep, only to dream of Taozhi’s death again, before being startled awake.
This cycle repeated several times until, when Shen Wenzhou dreamed once more of Taozhi falling from the rooftop, he suddenly opened his eyes!
The bedroom light was on, Shen Wenzhou was abruptly awoken, his eyes struggling to adjust, but his heart thumped so violently he couldn’t catch his breath and just stared straight at the ceiling.
"Zhouzhou, are you awake? Does it feel really bad?" Ye Wanwan’s anxious voice came through.
Shen Wenzhou, as if he hadn’t heard her, didn’t respond until Ye Wanwan took his face in her hands, and slowly Shen Wenzhou began to come back to his senses.
"Mom," Shen Wenzhou called out, his voice vague and distant.
"Your voice is hoarse, do you want to drink some water?" Ye Wanwan hurried to help Zhouzhou sit up, and a servant quickly went to pour a cup of warm water and handed it over.
Only after sitting up did Shen Wenzhou realize there were many people in his bedroom, his parents were there, and there were servants and a doctor as well.
Shen Wenzhou belatedly realized, it seemed he was sick.
"What’s wrong with me?" Shen Wenzhou asked, his voice hoarse as he fought against the dizziness and blurred vision.
"You’ve got a fever," Ye Wanwan said, her eyebrows slightly furrowed, her concern visible yet she wasn’t panicking.
After all, raising a child wasn’t new to her, and over the years, she had become quite adept at dealing with colds and fevers.
And because in the past life Zhouzhou had fallen seriously ill after Taozhi’s departure, Ye Wanwan had always been worried, even having Shen Yi come to check on him in the middle of the night.
That was when they discovered Zhouzhou had developed a fever.
"Drink some water first," Ye Wanwan said as she held the cup to Shen Wenzhou’s lips, carefully letting him drink a little.
After drinking the water, Shen Wenzhou only felt groggy, like he couldn’t even sit up properly.
"Now that you’re awake, take the fever-reducing medicine and then you can sleep," the doctor at his side said, quickly retrieving the medicine.