Chapter 171: Boyfriend? (1/2)

Cheng Xi could tell that Lu Chenzhou wasn’t very happy, and she was already thinking about what she could make for dinner to pacify him. After all, being woken up without enough sleep really was quite annoying, and recently, Lu Chenzhou seemed to have taken a liking to watching Cheng Xi cook.

Cheng Xi quickly decided on a menu for tonight and then swiftly went on to think about other matters instead.

There were currently a lot of people in the hospital. Lin Fan’s mother was walking slowly through the crowd when Cheng Xi rushed up to her.

“Mrs. Lin, you’re here very early today,” Cheng Xi greeted in a tactful manner.

Lin Fan’s mother acted rather distantly towards Cheng Xi. In the past, she gave off the feeling that she was looking down on her, but now, it was just simple displeasure. “Unlike you, I don’t have the time to worry about other people. I’m busy enough just worrying about myself.”

There was no way for Cheng Xi to respond after such a curt response, so she decided to just shut up. But after they walked into the department, Cheng Xi solemnly said, “It’s not quite visiting hours yet, but since you’re so busy, Mrs. Lin, I can make an allowance for you this one time. However, there’s something I’d like to tell you beforehand. Chen Jiaman’s illness is quite different from the norm, and there’s a possibility of her emotions getting out of control. If that or something unexpected happens, please don’t let her see that you’re afraid of her.

Lin Fan’s mother stared right at Cheng Xi as she replied expressionlessly, “She’s my daughter.”

Fair enough; Chen Jiaman was her daughter, even though she hadn’t taken any responsibility for her over all these years. Cheng Xi said nothing else, and just silently arranged her visit with Chen Jiaman.

Of course, before the two met up, Cheng Xi asked Chen Jiaman for her consent beforehand. They’d discussed her mother before, and Chen Jiaman knew a lot about her—of course, it had all been from the people that used to be around her, and it wasn’t anything that put her in a good light.

However, Cheng Xi felt that even if the entire world disparaged her mother, Chen Jiaman would still have a puerile admiration for this mother of hers that she had never met.

Cheng Xi cut directly to the chase with Chen Jiaman, saying, “Your mother wants to see you.” She paused for a brief moment before continuing to ask, “Do you want to see her?”

Chen Jiaman was dazed.

She sat there by the windowsill, the morning light falling gently down onto her young and tender face.

And then she ran and withdrew into her blankets, shivering. “No, I don’t want to see her. My grandmother will beat me to death if I do!”

This was her illness acting up again; after she had recovered enough to remember that she had killed her grandmother with her own hands, she would fall into such confusion from time to time, and every time, Cheng Xi would patiently remind her, “Your grandmother’s already dead. She can’t hit you.”

And then, after Chen Jiaman took some medicine, her head would clear up again, and she would always seriously say, “I killed my grandmother, but it was an accident.” Sometimes after that, she would cry, and sometimes she would defend herself woodenly. “I’m not a bad child.”

Cheng Xi pacified her like normal, and once Chen Jiaman took her medicine and quieted down, she told Chen Jiaman about her mother coming to visit her again.

This time, Chen Jiaman seemed entirely clearheaded. She blinked once and them pitifully asked, “Dr. Cheng, does she still want me?”

Cheng Xi smiled. “Of course she does.”

And so Chen Jiaman nodded.

But when the two actually met up, there wasn’t the tear-jerking scene that one would normally expect at such a reunion; tears didn’t run down Lin Fan’s mother’s face, and she didn’t show any signs of sorrow or regret, for that wasn’t her personality. Instead, all she did was look at Chen Jiaman evaluatively. A few long seconds passed before she finally said, “You’ve grown so big.”

Those words were a signal for Chen Jiaman’s tears to fall. They rolled down her face in big, fat drops that she couldn’t stop.

On that day, besides crying, Chen Jiaman didn’t say anything else at all, and Lin Fan’s mother only said two sentences to her daughter. Besides, “You’ve grown so big,” the other one was, “Get well soon, and then I’ll bring you home.”

When she left the ward, her eyes were red, but when she saw Cheng Xi, her expression turned cold once again.