Chapter 84: Your Mother Has Come Looking for You

Bai Mengqing bit her lip and fell silent, a heavy, stifling aura enveloping her whole being.

“Why don’t you move in with me?” Chen Xin coaxed gently. “I’m alone during the day now, and staying home alone all the time has thrown my habits off—my meals are all over the place. If you stay with me, we can eat and chat together. It’ll be good to have some company.”

“Oh, and I happen to have something on my hands right now,” she added. “I was just fretting about not being able to handle it all by myself. If you come, we can work on it together. If it turns out well, we can even tidy it up and submit it as our graduation project. Didn’t you say you wanted to apply for grad school? This would be a great extra credit item.”

Bai Mengqing hesitated, gazing at Chen Xin for a while. She bit her lip and stammered, “Let me think about it.”

“Alright, take your time. Just let me know your decision when you’re discharged. But I really think it’d be best for you to stay with me. Living alone for too long only makes you feel more isolated.”

Chen Xin didn’t press Bai Mengqing for an immediate answer. She knew that Bai Mengqing’s mental state was rather fragile at the moment. Forcing her would only add to her burden.

As her friend, Chen Xin couldn’t bear to see Bai Mengqing tormented by depression.

For people struggling with depression, without effective guidance, it’s all too easy to lose hope in life, lose confidence in existence itself, to feel as though their world is the bleakest of all, and to see no light ahead—until they finally choose to end their own life.

Bai Mengqing had once been lively, outgoing, and radiant. Her beauty was in her brilliant smile, her blossoming youth. If that incident had dragged her into despair, and all Chen Xin could do was watch from afar, she knew she would never forgive herself.

That evening, Zhou Hao helped bring Zhang Zhang to the hospital. He also brought meals for Bai Mengqing and Chen Xin.

The chubby little Zhang Zhang burst in and rushed to the bedside. Staring at the now thin Bai Mengqing, his little brows knitted with worry, he piped up in his childish voice, “Auntie, have you been picky with your food? Why are you even skinnier than me? My aunt says that picky eaters get sick, so you can’t do that anymore. You have to eat everything, not just the meat—vegetables are nutritious too.”

Chen Xin laughed so hard her stomach ached. This kid had such a skewed idea of his own physique—he was all round cheeks and a chubby belly, yet insisted that his tummy was pure muscle and that he was stylishly slim.

It had been over half a year since Bai Mengqing last saw the little Zhang Zhang. Realizing the boy still treated her with such familiarity, she finally smiled again—a true smile that reached her eyes.

She reached out and patted Zhang Zhang’s head. “Alright, Auntie will listen and eat properly. But Auntie doesn’t really want meat—would you help me eat it instead?”

“No, Auntie,” Zhang Zhang replied with a serious little sigh, trying to appear very grown-up as he stretched up to pat her shoulder. “Our teacher says good children must eat both meat and vegetables, or they won’t grow well. You’re already so thin, you really shouldn’t diet. Meat is delicious! Just try a bit more and you’ll see. If you want, my aunt can cook for you—she makes the best meat dishes.”

As Zhang Zhang spoke, Chen Xin was already setting out the food Zhou Hao had brought on the little table by the bed. She helped Bai Mengqing sit up against the headboard, arranged the small tray, and made sure she could eat comfortably while reclining.

“Alright, Zhang Zhang, that’s enough chatter. Let your auntie eat in peace. You’re such a little chatterbox, always going on and on. Time for you to eat too—Uncle Zhou brought your favorite fried rice tonight.”

Chen Xin didn’t treat Bai Mengqing as if she were an invalid incapable of taking care of herself. After dividing up the food, she let Bai Mengqing eat at her own pace, then took her own box and sat by the bed to keep her company.

Zhou Hao had already eaten before he came. While the two women and the child were having dinner, he slipped out to the stairwell for a smoke and to call Yi Bai.

“Yi Bai, listen—your mom called me today and asked if you have a girlfriend,” Zhou Hao began. “I told her you don’t, but she didn’t believe me. She said some auntie in the neighborhood told her she saw you holding a girl, looking very close. Now, be honest—are you dating someone?”

Yi Bai was in his office looking over case files when he got the call and was completely baffled. He asked absentmindedly, “Which auntie? Where did she see me?”

“How should I know? Your mom called me, that’s the only reason I know! I have no idea who told her. I said I didn’t know about your love life, but she wouldn’t believe me. You’d better go home and explain things to her. If you don’t clear it up, be careful or she’ll show up at your workplace to interrogate you.”

Yi Bai was a bit older than Zhou Hao. Their grandfathers had been comrades-in-arms, and the families had always been close. Later, Yi Bai’s father transferred to the police, while Zhou Hao’s stayed in the military. They only went to different high schools, and knew each other’s families almost as well as their own.

Zhou Hao’s mother was a formidable woman. When Zhou Hao was little, he often ate at Yi Bai’s house and was very fond of Yi Bai’s mother—he couldn’t bear to see the old lady upset. The only trouble was that Yi Bai, for all his strengths, would always lose his temper whenever his mother brought up his love life.

“My mom’s obsessed, I’m telling you. She wishes I’d get a girlfriend today, marry tomorrow, and give her a grandchild the day after!” Yi Bai grumbled, shoving the files aside and propping up his long legs as he lit a cigarette.

“She spends all her time singing and dancing with her old friends, listening to them brag about their adorable grandkids, and then she comes home and takes it out on me. What did I do to deserve this?”

Zhou Hao sympathized. Thankfully, his own parents didn’t have this particular obsession. It made sense, though; his mother was career-driven and barely had time to worry about her own work, let alone whether Zhou Hao was dating or not—she always trusted him to handle things himself. Besides, his aunt and uncle were far more interested in his love life, so his mother didn’t need to ask; those two women would keep her informed about everything.

“Wait—do you think my mom suspects I’m dating Bai Mengqing?” Yi Bai suddenly realized. “I always keep my distance from women, but last time I did carry her once. Could it be that someone saw and told my mom?”

“It’s possible. You’d better explain it to your mom clearly,” Zhou Hao said, stubbing out his cigarette. He was just about to wash his hands and help tidy up the dinner things when he stepped out of the stairwell and saw Yi Bai’s mother searching room by room down the hospital corridor.

“Yi Bai, you’d better get over here to the hospital right now—your mom’s come looking for you!” Zhou Hao felt a headache coming on as he hurried to greet her.