An infant's cry shattered the hospital room in my mind.
My attention returned to the outpatient office, where I saw Mo Xiaoling crying her eyes out.
The scene she'd just witnessed had terrified her. Her little head held stiffly upright, she opened her mouth and wailed. Her voice had gone hoarse from crying earlier, and now it came out rough and unpleasant.
Mo Xiaoling's mother and the doctor behind the desk were both startled, but they had no idea what to do.
The doctor could only write up a list of tests and send Mo Xiaoling to get them done.
The results were somewhat abnormal. Mo Xiaoling wasn't healthy. She was frail and had a very weak immune system. But they couldn't find any specific illness. They could only conclude that she had a poor constitution and bad genes.
Mo Xiaoling's parents were frantic, but the doctor couldn't help them, and neither could they do anything themselves. All they could do was take great care of her.
The dream shifted, returning to Mo Xiaoling's home.
Mo Xiaoling no longer slept in her parents' bedroom. Her crib had been moved into her grandparents' room.
Mo Xiaoling's grandmother had her suspicions. "Maybe she saw something bad. Little children can see things."
This diagnosis, much like a folk remedy, met with unanimous approval.
The Mo family started looking for someone who knew how to deal with such things, to take a look at Mo Xiaoling. Once again, nothing came of it.
Mo Xiaoling was listless. At an age when babies should have been filling out like balloons, she remained a tiny little thing. Every so often, she would start crying without warning.
The Mo family gradually began to give up hope. Mo Xiaoling's parents were already considering having another child if she didn't