After being forcibly held down for an injection, Wen Yanyu was drenched in cold sweat, as though trapped in a delirium. His voice was so hoarse that his words were barely intelligible, yet he kept repeating the same sentence.
"Mom, I want to go home."
"I want to go home..."
"Let me go home."
"Mom, I want to go home."
Jiang Wanrou turned to Jiang Keyan. "Find Yanyu's phone and call his parents."
"This can't go on."
At her words, Jiang Keyan's expression froze.
Puzzled, Jiang Wanrou urged, "Hurry?"
Duan Mufeng glanced at the person on the bed, whose consciousness was already fading, and explained quietly to her, "Yanyu is alone."
It took Jiang Wanrou a long moment to understand what he meant.
Wen Yanyu opened his eyes dazedly. Tears blurred his vision, as though a layer of fog lay before him. He could barely make anything out, seeing only vague black-and-white outlines.
He called weakly, "Mom?"
"I want to go home."
"It hurts so much, Mom. I want to go home, Mom."
His voice was so weak that it should have been almost inaudible, yet it reached her ears clearly.
Wen Yanyu curled weakly beside the pillow, the bluish-purple veins on the back of his hand clearly visible.
His usually gentle eyes were now grayish-white, his pupils unfocused, filled with fear and bewilderment, a tear-clouded fragility and weakness.
An indescribable ache instantly rose in her throat.
Jiang Wanrou immediately bent down and took his cold, clammy, sweat-soaked hand. "Yes, baby, it's Mom. Be good, baby. Don't be afraid. Mom's right here."
Hearing his hallucination answer him, Wen Yanyu froze at first, then sobbed so hard he shook, instinctively curling into a ball. The corners of his eyes were so red they looked ready to bleed.
He could only keep calling out that instinctive word, "Mom," seeking a shred of comfort.
Wen Yanyu trembled, trying to raise his eyes to see the person beside the bed.
But his body hurt too much, and the cold sweat never stopped. Just opening his eyes and speaking had already consumed all his strength.
The churning agony inside him only allowed him to string simple syllables into barely intelligible sentences.
"Mom, it hurts..."
"It hurts so much."
"I want to go home."
"Where does it hurt, baby? Can you tell Mom? Mom's here with you." Listening to those weak sobs, Jiang Wanrou's eyes reddened. She steadied her voice and asked gently.
Wen Yanyu's lashes fluttered. He tried to force a smile, but his face was streaked with tears, and his sweat-soaked hair lay disheveled across his forehead.
"Mom, I miss you so much."
"It hurts so much."
"Mom, I can't find you, or Dad, or my little sister. They say I'm crazy. I know I'm not."
Wen Yanyu kept shaking, drenched as though he had been pulled from the water, wretched and disheveled.
Wen Yanyu held the woman's hand against his cheek and nuzzled it longingly. It was impossible to tell whether tears or sweat had wet her palm.
Jiang Wanrou clenched her fist hard, and tears instantly spilled down her face. Several times she tried to speak, but she could not get a single word out.
His consciousness had completely clouded over, his body had gone numb from pain, and he could no longer see anything before him. Even his tears had run dry.
Wen Yanyu murmured shakily, his words audible only to himself.
"You're not bugs. You're my family. I don't, want to forget you, but, I already, can't remember what you look like. Mom, I, hurt."
"I want to go home."
"Mom, don't go. Don't leave me behind."
"It hurts."
"It hurts so much, hurts, hurts so much. Mom, it hurts so much."
Wen Yanyu kept murmuring, his pale face covered in tears. Unable to tell whether this was reality or another of his dreams, he chose to sink into it again.
None of it mattered anymore.
Jiang Wanrou swallowed, forcing down her heartache, and told the three of them, "Go, find, baby's bag. That bottle of medicine from that day, bring it to, me."
The three took a moment to collect themselves, then immediately went out to find the bag.
She watched the three of them leave for the living room, then heard arguing outside the door.
Jiang Wanrou gathered herself. Seeing that Wen Yanyu's clothes were completely soaked, she wanted to take them off and cover him with a blanket.
And at the very instant she lifted his clothes-
Jiang Wanrou went deathly pale and drew a sharp breath. For a long while, she could not recover, looking again and again in disbelief.
Her fingertips lightly touched those raised scars, which crossed his entire abdomen and reached around to his lower back, confirming that this was not her imagination.
Jiang Wanrou drew a deep breath, then lowered his clothes little by little, trembling and not daring to touch those marks, which could only be described as inhuman.
Every inconsistency now had an explanation. Her anger and heartache reached their peak, her heart pounded, and she felt as though she could no longer breathe.
Jiang Wanrou bent over, gasping for breath as her tears fell uncontrollably.
An icy touch brushed her cheek.
"Mom, don't cry."
Wen Yanyu dimly felt something warm fall onto his face and could only reach for the woman's cheek through muscle memory.
Jiang Wanrou bit her lip hard, struggling to steady her breathing. "Baby, don't be afraid. Tell Mom, has someone been hurting you?"
Unable to suppress the sob in her voice, Jiang Wanrou coaxed softly, "Tell Mom, all right? Mom will protect you. Don't be afraid. Who's been hurting my baby? Mom will go teach him a lesson, all right?"
Wen Yanyu hazily lifted his eyes, his voice soft and feeble. "Bad people hurt me."
"They hurt me..."
"It hurts so much..."
"It hurts so much..."
"I can't escape..."
"I'm scared, Mom. I want to go home..."
His murmurs were like those of someone trapped in a nightmare, desperate and bewildered.
Jiang Wanrou cradled the hand against her cheek, a nearly shattered light trembling in her eyes, and choked softly. "Mom knows. Bad people, bad people hurt my baby. Oh, I, baby, tell Mom who the bad people are, all right? M-Mom will definitely teach them a lesson for you. Tell Mom..."
Before she could finish-
"Found it!"
Lu Mingxu hurried in with a medicine bottle containing only a few pills.
Jiang Keyan carried a large cup of warm water, and Duan Mufeng held a fresh blanket.
Jiang Wanrou wiped her tears, took the medicine, and shook out three pills. Then she paused and poured out all the remaining pills as well. "Here, help baby sit up."
Duan Mufeng put down the blanket and immediately did as she asked.
Wen Yanyu frowned in resistance.
Jiang Wanrou put the pills into the boy's mouth, coaxing gently, "Be good, baby. Take the medicine and it won't hurt anymore. Be good. Mom's here."
Only then did Wen Yanyu obediently swallow the pills.
Duan Mufeng glanced at the medicine bottle in his hand and could not help asking, "Aunt Jiang, what exactly is this medicine?"
Jiang Wanrou covered Wen Yanyu with the blanket and answered succinctly, "A powerful painkiller."
Duan Mufeng froze.
Lu Mingxu asked first, "Is it addictive? I've seen Yanyu take so many every day. He must have taken two bottles by now. I always thought they were vitamins."
Jiang Keyan bit her lip and took the pills to examine them closely.
Jiang Wanrou lowered her head. "Yes."
Lu Mingxu was puzzled. "Is it okay to let him take so many?"
Jiang Wanrou turned to look at him, her expression unreadable. "Unless the pain is truly unbearable, no one would readily prescribe this much of a drug like this."
He understood what she meant.
Lu Mingxu froze for a moment, then rubbed his temples helplessly.
What exactly had happened over these years?
Jiang Wanrou had already turned back and tucked in the blanket around the person on the bed.
"I'll stay with the baby tonight. You can make do in the living room for now. Ke Yan, go back and get to sleep with Xiaoyu."
Jiang Keyan shook her head and sat down beside the bed. "I'm staying here too."
Duan Mufeng and Lu Mingxu each brought over a stool.
No one knew how much time passed.
The person on the bed gradually quieted, though his body still trembled, and he had yet to fall asleep.
Jiang Wanrou sat on a low stool, leaning over the bedside and holding the boy's hand tightly.
"Mom..."
Jiang Wanrou answered, "Mom's here. What is it, baby?"
Wen Yanyu said softly, "Mom, I'll, sing, for you. I learned, that, song. I don't, sing off-key anymore."
She knew he might have slipped into some kind of PTSD episode, and that there could be serious trouble if she failed to soothe him.
Jiang Wanrou immediately softened her voice. "Of course. Mom wants to hear baby sing too. Baby's the best. Sing for Mom. Mom's right here."
Wen Yanyu carefully pressed his face against the woman's hand, greedily savoring that trace of real warmth, and hummed softly in a voice too hoarse to carry a tune.
"The dark, dark sky, hangs low..."
"The bright stars, follow."
"Fireflies, fly, fireflies fly."
"Who, are, you missing..."
A bitter ache spread through the air.
He barely managed to finish the song, warm liquid falling steadily into her palm.
Wen Yanyu took a breath. He could no longer open his eyes at all, and he was drawing in less and less air. He could only cling tightly to the woman's hand by instinct.
"Mom, don't, go, so soon. I'm so tired. Stay, with me a little longer. Just, a little, longer..."
Jiang Wanrou answered shakily, "Mom's, here. I'm not leaving. I won't leave. Don't be afraid, baby. Mom's not leaving."
Wen Yanyu took a small breath. The medicine gradually began to take effect, drowsiness washing over him as his lashes kept trembling.
He pleaded quietly, his voice so hoarse that he sounded on the verge of tears. "I want, a, kiss. Mom, I'm, so tired. Mom, could you, kiss me?"
Jiang Wanrou froze for a moment, unable to tell where that ache in her heart came from. She only knew that the agony was about to tear her apart.
Her hands shaking uncontrollably, Jiang Wanrou bent down and kissed the boy's icy forehead, sobbing too hard to speak.
"Mom, are you crying...?"
"...Ah, Mom's, not, crying. Be good, baby. Go to sleep. Mom's right here with you."
"Mo-m."
"Mom's right here."
"I miss, you all so much..."
"Yes, Mom, misses, baby too."
"Mom..."
"Mom's here."
Wen Yanyu curled beneath the soft blanket, his knees drawn up against his abdomen, his long gray-black hair scattered untidily beside his face, his thick lashes covered in tears that had yet to dry.
His slender, frail fingers loosely held the woman's hand.
He looked exhausted and in pain. Only his lips still moved slightly, constantly letting out pleading murmurs.
"Mom..."
"I'm, scared..."
"I want to go home..."
"Go home..."
His weak voice gradually faded into the sound of his breathing.
His chest barely seemed to rise and fall. Only the strands of hair stirred by his breath proved that he was still alive.
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