Mama Yao slapped the edge of the bed. "Oh dear, how forgetful I am! I forgot about that. Jingjing, what are you 'ah'ing about? Hurry up and take Qingmu to eat!"
Qingmu said, "Auntie, I'd like to chat with you a little longer. Let Jingjing go downstairs and buy something."
Mama Yao was about to say that wouldn't do, but then she seemed to understand something and said, "Alright, alright, Jingjing, what are you standing there for? Go downstairs and buy some." She then said to Papa Yao beside her, "You go too, buy more groceries, our daughter can't carry them all by herself."
"I can go by myself. Jingjing can stay here with me." Papa Yao felt it would be awkward to leave his son alone in the ward since it was his first time there.
Mama Yao put on a stern face and said, "What do you know! If Jingjing doesn't go, how do you know what the child likes?" Then she urged them to go downstairs.
Yao Jingjing said "Oh" and stood up, glancing at Qingmu with a puzzled look. Urged by Mama Yao, Papa Yao also reluctantly got up.
After they left, Mama Yao looked at Qingmu with a smile and said, "Is there something you want to say to Auntie? Okay, go ahead and say it, Auntie is listening."
Qingmu didn't answer, but instead drew the curtains around the hospital bed.
Mama Yao had very weak Mental Power, Qingmu hypnotized her without any effort. He didn't use any tricks or deception, but simply let Mama Yao naturally enter a dream state.
The first scene is a hospital, but it's quite different from the ward in front of us; it's more like an old-fashioned clinic from decades ago. Mama Yao sits among a group of patients receiving IV drips, while nurses in white coats busily move around.
Mama Yao stopped a nurse and asked, "Nurse, when will the doctor come to perform my surgery?"
The nurse pricked Mama Yao's arm with a needle, releasing a drop of pale red blood, and said, "It's still red, what's the rush? Look, that person's blood has turned white, and they're still waiting."
Then the scene changed, and a patient came into view. His face and arms were deathly pale, as if they had been covered in plaster. The nurse pricked his arm with a needle, and milky white blood flowed out.
Mama Yao fell silent and could only wait anxiously.
The entire dream scene was very small, and objects in the distance were very blurry, indicating that Mama Yao's Mental Power was extremely weak, possibly due to illness, and even weaker than that of a normal person.
A little while later, another doctor came and said he needed to draw bone marrow from her again. Mama Yao looked very frightened. "Another bone marrow extraction? That will hurt a lot!"
Without saying a word, the doctor removed a section of the vertebra from Mama Yao's back, poured out the bone marrow inside, and examined it under a magnifying glass.
"Doctor, how is my bone marrow?" asked Mama Yao.
The doctor said, "Thank goodness, the bone is still fresh." He then returned the bone to Mama Yao, instructing her to keep it in the refrigerator when she got home, otherwise it would spoil.
The scene then shifts to the kitchen, where Mama Yao, wearing an apron, pours soup from the pot and calls out, " Jingjing, the bone broth is ready! Come and drink!"
Then the scene returned to the ward, where Yao Jingjing came in carrying bone broth and was about to drink it when her Mama Yao slapped her hand and said, "Why are you so greedy! Give it to Qingmu first." Yao Jingjing then turned around and fed Qingmu the broth spoonful by spoonful.
But that Qingmu wasn't the real Qingmu; it was something Mama Yao had constructed from her memories in a dream. Although that Qingmu still had the same facial features, his hair had become a fresh short cut, with slightly curled bangs, like a K-pop star. His clothes had also changed to a fitted blazer, and he was wearing shiny leather shoes.
Qingmu stood to the side watching the Korean star-like figure drink the soup Yao Jingjing fed him. The water in the soup pot was still boiling, and a spine was rolling up and down in the water.
The scenes kept changing, either in the hospital or at home. If this continued, he didn't know when he would be able to dream of what Qingmu wanted to see. But he couldn't forcefully influence Mama Yao's dreams, much less search her memories like a virus's consciousness, otherwise, given Mama Yao's current mental and physical condition, she wouldn't be able to hold on for long before collapsing.
Qingmu could only wait patiently for an opportunity to guide Mama Yao to dream about cats.
The scene finally shifted to the countryside, where some crops were sparsely planted in a low-lying area, with a few low houses nearby, which looked like rural houses from decades ago.
Mama Yao transformed into a little girl, squatting by the edge of a depression, watching ants moving house near the roots of an old tree.
Qingmu stepped forward and squatted down with her, asking, "Why do ants move house?"
"How silly, it's going to rain!"
"You're wrong, there are mice in the hole. The mice chased all the ants out."
"You're crazy! How could there be a mouse in such a tiny ant hole!"
When Mama Yao looked up and saw Qingmu, she was visibly startled, and the surrounding space rippled slightly. Qingmu knew the space was about to collapse, but he couldn't let this opportunity slip by. He used his power to support Mama Yao's dream space and protect her consciousness, then said, "Look, aren't there mice?"
Mama Yao's breathing became a little rapid, but she still looked down and saw that mice had indeed crawled out of the ant hole and the Tushu. The mice were initially the same size as the ants, but they gradually grew larger after crawling out.
Startled, Mama Yao cried out and hid behind Qingmu.
Qingmu said, "Where's your cat? Let the cat catch the mouse."
Mama Yao was taken aback. "A cat? We don't have a cat!"
Qingmu said, "You clearly have a cat at home."
Mama Yao shook her head. "There really isn't a cat."
At this point, more and more mice appeared, forming a chain, all crawling towards Mama Yao. Mama Yao screamed in fright, "Grandma, Grandma! There are mice!"
Qingmu saw the door of the earthen house open, and an old woman came out, dressed in coarse farm clothes, but she walked with an indescribable grace and nobility. Her hair was completely white, but her face was without a single wrinkle. As soon as Qingmu saw her, he was reminded of Duwa —the woman who never aged.
"Grandma, Grandma, there's a mouse!" Mama Yao ran to the old lady's side and pointed to the ground.
This old woman was clearly created by Mama Yao in her dream; apart from retaining her appearance and temperament from her memories, she had no special abilities.
The old lady picked up the hoe next to the door and was about to kill the rat.
Qingmu suggested, "Let your cat come; cats catch mice."
"A cat? I don't have a cat," the old lady said.
The number of rats increased, and they crawled all over the low-lying area, scurrying around the feet of Mama Yao and the old lady. It looked like some of them were about to climb onto their feet.
"Cat, bring the cat here!" Qingmu said.
Mama Yao was so frightened that she started crying loudly, shouting, "Grandma, the cat! Grandma, I want the cat!"