Yuluo stopped talking. She shook a small plastic bottle full of pills near Fang Yuzhe’s ear, “Know what this is? One hundred sleeping pills. Now let’s play a wake-up game. Every morning, I’ll wait for you to wake me up. Otherwise, I’ll swallow these pills and sleep with the child to keep you company!”
Xia Yuluo got out of bed.
Fang Tiancheng was sweating outside. “Yuluo, you can’t do this!”
“It’s nothing, Uncle Fang. I’ll prepare some breakfast for Xiao Zhe. It’s almost lunchtime!”
Fifteen days was the limit set by the doctor for Fang Yuzhe. He was in good spirits, perhaps forgetting the significance of this day, or perhaps deliberately acting to make Yuluo happy.
That night before bed, Yuluo warmed milk for Fang Yuzhe to help him sleep, and he obediently went to bed early. Just before falling asleep, he kept hugging her and said a sentence that touched Yuluo – “If I can wake up tomorrow, I can wake up the day after tomorrow.”
Xia Yuluo knew he remembered this day. He finally said a confident word.
Only those who have experienced it know how thrilling the daily wake-up game can be.
On the sixteenth day, Fang Yuzhe woke up, not more painful than previous days, so he was happy, feeling that heaven had granted him an extra twenty-four hours through his own efforts.
Heaven’s generosity continued in their fearful sincerity – the seventeenth day, eighteenth day, twenty-third day, thirtieth day… The time had doubled the doctor’s expectations, so they felt there were infinite possibilities, and the small victory doubled their confidence.
But on the thirty-third afternoon, Fang Yuzhe suddenly started having headaches, then violent vomiting, quickly becoming so weak he could barely stand. When Fang Tiancheng wanted to take him to the hospital, he refused, weakly holding Yuluo’s hand, saying: “I swear I tried, I really did my best—”
The doctor was found at the Fang home and quickly diagnosed acute food poisoning, possibly from problematic seafood at lunch.
After an IV drip, the symptoms gradually eased, and Fang Yuzhe slept and woke up smoothly.
Xia Yuluo sat by his bed, unable to stand up several times, her legs weak like noodles. When Fang Tiancheng came to see his son, he hugged her sympathetically, seeing her trembling slightly, her face even paler than his son’s.
