Chapter 339: Chapter 339: A Dream of the Past Life
Dreams that should have been hazy upon waking were crystal clear in his mind.
Scene by scene, so vivid it was as if it had truly happened.
Tang Yuanxiao was thrown into complete chaos.
After the incident where Su Li was slandered for having an affair, he had also heard about the rumors that Su Li had sold Little Tang Mo, and the matter with Chen Tang that almost ended in disaster.
He didn’t know the full details, but he could guess.
If Su Li hadn’t managed to get Little Tang Mo back then, if Little Tang Mo had been lost for good, what would Su Li’s fate have been...
He thought of the Su Li in his dream, of that cowshed, of the faint yet frantic sound of Mrs. Tang’s voice in his ears...
A violent shiver ran down Tang Yuanxiao’s spine.
"It was just a dream... just a dream..."
He tried desperately to convince himself, but he found his hands were still trembling.
He had witnessed Mrs. Tang’s madness long ago.
And he knew even better how much Mrs. Tang had treasured Little Tang Mo before the truth of his parentage was revealed.
So he couldn’t even begin to imagine the consequences if Su Li hadn’t found Little Tang Mo.
Tang Yuanxiao clenched his fists to stop them from shaking, taking a deep breath and murmuring to himself.
"It’s all a dream, all a dream..."
’It’s only a dream. I could never have choked Su Li. How could I ever bear to...’
*******
For two straight days, Su Li drifted in and out of consciousness.
During her lucid moments, she could meet with Mr. Zhang and answer his questions.
But each moment of clarity was also a moment of agony for Su Li, as it was always accompanied by a headache, dizziness, and nausea.
She would vomit after just a few words. Having eaten nothing and only drunk a little water, there was nothing to bring up, so she just dry-heaved constantly.
On top of that, some of the wounds on her feet and body became inflamed, and by the second day, a low-grade fever had set in.
With the fever, Su Li’s daze grew even worse.
Though she had lucid periods, she would occasionally become so disoriented that she couldn’t distinguish her past life from her present one.
Three days after the incident, the police still hadn’t found the man named Yang Jiu, and the case had reached a stalemate.
Meanwhile, they could no longer keep the truth from Little Tang Mo.
After Su Li’s accident, Wu Sheng had contacted Wu Qihua, who then took Little Tang Mo in.
Worried that Little Tang Mo would be anxious, they had naturally hidden it from him at first.
But by the third day, when he still hadn’t seen Su Li and no one was answering the phone at home, Little Tang Mo refused to listen to any more of Wu Qihua’s excuses, no matter how good they were.
He wanted to go home. He wanted to see Su Li.
Wu Qihua could neither persuade him nor hide it any longer. Fearing he might slip away on his own, she had no choice but to bring him to see Su Li.
After getting the call from Wu Qihua, Wu Sheng went to tidy himself up.
Little Tang Mo was a sensitive child, and Wu Sheng hoped to keep him from getting too worried.
He washed his face and shaved his beard. Finally looking somewhat human again, he returned to the hospital room.
Little Tang Mo hadn’t arrived yet, but Su Li’s eyes fluttered open.
Delighted, Wu Sheng asked gently, "You’re awake?"
He leaned forward, about to stroke Su Li’s head, but his hand froze when he met her gaze.
Su Li’s wary, utterly unfamiliar gaze, as if she didn’t know him at all, plunged Wu Sheng into an icy despair.
He slowly backed away. Su Li seemed to relax her guard and quickly closed her eyes again.
Wu Sheng had been aware of Su Li’s strange behavior over the past few days.
But it had never been as stark as it was at this moment.
He shot up and rushed out of the room, striding quickly to find the doctor.
The doctor was doing his rounds and had just stepped out of a room when he ran into Wu Sheng, noticing his troubled expression.
"What is it? Did the patient vomit again?"
Wu Sheng shook his head. "Doctor, she just woke up, but the way she looked at me was strange. It was like... like she’d forgotten who I am. What’s happening?"
He pointed to himself. "I’m her fiancé. She shouldn’t forget me."
The doctor breathed a sigh of relief. "It’s fine, it’s fine. It’s a side effect of the concussion. Memory loss, especially of recent events, is very normal. She’s also likely not fully awake yet."
The doctor said it was fine, but Wu Sheng couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Su Li’s expression just now didn’t seem to match what the doctor described.
Wu Sheng was full of doubt, but all he could do was wait for the aftereffects of the concussion to pass.
Little Tang Mo arrived soon after. Because Wu Qihua had prepared him, Little Tang Mo was unusually calm when he saw Su Li’s condition.
He sat by Su Li’s bed for a long time before his first words were a question.
"Have they caught the person?"
The person hadn’t been caught yet. Many people had seen the man Su Li called Yang Jiu, but no matter how much they investigated, they couldn’t find any trace of him.
The only good news was that Su Li’s condition was improving.
After three more days, the aftereffects of the concussion finally disappeared.
The wounds on her legs and body began to heal one after another. They weren’t fully recovered, but they had started to scab over.
Because Tang Yuanxiao had reset her dislocated shoulders promptly, they were already much better.
Although she still had to be careful, they were slowly returning to normal.
Su Li was finally able to eat a proper meal. Afterward, sitting in a wheelchair, she was pushed out of the room by Little Tang Mo to look outside.
Seeing the sun and the blue sky again, Su Li felt as if she had been reborn.
For the past few days, likely due to the recurring nightmare and the concussion, she had been in a daze. It wasn’t until today that she felt truly alive again.
"Mom, are you cold?"
Little Tang Mo asked Su Li.
Su Li came back to her senses and shook her head. "I’m not cold. Are you tired?"
Little Tang Mo wasn’t much taller than the wheelchair, but he insisted on pushing it himself.
"Not tired." Little Tang Mo shook his head.
After they arrived at the hospital, Little Tang Mo hadn’t left Su Li’s side for a moment.
He had even taken time off from school, insisting he couldn’t rest easy with Su Li there by herself.
Su Li felt her energy finally returning and wanted to try walking a bit.
Unfortunately, Little Tang Mo didn’t allow it.
"Mom, the cuts on your legs haven’t healed yet. Wait until they’re better before you walk."
Little Tang Mo patted Su Li’s head. "Be good."
Su Li: "..."
When Tang Yuanxiao arrived, this was the scene that greeted him.
A smile finally touched the corners of his lips. He walked over slowly. "Su Li, Momo."
Su Li and Little Tang Mo turned to look at Tang Yuanxiao, a complicated emotion flashing in both their eyes at the same time.
Little Tang Mo lowered his gaze, dipping his head slightly in greeting.
He was able to speak now, but he had yet to call Tang Yuanxiao "Dad."
After calling him Dad for six years, he didn’t know what else to call him. "Uncle" didn’t feel right either, so Little Tang Mo simply chose not to say anything at all.
Even though he could speak, the title "Dad" was now shrouded in a shadow, and he rejected it from the bottom of his heart.
But his aversion to the title was one thing; Little Tang Mo still remembered all the kindness Tang Yuanxiao had shown him before.
The time he had spent with Tang Yuanxiao was brief, but he knew that everything he’d had before was given to him by Tang Yuanxiao. That debt of raising him could never be erased.
After his brief greeting, Little Tang Mo stood silently to the side, letting Su Li and Tang Yuanxiao talk.
"I haven’t had a chance to speak with you properly. This time... thank you."
Su Li looked at Tang Yuanxiao, smiled, and expressed her gratitude.
No matter what had happened between them in the past, she would remember the debt she owed him for saving her life.
This wasn’t just any ordinary favor; he had saved her life.
Tang Yuanxiao shook his head. "Don’t mention it."
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