Chapter 99
For Xie Yiling, her life went through several stages after Huang Ruoyu's death: from the initial shock to unbearable pain, until she finally slowly recovered after about half a year.
Xie Yiling's pain was a secret, and she couldn't tell anyone about it, including her husband Hu Yu. So she could only silently comfort herself: Don't feel guilty, Huang Ruoyu's death has nothing to do with you or Zhizhi, it was just an accident...
But was it really an accident? Xie Yiling didn't know. All she knew was that Hu Yu and everyone in Central Park insisted it was an accident and that no one needed to take responsibility. So after a few days of talking about it, no one brought it up again. And because the matter was already in the past, Xie Yiling didn't need anyone to comfort her.
But Xie Yiling knew her self-blame was justified—that day, when she saw the ambulance drive out of Napa Valley No. 5, she had originally intended to apologize to Huang Ruoyu. She had even rehearsed her words many times beforehand: "Huang, about yesterday…you and Xiaocheng are both very kind and helpful people…so believe me, I won't let yesterday's incident happen again. Now Lao Hu and I have reached a consensus; we both realize that Zhizhi's problem isn't something we can solve on our own…"
So when Su Ningna told Xie Yiling the devastating news in the middle of the night, she immediately dialed Su Ningna's number. However, she couldn't say a word on the phone because she was already overwhelmed with self-blame.
This guilt was very deep and very pure, but what Xie Yiling found strange was that this guilt seemed to give her a touch of...pleasure.
After that, Xie Yiling was sick for a week.
During the week she was sick, Xie Yiling kept thinking about the matter. She felt that she had only meant well; she just wanted to help her son, Hu Zhizhi, recover as soon as possible, which was perfectly reasonable. However… a mother’s love for her son indirectly led to the death of another mother… so in the end, this was still a psychological shadow that Xie Yiling could never escape.
“I know you’ll say that there’s actually no connection between them,” Xie Yiling explained to Zhang Yongsheng, Hu Zhizhi’s attending physician. “And frankly, I’m not here to ask for your opinion. What I mean is that we will no longer consider taking Zhizhi out to see anyone. Never again.”
"Hmm." Zhang Shengyong tapped his fingers together, not even looking up, and said, "It completely depends on your family's opinion."
“I know he’s sick.” Xie Yiling seemed not to hear Zhang Yongsheng’s words, and continued talking as if to herself. However, she struggled to control the urge to cry. “I know he’s sick, and he’s really pitiful, but his violence is just too scary. Doctor, it’s terrifying!”
"Yes, that's right..."
From that day on, Xie Yiling and Hu Yu's weekly visits to their son were confined to the heavily guarded hospital meeting room. However, Hu Zhizhi seemed completely unconcerned about this outcome. Of course, at first, Hu Zhizhi would occasionally ask Chengshi and Huang Ruoyu whether they had gone to Dali, and he seemed particularly concerned about Huang Ruoyu, but Xie Yiling and Hu Yu didn't tell him anything.
On New Year's Day, Xie Yiling and Hu Yu voluntarily reduced their visits to Hu Zhizhi to once every two or three weeks, and then after the Spring Festival, it naturally became once a month to visit their son.
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