"Dr. Li."
Xia Lian recognized the middle-aged man in front of her. His familiar face was exactly the same as the anxious expression she had seen in the hospital room before. He was still the same as before.
Dr. Li was somewhat surprised. He hadn't seen the girl since her mother passed away. He heard from others that Xia Lian had moved to another place after the summer vacation.
"Dr. Li?" Wen Mo was taken aback, looked up at the man in front of her, and vaguely guessed what was going on after hearing this address.
"Yes, Mom is hospitalized, and this is her attending physician."
Dr. Li was a bespectacled male doctor with a kind demeanor. He walked with a brisk pace, and Xia Lian seemed to have never seen him rest.
Perhaps because the two hadn't seen each other for so long, Dr. Li frowned slightly and looked at Xia Lian with a strange, scrutinizing gaze.
I have a feeling... this girl is different from when she was in the hospital.
Because Xia Lian brought meals to the hospital every day, many people in the hospital had a pretty good impression of this young girl.
She was filial, always smiling, and always had a beaming smile when she visited her mother. But now... how did she become like this?
Every time he greeted her, Xia Lian would wave with a sweet smile. If it weren't for the fact that the girl in front of him had the exact same face as the one in his memory, Dr. Li would probably have thought that she wasn't the Xia Lian from before.
"You've changed quite a bit, Xiao Lian." Dr. Li took two steps closer, looking at the indifferent girl in front of him with a blank expression, and felt quite emotional.
Xia Lian didn't react much to these words, simply nodding to acknowledge them.
As she raised her hand, Dr. Li pushed up her glasses with one hand and looked at Wen Mo standing next to her.
"Who is this young man...?"
Hearing this, Wen Mo felt inexplicably nervous. He was about to explain their relationship, but the words stuck in his throat and he couldn't make a sound.
Which relationship is being revealed?
Cousins or lovers?
Wen Mo actually had a good impression of Dr. Li. At least when he was at home, he had heard a lot about Xia Lian's experiences in the hospital, and most of her problems were solved by Dr. Li.
"I...I am Xiaolian's boyfriend."
After thinking it over, Wen Mo swallowed hard and put on what he thought was a relaxed smile.
"What?!" Dr. Li was so shocked that he almost dropped his glasses, and his gaze towards the two of them changed from calm to one of surprise.
It wasn't that he had a stereotype; after not seeing her for three months, she had even found a boyfriend. This girl might be more outgoing than he imagined.
He then cast a questioning glance at Xia Lian, as if asking her if what he had just said was true.
Xia Lian's expression remained as calm as ever, without much embellishment. She nodded slightly and said, "His name is Wen Mo, and he's very good to me."
Even she herself didn't realize that when she said those words, her expression unconsciously relaxed a little, and even her tightly furrowed brows relaxed considerably.
The atmosphere in the corridor immediately quieted down. Dr. Li observed them for a long time and, seeing that they didn't seem to be talking nonsense, had no choice but to continue talking along with the two children.
"Xiao Lian, how have you been since you moved?"
Perhaps because there was nothing else to do, Dr. Li called out and pulled the two of them to sit on a chair in the corridor. Having not seen them for a long time, he was quite curious about the girl's life now.
“I was picked up by my relatives,” Xia Lian said, enunciating each word clearly, without letting go of Wen Mo’s hand even as she spoke. “They’ve been very good to me.”
When she first started speaking, it was noticeable that Dr. Li's expression became a little strange, as if he was wondering why this girl was speaking so haltingly, when she had been perfectly normal in the hospital before.
But I paid more attention to what Xia Lian said, and I was relieved to hear that she was living a good life now.
Dr. Li witnessed Xia Lian's half-dead state during the period immediately after her mother's death. She was like a walking corpse that could only follow a fixed route, constantly lingering outside her mother's original ward.
It wasn't until the black and white photos were shown that the girl completely broke down. She cried for several nights in a row, and everyone just left her there to cry without offering any comfort. This kind of thing can't be comforted.
After crying for several days, perhaps exhausted from crying, Xia Lian appeared at the funeral on the last day with red-rimmed eyes and dull eyes. She was never seen again after the funeral.
"Oh, I'm relieved to see you're living well. Who are you living with now?" Dr. Li asked with a relieved expression. During the time Xia Lian was missing, he was extremely nervous, fearing that he might wake up one day to find a news report about a female student committing suicide.
Hearing this, Xia Lian glanced at Wen Mo beside her. The two exchanged a silent glance, and after understanding his meaning, Xia Lian nodded.
"Living with my uncle and aunt."
On this point, the two chose to conceal the truth and give a more reassuring answer. If they had chosen to tell the truth, Wenmo couldn't imagine how interesting Dr. Li's expression would have been.
At least we need to put his mind at ease, which would be a way of repaying Dr. Li for the care he had given us before.
"Don't worry, Xiao Lian is living a good life now, and her grades at school are among the best." Perhaps wanting to be more noticed, Wen Mo coughed twice and told Dr. Li about what happened after Xia Lian moved.
Although many things have been modified, the revised answer may satisfy Dr. Li more. In short, Dr. Li was completely relieved after hearing it, and his slightly furrowed brows relaxed.
He had initially been a little worried about Xia Lian having a boyfriend, but now he slowly let go of his reservations. There was no way around it; he was always afraid that some shady guy would try to take advantage of such a cute girl.
After talking with him, Dr. Li could tell that the young man had high emotional intelligence and was very polite in his speech. Most importantly, this young man actually dared to bring Xiao Lian back to his hometown to visit his mother, just to help her relax.
Are you and her in the same school now?
"Yes."
How are your grades?
"It's alright, it's passable," Wen Mo replied with a smile.
As expected, adults really like to ask younger generations questions about their studies.
After chatting for a while, a nurse came over and whispered a few words to Dr. Li. Dr. Li then got up, straightened his clothes, and seemed to be preparing to leave.
"Dr. Li, you can go ahead with your work. We're about to leave too," Wen Mo said with a smile, and got up as well.
"Okay, you two enjoy your time outside. I'm off now."
Dr. Li picked up a pen from his pocket, preparing to leave, but then suddenly turned around and looked down into his pocket, searching for something.
After a short while, seeing that no one was around, Dr. Li took Xia Lian's other hand and gently patted her palm, and three red bills fell into her hand.
"Live well."
After saying that, Dr. Li glanced at Xia Lian, and seeing that she still hadn't reacted, he shook his head with a smile in his eyes, and finally walked away.
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