Chapter 44
In the ward of the Second Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, the fluorescent lights cast a cold, white glow, evenly illuminating every corner, as if even sorrow and conflict had to maintain a certain dignified restraint. Li Muxue lay on the hospital bed, an IV needle inserted into the back of her hand, transparent liquid dripping into her veins, like time itself slowly infusing into this nearly exhausted body. A day and a night of hunger strike had not brought a triumphant victory, but rather this body so weak that even anger seemed a luxury.
With her eyes closed, she could clearly sense two heavy breaths beside the bed. One was from her father, Li Junsheng, with his distinctive sigh that seemed to be squeezed out from the depths of his chest; the other was from her mother, Qiao Kexin, accompanied by a faint, almost inaudible sob.
Li Junsheng looked at his daughter's pale face, her once bright and spirited eyes now hidden behind thick eyelashes, casting a small, weak shadow. A pang of pain welled up in his heart. He had worked diligently and tirelessly his whole life, seeking only the peace and well-being of his wife and daughter. Shen Haoyu, that boy, came from a good family and was generous; in his eyes, he was a sure thing for his daughter's future. But why couldn't he persuade this seemingly fragile daughter? He couldn't understand where this stubbornness came from. He reached out to stroke his daughter's thin hand, but his fingertips hesitated just before touching it, ultimately only gently landing on the white sheet, leaving a helpless mark.
"Xiaoxue," Qiao Kexin finally spoke, her voice hoarse from crying, "Why don't you drink some water first? Your parents... won't force you to see Haoyu anymore."
These words were like a key, gently prying open Li Muxue's tightly closed eyes. Her vision was blurry for a moment before she could clearly see her parents' faces, etched with anxiety and exhaustion. Her father's temples seemed to have gained a few more strands of glaring white frost overnight; the fine lines at the corners of her mother's eyes, usually so difficult to smooth, were now even deeper. A sudden pang of sadness welled up in her eyes, a surge of emotion she forcefully suppressed. This was not the outcome she wanted at all—to hurt herself in order to further wound the two people closest to her. This struggle had no winners.
Li Muxue's lips were terribly chapped. She moved slightly and made a weak sound: "But... Shen Haoyu is nowhere to be seen?"
Li Junsheng's voice was low, carrying a contradictory feeling of trying to maintain authority yet unable to hide his powerlessness: "Xiaoxue, we can stop forcing you to contact Haoyu. But you and Xu Chen..." He paused, the name seeming to carry a thorn, making it difficult for him to say it smoothly: "...Absolutely not. You know very well. The past cannot be truly forgotten with a simple 'it's all in the past'."
There were no roars, no scoldings, but the unwavering resolve beneath the restraint stood like an invisible, cold wall before Li Muxue. She understood that getting her parents to accept Xu Chen was a much more difficult bottom line than getting them to give up Shen Haoyu. It wasn't an easily insurmountable chasm; it was mixed with too many old grudges, societal expectations, and deep concerns about her future.
Li Muxue finally couldn't hold back a tear, which slid down her temple and soaked her pillowcase. She felt an overwhelming weariness, not just physical, but also emotional. She asked herself: Should she continue to fight like this? Should she use even more extreme methods to challenge the limits of her parents' endurance? Looking at the unfathomable worry in her parents' eyes, she suddenly realized that such a "victory," even if achieved, would leave her battered and bruised, utterly meaningless.
Silence continued to permeate the small hospital room, broken only by the rhythmic dripping of the IV fluids, a sound that resonated deeply within the three people. After a long while, as if making an extremely difficult decision, Li Muxue took a deep breath, even though the action caused a dull ache in her chest.
"Okay." She uttered a single word, very softly, yet with unparalleled clarity.
Qiao Kexin and Li Junsheng were both stunned, looking at their daughter in disbelief.
Li Muxue tried to keep her voice steady and continued, "I can promise you that I will temporarily... not have any contact with Xu Chen."
She spoke these words with extraordinary difficulty, as if she had just managed to break free from a fierce struggle between her lips and teeth. "But my condition is that you also keep your promise and not arrange for me to meet with Shen Haoyu again. Give me... and give yourselves some time."
This wasn't surrender; it was a temporary truce in a stalemate. It was a compromise born of a helpless reality, with both sides taking a step back. She retreated to the bottom line of her emotions; and her parents withdrew their hands from pushing their "ideal son-in-law" into the picture. The empty space in between was called time. The future was unclear, but at least, in this moment, the suffocating tension in the hospital room had quietly eased a little.
Li Junsheng looked at his daughter with a complex expression. He saw compromise in her eyes, but also an unyielding stubbornness. He knew this didn't mean she agreed with his views, but rather that she had chosen a more mature, perhaps more painful, way to face this family crisis. She had chosen to preserve the outward peace of the family, even though her heart was churning. As her father, could he still pressure her? He nodded heavily: "Okay, Dad keeps his word. Go back to the Foreign Languages Institute, focus on your studies, and we'll talk about it after you graduate..."
Qiao Kexin was already in tears. She bent down, tightly grasped her daughter's hand that wasn't receiving an IV drip, pressed it against her face, and murmured repeatedly, "Okay, okay, Mommy promises you, Mommy promises you anything... as long as you're alright..."
Li Muxue felt the warmth of her mother's palm and the cool dampness of her tears, her heart filled with mixed emotions. She had won herself some breathing space, at the cost of burying her most fervent emotions deep within her heart, promising to freeze them away. She didn't know how long this "temporary" period would last, nor where the future would lead. Her parents, having exchanged concessions for their daughter's "obedience" and physical well-being, knew clearly that their daughter's heart had not truly returned, but was merely temporarily anchored in a harbor they reluctantly agreed to, yet remained deeply worried about.
Outside the window, night deepened. The light in the hospital room remained a cold, white glow, yet it seemed to emanate a touch of melancholic warmth because of this hard-won, fragile agreement. This was a truce without celebration; behind the compromise lay the helplessness swallowed by each of the three individuals, and the tangled, unresolved love and pain deeply embedded in their blood-bound relationship…
(To be continued)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
