It was a low and dilapidated southern room. There was no sunlight in the room all year round. It was dark and damp. The wall paint had long since peeled off and the wall was uneven.
He Qian was lying on the bed, her face was pale and thin, her pupils were dilated, her dry lips were white and she was moving slightly. Her skinny hands were raised tremblingly, as if she was looking for something.
The shabby old door was opened, and a petite and frail girl threw away the basket in her hand and rushed over, holding He Qian's hand tightly.
"Mom, look! I went to the mountain and picked some wild vegetables and fruits. We have something to eat today."
He Qian opened her eyes hard, trying to see her ragged daughter clearly.
It was a bleak autumn day, and the girl was only wearing a thin coarse linen shirt.
Her two braids hung roughly on both sides of her shoulders, covered with weeds, indicating that she had gone quite deep into the mountains.
The skin was dark and dull, and the skinny little body was wrapped in a tattered piece of clothing that had been washed so long that the original color could no longer be seen.
The little face was thin due to years of malnutrition, but it was embedded with a pair of moist and pitiful little eyes.
He Qian clenched her hands, which were also skinny and covered with cuts, and she gasped for breath with every word she uttered.
"Shi...Shi Qi."
After saying a few words, He Qian squeezed her daughter's hand tightly, her eyes sparkling with light, as if... a last glimmer of life.
"Mom, I'm here!" Shi Qi's eyes turned red as she watched her mother struggling to breathe.
"Mom...can't stay with you anymore." She looked at her daughter, but her eyes were filled with indescribable vicissitudes, and sadness was revealed between her brows.
"Mom, Mom..." Shi Qi didn't dare to call for her mother, she didn't dare...
Mom has suffered so much.
"My poor Shi Qi." He Qian stroked Shi Qi's fleshless and dirty little face with trembling hands.
"Mom, I'm not miserable. I have a mother who loves me. Well... I love you too, Mom." Shi Qi finally couldn't help it and tears fell one by one.
"I'll go wash dishes, sweep the floor, and do laundry to earn more money for mom's medical treatment, okay? I will work hard to make money, okay... okay... Mom, Mom." Shi Qi's scarred hands tightly grasped He Qian's hands, trembling, panicking, and helpless.
"Shi Qi, cough cough..." He Qian was heartbroken when she saw her daughter crying like this. She felt a dull pain in her chest and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
"Mom! What's wrong with you?" Shi Qi saw her mother coughing up blood for the first time. She stood up in panic and said, "I'm going to find a doctor, I'm going to find one! Mom, please don't be in trouble!"
He Qian grabbed Shi Qi who was about to turn around and leave. She coughed up blood even more violently and could hardly breathe.
"Come back!" He Qian shouted at her with all her might, tears streaming down her cheeks, "Don't... let... mom stay with... you any longer."
Shi Qi clenched her fists so tightly that she didn't even feel her nails digging into her flesh. Her eyes were filled with dark, heavy fragments. She slowly walked over and held her mother's hand again.
He Qian breathed in and out less often, looking at her daughter in a daze. She was thirteen years old but looked as thin as a ten-year-old. She felt bitter and astringent.
"Mom really regrets giving birth to you..."
Her vision was blurred by tears, and she held Shi Qi's hand so tightly, and it looked so pale.
"I made you suffer so much with me, I made you be born without a father, I made you lose your mother at such a young age... Wuwu... Mommy regrets it..."
"Mom, no, I'm not miserable at all. I have a mom who loves me the most in the world. Really! I'm the happiest child."
Shi Qi smiled, her eyes full of shining stars, illuminating the endless darkness in He Qian's heart.
"Yes, my favorite child! But I'm leaving. What will you do when you're all alone? My Shi Qi is only thirteen years old. How will she survive without her mother?"
Shi Qi squeezed her hand, wiped away her tears, and flashed a firm smile, "Don't worry, Mom. I will find an orphanage and ask them to take me in."
"What if someone bullies you?" He Qian's lips trembled, and her breath became weaker and weaker.
"I will be good and not cause any trouble..." Shi Qi felt her mother's hand slowly loosening. She held back her tears, a smile on her lips, "I will eat well, sleep well, and grow up well."
"...reading." He Qian smiled slightly, raised her eyelids, and slowly.
"Yes, study. I will study and go to my favorite university. I will get the best grades. I'm so smart and I won't let you down."
Shi Qi reached out and touched her mother's quiet and thin face. The eyes that always had a loving smile on their faces were closed forever.
"Mother--"
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