his mermaid

***

"Mom, it's candy~"

"Your teeth haven't grown well yet, it's not good to eat sugar all the time!"

"Eat this! This! Okay, okay!"

The child pointed to the kind of candy in the window. It turned out that it was a lollipop that didn't need to be bitten. It would melt if you licked it.

The mother had no choice but to slow down and stop holding him, letting him lie on his stomach and watch for a while.

The market is full of wholesale snack shops, full of beautiful things in eyes, and there are many sweets that she can't name.

"Mom! Buy it! Okay, okay!"

"Mom didn't bring much money today, let's buy it next time!"

"Okay okay... okay okay..."

In the stage of babbling, children are like small animals, only repeating those few words to express their inner joy, happiness, disappointment, and anxiety.

It was not until many years later that the mother recalled that the child's language at that time might be disappointment, expectation, or begging.

No matter what it is, those days are irreversible.

Lin Yalei could only see Yueguo through the small window on the ward.

Just like when Yue Guo liked to lie at the door of the candy shop and observe those snacks when he was a child.

Memories with Yueguo stopped when he was three years old.

She is pregnant with her second child and will take care of her three-year-old son.

The economic pressures are depressing.

The family’s house is dozens of square meters, water and electricity are often cut off, and the sound insulation is poor.

Her husband runs a small shop for a living, and she follows her to buy goods at six o'clock in the morning, comes back at noon to rest for a while, and opens at five o'clock in the afternoon, and she takes care of the children at home.

In the early morning, the husband went home to rest, woke up the sleeping mother and child, and went out to sleep on the sofa silently.

The family doesn't have much property, only a color TV, a motorcycle, and a laptop that they don't use often.

With no way to give the children a better life, Lin Yalei was gradually pushed into a desperate situation.After Yuehui was born, Lin Yalei completely collapsed.It’s not that the child is misbehaving, it’s because of too much pressure in life. She suffered from postpartum depression. She didn’t know it was a disease at the time, but she was so tired that she couldn’t breathe every day. She even thought about taking medicine with her two young children suicide.

But she can't do that, it's too cruel.

Finally one day, she chose to leave without saying goodbye.

No one understands her, no one understands her difficulties.

She couldn't tolerate being such an irresponsible mother who walked away.

Originally, she thought that this past event could be sealed and disappeared forever like this.

Even when she was driven away last time, she thought she would never come again.

However, I just couldn't help but sneaked to the hospital again and again, like a voyeur, like a guilty conscience, to visit Yueguo.

She didn't know how the children she left behind survived these years, how the two children grew up in such a desperate situation of losing their mother, grew up so healthy, and suddenly had such a big accident.

She wanted to go in and ask countless times, even if she was a stranger, to know about the situation in Xiayue Kingdom.

But she dared not disturb at all.

After all, her life is not easy now, she is very afraid that Jiang Yaochen will make trouble for her if she finds out that she came here secretly, and she doesn't know if it will implicate Yueguo.

In this way, Lin Yalei came here secretly for more than half a month, every two or three days, and only gave a little snack every time, and asked the nurse to remind Yueguo to finish eating at that time, so that no one else would notice the abnormality.And she only knows that nurse, so if other nurses are there, or if a doctor comes, she will avoid it, and the time of each stay is less than 10 minutes, so it is not easy to be remembered by others.

It has been half a month, and Lin Yalei saw from the small glass window that Yue Guo was able to get out of bed, and he could stand up and walk while supporting his crutches. Although Yue Guo's arms were very thin, it could be seen that he was gradually gaining strength.After taking two steps to the bathroom, Yueguo went back to lie down by himself, eating and looking at his phone on the bed.His expression was no longer as painful, weak, and dull as it was when the operation was just finished, but gradually became more complex.

The nurse said that the wound will shrink naturally, and it will take at least two months to fully heal, and there will be other treatments in the future.

Lin Yalei doesn't understand medicine, so she can only be nervous about her son in her heart.

The nurse said to her: "Auntie, since you care about him so much, go in and have a look."

Lin Yalei shook her head: "No, I'll leave right away."

"Auntie, you don't know who he asked me today, who is the kind-hearted man who delivers snacks every day? I've been prevaricated every time, but today he still insisted on asking."

"You didn't tell him, did you?" Lin Yalei suddenly became nervous.

"I didn't say it, but he was really confused, so I don't know if he asked anyone else."

"Ah, then he won't tell Jiang..."

The heart beat suddenly.

Lin Yalei knew that as long as she didn't stop, her behavior would reveal her flaws one day. With so many people in the hospital, someone would always have seen her, as well as the surveillance video.

Although she doesn't need to be so guilty, she is Yue Guo's biological mother, but she is just afraid that if she is driven away by Jiang Yaochen again, she may never have the chance to see Yue Guo again.

And what she was even more afraid of was, what would she do if Jiang Yaochen forced her to take the money?Then throwing the responsibility of taking care of Yue Guo to her would be another huge expense.

Now she came to visit Yueguo just to fill up the uneasiness in her conscience.

Compared with not being able to see Yue Guo, what I am more worried about is money. How can there be such a vicious mother in the world?Lin Yalei couldn't believe what she was doing.

"Auntie, there are no unsolvable problems in the world. If you have a conflict with your son, go in and have a good talk. If you can't agree, you can come out later."

"No."

Lin Yalei covered her mouth, continued to shake her head, and turned to leave.

"Don't tell him I've been here. Actually, he doesn't even know that I'm his mother."

"what?"

The nurse didn't know whether it was out of curiosity or out of protection for the patient, she held Lin Yalei back, "Wait, Auntie, what do you mean by that?"

Lin Yalei looked flustered, turned around and left with her handbag in her arms.

But before he even finished walking this corridor, Jiang Yaochen unexpectedly appeared from the corner of the corridor with his secretary.

Lin Yalei yelled loudly.

His face was livid as if he had seen a ghost, and he took a step back, even the nurse behind him was suddenly stunned.

"You, why did you come?" Lin Yalei retreated to the wall, dumbfounded.

Isn't Mr. Jiang coming here at six or seven o'clock?She has never been bumped into before, this is the first time, it is only past three o'clock, could it be that Jiang Yaochen came here early...

"I should ask you that."

Jiang Yaochen also showed a trace of displeasure between his brows, but he remained calm, as if it was not a big deal.

He turned to the female secretary and asked, "By the way, you have the payment records with you, so take her over there to talk."

Yaochen left those words behind and walked straight to Yueguo's ward.

Lin Yalei understood, she panickedly looked at the secretary for help, her eyes were begging for mercy.

"Aunt Lin, we meet again. I'm Mr. Jiang's secretary Xiao Cheng. You still remember what the boss told you, right?"

"me……"

"If you don't remember, why are you so nervous."

The secretary smiled politely at her, but Lin Yalei only felt a chill down her spine.

"This is your son's surgery fee, treatment fee, hospitalization fee, and the cost of medicines and nutritional supplements after he was hospitalized. I have sorted out and printed them all out. Because Mr. Gao Yueguo does not have medical insurance, it will be more expensive. And your husband My daughter's funeral expenses, the cost of purchasing the cemetery, and the legal fees... This bank card is specially used to pay Mr. Gao's various expenses and all the transaction records."

This secretary is very careful and understands the needs of the boss every time he comes to the hospital. Once he opens the file package, it is clear at a glance what he should bring.

Lin Yalei listened to what she said, and also got the information. She just glanced at the hospital's expense section, and it showed that more than 50 had been spent. She quickly turned the page, and the funeral and cemetery actually cost hundreds of thousands more!She hasn't looked at the others.

Maybe for rich people, these money are just numbers, not even a drop in the bucket.

But for ordinary people like her, it was already a sky-high price, and it could already put people to death!

"Wait a minute! Wait a moment!" She rushed up to catch up with Yaochen's footsteps, until she reached the front of the ward, but luckily Jiang Yaochen didn't open the door, she roared, "I shouldn't come, I shouldn't come !"

Lin Yalei rushed over, lay down on the ground involuntarily, then propped herself up and knelt again.

"I really can't take care of Yueguo, I don't have money to take care of him! I can't live anymore... Even if I lose everything, I can't take care of him..."

Although kneeling on the ground like this is very disrespectful, but every word is true, Lin Yalei shook her head desperately, this time she really cried tears, her whole face was flushed from the neck.The nurse who followed kept trying to hold her back, but Lin Yalei didn't even intend to get up, because she not only had a mental breakdown, but her body also collapsed, and she couldn't stand up.

Before Yaochen could reply, Lin Yalei cried again and said, "If you absolutely want me to give you the money, you first give me Yueguo's real estate certificate! I'll go for the loan, I'll go for the mortgage..."

"How could you say such shameless words?"

Yaochen finally spoke, but he questioned with a smile on the corner of his mouth, his eyes were still cold.

"Come on, let's go in and have a look at Yueguo together. I know you have been here a few times, but you haven't entered the room."

"Don't, don't, don't let Yue Kingdom know." Lin Yalei shook her head desperately: "I won't watch it, I'm not worthy to be Yue Kingdom's mother."

"Then get out of here."

A trace of despair flashed in Lin Yalei's eyes again.

Even the secretary came to help her together: "Aunt Lin, hurry up and get acquainted. Don't break the promise at that time. You promised the boss that you would never come again. The boss found out that you came secretly, and he didn't bother you. "

Lin Yalei didn't get up, but just raised her head lightly, without any expectation in her eyes, she murmured, "Is it true that I can't see him anymore? Can I do it secretly?"

"Since you want to visit him, you have to take on the responsibility of being a mother. You just buy some low-quality snacks and visit him every day. Who do you think will forgive you?" Yaochen's voice was very serious.

"That's right, Aunt Lin, if you can't come up with hundreds of thousands, why don't you show your attitude with tens of thousands first. Look at you, I am too embarrassed to admit that you are Gao Yueguo's mother." The secretary smiled coldly, Lin Yalei It hurts like being stabbed several times in the heart.

"……my mom?"

This is the quietest floor of the hospital, full of single wards, connected to the upstairs platform garden.Maybe Lin Yalei's actions were too violent, everyone on the first floor could hear the commotion here.

The door of the room opened unconsciously, and Yue Guo stood crookedly by the door.

***

"Why did you come out alone?" Yaochen no longer looked at Lin Yalei who was in a panic on the ground, but turned to look at Yueguo.Yueguo is not yet used to walking with crutches, so walking out of the room like this is very worrying.

"Who is she? She is my mother?" Yue Guo was very excited, propped up his body and walked forward, Yaochen had no choice but to give in, Yue Guo asked sadly: "Why is my mother kneeling on the ground?"

No matter what the reason was, he felt that the scene of a five or sixty-year-old aunt kneeling on the ground begging a young man was really inappropriate.

"Yue Guo, we haven't seen each other for more than 20 years... You don't remember me... Mom really wants to visit you, but she can only come secretly and give you snacks secretly. I dare not show up because of this Mr. Jiang forced me to..."

Lin Yalei was lying on the ground, and she rushed forward as if she saw a savior, trying to grab Yue Guo's right leg, but was suddenly pulled away by Jiang Yaochen who was holding the clothes on his shoulders.

If it wasn't for maintaining his image in front of Yueguo, he might kick this woman away with his feet. She knew that Yueguo was disabled, but she still wanted to pounce on her, which might make Yueguo unstable.

"You are the aunt who brought the candy." Yue Guo suddenly realized, "You are the 'good-hearted person'?"—"

No wonder when he met this aunt, he felt that she looked a bit like his mother.

"Yueguo, I don't let the nurse tell you, because I'm afraid you will know that I am that cruel mother, and I'm afraid you will hate me..." Lin Yalei said loudly, "But, I always remember that you wanted to eat sweets when you were young, but I I have always felt guilty and painful for not being able to buy it for you..."

Yueguo felt a little bit sad, but was more at a loss.

"Yaochen, don't embarrass her, get her up quickly, it won't make trouble in the hospital like this..."

"You know very well that you can only come here secretly, I didn't force you." Yaochen pulled Lin Yalei up, even the nurse and the secretary couldn't get Lin Yalei up, Yaochen pulled her lightly, and she was frightened Jumping to the wall, Yaochen exerted great strength, and she really felt the pain.

"You disappeared for 27 years, right? Both Yueguo and Yuehui told me that you were gone after Yuehui was born. But when you first appeared in the funeral home, you told me that you just left The family ran away for a few years." Yaochen questioned, "Unexpectedly, after 27 years, you will reappear. You are only for Yueguo's house, and the demolition fee is very high."

Lin Yalei blushed, her tears temporarily stopped.She looked at Yue Guo and shook her head, the words that jumped out of her eyes were explaining: It’s not like this, it’s really not like this.

Yue Guo also looked at this strange mother with unbelievable eyes.

"If you come forward to meet Yue Guo, you will face paying his high medical expenses, and you don't want to pay a penny. So you can only come secretly." Every sentence of Yaochen's words was very calm, but he really are angry.After making a gesture with his eyes, the secretary walked over to support Yue Guo.

As expected, Yueguo was a little unsteady, and even felt that he was hallucinating.

It turns out that my mother is not dead, she is still alive, it is true.She had left their family behind to find a new life for herself.

At this moment, Lin Yalei was deeply cast aside by everyone else present, she hoped that Yueguo could understand her, even if she said something for her.

"Do you know how Dad brought us up?" Yue Guo stared at his mother with a precarious body, "He worked three jobs by himself, delivering goods in the morning, driving a truck, buying goods by the way, and coming back at noon to rest and eat , and then we will go to open, selling snacks in the afternoon and barbecue in the evening.”

"Yuehui and I have been living in the nursery. I took care of my younger sister with the aunt in the nursery. Dad came to pick us up in the early morning. In order to pay for the nursery, my father worked harder."

"It was like this until we were in elementary school, and we always entrusted the neighbor's aunt and uncle to pick us up. Fortunately, for a few years, my father and his friend partnered to open a barbecue branch, making more money, which allowed me and Yuehui to have a good relationship." In order to study better, he bought me a piano."

"Our family's conditions have always been bad, but I never thought it was your responsibility, because my father told me that you have passed away."

"I didn't expect you to be alive..."

"Why have you disappeared for so many years? You didn't show up until Dad and Yuehui died. Are you for our house? For such a small house?"

He felt that what he said was like a dream, and he never thought that one day he would reveal these scars in front of his mother.

Every time she said a word, Lin Yalei felt that Yueguo was pointing a gun at her, and this kind of accusation caused her more pain than the cold-blooded Jiang Yaochen and his cold-blooded female secretary, and it was more like forcing her to die. Started to lose my footing.

Suddenly, she realized something was wrong.

Suddenly she felt that the whole incident was a rich man like Jiang Yaochen playing with their fate.

It must be Jiang Yaochen's words that made Yueguo's impression of her so bad, and made Yueguo complain about her so much.

How could such a kind child like Yueguo associate with such an unscrupulous person as Jiang Yaochen?

Lin Yalei's thoughts were already confused.

"Yue Guo, you only listened to his one-sided words, and you think I came here for the house? I admit that I have been away from you for 27 years. I am coming back now because something happened to you. I am also very sad, but as soon as I show up, Jiang Yaochen used your medical expenses to force me, how can I get 50 yuan all at once? He bought hundreds of thousands of cemeteries for your father and your sister, how can we ordinary people afford it?"

Yue Guo glanced at Yaochen, and asked in a low voice: "Yaochen, didn't you tell me that the cemetery is only tens of thousands of dollars..."

Did Yaochen lie to him, or to his mother?

Yaochen kept his face cold for a while, and didn't answer.Taking advantage of Yue Guo's doubts, Lin Yalei knew that she had seized the opportunity, and she quickly said: "Yue Guo, he forced me to pay your medical expenses. If I can't pay for it for a while, he will force me to pay back the money. Do you believe it? Me, so much money, he will force you to return it to him in the future! These materials are all records of the money he spent on you, he is very bad, he is already bad!"

The information in his hand almost fell out and fell on Yueguo.

The secretary held Yueguo tightly to help him fend off Lin Yalei's "attack", and his tone became angry: "Auntie, how can you be so bloody? Our boss is very affectionate and righteous to Mr. Gao, even if Mr. Gao doesn't pay back the money, The boss won't force him either. He only said something cruel to an irresponsible mother like you! Moreover, the boss didn't force you at all. As long as you don't bother Mr. Gao anymore, he won't ask you about money! "

Lin Yalei's face began to twist ferociously.

"I don't know what your purpose is, why you want to save Yueguo, why you spend money on treatment and surgery for him, and buy a cemetery with such a high price for my husband and daughter, why are you doing this? How much money, and then force me to pay it back? Are you playing tricks?"

She pointed with one finger, and was about to jump on Yaochen to settle the score. Fortunately, there was a nurse holding her, and two nurses on other posts also came to comfort her, fearing that she would cause trouble in the hospital.

"I understand now that even if I don't pay you back the money, you will definitely force Yueguo to pay back the money in the future! Are you going to force him to death? Why do you want to save him? You might as well let him die! You Why do you want to save him! Doctors have said that high amputation has a high mortality rate!"

Lin Yalei began to speak indiscriminately.

She is not at all like the gentle mother in Yueguo's memory.

Even the "good-hearted person" these days, Yue Guo couldn't overlap Lin Yalei's current image.

Just now she was like a devil with her bloody mouth wide open, the life of Yue Kingdom was ruthlessly cursed in her mouth.

Why is this happening?

Looking at this farce, Yue Guo was so stunned that he didn't know where to start thinking.

And what makes him uneasy is that Yaochen really spent a lot of money for his treatment, will he let himself bear these expenses in the future?

Lin Yalei scolded all the time, no one responded to her words, but in time the security guards came and took her away, making noise all the way, Yaochen didn't pay any attention to it, Yueguo also closed his heart and couldn't listen anymore.

Yaochen turned around and prepared to make a call: "I'll ask the driver to take her away, Cheng Cheng, you can go together."

After the female secretary agreed, he was about to take over to support Yueguo, but Yueguo himself suddenly went back to the room with his crutches.

It's scary—everything that's happening right now is scary.

Whether it was the sudden appearance of a mother greedy for real estate, or Yaochen who spent a lot of money for his family, they all made him feel terrible.

He had to sit down quickly, sitting on the bed, so that he could feel a sense of security before he could breathe.

Even though the wound was stinging, Yue Guo couldn't care less. After sitting down, his heart was still beating fast.

"Yueguo, I'm sorry." Yaochen followed into the ward and closed the door again.

A simple closing of the door cuts off all the noise from the outside world in an instant.

After calming down for a few minutes, Yueguo sat on the bed with a painful expression: "I have a hunch that my mother is not dead, otherwise why would there be no tombstone, and my father never mentioned her matter."

"Unexpectedly, she appeared in such a way."

"You see what kind of person she is."

"She said that you forced her to take money and asked her to pay for my treatment..." Yue Guo said anxiously.

"No, I didn't force her." Yaochen leaned over beside the bed, holding Yue Guo's shoulders, "I won't force you either. From now on, forever, you don't have to worry about this matter."

"Yaochen, if it were me, I wouldn't be able to take out so much money all at once." Yue Guo felt ashamed and said timidly, "Maybe you don't care, but to me, it's already a huge sum of money." ..."

"Yeah, I don't care. So you don't have to pay me back, including the cost of treatment in the future, and you don't have to pay a penny."

After pondering for a few seconds, Yueguo asked, "Is the cemetery you placed for my father and Xiaohui really that expensive?"

"The cemetery for Uncle and Xiaohui is Dongyuan Mountain. The environment there is better, and hundreds of thousands are normal. Just treat it as a gift for them, and we will visit them together when you recover from your injuries."

"Why...why do you help me so much?"

"Do you want to know?"

Yue Guo's eyes were struggling, and he was a little stunned, as if he would pierce the layer of paper between them if he continued, so he suddenly changed the subject: "Do you have my mother's contact information? I want to talk to her again Let's talk about..."

"What are you going to talk about?"

"I really want to ask, why did she leave us in the first place, why did she abandon us... Now that she comes back, does she want a real estate certificate..."

"Sorry, I don't have her contact information."

Asked the secretary to save it, but he himself did not, Yaochen said honestly.

"Yaochen, help me. If she is really my mother, then she will be my last relative in this world. I want to have a few more words with her."

Yaochen looked at Yue Guo questioningly.

Yue Guo also looked at him timidly, Yaochen had helped him too much, he was already extremely guilty, and he felt very cheeky if he asked again.

She is not your kin, you have no kin anymore - you only have me.

Yaochen entered these words in his eyes, but he couldn't pass them to Yueguo's eyes.

"Why do you avoid the question just now, why do I help you so much, don't you want to know?"

Want to know, but don't want to know.

Yue Guo is not an emotional fool, but after experiencing the great changes in his family and his body and mind, he can no longer think so much.

Whatever the reason, it was that reason.

He didn't even have the courage to respond.

I want to know—or I don’t want to, if I don’t answer, I don’t know how long Yaochen will maintain this bent posture.

Yueguo knew deep down in his heart that he still wanted to confirm the answer, because when he opened his mouth, he asked again and again.

"Why do you help me so much?"

For the answer this time, Yaochen held his cheek and kissed him.

☆、Chapter 07