Give Me Another Smile

One day, Tang Yu noticed the shriveled fingers in her hand moving slightly. Looking up in surprise, she saw Yin Zhao-an slowly opening her eyes in a daze.

"An-An!" Tang Yu cried out in joy.

Gao Rang stood at the head of the bed with a medical record in one hand. After inspecting the medical instruments surrounding the bed, he scribbled a bunch of confusing symbols on the medical record.

Meanwhile, Wang Zhen held back her tears as she leaned on Yin Changcheng, her heart full of joy.

"All indicators look normal. If you decide to bring meals for her, prepare only light foods for the time being; nothing oily, spicy, or salty," Gao Rang said as he put his pen into his breast pocket and nudged his glasses. "If anything comes up, inform me as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Doctor Gao," Wang Zhen said as she got up and tried to see Gao Rang out of the ward.

However, Gao Rang politely stopped her and said, "I'm only doing my job. You should talk to the patient."

…

Yin Zhao-an had her eyes fixed on Tang Yu the moment she woke up. She also firmly held onto Tang Yu's hand, never letting go, even when doctors came to check on her.

Yin Zhao-an still looked to be in a trance. It didn't seem like she could hear the people around her speaking, her eyes vacantly looking at Tang Yu. If not for Yin Zhao-an's pupils following Tang Yu's movements, Wang Zhen would have thought that something was wrong with her daughter's vision.

"Can you let go of Little Yu for now, An-An? Little Yu still hasn't eaten," Wang Zhen tried to warmly persuade her daughter to let go of Tang Yu's hand.

It was already long past noon. Yu Wanrou came to visit numerous times during this period. Meanwhile, as if she couldn't get tired, Yin Zhao-an had never slept since she woke up. This led to Tang Yu being unable to leave Yin Zhao-an's side even once. Although Tang Yu hadn't said anything, Wang Zhen couldn't help but grow concerned for the girl's stomach.

Unfortunately, despite how frail Yin Zhao-an's hand looked, it tightly held onto Tang Yu's hand and refused to budge when Wang Zhen tried to pry it open. Or, more specifically, Wang Zhen dared not use too much strength to pry it open.

Meanwhile, Yin Zhao-an remained in a trance. It didn't seem like she had heard her mother's words as all she did was stare at Tang Yu.

"It's okay, Auntie. I'm fine eating with one hand," Tang Yu warmly said, keen on accommodating Yin Zhao-an's every action.

Wang Zhen couldn't help but sigh in resignation over this situation. As a doctor herself, she knew that a patient who had just awoken from a long coma would not have control over their body. The rotation of the pupils was also a subconscious action.

Although Wang Zhen felt sorry for Tang Yu, she had no choice but to trouble Tang Yu to keep her daughter company a little longer.

"I'm going to go and take care of some paperwork, so I'll have to trouble you here, Little Yu. If anything comes up, just ring the bell for a nurse," Wang Zhen said as she grabbed a sealed envelope and got ready to leave the ward. But just as she was about to step out of the room, she suddenly thought of something as she backtracked her steps and handed an item to Tang Yu, saying, "This is An-An's phone. It's still usable, so I'll leave it with you."

The smartphone with a shattered corner looked quite pitiful, but its cold outer shell quickly warmed up once it entered Tang Yu's hand.

When the door closed, the ward became eerily quiet. Apart from the rhythmic "beep" coming from the electrocardiogram, no other sound could be heard in the ward.

Seeing as there were no other conscious people in the room, Tang Yu decided to unlock Yin Zhao-an's phone to see if there were any entertainment applications. However, she found nothing of the sort. Even on the home page, she only saw the standard Contacts and Sticky Note applications decorating the bottom of the screen.

Out of curiosity, Tang Yu clicked on the Sticky Note app. There were only two entries in the app, one of which was an ordinary memo meant for keeping track of daily activities and responsibilities, while the other was…

Tang Yu narrowed her eyes, feeling somewhat confused by the second entry's content.

[A child will envy what others have that they don't. However, once they have it as well, they won't feel saddened even if they lose it.]

Tang Yu thought these were the only lines in the note. However, when she noticed the scroll bar on the side, she scrolled down and past a bunch of empty spaces before arriving at the bottom and finding another two lines.

[What I envy, I will do my best to obtain. Once I obtain it, I will crush it and hide it in my heart.]

The sentences were childish, so Tang Yu didn't take them too seriously. Putting the phone aside, she resumed her major undertaking of providing warmth to Yin Zhao-an's hand. While gently rubbing the withered hand, she started to mumble to herself quietly.

"There's no meat on your hand… It feels awful to the touch…

"It's kind of uncomfortable talking to someone who won't respond…

"I can get discharged from the hospital soon."

After saying so, Tang Yu stopped her hands. Then, she earnestly looked at the blank eyes before her and continued, "I have to go back to class first, so I don't think I can start school with you."

When Tang Yu received the expected silence, she wryly smiled and lowered her head. "At first, I planned to go through university alone, and after graduating, I would find a job far away from here. I would be by myself, and I wouldn't have to care about any future developments here.

"You all can make as much trouble as you like and be with whomever you like. I wouldn't need to have anything to do with any of you."

Wiping her tears away, Tang Yu said with a reddened nose, "But I don't want to owe you anything.

"So, I won't leave..." Tang Yu's eyes became blurred by tears, and the tone of her voice sank. "I won't leave, but I want to live. So, if you meet your fated person, I will walk away without hesitation... I won't foolishly stick around anymore."

Suddenly, Tang Yu felt something rough touching her face and gently wiping her tears away. Raising her head in disbelief, she saw Yin Zhao-an looking at her with eyes full of clarity.

Tang Yu didn't know if Yin Zhao-an was truly sober. She also didn't know if Yin Zhao-an had heard the nonsense she said just now. For a time, feelings of joy and worry filled her heart.

Subsequently, in a hoarse and feeble voice, Yin Zhao-an said, "...Don't cry."