“Mom, wake up, please wake up.”
“Waaah, Mom, I miss you so much. Please wake up and look at Yiyi. I promise that as long as you wake up, I will listen to you from now on and never make you angry again.”
“Me too. Lele promises not to make Mom angry anymore.”
In her haze, she heard children crying and calling out. The voices seemed distant and close at the same time, unclear and indistinct.
Wasn’t she dead? Why could she still hear children’s voices? Could it be that she had gone to heaven, and what she was hearing were… the voices of angels?
Xia Zhi’s fingers twitched slightly. A blinding beam of light suddenly shone into her eyes, forcing her eyelids open little by little. She opened her eyes and saw, above her, four children’s heads. The light shone behind them, making it seem as though halos surrounded their heads.
“Are you… angels?”
As soon as she said this, the four children froze. Their expressions turned heavy and distressed. The delicate-looking girl among them burst into loud tears, as if Xia Zhi had said something unbearably heartbreaking.
Xia Zhi fell silent.
All four children had tears welling in their eyes, as if one more word from her would make them burst into tears like a floodgate opening.
Weren’t angels supposed to be pure and serene? Could these four tearful children really be angels?
The seven-year-old girl standing by the bed sniffled and said, “Mom, we’re not angels, we’re your children.”
Xia Zhi was speechless.
Lying on the hospital bed, she stared at everything before her, falling into a strange silence. She had never even been in a relationship in her life, so where could all these children have come from? Had they mistaken her for someone else?
She looked carefully at the four children gathered around her bed, three boys and one girl. The oldest looked about seventeen, the boy to the left around fifteen, and the boy and girl on the right were younger, about seven, seemingly a pair of twins. All four of them shared one thing in common, they were strikingly beautiful, the kind of children anyone would want. Xia Zhi was no exception. If they really were her children, she would probably wake up from dreams laughing.
But the problem was…
She was only twenty-five this year. There was no way she could have a seventeen-year-old and a fifteen-year-old child. They could not possibly be hers.
They had definitely mistaken her for someone else.
Xia Zhi shifted her gaze away from the children and looked around. She was lying on a spacious hospital bed, with machines beside her monitoring her vital signs. The display showed a fluctuating heart rhythm rather than a flat line, proving that she was still alive and stable.
She had not died.
Relief washed over Xia Zhi, and she let out a breath of gratitude.
It seemed she did not need to be careful in her next life after all. She could just be more careful in this one.
Pressing her hands against the bed, she tried to sit up. But as soon as she moved, some unseen injury was pulled, and she hissed in pain.
The two older boys, seventeen and fifteen, rushed forward at once, each taking a side to help her up. “Mom, if you want to sit up, just call us. Don’t push yourself.”
Xia Zhi was speechless.
She stared at the two boys. Their faces seemed familiar, as if she had seen them somewhere before. But perhaps because she had just gone through a life-and-death elevator accident, her mind was still muddled, and she could not recall where she had seen them.
And whenever she tried to think, a sharp pain stabbed through her head.
The impact of the accident had been too great.
Hearing her hiss in pain, the two boys immediately became tense. The fifteen-year-old, in particular, was so anxious that he scratched his head. “Mom, are you feeling unwell again?”
“I…” I’m not your mother.
Before Xia Zhi could finish speaking, the fifteen-year-old pulled a piece of chocolate out of his pocket and eagerly held it out to her, his eyes shining. “Mom, this is your favorite chocolate. If you feel too uncomfortable, have one. It will make the pain better.”
“You can’t give that to Mom.” The seventeen-year-old frowned and corrected him. “The doctor said Mom just went through a car accident. She can only drink water and have liquid food, nothing else.”
The fifteen-year-old reluctantly put the chocolate away.
The way the seventeen-year-old frowned felt even more familiar to Xia Zhi, so familiar that she kept staring at him, completely missing the words “car accident” in what he said.
Seeing her stare, the seventeen-year-old touched his face in confusion. His beautiful eyes looked straight at her. “Mom, is there something on my face?”
“No, you just feel a bit familiar.”
A gentle smile spread across his face. “I’m your child, of course I feel familiar.”
That might be true, but she was not his mother.
The seven-year-old boy ran over to his older brother’s side, tugged at his sleeve, and swallowed as if he were a little glutton. “Second Brother, give me the chocolate.”
The fifteen-year-old, addressed as Second Brother, snorted lightly but still handed over the chocolate he was holding, reminding him, “Share some with your sister.”
“Okay,” the little boy replied sweetly.
He tore open the wrapper, broke the chocolate in half, and handed one piece to the seven-year-old girl beside him, who was still hiccuping from crying. She had cried the hardest earlier, and her face was still streaked with tears. She took the chocolate and swallowed it along with the lingering tears at the corner of her mouth.
The older brothers could not bear to watch. The seventeen-year-old pulled out a tissue and handed it to the fifteen-year-old, signaling him to wipe their sister’s tears. The fifteen-year-old took the tissue and helped the girl wipe her face, teasing as he did so, “You cried so hard, you don’t even look pretty anymore.”
“I was worried about Mom.”
The fifteen-year-old boy, who had also been crying earlier, was left speechless.
Leaning back against the hospital bed, Xia Zhi watched the warm scene before her, the corners of her lips lifting unconsciously.
How nice.
That little girl was truly happy.
She had three older brothers doting on her.
“Mom, I’ll eat this chocolate for you this time. When you get better, I’ll use my New Year money to buy you lots more chocolate,” the little girl said with a sweet smile.
Her smile was so sweet, so healing, that Xia Zhi could not bear to ruin it. Without thinking, she replied, “Okay.”
The moment the word left her mouth, Xia Zhi realized what she had said and wanted to smack herself. She was not the girl’s mother, so why had she responded?
And only then did she finally process the words “car accident” from what the seventeen-year-old had said earlier. What she experienced was an elevator accident, not a car accident. They really had mistaken her for someone else.
“Um…” Xia Zhi spoke up, interrupting the warm scene. All four children turned to look at her. She knew what she was about to say might be a bit cruel, but if she did not say it now, the misunderstanding would only continue.
Better a short pain than a long one.
Gritting her teeth, Xia Zhi said firmly, “Did you mistake me for someone else?”
The piece of chocolate in the little girl’s mouth dropped to the floor with a soft plop. She pouted and tugged at the seventeen-year-old boy’s hand. “Big Brother, what’s wrong with Mom? Why does she keep saying strange things?”
Xia Zhi thought, I think you are the ones saying strange things.
The seventeen-year-old glanced at Xia Zhi with concern, then comforted his sister. “Mom just woke up after the car accident. She might not be fully conscious yet. We should give her some time.”
The little girl nodded obediently.
Xia Zhi thought, I am perfectly clear-headed. You are the ones who are confused.
“I really am not your mother,” Xia Zhi emphasized again.
“We know,” the fifteen-year-old said with a smile. “Mom, are you tired? Do you want to sleep a bit more?”
Xia Zhi was speechless. It seemed no matter what she said, they would not believe her and still insisted that her mind was not clear.
Her heart felt exhausted.
She sighed and was about to close her eyes, deciding that if she could not reason with them, she might as well rest for now.
But just as she closed her eyes, something suddenly struck her like a flash of lightning. She snapped them open again, her expression tense and panicked.
Where was her boss?
Where was Wen Shihan, who had been in the elevator accident with her?
Where had he gone?
Could he be dead?
At that last thought, a look of horror flashed across Xia Zhi’s face.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” the fifteen-year-old asked.
Xia Zhi hurriedly asked, “Did you see a man around thirty, wearing a black suit, named Wen Shihan?”
The fifteen-year-old nodded. “We saw him.”
Her voice trembling, Xia Zhi carefully asked, “Is he… still alive?”
“He’s alive.”
Hearing the immediate answer, Xia Zhi finally relaxed. “Which room is he in now?”
She wanted to go check on him later. After going through life and death together, she could not help but worry about him.
But this time, the fifteen-year-old did not answer directly. Instead, he corrected her. “Mom, there’s a mistake in what you just said.”
Xia Zhi did not have the energy to argue about him calling her “Mom” anymore. Her attention was caught by his next words. “What mistake?”
“Dad is fifty this year, not thirty.”
Xia Zhi: ??