Chapter 32: Waking Up

Li Lin felt like she was drifting, not knowing where she was.

But she constantly felt someone calling her name, though the words were too unclear to make out.

This feeling drove her crazy, and she forced herself to get closer, closer, until she finally heard someone calling her.

“Linlin, wake up! You’ve been sleeping for a whole day.”

“Xiaolin, wake up! I’ve called your parents; they’re almost here. You don’t want them to worry, do you?”

“Linlin, do you know how heartbroken I am to see you lying in that bed? I’m so sorry. It’s my fault. I didn’t protect you well.”

“Li Zhiqing, wake up! Yi Ge’s been so guilty, he hasn’t eaten or drunk anything for two days. Please wake up so he doesn’t keep suffering.”

Hearing Hu Yingying, Chen Dong, Fang Mingyi, and Zhu Liyan’s voices, Li Lin couldn’t hold back her tears. She forced herself to wake up.

“She moved! She moved! Linlin’s eyelids moved!”  

Fang Mingyi had been staring at Li Lin these past two days, not wanting to miss the moment she woke up.

Just now, he saw her eyelids twitch. Hu Yingying, Zhu Liyan, and Chen Dong didn’t notice.

“Yi Ge, you must be seeing things from not resting enough. I don’t see Li Zhiqing moving,” Zhu Liyan said, walking up and staring at Li Lin, but he saw no movement.

“She moved! She really did! I saw it. Fang Zhiqing, go call the doctor!” Hu Yingying exclaimed, noticing the movement.

Fang Mingyi, hearing this, quickly ran out to call the doctor.

But before the doctor could arrive, Li Lin woke up on her own.

“Water… water…”

“It’s here, it’s here.”  

Hu Yingying immediately poured a cup of warm water and gently fed it to Li Lin.

“How long have I been asleep?” Li Lin asked in a hoarse voice after drinking the water, leaning against Hu Yingying.

“Almost two days. If you hadn’t woken up, we would have had to send you to the city hospital,” Hu Yingying replied, her eyes red from the past two days of worry.

“I’m fine now.” Li Lin said with a faint smile, though she felt incredibly weak, as if she could barely breathe after speaking a few words.

At that moment, Fang Mingyi and Chen Dong returned with the doctor.

“Xiao Lin, you’re awake?”

“Linlin, you’re awake?”

“Yes, I’m fine now. Don’t worry.” Li Lin smiled, trying to reassure them.

However, the doctor still examined her carefully, advising her to rest well. After giving his instructions, he left the room.

“Linlin, are you hungry? The doctor says you should eat something light. I’ll go get you some porridge. How about it?” Fang Mingyi asked with deep concern after the doctor left, noticing Li Lin’s pale face.

“Okay.”  

Li Lin noticed how unshaven and worn Fang Mingyi looked, realizing how much he must have worried about her. She smiled weakly and nodded.

“You’ve just woken up, so don’t talk too much. I’ll go get the food now. Rest a bit.”

Fang Mingyi really wanted to pat her head but, with so many people around, he could only ball his fist and leave to get the porridge.

“Linlin, now that you’re awake, Chen Dong can finally relax. I called your parents, and they should be here by tomorrow night. I need to leave now. The factory has been pressing me,” Chen Dong said, stepping forward to speak with Li Lin. 

He also mentioned that the fabric had been changed, and the money tickets were with Fang Mingyi. After politely declining their offer to see him off, he turned and left.

When Fang Mingyi returned with the porridge and heard that Chen Dong had already left, he regretted not having had a chance to see him off. 

But hearing that Li Lin was hungry made him push his regret aside. He sat beside her, carefully feeding her the porridge.

“Is it too hot?” Fang Mingyi asked, blowing on a spoonful of porridge before feeding it to Li Lin.

“It’s just right.” 

Li Lin drank the porridge, then fell back asleep, exhausted.

Fang Mingyi, seeing that she had fallen asleep again, asked Hu Yingying and Zhu Liyan to go out for a meal, and to bring him something back later.

The two were used to this and didn’t object, getting up to head to the state-run restaurant.

Fang Mingyi sat by Li Lin’s side, watching her intently.

A man in the neighboring bed, seeing how focused Fang Mingyi was, smiled and spoke up, “Young man, it seems like you really like this comrade, huh?”

“Yes, I do,” Fang Mingyi answered honestly. He really did like Li Lin, to the point that he wanted to carry her around with him, always keeping her by his side.

But this time, he hadn’t been able to protect her, and that guilt weighed heavily on him. He vowed to himself that he would never let anything hurt her again.

“Youth is such a good thing,” the man said, after a brief pause, as if reflecting on his own past.

Fang Mingyi only smiled in response.

Once he liked someone, it would be for a lifetime. He wasn’t the type to give up halfway, nor would he ever let go.

Li Lin, waking up momentarily and overhearing this, smiled softly before falling back into sleep.

When Hu Yingying and Zhu Liyan returned with food, Fang Mingyi briefly stepped aside to eat.

As evening approached, Li Lin woke up again. Fang Mingyi, after asking about her parents’ appearance and discussing a few details with Zhu Liyan, went with him to the train station to pick them up.

“Yi Ge, aren’t you nervous?” Zhu Liyan asked, puzzled by how calm Fang Mingyi seemed.

“Why should I be nervous?” Fang Mingyi responded, although inside he was nervous enough to feel like he was about to burst, on the outside, he remained composed.

“Isn’t it a bit nerve-wracking? The ugly daughter-in-law meeting the in-laws for the first time… You’re meeting your future father-in-law and mother-in-law,” Zhu Liyan continued, still baffled at how calm his friend was. “When my older brother did it, he couldn’t sleep the entire night!”

“Nervous or not, I’ll still have to meet them. So why should I be nervous?” Fang Mingyi said with a shrug, though his tone was light, there was an undercurrent of resolve in his words.

Just then, the sound of the arriving train echoed through the station. Fang Mingyi quickly adjusted his clothes and walked forward with determination.

After everyone had disembarked, Fang Mingyi, following Li Lin’s description, quickly spotted a middle-aged couple.

“Uncle, Auntie, I’m Li Lin’s boyfriend. I heard from Chen Shu that you were arriving around this time, so I came to meet you,” Fang Mingyi greeted them.

His words threw Li Lin’s parents into confusion. Their daughter had only been sent to the countryside a month ago—what did he mean by saying he was her boyfriend?

“Who is this kid, and what is he talking about? Wasn’t Li Lin supposed to be here for just half a month? Why does she already have a boyfriend?” Li Donghai, clearly caught off guard, was skeptical.

But the most pressing thing right now was seeing their daughter. The relationship could be discussed later.

“I don’t care who you are right now, just take us to the hospital,” Li Donghai said sternly, still processing the unexpected news.

“Okay, Uncle, Auntie, let me take your bags. Follow me, please,” Fang Mingyi said as he quickly grabbed their luggage and threw it onto Zhu Liyan, who had been following behind.

Zhu Liyan, a little baffled, mumbled under his breath, “Whose in-laws are these, and why do I have to carry the luggage?”

Hearing this, Fang Mingyi shot him a sharp look, effectively silencing him.

Li Donghai and Zhao Chunmei, too anxious to notice the exchange, followed closely as Fang Mingyi led them to the hospital.

When they arrived at the hospital room, they saw their daughter lying there, pale and fragile as if she could break at any moment. Li Donghai, a grown man, couldn’t help but blink back tears.

As for Zhao Chunmei, she was already covering her mouth, unable to stop crying, her body trembling with emotion.

“Alright, alright, don’t let her see you like this when she wakes up,” Li Donghai said as he tried to comfort his wife, helping her sit down. He then turned to Fang Mingyi and asked, “How did she get hurt? I’ve known this girl all her life, and she’s never been hurt before, let alone in such a serious way. Whoever did this… they will pay.”