After the Sickly Child Differentiates into A - Chapter 27

In the middle of the night, Lin Li indeed developed a high fever. Fortunately, Wen Xihe had sent Wen Jingzhi a message before going to bed, informing her of the location and dosage of the specific medicine. Startled awake, Wen Jingzhi calmly retrieved the pills from the suitcase, woke Lin Li to take the medicine, and after the child, dazed from the fever, fell back into a deep sleep, she sat by the bedside keeping watch for over an hour until the fever subsided before finally going to sleep.

The next morning, Wen Jingzhi woke up just after six. Having barely slept a few hours due to the night’s turmoil, the fatigue still lingered under her eyes after washing up. Xiao Xi, awakened by the noise and thinking it was time for a walk, ran over with the leash in its mouth. She glanced at it and waved her hand. Xiao Xi understood, took the leash back to its place, and settled back into its bed.

So clever it seemed the child had trained it well.

Wen Jingzhi took a sip of coffee, sat on the sofa, set the cup down, and picked up the somewhat unimpressive dog-shaped felt craft from the coffee table. She opened a tutorial video on her phone and played it on mute.

She quietly followed the video for nearly an hour, and finally, a partially shaped and dyed felt creation “emerged.” Picking it up for a look, she frowned with dissatisfaction.

Click. The bedroom door suddenly opened, revealing a small face flushed with sleep. “Sister?”

Wen Jingzhi pressed her lips together, retracted the hand that had intended to hide the felt, stood up, and walked over to pick up the child. “Why not sleep a little longer?”

“I’m fully rested,” Lin Li said, wrapping her arms around her sister’s neck and smiling. “Good morning, Sister.”

“Good morning.” Wen Jingzhi carried her to the sofa. Lin Li immediately spotted the blue-gray felt on the coffee table and exclaimed in surprise, “Wow, it’s already dyed!”

Two-thirds of the felt was an oval shape dyed blue, while only the top third had the rough outline of a dog’s head, dyed gray.

It looked somewhat like a towel-roll version of Xiao Xi.

Lin Li tilted her head to look at Wen Jingzhi, keenly noticing her fatigue. After a moment of silence, she suddenly tightened her arms around Wen Jingzhi’s neck and whispered, “Can you give this to me, Sister?”

It was made for you in the first place.

But, no.

It’s too ugly.

Wen Jingzhi was genuinely displeased with it. Since childhood, she had always excelled at whatever she set her mind to and obtained whatever she desired, it was just a matter of time and effort, which she considered reasonable and worthwhile.

However, she had only recently started learning felting. In the past, she would have discarded such a half-finished product outright, waiting until she created a satisfactory piece to count as her first completed work. This time, it was only because the child had seen it before she had the chance to throw it away.

“This one isn’t good,” Wen Jingzhi said, not wanting to look at the dog felt any longer, and brushed it aside. “I’ll give you a better one when I make it.”

“But I think it’s really cute,” Lin Li said, nuzzling Wen Jingzhi’s cheek with a smile. “I like this one, it looks just like Xiao Xi back then.”

“Please give me this one, Sister.”

This child was acting spoiled.

How rare.

Wen Jingzhi looked at her for a few moments, torn between “destroying the unsightly half-finished product” and “since the child likes it, just give it to her.” When the child softly tugged her finger, she relented and chose the latter.

She leaned over, picked up the Xiao Xi felt from the coffee table, unwilling to give it another glance, and directly placed it in Lin Li’s palm. “Next time I make a better one, I’ll give you that one too.”

It was undoubtedly a finished product that satisfied even her own standards.

“Thank you, sister!” Lin Li held the felt piece happily, exclaiming, “This is perfect! You’re so amazing, you can do anything!”

Wen Jingzhi felt slightly bashful from the praise, her ears turning red for a moment despite her cool expression. She coughed lightly to cover it up and carried the child to the bathroom to wash up.

Wen Xihe didn’t wake until ten in the morning, by which time Lin Li had already finished breakfast and taken Xiao Xi for a walk.

After tidying up and having lunch, Wen Jingzhi saw them off to the car and watched until it disappeared from sight before calling her assistant to hurry to the film set.

Originally, she had planned to take only one day off, but now that she had taken a day and a half, she needed to make up for it in the evening to wrap up filming.

Still, after finishing the scenes that night, she could return to Beijing the next day, a piece of news that lifted her spirits.

The child was quite surprised to see her sister again the very next day after they had just parted. As soon as Wen Jingzhi arrived home, before she could even freshen up though she didn’t look particularly travel-worn she stood at the foot of the stairs and raised a hand with a faint smile. Lin Li, with her small backpack, immediately ran over and gave her sister a soft, warm hug.

Wen Jingzhi ruffled the child’s hair and noticed a familiar “felt ball” fall out of the down jacket pocket. She paused, then hooked her finger around the attached string, pulling out the phone tied to the other end.

She had actually used it as a phone charm.

Wen Jingzhi was momentarily speechless. She tucked both the phone and the charm back into the child’s pocket and carried her upstairs.

As the Lunar New Year approached, Wen Jingzhi wasn’t in a rush to take on new roles. She rested at the old family home, occasionally going out for work commitments. If she was in a good mood, she would even drive to pick up Lin Li from school herself.

On January 20th, Lin Li started her winter break.

The house suddenly became much livelier. Wen Xihe and Wen Xize visited the old home whenever they had time, playing with the child and walking Xiao Xi. The days felt full and peaceful.

This year, it wasn’t Wen Xihe who was the last to arrive home for New Year’s Eve, it was the eldest brother, Wen Xize.

The New Year was warm, with family by their side and a new member added to the household. Even Lin Li’s face showed more genuine smiles.

Not long after the New Year celebrations, on February 25th, Lin Li started school again.

The whole family once again turned out to send the child to school.

After greeting the enthusiastic Sun Xiaoxiao, Lin Li slumped over her desk to rest.

Lately, she often felt short of breath, and her body ached more than usual.

She remained slumped over until class started, when the homeroom teacher brought in a relatively short boy and introduced him as a new student.

Lin Li wasn’t interested in the new student and slumped back down. Because every part of her body hurt, she spent her first day back at school especially lazily, even staying slumped over during class. The teacher noticed her several times but pretended not to see.

After school, Lin Li walked with Sun Xiaoxiao. As soon as they left the classroom, the new student caught up with them and struck up a conversation with Lin Li: “Hi, classmate! I noticed you were slumped over all day. Are you not feeling well?”

Lin Li lifted her eyelids to glance at him, then smiled and narrowed her eyes. “Not at all.”

Sun Xiaoxiao, who had been about to say “Yes,” immediately closed her mouth. The new student asked a few more random questions, to which Lin Li responded briefly and dismissively, her expression unchanging. Yet she kept smiling, making the questioner wonder if they had misread the situation.

It wasn’t until they reached the school gate that the new student finally stopped asking questions. He waved goodbye to the two and ran off.

Lin Li instantly wiped the smile off her face and lazily yawned, as if she hadn’t paid any attention to the enthusiastic male classmate at all.

Sun Xiaoxiao rubbed her small eyes and grabbed Lin Li’s hand, pleading pitifully, “Lin Li, don’t transform!”

What?

Lin Li was baffled. “Transform into what?”

Sun Xiaoxiao was genuinely worried. “Sister Zhou Cheng said that people like you, who squint and smile, can suddenly transform! They become really scary!”

Lin Li: …

“I won’t transform. Don’t overthink it.” Lin Li felt a bit helpless but made sure not to squint and smile again. Sun Xiaoxiao’s prolonged enthusiasm and clinginess had clearly left an impression.

“That’s good.” I don’t want Lin Li to become scary.

The person picking up the two children arrived, and they waved goodbye before parting ways.

After that day, the new classmate inexplicably took a liking to Lin Li. Sometimes, right after class, he would rush over to ask about schoolwork or trivial matters, finding all sorts of topics to chat with her. It annoyed Lin Li so much that she could barely keep her smile intact.

It wasn’t until late February, after days of this pestering, that Lin Li finally remembered his name Wu Tang.

Sun Xiaoxiao even whispered to Lin Li, “Wu Tang, no sugar. What a strange name.” Lin Li had to suppress a laugh at the time.

This annoying new classmate truly had no sweetness about him thin, not very tall, with sharp eyes, and not particularly likable.

After school, Wen Xize came personally to pick her up. Today was check-up day.

Since Lin Li’s birthday, she had undergone three check-ups, all at Research Institute No. 1 in the capital.

The moment Wen Xize picked up Lin Li, a discreet black car began following them it was the “bodyguard” from the institute.

This happened every time, without fail.

They arrived safely at the institute’s entrance. After going through the usual checks and handing over his phone, Wen Xize led Lin Li inside. When they reached the examination room, however, Dr. Su, who was supposed to be waiting there, was nowhere to be seen.

Nearly half an hour past the scheduled time, Su Yue finally arrived, looking exhausted. As soon as she appeared, she took Lin Li into the examination room and closed the door.

Lin Li began taking off her coat with practiced ease. Su Yue pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “She passed away.”

Lin Li’s slender fingers, which had been clutching the edge of her clothes, tightened abruptly. She took a sharp breath to suppress the urge to cough and replied with a single word, “Oh.”

“She failed her differentiation.” Su Yue hadn’t planned on telling such things to a child, but she had a message for Lin Li. “She said you were her friend and asked me to relay, the news of her death.”

“And she told you to keep fighting.”

“Was she your friend?”

Lin Li’s downturned eyes lowered further. The light from the examination room cast deep shadows under her eyelids.

“If she said so, then she was.” Lin Li couldn’t hold back a cough, covering her mouth. Suddenly, she felt a warmth in her nose. Lifting her hand, she saw it was covered in blood.

“Don’t tilt your head back!” Su Yue sharply stopped Lin Li’s instinctive reaction, supporting the back of her neck and guiding her to the sink, calmly handling the situation.

“You’ve already passed your eleventh birthday.” Su Yue pressed her damp palm against the back of Lin Li’s neck and asked softly, “Do you want to move into the institute?”

There wasn’t much time left.

“Your family, we can reassure them. All you need to do is agree.”

“No.”

The unrelated answer caught Su Yue off guard. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”

Lin Li kept her eyes downcast and spoke weakly, “They’re not my family.”

Su Yue’s movements stilled, her eyes reddening.

During every check-up, she would ask Lin Li some routine questions. After doing so repeatedly and becoming slightly more familiar with her, she would ask lighter questions to help the child feel more at ease.

She asked, “Have you gone anywhere to play with your friends?”

She said, “Your condition is relatively stable. You can go out with your family during the holidays, just avoid crowded places. Is there anywhere you’d like to go?”

But this child always answered irrelevantly with phrases like, “They’re not friends,” or “They’re not family.”

Constant denial.

Such behavior is hard for a child to understand even adults might find it confusing. But Su Yue, who had studied child psychology, could guess the “meaning” behind Lin Li’s denials.

Having experienced the loss of her grandmother, Lin Li knew all too well the pain of losing a loved one. Children are simple-hearted; she believed that as long as she didn’t acknowledge someone, no one would grieve for her.

As long as she didn’t acknowledge them, they weren’t “friends,” they weren’t “family” they were just strangers. Then no one would suffer over the departure of a “stranger.”

And she wouldn’t have to feel sad about leaving them, either.

She denied the intimate relationships between them, denied the “love” within those bonds.

Yet this child, who constantly denied such connections, had easily accepted the “friend” status of the child who had already passed away.

As if saying, I’m willing to grieve for your departure.

This child, who appeared to feign obedience and seemed cold-hearted, was in reality so tender it was heartbreaking.

But what the child didn’t know was emotions are not governed by reason.

Once the nosebleed stopped, Su Yue released her hold and took Lin Li for the check-up. While preparing the blood-drawing equipment, she couldn’t resist asking, “If someone from the Wen family were to get hurt, would you be sad?”

Lin Li froze, remaining silent until a tube of blood had been drawn. Then, in a low voice, she replied, “Yes.”

Su Yue sighed, as if pained. “You see, even if you deny it, you would still feel sad.”

Those still eyes seemed swept by a storm, trembling violently, shattering piece by piece.

The check-up was completed in silence. It would take some time for the results to come out. Instead of lying down to rest as usual, Lin Li went to the bathroom.

The door closed. Though frail, the child who always held her back straight suddenly trembled, curling forward and slowly crouching against the wall.

She hugged her knees, gritted her teeth, her eyes red-rimmed, stubbornly refusing to let the tears fall.

Then, at a certain moment, the tears burst forth like a breached dam.

She buried her head in her arms, crying without a sound.

After who knows how long, she lifted her head, leaned the back of it against the tiles, pressed her arm over her eyes, and muttered under her breath, “Damn it.”

Then what am I supposed to do!

What can I do to keep them from feeling sad?

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