Aunty Zhang said after observing Li Qingling for a while now, "Madam, you should rest. Let me take over from here. You have barely rested for these past few days."
Li Qingling was diligently and gently wiping her daughter's body. She had taken to the task since Yunqing was brought to the hospital. Aunty Zhang had tried many times to assist her but always got a sigh, and this reply, "It's okay… I'll only be assured if I do this myself."
Li Qingling had visibly lost weight from worrying over her daughter. After a while, she asked Aunty Zhang, "Did you bring the food?"
Li Qingling always made Aunty Zhang bring over a set of dishes every day. Her reasoning was that she didn't want her daughter to wake up, and there was nothing for her to eat. So, as each day went by, freshly cooked dishes were always brought, three times a day. And this time was no different.
"Yes, Ma…," Aunty Zhang answered.
"Umm... Urghhhhhh..." Yunqing muffled out. Her throat was as dry as a dessert.
Before Aunty Zhang could finish with her reply, they both heard a mumbling sound croak out from Zhu Yunqing.
Li Qingling's heart raced. Was her daughter finally awake?
"Qingqing! Qingqing, can you hear me? Qingqing, are you alright? Qingqing…" Li Qingling called out to her daughter several times.
Li Qingling could not help but ask herself, did her daughter really wake up just now, or was she just hearing things?
"Aunty Zhang, You heard… heard that, right?" Li Qingling asked, unsure of if she heard right.
"Yes, Madam! It seems the young miss is finally going to wake up," Aunty Zhang replied with a smile.
"Quick! Get Doctor Qian!" Li Qingling instructed Aunty Zhang immediately she confirmed that she didn't hear wrongly.
Not wasting any time, Aunty Zhang rushed out of the room to call Qian Ming.
"Qingqing~ can you hear me?" she kept calling out to her daughter again and again. She was hoping for another response with her anxious eyes fixed on her daughter's face in a soft stare.
Zhu Yunqing's eyes fluttered a bit but still remained closed. This made Li Qingling very sure that her daughter would wake up now. Only God had known how she survived the past week, seeing her daughter in such a state. For now, she wouldn't quarrel with her on why she chose to take such drastic measures. She just wanted her daughter to wake up and be alright.
A few minutes later, Qian Ming walked briskly into the room with long strides. A nurse and Aunty Zhang followed behind him.
On seeing Qian Ming had arrived, Li Qingling immediately gave way for him to check on her daughter.
Qian Ming began with the check-ups. He checked her eyes to know if there was any damage to her brain, and luckily there wasn't.
The sudden light touches and movements during the check-up further awoken Zhu Yunqing's senses. So, after a slight shake of her eyelids, her eyes slowly fluttered once more before finally, they opened groggily. Her eyes kept shutting and opening, trying to clear her blurry vision. She had now woken up to this new world where she would live from now on.
After she woke up, Qian Ming conducted a few more checks on her. All her vitals seemed to be perfectly fine. Then he said to Li Qingling, "Now that she had woken up, she is completely out of danger. Though we will still need to monitor her for a few more nights before she can be discharged."
"Thank you, Dr Qian. Thank you so much," Li Qingling said with soft sobs. Her tears did not stop flowing, no matter how elated she was upon hearing the news. Her boundless happiness could be heard from her speech as she thanked Qian Ming.
Aunty Zhang breathed a sigh of relief. Her young miss was okay now.
While on his way out, Qian Ming gave instructions to the nurse who followed him before leaving to complete his rounds of checks for his other patients.
Li Qingling saw Qian Ming out of the room before returning to Yunqing's side.
Yunqing was only able to slightly move her limbs. It was understandable that she was weak. After all, she had lost a lot of blood before, and she had been asleep for almost two weeks. So her body felt weak and tired.
"Qingqing~ do you need anything? Are you uncomfortable anywhere? Should I call the doctor back? What do you need? Do you want water?" Li Qingling worriedly asked Yunqing.
The lot of questions Yunqing's mother from memory asked her seemed to be too much to handle, especially with how fast she asked them. Only when she mentioned 'water' did Yunqing have a little reaction. Her throat was really parched.
"Water?" Li Qingling asked again to confirm. Yunqing immediately nodded while Aunty Zhang went to pour a glass of water for her. Aunty Zhang handed the glass of water to Li Qingling as soon as she was done raising the bed to help Yunqing sit up.
Li Qingling fed the water to Yunqing by herself. While she was doing that, the nurse who had followed Qian Ming out earlier came back holding a tray.
"Ma'am, I came to administer her painkillers," the nurse said.
Li Qingling just nodded to her to let her know to go ahead with her work. So the nurse placed the tray down and went ahead to take the injection. The pain reliever she was going to administer was a fluid form.
Yunqing understood that the nurse wanted to give her something to numb the pain she was feeling, but she did not want it. Her body was bedsore from being bed-ridden for such a long time. Although her body was racked with pain, she refused to take any painkillers. She wanted to still feel the pain. She had too much emotional pains than she even could remember. So, apart from her aching heart, she wanted to feel the numbing pains. To feel something more physical. Only when the pain quaked through her bones would she feel everything that had happened to her was real. So she immediately rejected the nurse who was bringing a needle towards her.
"No…. I- I don't need it!" Zhu Yunqing croaked out while shaking her head.