One of the saddest chapter in our very bright and light-hearted novel
Chapter 11 - Growth
Zhou Xiao was awakened by a sob and pressed the phone on the bedside, three o'clock.
What is it now? In the middle of the night, who is playing the ghost?
Zhou Xiao listened for a while, getting more and more creeped out. The sobbing came from the balcony, mixed with the sound of the wind, the sobs were choppy, how strange it sounded.
Zhou Xiao heard the head of the room on the next bed roll over, she whispered, "Head of the room, are you awake?" "Are you also awakened? I am scared to death, who is crying?" She can tell that she is covering herself under the quilt from her voice. "I'm awake too." Xiaolu's voice came from another corner. Obviously, everyone knew who was crying.
Everyone was silent for a while, the dormitory echoed with a low sob.
"Go and see what happened to her, she is closer to you." Xiaolu broke the silence.
Zhou Xiao sighed and sat up from the bed. When she lifted the quilt, she felt that every cold hair in her body stood up. Alas, she must have killed someone or set fire in her previous life, otherwise, God would not punish her for leaving the warmth of the quilt on such a cold day.
Zhou Xiao knocked on the door of the balcony: "Tao Ling, what's wrong with you." The crying stopped, but there was no answer. "What's wrong? If you don’t answer me, I’m opening the door and coming in" With the sound of her opening the door, the people in bed sat up.
Zhou Xiao saw Tao Ling sitting on the ground with her hands on her knees, the light from the streetlamp outside came in, her face was covered in tears. Zhou Xiao's little grumpiness from being awakened disappeared immediately, and it was replaced by distress and fear, she vaguely felt as if something bad had happened.
Zhou Xiao approached her, squatted down and stared at her, "What's wrong?" Tao Ling suddenly rushed over and hugged her tightly, crying loudly. The head of the room and Xiaolu also came out and squatted down. The four of them clung together. Although they don't know what happened, they could at least cry with her even if they couldn't help her.
After Tao Ling had calmed down, she told them that her boyfriend wanted to break up with her, and…. She was pregnant.
The head of the room asked, " Does your boyfriend know about your pregnancy?"
Tao Ling nodded, "He... asked me to abort it."
"Then abort it." The head of the room's unusual calmness even made people feel a little heartless and cold-hearted. Everyone looked at her in surprise, with condemnation in their eyes.
The head of the office was suddenly agitated, "Otherwise? You quit school and gave birth to it? Then your parents will get so mad at you that they might not even recognize their own daughter, and then you have to single-handedly raise a child without a father, and because you didn't graduate from college, you can only get a meagre salary job. Every day, you have to work and take care of your child, and you have to worry about your child’s milk powder and school fees, and then you prematurely age, and when you are no longer young and beautiful, you can no longer find a good marriage partner, and finally blamed the unfairness of life on your child. Did the child wanted you to give birth to her?"
Towards the end, the head of the room's voice was intertwined with anger, unwillingness, and... pain. Everyone was stunned by her. It took a while for Tao Ling to respond: "How can you be like this? He is my child, how can you say such a thing, he is also a life." The head of the room closed her eyes patiently as if to adjust a moment of emotion, and then slowly said: "I just... just don't want your child to walk the path I walked."
Zhou Xiao never thought that the head of the room, who always stands aloof from worldly affairs, would have such a sad backstory. Zhou Xiao pulled on the sleeve of the head of the room. "Let her make her own decision. We have no right to use your life experience to help her make any decision." The room leader was silent for a while, sighed and patted Tao Ling's back: "Tao Ling, don't mind what I just said, my life will not necessarily be your child's life, you think about it carefully, no matter what decision you make, we will do our best to help you."
As soon as the next day dawned, the people in their entire dormitory quietly drove to the city hospital. No one was talking along the way, Tao Ling was sitting by the window, looking indifferently out of the window, holding the phone tightly in her hand. Zhou Xiao looked at her profile, moved her lips several times, and finally said nothing.
On the bench in front of the gynaecology department, Tao Ling's hand held the head of the room's hand tightly, and her nails dug into the head of the room's palm. The four people never felt that time could pass so slowly, as slow as a slow-motion movie, and every expression of each passing person was so clear.
"Next, Tao Ling." Miss Nurse called expressionlessly. No one responded.
"Tao Ling!" The nurse raised her voice, and Zhou Xiao reacted suddenly. This was the name. She nudged the head of the room. The head of the room seemed to suddenly recover, and pulled Tao Ling up, "It's your turn. "
Tao Ling walked into the operating room with a pale face, the nurse next to her rolled her eyes, and whispered in a low voice: "Were you deaf just now?" Xiaolu rushed up to try to argue with her but Zhou Xiao pulled her back. The head of the room wanted to follow Tao Ling into the operating room, but was stopped by the nurse: "You cannot enter the operating room."
In the second that the door closed, they all saw Tao Ling's panic-stricken, helpless eyes. Zhou Xiao wanted to pull her at that moment and say, "It's okay, let's go back." But she didn't, she could only sorrowfully look away.
No one knew how much time had passed. When the door opened again, Tao Ling leaned on the door and walked out, and the head of the room rushed over to help her.
On the return trip, Tao Ling closed her eyes, her face pale like a piece of paper, and tears slowly flowed from the corners of her eyes: "I saw my child, he was a bloody flesh, and he was placed in the cold basin." Zhou Xiao didn't know what to say, just gently held her trembling hand.
Zhou Xiao remembered that time when freshman started, Tao Ling ran up and down in front of her, and asked her with a bright smile: "Classmate, my name is Tao Ling, my parents have gone home, they forgot to help me hang up Mosquito nets. Can you tell me how to hang the mosquito nets?" She is just a child! Why does she have to go through all this? Tao Ling's bright smile and pale face with closed eyes kept appearing in front of Zhou Xiao's eyes, and she suddenly wanted to cry.
Tao Ling seems to have grown up in an instant. But Zhou Xiao does not understand, why does God have to use such a cruel method to make a person grow up?
illa: This is a really sad but realistic chapter. Abortion is never an easy decision; it is always a difficult and emotional decision.
