Volume 1, Chapter 157: "This is my fiancée, Xu Zhi."

The next day, Liang Jinmo brought Xu Zhi to the psychiatric rehabilitation center.

With the New Year approaching, some patients had been picked up by their families, leaving the facility much quieter than usual.

Gao Ying was in a relatively good state today, her emotions stable as she sunbathed on a bench on the back lawn, with a nurse's aide keeping her company nearby.

When Liang Jinmo walked over, the aide spotted him first, immediately stood up, and greeted him respectfully, "Mr. Liang, you're here."

Liang Jinmo nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

Gao Ying's reactions were sluggish; it took her a few moments to turn her head and finally notice Liang Jinmo.

Her gaze was vacant and numb as she watched him approach, her eyes then slowly shifting to the young woman beside him.

She did not show any particular expression of surprise. When she was free from her episodes, she remained mostly indifferent to everything in the outside world.

The aide stepped back a bit, intentionally leaving some space for the family members to talk.

The bench was quite spacious. Liang Jinmo sat down next to Gao Ying with Xu Zhi, and then greeted her, calling out, "Mom."

Every time he uttered this word, a strange sense of revulsion washed over him.

Gao Ying stared at him for a few seconds before saying, "You're here."

"Yeah," he replied. "I'm seeing you today, so I won't be coming over during the New Year."

Gao Ying paused slightly, her lips parting and closing as if she wanted to say something, but after a long while, no sound came out.

In truth, there was very little to say between mother and son. Liang Jinmo had always been a man of few words; even in the past, when he visited—even during the New Year—he would simply sit quietly by her hospital bed.

Xu Zhi reached out and gently squeezed his fingers. He glanced at her, then turned to Gao Ying and introduced, "This is my fiancée, Xu Zhi."

Gao Ying stared blankly for a moment before asking, "Are you getting married?"

"Yes, soon," he replied. "In about half a year."

Gao Ying quieted down, her eyes fixing on Xu Zhi.

She remained skin and bones, profoundly aged. Meeting her piercing stare, Xu Zhi did not flinch and spoke up, "Hello, Auntie."

The look in Gao Ying's eyes slowly shifted, softening slightly. "H-hello."

The atmosphere was heavy and oppressive. After a moment's thought, Xu Zhi said to Liang Jinmo, "Didn't you have something to ask the doctor? Go ahead, I'll chat with Auntie for a bit."

Liang Jinmo frowned slightly. Sensing his worry, she quickly added, "Isn't the aide right over there? If anything comes up, I'll call her."

Only then did Liang Jinmo stand up. "I'll be right back."

Xu Zhi waved to him.

Once Liang Jinmo had walked out of earshot, Xu Zhi turned back to Gao Ying and asked, "Auntie, don't you have anything to say to me?"

Gao Ying fell silent, lowering her head. "I..."

She trailed off, hesitating.

How could she have nothing to say?

Xu Zhi thought to herself that this was Liang Jinmo's biological mother. He might claim he didn't care whether she ever recovered, but deep down, he still wanted her to live. She was the only corner in his life that could barely be called a place to belong.

Seeing that she remained silent, Xu Zhi could not help but speak first: "From now on, I will do everything in my power to take care of Brother Jinmo. I know how difficult his past was... Auntie, do you know?"

Gao Ying averted her face, dodging Xu Zhi's gaze.

A sense of disappointment washed over Xu Zhi, but after a brief hesitation, she pressed on: "I still want to thank you. No matter what, you brought him into this world, which is the only reason I was able to meet him. He is the best, most exceptional person I have ever known, and it is my honor to be with him. Originally, he should have been your pride, too..."

As she spoke, a wave of sorrow welled up inside her, and her nose stung with tears. "No matter what you think, I feel like you've missed out on far too much. You have no idea what you've lost."

"I..." Gao Ying turned back to look at her, losing all composure as tears welled in her eyes. "How could I not know?"

Xu Zhi looked at her without speaking.

"How can you say I don't know?" Gao Ying closed her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. "He is my son!"

Xu Zhi placed her hands on her knees, her fingers slowly tightening into fists.

"I know I failed him..." Gao Ying raised a hand to wipe away her tears. "Now, apart from him, I have no other family left in this world... But he isn't close to me anymore either. I knew he wasn't having a good time at the Liang family, but back then, I didn't go to pick him up..."

"When he came to find me, I wanted him to leave, so I wouldn't open the door. He stood outside for most of the night; my heart softened, and I let him in, only to regret it immediately... I knew I had made a complete mess of my life, and I had no idea how a person like me could possibly raise him..."

Gao Ying's voice broke into a sob. "I know I don't deserve to be a mother, and I know he resents me... If he didn't hate me, he wouldn't have sent me here to suffer..."

Xu Zhi felt a sharp pain in her chest, but faced with Gao Ying's misunderstanding of Liang Jinmo, she could not help setting the record straight: "You're wrong. He didn't send you here out of hatred."

Gao Ying looked at her through a tear-blurred haze.

"He..." Xu Zhi's throat tightened. "The Liang family never truly accepted him, so you were his only family... If you abandoned him, he would feel resentment, but if you died, he wouldn't have even a shred of family left to return to... Do you have any idea how cruel what you did to her—what you did to him—really was?"

She could no longer contain her emotions. Liang Jinmo was a man who would never speak of these things himself.

That was why she had to speak. She had to say it all out loud.

"You left him all alone at the Liang family... When he was still so young, did you ever consider whether he could bear it? You clearly knew that everyone in the Liang family resented him, and that Madam Liang harbored hostility toward him..."

Tears spilled from her eyes as well. Too distraught to wipe them away, she continued, "You didn't know, did you? Madam Liang wouldn't even let him sit at the dining table. She would lock him alone in an unlit attic, and even the servants treated him with cold faces... At school, even though he was advanced for his grade, Liang Muzhi led a group of classmates in bullying him. That's why he wanted to escape... That's why he came to find you on his birthday..."

She bit her lip, lowered her head, and drew a deep breath.

Gao Ying, too, broke down completely, sobbing aloud.

She had known nothing of these things. She had suspected that Liang Jinmo's life at the Liang family was not easy, but she had no idea it was this bad.

Liang Jinmo never spoke of it plainly; he had been a man of very few words since he was a small child, perhaps because life by her side had never brought him happiness either.

How could he have been happy when she was constantly pushing him away?

After steadying her emotions a little, Xu Zhi continued, "When he was sick, no one looked after him, do you know that? He was running a high fever, couldn't get through the doors of the Liang family, and had no medicine, not even a drop of water... He was your child... You can't just ignore him simply because he didn't complain. All these years... and yet he was still terrified that you might die, terrified that he would lose even that last corner of the world he could call home."

She could go no further. Covering her face, she wept bitterly.

Why had he been made to suffer so much? She wanted to demand an answer from the heavens.

Yet, she could only direct that question at Gao Ying.

Gao Ying was weeping uncontrollably as well.

In the distance, the aide hovered uncertainly, wondering whether she should step in.

After a long while, Xu Zhi took another deep breath, steadied her mind, and looked straight at Gao Ying with an expression of resolute firmness: "You may not have anything to say to me, but I have something to say to you. Auntie, you owe him an apology. You may choose never to say it, but you will owe it to him for the rest of your life."