Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Zhang Zian could easily guess what happened next.

  Guo Dongyue was well educated. Being a designer had turned him into an extremely detail-oriented person. He comforted his mom, but he couldn’t fall asleep after hanging up the phone. The next day, he flew back to China, went directly to his mom’s house and wanted to take her to the hospital. His mom was resistant because she didn’t think she was sick. Guo Dongyue spent much time persuading her to go with him.

  They went to various hospitals, but nothing was found. Finally, one hospital was able to diagnose her problem – Alzheimer’s disease. She was in the early stage of the disease but some of the symptoms were already quite obvious.

  Guo Dongyue blamed himself for not noticing his mom’s sickness. He researched this disease online. Although it was not clear what the exact cause for Alzheimer’s disease wa, many elderly people who had lost their spouse or who were depressed were more likely to obtain it.

  His dad died young. His mom raised him on her own. He left home for college and then studied abroad. After returning to China, he rented an apartment that was close to his company so he didn’t have to spend too much time traveling. He was also traveling quite often for work. Therefore, he only visited his mom when it was a holiday or once a month or so.

  He had worked so hard to work his way up and stand his ground in his career, but he never thought about how lonely his mom was. Sometimes, he even got impatient with her when she called. His mom was retired. She was a quiet lady who didn’t like visiting relatives all the time. She didn’t really have many hobbies either. Now when he started thinking further, he just couldn’t imagine how his mom spent all those lonely days.

  Every time his mom called, he always brushed her off and never really asked about her health. Of course, his mom wouldn’t tell him anything if it was only small problems.

  His mom didn’t understand what disease she had. She thought Guo Dongyue was wasting money – in the early stage, the patient of the Alzheimer disease appeared to be no different than a normal person most of the time. It was not only that his mom felt completely fine but also that no one could tell she was sick; therefore, even many hospitals could not figure out what was going on.

  Guo Dong Yue hired a full-time nanny to take care of her. He was afraid that she would get lost and wouldn’t find her way home when she was out and about. His mom was used to living alone and she didn’t like the idea of having a stranger living with her. Also, she thought it was a waste of money. She felt that Guo Dongyue should have saved that money for his wedding in the future. Yes, she knew her son was making good money. When it comes to money, for most people, the more the merrier. Although she didn’t like it, she agreed to have a full-time nanny because her son insisted on it.

  Guo Dongyue paid a lot for the nanny. She was great with his mom. However, as his mom got worse, she turned into a grumpy little mean lady and always thought the nanny was a thief. She even reported her to the police. One time, when the nanny was out getting groceries, she locked his mom inside the house so his mom couldn’t get out. His mom thought someone was trying to kidnap her and called the police again. In the end, the police got sick of getting her calls and all the good nannies all left.

  Many people suggested that Guo Dongyue should send her to the nursing home because she had become quite a problem. He didn’t want to because he cared about his mom too much to send her to a place full of strangers. Also, his mom was a completely normal person when she was not ill. Sometimes, when he visited his mom, she was reading papers with her glasses on. In those moments, he suddenly realized all the time he had lost.

  One time, his mom raised her eyes and smiled at him. He smiled back and saw that she looked really great. In fact, she actually looked as if she was a few years younger. He was so happy and thought that perhaps the doctors had finally found a way to cure her disease.

  She smiled and asked curiously, “You look quite familiar. Who are you looking for? My husband will be home from work soon. You can wait here for him.”


  Guo Dongyue forgot about what happened next. When he opened his eyes again, the bartender woke him up and told him that the bar was closing.

  As his mom’s sickness became more and more serious, there was less and less time that she was clear-minded. She always forgot about what she was about to do after standing up from her chair. Then she would stand confusedly and even forgot to sit down. Her memories were like a broken pearl necklace that was missing the string, and the remaining pearls were disappearing one by one.

  She remembered Guo Dongyue. Sometimes she recognized him, but most of the time she only remembered the son who was in high school because she was extremely proud of him. She always made lunch at 11am and dinner at 5pm because she had to cook for her son who was getting out of school soon.

  Guo Dongyue tried his best to explain to her that he was her son but he had grown up. At first, she could remember some things and asked him how work went. Later, she seemed impatient with him. She pushed him away and told him not to pretend to be her son…


  Finally, she would stand for two minutes and calm down. Then she would smile to Guo Dongyue, “You stay here. I am getting out my son’s winter coats. It is getting cold…”


  At that moment, Guo Dongyue knew that his mom could no longer remember anything of him after he went to college. Naturally, that was normal because he really didn’t do much with her since then. He knew it was a karma for his negligence of his own mom.

  He knew that she would gradually forget about her high-school aged son, then middle-school aged son and the elementary school aged son. It was like an old, fading picture. The color would never come back.

  When she had forgotten everything, it was probably her time to go.

  Time passed quietly. The store was deadly quiet. Old Time Tea turned off the TV. Fina stopped napping. Xinghai was sitting on the side. Even the ever-chatty Richard didn’t say another word. Everyone was paying attention to Guo Dongyue’s story with the exception of Snowy Lionet. It only cared about Fina’s tail and nothing else.

  Guo Dongyue was calm, as if he was telling someone else’s story. However, Zhang Zian could definitely feel the pain under that calm and peaceful face.