Tang Xu's breath was so faint he could not speak, only his lips moved.
Before he could finish his last words, his heart stopped completely in Tang Xiaomin's arms.
His soul completely detached from his body, and a spectral phantom materialized and drifted in the air.
"Tang Xu..."
Tang Xu was dead, died in Tang Xiaomin's arms. He passed away peacefully, his eyes closing on their own.
"Son!"
Zhang Meiyu collapsed in despair beside Tang Xiaomin, followed closely by Tang Yu, Ye Lingyun, and others.
"Tang Xu, what happened to you? How did you get like this?"
"Son, open your eyes and look at me. Son, hold on..."
"Son..."
...
Zhang Meiyu's heart-wrenching cries echoed in the ears of everyone present.
Witnessing this scene, everyone's hearts were heavy with sorrow.
Nothing was more painful than a mother watching her son pass away before her eyes.
The ambulance wailed as it arrived at the scene. Medical personnel pushed Tang Xiaomin aside to examine Tang Xu.
After flipping open Tang Xu's eyelids, they shook their heads in resignation.
"Alas, it's too late. Please accept my condolences."
The ambulance, arriving in haste, departed just as quickly.
All that remained was a devastated Zhang Meiyu, weeping in grief.
Tang Yu, with red eyes, comforted Zhang Meiyu.
"Mom, your health is not good. You need to take care of yourself."
At this moment, Zhang Meiyu could hear nothing. Her entire being was focused on the deceased Tang Xu.
Tang Xiaomin covered Tang Xu with a white cloth left by the doctor, a complex mix of emotions swirling within her.
The greatest perpetrator in her life was dead. How many times had she wished for his death, for revenge.
Tang Xu was dead, and she should have been happy.
Yet, now that he was truly gone, and had died saving her, she could not feel joy. Instead, she felt a profound sadness.
She hadn't killed him, yet he had died for her.
At this moment, all hatred for Tang Xu vanished. The grudges in her heart finally dissolved.
If he had lived, perhaps in the days to come, she could have lived with him as ordinary siblings, in peace.
But it seemed fated that such a day would never come for them.
"Mom, please take care of yourself. I beg you, Mom..."
Tang Yu wept, a grown man sobbing uncontrollably. He hadn't cried even when his disfigurement from a car accident had left him on the brink of death.
Now, however, he broke down, unable to console his mother after losing his brother.
As the eldest son, he had always considered it his responsibility to care for his parents and his siblings.
But now, with Tang Xu's accident, his mother's grief, and their family fracturing, he felt utterly useless, watching helplessly from the sidelines.
Tang Xiaomin attempted to help the heartbroken Zhang Meiyu up from the ground.
After several tries, Zhang Meiyu remained lost in the shock of Tang Xu's passing, paying her no mind.
"Mom."
This was the first time she had called her "Mom," and it was under such dire circumstances.
Perhaps out of sympathy for her loss, or perhaps out of her own guilt.
Because of her, she had lost one son.
This time, she owed her.
"Mom, please get up. This is not what Tang Xu would have wanted."
Tang Xu's spectral form floated beside Zhang Meiyu, watching her with concern. He wished he could speak to her, embrace her, and comfort her aching heart.
But separated by the veil between life and death, he could not touch Zhang Meiyu, doing nothing.
"I am an unfilial son. I never properly cared for her, never repaid her kindness in raising me."
"Xiaomin, please..."
Tang Xu's words remained unfinished.
Tang Xiaomin, of her own accord, embraced Zhang Meiyu.
She was now slightly taller than Zhang Meiyu, and as she held her, patting her back, she appeared much like an adult.
"I'm sorry. He's like this because he was saving me."
"From now on, I will take care of you and be filial to you in his place."
"Mom."
Tang Xiaomin's comfort offered Zhang Meiyu some solace.
However, no matter what, the loss of her son still overwhelmed her, causing her to faint in Tang Xiaomin's embrace.
"Mom, what's wrong? Mom?"
Tang Xiaomin took Zhang Meiyu to the hospital, while Tang Yu remained to handle Tang Xu's remains.
...
At the hospital, Tang Ye, his head wrapped in a bandage, arrived late and burst into the ward.
"Xiaomin, how is Mom?"
The doctor had just left. Tang Xiaomin was tucking in Zhang Meiyu's blanket.
"The doctor said Mom's high blood pressure has flared up. She can't be stimulated further, or her blood vessels might explode, which would be very dangerous."
Turning around, she looked at the person whose face was hidden by the bandage, and paused.
"What are you doing?"
Tang Ye had undergone plastic surgery to avoid having the same face as Tang Xu. He had intended to reappear before Tang Xiaomin only after his recovery.
Little did he know that Tang Xu would have an accident, and his mother would end up in the hospital.
"You don't need to ask about my business."
Tang Ye's current emotional state was no less than Zhang Meiyu's.
He and Tang Xu were twins. Before receiving the news, he had felt a sudden sharp pain in his heart, and then he received word of Tang Xu's accident.
"I went to see Tang Xu one last time at Xianfu Group. I never imagined he would suddenly leave me one day. We came into this world together; I thought we would leave it together too."
Beneath the bandages, Tang Ye had shed countless tears upon hearing the news.
Before, there were two of them; from now on, there would only be one.
The cold, lifeless body was a constant reminder of Tang Xu's departure.
He couldn't bear it any longer and came to the hospital to see his mother.
But upon arriving at the hospital, the overwhelming, inexpressible anguish he felt had not diminished.
Tang Xiaomin patted Tang Ye's shoulder, her demeanor unusually gentle towards him.
"He's like this because he was saving me. I owe you."
Money can be repaid, favors can be returned, but a life lost saving her was a debt she could never repay to them.
"That guy lived the most pragmatically. Saving you was his choice, and he was willing to bear the consequences. It's not your fault."
"If I had known that parting that day would be our last, I would never have let him leave alone."
Tang Ye regretted it deeply now, having driven Tang Xu away that day.
This time, Tang Xiaomin didn't know how to comfort them.
Tang Xu's spectral form drifted within the ward. She could see him, but Tang Ye and the others could not.
All their grief was something they had to bear alone.
"I'm going to buy some food and daily necessities. You take good care of Mom."
Tang Xiaomin left the ward and headed for the hospital's supermarket, with Tang Xu's spectral form following her.
"Xiaomin, I didn't finish what I was saying earlier."
"I've put a lot of effort into searching for Yan Jue. He is very likely on Ye Fengxing's private island in the Pacific."
Tang Xiaomin's heart skipped a beat. She stopped and looked at Tang Xu's spectral form.
"What did you say?"