02
I resumed my previous job as a doctor, working at the clinic during the day and continuing my medical studies at night.
One day, as I was coming home from work as usual, I found a boy covered in blood in the grass by the roadside.
His arms, thighs, and half of his abdomen were bitten by wild dogs, and his internal organs were faintly visible. But miraculously, he was still alive.
Fortunately, I had a first aid kit with me.
I applied a bandage to stop the bleeding and quickly rushed him to the hospital.
I thought that with such severe injuries, he would hardly survive, but he surprisingly endured
a seven–day fever and opened his eyes on the eighth day.
His clear eyes were deep and pure.
“Who are you?” he asked weakly, then muttered to himself, “Are you my mother… Then who
am I?”
From that day on, there was a child named Leonardo Bright in my small house.
Leonardo survived the attack of wild dogs and had a stubborn nature like a little wolf cub.
He was an orphan of unknown origin, and I was a single mother who had just moved in,
which inevitably drew gossip from the neighbors.
After experiencing the contempt of the Austin family, such rumors meant nothing to me, but
Leonardo couldn’t tolerate them and always defended me.
One night when I was taking a bath, I heard a noise outside, followed by a scream.
I quickly put on a bathrobe and went out to see Leo holding a broom and beating a drunkard
fiercely.
door.
From then on, every time I took a bath, he would sit on a small stool outside the bathroom
“Mom, you’re not alone. I can protect you.”
Leo got up before dawn every day, filling the water tank with a small bucket trip after trip, brewing coffee and making breakfast, tidying up the room, and only waking me up when the sun
rose for breakfast.
He fed the chickens and ducks with the leftover vegetables, strengthened the fence of the
yard with a thin rope, and climbed onto the roof with tools to repair the leaks.
“You don’t have to do this. I’m the mother…”
“Because you are the mother,” Leo put the peeled egg on my plate and said
matter–of–factly, “it’s only natural for a son to take care of his mother.”
I thought of my son and daughter far away in Santarisom.
Σ
Those two children were given to Vera Bright, Albert’s mother, to raise after they were born.
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11:52 am 30
They would only come to greet me on my birthday every year, behaving politely but appearing
so distant.
I cut the egg in half and gave Leo one half.
“And it’s only natural for a mother to take care of her son.”
Seeing my smiling face, Leo lowered his head and finished the egg in a few bites.
Not long after, I sent Leo to school.
There were many naughty children in the rural school, but Leo always sat upright and studied diligently.
The teacher, seeing his hard work, often kept him after class for extra tutoring and taught
him more knowledge.
That day, heavy snow prompted me to pick him up with an umbrella, fearing he might struggle to get home.
Reaching the classroom door, I heard the teacher ask him, “Why are you so diligent?”
Leo’s
young but steady voice rang out. “I know I’m not related to my mother by blood, but she raised me alone with great care, treating me as her own child. If I don’t study hard and succeed in giving my mother a good life, how can I repay her kindness?”
I watched the snowflakes fall, feeling the cold outside yet warmth in my heart.
Day after day, year after year, Leo graduated from the village primary school and entered a
key middle school in the county.
Because of his excellent academic performance and reputation, the school specially
waived his tuition fees.
Leo had two days off every week and could come home from the county.
“Mom, I was the top student in the monthly exam last week again. It’s been seven
consecutive months. The principal said that university admission officers will come to select students for early admission to key universities in a few days, and I’m on the shortlist. He hopes
you can come to the school to discuss it.”
