Nothing else, really—it was simply because Madam Wang was too thin, the kind of thin that was nothing but skin and bones.
She lay there like a sheet of paper, so thin it seemed as though a gust of wind might blow her away. Chen Dashu and Chen Hua had long grown accustomed to such scenes, their expressions remaining relatively calm. Zhao Yan, though pained to see Madam Wang suffering so intensely from illness, managed to hold his composure.
Madam Chen, however, could not. The moment she saw her mother, she broke down in tears, lunging forward to kneel by the bedside. Clasping Madam Wang’s hand tightly, she sobbed, "Mother! Your daughter has come to see you. It is my lack of filial piety that kept me from coming until now. How did you become so ill?"
Chapter 63