Chapter 285 Fate
"Mom, Uncle wants you to stay a few more days, why are you in such a hurry for me to pick you up?"
The speaker was a man in his thirties, thin and gaunt.
He was driving a Mazda, and he was speaking to his mother in the back seat.
His mother's hair was gray, and her face was wrinkled, making her appear particularly old.
"It's not good to always bother your uncle, and besides, if I don't come back, Yalan will have no one to look after her," his mother said with a smile.
The Yalan she referred to was her son Duan Xiaohai's youngest daughter, who was currently riding on her lap, cradled in her arms.
The little girl was only a year and a half old, plump and very cute.
"Mom, I can take care of Yalan myself for a few days," the woman in the passenger seat said, turning around.
This was her daughter-in-law, Zhao Lili.
The couple ran a small supermarket and were usually busy with their store. Wang Hongmei helped them look after their child.
Besides their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter Duan Yalan, the couple also had a son, Duan Zihan, who was already thirteen and was in his first year of junior high at the town middle school.
A couple of days prior, Duan Xiaohai's maternal uncle's son had gotten married. After attending the wedding, his uncle wanted to keep Wang Hongmei for a few more days, and Wang Hongmei had agreed. However, after only one day, she called Duan Xiaohai to pick her up.
In reality, Duan Xiaohai and his wife knew why Wang Hongmei was so eager to return. While it was true that she missed her granddaughter Duan Yalan, it was more because she wanted to stay in town, by that place. If her daughter came back and couldn't find her, she would be anxious.
When the couple heard this, they exchanged glances and said nothing more.
They were afraid that saying too much would upset Wang Hongmei, because after an incident many years ago, Wang Hongmei's mental state had gradually deteriorated. To put it bluntly, she had developed a mental illness, though not severe, fluctuating between good and bad days. When she was well, she was no different from a normal person. When she was unwell, she would go to town, stand by the place where her daughter had been swept away by the water, and say that she was waiting for her daughter to return.
Many years passed like this. Later, Duan Xiaohai bought a storefront in town and opened a tobacco and liquor supermarket, directly opposite where his sister had been swept away by the water.
From then on, Wang Hongmei would sit in the shop every day, gazing across the road, sitting there all day long.
When Duan Xiaohai's daughter, Duan Yalan, was born, the old woman's illness suddenly seemed to improve, as if all her love for her daughter had been transferred to her granddaughter. Therefore, she couldn't sleep or eat properly if she didn't see her for a day.
"Yalan, do you miss Grandma?" Wang Hongmei gently waved her little Yalan's arm, her eyes filled with affection.
"Ba~ba~"
"It's Grandma."
"Na~na~"
"Yes, that's right, our Yalan is so smart."
"Hehe..."
Little Yalan suddenly giggled, revealing a few tiny teeth, making her incredibly adorable.
"Our Yalan is so smart, she'll definitely do well in school, go to a good university, become a college student. Don't be like your dad..."
"Mom, I didn't go to university because our family conditions weren't good back then."
"Oh, come on. Do you think I don't remember? You often scored twenty or thirty points on tests. Your dad was called to school so many times! Don't you have any self-awareness? And you blame the conditions? No matter the conditions, you wouldn't have gotten into university."
Zhao Lili, sitting in the passenger seat, also laughed. They had been classmates in junior high, so she knew better than anyone how Duan Xiaohai studied. Wang Hongmei was absolutely right; Duan Xiaohai had been among the bottom-ranked students when he was in school.
So, after graduating from junior high, Duan Xiaohai went out to work with his father. Zhao Lili finished high school but didn't get into university.
Later, through an introduction, she met Duan Xiaohai. When they talked, they discovered they were indeed junior high classmates. Thus, they quickly took a liking to each other, and most importantly, Duan Xiaohai's family was not poorly off.
This was mainly because Duan Xiaohai's father, Duan Dacheng, was a very skilled carpenter.
Furthermore, his father was also fond of tinkering, having worked and even run a furniture factory.
Although he didn't make a fortune, he was comfortably well-off. Otherwise, they wouldn't have had the money to buy a storefront in town.
If not for the great flood many years ago, this would have been a very happy and fulfilling family.
That flood was like a thorn, lodged in the hearts of everyone in the family.
They talked about family matters along the way. As little Yalan fell asleep, silence descended.
Wang Hongmei felt the air in the car was a bit stuffy, so she rolled down the window a little and looked out.
Her gaze fell upon a passing vehicle, where two little girls were looking out the window.
When they saw her, she also saw them.
Wang Hongmei smiled slightly, thinking that when Yalan grew up, she would surely be as cute as them.
But then her expression changed drastically. The hazy memories of her daughter resurfaced.
"Xiao Lan? Xiao Lan... child, stop the car, hurry up and stop, it's Xiao Lan... it's Xiao Lan..."
"Wah..."
Little Yalan was awakened by the noise and began to cry in dissatisfaction.
Duan Xiaohai and his wife were startled, thinking Wang Hongmei had suddenly had an episode.
However, they were in the middle of the road and couldn't stop.
Zhao Lili, sitting in the passenger seat, forcefully turned around and "snatched" their daughter from Wang Hongmei's arms.
She was worried that Wang Hongmei might harm their daughter when she had an episode.
But at this moment, Wang Hongmei couldn't care about anything else. She kept shouting at Duan Xiaohai, "It's Xiao Lan, it's Xiao Lan... hurry up and stop... hurry up and stop..."
As she spoke, she even tried to reach for the door handle, which frightened Duan Xiaohai and made him break out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, because they had a child in the car, the back seat had a child lock, so she couldn't open it immediately.
However, he quickly found a place by the roadside to stop the car.
At this moment, Gugu in the opposite car did not recognize her mother at first glance, because Wang Hongmei had aged so much and changed so drastically.
She only felt confused, thinking the person opposite looked very familiar. Slowly, she seemed to recall something, but the car had already driven far away.
"Gugu... Gugu..."
So, she anxiously pointed out the window, constantly making gurgling sounds.
But everyone looked out the window, only seeing the receding scenery, nothing else.
"Don't worry, don't worry, let's talk slowly..."
Seeing her like this, Su Jinxiu held her and sat her on her lap, gently patting her soft back.
"Did you see anything just now?" Yang Ruoyun, holding Xiao Jinhua, asked Xiao Liyu curiously.
Xiao Liyu glanced at her, unwilling to speak to her, but still shook her head and replied.
"As expected, a silly fish. If she saw nothing, why would Gugu be so anxious?" Yang Ruoyun looked at Xiao Liyu with disdain.
Xiao Liyu immediately bristled.
"I'm a smart fish, I'm very smart."
She shouted loudly, trying her best to look fierce, staring intently at Yang Ruoyun as if to say, "I'm not afraid of you, don't provoke me."
Meanwhile, Gugu was so anxious that her forehead was starting to sweat.
Because every time she tried to speak, she would unconsciously make a gurgling sound.
However, eventually, she managed to say two words, one by one.
"Mama."