Chapter 257: Twenty-two Years, Tears Flow Before Speak

Linglong was shocked when she saw Mrs. Wang's face.

Mrs. Wang was also shocked when she saw Linglong's face.

They looked at each other, tears streaming down their faces before they could speak.

Xie Yingmian let out a soft "ah".

Because of anorexia, Mrs. Wang was so thin that she was just a skeleton and her original appearance was completely unrecognizable.

She didn't even notice that Linglong looked about 50% similar to Mrs. Wang.

Yumo whispered, "We watched the lanterns with Linglong. The lanterns were so beautiful and the streets were so lively, but Linglong was always absent-minded."

"She was so preoccupied, looking around, I don't know what she was looking for. We took her to many places, but she wasn't interested. Zhuyue and I asked her if she had somewhere she wanted to go."

"Linglong then told us that she wanted to go to a place full of big red lanterns. Lots and lots of red lanterns, a huge area of ​​lanterns, and it would be very crowded and lively."

"Zhuyue and I find it strange. Big red lanterns are old-fashioned lanterns and have long been eliminated."

"Zhuyue is familiar with this area and said that the old street might still have the old-style big red lanterns. Maybe the place Linglong is looking for is in the old street, so we came to the old street."

Tamamo sighed deeply.

"Linglong couldn't stop crying after seeing the big red lanterns. She said this was the place she was looking for, the place in her dreams."

Xie Yingmian remembered.

Linglong once said that she got lost because she insisted on going to see the big red lanterns.

And, Mrs. Wang’s daughter also went missing more than 20 years ago.

The disappearance of Mrs. Wang’s daughter was also related to the big red lantern.

The answer is obvious.

"Weiwei." Mrs. Wang called out tentatively.

Linglong didn't react, only tears kept flowing down.

Mrs. Wang felt that she was being too abrupt.

My daughter was so young when she went missing, she must have forgotten her own name.

"Miss, what's your name?" Mrs. Wang tried to keep her voice soft. "I'm not a bad person. I just feel... feel..."

"I feel like you're my daughter."

After saying this, Mrs. Wang covered her face with her hands and tears streamed down her face.

It’s been twenty-two years.

Every year during the Lantern Festival, she would wait at the place where her daughter was lost.

Year after year.

She waited and waited, from being full of hope to gradually becoming disappointed and finally disheartened.

No one knows how painful this process was, and no one knows how cruel every sunrise and sunset was to her during the twenty-two years since her daughter was missing.

The day her daughter went missing, her heart died too.

Her illness also started from that day.

Many people told her that after searching for so long without any news, her daughter might have passed away.

She doesn't believe it.

As a mother, she felt that her daughter was not dead.

So, she comes here every year and waits here every year.

Waiting for her daughter here became her obsession.

Even though she knew that her daughter might not come back and might not even remember this place, she still waited.

Year after year, year after year.

New style lanterns replaced the old big red lanterns.

She was afraid that her daughter would not be able to find her way home, so she almost emptied her family fortune to buy most of the shops on this street. Every year on the Lantern Festival, she would hang old-fashioned red lanterns at the door.

She waited and waited.

I waited and waited for twenty-two years.

Finally, finally...

"I..." Mrs. Wang's tears streamed down her face.

In her dreams, she had thought about it countless times: if her daughter really came back, how should she start and how should she tell her daughter the truth.

She thought of countless excuses and simulated the scene of mother-daughter meeting countless times.

At this moment, all the assumptions she had made in advance were useless.

"My...daughter." The always dignified Madam Wang burst into tears. "My dear Weiwei, mother has finally waited for you."

"Mother has waited for you for twenty-two years, and finally, finally..."

Mrs. Wang wanted to go up and hug Linglong.

Just as her hand was about to touch Linglong, she pulled it back.

She was scared.

I'm afraid that everything I see is just a dream.

One poke and the dream will wake up.

She was afraid that everything before her would be in vain.

In the end, Mrs. Wang did not touch Linglong.

She cried uncontrollably, until she felt completely exhausted. She was already weak and couldn't even stand. She could only slowly half-kneel on the ground.

Linglong's eyes were already blurred by tears.

Over the years, she has dreamed of those big red lanterns countless times and the scene of the day she got lost.

She also dreamed that her mother was waiting for her in the big red lanterns.

The dream I had for twenty-two years became reality at this moment.

"Is she my mother?" Linglong asked tremblingly.

"Yes." Mrs. Wang trembled.

She cried so much that her voice broke: "You look exactly like me when I was young, really exactly the same."

"When I saw you, I knew you were my daughter, there was no doubt about it."

"Twenty-two years ago during the Lantern Festival, I brought my daughter to see the lanterns. She was so excited to see the rows of lanterns that she slipped out of the car..."

Linglong took over Madam Wang's words and said, "When my mother wanted to catch up, a huge crowd suddenly poured in. I was young and was squeezed away by the crowd. By the time I realized what was happening, I couldn't find my mother anymore."

"Later, someone told me she could take me to find my mother. I believed her, and she took me home. I kept crying and crying, demanding to find my mother. The person got annoyed and locked me in the cellar..."

Mrs. Wang could no longer control herself.

She let out an "ow" and hugged Linglong tightly in her arms.

"My daughter, my Weiwei, mother finally, finally, finally..."

Mrs. Wang had a thousand things to say, but she couldn't utter a word.

She trembled, hugged Linglong tightly, and cried breathlessly.

Linglong also burst into tears.

The two hugged each other tightly, their hearts torn.

The wind blew.

The big red lanterns fluttered in the wind.

The red lanterns emitted crimson light, illuminating the way home.

Tamamo, Zhuyue and the deaf Wen Ge also started crying.

Tamamo said, "The wind is so strong today that sand got into my eyes."

Zhuyue lowered her head and sobbed softly.

"No wonder I felt that Miss Linglong looked familiar when I first met her, but I couldn't remember where I had seen her." Mrs. Tao, Lin Manyue, the former proprietress of the Manyue Inn, came to Xie Yingmian at some point.

She wiped the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief and said, "It just occurred to me that Miss Linglong looks very similar to Madam Wang when she was young."

"It's just that Madam Wang has been ill for so long that I've forgotten what she originally looked like."

Lin Manyue felt extremely guilty: "If only I had remembered it earlier, then they wouldn't have been delayed for so many days."

Mrs. Xing came with Lin Manyue.

She wiped her tears and comforted me, "My little sister has changed beyond recognition since more than ten years ago. Not only do you not remember her, even I, her elder sister, have almost forgotten what she originally looked like."

"It's not your fault, it's just that fate hasn't arrived yet."