Su Jianguo looked in the direction she was looking and saw two young men supporting a thin, bony man as he slowly walked towards them.

The man was hunched over, one leg dragging on the ground, his face covered in wrinkles, making him look twenty years older than he actually was.

"Xiulan..."

Wang Dajiang's cloudy eyes suddenly lit up, and he reached out his hand with trembling hands.

Wang Xiulan rushed over and hugged her older brother tightly, tears streaming down her face.

"Big brother! You've gotten so thin! That damned Song Guixiang, how dare she..."

Wang Dajiang gently patted his sister's back, his voice hoarse.

"Don't cry...don't cry...brother...aren't you...okay...right?"

Su Jianguo pushed the wheelchair forward, his eyes also feeling a little hot.

"Brother-in-law, please sit down. These two must be the escorts Village Chief Zhang mentioned. Thank you for your hard work."

The two young men quickly waved their hands.

"It's no trouble at all, we'll definitely do our best to complete the task assigned by Village Chief Zhang."

Su Jianguo took out an envelope he had prepared beforehand and handed it to one of them.

"Here's three hundred yuan. Two hundred is for Village Chief Zhang, and the remaining one hundred is a token of our appreciation for your hard work."

"This...this is too much!"

The young man repeatedly declined.

"Village Chief Zhang has already paid for the travel expenses..."

Su Jianguo insisted.

"Take this. It wasn't easy taking care of your brother all this way. You two can enjoy yourselves in town for a couple of days before heading back. Don't hesitate to ask if you need anything."

The two accepted it, their faces full of gratitude.

Wang Xiulan was already squatting in front of the wheelchair, holding her elder brother's withered hand, tears streaming down her face.

"Big brother, Mom will be so happy to see you...she's been talking about you all the time..."

Upon hearing this, a flicker of pain crossed Wang Dajiang's eyes.

"Mother...Mother...How is she?"

Su Jianguo and Wang Xiulan exchanged a glance.

Wang Xiulan forced a smile.

"Mom's in the hospital, let's go see her now."

Su Jianguo pushed the wheelchair, and the group slowly walked out of the station.

Wang Dajiang gazed at the bustling street, his eyes filled with unfamiliarity and unease.

Wang Xiulan held her elder brother's hand tightly the whole way, as if afraid that he would disappear if she let go.

"Founding the Nation..."

Wang Dajiang suddenly spoke, his voice trembling.

"It's my fault for being useless and causing you all trouble..."

Su Jianguo stopped and squatted down to be at eye level with Wang Dajiang.

"Brother, don't say things like that. We're family."

...

Inside the hospital.

The ward was filled with the smell of disinfectant.

Grandma Wang lay on the clean white hospital bed, her eyes closed.

She was very weak, and each breath was difficult, sometimes short and sometimes long.

"Is the Great River...is the Great River here?"

The old lady suddenly opened her cloudy eyes and gripped the bed sheet tightly with her fingers.

She's asked countless times today; every time she's awake, the first thing she does is ask if her eldest son has arrived.

Grandpa Wang quickly grasped his wife's hand.

"Almost there, Jian Guo and the others have already gone to the train station to pick them up."

He turned to look out the window, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed a sob.

The old woman's pupils suddenly dilated, and her lips trembled.

"I heard...I heard Dajiang crying..." she

Struggling to get up, the veins on the back of his hand, where the IV needle was inserted, bulged with a bluish-purple color.

The old man hurriedly pressed down on her shoulder, just as the nurse, Xiao Zhang, pushed the door open and came in to change the IV bag.

"The old lady is hallucinating again."

Xiao Zhang whispered to the old man, deftly adjusting the IV drip rate.

The old lady suddenly grabbed the nurse's white coat.

"Young lady, please let my son in... he's crying in the hallway..."

The old man turned his face away to wipe his eyes.

The old lady's breathing suddenly became rapid, and the wavy lines on the monitor began to fluctuate violently.

"Old woman!"

The old man pressed the call button with trembling hands, while his other hand kept stroking his wife's forehead.

The skin there was icy cold, with almost no temperature left.

When the doctor rushed in with two nurses.

The old lady miraculously calmed down, her eyes becoming frighteningly clear.

"Old man."

Her voice suddenly became unusually clear.

"In the pocket of that blue cotton-padded jacket at the very bottom of my wardrobe..."

A violent cough interrupted her, pink foam seeping from the corner of her mouth.

Just then, hurried footsteps and the creaking of a wheelchair came from the corridor.

The ward door was suddenly pushed open, and Wang Xiulan rushed in with tears streaming down her face.

"Mom! My older brother is here!"

Wang Dajiang rolled off his wheelchair, his knees slamming heavily onto the concrete floor.

He clung to the edge of the bed like a drowning person grasping at a piece of driftwood.

A "hoarse" sound came from his throat.

"mother!!!"

The roar sounded as if it were squeezed from the deepest part of the chest, carrying the smell of blood and foam.

Wang Dajiang rested his forehead against his mother's hand, his scalding tears soaking the snow-white sheets.

He wanted to say "Your son is unfilial" and "Please don't go," but when the moment came, he couldn't utter a single word.

All that could be heard was broken sobs.

The old lady's pupils suddenly contracted and then dilated.

Her thin, trembling fingers touched her son's graying hair very gently.

"Oh, the great river..."

A gentle smile curved her lips as she traced her fingertips across her son's face.

"Seeing you... puts my mind at ease..."

The green line on the monitor suddenly straightened, and a piercing alarm sounded throughout the ward.

The doctor quickly pulled Wang Dajiang apart and began CPR, while the nurse pulled open the old lady's collar.

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