Chapter 134 Goodbye Aunt

After the funeral, the noise subsided, leaving only an increasingly heavy sense of desolation and emptiness in the old house.

Lin Jun decided to stay a few more days to spend time with his parents and sister, and Zou Lang also planned to take an extra week off to spend a few more days with his father. Life had to go on, so after a brief visit to Lin Jianguo, Lin Yu planned to return to Shanghai with Jiang Chuan and Qi Sheng.

The afternoon before leaving, Grandma wanted to take Lin Yu to the newly opened supermarket on the farm, just like when she was a child, to buy some of her favorite snacks to eat on the way.

Jiang Chuan drove them to the vicinity of the supermarket, discussed with Lin Yu the time to pick them up, and planned to go to a nearby gas station first, giving the grandmother and grandson some time alone.

Lin Yu and her grandmother strolled around the supermarket. After they came out, they sat on a bench across the street to rest and wait for Jiang Chuan to pick them up.

After setting aside the snacks he had bought, Lin Yu thought about Lin Min's recent despondency and wanted to say something in defense of his mother, but he didn't know where to begin.

Before she could figure out how to start the conversation, she saw her grandmother unbutton her coat pocket, pull out a thick red envelope from her bosom, and stuff it into her hand without saying a word.

Seeing this, Lin Yu waved his hands and repeatedly refused. "Grandma, please don't give me money every time you come back. I have enough, really."

She took her grandmother's arm and comforted her in a half-coquettish tone, "Think about it, your granddaughter is going to be a big boss in Shanghai. What kind of boss would ask her elders for pocket money? People would laugh at her if they found out!"

Upon hearing this, Grandma lightly tapped Lin Yu's forehead with the red envelope and scolded, "Do you really think Grandma is senile? I've heard that all those bosses outside who seem successful are actually in debt behind the scenes."

She placed the red envelope back into Lin Yu's palm and squeezed her hand tightly. "I don't care about others, I just want my granddaughter to be debt-free, carefree, and healthy."

A warm feeling instantly welled up in Lin Yu's heart. She blinked hard, forcing back her tears, clutched the red envelope tightly, and said with a forced smile, "Grandma, you even know about debt? That's quite trendy!"

"You're such a chatterbox." Grandma didn't respond to that, instead turning her attention to her relationship with Jiang Chuan. "How are things going with you and Xiao Jiang? When do you plan to settle down?"

"We haven't looked into this yet..." Lin Yu answered truthfully, habitually using Qi Sheng as a shield. "No rush, my brother's still single!"

Society is always more demanding of girls, and that won't change anytime soon.

“Regardless of whether someone is rich or poor, or whether they are good-looking or not, when choosing a husband, you should choose someone who is responsible and has a sense of duty. Grandma thinks Xiao Jiang is a good person, and he is also very attentive to you. Everyone has seen what happened during the pandemic.”

Lin Yu nodded repeatedly, watching her grandmother stuff the red envelope into her down jacket pocket. She carefully buttoned it up, patted it, and then continued, "Don't worry, not counting your mother's share, Grandma has saved up quite a dowry for you. Whenever you want to get married, we'll have plenty of resources."

"What about my brother?" Lin Yu couldn't help but ask curiously.

Grandma straightened the fur collar on Lin Yu's down jacket and laughed, "He earns a lot, he doesn't care about my meager earnings."

"But you... and your younger brother, if you suffer any injustice or encounter any difficulties outside, you must talk to your brother, understand? You two only have one older brother, who else can you turn to if not him?"

"Okay, I'll remember." Lin Yu only responded verbally. Although she didn't really intend to trouble Qi Sheng, she was still touched by her grandmother's favoritism.

For a while, neither the grandmother nor the grandson spoke, simply watching the cars go by on the street. Then, the grandmother beside them let out a soft sigh.

"A few days ago in the ICU..." Grandma's voice was very soft, as if it were drifting from a very far place. "People are always in a daze, more often confused than clear-headed. At that time, I always felt that I was afraid I wouldn't make it through this time."

“But it’s strange.” She paused, then continued, “It was from that time that I started having recurring dreams about your aunt… I dreamt that she lived in a dark basement, with yellow paper money pasted on both sides of the stairs.”

"She just left the door open, leaning against the doorframe, looking up at me. In my dream, I was so anxious that I leaned over the stair railing and shouted down."

"Hey, why did you move here? You didn't live in your new house? Come on up! This place is for the dead, it's bad luck for you to be here."

Hearing this, Lin Yu suddenly raised her hand and covered her mouth tightly, tears streaming uncontrollably down her cheeks. But her grandmother didn't look at her; she just stared blankly at the dusty road.

"Then guess what your aunt said to me? She said: 'Mom, I'm planning to stay here for a long time. I'll move here in a few days.'"

"I said okay, but how will Mom find you if she misses you in the future?"

"But your aunt told me that she can't invite you over for the time being. She'll visit you in your dreams when she misses you!"

"I got anxious as soon as I heard that. I said, 'How can this be? I've almost finished the milk in my house, and there are only a few eggs left. Are you not going to bring Mom any more?'"

“Your aunt said, no, Mom, she won’t be able to take you anymore. But don’t worry, my older sister is here, she’ll take good care of you.” After saying that, she ignored me and turned to close the door, refusing to open it no matter how much I called from outside.

"As I was calling out, I suddenly woke up. When I opened my eyes, I saw several doctors standing in front of me, saying, 'Grandma, you are very lucky. You will be able to be transferred to a regular ward in a couple of days.' I thought to myself, 'That's good. I won't have to trouble you anymore.'"

"But after that, I never dreamed of your aunt again..."

"Grandma..." Lin Yu's tears flowed freely, her vision blurred. She held her grandmother's hand tightly, her shoulders trembling slightly from sobbing, her voice choked and almost broken.

"Mom...she really regrets it, she regrets not telling you the truth sooner...I also regret not reminding Auntie more and urging her to get a checkup sooner..."

“We could have…we could have done so much better.” She was almost sobbing, her words constantly interrupted by a series of sobs.

"We've let Auntie down, and we're even more sorry to you... Please don't be angry with us, okay? I only ask that you be well, healthy, and live a long and happy life..."

Grandma finally turned her head and gently wiped away Lin Yu's tears with her withered, cold fingers. "Banban," she said softly, "to be honest, Grandma didn't believe in things like dreams or telepathy."

"But after surviving a brush with death these past few days, I've suddenly come to understand many things."

“I’m thinking that maybe your aunt just moved to a different place before me. But she probably still can’t bear to leave me behind and can’t bear to see me too sad, so she used this method to say goodbye to her mother properly first.”

Grandma gently patted Lin Yu's hand, her voice low and weary. "Having lived to this age, I've tasted all the joys and sorrows of life, but to have a white-haired person bury a black-haired one... this is the first time."

“I feel terrible and regretful. I regret that on the day she left, she told me she was going to Linjiang to take care of your brother. Why didn’t I ask her a few more questions or look at her a few more times? Thinking about this keeps me up at night.”

"But then I thought, your aunt has finally settled down over there, and I felt that if I showed too much sadness, she would definitely not be able to let go. That would be a disturbance to her."

"As her mother, I may not have been a very good one when she was alive, but now that she's gone, I can't let her get in my way anymore."

"And your mother..." Grandma paused slightly, her voice turning somber. "When she was little, your grandpa and I were both busy with work and couldn't take care of anything at home. It was all her fault; at such a young age, she shouldered the heavy burden of the family, acting as both an older sister and a mother."

“I know she has a strong personality and a heavy heart. To be honest, your grandfather and I are partly to blame for this. But she has good intentions and must have been under a lot of pressure during this time. Your grandmother understands her good intentions and has never blamed her.”

"So, Banban, in this life, many things are beyond your control, and you can't always choose what you want to do. Life won't always go the way you want it to."

Lin Yu's tears gradually stopped, and she quietly rested her head on her grandmother's thin but warm shoulder. Her grandmother gently patted her back, just as she had when she was a child.

After a long pause, Grandma spoke gently, "When you come back, please pass on a message to your mother for me."

“Before she left for college, she asked me a question that I’ve always owed her an answer to. I think now is the time to tell her.”

She then leaned close to Lin Yu's ear and whispered a few words. Lin Yu was slightly taken aback and looked up with a hint of confusion. Grandma didn't say anything more, but supported herself on her knees and straightened up with some difficulty.

Lin Yu saw Jiang Chuan's car turn the corner and stop at the roadside from afar. The car door opened, he tightened his collar, and strode towards them. He carefully helped the elderly woman into the car, then turned and naturally took the shopping bags from Lin Yu's hands.

His gaze swept over her reddened eyes and the tip of her nose, and Jiang Chuan felt a dull ache in his heart, as if something had tugged at it. He didn't ask anything, but instead gently patted the top of her head.

After getting into the car, Lin Yu kept looking out the window. Jiang Chuan drove while glancing at her, reaching out to hold her hand resting on her knee, his fingertips radiating coolness.

He suddenly remembered hearing from the gas station attendant that the farm holds a large market at the end of each month. So, while waiting at a red light, he casually suggested, "I heard there's a market at the intersection, and today's the last day. Shall we go check it out?"

Grandma said from the back seat, "You young people go ahead, I need to go back and rest." Then she looked at Lin Yu. "Banban, ask your brother and the others, don't always stay cooped up at home."

"Okay." Lin Yu then turned around, put his hand in Jiang Chuan's warm palm, nodded, and sent a message to Qi Sheng.

After a long pause, he finally replied lazily, saying that he was reinstalling Zou Lang's system and couldn't leave. He added a sarcastic remark at the end: "Besides, I don't have the habit of being a third wheel."

After dropping his grandmother off at her doorstep and watching her step inside, Jiang Chuan started the car again, turned it around, and drove towards the market. They arrived at their destination in just ten minutes.

It was even more lively than expected. The streets were packed with temporary stalls and all sorts of tricycles and small trucks, and the crowds were so dense that the roads were completely blocked.

A few scattered cars struggled through the crowd, their impatient horns mingling with the hawkers' cries, creating a vibrant and lively atmosphere.

After walking a few steps, I saw a pastry stall. The couple running the stall were lifting the lid of a huge steamer, and billowing white steam rose up, revealing round, golden sticky rice cakes underneath.

The steamed buns were snuggled up warmly under the cotton quilt. Lin Yu bought two and handed one to Jiang Chuan: "Try it, it's a local specialty, you probably can't find it in Shanghai."

Jiang Chuan took it, lifted his mask, and took a bite. The soft, chewy outer layer stretched into translucent strands. With one bite, sweet red bean paste gushed out from the golden opening, steaming warm. The sweetness wasn't delicate, but it warmed him instantly from his tongue to his stomach.

"Delicious." He was breathing heavily from the heat, but his voice was filled with laughter. "It really is different."

Lin Yu ate in small bites, occasionally glancing up at him and seeing his curious expression towards everything around him. A strange sense of satisfaction spread through her. It was like sharing a long-treasured personal treasure with her best friend from childhood.

"I'll go check out the radish balls over there," she said, pointing to a stall at the other end. "Grandma and Grandpa don't have good teeth, I'll bring some back for them." Lin Yu said, walking towards the other side.

Jiang Chuan waited where he was. Next to him was a stall selling winter clothes. He glanced at it casually, but his eyes were drawn to several tiger-head hats hanging on a bamboo pole.

The stall owner took one off, and a customer took it from him, examined it for a moment, and then bent down to put it on his child's head. The little child, wearing the majestic yet adorable tiger-head hat, looked exceptionally endearing.

He approached the stall and saw that the tiger was adorably cute, with very fine stitching and bright, piercing eyes, which attracted several elderly people with their grandchildren to stop and look.

The stall owner was a middle-aged man, wearing a thin cotton coat that he sold himself. He was playing a short video on his phone while loudly soliciting business: "Wear a tiger-head hat, and spring will bring you tiger energy!"

For some reason, these words suddenly reminded Jiang Chuan of Lin Yu's stubborn face, bruised and swollen, lying on the hospital bed in Feicheng. He couldn't help but smile, picked out a red hat with black stripes from the shelf, and paid with his phone.

It's rare to see a young man with such an outstanding presence like Jiang Chuan on a farm. The stall owner struck up a conversation with him warmly: "Did you buy this for your child?"

Jiang Chuan looked at the hat in his hand and nodded with a smile: "Yes."

"Wow, I can't believe you're a dad at such a young age!" The man put down his phone and asked with great interest, "How old is the baby? A boy or a girl?"

“Girl…” A barely perceptible tenderness appeared in Jiang Chuan’s eyes. He paused and said, “She’s in her early twenties, isn’t she?”

"Huh?" Upon hearing this, the stall owner almost dropped his mouth, staring at Jiang Chuan with disbelief, phone in hand. "Snatching a young man?"

As they were talking, Lin Yu walked over carrying several bags of food. When he saw what was in his hands, he was taken aback at first, then laughed: "Why did you buy this?"

Jiang Chuan didn't explain. He walked up to her and gently placed the hat on her head. It was a little too big, pressing down on her bangs crookedly, making her look a bit comical, yet also a bit cute.

“Other people’s kids have them.” His smile deepened, his reason simple and straightforward. “How could ours not have one?”

These words made Lin Yu smile, "When did Attorney Jiang become so competitive?"

“It’s not that I’m competitive.” He reached out and gently flicked the tip of her nose. “It’s that I’m biased.” Seeing the smile finally return to her face, the anxiety that had been building for days finally subsided.

Lin Yu rested her forehead against his chest and gently rubbed it, her voice muffled: "You've worked so hard these past few days, running around doing everything. You must be exhausted."

Jiang Chuan didn't answer directly, but silently took the things from her hands, and then used his free hand to hold her hand tightly in his palm.

"I'm not tired," he said. "I'll always be there for you whenever you need me."

The setting sun cast long shadows of the two as they walked hand in hand toward the parking lot. Lin Yu's exaggerated tiger-head hat swayed playfully back and forth with each step.

The hustle and bustle of the market gradually faded into the distance, but the warmth and weight in my hands made me feel exceptionally secure and at ease.

......

On the day of our return journey, the sky remained overcast and gray.

Lin Min hugged her daughter tightly, her swollen eyes brimming with tears. Her uncle stood behind her, staring blankly at the ground. Liu Wenbin nodded to Jiang Chuan and Qi Sheng, repeatedly telling them to take care of themselves and be careful on the road.

Grandpa missed seeing them off at his usual walk. Grandma leaned against the doorframe, a hint of the acceptance that comes with age when facing parting in her eyes.

She walked out shakily, stuffing a bag of fried dough sticks she had prepared the day before into Lin Yu's hand, just as she did every year when she said goodbye to him during the Spring Festival. After doing all this, she stopped looking at them, turned around, and slowly moved back into the main room.

His uncle drove them to Linjiang for a transfer. After starting the car, it slowly drove away from the narrow alley in front of the old house. Lin Yu looked back in the rearview mirror.

At the alley entrance, the figures of family members gradually shrank, eventually becoming indistinct dots. Along with the silent, still-growing poplar sapling and the heavy, suffocating sorrow, they receded further and further into the distance.

She looked down at the steamed buns her grandmother had given her, feeling the bitterness of parting and the dust of death lingering in their aroma.

As the car merged onto the highway, the old house, which bore the weight of immense sorrow, and those unspeakable farewells were left far behind against the grey and white skyline.

Goodbye, Auntie, goodbye!

The road ahead is long, but life must go on.