Meanwhile, He Yanzhi, along with Guan Wenru, Guan Wanxin, and their three children, drove to Dinglan Farm in Yunnan.
It takes at least sixty hours to drive there from their family compound.
They could only stop and go along the way, and when they came across a nice place, Guan Wanxin would take the initiative to get off the bus and walk around.
Guan Wenru took photos of her grandmother and children with her camera.
But most of the time, the camera was in He Yanzhi's hands, and he was in charge of taking pictures for everyone.
Sometimes in crowded places, Guan Wenru would teach others how to use a camera and then help them take pictures of their family.
Guan Wanxin spends almost all her days on the road. She is not in good health, and with three young children, she needs to get a good rest at night.
Therefore, He Yanzhi had already checked the route in advance, and would drive to cities and counties with guesthouses every evening.
Two rooms are booked every night.
He Yanzhi slept with the three children, while Guan Wenru and Guan Wanxin shared a room.
That night, Guan Wenru put the three children to sleep in the next room, and then spent some time cuddling with He Yanzhi before hurrying back to her grandmother's room.
The room was dimly lit, and as soon as Guan Wenru walked in, she saw her grandmother hurriedly hiding something.
Guan Wenru's eyes darkened, but she pretended not to have seen anything.
She smiled and said, "Grandma, it's late, go wash up and go to bed."
"good."
After Guan Wanxin entered the bathroom, Guan Wenru immediately went to rummage through the trash can.
When she saw the blood-stained handkerchief, her eyes reddened and her whole body turned cold.
But in the end, she threw the handkerchief back into the trash can.
When she went to wash up and came out, her grandmother had already lain down, and she herself lay down on the small bed next to her.
The room was quiet, with only the occasional animal sounds coming from outside the window and Grandma's suppressed, intermittent coughs.
Every cough of her grandmother felt like a small hammer striking Guan Wenru's heart.
Guan Wenru finally seemed unable to hold back any longer, turning to look at her grandmother's profile, which appeared even thinner in the dim light, her voice carrying a deliberately soft worry:
"Grandma, you must be exhausted from the car ride today. How are you feeling? Your cough seems to be getting worse. Do you want to take some more medicine?"
Guan Wanxin took a breath, her voice weak but trying to be steady, "It's okay, I don't need to take medicine anymore. The road was just a bit bumpy today... cough cough... it's nothing... I'll be fine after a nap."
Guan Wenru was silent for a few seconds. In the darkness, her voice trembled almost imperceptibly, "Grandma, once we get to the farm and settle in, I'll take you to a big hospital in the provincial capital for a proper checkup. Your cough just won't get better, and I'm worried about you..."
Guan Wanxin sighed softly, not responding to the question about seeing a doctor, but instead seeming lost in memories, her voice ethereal:
"Wenru... do you still remember when you were little... how you loved to pester your grandma to tell you stories about the war... about the uncles and aunts who sacrificed their lives..."
Guan Wenru's nose tingled, but she held back her tears. "I remember too. I remember every story my grandmother told me."
Guan Wanxin paused, as if gathering her strength, and lowered her voice, "Over the years, Grandma has watched you grow from a little girl... into a young woman... get married... have children... and raise three boys so well... It's truly wonderful... My Wenru is so lucky..."
He had barely finished speaking when another suppressed cough came.
Hearing her grandmother's tone, which sounded almost like she was giving her last instructions, Guan Wenru could no longer suppress the panic and terrible guess that she had been holding back for days!
She sat up abruptly, almost throwing herself at her grandmother's bedside, and in the darkness, tightly grasped her grandmother's withered hand, her voice trembling with sobs and despair as she pleaded for confirmation:
"Grandma! Tell me the truth! What did the doctor tell you when we took you to the provincial hospital last time? Did you ask them to keep it from me?"
Guan Wanxin's hands were ice cold.
She reached back and, with all her might, gently squeezed Guan Wenru's hand, the gesture conveying a sense of reassurance, but without denying anything.
Guan Wenru sensed her grandmother's silent acquiescence, and her last glimmer of hope was completely shattered!
An overwhelming grief engulfed her like a tsunami!
She could no longer hold back, and buried her face in her grandmother's pillow, tears that had been suppressed for so long streaming down her face. Her body trembled violently from crying, and her voice was broken and fragmented.
"Grandma, don't scare me! You can't be hurt... You can't... You haven't seen Da Bao, Er Bao, and Xiao Bao grow up... You haven't... You haven't enjoyed enough happiness yet... Grandma... I beg you... Let's go to the hospital tomorrow... to the best hospital..."
As Guan Wanxin listened to her granddaughter's heart-wrenching cries, tears welled up in her cloudy eyes.
With great effort, she raised her other withered hand, trembling, and stroked Guan Wenru's hair again and again, just as she had done when she was a child to lull her to sleep. Her voice was weak but exceptionally clear, filled with deep affection.
"Silly girl, why are you still crying like you did when you were little? What's there to cry about... Grandma is getting old... This day will come eventually..."
Guan Wenru cried even harder, clinging tightly to her grandmother's arm as if that would keep her there. "No! No! Grandma! I don't want to! You promised me! You have to stay with me! You can't leave me!"
Guan Wanxin let her granddaughter hug her and weep, a faint, almost serene smile appearing on her aged face. Her hand continued to gently pat Guan Wenru's back, her voice as soft as a sigh.
"Don't cry, my dear child. Grandma's life has been worthwhile. I raised you all, watched you get married, saw my great-grandchildren around me, and now I can see Yanzhi come back safe and sound. Honestly, Grandma is content... truly content..."
Overwhelmed by fear and helplessness, Guan Wenru could only cling tightly to her grandmother, like a lost child, letting out suppressed and desperate sobs in the quiet of the night.
She knew that her grandmother's time... was really running out.
But why!
Grandma is only in her seventies!
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