Chapter 275 Grandma, I am Tang Ning!
As if meeting the person she was waiting for, the old lady happily held the hand of the person in front of her.
"Why did you come just now? Did your grandfather give you more homework? He always likes to lecture people, it's annoying to watch him. Yesterday, grandma said she would fly kites with you... Oh, kites..."
The old lady turned her head and asked: "Where is my kite?"
Seeing her about to get up and look for the kite, Xiao Yan pulled her aside and said softly, "I've had someone put the kite away first. I'll look at it later. But grandma hasn't been behaving well today and hasn't taken her medicine properly."
The old lady pouted and said, "The medicine is bitter and not tasty."
Xiao Yan coaxed her softly, "But Grandma needs to take the medicine to get better. Only when she's better can she accompany Shang Yan to fly kites. Don't you want to go?"
The old lady's eyes lit up like a child: "I want to go!"
"Then grandma, please take your medicine first."
After coaxing the old lady, Xiao Yan looked at Ling Yin, who hurried forward with the bowl of medicine.
Taking the medicine bowl, Xiao Yan stirred the medicine with a spoon, then scooped a spoonful, blew on it, and handed it to the old lady's mouth.
The old lady, who had been resisting at first, drank the medicine from the spoon in his hand obediently. With a bitter face, she was still thinking about going out to play: "Then you have to accompany me to fly kites. I'm really good at it. I can make very big kites, tigers, and butterflies..."
"Okay, I'll accompany you."
The old lady spoke incoherently and even danced when she thought of something happy.
A lot of the medicine in Xiao Yan's hand spilled on him, and the old lady's body was also stained with many stains, but Xiao Yan, who always liked cleanliness, didn't care at all. He just waited for the old lady to drink the medicine, and used a handkerchief to wipe the medicine stains left on her mouth.
The person on the bed was talking nonsense, and Xiao Yan coaxed him to answer every word. After a while, the old man who was clamoring to fly a kite just now looked sleepy, and his voice became softer. He was still muttering "kite" and fell asleep with his eyes closed.
After Xiao Yan carefully helped the old woman lie down, he covered her with a thin quilt. After the old woman fell asleep, he asked Ling Yin to watch over her and got up to take Tang Ning and Qin Niang to the compartment.
Tang Ning was puzzled: "Brother, who was that just now..."
"Great-grandmother, you can call her great-grandmother."
Tang Ning was stunned for a moment, then heard Xiao Yan say softly, "Shang Yan is my father's childhood name."
Seeing Tang Ning's confusion, Madam Qin explained, "The old lady had a serious illness a while ago. Because she didn't receive timely medical treatment, her mind became somewhat confused. She was immersed in her own world and didn't recognize anyone outside. When she was lucid, she could remember some people and events from the past, but when she wasn't lucid, she would completely forget them."
Tang Ning felt uncomfortable in his heart when he heard what Madam Qin said.
If you can't recognize people when you are awake, what will it be like when you are confused?
She thought of the old man just now. His face was full of wrinkles when he smiled, but his words and actions were like those of a child. She vaguely felt as if she had seen him somewhere, but after thinking about it for a long time, she couldn't remember where.
Tang Ning thought the old lady looked like someone she had seen before. She turned to Madam Qin and lowered her voice, "Is Grandma's illness incurable?"
Madam Qin shook her head: "The old lady has been ill for too long. She was previously harmed by someone and took some medicines she shouldn't have taken. It's not easy for her to stay healthy."
If she had not used the excuse of going to the palace for medical treatment several times after she met Xiao Yan, and even stayed in the capital for nearly half a year to carefully care for her, and had not pulled back the Empress Dowager who had one foot in the underworld several times, she would probably have died long ago, let alone recover.
Tang Ning pursed her lips slightly, feeling a little sad.
Madam Qin didn't stay long and left after saying a few words.
Seeing Tang Ning's eyes drooping, Xiao Yan softly comforted her, "Don't be sad. Grandma is actually doing well this way. She doesn't have to remember people she shouldn't remember, nor does she have to be sad about things that have long passed. Besides, if she were fully aware of everything, she probably wouldn't be alive today."
When my father got into trouble, everyone in the Eastern Palace was executed. If the Empress Dowager had not been driven mad by the shock, she would not have survived with her love for my father and him.
Xiao Yan pulled Tang Ning to sit next to him, and seeing that she was a little depressed, he started talking about something else.
"Do you know why my father is called Shang Yan?"
Tang Ning shook his head: "Why?"
Xiao Yan chuckled, "Because when my grandmother was pregnant with my father, my great-grandfather dreamt of a ferocious beast hanging from a beam. He respected both literature and martial arts, and he also believed that a superior gentleman, even if he was good, needed to be able to fight."
"My great-grandfather was a man who had no concept of humility. He never concealed his ambitions and achievements, building a huge fortune and single-handedly making the clan powerful."
"To reassure the people below, he had to act a little more refined. But even though he taught my father the ways of a gentleman, in his heart he hoped he could become an invincible beast, so he named him Shangyan."
The one who is above all others is called a saint in ancient times, and also refers to those who are above ten thousand people.
Tang Ning still remembered what Xiao Yan had said about his father before. He said that his father was extremely loved by his great-grandfather, and was even designated as the heir early on, surpassing his grandfather. He was very popular, but because of this, he developed a rift with his grandfather and gradually became envied by him, which led to his death.
Now, after listening to Xiao Yan's words, she understood more and more why his father had gone to that step.
Shang Yan...
How could such a name, which one openly values and even hopes for, not arouse jealousy if the person to be paired with it were also extremely talented?
When Xiao Yan talked about the past, a gentle feeling permeated his whole body.
"When my father was young, he had almost no free time. He was involved in clan affairs from a very early age. My great-grandmother loved him the most and always took him out to play in various ways. However, my father was precocious and knew that he had a heavy responsibility, so he was remarkably mature at a young age. My great-grandmother always said that it was my great-grandfather who taught him bad things and even pulled his ears for my father."
"After I was born, my great-grandmother doted on me, as if to make up for all the childhood my father never had. Even though my father restricted me, I was free and unrestrained until I was ten years old, and never had anything unhappy."
He inherited his father's intelligence, but not his self-discipline and rigidity. Coupled with his unique dignity, it was not an exaggeration to say that he was the overlord of the palace in those years.
He lived happily for twelve years until...
Xiao Yan's expression paused, and as a haze formed in his eyes, he lowered his eyelids and whispered, "Accompany me to make a kite. In case grandma still remembers it when she wakes up."
Tang Ning hesitated: "But I can't do it."
"I know how. I'll teach you."
Xiao Yan took Tang Ning to the bamboo forest next to the farm, cut a few pieces of bamboo and brought them back. He also had someone send some paper over.
Tang Ning followed and watched him skillfully use the soft sword that had killed people before to carve out the bamboo bones and make thin bamboo threads, and then make the shape of the kite.
She followed Xiao Yan's instructions and clumsily pasted the paper onto the stretched bamboo frame.
"How are your painting skills?" Xiao Yan turned his head.
Tang Ning blinked: "It should be... okay..."
"Then one for each person?"
After Tang Ning nodded, Xiao Yan took out the pen and ink. Although the two of them had not discussed it before, after they put pen to paper, the result was a tiger and a butterfly.
After the coloring was completed, Tang Ning looked at the vivid tiger with its tail swung in Xiao Yan's hand and chuckled.
"Where is the red tiger?"
She held up the butterfly in her hand and said, "Mine looks beautiful."
Xiao Yan pursed his lips and chuckled: "Yes, yours looks good."
It was already getting dark outside. When the lights were turned on in the house, Ayane came over and said that the old lady had woken up.
Tang Ning hurriedly urged Xiao Yan to take the prepared kite over, but the old lady, who had just woken up, had no recollection of what had happened before and looked at Xiao Yan holding the butterfly kite with a blank look.
"Who are you?"
Looking at Xiao Yan standing in front of the bed, even though Tang Ning knew that the old man on the bed was sick, the overwhelming sadness at this moment still made her feel a little breathless.
Tang Ning held the tiger kite in his arms, pulled Xiao Yan forward, and smiled broadly at the old man on the bed.
"Grandma, this is Yuan Sheng, and I'm Tang Ning. We're here to fly kites with you!"
"Yuan Sheng..."
The old lady tilted her head, her eyes fell on Tang Ning's arms for a moment, and she clapped her hands happily: "Kite, fly the kite!"
Xiao Yan felt the endless heat from the little hand that was holding his. The instantaneous coldness in his heart seemed to be blown away by the wind, and his brows softened.
"Okay, let's fly the kite." He held Tang Ning's hand with his backhand: "Let's do it together."
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