Chapter 87
Che Nanbei cried his heart out, turning his head away, unable to look at his friend's pale, mushy body. Jiang Zhuochun, though holding his wife's shoulder, also had red eyes.
Needless to say, Xiang's father and mother were also affected. Xiang's mother cried for a whole day and fainted before the body was even retrieved. After sending her to the ancestral home, Xiang's father smoked one cigarette after another on the beach.
Upon seeing the body, Xiang's father froze for a second, then rushed toward the body like a madman, even tripping and falling on the beach in his haste.
He was wearing the same suit as two days ago. As soon as he and his mother received the news, they took a helicopter to China.
During the two days of the salvage operation, this industry executive, who is known for his refined manners, did not even change his clothes. Apart from taking his mother, who had fainted, to the hospital, he stayed by the sea day and night.
In a corner of the beach, Zhou Chengze and his sister also arrived. When Xiang Wan was carried out, the eyes of the two siblings were also red.
As for Wang Yidong and Xia Yueshen, during the three days of the salvage operation, one of them knelt on the beach to pray, while the other, although not a believer, took a taxi to a temple to pray for Xiang Wan.
Even Chen Yan's two close friends, Ni Zhen and Zhao Luyu, came over with complicated expressions when they heard about Xiang Wan falling into the sea.
Although the official explanation was that Xiang Wan had apparently fallen into the sea, two days ago was the anniversary of Chen Yan's death. As Chen Yan's roommates, how could they not remember that day?
Adding to that, the sight of the two of them lying in a pool of blood in the parking lot a year ago is something they will never forget.
After Chen Yan's death, although they were grieving, they all numbed themselves with work.
Ni Zhen and the others had seen the surveillance footage and knew that Chen Yan died to save Xiang Wan. Although they had no right to be angry with her, they had not had any contact with the Xiang family for the past year.
But to my surprise, the next news I heard about the eldest daughter of the Xiang family was the devastating news that she had committed suicide for Chen Ruilin.
When Ni Zhen and Zhao Luyu saw the body that had been retrieved, their eyes were filled with sorrow.
They had known Chen Yan since high school, and had watched the two of them grow up. They never expected their ending to be so tragic.
Just like the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet, Ni Zhen felt that such an ending was unworthy of the two of them.
On the beach, the faint cries were drowned out by the sound of the waves crashing, just as tiny humans are like a drop in the ocean in the face of nature.
Zhou Xinyi looked at Shen Feiyang and the others who were crying for Xiang Wan, and then at Zhou Chengze, who was standing stiffly beside her. Her eyes were also a little red: "Brother, what do you think Xiang Wan will be reincarnated as in her next life?"
Although Xiang Wan said her dream was just a dream, as that dream was corroborated by countless other dreams, Zhou Xinyi became more and more convinced that what she dreamed of was her past life.
If there is a past life, then it proves that there will be a future life.
She felt that Xiang Wan was very good to her. If there were an afterlife, she hoped that she and Xiang Wan could become true friends, friends without any grudges.
As for Zhou Chengze, when asked, he looked down at Zhou Xinyi, then at the cloudless sky, and did not answer his sister's question, but secretly made a wish for Awan in his heart.
If there is an afterlife, he hopes that everything will go smoothly for Xiang Shuhan and that all her wishes will be fulfilled.
*
Meanwhile, Xiang Wan was completely unaware of all this, and was walking in the darkness.
She did not lose consciousness after death; on the contrary, she was perfectly lucid.
She could feel her soul being sucked into something, and all she could see was darkness. However, no matter how long she walked, the darkness followed her like a shadow, as if it would never end, until her eyes sensed a sliver of light.
Xiang Wan followed the light source and walked for a long time. Suddenly, a white light appeared. She was startled by the sudden light and subconsciously shielded her eyes with her elbow.
She only took her hand down and slowly opened her eyes after her eyes gradually adjusted to the brightness.
She had expected to see heaven, or the world humans reach after death, but instead, she found herself in a somewhat dilapidated house.
Xiang Wan stared at the wall covered with newspapers, her expression somewhat sluggish.
If her memory isn't faulty, this should be...
—The courtyard of Li Shengde, the village chief of Lijia Village!
Realizing something, she quickly got up from the kang (a heated brick bed), wanting to rush to Chen Yan to confirm whether he was still alive.
However, as soon as Xiang Wan stood up, Wang Yidong, who was beside her, thought she was having a nightmare and hugged her tightly.
"Young Miss, what's wrong?" Her voice was as gentle as ever. "Did our young lady have a nightmare?"
She gently patted her back and soothed her in a soft voice, "Miss, you'll be home when you wake up tomorrow."
Xiang Wan felt Wang Yidong's warm embrace and listened to the nursery rhymes she was singing, but she was not sleepy at all.
Looking at her tiny hands, a surge of joy welled up inside her.
She was reborn and returned to this day!
Chen Yan is not dead; it's not too late.
…
Overwhelmed with emotion, she suppressed her impulse and let Wang Yidong coax her to sleep, closing her eyes as he gently patted her.
Darkness returned to her eyes once more, but Xiang Wan's mind was racing.
She remembered this room; it was the home of Li Sheng, the village chief.
In her second life, she chose to stay at Chen Yan's house instead of the village chief's.
In other words, she was reborn into her first life, and at this time, apart from her mistaking him for a girl during the day, she and he had no other interaction.
Xiang Wan remembered seeing Chen Yan's life trajectory in her dream. Without her intervention, he had no money to save his mother-in-law and buried her alone.
Chen Yan kneeling before the village chief seemed to happen not long after...
An hour later, Xiang Wan opened her eyes, glanced at Wang Yidong who was fast asleep beside her, gently removed her hand, put on her shoes, and quietly walked out of the house.
In the courtyard, she stood in the shadows, watching Chen Yan kneeling before the village chief, grabbing Li Shengde's trouser leg and kowtowing repeatedly. She did not step forward to stop him, but simply watched quietly.
Chen Yan's forehead was bleeding from the cut, and even his eyes were bloodshot. However, Xiang Wan saw everything but stood still without moving.
Her gaze passed over his small body on the ground, as if she saw him lying in a pool of blood in the parking lot in her previous life.
Thinking of the coldness on his body at that time, Xiang Wan couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness.
She wanted him to live, to live peacefully and safely.
Even if they never cross paths again in this life.
Xiang Wan watched as Chen Yan kowtowed one after another, and only then did village chief Li Shengde reluctantly agree to take his mother-in-law to the county hospital in a donkey cart.
She did nothing, but silently returned to the house.
She sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), looking at the newspapers pasted on the wall, a hint of helplessness flashing in her eyes.
But Xiang Wan lay back down next to Wang Yidong and quietly waited for dawn.
In the afternoon, Li Xia drove to pick them up, but Xiang Wan told Wang Yidong and driver Uncle Zhang to go back to the villa first, while she asked Li Xia to take her to the county hospital.
On the way, Li Xia looked at the indifferent young lady and found it somewhat amusing. He remembered that when he left Bei Yi, the young lady was still a talkative little dumpling.
"Young lady, what's the name of the friend you mentioned you wanted to visit?"
Xiang Wan was still lost in thought when she heard the voice and glanced at him. Seeing his gossipy face, she remained indifferent: "Li Xia, my mom said there's a girl pursuing you abroad."
As expected, Li Xia shut up the next second.
"..."
Although he had watched Xiang Wan grow up since she was a child, it had been many years since they last met, and he was still a little unsure about her temperament at this time.
Hearing a teenager gossip about her, Li Xia was momentarily speechless, unsure of what to say.
But he didn't think teenagers would change the subject, just assuming it was just childish naivety and that the questions they asked were all sorts of things.
He was momentarily distracted, pondering how to answer the question, completely forgetting that the initial topic between the two wasn't even about him.
In the car, Xiang Wan looked at Li Xia, who was staring straight ahead and pretending to drive seriously, a smile flashed in her eyes, and then she turned her gaze to the outside of the window.
The van sped across the loess plateau and soon arrived at the county hospital.
When they arrived at the county hospital, Li Xia wanted to go in with her, but she sent her away to buy her a cake.
Xiang Wan watched Li Xia walk away, then, carrying the backpack she had prepared earlier, headed towards the sixth-floor inpatient ward.
Standing in front of the clinic, she looked at Chen Yan, who was kneeling and kowtowing to Li Shengde, and then left without saying a word.
In the payment hall on the first floor, she gave the name of Grandma Chen Yan and placed a stack of cash from her bag on the counter: "Please transfer the money to this person's account, thank you."
She left the money quickly after putting it down. The nurse on duty at the counter was also startled when she saw 100,000 yuan in cash. Just as she was about to ask her a few more questions, Xiang Wan had already walked away.
The nurse on duty asked a colleague to relieve her while she took the money to her supervisor.
On the other side, after leaving the payment window, Xiang Wan went straight to the clinic on the sixth floor.
Li Shengde had already left in front of the clinic, leaving Chen Yan alone, holding his mother-in-law, sitting blankly in the corner.
People came and went, but no one stopped.
The nurse couldn't bear to watch and came over to treat the wound on his forehead, but Chen Yan just shook his head and sat in the corner with his mother in his arms, just like before.
He would occasionally receive sympathetic glances, but everyone was afraid of getting into trouble, and no one dared to step forward and get involved.
Xiang Wan stood in the crowd, silently watching him.
It wasn't until a nurse came over and whispered a few words in Chen Yan's ear that his eyes turned completely red.
"Child, your mother-in-law is saved."
"Just now, someone paid the fees for your mother-in-law and deposited 100,000 yuan into her account. Now your mother-in-law can have the surgery."
"It must have been a kind person who didn't want to leave their name. The kind person left quickly after paying the fee, and the nurse on duty didn't get a good look at their face."
"The kind person might be the one in the crowd who watched you kowtow just now."
…
After listening to the nurse's words, Chen Yan looked up at the crowd, tears welling up in his eyes. Without any hesitation, he knelt on the ground and kept kowtowing towards the crowd.
"Thank you."
"Thanks."
…
He kept saying thank you, and the nurse next to him tried to pull him up, but she couldn't stop him from insisting. She could only look at the child with heartache.
On the other side, Xiang Wan stood in the crowd, watching Chen Yan kowtow repeatedly, but said nothing and turned to leave...
She was afraid that if she didn't leave soon, she would turn back and help him up from his kneeling position.
When Xiang Wan came out of the hospital, she ran into Li Xia, who was carrying a cake and looking for her.
Seeing her come out from the direction of the hospital, Li Xia was taken aback for a moment: "I've already bought the cake. I'll accompany Miss to visit her friend."
"No need." Xiang Wan got into the car before him, rolled down the window and looked at him. "I've already visited him."
“…” Li Xia was clearly a little confused. “Then…”
"Let's go back to the villa in the city."
"……yes."
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