Chapter 12 Meeting 2
Jiang Yining immediately accepted the request. Seeing that her WeChat contacts now included an important "mother" in addition to Aunt Chen, she felt a warmth in her heart. Almost simultaneously, a conspicuous red envelope popped up—5000 yuan.
Jiang Yining subconsciously tapped "accept," her fingers moving faster than her mind, sending a playful "kneeling in gratitude to Mom" emoji followed by the message: "Thank you, dear Mom, love you, muah!"
On the other end of the screen, Jiang's mother looked at this familiar, slightly cheeky way of thanking her daughter, smiled and shook her head, but her eyes welled up with tears. Almost unconsciously, she pressed the video call request. She desperately wanted to see her daughter, even if only on a phone screen.
Just as Jiang Yining was about to tap "Accept," her phone screen suddenly froze, the image went blank, and then went completely black—it had crashed. Annoyed, she patted the unreliable "old relic": "You let me down at a crucial moment! When Mom gets here tomorrow, the first thing she'll do is replace you!"
As Jiang's mother stared at the unanswered message, a tiny, fleeting doubt, born of such overwhelming joy, quietly resurfaced in her heart. But the thought of finally being able to hug her daughter tomorrow overcame that doubt, replaced by anticipation.
She put away her phone and, with the first sense of peace she had felt in eight years, fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, at H City Airport.
Jiang's mother dragged her light suitcase and walked quickly out of the arrival hall, then hailed a taxi: "Driver, 369 Guangming Road."
Not far away, Mr. Jiang, wearing a hat and mask, quickly got into another car and said to the driver in a deep voice, "Follow that taxi in front, don't lose it."
The car wound its way through the bustling city streets. Jiang's mother's heart pounded faster as they approached their destination, her palms slightly sweaty. About half an hour later, the taxi stopped at a relatively quiet street corner.
"We're here, this is it, 'Lemon & Flower Shop'." The driver pointed to the roadside.
Jiang's mother paid the fare and got out of the car, standing on the sidewalk, her eyes searching anxiously. Warm yellow sunlight shone on the street, and the small flower shop on the street corner came into view.
The words "Lemon & Flower Shop" are clearly visible on the wooden signboard. The shop door is closed, and a handwritten wooden sign hangs on the glass window: "Closed for three days."
This is it, her Ningning is right here.
A wave of trepidation, like the feeling of being close to home, instantly gripped Jiang's mother. She took out her phone, her fingers trembling slightly as she dialed her daughter's number. The moment the call connected, she almost held her breath, looking up at the tightly closed doors and windows of the flower shop.
"Mom, I'm here."
A clear, familiar voice, filled with boundless joy and affection, came from the window on the second floor of the flower shop.
Jiang's mother looked up abruptly. She saw the small attic window on the second floor open, and a girl in light apricot-colored pajamas leaned out, waving vigorously at her.
The midday sun shone down on her without reservation, gilding her with a fuzzy golden edge. That face—fair skin, a pert nose, and especially those clear, bright eyes with slightly downturned corners—who else could it be but her Ningning?
Although her face has lost the last bit of baby fat from her teenage years, making her features more delicate and beautiful, she has lost some of her former naivety and gained more of the resilience honed by independent life. But the charm in her eyes, the warmth in her smile, the familiarity etched into her very being... cannot be replicated by any plastic surgery or imitation.
"Ningning... my Ningning!" Overwhelmed with joy at finding her again, Jiang's mother burst into tears. She tilted her head back, tears streaming down her face, blurring her vision. She blinked hard, gazing greedily at the vibrant figure in the window, as if trying to take in all the pain of the past eight years.
She could see the same glistening tears in her daughter's eyes, sparkling like shattered diamonds in the sunlight. Her mother's hair... In the sunlight, the strands of silver mixed in with the black hair stung Jiang Yining's eyes; they were the marks etched by eight years of heart-wrenching longing.
Just as the mother and daughter were gazing at each other through the sunlight and their tearful eyes in a touching moment, a figure suddenly rushed out from behind a roadside tree at the street corner, as if struck by lightning.
It was Jiang's father.
He ripped off his mask, his face beneath the hat brim filled with utter shock and disbelief. Pointing at Jiang Yining at the window, his voice hoarse and trembling with emotion, he demanded sharply of Jiang's mother, "Who is she? Ah Hui, what exactly is going on? Who is this girl? Tell me, did someone deliberately come here... come here..."
The words "like Ningning" stuck in his throat, like a knife cutting into it, and he couldn't say them. He feared it was an extremely malicious trap targeting his wife's fragile psyche.
Jiang's mother was startled by her husband's sudden appearance, but seeing his suspicious and pained expression, she turned around abruptly, spread her arms, and stood in front of the flower shop like a mother hen protecting her chicks. She excitedly shouted to Jiang's father, "Old Jiang, what are you yelling for? This is Ningning. Our daughter Ningning is back. Look carefully, this is Ningning."
"Absurd!" Father Jiang simply didn't believe it. Grief and anger made him speak recklessly, "Ningning has been... has been... for eight years. Ah Hui, wake up, this is impossible, it must be a scam."
Looking out the window at her parents' confrontation downstairs, and hearing her father's angry roar filled with pain and doubt, Jiang Yining felt as if her heart was being torn apart.
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