Longing for You (Part Six)
The little girl held An Yi's hand and examined the bracelet on her wrist very carefully.
"Twenty-one and a half flowers..." the girl murmured, then asked with delight, "Sister, where did these come from?"
"A friend made it." She doesn't like wearing jewelry, but when she saw the bracelet that Ji Qingzhou had made, she thought she would try it on.
The bracelet was very light and barely noticeable, so she just wore it.
An had already counted the children again for the little girl, and then asked, "What's wrong?"
The little girl glanced at An Yi, said nothing, and ran into the house. After a while, she came out with something in her hand.
"Here, take this."
It also appears to be a woven rope, wrapped under a layer of plastic film, a very pale pink and a very pale blue, seemingly the same as the one in An Yi's hand, also a begonia flower bracelet.
This bracelet must be quite old; the color has faded, the rope has dissolved, and it's broken in some places, with some residue falling out.
Even through the plastic film, An could feel the rope. The moment she took it, the rope felt very light, yet also very heavy, like a very thick history book pressing on An's heart.
She asked, "What is this?"
The little girl said, "I don't know either, my grandma told me to give it to you."
An asked doubtfully, "Your mother-in-law?"
The little girl, her eyes sparkling, seemed to have completed some kind of grand handover ceremony: "My grandma told me to give this to the person who has a begonia flower bracelet. Oh, and she also told me to count the number of begonia flowers myself, and it has to be more than twenty-one and a half!"
Twenty-one and a half flowers...
An's body stiffened.
The little girl noticed that something was wrong with An Yi, who was almost unable to stand, so she quickly helped An Yi sit on the stone bench.
Someone inside called to the girl, and she quickly ran inside.
An's expression was one of terror, which quickly turned into one of misery.
Did that dream actually happen? Or does it exist somewhere in history?
An had regained her senses, and the violent fluctuations gradually subsided under her control.
Finally, a sigh escaped my lips.
So that dream was real...
But his ending was so tragic, and their endings were so tragic...
She counted the rotten bracelet; it indeed had twenty-one strands, with the unfinished half-bracelet standing out prominently at the end.
After a while, the little girl came out of the house carrying a water cup.
An took a sip and asked, "Do you know where this comes from?"
The little girl said, "My grandma said this thing was passed down from our ancestors. She said that a long, long time ago, a girl named A-Yun taught our ancestors how to make oiled paper umbrellas, and our ancestors made a living by making oiled paper umbrellas. Our ancestors asked A-Yun what she wanted in return, but A-Yun said she didn't need anything. She just gave them a bracelet and said that if they met someone wearing the same bracelet in the future, they should give it to her."
"My mother-in-law said that her ancestors had waited for several generations without success, and told me to keep waiting. I never expected that she would actually come!"
An pressed further: "Are there any other legends or information related to the bracelet or A-Yun?"
The little girl shook her head: "Maybe my grandma knows more."
An felt a bitter taste in her mouth, got up and left.
Upon reaching the door, remembering the purpose of his visit, he casually asked, "Do you know Granny Yun?"
The girl asked in surprise, "You know my mother-in-law?"
An was also startled, but the little girl then said, "But my grandmother has already passed away."
It turns out that when Granny Yun was young, she did marry into another town. Her husband's family didn't treat her badly, but they forbade her from making oil-paper umbrellas anymore, because women should cook and do laundry.
But Grandma Yun couldn't let go of the oil-paper umbrellas passed down from generation to generation, so she ran back. A few years ago, her health deteriorated.
The little girl didn't know anything else; what she said was told to her by her mother-in-law, and some of it was told to her by her mother.
The little girl's mother went to work and wasn't home; otherwise, she would probably be just as happy as the little girl.
An turned and glanced back at the tall crabapple tree. That glance was like a heavy stroke gently falling on the history book, into the gaps in the history book.
That night, those dreams came again.
A young, unrestrained general, a warhorse leaping into the air, always shrouded in misty rain... a series of overlapping scenes unfold.
An Yi was in a very low mood after that day.
She no longer went to watch Qi Ling and her grandmother make oiled paper umbrellas, nor did she go horse-riding with Qi Ling.
She would stay in her room, holding the bracelet motionless when she woke up, and closing her eyes to sleep when she was sleepy.
She eats very little now. Before, she would eat with them, but now when Qi Ling brings the food up, sometimes she just takes it back down the same way.
Qi Ling finally couldn't stand it anymore and knocked on An Yi's door.
An struggled to get out of bed and tidied herself up, but she still looked haggard when she appeared before Qi Ling.
"Come with me to walk the horses."
An said, "I don't really want to go today."
Qi Ling asked, "When do you want to go?"
She shook her head: "I don't know."
Qi Ling, holding the door open, said, "Ma'er hasn't seen you in a long time. She wants you to go out with her."
An didn't want to talk anymore and held the doorknob, trying to close the door.
The person on the other end said helplessly, "This was just delivered to your door, I'll accept it for you."
He carried a large box inside and placed it at the door; it looked quite heavy.
An had packed up her suitcase, closed the door, and lay back down on the bed.
She was still somewhat conscious. She didn't seem to have ordered anything or shopped online. Fearing it might be something important, she got up again and started unpacking the boxes.
It's all food.
Some snacks, unlike those junk snacks that only satisfy a craving, seem to be healthier and come from brands that An had never seen before.
There were also many vacuum-sealed plastic bags containing cooked food.
An had already determined that she had not bought these items, and it only took her a second to rule out Kong Yue.
There was only one person left.
An Yi twitched the corners of her mouth. This person had time to prepare this for her, but not time to deal with the things between them.
An grabbed a fancy bread, ate half of it, got a little annoyed, and went to bed.
The young general from my dream has come back again.
In the drizzling rain, a fine horse strolled leisurely along the path.
Huai Chuan sat on his horse, holding the reins in front of An Yi with one hand and a white oil-paper umbrella with flowing clouds in the other.
He said, "After this last battle is over and the war is quelled, I will ask the Emperor to issue an edict allowing me to marry you."
An was somewhat uneasy: "But I heard from your subordinates that the Emperor wants you to marry a princess, doesn't he?"
"I won't marry her, don't worry."
The warm breath sprayed onto An Yi's face, making her face slightly flushed.
Grandma said that marriage is a major life event and should be discussed with parents, but Huaichuan always shamelessly brings up marriage with her, which makes her very worried.
"What if the emperor insists on sending you?"
"Then I'll retire from the military and spend my life making oil-paper umbrellas with you!"
Ah, a lifetime, An silently repeated the word in her heart, finally unable to suppress a look of anticipation on her face.
The girl's shyness and longing lingered in her heart for a long time.
Huaichuan said, "Our little master must teach me well when the time comes!"
An turned around with a smile: "The oil-paper umbrellas I make are the best in the surrounding area. I will definitely teach you everything I know!"
"If I don't learn it, you can't complain that I don't have a single copper coin on me."
An shook her head firmly: "Then I'll make oil-paper umbrellas to support you!"
“It’s a promise,” Huaichuan pushed off the saddle, and the horse galloped off: “I will definitely come to marry you!”
The promise was made when the oil-paper umbrella floated out and drifted into the drizzling sky.
The dream ended, and I arrived at another scene.
This time, she finally saw his face clearly.
The boy, dressed in armor, with his long hair tied up and flying in the wind, stood under a tree in full bloom with crabapple blossoms.
An was already standing behind her, raising her heavy hand and placing it on the boy's shoulder.
"Huaichuan".
The boy turned his head slightly and saw the upturned corners of the mouth, and—that face that was all too familiar.
A broadsword flew out of nowhere and sliced straight across the boy's neck.
She heard the sound of a head hitting the ground with a "thud," and the head rolled several times on the ground.
The gushing blood splattered on An Yi's face, but she didn't even blink, staring blankly at the head on the ground.
Her neck ached terribly, as if the sword had sliced into it; her heart ached even more, and all the blooming flowers in the world seemed to wither away in an instant before her eyes.
The headless body leaned back, unwilling and regretful, and finally fell to the ground together, never to rise again.
That head, that face, were clearly identical to Ji Qingzhou's.
Even the upturned corners of his mouth were no different from his usual expression.
She could no longer bear it, and knelt on the ground, clutching her chest, crawling towards her step by step.
An Yi, lying on the bed, took a deep breath like a fish that had been drained of water, and suddenly opened her eyes.
The pillow was already half-soaked.
The complex and profound emotions were indescribable, yet they penetrated to the very core of my being.
She was trembling all over, as if in a dream. She suddenly couldn't tell whether she was by Huaichuan's side or in the small town.
She just missed Ji Qingzhou terribly; she longed to hear his voice, to hear his breathing, to hear him call her name.
Yes, it's longing.
She reached for her phone and controlled her hand to dial Ji Qingzhou's number.
I don't care if it's late at night, where he is, or whether he's busy.
She really wanted to hear his voice.
What should she say? Right, what should she say to her?
Should she break up? No, she didn't want to.
Speaking of that dream, no, it wasn't.
The phone was ringing, and she wanted to tell him: I kind of want to see you.
If you want to be more specific, you can also say: I miss you.
The beeping sound disappeared...
An Yi's voice was nasal: "Hey, Ji Qingzhou..."
There was a two-second pause before a voice came through: "He went to take a shower." It was a foreign woman's voice speaking broken Chinese.
A bucket of cold water was poured over her head, extinguishing all of An's emotions, and everything returned to calm.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com