Chapter 21 Entrusted
Zhang Tuanyuan is a very sensible child.
When Jiang Shen first met her, he felt the heaviness behind this understanding.
Jiang Shen originally had no plans to return to China. He originally planned to recuperate in South Korea while working with a familiar team to write songs.
He suddenly decided to come back because he received a call from Zhang Jingchun.
Zhang Jingchun is Zhang Tuanyuan's mother and also a friend he has known since childhood.
The night he received the call, he took a flight at three in the morning and arrived home at seven. After arriving home, he changed his clothes, disguised himself again, and hurried to the hospital.
It was exactly eight o'clock when he arrived at the hospital and the inpatient department was just open.
There were not many visitors in the morning and the floor was very quiet. When he arrived at the inpatient department, Jiang Shen pulled his mask down, revealing his mouth and nose, and gasped for breath due to exhaustion.
He walked forward, paying attention to the ward number.
He was getting closer and closer to the room number given by Zhang Jingchun, and gradually walked to the end of the corridor.
At the end of the corridor, within sight, there is a small figure.
There was a row of stainless steel chairs in the corridor next to the ward, with very small girls sitting on them. The girl was dressed warmly, her hair was combed beautifully, and she also pinned a few colorful hairpins. She held a closed picture book in her arms and looked quietly at the sky outside the window.
There was no one around the little figure, and it was as quiet as a painting.
Jiang Shen's hurried footsteps caught the girl's attention.
The eyes of the big and the small met.
When she saw Jiang Shen, the girl's clear eyes were confused for a moment, and then filled with surprise. Her eyes visibly widened and her mouth opened unconsciously.
But she still didn't speak.
Jiang Shen recognized at a glance that this was Zhang Jingchun's daughter. Compared with Zhang Jingchun, she looked more like Zhang Jingchun's mother.
Jiang Shen walked up to the little girl and asked, "Are you Zhang Tuanyuan? Is your mother in there?"
The little girl nodded slightly and said in a voice as thin as a mosquito: "The doctor is asking mom questions inside."
After answering, she lowered her head and hugged the picture book tightly, as if she was a little wary of him who was a stranger. But after a while, she suddenly looked up again, as if she had mustered up her courage, and asked in a trembling voice: "I have seen the photo of you with your mother and grandmother. Are you my father?"
Jiang Shen was stunned. He didn't expect Zhang Tuanyuan to misunderstand.
Just at this moment, a voice came from the ward, and Jiang Shen hurriedly pulled up the mask.
The doctor came out and said to Zhang Tuanyuan, "Tuanyuan, you can go in now."
Zhang Tuanyuan jumped down from the chair, rushed into the room, and said to Zhang Jingchun, "Mom, Dad is outside!"
The voice was much clearer and louder, unlike when he was talking to Jiang Shen just now.
The door of the ward opened and Jiang Shen could hear Zhang Jingchun's answer.
Zhang Jingchun hesitated and asked in confusion, "What dad?"
Zhang Tuanyuan said: "The dad in the photo, the photo of you, grandma and dad, I saw it at grandma's house."
Zhang Jingchun exclaimed "Ah" as he suddenly realized who Zhang Tuanyuan was talking about.
"He is not your father." Zhang Jingchun only had time to say this before Jiang Shen knocked on the door and came in.
"Yuanyuan, can you sit outside for a while?" Seeing Jiang Shen, Zhang Jingchun turned and said to Zhang Tuanyuan.
Zhang Tuanyuan stared at Jiang Shen.
Isn't he the dad?
With regret and sadness, she obediently took the picture book and walked out again, not forgetting to tiptoe and pull the door handle to gently close the ward door.
After the door was closed, the ward fell into silence.
There was complete silence.
Jiang Shen looked at Zhang Jingchun lying on the hospital bed.
She wore a woolen hat, which covered her short hair that she kept all year round. She looked more haggard than two years ago, with sunken cheeks and wrists that were so thin that only bones were left.
Although he and Zhang Jingchun had known each other since childhood, he later went to South Korea and their contact decreased. Later, she left her birthplace for marriage and the two lost contact.
They resumed contact two years ago, the year Zhang Jingchun's mother passed away.
Zhang Jingchun's mother and his mother were friends since their school days.
His mother had no brothers or sisters, and Zhang Jingchun's mother was his mother's good sister who was not related by blood. When Jiang Shen was very young, his mother would always hold Zhang Jingchun's mother's hand and ask Jiang Shen to call her "godmother".
After his mother passed away, Zhang Jingchun's mother came to visit him whenever she had the chance. Every time she came, she would secretly put money in his hands and tell him not to let his father know and to hide the money well.
But because of his father, she couldn't come here often to avoid being disliked.
After Jiang Shen went abroad, his contact with Zhang Jingchun decreased, but his contact with Zhang Jingchun's mother increased a lot.
He received a lot of care from Zhang Jingchun's mother.
He knew that Zhang Jingchun's mother did not support him taking this path, but she never said it out loud. She just kept saying it over the phone: "If you are tired and want to come back, just tell your aunt and she will buy you a plane ticket. Don't treat your aunt as an outsider."
After Jiang Shen made his debut, Zhang Jingchun's mother would fly to watch his concerts whenever she had time.
The teammates didn’t understand Chinese and once thought that Zhang Jingchun’s mother was Jiang Shen’s mother.
This is indeed the case. Zhang Jingchun's mother is his mother's non-blood-related good sister, and also his non-blood-related mother.
Later, because of Zhang Jingchun's marriage, Zhang Jingchun's mother was so angry that she was admitted to the hospital. She worried about Zhang Jingchun all day long and her health became very poor.
Jiang Shen is abroad and cannot return to China to visit Zhang Jingchun's mother often. The only thing he can do is to make more video calls to her and show his concern for her.
Later, Zhang Jingchun returned home from another place with his children. No longer having to worry day and night, Zhang Jingchun's mother's health has returned to normal.
Jiang Shen felt much more at ease. During that period, he was involved in a love scandal and was subjected to various trials and cyberbullying one after another. He did not dare to open his phone easily.
Not all romance rumors will receive a response from the company, which will weigh the value of the rumors. After all, being black and red is also being red. When a scandal can abuse and retain fans, companies sometimes let it ferment.
After the company had completely taken advantage of the romance scandal and everything was settled, Jiang Shen learned that Zhang Jingchun's mother was seriously ill.
He was unable to see his mother for the last time or say goodbye to her, but this time, he accompanied Zhang Jingchun's mother through the last few days of her life.
He and Zhang Jingchun resumed contact, but their only common point was Zhang Jingchun's mother. Although they regarded each other as siblings, they actually had little to talk about.
Time seemed to turn back, and what had happened happened again.
But at that time, it was his mother who asked Zhang Jingchun's mother to take good care of him, but now it has become Zhang Jingchun who asked him to take good care of Zhang Tuanyuan.
It was quiet except for the slight hum of the ward's heater.
Zhang Jingchun was the first to speak: "Are you okay? I searched online, are you on sick leave?"
Jiang Shen nodded and said, "I'm fine. I'm just taking this opportunity to rest."
He pulled out a chair and sat down. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "Why didn't you tell me you were sick?"
Zhang Jingchun smiled bitterly and said, "It's not easy for you to work hard abroad. I didn't tell you because I didn't want to cause you trouble. But now I have to trouble you."
Jiang Shen understood the implication of this sentence.
He pursed his lips, not wanting to break the paper.
It seemed that as long as they didn't say anything, Zhang Jingchun's health would not deteriorate.
"How long will you rest this time?" Zhang Jingchun asked when he didn't speak.
"I don't know either, but it's nothing." Jiang Shen rubbed his face.
Zhang Jingchun nodded. She spoke weakly and very frail, but she knew that she had to say everything she needed to say today.
"My condition is not very good. I don't know if I can make it through it." Zhang Jingchun said concisely.
Jiang Shen suddenly raised his eyes to look at her, his gaze falling on the woolen hat she was wearing.
The room was heated and clearly warm enough, but Zhang Jingchun still wore a lot of clothes.
Zhang Jingchun noticed that his attention was on her hat, so she touched the edge of her hat and said, "You're losing hair. Wear a hat to cover it up."
She didn't want to talk too much about her health, so she just said a few words about herself and then talked about Zhang Tuanyuan.
"Jiang Shen, I really don't want to trouble you, but there is really no other way. Do you know anyone reliable who can..." Zhang Jingchun paused, as if to prepare himself mentally, "someone who can adopt Yuanyuan."
There was silence in the ward again.
There were intermittent bird calls coming from outside the window, but they failed to add a bit of vitality to the silent ward.
"Has it reached this point?" Jiang Shen asked.
Zhang Jingchun sighed and said, "I don't know, but I have to be prepared."
"Before she was hospitalized, I could still take care of her. Later, the doctor suggested that I be admitted to the hospital for observation. I didn't know what to do with Yuanyuan. You know, she has no other relatives."
Zhang Jingchun talked a lot about Zhang Tuanyuan. She talked about how she hired a nanny to take care of Zhang Tuanyuan, but the nanny left Zhang Tuanyuan alone at home. She also talked about how the nanny pinched Zhang Tuanyuan to vent her anger. As she spoke, she quietly wiped away her tears with the side of her finger.
She was more worried about Zhang Tuanyuan's future than her own physical condition.
Since being hospitalized, she has been in panic every day, worrying about what would happen to Zhang Tuanyuan if she really died?
"I really have no choice. She is so young, only four years old..." Zhang Jingchun said with a sob.
She had no other choice, so she called Jiang Shen, hoping that he could help her find a family where her daughter could live happily and take better care of her daughter.
Jiang Shen wanted to comfort her, but all his consolation was pale and powerless at this time. He stared at Zhang Jingchun's thin wrist, and what emerged in his mind was Zhang Tuanyuan's blank look at the window.
"Don't think too much. You'll be fine."
"During the time you are recovering, I can help you take care of Zhang Tuanyuan."
Let Jiang Shen help her take care of Zhang Tuanyuan.
Zhang Jingchun did have this thought when he saw the news about Jiang Shen's sick leave.
But as soon as the idea came to her mind, she immediately suppressed it.
When she was young, she was rebellious and ignorant, and Jiang Shen always helped her take care of her mother. He often mentioned the kindness her mother had shown him, but Zhang Jingchun knew that there was not much her mother could do as they were separated by an ocean. The kindness should have been repaid long ago, and there was no need for Jiang Shen to take on the responsibility of taking care of her children.
Moreover, Jiang Shen is an idol and a star. With such an identity, taking care of a child of a woman who is not related to him by blood is easy to imagine the kind of controversy it would cause.
But when I think of my daughter, the fire that I had suppressed would reignite.
She admitted that she was selfish, but as a mother, how could she not be selfish when considering her children?
"Really?" Zhang Jingchun's lips moved, and he finally said uncertainly, "But your profession..."
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