Chapter 86
As Ranlong spoke, his eyes turned red, his nose felt sore, and tears fell from his eyes from time to time.
But Qiu An, who often cried when he was unhappy and would shed tears when he smelled mint, had a blank expression this time and listened quietly, as if he was listening to someone else's story.
Ranlong wiped away her tears, took out her bag, and found a small box in it. Inside the box was a glasses cloth folded into a small piece.
She carefully opened the box, untied the glasses cloth, and saw a pendant lying inside.
The lanyard was covered with star-shaped rhinestones and cheap crystals, and at the bottom was a white jade stone carved with a moon pattern.
The decoration on the pendant has long since become cloudy and dull, but it is not difficult to imagine how bright and dazzling it once was.
This is a very cheap street stall accessory, but it is Jiang Ting’s most precious collection.
After Pei Chun finished telling the story, Liu Ranlong and Yao Ling sat there in a daze. He took a stainless steel rice bowl from the kitchen, put the leftover food on the table into it one spoonful at a time, then opened the clams and poured the soup base full of mud and sand into the food without spilling a single grain, and then walked up the stairs step by step.
In fact, there is a home elevator next to the stairs, but it seems to have been idle for a long time.
The two were still digesting this sad story when they heard a noise coming from upstairs.
Yao Ling was braver and ran to the living room first to look up, and Ran Long followed closely behind.
Pei Chunlai was seen feeding the old man on the recliner with a bowl of rice.
The old man seemed to be mumbling something, but he couldn't speak. He could only hum and utter a few syllables, which sounded like he was angry.
Pei Chunlai patiently fed him another bite, but the old man kept his mouth shut and refused to eat.
So she didn't even put down the rice spoon, raised her arm high and slapped the old man several times.
Finally, she put the rice bowl on the old man's face, and the food was all over his face, and the soup slid down his neck into his collar.
The rice bowl slipped off, and a look of guilt finally appeared on the man's dirty face. He knew Pei Chunlai would not give him any more food, so he had to use his weak and uncoordinated hands to hastily scrape the food and soup off his face and body into his mouth, wolfing it down.
As soon as Pei Chunlai turned around, Ranlong grabbed Yaoling and ran away. When she came downstairs, she saw the two girls sitting quietly at the dining table, as if they had never left.
Ranlong scratched his head and tried to decide what to say: "Um, um... Auntie, if there's nothing else, we won't bother you for now. I'm sorry, I came in such a hurry and didn't bring anything with me. I'll go back..."
"Wait a minute." Pei Chunlai interrupted her.
Ranlong then realized that Pei Chunlai had gone upstairs and had a small wooden box in his hand, which looked like it was used to store jewelry.
The adults didn't give Jiang Huan the love he deserved, and they all owed her too much. She didn't come back to take revenge on them, because she did good deeds and accumulated virtue.
If Jiang Huan still has any ties to her heart, it is probably only with her sister Jiang Ting.
This is a little gadget Jiang Huan bought for Jiang Ting when they were filming in Hengzhen.
The man was so happy to have a son that he got a piece of jade from somewhere and made it into a pendant for his son.
Jiang Ting looked at him with envy, but just as she reached out and touched his index finger, she was beaten up by the man.
Not long after Jiang Ting was sad, Jiang Huan gave her a moon pendant.
Jiang Ting couldn't let it go, and she was very sensible, so she only took it out to look at it when her husband was not at home. She didn't want to cause trouble for her sister.
Jiang Huan’s biggest regret is that he was not able to take Jiang Ting with him.
But this is not Jiang Huan's fault. She is a good child with a conscience. How could she have guessed how beastly the beast could be?
Pei Chunlai would visit Jiang Ting's grave every year. One year when she went there, she found a few more bouquets of flowers that had not yet withered in front of the tombstone, and the mound beside the tomb was loose, as if it had been opened and sealed again.
Pei Chunlai knew that Jiang Huan came to find her sister and wanted to take her sister away.
But Jiang Ting's ashes were not buried there.
When the relocation was halfway done, Jiang Huan discovered that this was just Jiang Ting's cenotaph, so he had to leave it where it was.
Jiang Ting is not dead.
Pei Chunlai poured her ashes into the river where the two sisters had been bathed.
That river was very bad. It took Jiang Ting away and almost took Jiang Huan away.
But the rushing river really makes the dead trees rooted there feel fascinated.
Jiang Ting jumped into the river to commit suicide, but Pei Chunlai knew that at some point when she jumped off the bridge, she must have hoped that the river would take her away, far away from here, to a better place.
She shouldn't be buried here, she should have gone far away.
All girls should run away. Like her sister.
Qiu An took the small box containing the pendant and held it in his palm.
She lifted her freshly bandaged finger and wiped away the tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes.
"I see. Thank you."
"Well... you don't have to thank me, but in return, could you tell me when your real birthday is? Your mother... Aunt Pei told me you were born in the 'cold winter month,' but you told me back then it was February 13th, and you told everyone else that, too."
Qiu An's expression was subtle. Her ears moved slightly outwards, and then she pursed her lips and asked, "After hearing this story, you don't care that I intentionally hurt others, or that I'm selfish. You only care about when my birthday is?"
"That's not intentional harm, that's self-defense! Also, how can you be so selfish?"
Qiu An stroked the jewelry box and whispered, "I didn't take Jiang Ting with me."
"This isn't your fault... Besides, you were so young back then, you hadn't even finished your studies yet, and you went out on your own to fight for your life. You must have suffered a lot, and endured a lot of injustice..."
Without the support of a family, it would be difficult for ordinary people to make a living, let alone she is involved in this flashy world of fame and fortune.
As Ranlong spoke, tears as big as beans welled up in his eyes again.
Tears flowed like menstrual blood but could not be wiped away no matter how hard she tried. Qiu An put down the jewelry box, hugged her in his arms, and whispered in her ear: "I'm not crying, why are you sad?"
"I...when I think of what you've been through, I..."
Qiu An patted her back gently and said comfortingly, "Don't overthink it. It's not as hard as you think. It's okay. It's all over."
A few words as light as a feather swept away her bloody childhood and scarred youth.
She didn't want Ranlong to cry so sadly for her, but seeing her crying for her, the huge rock in her heart finally fell.
She originally thought that Ranlong would be afraid of her and stay away from her if he knew her past. She knew that Ranlong was a good person and very tolerant, she just didn't have that much confidence in herself.
We also have to thank Pei Chunlai.
Everyone, when telling a story, tends to embellish themselves, intentionally or unintentionally, and try to justify their actions as much as possible. But Pei Chunlai was very restrained. The focus of her embellishment wasn't on herself, but on Jiang Huan.
So she didn't hate her as much now.
Because Ranlong held her so tightly, as if he wanted to embrace her into his own life, to travel through time and space to embrace Jiang Huan who was drifting in the wind.
Ranlong was about to stop crying after a while, but after Qiu An comforted her, she couldn't stop crying. She leaned on Qiu An's shoulder, her tears and snot soaking her clothes.
She didn't understand how a person could be so strong.
Really, she had thought that Qiu An would be the one crying uncontrollably and needing a hug to comfort her. She had even prepared to throw away one of her clothes, and now she didn't know if Qiu An would be distressed by this.
Ranlong cried so much that her cheeks were sore and she couldn't breathe. She had never cried as much as she did at that moment in her entire life.
Ranlong used to be a quiet child. Her nanny and Ms. Hu always taught her that crying was a way for children to attract attention, not a solution. So, whenever Ranlong cried, they would run away, forcing her to hold back her tears. Over time, she stopped crying.
Unfortunately, the nanny and Ms. Hu didn't know that not crying easily and being strong are not related. Look at Qiu An, she cries a lot, but she is a hundred times stronger than her.
Being hugged by Qiu An like this, she just wanted to cry, really wanted to cry out loud.
Seeing her sobbing so hard she was almost having trouble breathing, Qiu An changed the subject to distract her: "Actually, I don't even know when my birthday is. My household registration says March 1st, which seems even further away from the 'cold winter month.'"
"How, hiccup, will it be March, hiccup, the 1st?"
"I don't know either."
Qiu An actually knew it vaguely.
The child Pei Chunlai was expecting was not Jiang Huan. So she didn't want to remember the day when she suffered so much but received no reward.
March 1st was probably the day Pei Chunlai registered her household registration. At least it had a breath of spring air, which wasn’t too bad.
"Then do you want to know why I told you my birthday is February 13th?"
"Hmm? I want to."
"Because Valentine's Day was coming up, and you kept talking about it. I wanted you to remember my birthday right away. Also, I wanted my birthday to be before yours so it would be easier to prepare a return gift."
Ranlong was stunned for a moment, then again, and broke away from her arms, standing up and looking at Qiu An.
After a while, he said, "Is this true? Why are there so many things to consider?"
"Yeah, really. I'm just that scheming."
Ranlong's eyes widened a little, and just as she was about to laugh, she started crying again.
Yes, it has not been easy for her to come this far. If she didn’t have some scheming, she would have been taken advantage of long ago.
Qiu An watched her tears, which had just stopped rolling out again, and suddenly found it a little funny.
Ranlong didn't miss her little expression and complained, "Why are you still laughing at me?"
"Well, I'm just laughing at you, little cat."
Qiu An took a piece of paper and wiped her stained face. His fingers wrapped in bandages brushed across her beautiful eyebrows, cheekbones, nose tip and lips.
Ranlong's facial features were itchy from being tickled, and she kept making faces to relieve the pain.
"Am I really ugly now?"
However, before Qiu An could answer, a warm kiss sealed her lips the next second.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
