The hospital in Da Nian is still a vast expanse of whiteness, with a constant stream of doctors and patients, as if isolated from the outside world, without the atmosphere before the Spring Festival.
Wei Ruxia got up early, she went to the sink to pick up a basin of warm water, and wanted grandma to wash her face. When I came out with the water basin, I found that my grandmother had already got up from the bed. She was wearing a hospital gown, smiled at her, and said, "I'll do it myself."
She is in good spirits today and her stamina is stronger than ever. Wei Ruxia looked at her cheeks that had turned rosy for the first time in a long time, and opened the door of the washbasin while holding the basin and said, "I'll go run the water."
When Wei Zishan opened the door and came in, Li Suhe was sitting by the window. She had a copy of Tagore's Poems in her hand, and a gray cashmere shawl was draped over her shoulders. Her back was warm and serene.
Hearing the door open, Li Suhe turned around and saw Wei Zishan. She smiled and said, "Xia Xia went to the supermarket to buy ingredients. Today we are making glutinous rice balls."
Rice cakes require too many tools to be made in the hospital, while glutinous rice balls are relatively simple and can still be made.
Wei Zishan was wearing a light brown coat. He was tall, with handsome features, holding a bunch of flowers in his arms, which made him look like a British gentleman. Li Su and Aihua cannot be raised in the hospital, so he buys a bunch every day.
Handing the flower in his hand to Li Su and his arms, Wei Zishan frowned slightly and said, "The dumplings can be made after leaving the hospital. You should have a good rest today."
Li Suhe didn't care and sniffed the lily in her arms. She put the book on the small table to the side, motioned Wei Zishan to sit down, and said, "Xia Xia is with us for the first time for the New Year, and I want her to know about Ancheng. New Year's custom."
Hearing that it was for Wei Ruxia, Wei Zishan frowned even more.
The son was sitting beside him, and she could clearly see any changes in his demeanor. Li Suhe leaned against the back of the chair and held a large bouquet of flowers, feeling a little tired physically and mentally.
"You still resist her." Li Suhe said, "If you resist her so deeply, how can you get to know her."
Wei Zishan didn't want to discuss Wei Ruxia's problem with Li Suhe when she was ill, because it was likely to cause quarrels and make her feel more uncomfortable.
"Let's stop talking about this." Wei Zishan said.
"I love you more than her." Li Suhe said.
Wei Zishan raised her head, her mother's expression was calm, and her eyes flashed with light. This sentence came from her heart, and Wei Zishan could feel it. They have talked about Wei Ruxia countless times. This is the first time that the mother has talked about it from this point of view.
"You are my son, I can't survive you, I must die first. After I die, I don't want you to be alone in the world, so I picked her up to Ancheng. I love you more than her, otherwise I wouldn't bring her to Ancheng so selfishly and let her suffer from your indifference and indifference all day long."
The idea is disgraceful, because it does bring out the selfishness of a mother. Hearing what his mother said, Wei Zishan would seem naive and ridiculous to argue this question from the point of "I can live well myself".
Wei Zishan is eloquent. As for Wei Ruxia, for the first time he was speechless by his mother.
The throat was a little sore, and after Li Suhe finished speaking, it seemed that he still had something to say. Her lips moved slightly, and after a while, she asked Wei Zishan, "How long has it been since your father died?"
Changing the subject, Wei Zishan's eyes moved, looking at Li Suhe and said, "Twenty years."
"When your father died, you were older than her. You should still remember how you felt at that time, and you still had me at that time." Li Suhe slowly closed his eyes and said to Wei Zishan, "She was just this year. Losing a mother who depends on each other, being with you is not as good as a stranger who treats her more, she is sadder than you. Her birth ruined your life, but it is her mother's fault, not her. You are kind People, treat the little wild cats in the community with compassion..."
Li Suhe paused, the sun shone on her face, and every wrinkle of the old man seemed so kind. She opened her eyes and looked at Wei Zishan, her tone soft and lowly pleading.
"Be nice to her." Li Suhe said.
Dumplings are made during Chinese New Year in the north, and dumplings are eaten during the Lantern Festival, but basically they go to the supermarket to buy quick-frozen ones, and have never made them by themselves.
Li Suhe's ward has a small kitchen, which can fit just three people. The grandparents and grandsons divided the labor and cooperated, Li Suhe was in charge of making stuffing, Wei Zishan was in charge of making glutinous rice flour, and the three of them made dumplings together.
"You know how to cut noodles?" Li Suhe was a little surprised when he watched Wei Ruxia cut the dough into small pieces, and cut it well.
After kneading the cut pieces, Wei Ruxia replied with a smile, "It's almost like making dumplings."
With an expression like "As expected of my granddaughter", Li Suhe turned to look at Wei Zishan who was wrapping glutinous rice balls, and instantly looked disgusted: "How many times have you made glutinous rice dumplings with me? Why can't you wrap them?"
Wei Ruxia turned her head and glanced at Wei Zishan. The dumpling in his hand was covered with fillings, and he had black sesame seeds and glutinous rice noodles in his hand.
Hearing Li Suhe's words, Wei Zishan frowned in confusion, tore a piece of glutinous rice and pasted it on the place where the filling was exposed. Wei Ruxia couldn't help laughing when she saw his action.
Wei Zishan looked up at her, Wei Ruxia's smile stopped. With no expression, he put the dumplings in his hand, turned on the faucet and rushed towards his hand, saying, "I'll go get the medicine for you."
It's past seven o'clock in the evening. After eating the dumplings, Li Suhe should take medicine.
As soon as Wei Zishan left, Li Suhe started laughing at him. She took the dumpling wrapper and wrapped the stuffing, wondering, "What's so hard about wrapping dumplings? Your dad doesn't know anything about cooking, so he's picky eaters. Woolen cloth."
Hearing grandma's complaints about his father, Wei Ruxia smiled, lowered her head and continued to pack.
The family of three had eaten dumplings, and it was past nine o'clock in the evening. Wei Zishan lived at home and left after taking care of his mother and taking medicine. Wei Ruxia took care of her grandmother to wash, and then the two went to bed together.
It was 30 this year, and there were sounds of firecrackers being set off everywhere. Wei Ruxia didn't sleep soundly. After slumbering for a while, she heard the voice of the nurse calling her.
"Baby."
Wei Ruxia turned around, turned on the lamp, and looked sleepily at the grandma who was already awake. She is in the hospital now, and especially pay attention to sleep. Wei Ruxia got up from the bed and said, "Is it too noisy? I'll get you earplugs."
Li Suhe smiled on the hospital bed, beckoned and said, "Come and sleep with me."
"I don't sleep honestly." Wei Ruxia walked to grandma's bed and squatted down, holding grandma's hand on the hospital bed and pressing her cheek. She also wanted to sleep with Li Suhe, but she was afraid that she would not sleep honestly and weigh her down.
"Just a while." Li Suhe lifted the quilt, pointed to the time, and said, "Grandma will keep you with you."
At this time, Wei Ruxia glanced at the wall clock in the room, the pointer pointed to eleven fifty, the new year was coming soon.
Wei Ruxia felt an inexplicable emotion in her heart. She couldn't tell what she felt. She took off her slippers and Wei Ruxia got into Li Suhe's bed. Her quilt was a little cold, Wei Ruxia was warm and leaned towards Li Suhe. Feeling her coming, Li Suhe smiled softly and took her into his arms.
Her body was already bigger than hers, and Li Suhe was sick and was hospitalized and lost weight, and now he couldn't hold her. The smell of disinfectant from the hospital couldn't cover up the fragrance of the light shower gel on the girl's body, and this breath of vitality made her squinted slightly.
"This is the first time that grandma will accompany you to keep the new year." Li Suhe said, "Tomorrow is the New Year. Do you have any New Year's wishes?"
Lying obediently in Grandma's arms, Wei Ruxia listened to her heartbeat. The sound of firecrackers in her ears seemed to be dampened by her heartbeat. She felt very satisfied and stable.
"I hope grandma is healthy." Wei Ruxia said.
In the dark ward, Wei Ruxia's voice was very low, and the two's shallow breathing mixed together, as if she had blown away her wish.
"Where's grandma?" Wei Ruxia raised her head slightly, looked at grandma and asked.
Li Suhe reached out and patted Wei Ruxia's back, light and soft, like holding Wei Ruxia as a child. Looking at the fireworks blooming outside the window, she said quietly, "I hope you and your father can live a good life."
They are the two closest blood relatives in the world.
"Bang!" The sound of fireworks bursting outside the window made Wei Ruxia feel terrified. She hugged her grandma tightly and said softly, "And grandma too."
When the hour hand pointed to twelve, the bell at the main entrance of the hospital rang, and cheers broke out in the isolated and lifeless hospital.
"Happy New Year~"
Li Su and Wei Ruxia, who was sleeping faintly in her arms, kissed her forehead lightly, as if her tentacles had reached into her dream.
"Baby, happy new year, help me take care of my father and myself."
In the Luo family's mansion on New Year's Eve, all the street lights were on, and the lights all pointed to the main house in the center of the mansion compound like arrows.
The main house is an eight-storey villa decorated in Gothic style.
Luo Tang was sitting on a chair, wrapping a glutinous rice ball. Just after the end of the New Year's Eve, after wrapping the glutinous rice balls and eating, the housekeeper Li Shu would take him downstairs to set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.
There are many servants in the mansion on weekdays, but with the Spring Festival approaching, Luo Tang's grandmother Shen Zhenshu gave them a holiday, and there were only five or six older servants left in the mansion.
"Luo Tang is in his third year of high school next year, have you decided where to study?" Shen Zhenshu wrapped the dumplings and looked at his grandson and said.
Now there are only members of their Luo family in the kitchen, Luo Tang's grandfather Luo Jincheng, Luo Tang's grandmother Shen Zhenshu, Luo Tang's father Luo Qinggu, and Luo Tang's mother Yang Shuru.
Luo Tang decided to go abroad to study from the very beginning. Although Luo Tang is usually taciturn, he is a very thoughtful person, and his parents hardly need to worry about it.
"He wants to go to a country in northern Europe." Yang Shuru replied for him, and then emphasized with Luo Tang, "You can go to study, but you must return to China after reading."
His grandparents have only one grandson, his parents have only one son, and the roots of their Luo family are in Ancheng.
Putting the dumplings in his hand and putting them aside, Luo Tang glanced at his grandmother and mother, and replied, "I want to study in China."
In a word, the eyes of the other four all turned to him.
Luo Tang accepted their gazes, and before he could speak, the phone rang, and it was Wei Ruxia who called. With the corners of his eyes slightly raised, Luo Tang clapped the glutinous rice flour on his hands and walked out of the kitchen with his phone.
He walked to the windowsill of the living room on the second floor, fireworks illuminated the sky, Luo Tang pressed the answer.
Amidst the sound of firecrackers, a silent voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Luo Tang, my grandma is gone."
Li Suhe's body was transported back to Yizhen from the hospital that night. It is now after three in the morning, and she will be mourned at dawn the next day.
Wei Zishan's hometown was in Yizhen. When Li Suhe's body returned home, various relatives also came. The funeral is a big event, and only relatives and friends with Li Suhe also came.
The mourning hall was quickly set up. The living room, which had been neatly tidy up by Li Suhe, now only had a table and a coffin. There was a portrait of grandma on the table, and the body of grandma was placed in the coffin. Wei Ruxia was wearing white mourning clothes and knelt in front of the coffin with her relatives.
This kind of thing happened too often, so often that Wei Ruxia thought she had been in a dream. Maybe she is sleeping now and wakes up tomorrow, she is still in Wintertown, her mother is not dead, and her grandmother is not dead either.
Next to it was the howling of relatives, Wei Ruxia's eyes were too dry to shed tears. Wei Zishan was busy dealing with the funeral and had been busy greeting outside. He left her the time to cry, but she couldn't cry.
The howl of the relatives went from deafening at the beginning, to intermittent later, until after six in the morning, when it was the darkest before dawn, everyone stopped. But there was a lot of noise inside and outside, and it was not quiet.
The people kneeling on the side found Wei Ruxia after crying. They looked at Wei Ruxia and talked in a low voice.
"This is the child my sister brought back? Isn't Zishan not wanting it?"
"Her mother is dead, can Zishan not want it? Hey, it's strange for you to say that her mother died when she was with her. It's been more than half a year since we got it back, and our sister is also dead."
"That's right, our sister is not always healthy, how can I say no?"
"Oh, oh, sometimes you really can't help but believe in evil. Next time, maybe it will be Zishan's turn."
Wei Ruxia listened to the words of several people, her heart gradually fell, and suddenly a figure came over. Wei Zishan looked at the people who had just spoken with a calm expression, and said, "It's my turn to die, I'll die. She is my daughter, and it's my turn to die. Until you make irresponsible remarks."
When several people heard Wei Zishan say this, they fell silent.
Wei Ruxia looked up, Wei Zishan was looking down at her. The man's face was haggard, and only a pair of light brown eyes remained alive. He handed the bread in his hand to Wei Ruxia and said, "Eat something first, I'm busy all day, so I don't have time to eat."
Wei Zishan was busy preparing everything for the funeral, and he had no spare time to take care of her. Wei Ruxia took the bread, unpacked it, and stuffed it into his mouth.
It was getting bright, and the burial was about to be prepared. In the custom of funerals, it is necessary for grandchildren to carry lamps in front of them. Wei Ruxia was called out by Wei Zishan and listened to the funeral arrangements made by her mother-in-law.
After Wei Ruxia listened to the arrangement, when he was about to enter the door, he looked up and saw the young man standing outside the yard.
The young man was wearing plain clothes, standing among the flowers on the edge of the yard, and the faint sunlight cast a layer of light and shadow on his body. His eyebrows and eyes were picturesque, his thin lips were rosy, and his fair and slender neck was exposed, reddened by the cold wind.
Wei Ruxia hadn't slept all night, and she was in a trance. As she approached, a hint of surprise flashed in her misty eyes, and she asked, "Why are you here?"
She didn't look as good as she thought, and her thin body was covered in a wide white mourning dress, like ice cubes that were gradually melted by hot water, as if they were gone in one shot.
Luo Tang looked at Wei Ruxia and didn't answer her words. The two were separated by a low fence and the camellias that had just bloomed on the fence.
"You still have me." Luo Tang said.
Luo Tang, my grandma is gone.
You still have me.
In my mind, these two sentences are linked together.
The mist covering his eyes seemed to have been pierced by a needle, and it was painful and itchy. Wei Ruxia chuckled lightly, she grabbed Luo Tang's clothes and put her forehead on his chest, tears welling up in her eyes.
The author has something to say:
Tangtang: I will never leave you.