It was the first month of summer. The weather was very good that afternoon. The doctor told Feng Ning, "Your mother's condition is not good. You can make some preparations at home in the next two days."
Feng Ning said nothing, just stood there, unable to bear the news.
After the doctor left, tears began to fall without warning. After a long while, she leaned against the wall and slowly squatted down. She didn't dare to cry out loud, so she could only hold back all her sobs in her throat. When she couldn't hold it back anymore, she bit the back of her hand hard.
In the end, Feng Ning was out of breath, so he opened his mouth and tried to take deep breaths.
In a busy hospital, different tragedies happen every day, but no one stops for a crying little girl. I don't know how long it took, Feng Ning wiped away her tears. She stood up on her knees, went to the toilet next to her, turned on the faucet, lowered her head, and let the water wash away the tears on her face.
In front of the ward, Feng Ning stopped moving with her hand on the door handle. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She pushed the door open and walked in as if nothing had happened.
Qi Lan was lying on the hospital bed, with no life left. She couldn't say anything, but just looked at Feng Ning with cloudy eyes filled with nostalgia.
"Mom, you can still hear me, right?" Feng Ning bent down, held Qi Lan's hand and placed it on his heart.
Qi Lan winked at her very gently.
"Mom, I will be obedient in the future. Don't worry about me. You know that your daughter is the strongest and bravest. I will be fine, even on my own. Are you still upset now?"
Feng Ning wanted to laugh, but her tears refused to cooperate with her at all.
Qi Lan shook her head slightly, raised her hand with difficulty, and wiped the tears from the corners of her daughter's eyes.
"I'm glad you're not feeling bad." Feng Ning sniffed, suppressed her sobs, and laughed. "I'm relieved if you're not feeling bad. You'll always be by my side, right? If you're tired, take a good sleep. When you wake up, you can cook my favorite dishes for me, okay?"
Listening to her mumbling, Qi Lan touched Feng Ning's hair again.
She smiled faintly, and after a few seconds, closed her eyes.
Qi Lan passed away in early summer.
After Feng Ning hid away and cried alone, she had regained her composure when she appeared in front of others. She didn't have any major emotional fluctuations, but she didn't talk much. After the hospital issued the death certificate, she called the funeral home.
Qi Lan and she depended on each other for survival, and they had no other relatives. Few people came to the funeral, only a few neighbors from Yujiang Lane. After two days of vigil, cremation and burial, Feng Ning returned home holding Qi Lan's black-and-white photo.
Feng Ning cleaned the house from top to bottom, and was too tired to have the energy to take a shower. He opened the door to the room where Qi Lan used to sleep and climbed onto the bed.
Just like when they were little, when Qi Lan went out to work the night shift, Feng Ning would put his mother's clothes on the pillow, smell the scent, and fall asleep hugging the pillow. It was as if his mother was always by his side.
Take a nap, and when you wake up, you will find that it was just a nightmare.
She finished her day outside in a hurry and came home. The yard was still noisy, with the sound of mahjong tiles colliding everywhere and the big yellow dog jumping around the tree. Qi Lan, who was playing cards, called her impatiently and asked her to go to the kitchen to help the aunt who was cooking.
Feng Ning closed his eyes, and these scenes turned into fragments of memory, appearing in his mind like a passing show.
In her heart, she told herself over and over again that her mother was gone, but it was okay. She just had to work harder and live a good life, and it would be okay.
Feng Ning thought he had accepted it, but when he woke up the next day, there was no one around him.
No matter how she called her mother, no one responded.
Feng Ning finally realized that in this long life, every minute, every second, she would never see her mother again.
Mom is gone.
Feng Ning began to fear staying at home alone at night.
As night fell, she sat on the side of the overpass, watching the traffic passing by. There were a few empty beer bottles lying around.
The phone vibrated. It was Jiang Wen calling. She glanced at it and quickly answered it. "Hello? Jiang Wen."
"Um."
"What are you doing so late?"
"Why didn't you answer my calls these days?"
Jiang Wen didn't want to sound like a nagging woman, but when he complained, he couldn't help but feel a little aggrieved, "I sent you a message, but it took a long time for you to reply."
"I'm a little busy." Feng Ning looked at the stars in the sky and comforted him, "You should concentrate on studying in school. Why do you always think about me?"
Jiang Wen: "I'll come to see you this Saturday."
Feng Ning smiled and said, "Forget it, don't come."
He was instantly unhappy: "Why?"
She said in a relaxed tone: "Master, look at the calendar. It's already April. How many days are left? There are only two months left before the college entrance examination. You should study hard in school and don't worry about me. Otherwise, you will have to rely on me when you fail to get into college."
Jiang Wen seemed to smile on the other end of the phone, "What's wrong with relying on you?"
"If you rely on me, I won't admit it." Feng Ning stopped talking, "Okay, I won't say any more. Go to bed quickly."
He finally realized something was wrong and suddenly asked, "Why is your voice hoarse?"
Feng Ning tilted his head back and took another sip of wine. "It's okay. I choked when I was drinking."
"You're outside?"
"At home." Feng Ning interrupted him impatiently, "Jiang Wen, why are you nagging so much today? Stop it now."
At this time, a large truck coming from under the overpass honked its horn for a long time. Jiang Wen was silent, "You lied to me."
Her smile faded, "Well, I lied to you."
"What happened?"
Feng Ning didn't say anything, and there was no sound from the other end. After a while, Jiang Wen spoke up, "Where are you? I'll go find you now."
From a distance, I could see a person sitting on a stone bench, his head lowered and his figure as thin as a line.
Jiang Wen walked over, grabbed Feng Ning's arm and snatched her beer can.
She turned her head, looked straight at him and smiled, "How did you get out? Is there no curfew?"
"Climb over the wall."
"That's amazing! Now you can even climb over the wall."
Jiang Wen pulled her up, "You taught me."
Feng Ning's steps were a little unsteady, he swayed and barely stood still, "Tsk, then I have to reflect on why I didn't teach you something good in the beginning."
Jiang Wen looked deep, "Are you... okay?"
She cried too much during this period, and her voice was completely hoarse. It was difficult for her to say a few words. "Oh, it's okay. I just feel a little bad. I should be fine tomorrow."
After being in a daze for a while, Feng Ning muttered to himself, clenched his fists, and pounded his chest, as if wondering, "I must have drunk too much. Why does it hurt so much here? It comes and goes. It's so uncomfortable."
Tears fell unconsciously. When she realized it, Feng Ning immediately turned around and covered her eyes with the back of her hand.
Jiang Wen pursed his lips slightly, pulled her into his arms, and hugged her tightly.
"My heart hurts so much." Feng Ning rested his forehead on Jiang Wen's neck and grabbed his clothes around his waist.
A damp chill came over my shoulders.
Her tears soaked his clothes.
Jiang Wen had never seen Feng Ning look so embarrassed and vulnerable. He felt a little helpless and uncomfortable as if his heart was blocked. He held her arm tighter and tighter, "What happened? Is it..."
He couldn't ask further.
Feng Ning said in a low, trembling voice, "Jiang Wen, my mother is gone."
Jiang Wen's breath was choked, and for a moment he didn't know how to react.
It was like a mechanism had been triggered and once I started crying I couldn't stop.
Helpless loneliness surrounded her completely. She thought she had made enough mental preparations, but why, why did it still hurt so much.
Late at night when no one was around, they hugged each other face to face, and she cried silently in his arms.
Feng Ning said: "I will never see my mother again."
"It's okay, you have me, I'll accompany you." Jiang Wen's nose was slightly sour, he put his hand on the back of her head, rested his chin on her shoulder, and said with a little comfort, "I will accompany you wherever you go."
He was still a child and had no idea how to comfort anyone, so he could only clumsily touch her face and wipe away her tears that kept flowing.
My hands were wet from wiping.
That night, Jiang Wen accompanied Feng Ning walking on the streets of South City. When they got tired, they just found a place to sit down. They walked from midnight to early morning.
She walked him back to the school gate.
"Shall we go have breakfast?" Jiang Wen asked her, lowering his head. "After breakfast, I'll take you home and you can take a nap."
"I've already sent you here, why are you still sending you back and forth? Aren't you bored?"
"Then I'll ask the teacher for two days off to accompany you."
"No need." Feng Ning yawned and waved his hand, "Oh, that's enough, stop being so nagging, it's annoying."
Jiang Wen, who was suddenly disliked, asked: "..."
There are many breakfast shops here, and many students from Qide come here to eat breakfast before the first class. There are many people coming and going nearby, so they just picked a shop at random.
There were quite a lot of people in the store, so Jiang Wen took her by the hand and found a seat to sit down first.
There was a long queue at the window next to it, including students from both lower and higher grades, and many of them knew Jiang Wen.
In the long queue, more than half of the people were looking over here, and a few girls gathered together, talking in low voices.
"Look over there, is that boy Jiang Wen from senior year?"
"It's him. Who's that next to him? His girlfriend? They look so intimate. Oh my god..."
"Jiang Wen?? That Jiang Wen, one of the top three handsome boys in Qi De?! He has a girlfriend?"
"Why don't you speak louder? Do you want everyone in the store to hear you?"
Feng Ning had no idea that others were looking at her. She hadn't had a good night's sleep for a long time, and she felt as if she was hollow. Once she relaxed, she became extremely sleepy.
Her hair was disheveled, covering most of her face. She rested her chin on the table in a daze, her eyes felt sore and dry, so she simply closed them.
Feng Ning was still wearing Jiang Wen's coat. The sleeves were a little long, so she tucked her hands inside.
They sat aside, Jiang Wen took one of her hands and carefully rolled up her sleeves. After that, he moved on to the other side.
Feng Ning let him fiddle with her, and taunted her, "I have to say, you look quite like a male nanny."
Jiang Wen pulled her ear.
Feng Ning couldn't help but groan in pain and shook his hand away.
Jiang Wen grabbed him again without giving in.
"What do you want to eat?"
"Whatever."
"Then wait here for a while."
Her head was swollen, and she lay on the table like a boneless person. Her eyes were still lazily closed, unwilling to open, and she hummed twice.
Soon, a bowl of porridge and a bowl of noodles were served.
Feng Ning's lips suddenly felt hot, and something pressed gently against them. He ordered, "Open your mouth."
Feng Ning raised her eyelids and squinted at Jiang Wen. She laughed at him in her heart, saying that he had to feed her even when she was eating, treating her like a baby.
But she still opened her mouth and let him be pretentious.
In public, Jiang Wen didn't mind other people's eyes at all. He held her hand, freeing up his other hand to patiently feed her porridge spoonful by spoonful.
"—Jiang Wen!"
There was a sudden roar. Everyone's eyes were focused on Zhao Binlin at the door. Behind him were Xi Gaoyuan, Pei Shurou, and the people from the sports class.
"Fuck, it's really you." Zhao Binlin pointed at Jiang Wen in horror, then at Feng Ning, and finally stopped at their holding hands.
After a few seconds, he rushed forward, stumbled on the small steps, held on to the table, and said excitedly: "You didn't come back to bed last night, you two, you two... What's going on?!"
The store became noticeably quieter.
"Don't you have eyes? Can't you see for yourself?"
The people around pricked up their ears silently, waiting to hear gossip.
Jiang Wen frowned slightly and asked impatiently, "What kind of relationship can they have other than boyfriend and girlfriend?"
The author has something to say: Well, the flag set by Jiji has fallen
Just think of it as me farting yesterday.