DF Chapter 117

Chapter 117: She had never seen Wang Huiqiu smile so happily.

The sound of the glass breaking was particularly distinct at that moment.

Song Ningqiu’s expression froze for a moment.

Glass shards fell onto her feet and then clattered onto the ground.

“I’m sorry, I lost my composure,” Song Ningqiu said subconsciously, “But Sheng Jia, what did you say?”

Sheng Jia was all too familiar with this kind of look. She probably had looked at Wang Huiqiu with the same hopeful eyes when Wang Huiqiu told her about this, hoping for a negative answer.

But unfortunately, no matter how unwilling they were to admit it, the answer was there.

“This is Grandma Wang Huiqiu’s diagnosis report. She received it half a year ago. The doctor estimated that she only has about a year to live.” Sheng Jia took out a document from her bag, “But she didn’t want to worry anyone, nor was she willing to be hospitalized, so she concealed this medical report.”

Song Ningqiu took a deep breath and silently accepted the document.

She quickly scanned it, then dialed her assistant. The call connected after two rings.

“Book me two tickets to Yunze,” she said quickly, “For the soonest flight, departing from the capital…”

“There’s no need,” Sheng Jia interrupted her, “Grandma Wang isn’t in Yunze.”

Song Ningqiu was slightly stunned. “Right, right, she’s sick now. Which hospital is she in? We’ll go see her.”

“Mom,” Sheng Jia pursed her lips, looked up to meet her gaze, and plunged into her sorrowful eyes, “You know, she wasn’t even willing to tell us about her illness, so how could she go to the hospital?”

Song Ningqiu was a synonym for reliability in many aspects, but family affection was her weakness.

She was someone who grew up in love. Most people around her loved her very much. Elders, friends, and children would make her feel loved at all times.

This also made her feel helpless when dealing with the departure of these relatives and friends.

She always felt that love should come naturally, that rewards could be obtained after giving, so she didn’t know why she and Sheng Jia got along so cautiously. But she always felt that it didn’t matter, that they could take it slow, that she had a long time to heal Sheng Jia. Therefore, she also found it difficult to deal with the fear brought about by the possible departure of relatives. Perhaps some people always said that the more people who don’t lack love, the less they fear separation, but she was probably the exception. The Song family’s inherited desire for control made it difficult for her to tolerate the easy departure of people she cared about.

Song Ningqiu took a deep breath, trying to appear calmer, “Then where is she now?”

“She’s on a train to the Northwest,” Sheng Jia replied truthfully, “She said she wanted to use the remaining time to do what she wanted to do.”

“No, Jia Jia, you’re lying,” Song Ningqiu asked directly, “You wouldn’t be so hesitant if it was just a trip. What exactly did she do?”

This was the first time she showed Sheng Jia an almost scrutinizing gaze.

Sheng Jia was enveloped by such a gaze, and for some reason, she felt relieved, with a secret pleasure in her heart.

In the past, Song Ningqiu always showed her utmost care and caution, just as Sheng Jia was always very polite to her like she was treating an idol. Song Ningqiu also treated her like she was holding a porcelain doll, interacting with her behind a mask, for fear that she would be dissatisfied.

But at this moment, Sheng Jia found that she liked Song Ningqiu’s reproachful expression when facing her. This was the reaction that two normal people with emotions should have.

Song Ningqiu quickly realized that her emotions were abnormal. She pinched the center of her brows and habitually controlled her facial expressions before asking softly, “Jia Jia, where exactly did she go?”

The mask was on again.

Sheng Jia glanced at her fingertips. This time, without any hesitation, she replied, “She said she was going to climb Mount Everest and is on the way.”

“Say that again?” Song Ningqiu even suspected that there was something wrong with her ears.

Sheng Jia didn’t repeat it a second time. She just looked at her straight, without saying anything more, but she was already using her attitude to indicate that she had not heard wrong.

“Didn’t you stop her?” Song Ningqiu asked in disbelief.

“I didn’t.”

“Sheng Jia!”

Song Ningqiu’s tone was slightly heavy, “How could you not stop her?”

Sheng Jia said, “Mom, do you think I should have stopped her?”

“If there’s a heart problem, she should get treatment. She’s so old and she still wants to climb Mount Everest. She’ll only come back as a corpse,” Song Ningqiu frowned tightly, “Can’t you think of that?”

“But that’s what she wants,” Sheng Jia said slowly, “She doesn’t want to spend the rest of her life in a hospital ward. From the moment the doctor told her how much time she had left, she probably had already started planning this.”

“But if she stayed in Yunze and took good care of herself, she might have lived longer,” Song Ningqiu retorted, “Old people think of one thing and do another. We can’t just let them have their way, Jia Jia. Have they been to bigger hospitals? Have they seen better doctors? To just want to end their lives in excitement, don’t you think this is too rash?”

This was why Wang Huiqiu didn’t want to tell Song Ningqiu. She knew this child she had watched grow up too well. She was very stubborn. She respected all life, so she couldn’t understand why someone would want to end their life rashly in this way.

Based on Song Ningqiu’s personality, Wang Huiqiu would probably be stopped and taken to the hospital for a thorough examination as soon as she left the province.

But Wang Huiqiu was no longer in the mood to play such games with Song Ningqiu. Her goal was extremely firm. She wanted to do what she wanted to do. That was why she readily told Sheng Jia and had Sheng Jia tell Song Ningqiu.

She knew that Sheng Jia would definitely respect her choice, and that only Sheng Jia could stop Song Ningqiu and persuade Song Ningqiu properly.

“Mom, how long do you think such days can be extended, and how much suffering will Grandma Wang have to endure?” Sheng Jia’s face was full of disagreement. She retorted, “Hospitalization, medication, surgery, injections, none of the treatments are comfortable, and none of us can predict the outcome. She doesn’t want to go, nor is she willing to go. Rather than spending the rest of her life in medicine and pain, she would rather die on the road to pursuing her dreams.”

“So I choose to respect her choice, and she also hopes that you, Mom, can recognize her choice.”

Song Ningqiu fell silent.

“I can’t easily agree with her choice,” Song Ningqiu said, “Where is she now?”

“I can’t tell you,” Sheng Jia shook her head, “If you knew where she was going, you would probably stop her. I won’t let you do that.”

Song Ningqiu took two deep breaths. She lowered her head, as if thinking about something, and after a long time, she said with some frustration, “She told you about her illness as her first reaction, and told you about the place she wanted to go as her first reaction, and even guessed early on that I wouldn’t agree with her idea and asked you to stop me.”

“I am the failed junior.”

Being anxious and flustered caused reason to leave her brain for just a moment. Soon, she understood that most likely Wang Huiqiu herself had designed everything. She couldn’t expect Sheng Jia, a child, to resist the well-planned request of an elder, especially since Sheng Jia had always been particularly respectful to Wang Huiqiu.

She still couldn’t agree with Wang Huiqiu’s choice, but she couldn’t force Sheng Jia to violate her agreement with Wang Huiqiu either.

“Mom, you’re not,” Sheng Jia suddenly remembered a few days ago, when she had faced Song Ji’an and seemed to blurt out “you’re not” so firmly, “It’s precisely because Grandma Wang knows you too well, you are too close, that she will try so hard to have me stop you, to avoid conflicts between you. In her heart, you are a very excellent junior, the pride of them.”

Song Ningqiu’s eyes were a little astringent. She paused for a moment before recovering her calm and apologizing to Sheng Jia, “I’m sorry, Mom shouldn’t blame you for this.”

“You can blame me,” Sheng Jia said, “No one can always be calm and rational about emotions. To be honest, I’m very happy that you can also get angry with me.”

After saying this, her face felt a little hot. For her, such words were corny, but thinking of Wang Huiqiu’s guidance, she felt that perhaps for Song Ningqiu, such direct words were the best way to open their hearts.

Song Ningqiu supported her forehead and couldn’t help but smile. At this moment, she also seemed to have discovered something, “Let’s finish our meal. It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to tell me where Aunt Wang is going now, but when she gets to the foot of Mount Everest, you have to tell me, right?”

When she said this, her eyes were still full of sorrow, but whether it was Sheng Jia, herself, or even Wang Huiqiu, they all knew that she would eventually compromise.

Because the first lesson that all the people who loved her taught her was respect.

Respect different ideas, respect different personalities.

It was precisely because of this that she was able to cultivate a Song Ji’an who also knew how to respect and understand.

“She will tell you,” Sheng Jia said softly, “The person she wanted to see the most before she left was probably you.”

Song Ningqiu held the cup in front of her, nodded, and said in a hoarse voice, “Okay.”

–

Wang Huiqiu’s news came only after the third day. By then, she had reached the foot of Mount Everest. She had admired the desert scenery she wanted, seen the towering mountains, and also seen the boundless wilderness. She didn’t have any altitude sickness and smoothly came to the foot of Mount Everest, smiling and sending a video to Song Ningqiu.

At that time, Sheng Jia was following Song Ningqiu, preparing for the Song’s mid-year meeting. The long and complicated affairs made both of them look tired, while on the other end, Wang Huiqiu was loudly greeting them with the wind and snow.

Song Ningqiu, who had been in a bad mood for several days, finally completely let go of her worries and unwillingness about her going her own way the moment she saw her smiling face. She put away the reluctance in her eyes and chatted with her as usual. She heard the fierce wind from Wang Huiqiu’s end, as if every minute and every second symbolized how happy this old woman, who had been bound by work and responsibility for a lifetime, was.

“Ningqiu, I feel particularly happy now,” Wang Huiqiu’s voice was a little hazy. The signal at the foot of the mountain wasn’t very good. She brought the phone closer and saw Sheng Jia’s face in the enlarged video, so she continued, “Sheng Jia, comfort your mom, look at how she looks like she’s about to cry.”

“I don’t look the way you said,” Song Ningqiu couldn’t help but retort, “You’re spreading rumors.”

“Really?” Wang Huiqiu leaned closer again, and said with a smile like she was coaxing Song Ningqiu when she was a child, “Then Aunt Wang saw wrong. Our Ningqiu is indeed smiling very happily.”

Song Ningqiu blinked, she clenched the tablet and said in a low voice, “Yeah… I’m happy for you.”

This call was very short. After it was hung up, at the foot of the distant Mount Everest, there was already a team of brave people, starting to climb upwards step by step.

And the office returned to its original silence.

Song Ningqiu stared at the screen in a daze. Her heart was not as calm as she showed, because she knew that Wang Huiqiu was heading towards a path that was destined for death.

But more of it was relief.

She had never seen Wang Huiqiu smile so happily.

For forty years, Wang Huiqiu in her impression was mostly serious. Even the moments when she occasionally coaxed her could be counted on one hand. When she was a child, she admired her mother, liked Fu Minglang, and was most afraid of Wang Huiqiu. She was like a hard steel plate, holding her forward.

“Sheng Jia.” She suddenly smiled, “You are right.”

Sheng Jia stood opposite her, her dark eyes full of complexity, but in the end, she just silently leaned over and hugged Song Ningqiu.

Song Ningqiu sighed softly on her shoulder, “Does it disappoint you that Mom isn’t as strong as she seems to be?”

“I’m not as sensible as I seem to be either, my thoughts are extreme, and my behavior is stubborn. When you initially discovered that I was your daughter, would you be disappointed?” Sheng Jia asked.

“No,” Song Ningqiu said in a low voice with her eyes closed, “That’s not your fault, it’s my fault for losing you. You are a very excellent child, a small tree that grows in the mud, standing tall and firm.”

“Then you will never disappoint me either,” Sheng Jia replied, “You are the big tree that I have admired since I was a child, the one I want to grow into.”

Song Ningqiu touched her head. This was the most intimate moment between their mother and daughter in five years. Something was loosening in her heart.

The door representing the exchange of hearts that they both wanted to break through seemed to have opened a crack.