TRMLCM Chapter 30
by Volare7:30 AM. The alarm clock rang on time. Without even opening his eyes, Shen Chang’an reached out towards the sound, grabbed his phone, and finally squinted open his sleepy eyes. He checked the time before turning off the alarm.
He blinked a few times, then sent a “Good morning” message to Cheng Yi. After that, he swept his bangs back and sat up to get out of bed and wash up.
The sky was gloomy this morning, looking like it was about to rain.
After getting ready, Shen Chang’an walked out of the bedroom. Suddenly, a sound came from the kitchen. He put his phone on the dining table and quickly strode towards the kitchen.
In the small kitchen, an elderly woman was slowly bending over. Shen Chang’an stepped forward to support her.
“Grandma, let me do it.”
Grandma looked up slightly, her cloudy eyes focusing on him for a moment. Then, she said anxiously, “Mu Qing, why are you back?”
Shen Chang’an’s lowered eyes flickered, but his expression remained unchanged. He said, “Yes, I’m back.”
He helped his grandma out of the kitchen and sat her down at the dining table nearby.
Shen Chang’an squatted down, gently tucking a few stray hairs behind her ear, looking up at her, and said softly, “Just wait here for me. I’ll make breakfast. Don’t wander around.”
His grandma’s eyes remained on his face, her gaze slowly becoming lost. She said, “It’s Chang’an. Look at me, I mistook you. Alright, alright, I won’t wander around.”
Seeing that she was lucid, Shen Chang’an breathed a sigh of relief. He stood up, walked into the kitchen, picked up the pot lid with the broken handle from the floor, rinsed it clean in the sink, and then, using the ingredients his grandma had already prepared, slowly started making breakfast.
Soon, he brought out two bowls of noodles. He handed one to his grandma, who was sitting in a daze, and said softly, “Grandma, it’s time to eat.”
His grandma took the chopsticks from his hand and slowly started eating.
The noodles were lightly flavored and cooked until soft, which Shen Chang’an didn’t particularly enjoy. However, he was mainly considering his grandma’s teeth.
After breakfast, Shen Chang’an put the washed bowls back in the cupboard. Then, he packed some things into his grandma’s usual shoulder bag.
He slung the bag over his shoulder, took his grandma’s hand, and they went out together.
When they arrived at the hospital room, someone was already there: a experienced caregiver he had hired. His grandma was old, and he also needed to livestream at night, so he hired someone to help take care of her at night.
When Red Sister saw them, she quickly sat up and greeted them with a smile, “Mr. Shen, Grandma, good morning.”
Shen Chang’an: “Good morning, Red Sister.”
Red Sister had been here for several days and knew that Shen Chang’an was aloof and distant, not one for small talk. So, she was used to his coldness. She had just greeted him politely, but she didn’t expect him to respond today.
Red Sister’s expression was a little surprised, but she quickly hid it with a smile. Seeing that both of them were focused on the person in the bed, she said, “Old Mr. Li still hasn’t woken up, but I asked the doctor on rounds, and he said his body is slowly getting better. The old man should be conscious now. You should talk to him.”
After hearing that, Shen Chang’an turned to look at her and said quietly, “Thank you.”
Red Sister smiled and then took the basin of water she had used for washing to outside the room.
Shen Chang’an moved a chair closer to the bed, helping his grandma to sit down slowly.
He looked at his grandpa, who was still unconscious in the bed, and then at his grandma, who was teary-eyed. He was silent and suddenly felt a craving for a cigarette.
He turned and walked to the window. The lush tree below used to look extremely vibrant in the sunlight, but now, under the dark clouds, its silhouette seemed a bit desolate in the autumn wind.
Lying in the bed was his grandpa, who had suffered a brain hemorrhage and was now receiving conservative treatment in the hospital. He rarely had moments of lucidity. The most recent time, he hadn’t even opened his eyes, only moved his fingers.
He had been hospitalized for almost five months. Shen Chang’an and his grandma came to watch over him every day. But as the days passed, the more they came and watched him sleeping quietly, the heavier their hearts became. Perhaps, subconsciously, they already knew the outcome but were unwilling to give up.
His grandpa’s surname was Li. He was a respected old teacher in their village, who had been in love with his grandma for many years. They had a daughter, his mother, Li Mu Qing, relatively late in life.
But Li Mu Qing, who had gone to college and seen the prosperity of the world, didn’t accept his pedantic and dictatorial control. She started dating a young punk. In order to marry him, Li Mu Qing didn’t hesitate to sever her relationship with her parents, and with a prideful personality, she didn’t take anything her mother tried to give her. She left directly with that man and soon got a marriage certificate with him.
Less than a year after getting married, she discovered that the man was cheating on her. Li Mu Qing regretted it immensely, but she wasn’t willing to turn back. The promises of love had become a joke. The sweet and harmonious love she thought she would have, like her parents, shattered like a bubble.
But this was the path she had chosen for herself. She didn’t want to admit defeat to her father and didn’t want to get a divorce. So, she strictly monitored her husband. But the man started to dislike her once he stopped loving her. They tormented each other and eventually became a bitter couple.
They tormented each other for ten years. The man, who had a little money, met a woman he really liked. He took all his money and eloped with that woman. When Li Mu Qing returned home and saw her house as if it had been robbed, she anxiously called the man. The recorded voice repeatedly announcing that the call couldn’t be connected finally brought back her years of dormant rationality. She called the police.
Now she wanted a divorce, but the man who had been found by the police didn’t want one anymore.
The woman was a con artist who tricked him out of all his money. He was almost sold off, but fortunately, the police arrived in time to rescue him. But the money was long gone and couldn’t be recovered. After being lectured and returning home, disheveled and dirty, he knelt on the ground, hugged Li Mu Qing’s legs, and begged her to forgive him.
The pale-faced Li Mu Qing coldly looked at the man kneeling on the ground with his hypocritical face. She only felt disgusted. She couldn’t find any trace of his former youthful appearance. She couldn’t understand why she had been so crazy back then, arguing with her parents to marry him.
The hero who had descended from the sky when she was surrounded by thugs, the one who would escort her to school and pick her up, the one who would hide surprises and slowly guide her to discover them, the boy who would blush and carefully ask if he could hold her hand, had become the smallest grain of sand in the sea of memories, making her unwilling to try to remember him.
She closed her eyes coldly, choosing not to forgive him.
The man was stimulated by her cold attitude. He, who was already suffering from neurasthenia, suddenly became furious. He slapped Li Mu Qing in the face, instantly swelling it up. When he met Li Mu Qing’s unbelievable gaze, the man realized what he had just done. He looked at his hand with some guilt, but the anger that had suddenly vented out made him feel incredibly refreshed.
As if wanting to vent all the anger he had suffered these days, he started hitting and kicking her. After Li Mu Qing reacted, she wanted to call the police, but before she could pick up her phone, this action further enraged the man. He pushed Li Mu Qing down, and the back of her head hit the ground. Li Mu Qing’s consciousness blurred for a moment, but the man didn’t notice anything. He snatched the phone, smashed it, and turned to kick the fallen Li Mu Qing again.
After venting all the anger in his heart, he sat on the ground panting when he got tired. Reason slowly returned, and he looked at his bloodied fist in horror, looking at Li Mu Qing, who was lying on the ground covered in injuries, without any movement.
The door was wide open, and the room was a mess. A neighbor returning home from work walked into the room in a panic. When she saw Li Mu Qing lying on the ground, already dead, she screamed, attracting the surrounding residents. They helped call the police.
The child, who hadn’t been picked up from school by his mother, slowly walked back home under the escort of the security guard. The crowded and noisy crowd suddenly quieted down, and they made way for him.
But when he saw the neighbors surrounding his house, turning around with pity in their eyes, the child frowned slightly. He only felt that this gaze was really uncomfortable. They were really a group of impolite adults.
The man had run away, taking all the money Li Mu Qing had hidden over the years, leaving nothing behind. No, he left behind an eight-year-old child in elementary school.
With the help of neighbors, Li Mu Qing’s funeral was successfully completed, but they looked at the child who didn’t cry or make a fuss, feeling a headache coming on.
The man had been rebellious and uneducated in his youth, having long lost contact with his family. His parents had other sensible and filial sons, and other grandchildren whom they loved more. So, the man’s parents were unwilling to take back this wandering grandson.
In the end, only Li’s parents, who had traveled thousands of miles after hearing the news, brought their daughter’s ashes and her only surviving bloodline back to that quiet and peaceful small village with tears in their eyes.
Li’s father had taught and educated people in the town not far from the small village for half his life, telling his poor students stories about interesting things from all over the world, countless wisdom and truths, but he didn’t teach his daughter how to recognize people’s hearts.
The regret in his heart crushed his spine. He submitted his resignation to the school, and from then on, he only wanted to take good care of his daughter’s child.
And the name of that child, we already know.
Shen Chang’an.
Li Mu Qing had just come out of the operating room, holding the premature and weak baby in her arms. Looking at his well-behaved and lovely appearance, it seemed that her haggard heart had regained a continuous stream of courage and strength.
She looked at the unusually tall and lush eucalyptus tree growing outside the hospital window. She suddenly remembered that its silhouette was very common in her hometown, which she hadn’t returned to for a long time. She remembered that there was one in the courtyard in front of the earthen house, which she and Li’s father had planted together when she was a child. It had already grown a lot before she left home. Now that a few years had passed, how tall would that tree be now?
Time had passed for too long, and memories had faded. After struggling for many years, she didn’t know anything anymore. She only hoped that this child could grow up like that sapling.
Eucalyptus trees are mostly evergreen trees with broad adaptability, strong resistance, drought resistance, barren tolerance, easy planting, and strong sprouting ability. Its growing environment is very wide, from tropical to temperate, from coastal to inland, from plains to high mountains.
The world is so big, the sky is high, and the sea is wide. No matter where he is, no matter what the environment, Li Mu Qing only hoped that this child could grow up safely.
Chang’an, may you always be safe!