Chapter 64: The Zhang Family
Shanghai City hospital room.
Bringing Xiao Qiu all the way to the hospital and finding the sickbed Granny mentioned, Su Ning hesitated somewhat and stopped at the door that was only open a crack.
Lowering her head to look at the urn in her arms, if the seriously ill old man couldn’t take the shock and his condition worsened…
“Sister Ning Ning, I… I’m scared.”
Gripping her hand tightly, tears welled up in Xiao Qiu’s eyes at some point; having just gone through what happened with Mom, she was especially afraid of the two words “sick” and “hospital” that were not unfamiliar to her.
Although she hadn’t yet recognized Grandpa and Granny, through Mom’s occasional mentions, she didn’t feel unfamiliar with them at all and had long been looking forward to meeting them.
“Xiao Qiu, be good…”
“Who are you? Who are you looking for?”
Before Su Ning could carefully comfort her, a hoarse voice of inquiry came from behind.
Holding a thermos in one hand and a white porcelain red-bottomed enamel basin in the other, Zhang Qi, wearing glasses, appeared gentle and refined, but the bloodshot eyes and the stubble that had just sprouted made him look somewhat decadent.
Thinking of the brother described by Zhang Qin, whose figure and appearance matched extremely well with the man in front of her, Su Ning stepped aside, led Xiao Qiu a few steps away from the door, and walked forward.
“Comrade hello, may I ask if you are Zhang Qi?”
“That’s me, young comrade, are you looking for me?”
Somewhat astonished, Zhang Qi nodded while carefully sizing up the two people in front of him again.
With braids, wearing a floral shirt short sleeve paired with black straight long pants, her features were delicate, especially that pair of eyes like brilliant stars in the night sky, particularly beautiful and absolutely unforgettable at first glance.
The little girl beside her, wearing a pink dress, appeared even darker-skinned and thinner, but her facial features vaguely seemed familiar yet he couldn’t recall where he had seen her for the moment.
Such a big one and a small one looking for him?
Zhang Qi was very sure he didn’t know her at all.
“I’m Su Ning, this is Xiao Qiu. To be precise, your sister Zhang Qin asked me to…”
“Bang—”
“Wait a minute, who did you say?”
The enamel basin in his hand dropped to the ground with a bang, spinning several times, especially piercing in the quiet corridor.
Ignoring the basin that had chipped in several places from the fall, Zhang Qi set down the hand holding the thermos and anxiously asked repeatedly to confirm.
“Comrade, you said Zhang Qin? The Qin in Qin Qi calligraphy and painting? Now twenty-seven almost twenty-eight, tall and slim figure, eyes like crescent moons when smiling very cute, like that… my sister… Zhang Qin?”
He spoke extremely fast and somewhat incoherently, like confirming words, but what came out of his mouth on his own were all images from memory of that indelible figure, so familiar, as if he had said it thousands of times.
Hope and joy turning into heartbreak and disappointment, after too many times, he dared not believe it.
‘Twenty-seven, almost twenty-eight?’
That night in pitch darkness, only by the faint light of the flashlight, Zhang Qin with a face full of illness looked aged like a middle-aged woman of thirty or forty.
No wonder he called her Aunt Zhang, her smile was like that, seeming wistful yet self-mocking, without refuting or explaining, just nodding with a smile like that.
After escaping from that family in the deep mountains, what exactly had she gone through?
Making her, who should have escaped to freedom, wither rapidly, even carrying those injuries…
“It’s Zhang…”
The two words Aunt Zhang on the tip of her tongue stung her heart, Su Ning pursed her lips, her vision somewhat blurred as she looked at Zhang Qi, who was clearly eager yet holding back from saying more, only gazing at her earnestly.
“Sister Qin, lives at No. 18 Huaijiang Alley, Dad is Zhang Fu, Mom is Hu Yingtao, brother is the gentle and refined Zhang Qi wearing glasses, family likes to call her Nannan, Zhang Qin…”
“It’s my sister! It’s my sister, boo hoo…”
“Where is she, why hasn’t she come back? Did something happen?”
“It’s okay, it’s okay, as long as she’s still here, as long as she’s here, you tell me the address where she is, no matter how far I’ll go pick her up, I’ll go pick her up now! Pick her up home…”
A man in his twenties with tears like a bursting dam, even though his throat choked painfully making his words tremble, Zhang Qi still persisted in asking nonstop.
“She, came back.”
“Came… back? Came home…”
Following her gaze, Zhang Qi painfully spat out, but the words could no longer continue.
Shaking his head, he laughed hysterically with tears, haha ha, for a long time before stopping and muttering to himself, “No one at home to open the door for her, don’t let her sit foolishly waiting at the doorstep again…”
“Clang—”
The commotion from the hospital room instantly startled the people immersed in endless sorrow.
The half-closed room door was opened from inside, and two elderly spouses supporting each other shuffled out.
“Girl, did you just say our Nannan came back, right?”
The enamel basin made such a loud noise, Zhang Fu lying on the sickbed and Hu Yingtao who had been taking care of him all night and was dozing with eyes closed were both startled awake at the same time.
But before they could go out to see, they heard their son talking and laughing and crying with someone, every sentence mentioning their own Nannan’s name.
Instantly as if injected with infinite vitality, the originally sickly Zhang Fu who seemed about to die immediately struggled to get out of bed.
Just reaching the door, they heard the girl who brought news of their daughter speak, the huge surprise making the two so excited their hands shook and legs went weak, tears streaming down.
“I, I am Zhang Fu, Zhang Qin’s father, little girl, our Nannan really came back? Where is she? Didn’t you say she came back?”
“Dad…”
Trembling lips catching drop after drop of tears, so bitter and astringent it was hard to swallow.
Seeing his sick father and overworked mother both with full heads of white hair, Zhang Qi like a child who lost his favorite toy couldn’t hold back and wailed loudly.
“What the hell are you howling, get aside you useless thing!”
Zhang Fu said disdainful words, but in reality he himself was about to be too excited to speak through sobs, a full seven years almost eight years, finally, finally they got accurate news of Nannan.
Before dying he could see his daughter one more time, he could finally close his eyes in peace…
Ptoo ptoo ptoo!
No, his old bones still had to struggle for a few more years, daughter just came back and they didn’t know what happened to her, how much she suffered, how much bitterness she endured!
He still had to live, only by living could a father support her!
Years of pent-up sorrow and depression dissipated, even taking the illness with it, his body felt an indescribable lightness for the first time in a long while.
“Girl, are you our Nannan’s friend? She came back with you, then, where is she?”
Hu Yingtao kept wiping her eyes, wiping the tears she thought had long dried up, just like afraid the tears would block her from seeing clearly at the first moment the daughter she had longed for and finally returned home.
“…”
Not knowing how to say it, Su Ning’s hand holding the urn in her arms gripped so hard her fingertips turned white.
The pain of white-haired people sending off black-haired ones, that extreme pain others can’t empathize with, but just feeling it could make one’s eyes instantly red, even breathing feel oppressive and uncomfortable.
“Sister Qin… let me say on her behalf: Dad, Mom, brother, Nannan really came back this time!”
“No… it can’t be, won’t be…”
“You mean, our Nannan is here…”
Shock, doubt, then to hard to accept.
The old couple both clutched their chests at the same time, as if unable to breathe and about to faint the next moment.
“Dad, Mom!”
Zhang Qi hurriedly stood up and steadied the two, but the next moment one hand was forcefully pushed away by Zhang Fu.
The old man who was too sick to even get out of bed, now walked step by step, slowly yet so firmly.
“Nannan, Dad… Daddy come pick you up, Dad came late this time, Dad will accompany you, wherever you go Dad will accompany you, okay.”
“My Nannan, my ill-fated Nannan ah!”
Unlike her husband’s grief-stricken crying, seeing his sudden calm, the words he spoke were even more chilling.
Su Ning looked around, seeing the old couple carefully holding the urn with eyes full of lifelessness, painfully beating their own chests nonstop, she squeezed Xiao Qiu’s hand and gently pushed her forward a small step.
“Xiao Qiu, quickly call them.”
“Grandpa, Granny, Uncle.” Xiao Qiu obediently did as told, red-eyed looking at them and calling out.
The crisp childish call made the three look at her at the same time, their grief and heartache involuntarily pausing.
“What did you call me?”
“Uncle, Maternal Uncle! Mom said it, Uncle is the best brother in the world, and will be Xiao Qiu’s best Maternal Uncle!”
“You are… Xiao Qiu? My sister’s daughter?”
Xiao Qiu nodded, tears splashing to the ground with the motion, blooming into a flower.
“This, what exactly is going on?”
Is my tear point too low? Why does writing this make me cry too, boo hoo, I hate human traffickers the most, those scummy days!!
