This book is purely fictional! A place to store your brain!
“You all prepare well for the Old Lady. Notify those who need to be notified. It’s likely to be within these one or two days.”
“Doctor, are you saying, the Old Lady…”
“Sigh, actually, you don’t need to be sad. For the Old Lady, this is a good thing, perhaps even a release.”
“Wuwuwu, the Old Lady truly had a bitter life, suffering her entire life…”
… …
Lying weakly on the Hospital bed, Qiao Jiuru vaguely and hazily heard hushed voices and the familiar sorrowful voice of Lin Fang, who had taken care of her for thirty years.
Was she going to die?!
That’s great, she could finally die.
Actually, she had lived long enough. No, she should say, she had wanted to die for a long time.
If it wasn't for her husband making her promise to live well before he died, she would have stopped wanting to live when her grandchildren, son, daughter-in-law, and daughter passed away.
But her husband wouldn’t let her die; he insisted she live well.
For the past thirty years, she hadn’t died, but she lived like a walking corpse. Her body was alive, but her soul had long since left this world.
So tired, she was truly too tired. Why did those who should die not die, while those who shouldn't all died? But thankfully, it was all finally over now.
In this life, the Old Lady Qiao Jiuru lived in suppression, feeling injustice and extreme unwillingness. And this complex emotion made her breath increasingly unstable, fluctuating between strong and weak.
Before her eyes appeared all her dearest family members from this life: her two young grandchildren, her son, daughter-in-law, husband, parents, older brother, grandfather, grandmother… She was coming.
“Jiuru, you foolish child, how could you forget the heirloom the Old Ancestor left for the Qiao family?! The ancestors once said that in times of great crisis, the jade bracelet could save lives. Didn’t Grandfather tell you?! How could you forget?!”
Finally, at the last moment of her life, her grandfather’s clear and solemn voice suddenly echoed in her mind.
“Beep beep beep…”
Lin Fang, who was at the doorway covering her mouth to suppress her crying, suddenly heard the alarm sound from the Hospital room. With her swollen, tear-filled eyes, she looked incredulously at the silent Old Lady lying on the Hospital bed, then burst into wailing and rushed over.
“Old Lady…”
“Aru, Aru, wake up.”
“Aru, Aru, what’s wrong with you?!”
A familiar, clear, and low voice anxiously sounded in her ear, followed by her being gently pushed.
“Ah…”
Qiao Jiuru felt her heart pound fiercely and rapidly a few times, then she suddenly opened her eyes, instinctively letting out a cry of surprise.
“Jiuru, where do you feel uncomfortable?! I’ll take you to the Hospital right away.”
Su Huaiyuan looked at his wife, whose face was somewhat pale and eyes unfocused, with a worried expression. He asked with concern, while also blaming himself for not taking good care of her.
Because the weather had been bad these past few days, their two young grandsons had caught a cold and fever. So, his wife, who had fewer classes this week, voluntarily took on the task of caring for their sick grandsons.
Furthermore, she had taken care of them for most of last night, and only returned home from the Hospital to rest after the two grandsons’ fever had subsided and their son and daughter-in-law had come to take over.
As a result, when he got up in the morning, finished breakfast, and went to call his wife to wake up, he found that in just a short hour, his wife’s face was flushed, her breathing was rapid, and her body was convulsing. Su Huaiyuan immediately panicked and wanted to take her to the Hospital.
Old man?!
No, Huaiyuan?!
Her husband, Su Huaiyuan!
Qiao Jiuru stared blankly at the person in front of her, her eyes wide with disbelief. A husband without a full head of white hair and wrinkles only existed in her memories from before they were sent down.
“Aru, come, put on your padded coat first. I’ll take you to the Hospital right away.”
Su Huaiyuan didn’t notice anything else unusual about his wife; he only felt that she was truly sick. Anxiously, he quickly found her padded coat and hurriedly put it on her, preparing to take her to the Hospital.
Was her husband here to pick her up?!
“Huaiyuan, I’m so…”
Qiao Jiuru looked at her husband, who had black hair at this moment, and her eyes immediately reddened. She felt that this must be a dream, and she was about to say that she missed him very much. But then her gaze unintentionally swept over the room’s decor and the yellowed newspapers pasted on the wall…
Wasn’t this their home in Beijing University from before they were sent down?! She even had exceptionally good eyesight and saw the date of the latest issue on the large stack of newspapers specifically hung on the wall.
March 17, 1972!
1972, 1972, March 17th—wasn’t that the time before their family was sent down?!
No, it was a week before they were sent down. But wait, wasn’t she dead?! Why did she feel like she was still alive?!
Especially, her husband Su Huaiyuan’s warm hand had touched her forehead several times, and the constant pulling force when he helped her put on clothes, it seemed as if what was before her eyes was not fake, but real.
“Huaiyuan, I’m really fine, no need to go to the Hospital. Just let me lie down and sleep for a bit, and I’ll be fine.”
Qiao Jiuru recovered from her daze. Such a major event, she needed to calm down now, calm down… So, she instinctively immediately grabbed her husband’s hand tightly, feeling the warmth in Su Huaiyuan’s hand, while unenthusiastically trying to persuade him.
“Aru, be good. We should go to the Hospital if we need to. You absolutely cannot let a minor illness turn into a serious one.”
Su Huaiyuan, of course, disagreed and insisted on taking his wife to see a doctor. He was genuinely worried.
Qiao Jiuru: …Su Huaiyuan was still that stubborn person.
Seeing that her husband was about to drag her to the Hospital, Qiao Jiuru felt that she also temporarily needed to sort out her complex feelings. Moreover, she suddenly thought that going to the Hospital was good; many life-saving medicines were in the Hospital, so she definitely had to go to the Hospital.
“Huaiyuan, I’m hungry and have no strength. Why don’t we eat something first before going to the Hospital? That way, it’s less likely to harm my body.”
She wanted to send her husband away for a moment so she could properly sort things out. Had she really been reborn?
Yes, at this moment, Qiao Jiuru suspected that she might really have been reborn. Because there was such an incident in her previous life too: she had stayed up all night taking care of her two young grandsons and fell ill. Su Huaiyuan, who was worried about her and rushed home, took her to the Hospital then.
“Okay, okay, I’ll listen to you, as long as you’re willing to go to the Hospital.”
Seeing that his wife agreed to go to the Hospital, Su Huaiyuan also felt that what his wife said made sense, so he immediately turned and went out to get the freshly made breakfast.
As soon as he left the room, Qiao Jiuru immediately and without hesitation used all her strength to pinch the web of her left hand.
Hiss, it hurt.
After pinching the web of her left hand, she switched to pinching the web of her right hand even harder.
It hurt terribly.
However, this wasn’t over. Qiao Jiuru, who was so excited she couldn’t control herself, then reached out without a word and pressed hard on her philtrum, immediately bringing tears to her eyes.
It hurt so much!
The next moment, Qiao Jiuru was in tears. She had actually been reborn.