Upon hearing that Ji Yun might be leaving this world soon, Lin Nuan couldn"t resist crying.
Liang Mulan held Lin Nuan in her arms and gently patted her on the back, coaxing Lin Nuan softly as she used to when Lin Nuan was young. "This happens to everyone. It"s just a matter of sooner or later. Your mom has been living in a muddled state all these years, so it might be a good thing for your dad to take her away!"
Lin Nuan nodded, her head resting on Liang Mulan"s shoulder, not uttering a word.
Liang Mulan understood this daughter of hers all too well. The more Lin Nuan wouldn"t speak, the more upset she was feeling…
She pulled Lin Nuan by her pet.i.te hand to sit down on the sofa. "All these years that your mom has been sick, your dad never left your mom. You can tell just how deeply your dad loves your mom. Your mom must be missing your dad dearly too! Do you get what I mean?"
Lin Nuan nodded, still not saying a word.
The pain of one"s kin leaving wouldn"t dissolve with a few mere words from others. Liang Mulan had been through this, so she knew!
It was just that with Lin Nuan being in so much pain, it was likely that Lin Ran was in much more pain than Lin Nuan…
Other than kins.h.i.+p towards Ji Yun, Lin Ran also felt guilt!
She had yet to make it up to Ji Yun properly. If Ji Yun were to leave like that, how would Lin Ran be able to live out the rest of her days in peace?
That day, Lin Nuan didn"t go to record her show. She sat quietly with Liang Mulan before the fireplace. She wanted to eat with Ji Yun after she woke up, to talk with her and see what unfulfilled wishes she had.
Liang Mulan had thought it over. If Ji Yun"s wish were to see Lin Ran get married, even if she were to disregard her face, she would go to the Gu house and finalize the two kids" wedding!
Liang Mulan could tell that there wasn"t a problem where feelings were concerned between the two kids. The challenge laid with the mother of Gu Shaoting. She had always despised Lin Ran for growing up in poverty, feeling that Lin Ran wouldn"t be able to be a good wife to Gu Shaoting.
Gu Shaoting"s mother had subtly raised this matter with Liang Mulan before. At that time, Liang Mulan had, out of spite, subtly told Gu Shaoting"s mother that it was Gu Shaoting who was chasing after her daughter and refusing to let go. She asked Gu Shaoting"s mother to take her son in hand!
The two of them were smart people. Although both of them were smiling on the surface, they understood the sarcastic meaning behind each other"s words. It might have looked like nothing happened on the surface, but in truth, things ended on a sour note between the two parties during that meeting.
Shortly, snowflakes started falling outside the French windows. The white snow very quickly blurred out the scenery outside the windows…
The skies gradually became darker, and snow was covering the branches and windowsills after the wind blew the acc.u.mulated snow away. Lin Nuan stood before the French windows, a little distracted.
She got a call from Fang Yan, saying the recording was postponed to the day after tomorrow. She also asked Lin Nuan not to worry about a thing and to focus on settling matters at home.
After hanging up the phone, she saw Lin Ran coming downstairs. She went down the stairs halfway, unwilling to come down any further.
Liang Mulan was the first to have noticed Lin Ran. She set down the cup in her hands and stood up, a premonition in her heart.
Seeing everyone look in her direction, Lin Ran supported herself with one hand on the rails of the staircase, trying hard not to cry out loud. But still, large tear droplets slipped down her cheeks.
It was only when Lin Nuan turned her head, and their eyes met that Lin Ran said in a choked voice, "She left…"
Only two words.
Lin Nuan tried hard to widen her eyes and stop her tears from falling, but still, she couldn"t hold back the tears. She lowered her head and used her palms and the back of her hands to wipe away the tears, nodding.
It was within her expectations.
Ji Yun left very peacefully. She had been sent upstairs and settled down on a bed escorted by Lin Nuan. Then, later, Lin Ran had accompanied her. She just fell asleep like that, and she would never wake up again.
Lin Ran didn"t even know when she left!
She had merely wanted to wake Ji Yun to eat something seeing that it was afternoon. It was only when she called out softly by her ear several times that she sensed something was amiss. When she extended a hand to test Ji Yun"s breath, she could no longer sense her breathing.
Since Ji Yun woke up, she left without saying anything to Lin Ran.
Lin Ran"s mind was filled with the scenes of her howling and shouting at Ji Yun, even that of her pus.h.i.+ng and shoving Ji Yun. She bit her arm in remorse, not daring to cry out loud in the room.
Because Lin Ran had bit herself too hard, blood was dripping from her arm. That was perhaps how it felt to be so remorseful that one wished to die!
She felt that Ji Yun must have hated her. Otherwise, why would she refuse to say a single word to her when she was sober and just leave like that!
The sharp-eyed Liang Mulan was startled when she saw the red mark on Lin Ran"s quivering arm. She hurriedly jogged over and up the stairs. "Xiao Ran! What happened?"
Being hugged in Liang Mulan"s arms, something snapped in Lin Ran"s brain. She embraced Liang Mulan and cried out loud. "I haven"t apologized to her! I haven"t made it up to her! What should I do, Mom! My mom died… my mom died…"
Lin Nuan couldn"t take Lin Ran"s crying. She turned around and looked out the windows, her arms crossed tightly, and her fingernails nearly piercing through her sweater and into her tender flesh.
She was then pulled into a warm and solid embrace. She had originally nearly broken down too! But Lin Ran had already broken down and was a mess, so she had to hold herself steady!
Ji Yun didn"t have any relatives or friends. It was like she had come into the world all by herself, then lived her life all by herself, then turned around and left all by herself…
The two caretakers were more experienced, and Liang Mulan helped out too. Fu Huai"an had also tasked Little Lu to handle matters like buying the shroud and arranging her funeral affairs.
At midnight, the funeral parlor people came to take Ji Yun away. A teary Lin Ran was stubbornly helping Ji Yun wipe her arms and legs with a cloth over and over again.
"When the child wants to serve their parents in their old age, but they are no more." Perhaps no one understood the meaning of that saying more deeply than Lin Ran at that moment.
She owed many apologies to Ji Yun, and she wouldn"t be able to return the debt in this lifetime!
The funeral parlor people were used to seeing such scenes, so they patiently stood by the side and waited, not at all in a hurry.
Ji Yun"s funeral was a simple one. It wasn"t that they didn"t wish to make it a grand affair for Ji Yun, it was just that no one knew where Ji Yun"s friends and family were, not even Lin Nuan or Lin Ran.
On the day Ji Yun was placed into the coffin for burial, it was snowing as heavily as the day she pa.s.sed away.
Lin Nuan held Ji Yun"s wooden urn in her hands, while Lin Ran carried Ji Yun"s photo in her arms. They buried Ji Yun together with Lin Nuan"s birth father in the accompaniment of the Lin family.
Under the large black umbrella, Lin Nuan stood with Lin Ran…
On the tombstone, it was engraved, daughters: Lu Nuan, Lu Ran.
Lin Nuan"s residency had always been with the Lin family, and she had never changed her name. After Lin Ran returned to the Lin family, she had changed her name to Lin Ran.
But this time, both of them had the surname Lu engraved on the tombstones, indicating that they were the daughters of the married couple buried there.
Lin Chen didn"t come because he wasn"t fully recuperated. Lin Nuan and Lin Ran were worried that Lin Chen would scare Liang Mulan and Lin Jingquan if he were to appear before them in his current state, so they didn"t inform Lin Chen.
Liang Mulan and Lin Jingquan had initially wanted to call Lin Chen over, but Lin Ran stopped them…