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Chapter 2 The Sealed Letters

The three stood in the corner of the ward, watching the medical staff treat them.

From a distance, Jiang Guier could clearly see that, under the influence of various instruments, the old woman was convulsing violently, like a lifeless rag doll being controlled. After the instruments stopped, it took her body a while to calm down...

Jiang Guier's heart also tightened.

"Who's coming out with me, patient?" The doctor only had time to answer this question after the treatment was finished.

"I, I..." Jiang Guier hurriedly followed, "Doctor, how is my great-grandmother?"

"The elderly person's condition is relatively stable, but... their bodily functions are declining." The attending physician added, "At this time, as family members, we should spend more time with them, and try our best to fulfill any wishes they may have."

He was able to say this entirely because the family members had been very cooperative during the treatment process, neither obstructing the treatment nor disturbing the process, which suggests they are very reasonable people.

If there's even the slightest hint of overreaction, the doctor would never say this; they would definitely give an ambiguous response. These days, medical disputes are the most terrifying thing.

"Okay, doctor. Thank you, doctor."

After listening to the doctor's words, Jiang Guier's mood didn't fluctuate much. Perhaps it was because of her great-grandmother's age, over 90 years old, it was only a matter of time before she passed away. She returned to the ward and saw her grandmother's back standing by the window, and her steps faltered.

"grandmother……"

Jiang Wumei turned around, standing in the shadows against the light, making it difficult to see her expression. "Speak your mind."

She hesitated for a moment and said, "The doctor said that Grandma's condition may not be very good. If she has any wishes, we will grant them."

“A wish!” Jiang Wumei sneered, her tone harsh. “She’s been dragging her life on like this because of that wish. She’s been longing for it her whole life, but in the end, it’s all for nothing.”

“Grandma! How could you say that?” Jiang Gui’er’s tone hardened slightly, but softened again under Jiang Wumei’s stern expression. “After all, you are mother and daughter. How can there be any grudge between mother and daughter, right… haha…”

“x……xi……”

Jiang Guier was trying to make amends when she suddenly heard the old woman lying on the hospital bed making murmured sounds.

“She…Grandma…did she just say something?” Jiang Wumei remained unmoved, so Jiang Guier could only turn around and grab Qian Xin, “Did she?”

"Yes, yes, it seems to be talking about... joy?" Qian Xin's expression was also a little excited.

The two leaned closer to the hospital bed, wanting to hear more clearly.

The murmured sound mixed with the ticking of the instruments was hard to discern.

"A letter!" Jiang Guier suddenly exclaimed, "Grandma, listen, isn't Great-Grandma talking about a letter? Isn't it that letter she's always treasured?"

Jiang Wumei stared intently at her unconscious mother on the hospital bed, her face expressionless, lost in thought.

After all these years, they're still so stubbornly unenlightened!
Her hands, hanging tightly at her sides, clenched into fists. She sneered, "I should have burned them all back then. I didn't expect she would hide one." After saying that, she turned away and stopped talking.

Jiang Guier pulled Qian Xin and walked towards the door. "Grandma, since Great-Grandma wants to believe, I'll go to the old house to get it for her. I'm leaving now."

Without waiting for Jiang Wumei's reply, he ran out the door as if fleeing.

"Sister Gui'er, slow down." Qian Xin almost couldn't keep up with Jiang Gui'er's pace.

"I can't slow down, or I won't be able to leave if my grandma calls me back." Jiang Guier didn't dare to slow down at all, and after walking a distance, she even started running.

She finally caught her breath as she sat back in her white Mercedes.

"Sister Gui'er, your grandma is so fierce." Qian Xin had only met Jiang Gui'er's mother before, that career-oriented strong woman, who had always been her idol.

Jiang Guier chuckled and took out her phone. This time, she proactively found her mother's number and dialed it.

"Dudu..."

"What is it?" Jiang Yun's voice remained cold on the other end of the phone.

"Ms. Jiang, help me!"

"Speak properly, you're so disrespectful." Jiang Yun raised an eyebrow and scolded, her tone unusually relaxed, which drew several glances from her secretary. Jiang Gui'er pouted, "I know, Mom. I just had a heated debate with Grandma at the hospital..."

"You weren't scolded?" Jiang Yun interrupted.

“Almost! I ran fast enough that the scolding couldn’t catch me.” Jiang Guier said shamelessly, “Mom, you have to back me up.”

"Speak directly."

Jiang Yun didn't cooperate with Jiang Gui'er's pace, so she had to give up her previous idea of ​​digging traps step by step and honestly said, "I need to go to the old house to get a letter for my great-grandmother."

"Gain trust."

Jiang Yun paused, putting down her pen as she was about to sign the contract. Looking at the tall buildings outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, she said, "Then go and get it. The spare key to the old house is under the flower bed at the entrance."

"Hey, Mom, aren't you going to the hospital to get checked out? I feel like Grandma is really hostile." Recalling what had just happened, Jiang Guier was still shaken. She felt that the way her grandmother looked at her great-grandmother was not like that of a mother and daughter at all, but more like that of an enemy.

“Jiang Guiyuan, are you now refusing to communicate with me, wanting to be independent and self-reliant? Ignoring me when there’s nothing wrong, and calling for my mom when there’s something wrong, that won’t do.” Jiang Yun’s pen strokes were extremely heavy when she signed, each stroke penetrating the paper like a sharp knife.

"Hehehe... Sorry to bother you, Ms. Jiang." Jiang Guier quickly hung up the phone and pouted.

"Xin Xin, I'll take you for a drive in the countryside." With that, she turned on the car's navigation system, set the location, and set off.

Qian Xin said with a bitter face, "Sister Gui'er, the brand wants to meet with you this afternoon to discuss the shooting content."

"No time, let them go to hell."

"Yes, yes, let him go to hell." Qian Xin was now in a completely different situation. With her boss backing her up, she wasn't afraid to punch the brand owner at all.

Jiang Guier drove very fast, and soon drove from the city to the countryside on the outskirts of Baoshan. Looking at the rice paddies and wheat fields around her, she raised an eyebrow. The country road leading to the old house was wider than it had been years ago, making driving much smoother.

The roads have become wider, but there are fewer people.

In recent years, due to policy planning, this area was designated as a demolition site several years ago, and the number of people in the village has decreased even further.

Those who still live in the village now are only elderly people who are about the same age as the great-grandmother and are unwilling to leave because they are too old to leave. For them, leaving is more terrifying.

After parking the car, Jiang Guier rested one hand on the steering wheel, tilted her head, and let her long hair, tied up high, fall from her cheeks and onto her arms.

Her gaze fell on the phone screen that Qian Xin was frantically tapping with her fingers, a long string of green letters reflected on Qian Xin's face, making it look greenish. She raised an eyebrow, "Still not settled?"

Qian Xin looked up, her eyes gleaming with fighting spirit. "Wait for me a moment. The brand is trying to manipulate us, and I'm fighting back."

“OK, you can continue.” Jiang Guier patted Qian Xin’s shoulder encouragingly. “Then wait here for me for a moment, I’ll go get it.”

"Okay, Sister Gui'er." Qian Xin gave an OK sign and continued fighting with her head down.

Looking at the old house, which was much more dilapidated than she remembered, Jiang Guier's long-buried memories began to surface. She had spent two years of her childhood here because of her mother's work. In her memory, her great-grandmother was an interesting and cultured old lady, not the thin old woman lying in a hospital bed.

She crouched down, moved aside the lush, vibrant blue hydrangeas growing by the door, took out her key, and turned the knob to open the wooden door.

"Creak—" The door opened, and the scene inside came into view. Like the hydrangeas at the entrance, it was neat and clean. Apart from being old and having a sense of age, everything else was pretty much the same as I remembered.

Following her memory, she went upstairs to her great-grandmother's bedroom, knowing that her great-grandmother's letter was in the camphor wood box on her dressing table.

She had prepared to pick the lock before she arrived, but to her surprise, there was an old brass lock hanging on the camphor wood chest, but it wasn't locked.

She unlocked the box and opened it. Inside were many of her grandmother's personal items. The most eye-catching item was a yellowed letter. Jiang Guier picked it up. The postmark on the letter was blurred, and only the year 1953 could be vaguely made out. The address of the letter was also illegible, perhaps because it had been touched so often.

She squinted at it for a while, then realized she had failed and gave up.

She closed the camphor wood chest, carefully hung the brass lock on it, and was about to go downstairs when she suddenly heard a noise outside. Looking out the window, she could see people by the river. She immediately became alert; someone had entered the village!

These are all elderly people; what if something happens to them… No! I have to go check on them!
She tucked the letter into her bosom, hurried downstairs, and walked towards the river.

(End of this chapter)