When my grandma was finally pushed out of the emergency room, I hurriedly ran to the doctor and asked, "Doctor, how is my grandma?"
"The patient just fainted due to stimulation, there's nothing wrong. You people really, at this age, there's no need to tell her any overly stimulating news. I've seen many people who have died from being overly stimulated," the doctor said to us.
"Also, the patient needs rest, don't disturb her." With that, the doctor left, leaving the four of us standing there, watching my grandma being pushed into the intensive care unit.
"Do you know how to drive? If you do, then drive yourself back. I'll stay here to take care of your grandma. I know, right now you want to know what happened to your aunt the most. I understand how you feel right now." At this moment, the policewoman Jiuliang tossed me the car keys.
"No, I've never driven." I said.
"Then let's go, I'll drive you back." I now suspect that Jiuliang did this on purpose. Lin Xiaoyao had accepted my mother's jade bracelet last night, which meant she was now my rightful betrothed. Jiuliang definitely wouldn't like me, Lin Xiaofan. But this woman had previously made Lin Xiaoyao jealous, which wasn't very proper now.
So she asked me if I could drive, and when I said no, she took me back, to avoid any suspicion.
I'm still worried about my grandma, but I also want to go back immediately. My mother, who had been a fool for twenty-three years, had become a wise and intelligent woman, which I could accept. I could even think of whatever her purpose might be in my family. But I couldn't accept that a living person could turn into paper overnight!
Strange things had been happening recently, and it has shattered my worldview. But possession by ghosts and haunting, I can accept because although uncommon, these things are familiar in legends. But a living person turning into paper? I can't understand or believe it.
It's not because it happened to my mother that I find it hard to accept, but because I have always believed that things like possessions by ghosts are supernatural, and eventually can be explained by science.
I'm a college student! So I can't understand what kind of chemical reaction occurred, or what catalyst was added, to turn a person into paper!
After getting on the car, I couldn't stop thinking about these things, and I kept urging Jiuliang to drive faster. I missed the chance to see how Uncle Er handled that coffin last night. Even if I don't see how Uncle Er handles things today, I have to figure out exactly what's going on with my mother!
"Ninety-two, drive faster, drive faster!" I didn't know what my expression was like, but I could feel that at this moment, I was like a madman. A series of events had made my already fragile nerves on the verge of collapse.
But at that moment, Jiuliang stopped the car.
She looked at me very quietly, then reached out her little hand and covered mine. Looking at our hands together, I suddenly realized that my whole body was shaking so violently.
"Xiaofan, you are already in a panic, and I fully understand you. But I have to tell you that the more you panic at this moment, the more you cannot panic, panic cannot solve anything. Do you know what I felt the first time I saw you? That day, in that kind of environment, you, a young man, stood there calmly, and I felt you were quite handsome." I couldn't tell if she was speaking from the heart, or trying to comfort me.
But there have been too many things happening recently, and I couldn't even remember when and under what circumstances we met. - Still, to this day, I still feel as if everything is happening in a dream.
"Since you understand me, you should know that I can't afford to panic now. I want to stay calm, but I can't." I told her.
Jiuliang took back her hand, started the car gently, this time, not speeding up, but driving very smoothly.
"Actually, everyone has their own story. I won't say anything else, but when I saw Uncle and Auntie playing their instruments last night, I felt that the way they looked at each other with such deep affection, nothing else mattered thereafter. I always thought that people from our parents' generation wouldn't have love. They just got married for the sake of marriage, for the sake of continuing the family line. But last night, their singing was beautiful. It was the most beautiful performance I've ever seen or heard."
"The actors on the stage perform for the sake of performing, but Uncle and Auntie sing for the sake of feelings. Don't talk about Uncle's erhu, even Auntie's voice can be described as extraordinary. Even if their pitch was off, it didn't affect their beauty at all." The policewoman kept talking to me like a chatterbox.
And at that moment, I really needed someone like her to talk to me. Listening to Jiuliang, I leaned back in my chair, savoring the performance of my father and mother last night. I really felt that if I could be like this with someone in this life, I would die without regrets even if I immediately entered the afterlife.
I actually felt calm, just from the few words of Jiuliang.
"Thank you." I sincerely expressed my gratitude to her. The impression I had of policewoman Jiuliang was completely different from someone who would comfort others.
"Before, I thought I was the unluckiest and most unfortunate person in the world. But until I met you, Lin Xiaofan, I realized there are people who are even more unlucky than me. I didn't want to tell you about my brother before because I didn't want to expose my own wounds to others. Since I was young, my father always told me to be strong, to rely on myself, and I have always done so." As if she was insane, Policewoman Jiuliang laughed and shook as she spoke.
I also needed a distraction now, so I nodded to her, "Go ahead, what happened to your brother? Maybe I can help."
As the policewoman's hands lightly swayed the steering wheel, she spoke in a relaxed tone about things she hadn't wanted to tell me before. But behind her smile hid deep helplessness.
"That's enough. I haven't been a mother, so I don't know what it feels like to be pregnant. But I've heard from my friend that having an abortion before the child is born is like going to the toilet once, it's not as heartbreaking as it's shown on TV. I think my mother is the same. She had many abortions before the incident with my brother, and she was indifferent. Only when my brother was born dead, she couldn't bear it. When she held the lifeless baby, she cried out like Madam Ye from the novel Tian Long Ba Bu, calling him baby to feed." My response to hearing these heavy words was shivering.
"He really sucked her nipple."