Striving for Science C78

The old person held a black and white photograph. A woman with a ponytail, wearing a loose, ill-fitting, rustic shirt, sat stiffly in a chair. Her smile was a bit strained, and she held a chubby child in her arms.

He had seen this photo at home. It was a picture of his father as a child with his grandmother.

"Chang'an, if you don't want to go see her, we'll go home and eat together." Dao Nian walked to Shen Chang'an's side. "If you want to go see her, I'll go with you."

Shen Chang'an turned to look at Dao Nian: "How did you get up? Does your foot still hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt too much."

"If it doesn't hurt too much, that means it still hurts." Shen Chang'an held Dao Nian's arm. "Lean on me."

Dao Nian leaned against him as instructed. If he wasn't so tall, he might have actually demonstrated what it meant to be "clingy."

The King of Hell felt he couldn't bear to watch anymore. If he continued watching, he would start to wonder if there was something wrong with Heavenly Dao.

"When I was little, my mom and grandma didn't get along very well. Grandma always complained that Mom worked too much and couldn't take good care of Dad." Shen Chang'an recalled some vague memories from his childhood. "Dad retorted that he was a grown man and should take care of Mom, not the other way around. Grandma got really angry about it and moved back to her hometown. She never lived with my parents again."

"After my parents passed away, I was sent to live with Grandma in the countryside. Grandma…"

The time he spent at Grandma's house was like a nightmare.

She forced him to drink strange-smelling talisman water, called him a jinx who would bring misfortune to his parents, beat him, starved him, and made him kneel for hours. In the end, she almost killed him because she thought if he died, Dad would come back.

"Go." Shen Chang'an took a deep breath. Grandma had become a shadow from his childhood, but Dad had raised him. For Dad's sake, he was willing to make this trip.

***

Everyone said she was crazy, but the old woman thought she was perfectly sane. She remembered her son being so good and capable, the most handsome boy in the whole town. He was her son.

Her son was a special forces soldier, and later became a policeman. He wore a cap, it was amazing.

Her hands trembled as she weakly pulled out a photo of herself and her son from under her pillow. She gasped for breath.

"You're about to die." A crazy old woman was crouched outside her window. "You keep bragging about how great your son is, but he's still dead alone. You're a big talker, shameless!"

The old woman widened her eyes and glared angrily at the crazy woman outside the window. Who said she was bragging?

"Liar, liar, a liar with no descendants." The crazy woman clapped her hands and shook her head outside, until she was discovered by the doctors and nurses from the mental hospital and dragged away.

The old woman felt her hearing was particularly good today. Even though the crazy woman had been dragged away, she could still hear her shouting that she had no descendants but bragged about having a son.

"I have a son!" She clutched the photo tightly. "My son brought glory to the country!"

Her son was amazing. Even the ward she lived in was a single room. The doctor said all her expenses were covered by the state, all thanks to her son.

But...

He's dead?

He's dead!

The old woman opened her mouth, but she couldn't cry or shed a tear.

"No son, no heir!"

Those lunatics, they're actually starting to sing?

"Crazy old woman, old liar."

No, no, no, her son is gone, but she still has an heir.

She has a… grandson.

"I have an heir." She thought she was shouting in anger, but no one could hear her except herself.

She has a grandson named Shen You, who is exceptionally good at his studies, always topping the class.

The old woman suddenly calmed down. She suddenly remembered that someone had told her that her grandson was an ill-omen, that he had taken her son's life.

As long as he was willing to exchange his life for her son's, her son could come back to life.

But she tried everything, she couldn't save her son, and Shen You didn't die either.

She suddenly felt a little scared. If she went to the underworld, and her son asked her if Shen You was doing well, how would she answer him?

Shen You…

Shen You has been taken away.

She hadn't seen him in over ten years. How could she tell her son? She remembered her son being especially fond of Shen You, he would lie on the ground and let him ride on his back like a horse, and he would put him on his shoulders to watch the excitement.

But she lost her son's son.

"Lonely old woman, no one cares, no one looks after her, when she dies, she'll only have a coffin board." Those lunatics outside were still singing, she looked down on them, and they looked down on her.

She was a little angry, but she was too lazy to argue with these lunatics.

She was the most sane person in this hospital. Those doctors and nurses, they were also crazy, not quite right in the head.

Her breathing became increasingly difficult. She clutched the photo in her hand tightly. Her son… why hadn't he come to pick her up yet?

The room door slowly opened. She struggled to turn her head to look. Was it her A'kang who had come?

No, it wasn't A'kang.

The young man who entered the room was very handsome, with fair and delicate skin, and two small dimples on his cheeks, making him instantly likable.

What a pity, such a good-looking child, but his mind is also messed up, so he was sent here?

The young man walked closer, his expression was strange. The old woman thought, was he here to steal her photo? She trembled and tried to hide the photo under the blanket, but her hands had no strength at all. The photo slipped through her fingers and fell to the ground.

"My photo…"

Don't take her photo!

Don't take her photo!

Shen Chang'an looked at the photo that had fallen onto his shoes, bent down to pick it up, and placed it in the old woman's palm. He hadn't seen her in over a decade, and she was much older and more withered than he remembered. She looked like a dried-up plant, her entire being permeated with death.

The look in her eyes was unfamiliar.

He thought, the look in his eyes towards her was probably just as unfamiliar.

The room was quiet, and he didn't know what he could say to an old woman who had abused him for two years.

"I have…"

The old woman kept muttering something, and after listening intently for a while, Shen Chang'an realized she was saying, "She has descendants."

The room had a strong smell of potassium permanganate disinfectant, mixed with the unpleasant odor of an elderly person. He looked up at the ceiling, originally white but now slightly yellowed, waiting for the moment of her death to arrive.

At this moment, his heart was incredibly calm, devoid of resentment, blame, and even sadness.

He even started to wonder if Dao Nian would be bored or cold waiting for him outside the courtyard.

Time ticked by, second by second. Shen Chang'an glanced at the time, then turned back to the old woman on the bed. She also looked up at him, her eyes shining brightly, as if she had returned to her youth.

"What a pity," she said to him, "You're so young, why were you sent to this place?"

"I came to see you," Shen Chang'an replied, "I'll leave after I'm done."

"You don't even know me, why would you come to see me?" The old woman chuckled, "You're seriously ill."

Shen Chang'an looked at her without speaking.

"I'm about to die," she sat up, smoothing her messy hair, trying to get to the reclining chair beside her.

Shen Chang'an reached out to help her. The old woman's hand was cold. He remembered a saying in her hometown: when an elderly person dies, they shouldn't lie on the bed, otherwise, they will carry the bed with them after death, making their next life difficult.

The short distance seemed to drain all the old woman's strength, and her bright eyes gradually dimmed.

"Young man, you're not my relative, it's bad luck to be near a dying person, go out." The old woman touched the photo she kept close to her chest, "I'm going to find my son."

Shen Chang'an didn't understand why she could be so kind to a stranger, yet so cruel and heartless to him when he was a child.

"I have a grandson, about your age," the old woman closed her eyes, her voice getting quieter, "Later, someone told me that if he was willing to exchange his life for mine, my son would come back. But then, my son didn't come back, and I lost him too. Do you think my son will forgive me?"

Shen Chang'an's lips moved, but he didn't speak.

He felt that the elderly woman in the rocking chair had no breath left.

She was dead.

The soul light flew out of her chest and hovered around the photo near her heart.

"I don't know if he'll forgive you." Shen Chang'an looked at the soul light. "You should go now, don't linger in the mortal world."

The soul light flickered and flew out the window. Shen Chang'an looked at the gently swaying rocking chair and the elderly woman with her eyes closed. He pressed the call button on the wall.

"Mr. Shen, please accept our condolences." Half a minute later, the doctors and nurses entered the room. They expertly lifted the elderly woman onto a stretcher and covered her body with a white sheet.

Shen Chang'an shook his head, rummaged through his pockets, and pulled out a white flower, placing it on the white cloth covering the body. "Goodbye."

The doctors and nurses were familiar with the family situation of each patient. They knew that the old lady in this room had a son who was a very distinguished martyr. But after her son died, the old lady went crazy. She abused her grandson at home, saying that her son would come back if her grandson died.

Over the years, the old lady's grandson had never appeared. Unexpectedly, he came to see her before she died.

Looking at the white flowers placed on the body, the doctors and nurses sighed in their hearts. A person's life, they thought, is just a whirlwind of madness.

Love, hate, grudges, and entanglements, all became smoke and clouds in the face of death.

Shen Chang'an stepped out of the house and saw Dao Nian and the King of Hell still waiting for him. He walked over to Dao Nian, his expression calm, and said, "Let's go back. Uncle Zhao's food will get cold."

"Good." Dao Nian gently patted Shen Chang'an's shoulder.

The King of Hell waved his hand, erasing all traces of their arrival. He took the two of them directly from the mental hospital in the Imperial Capital to the front door of Dao Nian's house.

Looking at the familiar door, Shen Chang'an turned to thank the King of Hell, only to find that he had left at some point.

"Sir, Chang'an, you're back?" Yu Lei, guarding the door, turned and shouted towards the house, "Old Zhao, get the dishes ready, the sir and Chang'an are back."

Shen Chang'an walked through the garden with Dao Nian. The workers tending the garden greeted him with smiles. As they entered the villa, Liu Mao and Shen Tu also came over with smiles.

They seemed to already know about Shen Chang'an's grandmother's passing, so they were all trying to cheer him up.

"You..." Shen Chang'an took a deep breath, looking up at everyone, "Seeing Dao Nian walk normally, don't you have any thoughts?"

In just three or four hours, even if they knew Dao Nian's legs had recovered, they shouldn't have not even glanced at them.