Mr. Song didn't take it seriously: "It's not a big deal. If you miss Ningbo, we can go back and live in Ningbo for a while."
Mrs. Jiang picked up a glass of water and handed it to him: "Okay, let's go back to Ningbo. I wonder if the shabby house at home is still there. You've been running all the way. You must be thirsty. Come, have a glass of water."
Mr. Song took the water and drank it all in one gulp.
The clear water passed through his intestines, burning his stomach. Mr. Song held his stomach and looked at his sister in disbelief.
He fell to the ground, twitched in pain a few times, and then his limbs were stretched out and he could no longer move.
In his last consciousness, his sister looked down at him and whispered to him, "You bought the arsenic yourself, so taste it."
Mrs. Jiang died of illness the day before the Jiang family set off back to Wuhan.
Jiang Gubei went to see her. There was no greater sorrow than a dead heart. Her room was filled with the smell of death.
Mrs. Jiang, who used to be arrogant and domineering, curled up in a corner of the bed, thin as a skeleton under the quilt. When she saw Jiang Gubei coming, she smiled at him weakly: "You are here."
Jiang Gubei sat down beside her bed, thought for a long time, and could only say: "Take care of yourself."
Mrs. Jiang motioned for him to open the drawer of the bedside table, and Jiang Gubei found a neatly stacked stack of letters inside. They were all letters he had written to Mrs. Jiang in the name of Jiang Qianmo over the years.
Mrs. Jiang took it and held it against her chest. "I always wonder why this child only wrote letters and didn't send me any photos. Then I thought, this child has been willful since he was young, and he is willing to write letters to me. He is already sensible, but I never thought that these letters were all written by you."
Jiang Gubei didn't know what to say. Mrs. Jiang took a breath and continued, "You and this child have a very good relationship, right?"
Jiang Gubei's nose was sore, and he nodded: "Yes, he died to save me. He has always liked me as his elder brother, and I like him too."
Mrs. Jiang smiled and said, "Yes, who doesn't like him? Qianmo is a good kid, kind and enthusiastic, unlike me."
She stared at the ceiling for a long time, then asked, "You think I'm annoying, right? I destroyed someone's marriage, but I'm still so domineering, like a victim. I'll tell you a secret, I actually hate your father as much as your mother does. Your mother thought your father only saw her as a ladder to success, and I thought so at first, too. It wasn't until later, when I entered the Jiang family, that I realized it wasn't the case at all. Your father had already fallen in love with your mother, and I was just a promise and a responsibility to him. When he left Ningbo, he swore to me that he would marry me no matter what, but after I really married him, I realized that he was thinking of another woman."
"I am very resentful. I resent your father, your mother, and you. I know my resentment is unreasonable, but that's how women resent. Please don't blame me, as I am about to die."
She fumbled with the letters and pulled one out from the middle: "The letter you wrote is really good, and the tone is exactly the same as Qianmo's. If you didn't tell me, I might never recognize it as a fake. I like this one the most. I have read it over and over again. Please read it to me again. Do you know that the voices of you two brothers are actually somewhat similar?"
Jiang Gubei took the letter and pulled out the letter paper. It looked like it had been read many times and the edges of the letter paper were already frayed.
He cleared his throat and read:
"Dear mother, I have been in the UK for half a year. I was busy with my studies in the first half. Yesterday I finally had time to go on an outing with my classmates. London is a city completely different from Wuhan, Chongqing and Leshan. It is foggy all year round. We went to the British Museum and Westminster Abbey in the drizzle..."
This is the life he imagined his younger brother should have.
My younger brother could have had such a life.
On the third day, the Jiang family and the Jing family boarded the ship back to Wuhan together.
After eight years, Wuhan is no longer what it used to be. From October 1938 to August 1945, the whole of Wuhan struggled under the ravages of the invaders, and the city was devastated and desolate.
The old houses of the Jiang family and the Jing family were occupied by the Japanese during the Japanese occupation period and were not taken over by the government until after Japan surrendered. Before returning to Wuhan, the two families had already completed the handover work with the government, so they moved back to their old houses as soon as they returned to Wuhan.
On the night they returned to Wuhan, the Jing family had a family dinner. Mother, eldest sister, eldest brother-in-law, little nephew, brother Mingyu and Jing Mingchen were all present. Only father and second sister were missing. Mother suddenly asked Jing Mingchen: "When are you going to get married to Jiang Gubei?"
After the trip to Yunnan, my mother never mentioned Jiang Gubei's name again. When she mentioned it, it was about marriage. Jing Mingchen was so flustered that he choked on a mouthful of soup. He coughed for a long time before answering: "Mr. Jiang said that his stepmother just passed away, and it seems not a good idea to hold a wedding right away. He said that we should observe a year of mourning."
Mrs. Jing nodded: "After all, he is an elder, so it is only natural for him to stay with her for a year."
She didn't say anything else. Jing Mingchen was terrified throughout the entire family dinner, fearing that she would mention her second sister again. Fortunately, she didn't.
After dinner, Jing Mingchen sent his eldest sister and her husband out, and quietly asked his eldest sister, "Tell me, has mom noticed anything about my second sister?"
When the war just ended, my mother mentioned my second sister frequently, always saying that the war was over and the undercover missions should be completed, and the second girl should come back. After mentioning it many times and my second sister still didn't come back, she stopped mentioning it, as if she had forgotten such a person existed.
The eldest sister said softly, "Who knows?"
Yes, who knows whether she knows or not, maybe she doesn’t know, or maybe she knows but pretends not to know.
The eldest brother-in-law said to Jing Mingchen: "You and Mr. Jiang's matter should be done as soon as possible, otherwise once the war breaks out, I'm afraid it will be a long time before it ends."
Jing Mingchen asked: "Will there really be a war? Hasn't the armistice agreement been signed?"
The eldest brother-in-law shook his head and said, "I have connections in the government, and the war is bound to happen. You should get married sooner so that you can take care of each other even if a war really breaks out. Mr. Jiang is a smart man with ability and skill. It's always good to have more people to protect the Jing family."
Jing Mingchen saw his sister and brother-in-law off with a heavy heart and turned back home.
When she passed by her mother's room, she saw that the light was still on. She peeked inside through the crack in the door and saw her mother sitting in front of the dressing table, in a daze, holding something in her hand.
Jing Mingchen took a closer look, his eyes became hot, and he covered his mouth and tiptoed away.
What my mother was holding in her hand was the gold necklace that my second sister wore when she was a child.
The information my brother-in-law obtained from the government turned out to be true. Just two months after returning to Wuhan, news came that the National Government had launched a large-scale attack on the Communist Party in the Central Plains.
The civil war had indeed begun.
As a soldier, Xiao Sanzi also went to the battlefield again.
We originally thought that the war was only temporary and would soon be settled, but we did not expect that a whole year had passed and the war was still going on, with a tendency to expand.
One day in May, Jing Mingchen just came downstairs early in the morning and saw Jiang Gubei standing in the living room downstairs.
Jiang Gubei came with Mrs. Ding, and there were colorful gifts piled on the floor. Seeing Jing Mingchen coming downstairs, Mrs. Jing said, "Mr. Jiang and Mrs. Ding are here to propose marriage. It's up to you, little girl, to decide whether to agree or not."
Jing Mingchen stood blankly on the last step of the stairs. Jiang Gubei walked towards her, held her hands, looked into her eyes and whispered, "I can't wait for a year to expire, Mingchen, let's get married."
She once said that it would take seven years to observe a person. Now, nine years have passed since he last proposed to her. He has waited for seven years, one year, and seven months, and he doesn't want to wait any longer.
Mrs. Jing took Jing Mingchen's hand and put it in Jiang Gubei's hand: "Mr. Jiang, my little girl is now in your hands."
Jiang Gubei and Jing Mingchen's wedding date is set for two months later.
Although it was a hasty marriage, Jiang Gubei and Mrs. Jing insisted on having everything they needed. The wedding dress was tailor-made at the most famous foreign bridal shop in Shanghai. It was said that the ancestor of this foreign tailor had been employed by European royal families. The diamond ring was the most beautiful and expensive one they found after visiting all the department stores in Shanghai.
Three days before the wedding, Jiang Gubei set off for Shanghai, saying that he was going to find a gift for Jing Mingchen.
"A gift you'll never expect, but will make you scream when you see it." He said mysteriously before leaving.
Jing Mingchen pretended to be uninterested: "Who cares!"
Jiang Gubei smiled and scooped up a handful of her hair: "Now your hair is as long as when I first saw you. Mingchen, don't wear your hair in a bun or perm at the wedding. Just braid it into a long pigtail. I will comb it for you myself and pin a row of flowers on the braid."
Jing Mingchen said with some regret: "It's a pity that the crabapple flowers have already withered."
Jiang Gubei smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. The crabapple blossoms in Leshan in March are already in my hands."
He shook the Begonia bookmark that Jing Mingchen gave him in his hand. After all these years, he still carried this bookmark with him.
Jiang Gubei had not returned until the day before the wedding.
Mrs. Jing complained about this: "What big deal could it be? I'm getting married tomorrow and my husband is still out of town!"
Jing Mingchen comforted her: "He went to Shanghai not for business, but for me. Don't worry, Shanghai is not far from Wuhan, he will definitely be able to come back on time."
It was a sunny day on the wedding day.
The makeup was done, the wedding dress was put on, and only the hair was left to be combed. Mrs. Ding, as the matchmaker, urged Jing Mingchen: "What time is it? The wedding will start in two hours, and you haven't combed your hair yet, and the groom hasn't arrived yet. You two little ancestors are going to drive me, the matchmaker, crazy!"
Jing Mingchen turned around and smiled sweetly at her: "Aunt Ding, don't worry, Mr. Jiang said he would comb my hair himself. I will wait for him to come back. There is no rush."
She sat on the floor, the long train of her white wedding dress spread out like a soft cloud. The sunlight shone in through the window, shining on the bouquet of flowers in her arms, the colors were delicate and gentle.
Mrs. Ding could only leave anxiously.
Time passed by, but no one came to open the dressing room door. When there was only half an hour left before the wedding, the door was suddenly pushed open with a clang, and Mingyu rushed in with a pale face: "Something happened. Mr. Jiang had a car accident in Shanghai, and the car exploded on the spot."
Jing Mingchen stood up suddenly, the bouquet fell to the ground, and the flowers were scattered all over the ground.
Shanghai, police station, outside the morgue.
The director looked at Jing Mingchen and said reluctantly, "Don't watch it. The car exploded on the spot. The whole car was burned to only the iron frame... The people were also burned to charcoal. They will break into pieces if touched. You can't see their faces clearly anymore."
Mingyu looked at Jing Mingchen with a questioning look. Jing Mingchen shook his head. Mingyu understood and said to the police: "Just take a look."
The heavy iron door was pushed open, and a chill instantly rushed out.
The bodies of Jiang Gubei and A'da were placed on the inner beds. Jing Mingchen walked through the bodies towards Jiang Gubei and stopped in front of his bed. Just as the police said, his entire body had been burned to carbonization and his facial features could not be recognized at all.
Jing Mingchen turned and left: "It's not him."
Mingyu's heart ached, and tears fell. He stepped forward and grabbed his sister's hand: "Mingchen, you have to accept the facts."
Jing Mingchen grabbed his wrist with his backhand and said anxiously: "It's really not him. I don't feel any heartache when looking at this body. It's already burned like this, who can prove that it's him? Maybe he was not in that car at all, maybe he has already taken a plane back to Wuhan, maybe he is in the church now, waiting for me to go back and braid my hair..."
A young policeman ran in with a box and handed it to the chief. The chief whispered to him and walked forward: "Miss Jing, this is what we found at the scene. We think it may be Mr. Jiang's relics."
Jing Mingchen took the box and opened it tremblingly.
The moment he saw what was inside, the box fell to the ground with a clang, rolled a long distance, and the things inside fell out.
It was a pile of fragments of a jade bracelet.
Even though it was broken into pieces, she could still recognize it as the jade bracelet, the jade bracelet that Jiang Gubei's mother left for him to give to his future daughter-in-law, the jade bracelet she bought from him in Shanghai, the jade bracelet he bought at a charity sale and returned to her, the jade bracelet that she almost pawned to the hospital but was taken back by him, and the jade bracelet that he gave to her again as a birthday present but was stolen by robbers in Yunnan.
Just a few days ago, he said mysteriously that he would come to Shanghai to find a gift for her.
It turned out to be this jade bracelet. I wonder how much effort he spent before he found out the whereabouts of this jade bracelet.
But what do I need the jade bracelet for, Jing Mingchen thought numbly, holding the fragments, I just want you to be by my side.
Jiang Gubei, I have promised you my whole life. Now where do you want me to place my life and who should I rely on?