Anyway, everything went pretty well today; at least it seems Grandpa isn't angry with him anymore.
Xia Ran patted Gu Chen's head and said,
"Go ahead and lock the door."
"Okay." Gu Chen jogged to close the door.
Xia Ran slept soundly through the night. When she woke up the next day, it was already bright outside. Her child was not beside her. Xia Ran rubbed her eyes and checked the time, finding that it was already past nine o'clock.
He's been sleeping in more and more these past few days.
There was a sound coming from the living room. Xia Ran got dressed and went out to find Lin Ziming and Gu Chen watching TV. Her grandfather and Lin's father were not there.
"Brother Ziming, where are Grandpa and the others?"
"They suggested we go to the supermarket to buy some groceries, saying that you've lost weight from cooking and grocery shopping every day."
Xia Ran smiled and said, "It's not that exaggerated. I enjoy cooking every day and I'm not tired at all."
At this point, Xia Ran suddenly remembered something else. Now that his grandfather wasn't around, wouldn't he have a perfect opportunity to ask about that matter?
"Brother Ziming, I'm going to brush my teeth first. I have something I want to tell you later."
"Okay, go ahead, I'll get your breakfast out." Lin Ziming went into the kitchen.
Xia Ran went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face, and Gu Chen followed her in.
"Little Daddy, Big Daddy went to work. He asked me to tell you."
"Huh?" Xia Ran had just squeezed out the toothpaste when she heard Gu Chen's words, and was a little surprised. "What did he ask you to say?"
“He said he went to work.” Gu Chen blinked in confusion, not understanding why Xia Ran asked that.
Xia Ran was stunned for a moment before she realized what she meant. "Okay, I understand."
He had just thought Gu Chen meant that Gu Zheng had something to say to him, but it turned out that Gu Chen was just having the child tell him that he was going to work.
Just go to work, what's there to say?
Although Xia Ran thought this way, her eyes were bright.
"Didn't you say you had something to tell me? What is it?"
After Xia Ran finished breakfast, Lin Ziming asked her a question.
Xia Ran glanced at the child, "Xiao Chen, why don't you go to your room and read a book? Your dad wants to talk to Uncle Ziming about something."
It wasn't that he didn't trust the child, but he was afraid that if the child heard too much, he might accidentally tell his grandfather. After all, he hadn't figured out how to tell his grandfather yet, and things weren't clear yet.
Gu Chen nodded obediently, took his two books, and went into the room.
Lin Ziming felt puzzled when he saw this, and knew that something was wrong.
It's likely that what Xia Ran wanted to tell him was very important; otherwise, why wouldn't she have prevented the child from hearing it?
"Xiao Ran, is there something important? You can't even let the child listen to you?"
He said with a smile, but to his surprise, Xia Ran nodded seriously.
"Yes, it's something very important."
Seeing Xia Ran like this, Lin Ziming also composed himself.
"Brother Ziming, is it really just because you think my grandfather looks a lot like your deceased grandfather?" Xia Ran asked bluntly.
Lin Ziming paused for a moment before answering with a light laugh.
"Of course, didn't I already tell you? It's because he looks a lot like my deceased grandfather. Why are you suddenly asking about this again today?"
"Are you sure?" Xia Ran pulled out a photo from her phone. "Do you recognize the person next to my grandfather?"
The photo shows my grandfather and his girlfriend when they were young.
"Xiao Ran, what are you talking about? How could I possibly know the person next to Grandpa?" Lin Ziming still refused to admit it.
Xia Ran didn't expect Lin Ziming to admit it just because he asked him, so he took his phone back.
“Brother Ziming, you don’t need to hide it anymore. I already know what happened. Gu Zheng has found out everything, including your identities. I know everything completely. I’m not asking you to interrogate you. I just want to know what exactly happened.”
Looking at Xia Ran's serious expression, Lin Ziming suddenly didn't know what to say.
Xia Ran didn't disturb him. After a while, she heard Lin Ziming sigh and say...
“Indeed, I know him. He is the grandfather I was talking about. We... we found you to fulfill his last wish. In fact, we have been looking for you for many years, but we couldn’t find you until I saw you in the hospital last time and that’s when I was sure.”
"Last wish?" Xia Ran grasped the key point in Lin Ziming's words. "What do you mean by last wish? Did he already..."
"Yes, he has passed away. In the second year after he was separated from his grandfather, he died of illness with regret for his grandfather. We have been looking for his grandfather ever since."
Xia Ran was somewhat surprised, "Why? He... didn't he leave because he didn't like my grandfather anymore?"
Lin Ziming shook his head. "No, no one loved Grandpa more than him. He left simply because he was sick, he..."
"Say it again, what happened to him? What caused his death?"
A voice suddenly rang out from the direction of the door. Xia Ran and Lin Ziming were startled by the sound and subconsciously looked up. They found that Grandpa Xia had somehow found his way to the entrance and was staring at them in shock, his body swaying precariously.
Xia Ran quickly got up to help Grandpa Xia, "Grandpa, you... why are you back? Weren't you out buying groceries?"
Grandpa Xia didn't even look at Xia Ran; he kept staring at Lin Ziming and asked in a trembling voice,
"What exactly happened? What did you just say? What do you mean by saying you've been looking for me because of him? What do you mean he left because of illness?"
Lin Ziming didn't expect that Grandpa Xia would overhear him. He pursed his lips, realizing that there was no way to keep this a secret any longer.
"Grandpa, don't get excited, come and sit down first." Xia Ran was afraid that her grandfather's body would not be able to handle the excitement, and Lin Ziming had the same thought.
"Grandpa, come and sit down first. Don't rush. If you want to know, sit down and I'll tell you slowly."
Grandpa Xia was helped to sit on the sofa by Xia Ran. Lin Ziming poured Grandpa Xia a cup of tea, but Grandpa Xia did not take it. Instead, with red eyes, he asked Lin Ziming again.
"What exactly happened?!"
Lin Ziming had no choice but to place the teacup on the table in front of his grandfather.
"Grandpa, where's my dad? He knows more about this than I do. Let him come and talk to you."
He's waiting for his car downstairs.
They did intend to go grocery shopping, but he suddenly remembered that he hadn't put the box away properly last night, fearing that Xia Ran might find it. So he made an excuse to come back and asked Lin's father to wait for the car downstairs.
Lin Ziming had no choice but to call his father and ask him to come back.
While waiting for Lin's father to return, Grandpa Xia kept his head down and didn't say a word. Xia Ran called him, but he didn't respond, which made Xia Ran a little scared.
"Grandpa, please don't do this, don't scare me, okay? Let's wait until we hear everything before we decide, okay? Please don't do this, I'm scared." Xia Ran was holding her grandfather's arm the whole time, so she knew that her grandfather's body was trembling.
"Grandpa, don't be sad. I can assure you that he didn't betray you, he didn't dislike you, he left you simply because he loved you too much."
Lin Ziming said this in the hope that Grandpa Xia would feel better after hearing these words.
Grandpa Xia's current state has caused not only Xia Ran but also Lin Ziming great concern and fear.
Grandpa Xia slowly raised his head, patted the back of his hand, and said in a hoarse voice,
"Don't worry, Grandpa is fine. Grandpa is so old, what hasn't he experienced? Grandpa just wants an explanation, to understand."
Xia Ran's nose tingled. He didn't believe his grandfather's words at all, because his grandfather's eyes were already red.
For a fleeting moment, Xia Ran seemed to regret knowing about this; he should have pretended not to know anything.
Mr. Lin returned quickly and was surprised to see Grandpa Xia's appearance. Lin Ziming told him what had happened, and Grandpa Xia was stunned for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh and sitting down next to Lin Ziming.
“I thought you would never know about this in your life. I thought I would take good care of you for the rest of your life so that you could enjoy your old age in peace.”
"You... are his son?" Grandpa Xia asked, looking at Lin's father.
Xia Ran clearly saw a hint of sadness and disbelief in her grandfather's eyes when he said those words.
Xia Ran's heart was also filled with bitterness.
"No, no, how could that be? Grandpa, please don't misunderstand. He didn't marry anyone and didn't do anything to wrong you. I'm just his adopted son. Please don't get agitated, let me explain slowly."
Mr. Lin was afraid that Grandpa Xia would misunderstand, so he quickly explained.
After listening to what Mr. Lin said, Grandpa Xia seemed to relax a lot. Xia Ran was also very confused and didn't know what was going on.
"Actually, it's very simple. Back then, I was fleeing with Ziming, who was very young and didn't remember anything. Later, he took me home. At that time, Ziming was seriously ill. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be here now. Later, he paid for Ziming's treatment, and my son and I lived in his house."
"Later, I was going home, which meant going abroad, so I took him with me. He didn't want to go at first, but he heard that the medical standards abroad were high, so he went with me because he had a very strange disease at that time."
"That disease is very painful. It makes people age and become ugly. The treatment costs are very high, but the surgical risks are also very high. The success rate of the surgery is only three percent. When he found out he had the disease, he deliberately distanced himself from you and even said that he didn't like you anymore, so he left. He only told me these things after he went abroad."
“He said you are still young and shouldn’t waste your life on him. He said he didn’t want to be a burden to you. He said you had suffered too much with him and didn’t want you to suffer anymore. A week before the surgery was scheduled, he told me about your situation. It was as if he knew he wouldn’t make it off the operating table. At that time, even without the surgery, he probably only had two months to live, so he chose to take the gamble. But this gamble really didn’t work out.”
“Before he went into the operating room, he repeated a sentence to me for a long time. He said, if you have the chance, please go and see him for me, see if he is doing well, see if he has a family, see if he has children and grandchildren. If he does, please come to my grave and tell me. But please don’t tell him about me. So we have been looking for you. After we found you and saw that you were doing well, I didn’t tell you about this. After all, he was only worried about you not doing well until he died.”
“Now that I know you’re doing well, I feel like there’s no need to say anything that would make you sad, just like he said. In fact, the reason we went to Liucheng a couple of days ago was just to take his ashes back for burial. He said that’s where you met, got to know each other, and fell in love. He’ll be happy even down there.”
The story is actually very simple. It's just that when he was young, he was afraid that his grandfather would be sad and that his grandfather's life would be ruined, so he made a decision to bear it all alone, which led to the two of them separating.
After hearing this, Xia Ran couldn't help but shed tears. Looking at his grandfather's tearful face, he opened his mouth but couldn't say anything. He could only hug his grandfather's shoulders and silently comfort him.
He was just an outsider and it was so upsetting to hear this, let alone his grandfather, who was an insider.
The atmosphere in the living room suddenly became heavy. Lin Ziming and his father remained silent, and everyone was trying to calm themselves down.
"He said he was doing it for my own good?" Grandpa Xia suddenly spoke up. "He's not me, how does he know this decision is for my own good? He's always been indecisive in front of me, always asking for my opinion on everything. Why didn't he ask me this time?"
After Grandpa Xia finished speaking, he suddenly started coughing violently, which frightened Xia Ran and the others.
"Grandpa, Grandpa, please don't get so worked up, okay? Please don't be like this." Xia Ran tried to soothe Grandpa Xia, but tears welled up in her eyes. A very bad premonition suddenly rose in her heart.
"Grandpa is fine, Grandpa is just..." Grandpa Xia fainted before he could finish his sentence, and Xia Ran was so frightened that she couldn't catch her breath.
"Grandpa!" Lin Ziming was a doctor after all, and his reaction was much faster than Xia Ran's. He immediately pinched the old man's philtrum and quickly took his pulse.
"Quick! Get Grandpa to the hospital!" Lin Ziming picked up Grandpa Xia and ran towards the door.
Xia Ran's hands and feet were ice-cold, and she finally realized what was happening and chased after Lin Ziming.
Mr. Lin was about to go out as well, but Gu Chen, who ran out of the room, stopped him.
"Grandpa, take me with you, I want to see my stepfather and great-grandfather."
The child's eyes were red, as if he had been frightened.
Mr. Lin quickly picked the child up and said, "Good child, don't be afraid. Your great-grandfather is alright, he will be alright. Grandpa will take you to see them, don't be afraid."