Before the Spring Festival, Qin Ran called her grandmother, informing her that she was going to Shanghai on the third day of the Chinese New Year and bringing her a special present. The elder lady didn’t think too much about the present, she just considered it as a normal present that her granddaughter bought as usual.
She had led a rich life. She often asked the children not to buy things for her, but she knew that they did it out of love and care. And her children also insisted on using presents to show their filial piety to the elders.
The old lady, however, never expected that this special present would be her lost grandson, whom she hadn’t met for about 20 years and occupied her keenest love.
Though the old lady didn’t think too much about Qin Ran’s words, her daughters and their families did.
The old lady was born in Shanghai, and Old Master Zhu also used to work in Shanghai, so she arranged to introduce a young man, who was the son of her friend in Shanghai, to her younger daughter. They fell in love at first sight and then got married. Her younger daughter, for her parents-in-law had passed away, and her family, apart from a grandson who was in the army in Xinjiang, all gathered in the old lady’s home to celebrate the Spring Festival.
On Chinese New Year’s Eve, the siheyuan in Beijing and the old foreign-style house in Shanghai connected happily on FaceTime. But Qin Sheng was not there at that time, and Qin Changan had hoped so. On FaceTime, Qin Ran highlighted her New Year’s “present” to her grandmother again.
So it was known to all their relatives in Shanghai that Qin Ran had prepared a special and mysterious New Year’s gift. They asked for details but got no answers, and were in greater anticipation of Qin Ran’s arrival.
And today, they finally saw it—not an expensive gift nor other luxurious objects, but a young man out of anyone’s expectation, the one who had been missed and thought about for 20 years by the Zhu and Qin families.
When Qin Sheng walked over to them, kneeling down to the ground and kowtowing, people stood still in surprise.
Qin Sheng then spoke with a trembling tone. “Grandma, your Sheng is back.” Then everyone understood. The old lady burst into tears, trembling, the moment she saw Qin Sheng kneeling down to the ground. Upon seeing his face, she had a sense of familiarity, but didn’t expect that he was the very kid who had been gone for 20 years.
The elegant, middle-aged woman who stood beside the old lady was Zhu Qingwen, Qin Sheng’s mother and Zhu Qinghuan’s younger sister.
Zhu Qingwen didn’t remember right away where she had met this young man before, and she was too surprised to believe it. “Ran Ran, is it true? Is he Sheng?”
Qin Ran knew that it was hard for them to believe it right away, since her younger brother had disappeared for 20 years and he appeared again out of thin air.
“Exactly. Auntie, this is Qin Sheng, my New Year’s gift for Grandma.” Qin Ran highlighted with a nod.
Zhu Qingwen was in doubt when Qin Sheng spoke, but came to believe it once Qin Ran affirmed it.
Getting out of control emotionally, she covered her mouth and screamed, “Sheng, it’s Sheng! Sheng is back!”
Zhu Qingwen’s crying triggered the keenest feelings of the old lady, who was struggling to stand up and burst out crying. “Sheng, my Sheng! You’re back, you’re finally back! Your grandma had been waiting for you over the past 20 years. I was so afraid that I’d never meet you again.”
Qin Sheng raised his head with a tear-covered face. He shed even more tears when he heard his grandmother’s calling. He kneeled down to his grandmother and held her arms. “Grandma, Sheng has missed you too. It’s my fault. I should have come back sooner. I shouldn’t have let you wait so long. It’s all my fault.”
The old lady embraced her grandson tightly and cried heartbroken, pouring out her emotions that had piled up for 20 years.
This scene of an old lady reuniting with her grandson made everyone around moved and shed tears. After all, as the old lady said, she thought that she would never see her grandson again in her life.
This was the power of kinship, tied by blood, which would never fade away with the passage of time.
The old lady was in her 90s and did not have a bad health condition. Other family members, who were afraid that the old lady would be too excited, all came up to comfort her and also shed tears. Even Zhu Qingyuan, who had been calm and still, had red eyes and was wiping away tears silently.
The little kid, Nao Nao, cried because everyone else was crying. The living room was in chaos then, but all of them were happy.
It took some time before the old lady was calmed down by the people around her. It was dangerous for elderly people to become overly emotional. But she still embraced Qin Sheng and didn’t want to release him.
Zhu Qingwen pulled the old lady’s hand and said, “Mom, Sheng is back, and you should be happy. No more tears, it’s not good for your health. And you’re making him sad.”
Qin Ran followed that. “Grandma, my brother’s back and will never leave again. He’s going to stay in Shanghai to accompany you in the coming months. You have enough time to be with him and talk to him.”
Zhu Yi, Zhu Qingwen’s daughter, stood behind the old lady and massaged her to relax. “Grandma, be safe. We all have enough time.”
The old lady sighed. “I know you’re all good to me, but I just can’t help it. I am too sad once I think about my grandson and the sufferings he went through over the past 20 years. I’m over 90 and have led a worthwhile life, except for my grandson. But now, I’ve finally gotten him back. Even if I’m about to die, I could rest in peace. When I go to heaven, I must first tell this to your grandfather so that he could rest in peace too.”
The old lady shed tears again when speaking, and so did the others. As people were all comforting the old lady, Qin Sheng said, “Grandma, don’t say that. You’ll have a long lifespan. I’ve been away from you for 20years, so I have to be with you for another 20 years to put up with you.”
“Fine, that’s fine. Let’s stop here. You have to keep your promise.” The old lady finally smiled.
Zhu Jiayou, who stood nearby, saw all this and sighed, feeling relieved because his grandma’s dream had come true. The last time he saw his grandmother so sad was when his grandfather passed away, and she was sent to the emergency room and almost died.
Zhu Jiayou had no impression of Qin Sheng, his cousin, other than his childhood photos. Qin Sheng had gone before he was born. He had heard a lot from his grandmother about this, and heard the detailed story of his elder auntie and cousin from his mother. Over the past years, every time his grandmother mentioned them and became emotional, he tried hard to say something to make her feel better.
In fact, not only Zhu Jiayou, but also other family members had all given up on finding this person. It was too difficult to find a person among such a large population in China, and some of them even thought that Qin Sheng had died. Only Qin Ran deeply believed that her younger brother was still alive. And Qin Changan knew that Qin Sheng was alive, for he knew the truth.
The old lady stopped crying and calmed down. Then others began chatting away to reduce the sense of sadness. The old lady held Qin Sheng’s hand tightly and kept asking about his life. Qin Sheng told her a lot and Qin Ran added some details.
The people in the old foreign-style house finally knew that Qin Sheng had been living in Xi’an and had been staying with the Qin Family over the past two months, hesitating to accept his status. He, at that time, was as shocked as they were now.
“Ran Ran, how could you hide this from us for so long? And your uncle, he should have told us previously so that your grandmother would not be so excited. It’s dangerous to elderly people, you know. It’s his fault and I’m gonna criticize him,” Zhu Qingwen said with dissatisfaction.
Qin Ran held her elder auntie’s arm and smiled. “Auntie, you shouldn’t blame Uncle. He also just found out about this. Qin Sheng had stayed at our mother’s tomb for a month and didn’t go back to Xi’an until the Spring Festival. He didn’t have the time to come until now.”
“You were doing your filial duty for your mother. You must have suffered a lot. Since you’re finally back, my poor elder daughter can rest in peace.” The old lady sighed and blinked back her tears, preventing others from crying again.
Zhu Qingwen eyed Qin Sheng and asked, “Sheng, did I meet you before?”
Zhu Qingyuan knew that Qin Sheng had graduated from Fudan University. “Auntie, you might have met him before, he was an undergraduate student at Fudan University.”
Zhu Qingwen had been teaching at Fudan University. “Oh? So it’s quite possible that we met before.”
Qin Sheng said, “Auntie, we met before, but not at the university.”
“Then where?” Not only Zhu Qingwen, but other people were also curious, waiting for Qin Sheng’s answer.
Qin Sheng said, “Do you remember Shangshan Ruoshui? I used to work for Uncle Jiang there. You and Sister Xue Qingyan came to the company and met me.”
Zhu Qingwen recalled that and exclaimed, “Yeah! I remember. Shangshan Ruoshui! That’s exactly where we met.”
Qin Sheng smiled and said nothing. When he met this middle-aged woman two years ago, he never expected that she was his mother’s sister. Life is full of coincidences.
Zhu Qingwen followed up and asked, “Sheng, are you a friend of Qingyan? I just met her before the Spring Festival.”
Qin Sheng thought about Qingyan, the woman who had helped him a lot and who he considered as his sister, feeling warm at heart. She must have worried about him a lot since he disappeared. Now it was time to meet her in Shanghai.