Chapter 48: Chapter 48 Although I didn’t see it, I’m sure _1 Chapter 48: Chapter 48 Although I didn’t see it, I’m sure _1 Just as warmth returned to An Jing’s eyes, she heard footsteps, steady and sure. With just a brief listen, she knew it was her man, carrying water back home. A smile immediately graced her lips.
Picking up the wooden stick that lay aside, An Jing slowly walked to the kitchen doorway, leaning on the stick. Just in time, she saw her husband pouring two pails of water into the tank.
Probably hearing her footsteps, her husband had turned around to look at her when she reached the doorway, and then, he continued pouring water into the tank.
An Jing pursed her lips before she spoke, “Hehua was here just now, she said your mother asked you to go back home.”
“Not going.” Two words, crisp and clear, without any hesitation or doubt.
It wasn’t ‘not going back,’ but ‘not going.’
An Jing grasped the implication; she knew that for Changyi, here was his true home.
She breathed a small sigh of relief; she actually didn’t want Xiao Changyi to see Mrs. Chen either. Mrs. Chen’s heart was so harsh, she would rather Xiao Changyi never interact with Mrs. Chen ever again if possible.
If they could sever ties completely, that would be even better.
Yet, Mrs. Chen was, after all, Changyi’s birth mother. An Jing was afraid that no matter how harsh Mrs. Chen was, deep down, he still longed for his mother’s acceptance.
So, she thought the matter of severing ties with Mrs. Chen’s side could wait; for now, let things be as they are.
With that thought, An Jing changed the subject, “Why is your name so different from your brother’s?”
Changyi? Gousheng? Cough cough, fortunately her man was named Changyi. If he was called Gousheng, she guessed she would never want to call out her husband’s name. Even if it’s customary for farmers to choose humble names to raise children easier, she still wouldn’t want to call it.
While fetching water with a ladle for the pot, Changyi said indifferently, “My name was chosen by a Scholar from the neighboring village at my grandfather’s request before I was born.”
An Jing understood, yet she fell silent at the mention of Changyi’s sensitive family member, his grandfather. After a while, she added, “It seems your grandfather had great hopes for you, his eldest grandson.” Otherwise, an ordinary farmer’s child would not have a name chosen by a Scholar.
Changyi shook his head, his tone calm and light, “No, I was the death of him.”
An Jingxin tightened with pain.
“Many people saw it,” Changyi continued in the same tone, “the moment my grandfather held me, a newborn, in his arms, he passed away.”
“You’re wrong!” An Jing said loudly, very agitated, hobbling quickly to Changyi’s side, leaning on the wooden stick. Looking up, she stared straight into Changyi’s emotionless eyes, her words ringing clear and resounding, “You didn’t cause his death. He forcibly held onto his last breath just to see you, his eldest grandson. Having seen you, he died without regrets, willing to close his eyes! He left this world with a smile, Changyi! He must have passed away smiling, Changyi!”
Changyi was profoundly shaken. No one had ever spoken to him like that, nor had he ever considered it in this light.
Seeing that Changyi still wore an expressionless face, An Jing worried that he didn’t believe her, and hurriedly added, “I’ve heard about what happened back then. Your mother was seven months pregnant with you when your grandfather fell ill. He hung on, gasping for that last breath. The family even had the coffin ready, but your grandfather did not die. He lay on the bed barely alive until the day you were born. Your father held you in swaddling clothes up for your grandfather to see. Your grandfather took you in his arms, and only then did he pass away. Though I did not witness it myself, I am certain that he definitely closed his eyes with a smile!”