"Yicheng, it’s in the past now. Auntie would definitely be very comforted to know how capable you are now," Xu Nianhua said gently patting his shoulder, echoing the old saying, "Children with mothers are treasures, those without are like grass."
Pei Yicheng held her hand, her soft hand, warm and slightly hot. So many years had passed by, and he was no longer that little boy filled with anger. He took a deep breath, the drunkenness slowly fading away. Leaning on her shoulder, he continued, "I want to tell you about my past, I don’t wish for you to hear about it from anyone else’s mouth."
"Okay, I’m listening," Nianhua’s voice was even softer now.
Pei Yicheng paused before continuing, "That day, the weather was overcast. Not long before, he had been hospitalized for a stomach illness. My mother was worried he wouldn’t eat on time, so she prepared lunch and specifically took it to him. Who would have known that once she left, she would never return."
He remembered that day very clearly; after the accident that took his mother, it felt as if the sky had collapsed. His gentle yet nagging mother had vanished forever.
"Just five years, merely five years, and he forgot about my mother," Pei Yicheng thought of the day he remarried, and how he sat at his mother’s grave the entire day.
Wan Hongxing, he knew deep down that he couldn’t blame her, the blame lay with Pei Guozhong. She was very good to Yining and raised her well. Still, she ultimately took his mother’s place, and he didn’t want or like that his family, his home, was imbued with their presence.
Xu Nianhua sighed deeply within her heart. Pei Yicheng’s mother’s accident was somewhat caused by his father, but it was ultimately an accident. She had seen men who remarried less than a year after their wife’s death. How many men were there, truly, who stayed single for the rest of their lives in memory of their deceased wife?
"In life, one always has to look forward," Xu Nianhua said softly, "It’s our duty to live our upcoming days well; that way, we can provide some solace for Auntie’s spirit in heaven."
"Nianhua, do you think I should forgive him?" Pei Yicheng’s eyes suddenly shone even brighter, gazing intensely at her.
Unless you’ve experienced it yourself, you can never truly empathize.
Xu Nianhua tried her best to put herself in Pei Yicheng’s shoes. She was silent for a while before she said, "Whether you forgive him or not, I will support you. However..."
She changed her tone, and the anticipation in Pei Yicheng’s eyes grew stronger.
"If it were me, I would choose to ignore it." Just like her past attitude towards the Gu Family, it was not easy for her to get a second chance at life, and in these precious times, she didn’t want to waste it on harboring hatred or seeking vengeance.
Of course, if the Gu Family was still after her, they couldn’t blame her for striking back.
"Yicheng, the one who should feel guilty is him, the one who should blame himself is also him. You’ve done nothing wrong. Back then, you were just a child yourself; none of it was your fault." Xu Nianhua held his hand tightly, continuing, "Time is precious, why should we waste such valuable time agonizing over whether or not to forgive?"
She sat up straight and said, "Time will prove everything. Whether to forgive or not to forgive, perhaps time will tell us what we should do."
Her voice was gentle but resolute, like a beam of light in the darkness, guiding his way. For all these years, hatred had lingered in Pei Yicheng’s heart, but now, what was the point of holding onto it or not?