472 Their Stance (1/2)
The sky had a beautiful blue hue after the snow.
When Xiang Wan woke up in the morning and saw Fang Yuanyuan's red, puffy eyes, she knew that this girl must have been crying the night before. However, Fang Yuanyuan's expression now looked relaxed. Not only did she clean up the house, but the windows were also sparkling bright. She woke up very early to help tidy up the place, she even prepared breakfast for them. There was even a fresh smell in the house…
After that, she ate two large steamed meat buns, sweetcorn, and two bowls of porridge…
Such an appetite.
That should be what happiness looks like to a foodie, perhaps.
Her heart was empty, so she filled her stomach.
Although her man was not with her, she still had good food to look forward to.
Xiang Wan patted Fang Yuanyuan's shoulder in relief. ”We have something on today, so I can't join you today…”
Fang Yuanyuan had food in her mouth when Xiang Wan said that. She then stared at Xiang Wan.
”You're abandoning me again, so you can have some time to yourselves?”
”Hey, we have matters to attend to.”
She had promised Bai Muchuan two days ago that they would visit Tu Liang's family.
When one went visiting prior to the Lunar New Year, one must bring gifts along. Bai Muchuan got Xiang Wan to help prepare some festive goods and left them in the trunk, then they set off to Tu Liang's house.
Tu Liang's house was rather far away. They took nearly an hour to arrive there. That stretch of the residential area looked old with only a few small buildings. The environment of the neighborhood did not seem to be good. The accumulated snow last night started piling up at the sides of the road where a few elderly people were cleaning it up. The road to enter the neighborhood was a little too narrow. Since Bai Muchuan drove an SUV there, his vehicle would get scratches if he insisted on driving it in.
”Let's stop outside and walk instead.”
”Sure.”
Both of them had the same thought in mind.
Bai Muchuan took the gifts from the trunk, then Xiang Wan took his arm as they walked to the neighborhood. While walking, both of them looked around the environment of the neighborhood and remained quiet.
One could go in and out of the neighborhood freely. The security guard was a middle-aged man. He just looked at them but did not ask questions. He didn't ask them to register their names either, so both of them just went straight inside.
This neighborhood only had three buildings, so it was easy for them to search. When both of them arrived at the designated block, they saw Shen Wenjing arching her back while she locked a bicycle. Her seven-year-old daughter, Tu Siya, was wearing a knitted winter hat while rubbing her hands and stamping her feet because of the cold weather.
”Mommy, it's so cold… Let's get back home quickly.”
”It will be done soon! The wind is freezing here. You can go upstairs to wait for me…”
”Nope, I want to be with mommy… Laolao said that I shouldn't leave mom's line of sight…”
”You little silly thing!” Shen Wenjing said to her daughter while she brushed some locks of her hair back then she took the bags from the bicycle. When she held her daughter's small hand, she caught a glimpse of Bai Muchuan and Xiang Wan, who were walking towards them.
Although Tu Liang just died not too long ago, he had been gradually forgotten in many people's lives…
”Sis-in-law, we're here to see you…” Xiang Wan walked over to her with a smile and patted Tu Siya's head gently. ”You seem to be taller!”
”Hello Aunty, hello Uncle!” The little girl was very well-mannered.
”Captain Bai, you both… are here? There's no need to be so polite with me. I know that both of you are busy with work too.” Shen Wenjing smiled at them.
She seemed to be even more weary-looking than at Tu Liang's memorial service. She also lost quite a bit of weight. Her face seemed shallow; her eyebags looked more clear than ever which suggested that she had not been sleeping well. The initial busy preparations and disbelief numbed the pain of loss she felt then. Now, all her yearning for him replaced those. She was currently in the most painful stage of losing a loved one.
However, for little Tu Siya, she didn't seem to detect any changes in their life.
When Tu Liang was alive, he was always not at home.
Tu Siya had already accustomed herself to being with her mom. Perhaps the only difference was that she noticed that her mom cried a lot. When her mom missed her dad, she could no longer talk to him via a video call like what she used to do in the past…
”We are here to visit you.” Bai Muchuan couldn't shake hands with her since he was holding the bags of gifts. ”All these are an appreciation of all of us…”
It was not appropriate to reject their goodwill.
Shen Wenjing smiled. ”Come up and have a seat.”
”Sure!”
Since they were already there, they couldn't just leave like that.
They followed Shen Wenjing from the narrow stairways to the fourth floor. She was pulling out the keys to unlock the door when the door suddenly swung open from within.
”Oh… you're back? This… the Captain is here too?” The one who opened the door was Tu Liang's mother. She had met Bai Muchuan at Tu Liang's memorial service, but she could not remember his full name and just called him 'Captain'.
Bai Muchuan just smiled and carried the bags of gifts into the house.
”Aunty, I represent all the brothers at the team to come to visit you and sis-in-law…”
”Thank you so much! All of you are really nice! Wow so heavy, there's so much. It's really… I feel so ashamed already.” Tu Liang's mom was very polite and friendly to them. She asked them to take a seat and quickly washed some fruits and made some tea.
Tu Liang's wife was a very capable woman.
The house was not big, but it was clean and well-maintained.
Moreover, her work was also rather demanding, and she still had to take care of her daughter.
Life must have been… tough.
True enough, after chatting for a few sentences, Tu Liang's mom started to prattle.
”Now that my son's gone, it's hard on my daughter-in-law. She has to be a widow so early in her life…”