Chapter 409 - Kinship (1/2)

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.