Xu Qingying advised her in a very serious tone.
Meng Chu murmured an agreement, and after chatting for a few more sentences, she finally hung up the phone.
Who would have thought that not long after hanging up, she received a notification on her phone.
Meng Chu tapped to open it and discovered that Xu Qingying had actually transferred a sum of money directly to her via WeChat.
Meng Chu: [Why did you send me a money transfer?]
Xu Qingying: [This is the money you gave me during the New Year; Mom doesn’t need to use it at Home anyway.]
Meng Chu completely understood what her mother meant by this action.
She had hung up the phone and turned her head, only to see Cheng Jinyan walking over at this very moment.
“Did your mother call because something happened?” Cheng Jinyan asked, for although he hadn’t heard their conversation, seeing Meng Chu talk for so long made him think something was up.
Meng Chu chuckled lightly. “Just making some casual small talk about family matters.”
Following that, she spoke up in a seemingly casual manner, “My mom wears the Bracelet you gave her every single day now, and she really loves it. Because of that, she told me to prepare a gift for your mother as well.”
Upon hearing these words, Cheng Jinyan’s expression remained perfectly calm. “There is absolutely no need.”
“No, I have to,” Meng Chu looked at him and said with a serious expression, “This is basic etiquette that we ought to follow.”
After that, she smiled and asked in a relaxed tone of voice, “What does your mother like? Give me a little hint so I can have some reference material.”
Cheng Jinyan looked right at her, and it was a long while before he finally spoke up softly again.
“She has already passed away a long time ago.”
“Therefore, there is no need to prepare a gift specifically for her.”
Just two incredibly simple sentences, yet when Cheng Jinyan spoke them, his expression and tone were excessively calm.
The smile that originally rested on Meng Chu’s face instantly faded away without a trace.
She gazed up at Cheng Jinyan, her expression appearing to go completely blank in a flash.
Just as Cheng Jinyan was about to speak again, he saw the tears of the person right in front of him suddenly well up and spill over.
Immediately after that specific moment had passed by.
Just like that, her tears fell down heavily, drop after agonizing drop.
This was the very first time Cheng Jinyan had clearly witnessed how a person’s tears could well up in a mere instant.
It turned out that overwhelming, surging sorrow was something that could truly be seen with the naked eye.
Cheng Jinyan didn’t know how long it had been since someone had shed tears for his mother.
Not even he himself had done so in a very long while.
A 30-year-old man seemingly lost the opportunity to agonize over his deceased mother long ago, because such a display would be seen as weakness. Even if the pain was immense, it had to be buried deep in the heart.
Even when his mother had just passed away, he was taught that he had to face the guests attending the funeral with perfect decency and composure. 1
From a young age, he had been cultivated and groomed to become a powerful individual in a high position.
Even if he experienced far too much agony, he was not supposed to easily reveal any posture of weakness.
Therefore, at the very moment he held his mother’s portrait, he could only remain quiet and solemn, unable to weep bitterly aloud.
Looking at Meng Chu’s swarming tears right now, when this world was on the verge of forgetting his mother, at the very least, she had cried for her the instant she heard the news.
At this exact moment, Cheng Jinyan even felt a bizarre sense of satisfaction deep inside his heart.
Watching Meng Chu’s tears felt exactly as if he were crying himself; that sorrow he had hidden so well deep in his heart, which he thought no longer existed, poured out right along with them.
At this moment, even if he revealed any sort of sadness, it would not be perceived as sorrow.
Because he knew full well that Meng Chu would understand absolutely any of his emotions.
She would be closer to his heart and understand his sadness far better than anyone else in this entire world.
“Her name was Mei Zhiyu, the Zhiyu from knowing the rain when entering the plum rain season.”
Cheng Jinyan gently cupped Meng Chu’s cheeks with both hands, reaching out to wipe away her falling tears as he spoke in a low voice.
Meng Chu opened her mouth wanting to say something, but she was simply incapable of controlling her tears.
The moment she opened her mouth, choking sobs completely blocked up her throat.
She felt she was utterly useless, since she clearly should have been speaking and comforting him right at this moment.
Yet, she herself was sobbing so hard that she could not even form a complete sentence.
It was because she understood better than anyone else exactly what losing a mother truly meant.
Even if she had only come close to losing her mom in the past, that level of agony was something she never wanted to recall ever again.
And Cheng Jinyan had genuinely lost his own mother for real.
She was actually stupid enough to persistently ask him what his mother liked to receive.
As Meng Chu thought about this, her heart ached to the point of nearly twisting into a tight knot.
Especially upon hearing Cheng Jinyan tell her his mother’s name, Meng Chu’s tears flowed even more fiercely.
“Her… her name is so beautiful,” Meng Chu finally managed to squeeze out a broken sentence.
It truly was an incredibly beautiful name to hear.
Mei Zhiyu, even without ever having seen what she looked like, the image of an extremely beautiful and gentle woman had already surfaced in Meng Chu’s mind.
It was just that such a beautiful name had now become a long and eternal dampness in the depths of Cheng Jinyan’s heart.
“I am so incredibly stupid,” Meng Chu gritted her teeth slightly and murmured in a low voice.
Her tears simply hadn’t stopped falling, and she was even shocked herself by such an extreme level of sorrow.
Yet when she heard Cheng Jinyan speak those first two sentences, she didn’t even have time to react before the tears in her eyes came crashing down overwhelmingly.
Such a massive wave of sorrow had completely submerged her in an instant.
Meng Chu didn’t even put up a struggle before becoming fully immersed in this overwhelming sadness.
Cheng Jinyan spoke in a low voice, “It is all right, you just didn’t know anything about it, that is all.”
But the moment you found out, your tears had already made everything perfectly clear.
There would never be another person who could possibly understand better than you do.
Cheng Jinyan didn’t want to label the emotion he was feeling at this very moment as rejoicing.
But thank goodness it was her; it was truly fortunate that it was her.
He reached out and pulled her into his embrace, saying softly, “Thank you so very much.”
Thank you, for shedding tears for her sake.
Meng Chu didn’t know how much time had passed before her mood finally settled down slightly.
She lifted her head to look at him and asked softly, “How did she pass away?”
When Cheng Jinyan said his mother’s name, Meng Chu felt that perhaps he was actually willing to chat with her about his mother.
“Breast Cancer, she wasn’t as lucky as your mother to conquer Cancer,” Cheng Jinyan’s voice remained steady, but this time he no longer masked the sorrow hidden within his tone.
Meng Chu pressed the corners of her mouth tightly together, instantly understanding everything.
She knew exactly why Cheng Jinyan had specifically given her mother that Bracelet, and exactly why he wanted to bless her mother with safety.
Because he had experienced loss himself, he profoundly understood the terrible agony of losing someone.
He hoped that she would absolutely never ever have to experience it herself.
The tears Meng Chu had just managed to calm down surged out forcefully once again.
She had never known before that a person’s tears could actually flow out so endlessly like this.
But she simply had no way of controlling it whatsoever.
She just couldn’t help but feel incredibly heartbroken for Cheng Jinyan and for his mother.
She naturally understood how much a mother wished to guard her child for a lifetime, so when his mother departed from this world, he must have definitely been the hardest thing for her to let go of in her heart.
“Cheng Jinyan,” Meng Chu wanted to say something to him to comfort him.
At the very least, she wanted to make him feel somewhat comforted in his heart.
Yet after opening her mouth, she couldn’t actually utter a single word.
Back when Xu Qingying had fallen ill, Meng Chu acted optimistic and cheerful right in front of her, but when no one was around, Meng Chu felt she had nearly cried enough tears for an entire lifetime.
Just the mere thought that she might be left all alone in this massive world.
Knowing she would never see her mom again for the rest of her life made her heart ache to the point of dying, making her so sad she couldn’t even form a sound while crying.
And this thought that brought her extreme sadness just by imagining it was actually the harsh reality Cheng Jinyan was currently facing.
He had genuinely lost his own mother a very long time ago.
Cheng Jinyan held her tightly, gently stroking her back to comfort her.
It wasn’t until a long while later that Meng Chu finally controlled her tears and whispered, “I am sorry, I wanted to comfort you, but it ended up turning out like this instead.”
“It is fine, it has been a long time since anyone cried for her,” Cheng Jinyan said with a slightly hoarse voice.
Not even he had done so himself in a long time.
Hearing this sentence, Meng Chu felt even more uncomfortable deep in her heart.
She looked up at Cheng Jinyan and softly said, “Next time, take me to see her. At the very least, you have to let her know that you are married and that you are no longer all by yourself.”
Why was it that she had never once seen his family members by his side.
At this exact moment, Meng Chu had perhaps vaguely figured out the real reason.
“All right, I promise to do that.”
Cheng Jinyan answered her with complete solemnity.
After a long time had passed, Cheng Jinyan asked softly, “Do you want to sit down and relax for a bit?”
Meng Chu had truly been crying for far too long.
Meng Chu lifted her head to look at him. “I want to go back to the room to wash my face and rest for a bit, is that okay?”
“Mhm,” Cheng Jinyan nodded and asked, “Do you need me to keep you company?”
Meng Chu simply shook her head in response.
Cheng Jinyan seemed to understand that she needed some space to digest her emotions on her own right now, because he felt the exact same way.
When he saw Meng Chu’s tears, he couldn’t help but start thinking about his mother deep down in his heart.
He thought about that final period of time when he had accompanied her through it all.
In reality, a person’s memory was truly quite forgetful; many painful experiences felt incredibly profound at the time, but afterward, out of self-protection, the mind would automatically start to forget such excessively severe agony.
Only by doing so could life somehow continue marching onward.
It was just that this pain would ultimately still leave a lasting brand.
When Meng Chu returned to her own room, Cheng Jinyan also returned to his own Study.
Why was there such a comfortable recliner placed by the window in his Study, which had a cold and tough interior design style, making it look rather mismatched.
It was precisely because in his memories, his mom had always loved sitting on this kind of recliner to read books.
Except every single time, she would end up falling fast asleep while reading.
After waking up, she wouldn’t be able to resist saying to him, “Sigh, Mom didn’t even turn a single page today.”
In reality, she wasn’t that sort of traditional, elegant, and noble wealthy lady; instead, she had a somewhat lively personality with many things she enjoyed, and even Cheng Jinyan playing Tennis was simply because she liked it.