Chapter 29: A Mother’s Heart

“Fool, why did you run out?
“Let me see, where are you hurt?”

A half-sobbing voice suddenly appeared by her ear.
A numb body felt a trace of warmth.
Yi Lan reacted sluggishly for several seconds before slowly reaching out, pushing the shoulder with her bleeding palm.

Tears blurred her vision.
She couldn’t see the other’s face, only struggling by instinct again and again.

Jiang Wenting cradled her in her arms, her nose and lips against Yi Lan’s hair, explaining with a slightly damp voice: “I didn’t mean to leave Yi Lan.
“It’s just that the high altitude sickness in the northwest is too severe.
“If Yi Lan came with me, her heart wouldn’t be able to bear it.
“Grandpa and Grandma are among the few people I can rely on and trust, which is why I entrusted her to them.
“I didn’t abandon Yi Lan…”

She repeated herself incoherently.
The person in her arms was now more like a fish drained of water, the murmuring at her ear indistinct.

Jiang Wenting’s tears dampened Yi Lan’s hair.
She scooped Yi Lan up from the ground, carrying her in a bridal carry: “Good girl, let’s go back to Grandma’s house and treat your wounds.”

Yi Lan no longer had the strength to struggle, her entire body heavy in Jiang Wenting’s embrace.

Jiang Wenting walked very quickly.
Xiao Ru wanted to help, but Jiang Wenting coldly sidestepped her.
Just then, Beiye also came rushing out from the doorstep, seeing Jiang Wenting carrying Yi Lan back from afar.

She quickly went to meet them.
Seeing Yi Lan, covered in dust and blood, she was stunned for several seconds.
Realizing what had happened, she reached out to help.

“Jiangjiang, I…” Beiye’s tone was tinged with timidity due to guilt.

Jiang Wenting didn’t give her a chance to explain, simply carrying Yi Lan forward on her own.
Beiye and Xiao Ru quickly exchanged a look, then followed behind.

It was a bit of a walk from the village entrance to the house.
Jiang Wenting didn’t stop to catch her breath once.
Upon arriving home, she didn’t even go to the living room, carrying Yi Lan straight up to the room on the third floor.
Beiye, ever perceptive, came over with the first-aid kit.
Seeing Xiao Ru standing rooted at the doorway, she freed a hand to pat Xiao Ru’s shoulder and walked into the room with the kit.

Jiang Wenting was wiping Yi Lan’s wounds with a warm, damp towel.
Beiye placed the first-aid kit to one side and tried to speak to Jiang Wenting: “Jiangjiang…”

Jiang Wenting’s entire focus was on Yi Lan’s injuries, heedless of anything else.
Beiye squatted beside them.
Seeing Jiang Wenting finish cleaning the edges of the wounds, she handed over cotton swabs and iodine.

Jiang Wenting didn’t refuse.

The wounds on Yi Lan’s knees were especially deep, small stones embedded in the bloody gashes.
Jiang Wenting took a cotton swab dipped in iodine to clean them.
As the liquid touched her skin, Yi Lan instinctively trembled slightly.
Jiang Wenting’s fingertips curled.

“Be strong, Yi Lan, the knee wounds need to be treated immediately.
“I’ll try to be as gentle as possible, so baby doesn’t hurt, okay?”

Jiang Wenting wiped and simultaneously blew on Yi Lan’s knees with her lips.
Every time Yi Lan trembled slightly, Jiang Wenting’s heart ached with her.

Finally, after treating both knees, she wrapped them in gauze.
Then she went to treat the wounds on Yi Lan’s palms.
Yi Lan’s numb and sluggish expression slowly came back a little with Jiang Wenting’s repeated comfort.
She lowered her gaze, seeing the other’s hand, holding the cotton swab, trembling slightly from nervousness, and still murmuring.

“Yi Lan, be good, I’ll go slowly, slowly, and then it won’t hurt anymore…”

Slowly, slowly, and then it won’t hurt anymore.
But why didn’t she realize that what she couldn’t bear was never these few physical injuries?

“Jiang Wenting,” the person, overcome with sorrow, opened her lips and painstakingly called her name.
After several seconds, she added, “I don’t need your sympathy.”

Her tone was cold, tinged with dryness and hoarseness.

Jiang Wenting sniffled, giving a heavy-nosed “Mm.”
Her movements to treat the wounds didn’t stop.
Tears fell unexpectedly.
She tried desperately to compose herself, taking several seconds, then said: “I’m not sympathizing with Yi Lan.
“I’m just a little… a little reluctant to part.”

The three words “reluctant to part” easily seared her cold heart, forcing her long eyelashes to tremble.
Tears, once again, unbidden, fell.

Jiang Wenting felt her emotions, stopped applying the medicine, and frantically wiped her tears: “Yi Lan, don’t cry.
“It’s all my fault.
“I acted on my own without discussing it with Yi Lan beforehand.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I’ll never do this again…”

But the more she wiped, the more torrentially the tears flowed from Yi Lan’s eyes.
Jiang Wenting had no choice.
She simply tossed the cotton swab in her hand and leaned over to embrace her.

Yi Lan was sitting on the sofa.
After Jiang Wenting leaned over, her forehead happened to touch Yi Lan’s chin.
Jiang Wenting adjusted her posture.
Unintentionally, her lips replaced the warmth of her chin.
The lingering touch added a hint of ambiguity to the suffocating atmosphere.

She patted Yi Lan’s back with her hand: “Good girl, don’t cry, okay?
“Don’t cry?”

The fragrant, orchid-like tone carried a ticklish sensation.
Yi Lan wanted to struggle, but had no strength to.
She resignedly closed her eyes, letting the other person press against her in such a posture.

Meanwhile, Beiye, who had been holding a cotton swab halfway up, noticed the intimate moment.
She wisely put down the swab and discreetly exited the room.

Outside the door, Beiye reached out, taking Xiao Ru’s wrist to lead her downstairs.

“Sister Xingchen, Jiangjiang…” Xiao Ru’s voice, due to her emotions, was choked with sobs.

Beiye pulled her into her room, grabbing a tissue to wipe her tears: “It’s okay, it’s okay.
“I’m also responsible for this.
“When Jiangjiang calms down, we’ll both apologize to her together.”

The girl in front of her couldn’t hold back any longer; tears streamed down.
She wasn’t angry at Jiang Wenting, but felt incredibly wronged in her heart, thinking of Jiang Wenting slamming the steering wheel in the car, and how after getting out of the car, she had offered to help.

“Sister Xingchen,” she lowered her head, trying to alleviate the awkwardness of the moment in this posture, tears still welling up in her eyes, “I’m going back soon.”

Beiye reached out and ruffled her head: “Why go back?
“Is it because you argued with Jiangjiang?”

“No,” the girl shook her head, her lips bitten pale.
She racked her brain for a not-so-reasonable excuse: “My cousin is coming to the film studio, so I’m going to pick her up.”

Beiye saw through it but didn’t expose her: “Then I’ll go with you!”

“No need, Sister Xingchen, I’ll just go by myself.
“It’s very quick to take the high-speed train from here.”
She said, then took out her phone, frantically searching.

Beiye took her phone: “Are you having a spat with Jiangjiang, that you’re even treating me as an outsider?”

Xiao Ru’s tears, which she had just managed to hold back, fell again.
She quickly wiped them dry with the back of her hand, trying her best to appear normal: “No, Sister Xingchen, I just think it’s too much trouble.
“Then, Sister Xingchen, can you drop me off at the high-speed train station?”

Beiye knew that a girl with Xiao Ru’s personality would rather not expose her vulnerability in front of outsiders, so she didn’t insist further.
She playfully flicked Xiao Ru’s nose with her index finger and said, “Okay!”

Half an hour later, Beiye drove Xiao Ru to the high-speed train station.
Throughout the journey, Xiao Ru was silent.
Beiye, uncharacteristically, didn’t bother her.
Upon dropping her off at the station, the two embraced briefly before parting ways: “Go on, text me when you arrive!”

The girl responded, and as she turned, tears immediately streamed down her face.
She quickened her pace, walking towards the entrance without looking back, Jiang Wenting’s scolding words echoing repeatedly in her mind.

“She fell down!
“Can’t you see she fell down?!
“How can your heart be so hard?
“Why didn’t you stop the car!”

“I told you to stop the car, stop the car!”

“Why do you always interfere with my affairs?
“Can’t you just mind your own business?!”

…

Yes, it’s true.
For so many years, her whole heart had been devoted to her, but in the end, what she got in return was authoritarianism and a hard heart.
Their relationship, it seemed, couldn’t even compare to a stranger she had known for less than a month.

‘Jiang Wenting, why?
‘Why, Jiang Wenting…’

A feeling of indignation almost burst through her chest.
She silently raged in her heart, raging at why Jiang Wenting would rather like a stranger than give her even a tiny bit of love, when they were clearly the ones with the better relationship, weren’t they?

When Beiye returned, Jiang Wenting had already applied the medicine to Yi Lan.
The two sat facing each other on the bed, separated by a folding table.
On the tabletop were buns that Grandma had just steamed.

Jiang Wenting, wearing a cartoon-patterned pajama set, was enthusiastically singing a children’s song to Yi Lan: “Three, two, one, start!
“Little bunny, open the door wide…”

Beiye paused for several seconds when she heard the singing.
When she looked over, she saw Yi Lan staring intently at Jiang Wenting’s mouth and movements, her face expressionless.

Jiang Wenting noticed her footsteps, looked back, and then switched to a little bunny’s voice, continuing to sing: “No, no, I won’t open…”

Yi Lan also looked up now.
Seeing Beiye peeking through the door crack, she unconsciously sat up straighter.

After Jiang Wenting finished singing, Beiye tapped lightly on the doorframe, her sweet voice continuing the next verse: “Little bunny, open the door wide, hurry up and open, I want to come in.”

Jiang Wenting ignored her, just making funny faces at Yi Lan and saying softly: “She’s the big bad wolf, we won’t open for her!”

The expression on the wooden-faced person changed almost imperceptibly.
At this moment, Beiye squeezed through the door crack and moved to Jiang Wenting’s side, saying with a sincere attitude: “Jiangjiang, I’m sorry, I didn’t take good care of Yi Lan.”

Jiang Wenting’s heart was softened by her words.
She rolled her eyes dramatically, then glanced at Yi Lan, asking her: “Yi Lan, should I forgive her?”

Seeing this, Beiye leaned closer, grabbing Yi Lan’s arms with both hands, pleading in a cajoling tone: “I was wrong, I was wrong…”

Yi Lan couldn’t resist Beiye’s soft demeanor, but she still maintained her composure.

Jiang Wenting: “Alright, stop bullying her!”

Beiye stopped in moderation, chuckled, and made a very obedient expression.
The atmosphere became lively with her arrival.

The few of them gathered around the folding table, eating buns.
Beiye ate and praised: “Grandma’s buns are really delicious!”

Jiang Wenting smiled, asking Yi Lan: “Yi Lan, what do you think?
“Are Grandma’s buns delicious?”

Yi Lan paused her large bite of a bun, looked up, holding a half-eaten bun in her bandaged hands, vermicelli sticking to the corner of her lips.

Beiye watched, couldn’t help but chuckle, and exclaimed uninhibitedly: “No wonder Shen Jinglan said Yi Lan is suitable for the ‘wolf girl’ role.
“Look at her innocent appearance, doesn’t she look like a little wolf cub being half-fed?”

Jiang Wenting looked at her: “Beiye, this afternoon with Teacher Zhou, I might…”

“I’ve already spoken to Shen Jinglan.
“She said she’s free this afternoon and will go for the screen test in your place.
“You just stay and keep Yi Lan company.
“We’ll discuss the other matters later.
“There will always be a solution.”

Jiang Wenting hadn’t expected Beiye to be so considerate, making arrangements immediately.
For all these years, Beiye had been pampered by Shen Jinglan, raised in a honey pot like a naive young lady, yet she could be so thoughtful about Jiang Wenting’s affairs.

Jiang Wenting’s heart was warmed.
She said solemnly: “Thank you, Beiye.”

Beiye waved her hand: “Oh, it’s nothing big.”

After speaking, she seemed to remember something: “Oh right, Jiangjiang…”

Jiang Wenting turned her head.

She hesitated for a moment, then said: “Xiao Ru said her cousin is coming to the film studio, so she went back.”

Jiang Wenting gave an “Mm,” her gentle face showing no other discernible emotion.

Beiye swallowed the words she wanted to say and changed the subject: “It’s good to go back and clear her head.
“She’s been too focused on your work these past few years; sometimes her priorities might shift.
“A period of separation will be good for both of you.”

Jiang Wenting didn’t refute.
She glanced at Yi Lan from the corner of her eye: “Beiye, if I have to go filming later, I want to take Yi Lan with me.”

Beiye raised an eyebrow: “Really?”
Then she added: “Then I’m coming too!”

Jiang Wenting laughed: “What are you going to do there?
“The environment there isn’t as good as Yuncheng, and Lan Jie won’t be going.
“Are you going to do a long-distance relationship with her?”

“That’s not necessarily true!” Beiye said confidently, a sly smile curving at the corner of her eyes, clearly spoiled.

Jiang Wenting: “She’s very busy with work.
“Don’t take advantage of Lan Jie’s affection for you and bully her recklessly.”

Beiye’s smile deepened.
She said: “I know, I definitely won’t ‘bully’ her.”

After speaking, she sent a voice message to Shen Jinglan: “Wifey, Jiangjiang said she wants to take Yi Lan to film in the northwest, and I want to go too.
“Let’s go together, please?
“I promise, I definitely won’t bully you then, okay?”

Jiang Wenting: “…”