Chapter 301 – Look, My Lanlan is Back!
The elderly woman was sitting there, her eyes fixed on the direction of the village entrance. She slowly turned around when she heard the voice.
“Is that you, Xiuhe?”
“Mom, what are you doing here? How long have you been sitting here?”
“Not long, not long, just a little while.”
Bai Xiuhe touched the old woman’s clothes and found them damp, probably from the morning dew. It was clear she had been sitting there for quite some time, not just a little while.
“Mom, come inside with me. Your clothes are all wet. Come on, I’ll take you in to change.”
“No need, no need, Xiuhe. I’m waiting for Linglan to come back.”
Bai Xiuhe was taken aback when she heard the name Linglan.
She knew that was the name of her kidn*pped sister-in-law.
It seemed her mother-in-law was thinking about her again?
She missed her too. When she married into the family, her sister-in-law hadn’t been kidn*pped yet. She was so small, so pretty, and adorable. Bai Xiuhe treated her like her own daughter.
When her sister-in-law was kidn*pped, it felt like a part of her heart had been suddenly hollowed out. That missing piece always brought a deep, aching pain whenever she thought about it.
Grandma Zhang leaned in and whispered to Bai Xiuhe, “Xiuhe, I had a dream last night. I dreamt about Lanlan.”
“She said she was coming home and told me to wait for her here.”
So, as soon as Grandma Zhang woke up, she came to the yard gate to wait.
Just like before, when little Zhang Linglan went out to play, Grandma Zhang would sit here and wait for her to come back.
Hearing this, Bai Xiuhe almost burst into tears.
But seeing the joy and anticipation on her mother-in-law’s face, she held back.
She also longed for her sister-in-law’s return.
But she knew the chances of her sister-in-law coming back were very slim.
At that moment, she couldn’t bear to shatter the old woman’s hope.
That would be too cruel.
Actually, if it were possible, she wished her mother-in-law’s dream could come true and her sister-in-law would really come back.
But she knew a dream was just a dream.
“Mom, how about this? Your clothes are all wet. Let’s go inside and change, and then come back to wait. How about that?”
Grandma Zhang hesitated.
“If Linglan comes back and sees that you didn’t even change your wet clothes while waiting for her and got sick, she would feel guilty.”
Grandma Zhang suddenly realized that her daughter-in-law made a good point.
So, with Bai Xiuhe’s help, she went inside and changed into dry clothes.
Afterward, she sat down at the yard gate again, her eyes fixed on the direction of the village entrance.
Bai Xiuhe stood there, looking at her mother-in-law’s hunched, frail figure sitting on the threshold, and sighed softly, her eyes unknowingly turning red.
Linglan, do you see your mother waiting for you to come back?
If you know, if you are still alive in this world, please come back soon.
Before your father passed away, his only concern was you.
Your mother is also waiting day and night for your return.
We are all waiting for you to come back.
Linglan, your mother is getting old. She doesn’t know how many more years she can wait.
So, please come back soon.
Bai Xiuhe prayed continuously in her heart.
When she returned to the house, she happened to see her husband getting up.
He immediately noticed her red eyes and asked what was wrong.
Bai Xiuhe didn’t hide it and told him about his mother insisting on sitting at the threshold waiting for his sister to come back.
Zhang Yuanshan was silent for a long while after hearing this.
“Let her wait. We shouldn’t disturb her,” he said.
And so, the old woman sat there, waiting, from before dawn until dusk.
She sat there all day, always looking in the direction of the village entrance, hoping to see the person she was waiting for.
Her grandchildren asked her, “Grandma, why are you sitting here?”
Grandma Zhang replied, “I’m waiting for your aunt to come back.”
“Is Auntie coming back?”
“Yes, she is coming back.”
“Then I’ll wait with you for Auntie to come back.”
So, the child sat down to wait with her.
But after waiting for a while, no one came.
The child, being young and unable to sit still, eventually got up and ran off to play.
Grandma Zhang kept waiting, moving only for meals and bathroom breaks, without taking a single step away from her spot.
Neighbors and villagers passing by saw Grandma Zhang sitting outside and curiously asked her what she was doing.
“I’m waiting for my Lanlan to come back. My Lanlan will be back soon.”
The villagers knew Grandma Zhang had a young daughter who was kidn*pped, and Lanlan was her name.
Seeing Grandma Zhang like this, they sighed and walked away, unable to bring themselves to tell her that it was unlikely for her daughter to return after being kidn*pped for so many years.
Instead, they said, “Alright, keep waiting. When Lanlan comes back, you must bring her to visit my home.”
“Yes, certainly,” Grandma Zhang replied.
So, people sat beside her and then left, and those passing by came and went, but only she remained seated on the threshold, watching.
Everyone said Grandma Zhang must be old and confused, which was why she behaved this way.
People felt sorry for her.
Grandma Zhang had been sitting there since before dawn, and now it was evening.
The sky was starting to get dark.
People returning from the fields were packing up to go home.
“Oh, you’re still waiting for your Lanlan to come back,” someone remarked as they passed by and saw Grandma Zhang still there.
“Yes,” Grandma Zhang nodded.
She waited all day without a hint of anxiety or impatience.
It was as if no matter how long she waited, it would be worth it because she believed that if she kept waiting, her youngest daughter would surely come back.
“Mom, come inside and eat. It’s already dark. Let’s wait again tomorrow, okay?” Bai Xiuhe had finished preparing the meal and, seeing her mother-in-law sitting and waiting all day, felt a deep ache in her heart.
“You all go ahead and eat. I need to wait for Lanlan.”
“Mom, Lanlan…” Bai Xiuhe almost blurted out that Lanlan might not come back, but the words stuck in her throat, unable to be spoken.
“It’s dark now. Even if Lanlan were to come back, it would be tomorrow. Let’s wait again tomorrow, okay?” Bai Xiuhe gently persuaded, unable to say the harsh truth.
But this time, the old woman was unusually stubborn. “No, Lanlan said she would come back today. It’s getting dark; Lanlan should be coming back.”
“In the past, around this dinner time, I would wait here for Lanlan to come back.”
“Lanlan, she loved to play, but when it got dark, she knew I was waiting for her here, so she would always come back.”
“Mom, you…” Bai Xiuhe couldn’t hold back her tears as she listened to these words.
Yes, it was true. Back then, when her sister-in-law was just a four or five-year-old child, she would play in the village but always run back home when it got dark, knowing her mother was waiting for her.
But now…
“Look, my Lanlan is back. She’s back…”
Just as Bai Xiuhe was lost in sadness, she suddenly heard her mother-in-law stand up and stumble forward.
Bai Xiuhe looked up and saw a vague silhouette appearing at the village entrance…
