Meng Po Gave Her A Bowl Of Soup - Chapter 5

After Mingyu’s funeral arrangements were finished, Song Wanyue was taken back home by her parents. The two elders stayed by her side the whole time, terrified that their daughter might be unable to think things through and do something extreme.

It was not only her parents. Everyone close to them who knew about Mingyu and Wanyue’s relationship had their hearts hanging in suspense for her.

Their love had crossed too many years. It had begun in their youth, and the lifetime they had promised each other had suddenly come to such an abrupt end.

Who could possibly not grieve?

Not to mention the two of them, who had loved each other so deeply they wished they could be together twenty-four hours a day, who had weathered the storm and were just about to see the rainbow…

These past few days, Father Song and Mother Song had worried themselves sick over Mingyu’s departure and over their daughter.

When Wanyue first returned home.

She was like a puppet that had lost its soul, lying limp on the bed, refusing to eat or drink.

On the fourth day, Father Song and Mother Song really could not take it anymore. After discussing it, they forcibly dragged her up from the bed and tried to feed her some porridge, but all their attempts failed.

The porridge slowly slid down from the corner of Wanyue’s lips. She, who had always loved cleanliness, did not move at all. Her empty eyes stared straight ahead.

She had not eaten for a long time, and she had not slept for a long time either. Now, even her tears had already dried up.

This frightened the two elders terribly. In the end, with no other choice, they called a doctor friend they knew.

After hearing about her condition, the doctor not only brought life-saving nutritional medication, but also brought along a psychologist friend with whom she had a fairly good relationship, Qiao Yi.

After Wanyue was put on an IV drip, the doctor led the two elders, who kept looking back every few steps, out of the room. Only Qiao Yi and Song Wanyue were left in the bedroom.

Under the dim light, Qiao Yi carefully studied Song Wanyue.

She truly was a woman so beautiful it broke one’s heart.

Pale cheeks, tear-filled eyes, lips swollen and red with scabs because she had bitten them open.

…

Qiao Yi turned her head and looked around. The windows in the room had all been urgently fixed shut by someone the two elders had found. Whether from inside or outside, there was no way to get out through them. Every hard object in the entire room had been cleared away.

They were afraid she would lose the will to live.

“You’re a psychologist?”

In a soft, somewhat weak voice, Song Wanyue looked at Qiao Yi and asked quietly. Her voice was faint and hoarse, making Qiao Yi unable to stop herself from shivering. She nodded. “I am.”

She discovered that Song Wanyue was different from ordinary “patients.” She was not in quite as terrible a state as Qiao Yi’s friend had described on the way over. Since that was the case, there was no need to hide it.

Song Wanyue quietly stared at her for a long time before saying softly, “I won’t die.”

With one sentence, she pierced straight through Qiao Yi’s cautious thoughts. Qiao Yi looked at Song Wanyue in surprise.

Song Wanyue tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling for a while. In just four short days, she had lost so much weight that her cheeks had hollowed out.

“I promised her…”

In the end, a line of tears still fell from the corner of her eyes.

Once upon a time.

Her Mingyu had held her, kissed her, and the two of them had watched the stars together by the edge of the rooftop.

“Look at that star. Is it a shooting star?”

Song Wanyue childishly tugged at the corner of her clothes. Mingyu smiled indulgently and kissed her cheek. “That’s a man-made satellite.”

Song Wanyue’s body stiffened for a moment, and she shot Mingyu a reproachful look.

Mingyu laughed, wrapped both arms tightly around her, and gently swayed her body. “Yes, yes. It’s a shooting star.”

Whatever her Wanyue said it was, that was what it was.

“Then I’m going to make a wish.”

Coaxed into complete satisfaction, Song Wanyue pressed her hands together and began making a wish as if it were very serious.

Under the dark night, her cheeks were outlined by the moonlight in a gentle curve, and the corners of her lips lifted. Mingyu guessed it must be a good wish.

“What is it?”

In the end, Xiao Mingyu could not help leaning closer to her and asking softly.

Song Wanyue smiled. “Why should I tell you? You haven’t coaxed me.”

Had she not coaxed her?

What followed was a heated kiss, ending only when Song Wanyue, her face flushed red, begged for mercy.

Xiao Mingyu’s lips were vivid red, her eyes half narrowed, her long hair scattered over her shoulders. Half tempting, half hinting, she asked, “Was that enough coaxing?”

If it was not enough, they could continue on the bed.

Song Wanyue could not stand her smug look. She reached out and pinched her, then smiled and leaned against her shoulder.

“You keep saying I’m the child, but aren’t you also asking to hear my secret?”

Xiao Mingyu hugged her, breathing in the fragrance in her hair.

Wanyue’s voice was full of twists and turns, boundless tenderness flowing quietly through it.

“My wish was… I hope we can meet and fall in love with each other in every lifetime.”

Her heart seemed to be plucked fiercely by something.

Xiao Mingyu stared at Wanyue in a daze. Song Wanyue’s eyes were filled with tenderness. “Don’t you want that?”

“I… I…”

Mingyu, who had always been strong, choked up. Her eyes red, she looked at Song Wanyue.

She had met Wanyue when she was seventeen.

At that time, her father had left her because of an accident, and her family had been instantly crushed. Her mother, whose health had already been frail, suddenly became bedridden.

Every day, every deep night, Xiao Mingyu shed countless tears.

Before she had even turned eighteen, she had already endured the cruel baptism of fate and taken up the burden of this family.

Back then, Xiao Mingyu was still a student. Her teacher knew about the situation at home and wanted to organize a schoolwide donation for her, but Xiao Mingyu, whose pride was strong, refused without hesitation.

In the end, the teacher arranged for her to tutor a middle school student.

It was said that the student was very pretty, with large eyes and red lips, and spoke very gently. It was just that she did not study properly, was immersed in novels and animation, and her grades were at the very bottom.

Xiao Mingyu would always remember the first time she saw Song Wanyue.

The weather that day was very good. Xiao Mingyu stood nervously at the door of Wanyue’s home before finally being welcomed in by the two elders, who exchanged a few very polite pleasantries with her.

“Little teacher, our child is really… we’ll have to trouble you.”

“Don’t be fooled by how young and gentle she looks. In truth, she’s quietly wicked, really quietly wicked. She’s already driven several teachers away.”

“Sigh…”

Song Wanyue came out wearing her fluffy nightdress, rubbing her eyes in a daze. The moment she saw Xiao Mingyu, the hand rubbing her eyes froze.

Xiao Mingyu was holding books in her arms. She wore a white shirt and a pair of faded jeans. Her clear eyes studied Song Wanyue with a little nervousness, and the curve of her lips was beautiful, thin and upturned.

Because of Wanyue’s parents’ “truthful” introduction, Xiao Mingyu instinctively had a very poor impression of this little student of hers.

Quietly wicked… that was even worse than being openly wicked…

Sunlight fell over Xiao Mingyu’s body, and Song Wanyue felt as though what she saw was the “first love” who appeared in every comic book.

She felt her heartbeat speed up a little and stared blankly at Xiao Mingyu, watching that slightly uncomfortable smile of hers.

…

Later, they went through too much.

Her parents’ furious rage, being driven from home, going to another city.

Drifting alone…

Xiao Mingyu herself did not care much. She had always believed her life was cheap, that perhaps she had been destined to suffer every hardship in the world.

But her Wanyue was different… From childhood, she had never lacked food or clothing and had lived like a young miss. Following Mingyu through all those hardships and wandering from place to place, she had shed so many tears.

Xiao Mingyu had never expected that if there were a next life, and they could choose again, Wanyue would still want to be with her.

Wanyue seemed able to see straight through her. Raising both arms, she looped them around Mingyu’s neck and said softly, “You are the pride of my life.”

At that moment.

Xiao Mingyu could not stop her tears from streaming down her face, yet she still stubbornly choked out, “In the next life, who knows what I’ll be?”

Song Wanyue’s smiling eyes fixed steadily on her. “No matter what you are, even if you are a star, I will be the moon that makes you revolve around me.”

Xiao Mingyu lowered her head, tears falling with soft, rapid taps.

Wanyue…

If you do not regret it, then I am willing to hold onto that ray of moonlight for you.

…

“But I’m older than you. I can’t help worrying about you.”

Sometimes, in Wanyue’s heart, Xiao Mingyu was the one more like a child. Song Wanyue wrapped her arms around Mingyu’s waist and pressed her cheek gently against her neck. “All right. Then let’s make a promise. No matter which of us leaves first, that person has to wait on the road to the Yellow Springs for the other, okay?”

They both had to live well.

Life was not only love.

There were also the people around them.

Memories surged into her heart, and tears fell drop by drop. Song Wanyue suddenly sat up. “I want to drink porridge.”

No one had expected it.

Wanyue, who had always hidden behind Mingyu before, who had been soft and weak and pampered by her until her hands never touched housework, was actually this strong.

And no one knew that the next morning, she would go to Mingyu’s hometown.

The only person left in Mingyu’s family was the mother she had constantly worried about and missed—Huang Lan.

A white-haired person sending off a black-haired one.

Huang Lan’s health, already poor to begin with, had been crushed by the blow. The last time Wanyue and Mingyu had gone back to visit her during a holiday, she had still been very healthy. Now, she had already begun leaning on a cane.

She had no one to rely on. At such an old age, her only daughter was gone.

When Huang Lan saw Song Wanyue, she could not help holding her and crying until her heart seemed torn apart.

Song Wanyue bit her lip. Even though her own heart hurt so badly it seemed to be dripping blood, she still gently stroked Huang Lan’s back and said softly, “Auntie, you still have me.”

She still had her.

Her Mingyu would definitely not be at ease leaving her mother behind.

She could not let her soul be unsettled.

…

Leaving aside everyone else, Huang Lan herself was the first to disagree. She was different from Wanyue’s parents. Over these years, she had watched, step by step, how difficult the road her daughter and Wanyue had walked together had been.

In her heart, Wanyue was already like another daughter.

Huang Lan was an old woman. At an age even older than Wanyue, her own husband had passed away. Now her daughter had left too. She felt that in this world, she was alone and helpless, nothing but an old burden. She could not delay the child any longer.

Wanyue was still so young. Right now, perhaps she would be sad, but in the future… in the future, with what she had to offer, she would eventually meet someone who would treat her well.

Then what would Huang Lan be if she went over?

Would she not be delaying the child?

Facing Huang Lan’s refusal, Song Wanyue quietly listened until she had said everything. She looked at the photo in the living room of Xiao Mingyu as a child, held in Huang Lan’s arms. In the end, she turned her head and looked at Huang Lan with red eyes. “Auntie, you know it. I love her.”

Huang Lan stared at Wanyue in a daze. Wanyue said faintly, “Now that she’s gone… the person she would worry about most is you. If I went to find her right now, and she knew I had abandoned you, she wouldn’t want me.”

…

Huang Lan had always believed that her feelings for her husband back then could already be counted as “deep as the sea.”

But she had never expected, truly never expected…

In the end, Wanyue still brought Huang Lan back with her.

The two elders of the Song family watched in silent wordlessness.

Song Wanyue spent an entire day running up and down, taking Huang Lan for a full physical examination. After looking at all the lab reports, the doctor said it was still because the shock she had suffered was too great, in addition to a mild cerebral infarction. She needed to rest properly.

On the seventh day.

Wanyue brought Huang Lan back to the home she had shared with Mingyu.

This home had once been filled with the two of them’s joy and happiness. In Wanyue’s heart, it had been the warmest existence.

Now, without that person, the whole home was so cold, so icy.

On the table sat food that had long since gone cold and even spoiled. The candles that had melted all the way down were piled lumpily on the table.

Mingyu was gone.

Her love was gone.

Everything now could only cut straight through the heart.

Huang Lan comforted Wanyue for a while longer, then went into the room to secretly cry by herself.

Wanyue wiped away her tears and began cleaning the house. She threw away all the spoiled food and cleaned the rooms from front to back.

She did not know how to do housework. After bustling around for the whole morning, her waist hurt so much she could hardly straighten up.

At noon, Huang Lan got up to cook. Wanyue supported her waist and wanted to go help, but Huang Lan said through tears, “Child, I know you’re good to me. But Auntie isn’t useless.”

Wanyue bit her lip and looked at Huang Lan. “Auntie, am I very useless?”

When Mingyu was here, she would finish all of this neatly and efficiently by herself, then hold Wanyue and Huang Lan while chatting with them.

Huang Lan sighed faintly. “You’re very good. You…”

When people were both already drowning in grief, any comfort one person gave another was nothing but futile.

Huang Lan made a simple meal, and Wanyue cooked a bowl of noodles. It was the only thing she had ever made for Mingyu.

At first, Huang Lan thought she had made it for herself, but in the end, she saw an extra bowl and pair of chopsticks on the dining table. She looked up at Wanyue. Wanyue said softly, “Auntie, today is the seventh day after her death. She will definitely come home to take a look.”

…

—She will definitely come home to take a look.

Because of that one sentence.

From the moment the sun set, Wanyue kept the door open and crouched by the entrance, waiting.

She was afraid that because she had not been home these past few days, there would be no trace of her scent in the house and Mingyu would not be able to find her way home.

Later, after thinking about it again, she turned off all the lights. She was afraid that if Mingyu’s soul came back and saw the house so bright, she would feel uncomfortable.

Huang Lan sat blankly on the sofa, one hand braced on her cane, as if she too were waiting for something.

From sunset until darkness fell.

Wanyue did not wait for her Mingyu.

But from downstairs, the faint sound of a car could be heard, followed by the click-clack of high heels. Song Wanyue did not move at all. She still lowered her head and waited silently.

Her feet had gone numb, and her heart gradually grew cold too…

After an unknown length of time.

A pair of legs stopped in front of her and remained there without moving for a long while.

Song Wanyue’s reaction was a little slow. Hesitantly, she lifted her head and met a pair of unfamiliar eyes.

It was a woman.

That woman was very tall, with outstanding bearing, a face only the size of a palm, and bright red lips. She was a stranger Song Wanyue had never seen before.

Only, those eyes…

Almost instinctively, Wanyue murmured, “Mingyu?”

Hearing that voice, Huang Lan, who was in the living room, hurriedly and unsteadily walked out with her cane. When she saw the person before her clearly, the light that had just risen in her eyes faded.

And when that unfamiliar woman saw her, she also froze. An almost imperceptible redness flashed through her eyes. She steadied her emotions, bent down, and said softly to Song Wanyue, who was crouching on the floor, “Hello, Miss Song. I’m Xu Ruying, Mingyu’s colleague.”