Chapter 1361 You obviously love me too
The singing broke into strands in the sobbing morning breeze. Ding Xiang's fingers were still resting on Pang Wenong's brows, but she could clearly feel the trembling of his eyelashes like the wings of a dragonfly before a rainstorm.
The melodious singing voice came to an abrupt end.
"What did you say?"
The words "Marry me" echoed in Dingxiang's dizzy mind like a spell, shocking her so much that she was stunned for two seconds.
He - Wei Nong, he wants to marry me!
He wants to marry me!
He said he wanted to marry me!
Wenong, my love!
My dearest, you came all the way from the northern border, and you said you wanted to marry me. I... I am so happy! I am so happy!
74 years!
When I was 14, I met you, who was the same age as me, and it was like a love poem that began to be composed in our youth.
After nearly six years of living together, your courage, your warmth, and your love have long been engraved in my heart.
I finally got your promise!
I'm so surprised!
but……
Weinong!
It's too late, everything is too late!
I am sick and dying. It could happen at any time!
I have a terminal illness and I don’t have much time left!
Dingxiang closed her eyes, unable to bear to look at the "lover" in front of her any longer.
Pang Weinong's proposal was both an emotional comfort and a heavy burden for her.
She loved him deeply, but didn't want to be a burden to him.
The monitor suddenly made a shrill sound and she hastily retracted her hand, but the other party grabbed it and pressed it against her chest.
\"Lilac, listen.\"
Pang Wenong's voice was covered with gravel. "This heartbeat is for you, starting from the day you fell into the ravine in 1975."
With his other hand, he pulled out a yellowed piece of letter paper from his trouser pocket. On it were written crookedly the words from How the Steel Was Tempered: "The most precious thing in life is life, and life belongs to people only once..."
"Remember? When you were lying in bed recuperating, you always used these words to motivate me!"
He held the piece of paper that he had folded into countless pieces and waved it in the air.
Dingxiang opened her eyes and stared at the ink stains on the edge of the paper that were smudged by her tears, and suddenly she started coughing violently.
He carefully preserved everything he had.
Even the enamelware pot he brought from northern Xinjiang was a parting gift I gave him when he left.
Pang Weinong frantically reached for the enamel pot on the bedside table, but she grabbed his sleeve and said, "Brother Weinong, it takes three years for the apple orchard to bear fruit, right?"
She dug her nails into his blood-crusted palms, "But there are only three pages left in my medical records."
The morning light exploded into tiny golden rays in the infusion tube. Pang Weinong stared at the dripping potion, and suddenly grabbed Ding Xiang's hand and pressed it on his face.
The immature stubble made her palms itch, but tears trickled down her fingers: "Do you remember that snowy night? You said you wanted to live like a lilac flower in the wild, which could neither freeze to death nor burn."
He picked up the glass bottle, and a few dried wild flowers rustled inside. "Look, I planted the stars in the northern border, but the moon is missing."
Dingxiang pulled her hand back suddenly, and the glass bottle hit the iron bed with a dull sound.
She curled up in the quilt, her voice like a rusty string: "If I agree to you, it will be like putting a millstone around your neck."
The monitor screamed wildly, but she ignored it, "Pang Weinong, wake up! By the time the apples are ripe, the grass on my grave will be waist-high!"
Pang Weinong was stunned.
He didn't understand. From the first moment he saw Dingxiang again, he could feel the warmth towards him in her eyes, expression, and body.
He is not a fool!
He could clearly feel Dingxiang's feelings for him.
Compared with the life of educated youth, that feeling is like wine stored in the cellar, which becomes stronger with time.
You obviously love me too, why don't you want to marry me?!
\"Then I will dig until my hands break! Even if it is just a dead grave, I will be content with this life! \"
Pang Weinong suddenly lifted the quilt and wrapped the trembling body in his arms.
Dingxiang smelled the lingering soap scent on his collar, mixed with the pungent disinfectant from the hospital, which was very similar to the dormitory for educated youth that could not be dried after the heavy rain that year.
She opened her mouth and bit his shoulder until the taste of rust spread between her teeth.
"Pang Weinong, you fool!"
She didn't know where she suddenly felt a huge force coming from, and she pushed him away, shouting, "Get out of here! Get out! Get out!"
As she spoke, she suddenly snatched the glass bottle from Northern Xinjiang from the bedside table and threw it to the ground with a bang, followed by the lunch boxes piled on the bedside table.
Crash, snap!
\"Snapped!\"
The sound of the porcelain bowl breaking startled both of them and they froze at the same time.
"Xiang'er, why are you..."
Pang Weinong was pushed to the ground without noticing, and looked at the suddenly angry woman in astonishment. He rubbed his right shoulder with his left hand, and reached for the wild lilac among the broken glass on the ground with his right hand in a panic.
"Xiang'er, what are you doing? This is a gift from me to you..."
"Get out! Get out! Get out!"
Seeing him slumped on the ground, naturally showing shyness in front of his closest person, and being at a loss when facing her anger, Ding Xiang pointed at the door, letting the tears flow down her cheeks, unable to bear to look at Pang Weinong anymore.
She was afraid that she wasn't firm enough.
Bang!
The huge noise finally alarmed the parents outside the door.
The door was knocked open.
Mother Ding was trembling as she held onto the door frame. The aluminum lunch box in Father Ding's hand fell to the ground with a clang. The mushy millet porridge inside was slowly seeping into the concrete floor.
\"Uncle and aunt...\" Pang Wenong knelt on the ground at a loss, with a lilac flower in the broken glass in one hand and a smashed aluminum lunch box in the other.
The old man's hunched back swayed in the morning light. Ding's mother suddenly grabbed a broom and hit him on the head: "We, the Ding family, don't owe you anything! Go back to your northern border and grow apples!"
Pang Weinong did not dodge or evade, and the broom handle hit his forehead, which immediately became swollen and purple.
Ding Xiang suddenly threw back the quilt and rushed over. The infusion needle tore the skin on the back of her hand, and blood splashed on the snow-white bed sheet like red plums: "Mom! Stop hitting him, don't hit him, please don't hit him!"
Father Ding lit a cigarette with trembling hands, and the sparks flickered in the dark corridor: "Xiao Pang, don't you know what Doctor Li said these days? "
The old man blew out smoke rings, and the sound was like rusty gears. "Lilac's disease is like a countdown clock."
Pang Weinong's knees went weak and he knelt on the ground, but he still stubbornly held Ding Xiang's cold hand.
Ding's mother suddenly squatted down and pried open the two people's clasped fingers one by one: "The camel thorns in your northern border can survive droughts, but my daughter is made of porcelain."
She took out a train ticket from her pocket. The words "Yanjing - Beijiang" on the ticket were stained with ink by her tears. "This is the earliest train tomorrow morning. Let's go back to Beijiang!"
"Aunt!"
The train ticket was stuffed into Pang Weinong's hand. He looked at the sweat-soaked ticket in his hand in disbelief, knowing that this ticket was almost the entire savings of the Ding family.
Mother Ding turned her head away.
He crawled twice more, hugged Ding's father's legs, and shouted, "Uncle! I won't leave, uncle, don't ask me to leave! I don't want to leave, Dingxiang...Uncle, ask Dingxiang, she doesn't want me to leave either, please don't ask me to leave, okay?"
The smoke from Ding's father's cigarette became thicker with each puff. He raised his head stubbornly and looked out the window, his attitude firm and cold.
Pang Weinong didn't wait for a response. He turned his head to look at Ding Xiang who was being held by Ding's mother. He couldn't hold back his tears any longer and cried loudly, "Xiang'er, please don't ask me to leave, please~"
The door was already filled with patients, family members and nurses who came to watch the fun.
Everyone shed tears silently at this moment.
"Go find the dean!"
One young nurse couldn't stand it anymore and pulled her colleague upstairs crying...