Chapter 176 Memories (2/2)

”What do you want to know? Ask away…”

Ma Suying had a straightforward personality. Even though her voice was hoarse, the moment she decided on something, she would not hesitate.

”No hurry. Let's wait till you've eaten something to regain some energy,” said Xiang Wan thoughtfully. After a brief pause, she thought of something and asked a question, ”Do you have any special request for your diet? We can inform our colleague and let him take note of it…”

”Oh, there is!” Ma Suying suddenly took a glance at the ice-cream Xiang Wan had placed on the bedside table. ”I like to eat this a lot.”

”…”

Earlier on, Xiang Wan had asked her if she wanted ice-cream was just to strike a conversation with her or rather, to lure her with food.

Now that Ma Suying said that, Xiang Wan felt embarrassed.

”Your current condition… It's better not to eat this for now…”

”I know…” Ma Suying's gaze seemed as though she was looking at something far away. As her windpipe was wounded, her voice sounded unpleasant to the ear and would make one's spine feel numb. ”… When I was around your age, I liked ice-cream a lot. Well, back then, I don't know what's an ice-cream, as well as its name…”

After explaining that, she revealed a strange smile.

”At that time, I was really poor. So poor that I can't even bear to buy ice-cream that's only worth a dime… I could only gulp when I see others eat ice-cream…”

”…”

Xiang Wan found herself unable to continue the topic.

Although she was also not from a wealthy family, she and Ma Suying were from a different generation after all. Those from the younger generation was unable to fully understand the difficulties of what the older generation faced.

”The best ice-cream I've eaten was bought for me by Zhou Dequan. I still remember that day was especially hot. My class was having our physical education lesson in the open field… The heat baked the ground so much that we felt we were inside a steamer.

”He was holding an ice-cream and standing outside the school gates. He was so worried that the ice-cream was going to melt and wanted to come in to give it to me. But no matter what he said, the security uncle refused to let him in. He got so anxious that he was drenched in sweat… Later on, he shouted for my name from the school gates and all of my classmates laughed at me…

”He was dressed too shabbily. His work clothes were stained with mud from working at the construction site. His pants were rolled up to just below his knees, and he was wearing a pair of old military shoes. That hillbilly look of his made me really embarrassed… The girls in my class were laughing at me behind my back… They mocked that a well-off young missy actually hung out with a mason worker…

”University students back then were very different from now. It was tough to get to university, and university students were a rare commodity that every graduate would get assigned a job for sure. Everywhere we go, people looked at us with envy and we were proud of it. Everyone felt that me being with Zhou Dequan was equivalent to a beautiful woman married to an uncouth man. There were many people who thought that I was just toying with him and that I would leave him one day. They had thought that I looked down on him…

”But none of them knew that what moved me was the ice-cream he bought me that summer.

”A man who cycled under the hot sun with a temperature of over 30 degrees, over a journey of tens of miles, just to get me an ice-cream to relieve me of the summer heat. Then he cycled back to his workplace…”

Her description was filled with a strong sense of times.

Xiang Wan was able to imagine the scene and sense her feelings.

A man so ignorant and fearless; so pure and honest, had barged into her world. Grinning at her from the other side of the rusty school gate—besides his clean white teeth, his clothes were dirty from head to toe… Someone like him actually managed to drive away the dark clouds, crossed hurdles, and captured the heart of a female university student. From then onward, it marked the start of her ups and downs in life.

Women tend to be pure-hearted toward their feelings without any other motives.

Their most basic requirement was hope that their men would love them and treat them nicely.

”I thought about a lot of things while lying on the hospital bed today.” Ma Suying puffed a sigh. ”I recalled all those memories with him from the beginning till now. In the end, I have a sad realization… the happiness that I have been searching for had actually stopped at that time. We had good times together, but they got thrown away. We went to search for more and wanted to get farther in life… In the end, we found ourselves getting farther from each other instead and unable to go back anymore…”

”…”

Silence filled the ward.

Xiang Wan and Bai Muchuan looked at each other for a moment but did not say a word.