Dead Never Return.
At first, the voices of people speaking were so croaky and heavy to her which seemed to be penetrating her defence wall of ears that were preventing her to catch anything of what was being talked about.
And when eventually, that barrier was completely broken she was able to make through their voices.
Isn't it...isn't it Elder Cousin and Second Aunt?
What are they talking about?
The tone in which they were speaking was filled with so much...pain?
But why?
After exerting lots of pressure on her mind she was finally able to clearly hear their voices.
"Mom! I heard the nurse saying that Old Master Jiang was pushed straight to the operation room after entering the hospital."
"Father suffered through heart stroke and after that, he was transferred straight to here. Could something have gone wrong on the way?" It was Second Madam Jiang. Even in this dire situation, her sophistication did not leave her tone.
What? Grandfather...how!?
Her consciousness started slipping again as voices faded in the background because of the shock she suffered and started feeling suffocation by this darkness until eventually that also cleared up and was replaced by a dream.
A beautiful dream...
A very beautiful dream from when she was young!
"Grandfather, today Mommy and Daddy took me to a carnival and it was so pretty!!!" a girl no more than ten years was talking with her grandfather on phone in her not-so-fluent native language.
Growing up abroad has done an only side effect and that was not able to speak or understand her native language fluently. Still, her grandfather did not mind it at all and continued speaking to her late eldest son's only daughter cheerfully.
"Really? So did our Xiao Yue enjoyed a lot??"
"En, grandfather but I fell when we were returning and now there is a bruise on my knee" the merry voice had now turned sad.
"Is it hurting that much?"
"It was hurting but after mommy applied ointment pain has decreased."
"Xiao Yue...you are still young but certain lessons are better learnt when young. Life is just like these unpredictable incidents."
"How?"
Old Master Jiang chuckled at her confusion-filled child-like tone "Sometimes the pain that we get from an incident is very moderate or so less that can be cured merely from ointments. And sometimes the pain is so sharp, so deep that even most effective ointment can not heal it."
"Then how can those pains be cured, grandfather?"
"By standing up!"
"Huh?"
"Remember to stand after falling every time. Life is full of falls but one can only cure the pain by standing up and going forward on a path where one might also be able to find a cause to cure the bruise. Life gives us many ointments in various aspects which we, unfortunately, understand after time has already passed."
"The one who keeps on lying on the ground after suffering a fall would never be able to cure bruise because that person would be so busy in lamenting about his pain. And sadly when the person finally comes out of grief, a great amount of time has already passed."
When she was on the verge of dying...those words ringed in her mind and suddenly a hope ignited inside her! It was hope to stand up again!!
Only then she would be able to cure her injuries, physically and emotionally. There was no point in going forward with her life in this way...because there would never be any good outcome of this.
Just like how morning sunrays cover the dawn by filling the surrounding with light, her eyes started fluttering while vanishing the blackness and slowly the darkness was finally disappeared when the blurry view of Operation Room came into her view.
The light aimed at her was of so high intensity which made her immediately close her eyes.
Getting slightly conscious of her surrounding, she heard someone speaking to her, "Miss Jiang, can you hear us?"
The husky and masculine voice gave her a familiar feeling.
After struggling for a long while, when she felt her eyes were adapted to bright light she slowly opened them back yet they were still out of focus.
Blinking her eyes continuously for some time, the blurriness at last vanished and she found herself surrounded by a group of doctors and nurses.
"Doctor Lu! She completely opened her eyes!!" a fully astonishing voice was what greeted her.
It was of Doctor Qian.
Turning towards the source of the voice she found a very familiar man whose gaze was filled with deep emotions covering the young man and approaching her.
"Can you hear us? If yes, then try twitching your fingers."
She complied, though it seemed as if her fingers were not in her control, but after a bit, she was finally able to twitch her fingers.
"Gladly!" a sigh filled with relief and happiness was heard in the pin-drop silent room and it was of no other than Doctor Lu.
"Doctor Qian, prepare for all necessary tests which needs to be done."
"Yes, Doctor Lu."
"And Nurse, inform the family that patient has come out of comma." His enthusiasm couldn't be hidden from the listeners.
Jiang Yuxin was the first one to notice a nurse coming out of the Operation room. Her heart suddenly sank thinking of the worst news she might deliver but what she was notified froze her completely for a few minutes before her eyes immediately welled up and a smile started gracing her lips.
Only God knows how much she had prayed to hear this one line.
On the other hand, in another VIP ward, in the operation room, Old Master Jiang was also seeing the same dream that his granddaughter had just seen.
'I am sorry Xiao Yue, grandpa would not be there anymore to help you. I am sorry that I was not able to save you...'
It was the last thing which appeared in his mind before the monitor at the side of him beeped and showed a completely flat line.
The doctor tried to save him but this time the pain that he went through was something which the strength in his already old body was not able to bear.
While removing the mask from his face, the Doctor sighed before turning to the nurse and ordering her to note the time of the patient's death and inform her family.
After the tests were done, Jiang Ying Yue was pushed out of the operation room when she saw her family approaching her being led by Jiang Yuxin and at the same time another nurse came there and informed them,
"Old Master Jiang is no more!"
The last thing she remembered was the smile faltering from her Elder cousin's lips before darkness again confined her.
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*Author's Note- The scenes in this as well as the previous chapter has been written in 2x speed because if I were to go in details then I would never have been able to start the main arc.
I had initially decided to enclose all thesee chapters in Chapter One only but the word limit was getting too much.
Thankyou for reading!*