They enjoyed the benefits of the company, so naturally, they had to do as the company bade them and contribute to its earnings.
As for The Uncle and the Flower, Yan Huan had used Lu Yi’s name, so she didn’t have to bother much with the producers. According to the contract, there wouldn’t be any problems if she received her cut, but The Uncle and the Flower had brought in supernormal revenue. She was in the scene for a long time, so she understood these things.
Yi Ling opened the door gently. Noticing that Yan Huan was still asleep, she walked over and adjusted her blanket.
Her face was youthful but weary. In the span of a few years, they succeeded. But at what cost? She couldn’t remember.
She returned to her own room and took a short break. Then, remembering something, she opened a drawer and from inside, took out a locked casket.
Holding the casket in her arms, she sat down again. She laid the box on her legs, patting and blowing off the dust.
However, there wasn’t much dust on it. She had always taken good care of it. Even after all those years, the casket was in mint condition, just like when she had held it in her hands for the first time.
She hugged the casket tightly and sighed.
Her mind went back to the day when the ailing woman had reached out at her with her bony fingers. Her face, tempered by time, still retained the beauty of her youth, but she was now old and thin. Her life had reached its end, like a withering flower past its prime.
From life to death.
“Yiyi…” she called out at her.
Yi Ling quickly took the woman’s hovering hand in her own. This made her realize how skinny she was.
“Mama Yan, it’s me, Yi Ling. Are you thirsty? Hungry?” she asked anxiously.
Mama Yan’s face was pale, almost greyish. It was a strange and scary color.
However, Yi Ling wasn’t afraid. She was no stranger to her. She was Mama Yan, the one who raised her and treated her like a daughter of her own. No matter her appearance, she would always be Yan Huan’s and her own mother.
The woman grabbed Yi Ling’s hand tightly with the last of her breath.
“Yiyi, promise Mama something.” Her words were often stuck in her throat, and it took her tremendous effort to utter them.
What was left of her vitality diminished with every word.
“Okay,” sniffed Yi Ling, trying her best to smother her sadness. She wanted to cry, but she had to hold it in.
“This…” Mama Yan laid the casket in her hands before Yi Ling. “This is for Huanhuan. If, if she runs into any danger in the future, open…open it.”
“But, promise Mama this…” Mama Yan clutched Yi Ling’s hand tighter. “Never open it unless it’s an emergency. Also, don’t let Huanhuan know about this. Will you do that for me?”
“I will,” Yi Ling nodded vehemently, hugging the casket tightly. On that day, Mama Yan laughed and cried, as though she was reminiscing about the past or worrying about the future. Perhaps, she didn’t think of anything at all. On that night, Mama Yan fell into a deep, eternal slumber.
Yan Huan was calm, a calmness that Yi Ling had never seen on her, as though she was expecting the day to come.
She took water and cleansed her mother’s body thoroughly, then changed her into a fresh set of clothes. Afterward, she washed her mother’s hair, as she did when she was alive. However, Mama Yan was too skinny. She looked completely different as compared to when she was alive.
Frankly, Mama Yan was very beautiful in her youth. How could an ugly person give birth to someone with Yan Huan’s looks?
However, life had bent her back, took her bones, and ravaged her beauty.
She was ugly, old, tired, dead.
Yan Huan sent her mother off in person. She hugged her ashes for a day and a night, without eating or drinking anything.
On the second day, she buried her ashes.
Abiding by her mother’s last words, she left no photograph on the gravestone. Then, she looked up and got on with her life, in a kinless world.
She pushed forward through vines and thorns. They pricked her skin, made her bleed, made her cry, made her suffer.
In the end, she made it through, to her current position.
It was the same in both lives.
Just that the events had differed.
In her previous life, Yi Ling died at a young age, so she never got to mention the casket to Yan Huan. Therefore, Yan Huan never knew about this item. And this item could have brought about a huge change for the better. Or worse.
Yi Ling hesitated, unsure if she should give it to Yan Huan. However, Mama Yan’s words came to her mind.
Don’t show it to Yan Huan unless it’s an emergency and there aren’t any other solutions. She would rather Yan Huan not see it all than to have to use it someday.
This wasn’t the right time.
She placed the casket back into the drawer, then piled some clothes above it. She had held on to the casket for a long time, long enough for her to forget about its existence.
Perhaps, this wouldn’t be the last time she forgets about it. Like Mama Yan, she would rather not open it.
By the time Yan Huan woke up, it was already night. The nanny had cooked up a meal, and it was ready to be eaten.
Ruolin had also returned from the office. She retrieved all of Yan Huan’s recent schedules.
Never mind a break, Yan Huan still had lots of photoshoots, advertisements, and the shooting for Man Vs. Wild was about to start.
Even if she wanted to take a break, it would have to wait until a few months later. Plus, she was to star in another movie while she was popular.
“This much?” said Yi Ling as she counted the thick stash in Ruo Lin’s hands. “What do they take our Huanhuan for?”
“A moneymaker?” said Ruo Lin. The stash gave her a headache. There’s so many, when will it end?
Yan Huan took and counted the stash. Indeed, there was quite a lot of them. Initially, she had planned to let Little Bean stay over for a bit, but never mind that. Little Bean would be much more comfortable at Lu Yi’s place in comparison to being in the care of an irresponsible owner like her.
