Chapter 431 Tonight There Is Moonlight and Starlight
Raymond drove through the night, heading straight for Everpeak Mountain. He didn't even have time for dinner. His stomach had long since gone numb from hunger.
The snow at Everpeak Mountain was much heavier than at Silverbrook, and the ground was covered in a thick layer of ice. The car wheels slipped on the narrow and steep asphalt road leading to Everpeak Mountain. Several times, the car nearly plunged into the abyss.
Raymond gripped the steering wheel with one hand and held a chocolate bar in the other, tearing off the wrapper with one hand and placing it in his mouth. Chocolate could ensure basic survival at critical moments, preventing hypoglycemia.
Maybe it was his deceased parents watching over him from above, but at 2 AM, the car finally arrived safely at the foot of Everpeak Mountain. He opened the car door and stepped out, his boots crunching in the thick snow. The wind whipped up snowflakes, swirling them through the air.
Tonight, there was a moon and starlight. Under the moonlight and starlight, the originally bleak mountain and trees seemed to be covered in a thin veil of mist. Raymond's nose and cheeks were stung and numbed by the cold wind.
He knelt swiftly and decisively in the snow, bowing his head. He thought, 'Margaret, you know, I never use to believe in these things. But now, I'm desperate, hoping for these intangible things. Isn't it laughable, isn't it sad?'
Raymond rose from the snow and knelt again, his forehead touching the cold snow. His cheeks grew even paler; how could someone in the late stages of leukemia withstand such wind and snow? But he didn't care, as long as Margaret woke up. Each time, he bowed his head harder. He feared God wouldn't see his sincerity and wouldn't bless him!
"Mom, Dad... Can you hear me? I hope you've found peace—and Margaret's parents, too. Please... help her wake up. I know you resent her because of what her father did, but the Hughes family has paid. Marlon and Nancy are dead. Their empire is gone. Only Margaret remains—and she was just a child when it happened. She's suffered enough: illness, near-death, despair... But she's also the woman I love. The only light in these twenty years of darkness. She knelt at your graves, even knowing the truth. Please... forgive her. Forgive me."
Raymond's voice cracked as he spoke, his breath visible in the cold air. He felt the weight of his words, the desperation in his plea. He knew he was asking for a miracle, but he had no other choice. He had to believe that his parents could hear him, that they could help him save Margaret.
The cold wind howled. His ears were numb, losing sensation. Raymond's eyelashes trembled slightly. The night was very dark. The snow fell so densely, blurring his vision. He bowed countless times. Knelt countless times. Constantly repenting in his heart. But he was already numb from the cold, hungry and cold. Blood from his nose dripped heavily onto the snow. Shocking. Striking.
He finally empathized with Margaret! When he was in the ICU, given a critical notice, she prayed to God for his blessing in the same way. At that time, her body had just undergone a liver transplant. Her body was extremely weak. It turned out that kneeling and bowing in the snow was so cold. So chilling. It turned out that Margaret, after losing her memory, loved Raymond so much. It was his fault, he didn't cherish her, losing the Margaret who loved him so much! Now he could feel the despair Margaret felt when she did the same thing. She was just a twenty-something patient! Thinking of this, Raymond's heart ached deeply, the cold wind making his breathing rapid.
By the time he reached Everpeak Mountain, the sky was already lightening. The priest was shoveling snow. He saw Raymond, wearing a black coat, looking pale and weak, staggering over.
Raymond looked at him devoutly: "Sir—"
"Let me guess, you're here to pray for someone you love?" The priest's eyebrows and beard were white, he stroked a strand of his beard and smiled.
Raymond's eyelids twitched: "You know?"
"A while ago, a lady came to pray for her husband. Are you her husband?"
"Yes."
The priest turned to him. "Sir, prayer can't be too utilitarian. I can't guarantee that the person you love will have the same luck as you did. If everyone who prayed got their wish, this church would be famous worldwide, not in its current state."
"Sir, I'm desperate." Raymond said.
"Many things are predestined. Perhaps you and the lady you love were never meant to be, and forcing it won't work. When the lady came, I advised her too, even if she prayed for you to wake up, the outcome might not be what she wanted. But she was too obsessed to listen."
Raymond understood the priest's words. The gist was that he and Margaret's fate was predetermined, and no matter how much they struggled, it was just a process leading to the same outcome. Their destiny remained unchanged. Raymond now, and Margaret praying back then, were essentially no different.
He stared at the priest, speaking solemnly: "How do you know it won't work if you don't try? I believe 'if I'm sincere enough, God will be moved.'"
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