Su Zhan stood outside the funeral hall, greeting mourners who were mainly relatives and friends. An unexpected number had shown up, and the car park was fully packed. They had to make some other arrangement.
After the memorial service would be the funeral procession.
Before that, the deceased’s loved ones had to bid farewell to him. Thinking about the impending departure with Cheng Yuwen, everyone felt extremely sad.
Right before they sent him off, the emcee read the eulogy. Turning to everyone, he started his speech, “Today, we gather here to send off Mr. Cheng Yuwen. As he departs from this earth, please remember that death is an end to the full circle of life. Just as the moon waxes and wanes according to its seasons, our lives are governed by life, death, separation, and reunion. Although Mr. Cheng may have left us, the sound of his laughter and the look of his smile will be forever imprinted in our hearts.”
“With that, I extend my condolences to all his loved ones.”
The funeral music began.
Everyone got up and bowed three times towards the coffin.
Finally, amidst much tears and crying, the funeral procession made its way to Cheng Yuwen’s final resting place.
The cemetery was located in the northern suburbs of C City, in one of the most auspicious locations they could find. They had chosen not to bury Cheng Yuwen in Baicheng. This was because the younger ones had already chosen to settle down in C City, and Zhuang Zijin looked forward to being buried next to him after she passed on.
The funeral finally ended at night.
Then, everyone gathered in the villa.
Qin Ya brewed some tea for all the guests. They had gone the entire day without eating, so she called up a restaurant and ordered a simple supper for them.
Even though the dead was long gone, those who were alive had to live on cheerfully.
“Now that the funeral is over, should we bring Yanchen to the hospital for a checkup?”
This time, Sang Yu came alone. This was because Shen Peichuan had an important meeting with the higher-ups and coupled with his early retirement; he was all tied down with work and couldn’t make it.
Hence, she had to come along.
Now that the funeral had ended, everyone sat around and made small talk. They were all extremely worried for Zong Yanchen—after all the present condition of his eyes was very serious.
“There’s no need…”
“You just keep saying you don’t need to go for a checkup, but all of us feel worried just looking at you.” Qin Ya felt that he should go to the hospital to get a doctor’s advice too.
Zong Yanchen could see her faint shadow moving in front him. Before this, he had been able to see anything but darkness.
In order to assuage his elders, he had no choice but to say, “Alright then, let’s go to the hospital tomorrow.”
“That’s the attitude we want. Don’t let us worry about you anymore.” Qin Ya poured a glass of water and placed it in his hand. “You haven’t eaten anything the entire day. Here, have some water.”
At that moment, the doorbell rang.
She walked over to open the door and found that the food had arrived. Since there was so much of it, Qin Ya asked them to bring everything in for her and place the boxes of food on the dining table.
After settling the payment, the food delivery man left. Qin Ya unpacked the boxes and said, “Wash your hands and have some food, everyone!”
Sang Yu came over and helped. She put some soup into a bowl and brought it into the room for Zhuang Zijin, who was so heartbroken that she was lying in bed. Lin Xinyan and Zong Yanxi stayed in the room with her.
Sang Yu went back out and brought some light snacks into the room for them.
As she entered the room, she said, “I’ll stay with her. Why don’t you both go have something to eat?”
Zong Yanxi stood up and took the plates of food from Sang Yu. “It’s okay, I’ll watch over Grandma. You should have something first.” She turned to look at Lin Xinyan and said, “Mommy, you should go and have something too.”
Lin Xinyan still had something to discuss with Zong Jinghao. She patted her daughter’s shoulder and said, “I’ll come over again later.”
“It’s okay, I’ll sleep with Grandma tonight. You can return to your room. I’ll be right here, so don’t you worry.” Zong Yanxi offered to help with this.
She had a very close relationship with Zhuang Zijin. After all, her maternal grandmother had raised her as a child.
“Are you worried that I won’t be able to take care of her well?”
“Oh, alright.” Lin Xinyan finally relented and got up.
Everyone sat around the dining table, having a few bites of the food.
Zhuang Jiawen took up the burden of feeding his blind older brother.
“Have you ever fed me when I was a kid?” Zhuang Jiawen asked.
“When you were two months old, he stuffed a huge piece of candy into your mouth. It nearly choked you to death.” As she spoke, Sang Yu stretched out her hands to show him the size of the candy.
She had been in charge of looking after Zhuang Jiawen on that day. Barely a few seconds after she took her eyes off the boy, Zong Yanchen had stuck a piece of candy as large as a glass marble into his mouth. It had nearly scared her to death.
Zhuang Jiawen was speechless.
“Wow, I must be pretty lucky, then. Otherwise, I would’ve been tortured to death by you a long time ago.”
“I did that because I adored you.”
“Ha! I don’t need your adoration, thanks. I don’t think I could bear with it.”
Lin Xinyan gulped down a bowl of soup. She didn’t think she could eat anything else. She felt really tired after the entire day. After supper, she sat around the living room and chatted with the others. A few of the women put the dishes away—because they had ordered takeaway, the cleanup process was much easier.
When it was nearly nine, everyone returned to their rooms to rest. Lin Xinyan wanted to go and take care of her elder son, but Zhuang Jiawen told her to leave that to him.
The two boys got along well with each other, so Lin Xinyan relented. It had been a long time since they were able to talk to each other like that. She patted Zhuang Jiawen on the shoulder and said, “Don’t you bully your older brother, alright?”
“Relax! I won’t stuff candy into his mouth.” Zhuang Jiawen waved his hand in dismissal. “Go and sleep now.”
“Alright then.”
Lin Xinyan returned to her room. When she opened the door, she got a text notification from Bai Yinning. It said, Let’s have a meal together tomorrow afternoon. I’ll be leaving tomorrow night. You were too busy today, so we didn’t get a chance to talk.
“Okay,” Lin Xinyan replied simply.
“I’ll see you at the Drunken River Pavilion at 11 am tomorrow, then.”
“Okay.”
She put away her phone and stepped into the room. Zong Jinghao had already washed up. He put on a set of blue silk pajamas, and was seated in bed, preparing to go to sleep.
Lin Xinyan shut the door and walked over to him. “Tell me honestly, is there something you’re hiding from me?”
