The lady raised her eyebrow slightly as if she were displeased with Lin Xinyan’s attitude towards her.
“Based on seniority, you should be addressing me as Aunt.”
For the life of her, Lin Xinyan couldn’t recall if she had seen the woman before. Based on her understanding, the Zong family didn’t have many relatives. I’m not sure if there’s even such a person?
The woman invited herself in and ordered, “Get me a drink.”
“Mrs. Zong.” Aunt Yu pulled Lin Xinyan aside and whispered in her ear. “This may be the female companion of elder Mr. Zong’s cousin who is withdrawn and doesn’t like to socialize.”
Lin Xinyan furrowed her eyebrows slightly and wondered why hadn’t she heard of them before.
Aunt Yu wasn’t sure too and only heard rumors. “Likely due to his health, they seldom keep in contact. During your wedding, they didn’t attend either. However, now that something like that has happened, they sure have arrived unexpectedly early.”
Even Aunt Yu was cognizant of how early they came. Zong Qifeng only had a cousin left from his generation who was also a shareholder of Wanyue Group.
Lin Xinyan signaled that she understood. It was now clear to her that the irritating lady was a relative and hence she had to treat her with respect.
She poured a glass of water and placed it on the table.
Despite showing respect by wearing a black dress, the lady’s hands and ears were decked out in expensive jewelry. The plain-colored dress simply accentuated the sparkle of all the diamonds she had on her. She also put on heavy makeup and it was obvious she put great effort into it. Even while sitting, she crossed her legs and behaved brazenly, showing no respect at all.
Furthermore, she didn’t look that old, Lin Xinyan surmised that she was still below thirty.
“Since you want me to address you as Aunt based on seniority, I will then do so…”
“Go ahead.”
Before Lin Xinyan could finish, she was interrupted abruptly by the lady, who sat there with a haughty expression.
“Aunt, where are your manners? Don’t you know that it’s rude to interrupt when someone is speaking?” Lin Xinyan hit out at her as she could no longer tolerate her impudent behavior. She was already in a foul mood as Zong Qifeng died, and yet, this lady was showing them great disrespect.
“You said that you are my aunt, that means you are very close to us. My father passed away today and everyone in the family is in mourning. And yet, you put on bright red lipstick and thick makeup. Don’t you even know how to show the deceased some respect?” Lin Xinyan kept her tone firm but calm as she didn’t want to quarrel with anyone during such a time.
However, the lady’s actions were simply insufferable.
“If you’re not sincere, I would advise you to leave. Perhaps you should learn more about funeral etiquette.”
“You…” The lady was enraged but couldn’t think of anything to rebut Lin Xinyan. After pausing a while, she retorted, “Is that how you speak to your elders?”
“Of course we have to respect our elders. But since you don’t even understand what respect is, how do you expect others to respect you?”
With her face red with anger, she fumed, “Just you wait.”
Just as she spoke, she stood up and stormed off.
“Mrs. Zong…” Aunt Yu was worried about Lin Xinyan and approached to support her. However, Lin Xinyan shook her head to show that she was fine.
As the woman left hastily, she bumped into someone entering. She berated, “Watch where you’re going!”
Qin Ya was feeling anxious ever since she received Shen Peichuan’s call last night. Hence, she and Su Zhan rushed over first thing in the morning.
She had walked so quickly that she didn’t expect someone to be coming out all of a sudden, causing them to bump into each other.
“Sorry…” Qin Ya apologized.
“Uncivilized fool,” the woman snorted as she left.
Qin Ya was stunned as she didn’t expect to encounter such a rude person. Furthermore, it was in a home that had just lost someone. To be cursing under such circumstances was utterly disrespectful.
Who is the one that’s uncivilized?
“You’re finally here.” Lin Xinyan greeted them with a raspy voice.
Qin Ya rushed over to hug her. “How are you holding up? Su Zhan and I came right over after receiving Shen Peichuan’s call…”
Before she could finish, Qin Ya began to choke in tears. She had stayed in the villa before and had spent time with Zong Qifeng. Now that he was gone, she knew she was going to miss him.
Lin Xinyan’s emotions were triggered again by Qin Ya’s response.
With tears welling up in her eyes, she ushered Qin Ya and Su Zhan to take a seat.
However, Su Zhan didn’t sit and went out instead. He had called Shen Peichuan earlier who was together with Zong Jinghao. He planned to join them but Shen Peichuan told him to head to the house first as Lin Xinyan was there alone. He was worried that she couldn’t cope by herself.
When Su Zhan saw there wasn’t much going on, he left to join the others.
At night, Zong Jinghao and the others returned. As the children were being taken care of by Aunt Yu and Zhuang Zijin, they had prepared some food on the table.
Meanwhile, the study room’s light was on and the few of them were inside.
“They said the day after tomorrow is an auspicious day for the burial.” They were discussing the funeral rites and likely wouldn’t take long.
Lin Xinyan asked softly, “Would it be too rush for the funeral to be held the day after tomorrow?”
Shen Peichuan replied, “The funeral parlor will arrange it and the funeral will be held in their hall.”
Lin Xinyan nodded. The one who was speaking the most was Shen Peichuan while Zong Jinghao didn’t say a word ever since he returned. All he did was sit by the window.
“All of you must be tired after running around for the whole day. Why don’t you get something to eat?” Lin Xinyan turned her attention to Qin Ya and Sang Yu, “Both of you should grab a bite.”
They were here for the whole day and hardly had anything to eat. Furthermore, it was getting late.
“In that case, let’s go outside.” Shen Peichuan stood up.
Su Zhan pulled Qin Ya along as they walked out. Very quickly, the study room’s door closed behind them.
Lin Xinyan walked over to sit beside Zong Jinghao.
