“There was a woman who came to today and asked me to address her as Aunt. Is she related to us?” Lin Xinyan mentioned the incident today on purpose.
She knew how depressed Zong Jinghao was and wanted to talk about something else to distract him.
Zong Jinghao looked up, “What woman?”
“She said that she’s our Aunt,” Lin Xinyan explained.
Zong Jinghao understood immediately. That woman was likely Zong Yungan’s partner.
He explained to Lin Xinyan, “We don’t have many relatives. Dad had a brother, but he had passed on early. Within my generation, there’s only me. As for Zong Yungan, we have to go further back. Grandpa also had a brother. He was the elder of the two. His brother who wasn’t good in business started two companies and failed. Realizing that he didn’t have the talent for it, he stopped. However, he does own some of Wanyue’s shares. Anyway, he has a son which is of the same generation as Dad. But, we don’t really keep in touch.”
“Since they like to keep to themselves and rarely keep in contact, how did they hear about dad’s passing that quickly?” Lin Xinyan was curious.
Zong Jinghao’s eyes darkened in response. When Zong Qifeng was alive, Zong Yungan was put in his place. Now that Zong Qifeng was gone, Zong Yungan suddenly emerged from the shadows. It was obvious that something was amiss.
Lin Xinyan reached out to hold his hand. “No matter what he’s planning, we can discuss it later.”
The priority now was to ensure Zong Qifeng’s funeral was completed properly. She asked softly, “Are you planning to bury him with Mom?”
Ever since Cheng Yuxiu passed on, Zong Qifeng was devastated and constantly mentioned that he regretted not confessing his feelings to her. He had wanted them to be a couple for life. From Lin Xinyan’s perspective, although they didn’t manage to tell each other how they felt, their love for each other was real. After living under the same roof and interacting with each other on a daily basis, it was natural for them to develop feelings for each other.
To have shared a bed in life and to be buried together in death would have been a perfect ending for them.
Zong Jinghao nodded while Lin Xinyan felt that it was for the best.
Suddenly, Zong Yanxi barged into the room and threw herself into Lin Xinyan’s arms. Lin Xinyan picked up her daughter and sat her on her lap. As she patted Zong Yanxi’s back gently, she asked, “Are you hungry?”
Zong Yanxi nodded as she buried herself in Lin Xinyan’s chest. “Mommy, I miss Grandpa.”
Lin Xinyan hugged her daughter tight and kissed her on her forehead.
“Give her to me.” Zong Jinghao reached out his hand.
The moment Lin Xinyan lifted her daughter up towards Zong Jinghao, she noticed that Zong Yanxi had grown a lot as she could barely carry her now.
“Daddy.” Zong Yanxi’s eyes were mildly swollen from crying. Furthermore, she hardly slept the night before.
Lin Xinyan stood up and tore herself away from the moment of comfort. There were still guests in their home and it would be rude of them to stay in the room while ignoring their guests.
As Lin Xinyan headed downstairs, she saw Aunt Yu clearing the table. When she asked softly if the others had eaten, Aunt Yu replied that they only had a little and it was mostly soup.
Lin Xinyan nodded before walking to the living hall. There, she saw Sang Yu. “Sang Yu, have you had dinner?”
Sang Yu replied to say that she did.
“Don’t forget you’re still pregnant, so don’t tire yourself out. You should go on home with Peichuan as that there’s nothing much left to do.” Lin Xinyan was worried that Sang Yu was exhausted and couldn’t get a good rest there.
Shen Peichuan replied, “In that case, I’ll send Sang Yu home first.”
After that, he would return as he knew Zong Jinghao needed his friends by his side.
Despite the funeral parlor taking care of most matters, there were still a lot of outstanding matters to be dealt with. Given that there was no other relative capable of helping, Shen Peichuan knew he couldn’t leave Zong Jinghao to handle them alone.
Lin Xinyan nodded. Meanwhile, she arranged for a guest room to be prepared for Su Zhan and Qin Ya to rest. However, Su Zhan didn’t sleep while Shen Peichuan sent Sang Yu home before returning.
After that, the three of them went out but Lin Xinyan didn’t ask where. With both of them staying by Zong Jinghao’s side, Lin Xinyan felt very much at ease.
At night, she watched over the children alone so that Aunt Yu and Zhuang Zijin could rest. Aunt Yu volunteered, “You won’t be able to handle all of them alone. Let me take care of the youngest. The other two are already old enough to be sensible.”
As for Zhuang Zijin, she was downstairs looking after Cheng Yuwen. Zong Qifeng’s death was a devastating blow to him
Qin Ya was also in her room but she couldn’t sleep. Hence, she accompanied Lin Xinyan and helped her looked after the kids.
As it got late, everyone started feeling tired and went to sleep, respectively.
Lin Xinyan was awoken by a dream after falling asleep for a short while. As she hardly ate anything the whole day, she felt extremely thirsty. She got up and tucked in the children together with Qin Ya. After getting some water and preparing to return to bed, she realized there was a dim light outside. Taking a peek out the window, she saw a car with its headlights on. There seemed to be someone inside but they didn’t alight.
Shen Peichuan was sitting in the front passenger seat while Su Zhan sat in the driver’s seat. As for Zong Jinghao, he was sitting at the back by the window. Today they had resolved most of what they needed to do. The coffin, cremation urns, etc. have all been chosen.
There were just items to comfort the living. As for the dead, they wouldn’t care about the quality of the items they were going to use.
Meanwhile, Shen Peichuan was fiddling with the cigarette in his mouth. He alone was smoking to keep himself awake. As Sang Yu was already pregnant, he wondered if he should quit smoking for good.
When Zong Jinghao asked him for one, Shen Peichuan looked at him with hesitation. In the end, he still offered Zong Jinghao one from his cigarette box.
Furthermore, he even leaned in to help him light it.
Zong Jinghao had never smoked before. All he wanted was something to help him calm down.
As he wasn’t used to the cigarette smoke, he couldn’t help but furrow his eyebrows slightly.
