Chapter 39 Funeral (Part 2)

  Yes, death is indeed too easy.

  Around the bend, the car arrived at the Wanfo Mountain Cemetery. The driver drove the car directly to the top of the mountain and passed through the entrance where a pair of tall and majestic pillars stood, evoking a sense of reverence.

  As she stepped out of the car, Gu Wenjuan, Chu Lianyou and Gu Tianxi were already waiting at the gate. Behind them stood some senior members of the Chu Corporation as well as relatives and friends. Gu Huanli looked up at the magnificent gate, its grandeur and beauty even more striking in the sunlight, and suddenly thought to herself that if she were in another world, she wondered where her brother would have buried her.

  Gu Huan Lian gazed at Gu Tian Xi with a daze, thinking to herself: Even in a desolate and corrupt place; even without any beautiful decorations; even if it's all broken walls and overgrown with vines, looking eerie; as long as her brother can visit her every year, say a few words to her, she would feel that this solitary grave is happier than heaven.

  "Xiao Li?" Gu Tian Xi looked at her pale-faced sister and couldn't help but glance suspiciously at Cassidy beside her, "Did you get carsick on the long ride?"

  "No, just enjoying the snowy view and asking the driver to slow down a bit." Cassidy stood behind Gu Huanli with an umbrella, answering sincerely. This wasn't a lie, just slightly distant from the truth.

  Gu Huanli carefully walked up to Gu Tianxi and said in a low voice to the crowd, "Sorry, everyone has been waiting for a long time."

  Gu Tianxi stretched out his hand to touch her forehead, then took off her gloves to try the temperature of her fingers, and couldn't help but frown. "Didn't you turn on the heater in the car? Why are your hands so cold? Did you secretly get out of the car to play in the snow just now?"

  Gu Huanli's face turned red, and she hastily grabbed his hand, whispering, "I just saw that there was still time, so I asked the driver to stop for a bit. I got out of the car and played with the snow for a while. I know I was wrong, brother, I won't dare do it again."

  "Isn't there snow at home for you to play with?" Gu Tianxi frowned in disapproval, while warming her hands, and only after they had returned to normal temperature did he put the gloves back on her, then pulled her into his arms to shield her from the cold wind.

  Several snowflakes fell from He Mu Yang's umbrella onto Gu Tian Xi's nose, and the crystal snowlight flickered at the bottom of his eyes. His entire face was cold and distant, but only when he looked at Gu Huan Lian did his eyes add a hint of warmth.

  Chu Lian stood beside her mother, gazing enviously at the intimate appearance of Gu Tianhui and Gu Huanli, brother and sister. She turned her head to glance at the coffin about to be buried, secretly resenting in her heart: she not only didn't have a good older brother, but also lost what she had thought was a good father.

  Yes, Chu Lintao, who was seriously injured in a car accident and hospitalized, did not survive the critical period after surgery. He eventually died of complications, leaving behind his wife, who was about to divorce him, his mistress, who had no one to rely on, his daughter, who harbored resentment towards him, his illegitimate daughter, who was at a loss, his unborn child, and a will that left all his inheritance to Shen Yanran, her mother, and his unborn son. The will even transferred the small building named Chu's residence, which was originally given to Gu Wenjuan as dowry when she got married, to Shen Yanran's name.

  When Gu Wenjuan saw the will, she collapsed again. She had married Chu Lintao back then, not for his money, but wasn't her daughter Lianyou also a child of the Chu family? How could he not leave a single penny to Lianyou? How could he give that house to Shen Yanran and drive her out of her own home?!

  It was easy for the team of lawyers that Gu Tianxi found for Gu Wenjuan to turn the original divorce case into an inheritance dispute. As long as they were paid their legal fees, whether it was a divorce or an inheritance dispute was actually irrelevant to them. Moreover, the larger the amount involved in this lawsuit, the higher the legal fees they would receive.

  Shen Yanran, however, was only able to hire a reputable lawyer in the industry with the help of an old acquaintance from the Chu family. But that lawyer told Shen Yanran frankly on their first meeting that she would definitely lose the case. Because Gu Wenjuan had too much evidence about the ownership of their common property, and Shen Yanran was after all just a mistress. In China, such cases are usually tried according to the principle of public order and good morals.

  So, for Shen Yan, the best solution is an out-of-court settlement.

  However, the news brought by the traffic police team made Shen Yanran excited again. Because when the traffic police checked the vehicle driven by Chu Lintao at the time of the car accident, they found that the brake line of the car had been cut off by someone. A traffic accident turned into a deliberate murder case. And the suspect, the first to be suspected was Gu Wenjuan, who was preparing for divorce, and even brought up the kidnapping case of Gu Huanli again.

  A certain media outlet was the first to report on this little-known kidnapping case, and even conducted an in-depth analysis of the relationship between the Gu and Chu companies. However, the magazine's best-selling result was that many people criticized the media for using the trauma of the child as a gimmick to attract attention. In the end, the editor-in-chief of the magazine had to resign, and the reporter who reported on the matter was also dismissed by the magazine.

  Afterwards, someone asked the editor-in-chief if he couldn't bear the public criticism or his conscience was uneasy. The editor-in-chief smiled bitterly and said, "I can still afford to offend the Chu family, but adding the Gu family means I have to be extra careful. Who would have thought that this matter would also involve Luo Media and Pu Shi Medical Group? Losing our jobs because of this report is already the lightest punishment for me and that reporter."

  But in Gu Tianxi's eyes, these people were the culprits who made his sister return to her nightmares. Every night, Gu Huanli would wake up with a start and then hide in his arms, shivering with fear.

  Although he could make the magazine company go bankrupt, and make the reporter and editor never find a job again, what Gu Tianxi really wanted to do was to alleviate his sister's fear.

  "Take a look around, there's still some time, standing here all the time will freeze your feet." Gu Tianxi hugged Gu Huanli and walked slowly on the snow-covered ground with a layer of silver, their black sheepskin boots slightly sinking in, and their walking pace also slowed down.

  In the Chu family cemetery, the tombstones were also covered with snow, and from a distance, it seemed very harmonious. Cold yet peaceful, as if one had come from the mortal world to another realm.

  This was not the original location of the Chu family's ancestral tomb, but after Chu Lintao invited a feng shui master to geomancy, he moved the Chu family's ancestral tomb here. Who would have thought that the beautiful dream of his descendants enjoying prosperity for generations was just an illusion, and his own dreams had not yet come true before he died.

  In this series of events, there is no most innocent victim. There are only conspiracies and the unfathomable human heart. As the truth is gradually revealed, everyone is shocked by the greed hidden beneath Chu Lintao's elegant appearance.

  The funeral bell has tolled, the person is gone, all the sins and guilt, all the love and hatred, have turned into a pile of dry bones. The only thing that makes Gu Huan comforted is that she kept her promise to Yingzi, at least half of it. At least, Chu's enterprise still cleared her mother's name and apologized and compensated sincerely.

  In Zheng Xiaoying's view, what she needs is not the comfort of money. What can comfort the souls of the deceased is only justice that has been restored to the world at the cost of one's life, and sincere apologies.

  So, at this moment, Zheng Xiaoying has returned to her hometown in Hunan and buried her mother's ashes in a remote mountain village. The funeral expenses were borrowed by Gu Huanli for her, not much, but enough to let Zheng Xiaoying's mother rest in peace underground.

  That night, Gu Huanli said to Zheng Xiaoying, "I'm not being pretentious, nor am I sympathizing with you. It's not about the money either. I just understand your filial piety and your love for your mother. So, don't think of this as charity. In the future, when you start working, I'll deduct it from your salary."

  The car accident was also investigated by the police, and a major clue was found. Surprisingly, the clue pointed to Chu Shi Yuan Lao, who had helped Shen Yan Ran hire a lawyer. The fuse that led to this was the argument between Zheng Xiao Ying's mother, Zheng Lan, and someone else in the parking lot.

  When Gu Wenjuan and Shen Yanran learned about this, the first thing that came to their minds was not embarrassment, nor was it laughable. Instead, they thought about what would happen to the Chu Corporation. It's really unclear whether they were too concerned about Chu Lintao's legacy or too concerned about the inheritance they were fighting for.

  Gu Huanli gazed at the tombstones before her, silent. Even if the pure white snow covered this land, it couldn't hide the good and evil that had once occurred.

  The words on the tombstone are either gold or red, and seem to have been retouched recently. Only the recessed places where the names of the deceased were carved were filled with sparkling snowmelt. Looking up, it was actually the snow that had quietly melted and dripped from the top of the tombstone.

  They stopped in their tracks, and the umbrella above their heads also came to a halt mid-air. Gu Huan Lian gazed quietly at the tombstone, as if she had a thousand words to say to this cold slab of stone, yet didn't know where to begin.

  From this matter onwards, Gu Huan Lian had come to realize that the world she was in was completely different from the one before her rebirth. People who were supposed to live would suddenly pass away; then, people who left the world unexpectedly might actually be living peacefully? Perhaps, it really was a case of "the outcome depends on human effort".

  But as she watched those two people walking slowly towards them, she thought again in her heart: The fate is unpredictable, who knows what will happen next!

  "Who allowed you to come here!" The angry voice shot over Gu Tianxi and Gu Huanlin, like a bullet, towards the two people who had just stepped forward.

  "Sister." Shen Yanran's face was a mix of sadness and grief, she gently stroked her belly and said in a low voice, "No matter how much you hate me, I should bring Mu Ran and this unborn child to see Lin Tao off."

  Gu Wenjuan pulled her daughter's hand, looking at the mother and daughter in front of her with disdain. "Unfortunately, if I divorced Chu Lintao and he made you legitimate, maybe you would have the qualifications to stand here and say this. But now, please take your daughter and disappear from my sight immediately. Otherwise, if something unexpected happens because I drive you out of the cemetery, it will be up to you alone to bear the consequences."

  "Yes, yes, just a mistress, yet so arrogant." Those Mrs. Chus' elderly wives were all whispering to each other, their faces filled with righteous indignation.

  "I just want to send him off on his last journey, besides, my family's Shen Mu Ran has never called her father once..." Shen Yan Ran "thudded" and fell to the ground, pleading sorrowfully, "We are all mothers, we all care about our children, big sister, please, let my family's Shen Mu Ran see his father for the last time!" As she spoke, she pulled Shen Mu Ran down to the ground beside her, and the two knelt together.

  Shen Mu Ran didn't say a word, her expression was wooden, she just knelt there, staring blankly at the tombstone, recalling the man she had called "Uncle Chu" countless times, who was actually her biological father.

  The dispute continued before the pastor arrived.

  Until the pastor sighed and read out the sentence "ashes return to ashes, dust returns to dust, let the deceased rest in peace, and let the living regain liberation" when Gu Wenjuan sent someone to "invite" Shen's mother and daughter out of Chu's cemetery.

  "Dust returns to dust... earth returns to earth... all the splendor will eventually come to an end, nothing but a handful of fine sand..." Gu Huanli said softly, her fingers touching the cold tombstone, her stiff face relaxing, with a hint of bitter smile creeping onto her stiff lips. "Brother, will the Chu family decline because of this?"

  "I will." Gu Tianxi replied firmly.

  "Why?" Gu Huanli's fingernails scraped against the tombstone, making a soft sound, like a pastor's whisper.

  The snow continued to fall heavily, and from time to time the cold wind blew the snowflakes, hitting my face with a stinging pain.

  Her slender fingers followed the lines that Gu Huanli had once traced, stroking the name engraved on the tombstone, her fingertips making a sound like grinding stone in the recesses of the name. Gu Tianxi's voice was low and husky, a murmured whisper, "For you."