“A-Zhi, are you going to Grandpa Xu’s funeral?” Fu Yumeng asked, sitting across from Shi Zhi after Xu Yijing had left.
Shi Zhi gave a soft “Mm.” Regardless of everything else, he had to go and see Grandpa Xu off one last time. Fu Yumeng knew a bit about the bond between Grandpa Xu and Shi Zhi; at this moment, aside from a sigh, she didn’t know what else to say.
“Yumeng.” Shi Zhi leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh. “I want to move out.”
Fu Yumeng didn’t pry. She simply said, “I’ll help you find a place.”
“Okay.”
“A-Zhi, why don’t you just buy a house? If you’re scared, buy a small one. Otherwise, renting means moving constantly, and that’s too much trouble.”
Shi Zhi was silent for a few seconds. “Alright. It’s just that I can’t find a suitable one right away, and I want to move out as soon as possible. I’ve already packed most of my things.”
“Can you not stay where you are for now? Xu Yining isn’t coming back anyway—is he not letting you stay there?”
“No.” Shi Zhi shook his head, his gaze falling on the envelope. He said softly, “After the funeral is over, I’ll talk to them one more time. If Xu Yining still refuses to return the small building, I will sue him. After things have reached this point, it’s no longer appropriate to keep living there.”
Fu Yumeng hadn’t heard the specifics of the earlier conversation between Xu Yijing and Shi Zhi, but she had guessed a part of it. Hearing Shi Zhi speak like this now, she sighed. “A-Zhi, don’t feel burdened. Those things were yours to begin with. That sum of money was clearly a loan back then; it’s them who are being unethical.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Did you… did you tell your uncle and the others about this?”
“No,” Shi Zhi said. “They have already done more than enough by raising me these past few years. They never approved of my relationship with Xu Yining in the first place. Now that they are abroad, I don’t want to disturb them. Once these matters are handled, I’ll tell them about breaking off the engagement.”
Thinking about Shi Zhi’s relationship with his uncle, Fu Yumeng didn’t say much else, only: “I don’t want you to be taken advantage of.”
“Yumeng, you know, to others, Grandpa Xu’s help might have been a small gesture, but to me, being able to accompany my parents on their final journey was more important than anything. I don’t have high material demands; I can fully support myself. When I lent the money to his family back then, I was already prepared for them not to pay it back.” Shi Zhi gave a self-deprecating smile. “I just didn’t expect that Xu Yining and I would end up like this.”
“I know you have money, but you can’t just let their family benefit,” Fu Yumeng said huffily. “Even if you donated it, you shouldn’t give it to them. Aside from Yijing and Grandpa Xu, not a single one of them is a good person!”
“Don’t worry, I won’t.”
The funeral was held in Xi County, a drive of over an hour from An City.
Shi Zhi had never gotten his driver’s license because he was afraid to drive. On the day of Grandpa Xu’s funeral, he took a bus to Xi County and then a taxi to the cemetery.
Shi Zhi arrived late. He had intended to avoid the Xu family, waiting for them to leave before going to the grave to pay his respects and say goodbye to Grandpa Xu. However, he didn’t expect that when he arrived, the other relatives had already left, but the Xu family of four remained at the gravesite, appearing to be in the middle of a dispute.
Not wanting to run into the Xu family at this time, Shi Zhi intended to find a place to hide, but Xu Yining saw him and called out, “Wife— Shi Zhi!”
Shi Zhi had no choice but to walk over.
Seeing Shi Zhi approach, Wang Suzhen’s anger instantly shifted onto him. She cursed, “You still have the face to come here? How do you have the face! You ungrateful wolf! If it weren’t for you, the old man wouldn’t have passed away. It’s all your fault!”
Shi Zhi didn’t want to argue with her. He said expressionlessly, “I came to see Grandpa off.”
“We don’t need your fake kindness!” Wang Suzhen slapped the flowers out of Shi Zhi’s hand. She said angrily, “The old man treated you well. You knew his health was poor, yet you insisted on making a fuss about breaking the engagement at a time like this. How have we wronged you? How have we wronged you!”
“Auntie, it wasn’t me who wanted to make a fuss about the engagement.” Shi Zhi looked at the lilies that had fallen into the mud, feeling speechless. “Why Xu Yining and I broke up did he not tell you?”
He shifted his gaze to Xu Yining, only to see avoidance and a guilty conscience on that gentle-looking face.
Shi Zhi took a deep breath, suppressing his emotions. “I don’t want to argue about who is right and who is wrong in front of Grandpa. I just want him to rest in peace.”
“You still care about his peace? Why didn’t you care about his peace when you forced him to make us sign a promissory note? Why didn’t you care about his peace when you forced Yining to admit his mistakes?” Wang Suzhen had her own logic. She spoke with a tone of self-righteousness. “If it weren’t for the old man, would you have even seen your parents for the last time? Not only do you lack gratitude, but you turn around and pressure the Xu family. You want the money? In your dreams! That is what you owe the Xu family, what you owe Yining. It was you who led him astray, who made him turn out like this…”
“Mom, what are you talking about? Don’t talk like that.” Xu Yijing, whose nose was red from being scolded before Shi Zhi arrived, said, “Brother Shi Zhi didn’t force Grandpa, and he didn’t force our family. Those things belonged to Brother Shi Zhi to begin with. Why shouldn’t they be returned to him? Why won’t you return what belongs to someone else!”
Xu Yijing looked at Xu Yining, who was standing aside as if it were none of his business, and sneered, “For a piece of trash like Xu Yining, does he even need someone else to lead him astray? Haven’t you long since…”
“Shut up! You ungrateful traitor, the Xu family raised you for nothing all these years, only for you to side with an outsider!” Wang Suzhen swung her arm to slap Xu Yijing.
Shi Zhi pulled Xu Yijing away and shielded her with his own body.
Slap—
The expected pain didn’t come. Shi Zhi looked up and saw Xu Yining standing in front of him, his body swaying from the impact of the slap.
Seeing her son still protecting Shi Zhi even now, a surge of jealousy and resentment rose in Wang Suzhen’s heart. Without a second thought, she gave Xu Yining another slap. “You useless thing!”
She pushed Xu Yining aside and tried to hit Shi Zhi again, but Shi Zhi grabbed her arm and pushed her back forcefully.
Wang Suzhen didn’t expect Shi Zhi to fight back. Stumbling from the push, she failed to keep her footing and fell onto the ground. A stone poked into her waist, sending a sharp jolt of pain through her. Her face turned pale instantly.
Seeing this, Xu Yining, with two slap marks on his face, hurried over with Xu Zhenchao to help Wang Suzhen up.
“Shi Zhi, you and my mom”
“I will repay the kindness Grandpa Xu showed me. But that has nothing to do with any of you.” Shi Zhi interrupted Xu Yining. He looked at Wang Suzhen and said, “You know about Xu Yining’s business, don’t you? You know everything he’s done. Because he is your son, everything he does is fine. But what about me? Does no one care about my feelings? You kept saying we’d be family once we married, but did you ever treat me as family? You clearly knew Xu Yining was cheating and living with someone else, yet you helped him hide it.”
Wang Suzhen’s lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but Shi Zhi didn’t give her the chance. He turned his gaze toward Xu Yining and said, “Xu Yining, I don’t want to fight with you in front of Grandpa today. I’m only asking you one thing now: the small building are you returning it or not?”
“Shi Zhi, do you have to be like this?” Xu Yining finally spoke, wearing an expression of being wounded.
“It’s not me who wants to be like this.”
Shi Zhi was rarely dressed in formal wear today. The well-tailored suit clung to his frame, making his waist look even slimmer and his legs longer. At this moment, his brows were slightly lowered, and a few stray hairs fell over his forehead. There was a faint scratch on his chin from the scuffle earlier. Despite clearly being the one bullied, he still looked noble and proud, like a delicate porcelain doll.
Looking at Shi Zhi, Xu Yining’s eyes were full of resentment and madness. He stared at Shi Zhi and said, “And if I say I won’t return it?”
“Then we will have to see each other in court.” Shi Zhi was silent for a few seconds before speaking slowly. His voice was very soft, but his tone was firm.
“Does it have to be this ugly? Shi Zhi, do you have to make it this ugly for everyone?”
“It’s not me who is making it ugly for everyone; it’s you. You are the one making things ugly for each other.” Shi Zhi said wearily, “Xu Yining, you know exactly how important that small building is to me. Why won’t you give it back?”
“But you are also very important to me. You know how important you are to me, so why do you insist on leaving me?”
Shi Zhi found it utterly unreasonable. Even now, he couldn’t understand how Xu Yining could say such things in a deeply affectionate tone, as if the one who had done wrong wasn’t Xu Yining, but Shi Zhi.
He finally understood that when a person is speechless to a certain degree, they actually want to laugh.
The corners of Shi Zhi’s mouth twitched. “In that case, we really have nothing left to say. Find a time, and we’ll go together to withdraw the marriage pre-registration. As for notifying people about the cancellation of the wedding, you can handle that yourselves.”
Same-sex marriage had only been legal in the country for a few years, and currently, one had to pre-register a year in advance. Right after their engagement last year, Xu Yining had discussed applying early with Shi Zhi, so they could marry as soon as the time was up.
At the time, Xu Yining had said, “Wife, I really don’t want to wait a single moment. It wasn’t easy to get Mom to agree to our relationship; I wish I could be on the same household register as you right now. But thankfully it’s only a year. By then, you’ll be part of our family. This year will be your test for me, to let you see how correct your choice was.”
Thinking back on it now, it was truly ironic.
“Shi Zhi, you’re really heartless. You’re so damn ungrateful,” Xu Yining said through gritted teeth. “The money, I will pay you back. But the small building—don’t even think about it in this lifetime.”
After the Xu family left, Shi Zhi stood before the grave in a daze. He thought to himself: It’s a good thing we had this year.
The sky was overcast. The wind blew up the unburnt yellow joss paper in front of the grave. The cry of crows echoed in the silent mountains. Grandpa Xu’s funeral photo lay quietly on the tombstone. Lonely and sorrowful.
Shi Zhi bent down to pick up the fallen lilies. He used his fingers to brush the dirt off the petals and gently placed them before the grave.
He remembered the night his parents passed away. Grandpa Xu had let him sit on the back of his bicycle. On roads with less water, Grandpa Xu would ride; on roads with more water, he would wade through the puddles pushing the bike. In this way, he escorted Shi Zhi all the way to the scene of the accident. The road conditions were poor because of the rain, and the ambulance had just arrived when they did. Shi Zhi wanted to follow the ambulance, but the scene of the accident was too gruesome. The medical staff were afraid that seeing it at his young age would leave him with psychological trauma, so they wouldn’t let him stay with his parents.
It was Grandpa Xu who begged, promised, and accompanied him, which gave Shi Zhi the chance to be by his parents’ side for their final journey.
At the time, he was too busy being heartbroken and adapting to a strange environment. By the time he remembered, he realized he had forgotten to say thank you to that old man. Fortunately, fate had shown him a sliver of kindness by allowing him to meet Grandpa Xu again years later the man who had given him warmth in the darkness.
Shi Zhi remembered the first time he met Grandpa Xu after getting together with Xu Yining. The old man had stroked his hair and called him “Xiao Zhi,” saying, “So it was you.” At the time, looking at that kind old man, Shi Zhi’s eyes had turned red. He thought: So in this world, besides my parents, there is someone else who calls me Xiao Zhi with such a doting tone. It turned out he, Xu Yining, and Grandpa Xu shared such a deep fate.
But now, Grandpa Xu, who had accompanied him through his parents’ final journey, had also left him. He was truly all alone.
The dark clouds gathered more and more densely. Raindrops began to fall from the sky, hitting Shi Zhi’s forehead and shoulders, quickly soaking a patch of his clothes.
Looking at Grandpa Xu’s photo, which was being blurred by the rainwater, Shi Zhi’s thoughts drifted aimlessly: Lilies stained with mud will always be picked up. Dark clouds in the sky will be washed away by heavy rain. But who can…
The rain seemed to have stopped. Shi Zhi looked up.
He saw Fu Yuchu holding a black umbrella, shielding him from the falling raindrops. Outside, it was a storm, but the world under the umbrella was peaceful and quiet.
Fu Yuchu was wrapped in a deep gray trench coat. Raindrops flowed along his hair to his ears. His face held an emotion that Shi Zhi couldn’t decipher. Shi Zhi saw his own reflection in Fu Yuchu’s eyes, which were as black as ink.
He spoke blankly, “Why are you here?”
Fu Yuchu gave Shi Zhi a deep look and said, “What do you think?”