Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Carrying Su Hua to where they had parked, Gu Beixian opened the car door with one hand and placed her into the passenger seat.

Su Hua was already a sobbing mess. Her pale little face was stained with tears, and she looked completely despondent. Anyone who saw her would feel their heart ache.

Gu Beixian got into the car, helped her fasten her seatbelt, and pulled her into a brief embrace. “Be strong,” he whispered into her ear. “I’m taking you to the hospital right now.”

Su Hua couldn’t hear what he was saying. Her mind was filled with nothing but her grandmother. Her grandmother was gone.

She no longer had a grandmother.

Gu Beixian drove at high speed the entire way.

When they finally arrived at the hospital, he got out and pulled open her door.

Su Hua tried to step out of the car but nearly collapsed; her legs were too weak to carry her. Gu Beixian simply scooped her up into his arms again and strode toward the inpatient department.

Inside the ward, Su Peilan was covering her face, weeping uncontrollably.

Grandmother lay on the hospital bed, her body covered by a white sheet. Even her face was hidden beneath it.

It felt as if something had come crashing down. Su Hua’s heart suddenly constricted, as if someone were tightening a rope around it, making it impossible to breathe.

She struggled out of Gu Beixian’s arms and stumbled toward the bed.

Gu Beixian hurried to support her.

The doctor pulled back the white cloth to let her see her grandmother one last time.

Grandmother’s eyes were tightly shut. Her face was a pale, ashen grey, and her lips had already turned blue.

With a heavy thud, Su Hua fell to her knees, her vision blurred by tears.

She wiped them away frantically.

She wanted to get a good look at her grandmother, but no matter how much she wiped, the tears wouldn’t stop falling.

She leaned against the edge of the bed, clutching her grandmother’s waist and crying out hysterically, “Grandmother! Grandmother!” But her grandmother could no longer answer her.

She patted the older woman’s face, trying to wake her up, but her grandmother would never wake again.

She cried like a child, feeling so alone-so terribly alone. Deep within her was a bottomless well of sorrow.

Her grandfather was gone, and now her grandmother was gone too.

The two people closest to her had left her one after the other.

It felt as if she had become an orphan, all by herself in the world.

Worried that the cold floor would chill her knees, Gu Beixian tried to help her up.

Su Hua stubbornly refused to move.

Left with no choice, Gu Beixian took a pillow and tucked it under her knees. He then went to the bathroom to get some warm water, dampened a towel, and continuously wiped away her tears.

By the time she had finished crying, Su Hua had no more tears left to shed. Her voice was hoarse. She simply knelt there in a daze, staring at her grandmother’s face, motionless.

Su Peilan wanted to take her mother’s body back to their hometown, Su Village, to be buried alongside her father.

Gu Beixian stepped out to call his assistant, instructing them to arrange for a hearse and handle the funeral preparations.

An hour later, his subordinates arrived with a hearse and moved the body into the vehicle.

The group set off for Su Village in a long convoy of cars.

A professional funeral team was hired, and they quickly set up the mourning canopy. They dressed Grandmother in her burial shroud and placed her in the coffin.

That night, Su Hua kept watch over the spirit dressed in heavy mourning white, with Gu Beixian staying by her side.

As the night grew late, he urged her to sleep for a while.

Su Hua gave a very slight shake of her head.

Gu Beixian had his men bring in bedding and set up a temporary bed on the floor. He practically forced her onto the mattress to make her lie down for a bit.

During the days of the wake, Su Hua spent most of her time kneeling in a trance. Only when she truly couldn’t hold out any longer would she close her eyes for a moment.

Since she didn’t sleep, Gu Beixian didn’t sleep either, keeping a close watch over her.

He was afraid she would faint from grief, afraid she would feel lonely or scared, afraid she might do something drastic-and even more afraid of losing her.

He didn’t know how to comfort her, so he simply held her hand tightly, offered her his shoulder to lean on, and accompanied her in silence.

Under the glow of the ever-burning lamps…

Her beautiful little face was as pale as a cold moon. Her large, misty eyes were filled with a watery sorrow, and her long eyelashes drooped like the wings of a dying butterfly.

She was haggard beyond recognition, stubbornly kneeling before her grandmother’s coffin without moving an inch.

In the orange flicker of the lights, her thin, frail figure looked like a mere shadow of herself.

During these few days, he felt more heartache for her than ever before.

So much so that many years later, Gu Beixian would still be unable to forget this image. Whenever he thought of it, his heart would twist in pain.

Out in the courtyard…

A sharp-tongued relative from the same clan approached Su Peilan and said, “Your son-in-law’s legs seem perfectly fine. Didn’t I hear before that he was disabled and could only use a wheelchair?”

Su Peilan knew they had all been laughing behind her back, saying she had sold her daughter to a cripple for money.

She lifted her swollen eyelids and shot the relative a sidelong glance. “My son-in-law was just injured. He was only in a wheelchair temporarily. His legs healed over a year ago.”

The relative curled her lip. “Is that so? That was a quick recovery.”

“Of course. My son-in-law is blessed with great fortune. Heaven looks after good people.”

The relative smiled, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “I heard your in-laws are very wealthy. Does Xiao Hua get mistreated in their house? A small, ordinary family like ours can’t compare to a great family like theirs.”

Su Peilan shot her a cold look. “Nothing of the sort. His family respects my daughter very much.”

The relative clicked her tongue. “Then why didn’t any of your in-laws show up? Deep down, they still look down on us. It’s hard to climb the social ladder, isn’t it?”

“The people didn’t come, but the condolence money did. My son-in-law’s grandmother and his mother each transferred two hundred thousand yuan to my card. My son-in-law treats my daughter wonderfully. He’s been guarding her day and night these past few days without closing his eyes once. Even if your son-in-law didn’t have money, he wouldn’t be able to do that much, would he?”
Su Peilan had always been a blunt woman; if she had a grudge, she would settle it on the spot rather than let it fester overnight.

The relative was a cousin of hers who had been jealous of her since childhood because Su Peilan was more talented.

The cousin had intended to use this opportunity to humiliate her, but after being rebuffed, she left with a dark expression, clicking her tongue in annoyance.

Three days later.

It was time to take Grandma’s body for cremation.

Just as dawn was breaking, Gu Beixian brought a bowl of food and told Su Hua to eat.

She was in no mood for a meal, but local customs dictated that descendants could not have an empty stomach before a cremation.

Su Hua forced down a few bites.

The hearse arrived. Gu Beixian’s subordinates and several clan relatives lifted Grandma into the vehicle.

Su Peilan and several aunts from the clan wailed loudly and incessantly.

Su Hua stood by the hearse, tears streaming down her face, staying as close to Grandma as possible.

She whispered in her heart: Grandma, don’t be afraid. I’m here.

According to custom, the family of the deceased escorted the hearse out of the house. The procession behind the vehicle was quite grand; in addition to relatives and neighbors, many of Grandma’s former students had come.

The hearse started moving slowly.

Su Hua gripped the handle of the hearse, weeping as she followed it out of the village.

As the hearse reached the main road and began to accelerate, her outstretched hand grew further and further away from the cold car door.

It felt as if her world was collapsing.

Overwhelmed by grief, she didn’t know what to say; she simply reached out desperately, running to chase after the hearse.

Fearing she might put herself in danger, Gu Beixian rushed to stop her.

Su Hua’s body went limp from crying, and she collapsed.

Gu Beixian helped her up, pulling her into a tight embrace as if holding a small child.

Unable to walk, she reached out again, but her hand could no longer touch anything. The hearse moved further and further away.

She watched the vehicle gradually disappear from sight, her sobs eventually becoming silent as her voice gave out.

On the way home, she vomited repeatedly by the roadside.

Gu Beixian wiped the mess from her mouth and comforted her with gentle words.

She could hear his voice echoing in her ears, but she couldn’t process what he was saying.

All she knew was that the person in that hearse was her grandmother, and she was about to be consumed by fire.

She was going to lose her grandmother forever.

She would have no grandmother anymore. Never again.

After the cremation, the ashes were brought back.

On the day of the burial, the sky was overcast, and a fine drizzle drifted through the air.

A cold wind swept through the muddy paths, chilling to the bone.

Supported by Gu Beixian, Su Hua went to the willow grove behind the village with her mother and relatives. They were to bury Grandma beside Grandpa’s grave.

The willow grove felt eerie and somber; even in broad daylight, the air was biting cold.

But since Grandpa was buried here and Grandma was about to join him, Su Hua didn’t find it frightening at all.

Not far from Grandpa’s grave lay Ah Yao, who had once saved her life.

The three people she loved most were all resting here.

The place felt strangely intimate to her.

Su Hua leaned quietly against Gu Beixian, watching as shovel after shovel of yellow earth was tossed onto Grandma’s casket. Gradually, the pit was leveled, a new mound was raised, and a carved stone tablet was soon erected.

Paper-mache sedan chairs and paper figures were set ablaze. The flames roared, and amidst the wailing of the wind, the firelight turned half of the cold willow grove a glowing red.

Crows cawed as they flew to distant trees.

Su Hua stared at the photo of her grandmother on the tombstone, her tears falling like rain.

Gu Beixian never stopped wiping her eyes.

After crying for a long time, Su Hua suddenly smiled, her eyes rimmed with red as she said to him, “I shouldn’t be sad. I should be happy for Grandma. She’s gone to find Grandpa; he’s the person she wanted to be with most. Now that they’re buried together, they’ll have each other’s company and never be lonely again.”

Gu Beixian hummed in response. He gazed silently at her swollen eyes, wanting to say: A hundred years from now, let us be buried together, too.

His mouth opened, but the words never came out.

It wasn’t the right time, and he feared the unpredictability of the world-fearful of making a promise he might not be able to keep.

He said nothing, only tightening his grip on her hand and tilting the umbrella entirely toward her side.

After the funeral rites concluded, Gu Beixian helped Su Hua walk back.

Having neither eaten nor slept well for several days, Su Hua had become extremely thin.

Her frail silhouette was like a slender stalk of bamboo, so gaunt that it seemed a gust of wind might knock her over.

Gu Beixian saw this and felt a sharp pain in his heart. He held her tightly in his arms, wishing he could bear all her suffering for her.

As they walked, his pupils suddenly constricted.

He caught sight of a tall figure standing by the broken bridge at the edge of the village, looking toward them from a distance.

The man had a sharp, imposing posture. He wore a black windbreaker, had short black hair, and wore a mask over his face. His legs were long, and he exuded an aura that set him apart from ordinary people.

He stood there like a stone statue, motionless, his dark eyes watching Su Hua with a deep, quiet intensity.

Even from such a distance, one could feel the heavy, painful affection in his gaze.

Gu Beixian’s heart sank abruptly.

His intuition told him that this was Ah Yao.

The build was almost identical to the person in the photo Chu Mochen had given him.

As a frost gradually filled his eyes, Gu Beixian tilted the umbrella forward, blocking Su Hua’s line of sight so she wouldn’t see Ah Yao, and Ah Yao wouldn’t be able to see her anymore.