Chapter 01

Jiangcheng hadn’t seen the sun for half a month in a row.

It was cloudy and rainy.

This year, there were not a few people sweeping graves on New Year’s Eve, and another raging flu had taken away a lot of old people years ago.

With this kind of bad weather, it was easy to create an illusion-

The dead are instead comfortable, and the living still have to climb hundreds of flights of steps wrapped in several layers of stuffy, airless cotton clothing.

On the way to the new cemetery construction, no one did not lament.

Some people climbed to the half, can not climb up, cursing, questioning God why not take him as an old man together.

Cursed, shrugged off the support of the younger generation, a step by step to continue to climb up.

In front of the tombstone is usually six tribute dishes, three meat and three vegetarian, meat dishes have to pay attention to, usually chicken, pig, fish, rich people buy cinnamon fish, no money to buy the perch, and then the poor is to muddle through like a bream to make up the numbers.

The local civil affairs bureau now does not allow the private burning of paper, said the change of customs, to change the bad habits.

But this is not enough to change the habits of the general public, burning paper is still not a minority. The living people firmly believe that it is also difficult to go to hell to get money, always have to go through layers of hurdles, maybe bumping into walls everywhere, it is better to burn directly to their loved ones.

Even the young Wen Ning was not exempt from this, she brought an already charred enamel pot from the top of the hill, and burned the gold and silver dollar treasures in order, as she had done.

Her man had been dead for three months.

On New Year’s Eve of the first year of his death, she brought her own child along to pay her respects, the child did not cry or make a fuss, only his nose was red from freezing, helping her to pick up the coins scattered on the ground, and then approaching the burning flame with renewed boldness.

Swirling up a cloud of smoke from burning tin foil.

The young Wenning scattered a handful of threaded incense and spread it evenly in the enameled pot, lit another pair of candles, and gently shooed the child away, “Go to the pavilion at the top, don’t burn your face to the ground here.”

The understanding Li Che, however, shook his head and never moved half a step away, mutely accompanying his mother.

With cries everywhere, Wen Ning did not shed any tears, she could not utter a single sob, and just ended up calmly tending to the tombstone that had not been cleaned for three months.

Slender and beautiful fingers stained the moss of the grave crevices, soft and weak.

All around a piece of talk also like wandering dandelion, randomly rooted, rotten grow. After the pity, there were more glimpses of her future.

“This girl is also a bitter fate, early thirties, how the man is gone?”

“It’s a pity, the child has just started school.”

“But with her good looks, it’s not hard to find a man.”

“This is not certain, if you raise a daughter is good, not much burden, have a son, some men are always (do not).”

Wen Ning pretended not to hear the gossip of the old ladies behind her, and focused on placing today’s freshly cooked small wontons on the grave.

The soup spilled before she could stabilize it completely, and it didn’t take long for it to solidify on the grave, making it feel greasy no matter how she wiped it off.

Dirt should not have appeared in this piece of land.

The woman who hadn’t been crying insisted on wiping the greasy stain over and over again, repeating meaningless motions and eventually shedding beads of tears because they didn’t help. The amber eyes were clouded with a gray haze that seemed to have never dissipated since entering this early winter.

Having cried, the eyes instantly flushed red.

Mirroring the damned weather, her eyes were equally wet.

After paying her respects, the woman’s movements slowed down infinitely, not wanting to leave from the cemetery immediately, even if the surrounding area was dead silent, this was one of the few times that the three of them were together as a family.

Only the top of the family was buried in the ground.

And she and their child were still alive.

The days almost glanced to the end, restrained Wen Ning could not say words of complaint, and there was no way to speak with a sobbing voice, only the broken hair hung low, ling down to scatter on the temples, the depths of the eyes heartbreaking fragility once again surged up.

Not far away, there was another commotion.

Cemetery open days are coming to an end, the old man who cursed before party managed to climb to his partner’s grave, was driven away by the site staff, a fight, the old man covered his chest, but not willing to back down at all: “I look at my own old lady, none of your business!?”

“I just took a look at her, and I haven’t had a good catch-up with her yet, it’s not your turn to drive me away!”

The old man was already complaining about the construction of the cemetery, but of course the greater pain in his heart was that he would be the only one who would continue to live this year.

The company of his children would always be momentary.

He pretended to be tough, but his body is weak.

A few security guards on duty holding batons in their arms may not have the temperature to enforce the law: “Grandpa, on New Year’s Day, do you think we’re willing to wander around the cemetery at this point?”

Discouragement is ineffective, both sides of the argument, almost on the spot conflict, but fortunately the old man’s grandson arrived in time.

When the others went up to drive Wen Ning away, telling her not to linger, she was quite cooperative: “Right away.”

Actually, no.

She lit the last of the incense again on the cold and windy mountain.

When the wind picked up, the woman’s figure was like a fragile reed swaying in a muddy field, her voice swirling and drowning in the cold wind: “Yuanzhe, I’m leaving with Chuchu and I’ll come back to see you in the coming year.”

The child fell to his knees and kowtowed three more times in a row.

The woman’s crying face was clearly pathetic, but she held on to her strength, as tough as a bamboo shoot desperately growing in the winter rain.

The Zhou family driver Xiao Li, who has been on the job for a while, remembers that the boss used to only go to places for socializing, and doesn’t remember when he set up a private itinerary.

And the place where this came was a bit eerie, he wondered, he hadn’t heard of anyone going by Mr. Zhou’s side in the New Year.

Besides, he usually see Mr. Zhou cold hearted and cold lungs, even if the side of the real gone who, also do not see the New Year’s Eve personally on the grave.

In the end, he was young and inexperienced, forgetting the status of Mr. Zhou, some words came out: “Mr. Zhou, are you here to visit the grave of an important friend?”

Zhou Yinchu customarily does not say a word to the idle people.

Driver Li has long been accustomed to not getting a response from the old boss, mumbling to himself, “I wonder who is so heavy in the heart of our General Manager Zhou, that he can bother the day-to-day General Manager Zhou to personally pay homage to him before New Year’s Eve. ……”

However, to his disbelief General Manager Zhou personally responded to him.

He fussily explained the note: “Barely a competitor.”

From the front mirror of the car could not see half of the old boss’s changing mood, but this did not prevent the driver’s hundredfold bragging: “General Manager Zhou is General Manager Zhou, and the next person is not the same, the pattern and our ordinary people is not the same, for the competitors are able to care for one or two ……”

Zhou Yinchu coldly interrupted him: “Dead are dead.”

The subtext is obvious, people are dead, this still care about what.

The driver looked at the entrance of the cemetery is not good to park, asked attentively: “Then Zhou general your condolences, I remember the office there is still open parking space, want me to put you down first?”

“No need.”

Driver more and more puzzled, said competitors, is estimated to be once the kind of evenly matched in the shopping mall, most likely is also the same as the general manager of the Zhou scolded the ruthless role, but the high place is not cold, there is no guarantee that these people will not sympathize with each other.

However, this came to all come, why not get off?

The sound of the rain subsided as much as it could outside the glass windows of the business car, Zhou Yinchu sank his eyebrows, “Stop here, I will inform you when it’s time to turn around and go back.”

The car quietly parked at the least conspicuous place at the bottom of the cemetery hill.

The driver guessed that perhaps General Manager Zhou realized that his identity was drawing too much attention to himself, or perhaps his visit was intended to be quiet and he did not wish to alarm anyone, so General Manager Zhou did not have the intention of getting out of the car.

He watched those luxury family feud dramas and thought that he had seen quite a few of them, so he wasn’t completely unable to understand them.

On the contrary, he felt that his own boss was humane enough.

But jaw-dropping is still in the back, originally there was a woman passing in front of his car, the young woman wrapped in an excessively wide robe, puckered woolen sweater is difficult to resist her clear and beautiful appearance, her white, thin wrists a handful of half-grown children, walking in the cold wind, under the eyes of the tearstains are still still there, enough to make it unforgettable.

I see pity.

Even the driver couldn’t help but draw most of his attention to this natural beauty.

When he turned back, he found that his very humane boss was becoming more and more perverse, and the corner of his mouth actually raised an involuntary smile.

After that, even slowly opened a bottle of golden champagne, seemingly in celebration.

The driver was silent, no longer dare to say a word more, he originally thought that the old boss is really come to meet a meeting of the underground old friend, did not expect the old boss is still ultimately because of the victory over the dead competitor feel congratulatory, this is not, directly under the mountain to celebrate.

Originally for the capitalist’s humanity still have a glimmer of hope Xiao Wu, now determined that in the process of capital profit-seeking human nature will eventually die out.

“Bang–”

With this sound, the cork of the champagne was completely opened, and his joyful big boss did not hide the smiles on his face that he had gotten what he wanted.