Chapter 39
That night, Lu Wancheng died in front of Lin Qingyu’s eyes.
His long lashes drooped; his expression was serene. He wore a festive crimson robe, and his body was clean and clear. One of his hands was held by Lin Qingyu and the other hand was placed on the armrest of the wheelchair, as if he really were just asleep.
His face was unsupported and tilted to one side, the same way it would whenever he dozed off in his wheelchair. Lin Qingyu subconsciously dropped the umbrella in his hand and held up Lu Wancheng’s icy cheek.
Without the cover of the umbrella, the snow fell silently on their hair, on their faces, on their shoulders.
The shop assistant from the Xiong Si had told Lin Qingyu the course of the funeral ceremony. He should remember it very clearly, but right now, he was a little at a loss – Lu Wancheng was dead, what should he do?
Huan Tong was really worried and came to the yard to see the situation. He saw his Young Master kneeling on one knee in front of the wheelchair, his bright red bridal attire spread out on the snow, his long hair blocking the side of his face. He held Young Master Hou’s hand in one of his and had his other on Young Master Hou’s cheek. Next to him lay an open umbrella as they were slowly covered with snow.
The two were motionless, like statues.
“Young Master Hou!”
Lin Qingyu heard a cry from behind – it was Huan Tong’s voice.
Huan Tong was someone he brought from the Lin Residence. Like him, he hated the entire Nan’an Hou Mansion. Who would have thought that he would cry so sadly for Lu Wancheng in the end.
Lu Wancheng was truly capable. Conquering people’s hearts in such a short span of less than a year.
Huan Tong knelt in front of the wheelchair, barely able to breath from crying. His crying brought Lin Qingyu back to reality from his blank daze.
Lu Wancheng was dead. Maybe he’d been reborn in some bizarre world, or maybe he really died.
No one could tell him the answer, and he didn’t know if he could wait for the answer. But no matter what, he promised Lu Wancheng that he would watch him go and then live a good life.
He had already done the first half.
Lin Qingyu slowly stood up. He stayed in the same position for too long and when he got up, his eyes darkened for a moment. He almost fell over but in the end, he caught himself. “Don’t cry,” he heard himself say, “Didn’t you listen to what the man from Xiong Si said? If you let your tears drop on him, you won’t even be able to see him in your dreams.”
Huan Tong said, voice trembling, “Young Master…”
Lin Qingyu gradually recalled what the Xiong Si shop assistant had said. He ordered numbly, “Move him into the house and cover his face with white silk. There’s no need to change his clothes. Just place him in the coffin wearing these. Afterwards, you can go and report his death.” He paused, then said, “By the way, you need to carry him on your back. Don’t princess carry him.”
Huan Tong, choking with sobs, nodded, “What about you, Young Master?”
“I’m going to change clothes.”
He wasn’t going to let others see him in his bridal attire, huadian on his forehead. Only Lu Wancheng could see it, no one else could.
Announcing his death, placing his body in the coffin, standing watch over the body… Lu Wancheng’s funeral was carried out in an orderly manner. Lin Qingyu attended to everything personally. Though the Nan’an Hou’s Mansion was tossed about by wind and rain, its situation, strained and difficult, he still arranged a beautiful funeral for Lu Wancheng.
When news came to the palace, the Empress mourned greatly. The child born with the sacrifice of her prematurely deceased sister did not survive past weak crown after all. She also thought of her child, far away in another palace. Even just visiting him was difficult but she had to look on as other people’s sons flourished. She was saddened more and more.
The Empress wept secretly in Fengyi Palace. She couldn’t leave the palace, so she could only send her trusted eunuch to go to the mansion to offer her condolences. The Emperor was sympathetic to his minister. He bestowed a lot of things to Nan’an Hou and allowed him to stay at home to recuperate, even going so far as to temporarily transfer his responsibilities at the Ministry of Revenue to the Crown Prince to handle.
Wen Guogong and his wife were also in tears when they learned that their grandson had passed away. They were both old and couldn’t bear to watch this heart-breaking scene. So they chose a few capable stewards to help their grand daughter-in-law handle the funeral. They knew that their grandson cared about this grand daughter-in-law of theirs, otherwise he wouldn’t have asked them to send trusted aides several times just because he didn’t want him to be dragged into the household affairs.
Aside from members of the Lu clan, most of the condolences came from the court officials and their families. In the mourning hall, the visitors, met the male wife whose marriage was decreed by the Emperor himself. However, they just saw him, kneeling in front of the coffin in his white mourning clothes, expression indifferent, not a single tear shed from beginning to end. In the middle of the mourning hall, was a big ” 奠 ” character. White streamers fluttered in the wind. The whole scene unexpectedly gave his appearance an eerie sort of beauty.
Within a month, the Nan’an Hou’s Mansion suffered the successive departure of the two young masters; the master was laid up in bed and the madam had descended into madness. It was truly unthinkable and it led to a lot of busybodies gossiping about it privately. What was called a ‘husband and wife’ can only be a man and a woman. For two men to be husband and wife was in defiance of the natural order. Not to mention, with how beautiful the male wife was, how could a sick seedling be able to stand it? No, retribution had come. It could clearly be seen that what the Nan’an Hou clashed with that day was not joy, but disaster.
There was an endless stream of mourners during the day and only at night could Lin Qingyu find some peace. Hua Lu cried as she put the paper money into the brazier. She cried the most out of everyone in the whole Blue Wind Pavilion.
“What is there to cry about?” Lin Qingyu said indifferently, “Didn’t I tell you earlier that he wouldn’t survive the winter?”
Hua Lu had been reduced to a puddle of tears, “But-but… Shaojun, are you really not sad at all?”
Lin Qingyu was stunned for a moment and said, “I’m fine.”
Everything was as he expected. As early as the first time he saw Lu Wancheng, he knew that he wouldn’t live long. He had a year to mentally prepare, what was there to be sad about?
Whenever Lin Qingyu looked at Lu Wancheng’s memorial tablet, he kept feeling that something was off. After thinking about it for a long time, he finally realized what was wrong. He stood up abruptly and said, “You’re all mistaken.”
“Young Master, what did you say?”
“He’s not called Lu Wancheng.”
Pan Shi and Hua Lu looked at each other. Pan Shi thought that Lin Qingyu had gone mentally confused from lack of proper rest. She persuaded, “Shaojun, why don’t you go back to the room to rest for a while? I’ll keep watch here.”
Lin Qingyu shook his head and repeated what he just said, “He’s not called Lu Wancheng.”
Pan Shi was helpless, “If he’s not called Lu Wancheng, what is his name?”
Lin Qingyu opened his lips, “His name is Jiang…”
His voice came to an abrupt stop.
The crying did not stop, though. It was sad and mournful; intermittent, it made people fed up with it.
Lin Qingyu worked hard to block out these voices. He never forgets anything had has gone through his ears. So long as that person said it, he would definitely remember it.
He thought about it for such a long time, so long that everyone else had already left and he was the only one left in the mourning hall. However, he still couldn’t think of that person’s name. He only remembered the nonsense that that person spouted during that Mid-Autumn Festival night:
“My surname is Zhu, and my name is Dazhuang. Besides ‘Wancheng’, you can also call me ‘Big Brother Dazhuang’.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll stop teasing you. Actually, my surname is Jiang, and my name is…”
Lin Qingyu chuckled softly.
The candlelight reflected on his pale and undisguised face. He slowly put away his smile. After that, there was no other expression.
Like this, he sat in front of that man’s coffin; sitting about until daybreak.
The time after Lu Wancheng’s death seemed to pass extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, it was already the seventh day after his death.
According to legend, the soul of the deceased will return home on the seventh day to see his relatives for the last time. Only then can he be reincarnated with peace of mind. During the night of the seventh day, family members must avoid staying in front of the coffin; meeting with the deceased spirit in their dreams instead.
Lin Qingyu never believed this but he still went to bed early. Maybe it was from overwork during the past few days, he soon fell asleep.
In his dream, he vaguely heard someone calling his name. Though the voice was unfamiliar, the tone was — there was that sound of a smile in its sloppiness. It sounded just like a certain person.
Lin Qingyu suddenly opened his eyes. He thought he would meet Lu Wancheng but unexpectedly, he saw an unfamiliar young man.
The young man was tall, with wide shoulders and long legs. He was wearing exotic clothes Lin Qingyu had never seen before. He had neat short hair and unrestrained and exquisite facial features. His brows had a lazy, languid feel. He was a handsome man who looked like he didn’t get enough sleep.
The young man sat on the ground leaning against the bed. Seeing that Lin Qingyu was awake, he smiled and called to him, “Qingyu.”
Lin Qingyu looked at him blankly.
“I didn’t lie to you,” the young man said with a smile, cheek on his hand. “Aren’t I much better looking than Lu Wancheng?”
Lin Qingyu nodded absentmindedly.
The boy asked again, “Isn’t my voice better than his?”
Lin Qingyu nodded again.
The teenager grabbed his hand and put it on his lower abdomen. “I’ll let you touch my abs.”
The boy only wore a thin shirt with short sleeves. Lin Qingyu felt the so-called abs. They were warm and firm, full of vitality and extremely real.
– Is this a dream? Is this person the Lu Wancheng he imagined?
The young man looked at him for a while and sighed, “It wasn’t easy getting to meet you again. Why aren’t you saying anything? If you don’t speak, I’m leaving.”
Lin Qingyu became anxious and grabbed the hem of the boy’s clothes. “Where are you going?”
“There is only one road in front of me and I can only go forward. As for where this road leads, I don’t know. Do you remember our secret signal?”
Lin Qingyu immediately recited it.
The teenager showed a satisfied smile and stood up. “I should go.”
Lin Qingyu also got out of bed, only to realize that the boy was half a head taller than him. “Your name,” Lin Qingyu asked eagerly, “What’s your name?”
The young man was silent, then suddenly hugged him by the waist. Lin Qingyu was caught off guard and instinctively wrapped his arms around the boy’s neck. The teenager smiled happily, “You’re so light, lighter than I thought.”
This person, wouldn’t allow others to princess-carry him, but he himself could princess carry others so easily.
Lin Qingyu wanted to ridicule him. Then thinking about how this person was already dead, how they were in a dream, he swallowed down his words again. He picked the critical question and asked, “What’s your name? If you don’t tell me, how can I enshrine a memorial tablet for you? ”
The teenager put him back on the bed and knelt down on one knee beside it, just as he knelt in front of his wheelchair that day. “If I can come back, I’ll tell you. If I don’t come back, then treat me as if I never showed up.”
“No, I want you to tell me now.”
The boy ignored him, turned and walked into the night, waving with his back to him.
Lin Qingyu wanted run after him but his feet seemed to have taken root, and he couldn’t move.
“Jiang……”
Jiang what?
Lin Qingyu woke up from the dream to see that the sky was bright and the room was full of hazy clear light.
