CHAPTER 132: CHAPTER 28: THE WHITE-EYED TIGER (PART 2)

"Why suddenly think of tomb-sweeping? Well, go take a look so no one accuses our Su Family of being ungrateful," Su Qingzhang’s mood was quite good today, so even though Su Ziceng brought up a taboo subject, he didn’t take it to heart.

The three of them chitchatted for a bit more until Chang Mei, fuming with anger, came down from upstairs. Her eyes were bulging like a goldfish’s, and her nostrils flared ceaselessly. She sat down beside Su Qingzhang and with those rolled-back eyes, she glared fiercely at Yang Wuxu.

That expression made Su Ziceng feel nauseated, let alone Su Qingzhang. With the addition of one person, the conversation was no longer warm; Su Qingzhang stood up displeased and walked straight upstairs.

"Acting jealous like a young girl when you’re almost a hundred years old," mocked Su Ziceng. After spitting out those words, she couldn’t help but wonder—was Chang Mei’s relationship with her father one of true affection, or was it merely a calculative interdependence?

Thinking of this, Su Ziceng felt even more disinterested. She used the excuse of tomb-sweeping to find a chance to seek out the Qiao Family’s descendants and unearth some of the past.

Yang Wuxu felt uneasy under Chang Mei’s glare. A cherry stone someone had forced into her mouth earlier was now stuck: she couldn’t spit it out, nor could she swallow it properly; accidentally, it went down her throat. In a panic, she began coughing, coughing so hard that tears almost burst out.

As Yang Wuxu coughed, Chang Mei cursed, "Just be careful not to cough up your selfish black heart and lungs."

Upon witnessing this, Su Ziceng responded neither warm nor cold: "With this idle time, you might as well take care of your own man and daughter—one dead drunk, the other flirting around."

"You..." Chang Mei, after listening to this and recalling the quarrel with Chang Chi earlier, simply fell silent.

That night, Yang Wuxu initially couldn’t sleep soundly. She kept feeling that cherry stone stuck in her throat, trying to spit it out several times to no avail.

The guest room in the Su Family house was very comfortable, the pillows alone were so much softer than those at Yang Wuxu’s home, and the lavender scent lingered throughout the room. Yang Wuxu tossed and turned, feeling out of sorts.

"You’re such a masochist," she mumbled after one final turn. Oddly enough, right after that, she fell asleep and didn’t wake until the morning, still a bit groggy as the maid brought the clothes she was supposed to wear for the day.

Descending the stairs with some trepidation, Yang Wuxu first glanced at Su Qingzhang’s customary seat, relieved and slightly disappointed to find it vacant.

Yesterday, when Su Qingzhang had pushed that cherry into her mouth in the living room, along with his tongue, his hand had rested on her waist, kneading lightly then firmly. Yang Wuxu felt both fear and longing for his touch, eventually surrendering her consciousness to him.

"After breakfast, we’re going out to sweep the tomb," Su Ziceng had already prepared the flower basket and gold ingot candles for tomb-sweeping, packing everything neatly in an incense basket. "There’s no need for a driver to take us. Xiao Chi’s car isn’t available lately; let’s leave the driver for her use." Su Ziceng spoke with consideration, knowing Chang Mei’s domineering nature. It was already a great favor that Chang Chi wasn’t confined; needless to say, the driver would be in "round-the-clock" attendance on Chang Chi.

"You really are thoughtful," Chang Chi poked at the poached egg on her plate with a fork, stirring it messily. Chang Mei had indeed laid down harsh words—if Chang Chi dared to go to the Sixth District again, she would have someone break the old drunk’s legs. After all, he was still her father, and Chang Chi would resent Chang Mei’s cruelty, but she also knew that the mother who emerged from the Sixth District was an unfeeling person; whatever she said, she could actually do.

The Qiao Family’s graveyard was located in Zone 1’s public cemetery. After a snowfall, the winter sun shone gently on the earth. Climbing the steps, one could occasionally see snow birds startled into flight by footsteps, and broken snow would sometimes fall from the treetops. The cemetery was the quietest place, noisy in life, a person lived their years; in death, they departed in silence.

After placing some less gold ingot candles in front of the tomb, Su Ziceng neatly arranged the fruits and Flowers, then looking at the gravestone, she noticed that it had been a long time since anyone had worshiped here. It was pitiful that the descendants of the Qiao Family had become so destitute that they couldn’t even look after their ancestors’ graves.

After bowing a few more times, Su Ziceng extinguished the candles, planning to find the cemetery manager, learn some news about the Qiao Family, and give some money for the manager to clean the place and burn gold ingot candles during holidays and festivals.

Before her rebirth, she had never cared about these buried dead. After dying once, she had come to understand a bit of the dead’s solitude. The graves of the old Qiao couple stood empty and desolate, adding to the sense of desolation.

The gravekeeper’s house was located on the very outskirts of the cemetery; saying it’s the outskirts meant passing through a vast area of graves. The cemetery, cleansed by snow, felt even more silent than usual. The mere act of walking through it sent shivers down the spine.

Behind them, the crunching of snow underfoot made Su Ziceng and Yang Wuxu turn as if they had encountered a ghost.

In the snowy ground, there were footsteps, and Pello stood not far away with a small cardboard box in his hand, which didn’t quite seem like he was here for tomb-sweeping.

Yang Wuxu’s eyes silently moved between the two, then gently bumped into Su Ziceng.

The few facetious remarks they exchanged earlier intruded into Su Ziceng’s mind. For no reason, her face flushed hotly. (To be continued. If you like this work, we invite you to cast your recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)