Chapter 381 - The Scene of the Funeral

Chapter 381 The Scene of the FuneralWhen Shen Yan came out, Shen Mo was still there. He was standing in the yard while holding a cigarette in his mouth. Snow started to fall in the sky. Apparently, this year’s snow arrived earlier than before.

“Big brother!” Shen Yan walked over to Shen Mo.

“What do you think?” Shen Mo asked.

“Judging from his situation, he probably will die before the year-end.” Shen Yan let out a breath. The world was unpredictable. Who would have expected that he would suddenly get sick?

Aunt Ma ordered a piece of tofu and asked Xia Yu to pick it up incidentally on her way back from work. The stall owner was very enthusiastic and gave her two bean curd blades for free. Xia Yu then bought some duck blood and meat paste passingly. She planned to go back and make a tofu jelly.

It’s very simple to make the tofu jelly, and she finished it quickly. She removed the lid and ladled a bowl. It was hot. She then chopped some green onion as well as peanuts and sprinkled them on it. When she held it to the living room and was ready to eat it, the news on TV happened to start.

“A famous entrepreneur as well as philanthropist of our city, Mr. Zeng Ziqiang, the chairman of Zeng Group, was hospitalized due to heart disease before. Unluckily, he passed away in the ward this afternoon at the age of 59. He has only one daughter as his next of kin. He has already transferred most of his heritage to his daughter…”

The spoon in Xia Yu’s hand suddenly became heavy and dropped into the bowl.

The screen flashed on the TV. She saw the figure of Zeng Mina appearing on the screen. She cried in front of Zeng Ziqiang’s sickbed so badly that she even could not breathe smoothly. She then fainted before being carried out of the ward by someone.

Soon, some of the viewer’s messages began to scroll through the bottom of the screen.

“The one who just cried to faint must be his daughter. The most loved one is gone. What is the use of leaving her a fortune?”

“The most painful thing in life is to say goodbye to your loved ones. One is on earth, and the other one is in heaven.”

“I hope that the deceased will rest in peace, and the living will be able to live on strong. I also hope that all the parents and children in the world can cherish their time together. Because one’s life only spans a few decades, and it is not easy to be reincarnated into one family.”

Now, the audience’s messages were getting more and more sentimental. Xia Yu couldn’t stand them anymore and wanted to change the channel. She picked up the remote control just when her phone started to ring. She glanced at it, and it was from Zhou Yan.

“Hello!” She picked up and changed the channel incidentally at the same time.

An impatient voice came from the other side of the line soon. “Hello, Xia Yu! Are you free to have a talk?”

Zhou Yan told her before that he wanted to talk to her. Xia Yu looked at the bowl of tofu jelly on the coffee table. It was almost cold.

“Now?” Xia Yu asked.

“Are you free?” Zhou Yan’s tone sounded quite urgent.

“Okay.” Xia Yu stood up and said to Aunt Ma that she had something to do and would leave the house. She then went to the location which she had confirmed with Zhou Yan earlier.

“Xia Yu, it is Shen Mo. It must be him.” Xia Yu just sat down, and Zhou Yan started to talk in haste.

“What?” Xia Yu was muddled for a while before being able to react. He said that Zeng Ziqiang’s death was related to Shen Mo, right? “Why did you say this?”

“I had contact with Zhou Jiamin before, and she inadvertently talked about Zeng Mina and Shen Mo. I think Zeng Mina is not Shen Mo’s type. How could he get engaged to her? Zhou Jiamin spilled the beans that Shen Mo did not dare to disagree.” Zhou Yan looked at Xia Yu’s eyes when he was speaking and wanted to see what her reaction was.

Xia Yu was indeed shocked. “Zhou Jiamin meant that Zeng Ziqiang got something on Shen Mo. And Shen Mo did not dare to disagree, right?”

Talking to a wise person indeed saved a lot of effort. Zhou Yan gave a thumb-up to Xia Yu in his heart and continued to say, “I think that Zeng Ziqiang’s death is rather strange and must have something to do with Shen Mo. ”

“Why did you say this?” Xia Yu asked.

Zhou Yan said, “What kind of person is Shen Mo? How could he have been threatened by Zeng Ziqiang all the time? I am a medical doctor by training. From my professional point of view, I think Zeng Ziqiang indeed had problems with his heart before, but they should not be so serious. How come he just died so suddenly?”

Xia Yu frowned. Although she thought that Zhou Yan’s opinions against Shen Mo were rather personal, Zeng Ziqiang had been in good health before after all. And the fact that he suddenly fell ill was indeed quite suspicious. “If Zeng Ziqiang really has been blackmailing Shen Mo all the time, and Shen Mo decided to get rid of him after being overwhelmed by the continuous blackmail, it will make sense. But what about the evidence? There is no evidence.”

It was the damn evidence again! Zhou Yan slammed the table with his fist. But he knew clearly that Xia Yu’s words were reasonable. If there was no evidence, even if he knew Shen Mo did it, Shen Mo would still be at large.

“I will find the evidence.”

Xia Yu came out of the cafe, and the ground was already covered with white snow. She wrapped her clothes around her body and drove back.

In the next few days, everyone was talking about the death of Zeng Ziqiang. They were moved by the love story between him and Zhou Jiamin, and they also felt sorry that he died so soon after their marriage.

Those people who previously had opinions against Zeng Mina also put down their prejudice at this time. They all sympathized with her now.

Zeng Group also suffered a very heavy loss. Zeng Group’s stock price dropped to the bottom again on the day of Zeng Ziqiang’s death. It was reported that Zeng Mina’s shares had evaporated by hundreds of millions of yuan in just a few days.

For her, it was the death of a loved one. For the spectators and journalists, it was just a piece of updated news. Most of the news in the newspaper was about the recent losses of Zeng Group and listed pieces of cold data. A lot of investors even sold their shares of Zeng Group’s stock before because they knew Zeng Ziqiang was hospitalized.

Xia Yu looked at those comments and felt very sorry. People’s hearts were already numb. Mainstream always manipulated the general public’s angle of view.

It was almost the year-end, and Zeng Ziqiang’s funeral was very rushed as his death was quite sudden. Not much preparation was done. Besides, there was no one at home. Zeng Mina fainted on the day of his death because of low blood sugar. She woke up on the day of his funeral but was in a very bad state. It was completely understandable as her mother separated from her a long time ago, and Zeng Ziqiang was basically the person who raised her. Now, her only relative passed away. How could she suffer such a blow?

Fortunately, Zhou Jiamin was helping on the side. She organized the funeral from the beginning to the end as the mistress of Zeng Family. After all, now she had an identity. At the funeral, she needed to hold Zeng Mina before the temporary memorial tablet and receive people’s condolences. She also needed to wear a mourning cloth and kneel in front of the coffin to guard the temporary memorial tablet because Zhou Jiamin was now Mrs. Zeng who was official.

According to the funeral process, the mourning ceremony would be in the morning, and the encoffining process would be in the afternoon. Somehow, the location of the cemetery was revealed, and many reporters started to wait there early in the morning.

Xia Yu also attended the funeral. And the weather corresponded with the occasion so much as it suddenly began to snow at noon. There was an overcast of clouds. The reporters who were not inside were blocked in the periphery. Many of them were still scrambling to get to the front, so the manager of the cemetery could only ask many security guards to stand in a circle and keep the reporters away from them as far as possible.

Xia Yu was also blocked in the periphery, but she did not want to get herself inside since it was so crowded. After all, it was the funeral of Zeng Family. No one wanted to hold a funeral in the public eye. Besides, the deceased wouldn’t be able to rest in peace with so much noise. So, she just stood still in the middle of the crowd quietly and looked on. After some reporters were persuaded to leave, she just came there.

First, the ashes were put inside the pit, and the monument was raised. Then the members of Zeng Family started to kowtow. Zeng Mina was stiff from the beginning to the end. Her face was sallow, and her expression was sluggish. When she was kowtowing, she remained her gesture for a long time. Finally, she was dragged to her feet by someone next to her. Zhou Jiamin kept crying from the beginning to the end, and her cries, which echoed in the rain, made the listeners sob subconsciously. The scene was very sad at that moment, but flash lamps of the cameras around them kept flashing in the rain.

After that, the relatives and friends started to pay their respects. Zeng Ziqiang had been struggling in the business sector in the midst of life, so he had a lot of friends. But this time, only some close relatives and friends who he spent a lot of time with as usual were invited. It was said that this was Zhou Jiamin’s idea. She advocated that the funeral should be simple, otherwise the hubbub would disturb Zeng Ziqiang’s soul. And Shen Family was closest to Zeng Family, so they were the first to go up. Shen Mo led the group, and he was followed by Shen Yan, First Madame, and Second Madame. Xia Yu was the last one. The group of people lined up with flowers. They first kowtowed and presented a bouquet before walking around to the front of Zeng Mina and Zhou Jiamin on the side and comforting them for a while.

Originally, Shen Mo was Zeng Mina’s fiancée. He was supposed to accompany Zeng Mina as her fiancé. But they had some very unhappy experiences before, and it was Zeng Mina’s idea that she didn’t need his company.

But First Madame felt distress for Zeng Mina, and she even embraced her. “My condolences. When you deal with everything, let Little Mo take you around.” When she said this, she did not even glance at Zhou Jiamin on the side. Even if Zhou Jiamin was Mrs. Zeng who was official now, she would always be a C-list star with a lowly status in the eyes of First Madame.

Zeng Mina didn’t speak, and she just nodded numbly to return the kindness. Shen Mo slightly nodded and said to Zeng Mina, “Let me know if there is anything that I can do for you.” After all, the two families were very close. He and Zeng Mina also grew up together. Now she faced such a bad situation, so he should help her out even just as a friend.

Listening to Shen Mo’s words, First Madame immediately echoed on the side. She even held Zeng Mina’s hand. “Yes, yes, yes! Just ask Little Mo for help if you have any problem.”

Seeing that First Madame wanted to say more and more words, Second Madame slightly frowned behind and gently pulled First Madame. “This is not the occasion to say that. Enough! Let’s go. There are still many people waiting behind.”

First Madame let go of her hand and walked forward. Shen Yan deliberately stopped in front of Zhou Jiamin when he passed through. His eyes were tilted towards her face for only a few seconds. Seeing that she was crying badly, he just nodded slightly.

At this time, Li Tianci came over and helped Zhou Jiamin. He gave her a quick look. Although it was just a glimpse, Xia Yu was keenly aware that there was absolutely something wrong between them.

Then the rest of the relatives and friends laid flowers. They lined up and came over one by one. They kowtowed and walked around before saying the final goodbye to the deceased. Very few people spoke.

Xia Yu raised her head and looked at Shen Mo, only to see that his expression was as cold as ever. When she thought of Zhou Yan’s words, she suddenly felt a little suffocated in the chest. She tightened her fingers and closed her eyes. And she saw a familiar figure in the crowd when she reopened her eyes.

Zhou Yan walked up to the tombstone with an umbrella in his hand. He bowed and placed a white chrysanthemum in his hand on the ground.

Xia Yu didn’t expect him to be here. But on second thought, she felt it was quite normal since S city was not very big and there were only a few families which were famous and wealthy in the city. And Zhou Family was one of them, and Zhou Yan should come over and pay homage to Zeng Ziqiang.

After the last step of the process was done, the relatives and friends quickly left. Only the family members of Zeng Family were now in front of the tombstone. Zhou Jiamin cried so badly that she almost passed out several times. She was carried to the side by the servants in the family and sobbed there, leaning against the wall At this time, Zeng Mina, who didn’t show many emotions in front of others just now, suddenly slammed down and kneeled in front of the tombstone with a plop.

“Dad!” A cry of grief sounded. Xia Yu felt that the birds on the hill were all shocked. Zhou Jiamin on the side saw this situation and began to cry again.

Shouts mingled with cries. And the weather was damp. Xia Yu turned back and said to Shen Yan, “I will go back first.”

“I will go with you.” Shen Yan had already paid homage to Zeng Ziqiang. The guests were gone, and the host could rest in peace now. Zeng Family had been busy for many days, and they should have a rest.

The parking lot was halfway up the hill, so the two people went down the hill. The car was driven here by Xia Yu. There weren’t too many cars in the morning when they came here, but at this time the parking lot was completely full. Even the exits were blocked. They were all here to pay homage to Zeng Ziqiang.