Chapter 82： cemetery

They arrived at the cemetery in the evening.

The rain has completely stopped, the sunset is bright, and the clouds that have not had time to disperse are dyed golden red.

At the same time, this color also seeps into the light falling from the cracks in the clouds, and as the light dissolves into the water droplets that stay on the tip of the grass, everything shrouded by it appears extraordinarily gentle.

The rain washed everything fairly clean. Green grass surrounds the snow-white tombstones, the cemetery is halfway up the mountain, surrounded by green pines and cypresses, from here you can see the scattered buildings and main roads below.

The tomb guard was very familiar with Ming Chi for a long time, and came over to greet him.

This job has been in the cemetery, and loneliness will indeed be lonely, but the news is also well-informed, and I can always hear some things talked about by the people who come to visit the tomb.

I heard that the Ren family was hurt this time, and everything that should have collapsed should have been cleaned up. Instead, they have returned to their old ways.

In the ten years since Mrs. Ren passed away, the company has made many decisions that deviate from her original development path. It looks like flowers are blooming, but in fact, there have been many problems inside, and those old employees in the past are getting more and more shaken.

It is because of these, so this time the shock will not wait for those to do anything to the family, and the internal turmoil will be violent.

This time, their family finally made up their minds and adjusted back to the main business and development route ten years ago. The companies that Mrs. Ren left behind have found their way to life. Later, there were unexpectedly many more opportunities for cooperation. They are gradually stabilizing, and it is estimated that they will slowly recover in the future.

…

Mingchi listened attentively and thanked him warmly, "I've had trouble with you during this time."

He hadn't been here in more than two months, but the cemetery was well maintained and swept clean with no trace of weeds on all sides.

In summer, the grass grows lush, and it can grow into one in a few days. If it wasn't for the help of the tomb guards, it would not have been able to last so long just by occasionally visiting the worshippers.

The tomb guard was old, and when he heard his thanks, he waved his hand.

"If you haven't come here, I know you must either have had a major incident or be ill again."

The tomb guard said: "In the past—" He paused and shook his head, "Don't talk, don't talk, don't mention those things."

The owner of this cemetery has business dealings with the Ren family. In the past, according to the account of the young general manager Ren, they were not allowed to talk to the boy who always came to the cemetery. But even so, because the number of times the boy ran alone in those years was too many, it was inevitable that he would become more and more familiar.

The tomb guards have also heard about the things that happened to Ming Chi, and have been concerned about it. When he thinks of it, he will often help him clean up the tomb.

Today, when he finally saw Ming Chi come to sweep the tomb, he finally felt relieved and led Ming Chi all the way up.

Mingwei Pavilion was already waiting in front of the tomb.

He originally planned to organize the tombstones in advance, so he arrived before Mingchi, but the place was quite clean and there was nothing to do.

Hearing the voice, Ming Weiting turned around and met Ming Chi's gaze.

"Is there someone to accompany you this time?" The tomb guard looked at the figure already standing in front of the tomb, and was happy for him, "Are we together?"

Ming Chi rolled his eyes, nodded lightly, and waved upwards.

Ming Weiting made a gesture, indicating that Ming Chi was waiting there, and walked down the steps quickly.

The tomb guard took the initiative to step aside. He has been working here for many years. Even if he doesn't say anything, he can vaguely guess: "You won't come often in the future?"

Mingchi nodded, braced his cane, and leaned his shoulders toward him: "Pay more attention to your body."

"The old man is very healthy, and his legs and feet are good. You are the one who needs to take good care of your body."

The cemetery guard smiled: "Come back next time, trot all the way to rush up, or the cemetery door will not be opened for you."

Mingchi took the stick behind his back, straightened his shoulders, and promised with a smile.

"I'm worried that you won't come, and I'm worried that you will come." The tomb guard stopped joking, patted his arm, and said in a gentle voice, "At last there is a suitable time."

"Good boy, the old man is not in the tomb."

"It's almost time to stop tying yourself here," the tomb guard said to him.

Mingchi silently closed his eyes, opened them again, his eyes were clear, and thanked him again.

The tomb guard waved his hand, smiled and watched the person who came down from the steps took the cane, accompanied the young man by holding hands and walked up slowly, and returned to the hut himself.

…

Mingchi held Mr. Shadow's hand.

When Mingwei Pavilion walked in front of him, the street lights at the foot of the mountain also suddenly turned on, dotted with lights on both sides of the main road, extending farther away.

They watched for a while the street lamps that spread into the distance, and walked up to the bright golden-pink sunset in half of the sky.

The two sat in front of the tomb together and chatted with their aunt for a long time.

Mingchi said everything he wanted to say, and even those words that were originally intended to be repeated a few times in his heart, he said it generously in one breath.

He was so arrogant that even his ears were righteously not red.

It was also the first time that he discovered that Mr. Shadow could speak so much in one breath.

"I made a draft." Mr. Shadow met his gaze and admitted actively, "I'm very nervous and have memorized it many times."

Some people not only made drafts, but also changed their clothes to look very reliable, stable and mature. If it wasn't for being stopped by Ming Chi, I even wanted to get a haircut.

Ming Chi couldn't help laughing, his chest was hot again, and he held Mr. Ming's hand.

The seal that was covered was washed away by the rain, and Mingchi took the opportunity to re-print it again, this time it was clearer and more upright, and it landed on the palms of their two overlapping hands.

"When I go back, I will engrave a seal on the little gentleman as well." Ming Weiting was holding hands by him and assured his aunt, "Come and print me too."

Mingchi just became interested in seal carving today, and was gearing up: "I'll do it myself."

He was not completely satisfied with the recovery of his right hand. He heard that operating the carving knife could stabilize the strength of his hand, so he was looking for a chance to try it.

"Little gentleman does everything by himself." Ming Weiting finally found the opportunity, and sighed with his aunt, "Fortunately, I haven't learned to sail and dive for the time being."

Mingchi really laughed out loud this time. He knew that Mr. Shadow was not serious, and he also cooperated with childishness: "That's it."

"This is the flame that came back after playing around." Ming Chi sat upright with his arms propped up, and introduced himself to his aunt ten years later, "It's really amazing."

Ming Weiting recognized this introduction very much, and nodded: "Extremely powerful."

When they were talking, the cicadas chirping after the rain was louder than usual, and it didn't appear to be noisy in the quiet evening wind halfway up the mountainside, because the environment was open, so it seemed extra crisp.

"This is knowing." Mr. Huo Miao taught Mr. Shadow who came from the sea, "It said that I knew."

Ming Weiting temporarily turned off his knowledge reserve, cooperated with listening to the class, and took the words warmly: "I just know."

Mingchi's eyes showed a smile, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then exhaled a long, soft voice: "Yes."

Just know.

…

Just know.

It would be better if I didn't know about those things. I only knew that he had been out for a visit in the past two months and came back. He was in good health and in a good mood. He started playing the guitar again, and he drew a lot of new paintings.

They're going to go out next, go to farther places to play, to see farther worlds, and he'll get better too.

...so he wanted to have a few minutes, not too much.

One last touch.

Ming Weiting seemed to have guessed what he was going to say, and without waiting for Ming Chi to speak, he rubbed his hair and said warmly, "I'll ask Uncle Lu when the car will come."

Mingchi rolled his eyes and squeezed Mr. Shadow's hand.

Ming Weiting got up and walked down. He walked a long way, and when he looked back, Ming Chi was kneeling in front of the tomb alone, with his forehead against the stele.

Minglu stood in the distance. He had just chatted with the tomb keeper for a while when he saw the figure of Mingwei Pavilion and came over: "Sir."

Ming Weiting nodded: "It doesn't matter."

Ming Lu didn't say more, just followed into the pine forest washed by the rain.

The pine needles on the ground are spread in a thick layer, and it is very soft to step on, and there is a faint rosin in the air.

The cemetery guard said that the child never cried or felt sad when he was in the cemetery. When he came here several times, he was covered in injuries, and he had to hide all the injuries so as not to be discovered, and always only said happy things.

But as the years passed, there seemed to be less and less joy, so the child sang with a guitar.

There are many people who come to the cemetery for comfort, because the deceased is no longer there, because the deceased is the most silent and will not object to the audience.

If I only talk about happy things here, those wounds that have not been better, and the sadness that has been suppressed layer by layer, there is really no place to talk about it.

…

"That person from the Ren family." Minglu said, "The Ren family didn't expect him to do those things and came to apologize."

This is actually not surprising. The Ren family will have a family head with the character of Mrs. Ren. Those people are not indistinguishable between good and evil. After knowing these truths, they still choose to cover up Ren Chenbai.

It's just that sometimes, people whose emotions overwhelm their reason will hurt people because of this, and even indulge evil deeds.

In the past, the Ren family always believed that Luo Zhi was an outsider no matter what, and that Mrs. Ren's death had something to do with him after all.

Ren Chenbai never admitted that quarrel to anyone. From the perspective of Ren's family, he only knew that Mrs. Ren had an accident when she went to prepare gifts for Luo Zhi.

In addition to the gap created by the quarrel at the Ding Cemetery, they took the whole incident on Luo Zhi, believing that Luo Zhi should take some responsibility for this incident, and no one ever corrected Ren Chenbai's thoughts.

Ming Weiting listened calmly: "So?"

"There's no reason." Minglu said, "This is the explanation they gave."

Minglu said, "Young master doesn't remember those things."

The Ren family came to apologize because they discovered that the cooperation between those companies was a favor left by Luo Zhi at the beginning.

Luo Zhi's network of contacts inherited from Mrs. Ren has never been contacted by himself, and has always been shared with those direct-affiliated companies founded by Mrs. Ren. It's just that due to the existence of Ren Chenbai, Mrs. Ren's old department did not dare to move easily.

Now that everything is calm, these companies have a new opportunity, and many people are cheered up, no longer have the slack in the past when they were suppressed and marginalized. Naturally, those cooperation channels have all come in handy.

The old head of the Ren family came out to manage again. He used crutches to hurt Luo Zhi, and this time he came to apologize in the rain. How much was because of his original fault, how much was to pay back his favor, and how much was because of the Ming family, who? Can't tell.

Minglu just got off the boat himself, and after listening to the old gentleman's explanation, he asked again, "Did you know that Luo Zhi had disappeared in the shipwreck and was judged dead?"

The old head of the Ren family was stunned: "But—"

When he said this, he was suddenly stopped by the rest of the words.

He frowned slowly, turned around, and looked at the sea covered by the cold water mist.

"The Ming family has no tradition of doing things like this."

Minglu explained kindly: "We won't stop investigating because we are covering up our own people and fearing that our own people won't be able to bear a certain result."

"We're not going to put the blame on a thirteen-year-old kid for ten years."

"It was a thirteen-year-old child," Minglu said. "He was punished for ten years by a family closest to him. This is the only crime he can't get rid of."

Minglu personally led people to rebuild the Wanghai Villa. He knew how much it had been altered, and how much of the gifts Mrs. Ren carefully prepared for the child she protected were discarded at will, and how much was deliberately altered and erased.

Such a big family, how many properties does it have, does it really have to go to a child to **** the only home left by the elders?

Are there so many children in the Ren family that they can't even live in the main house, so they really have to occupy the living room on the second floor and live in a hut so far away?

Does the villa have to be repainted and all the graffiti on the walls are cleaned up? Shouldn't even the car be moved as soon as possible, because the garden is to be expanded and the view is not wide enough.

Luo Zhi couldn't say anything, he only owed the Ren family, and he had absolutely no position to refuse these demands.

The character of that child would not refuse these requests at all.

The only request he made was not to let him go to Ren's house again, not to let him go to Wanghai Villa again.

Luo Zhi didn't know what was wrong with him, so he hid all his sadness and pressed it down in a place that wouldn't leak even in the cemetery.

He just knew instinctively that he couldn't go to Wanghai Villa anymore.

"Mrs. Ren and the young master have the same temperament. They couldn't find out about Ren Chenbai's problems, and they couldn't understand those thoughts at all. It happened, and they couldn't understand why."

Ming Lu looked at him with a very gentle tone: "Old sir, we are about the same age and have seen people and things for most of our lives."

"Ren Chenbai lent the villa to the Luo family and asked that family to accompany the Mrs. Luo to recuperate there and use the Wanghai Villa at will."

Minglu asked, "Did you really not notice that something was wrong?"

The old patriarch of the Ren family didn't say a word, his old hands clenched the crutches tightly, and stood silently on the spot.

"The Ren family doesn't owe him anything. It's just Mrs. Ren's child. The Ren family has no obligation to take care of him, so we haven't dealt with your family."

Minglu said slowly: "But there is no need to apologize."

The Ren family took in Luo Zhi's favor, and Luo Zhi has been using the contacts that Mrs. Ren left him to repay. Now those contacts have indeed come in handy, and they have become the Ren family's lifeline in this turmoil.

So far, the two are inseparable.

This is Ren Shuangmei's family, a direct line company founded by Ren Shuangmei, of course the Ming family will not interfere.

If the Ren family can continue to maintain the development path set by Ren Shuangmei in the future and treat these companies well, they will never ask anything about the family again.

"My young master doesn't remember this. He doesn't know who you are." Ming Lu said, "The child who knows what you have done will be called your grandfather's child."

The old patriarch of the Ren family suddenly trembled violently.

His breathing tightened, as if remembering something from the past, he was stunned for a long time, and slowly lowered his head.

…the kid who would call Grandpa.

The ten-year-old child was brought back to Ren's house by Ren Shuangmei. He was so nervous that he called him grandpa, aunt and uncle in a low voice.

They called the boy Little Flame and patted his head lightly.

When the hand fell, the child stood stiffly, shaking all over.

"He's grown so fast. In those three years he's gotten more and more stable, more and more brave, more and more able to handle any situation calmly."

The general manager of the Ming family was about the same age as him, and he spoke at a slow pace, as if he was talking about his own thoughts: "It's so fast that it makes people think that he should be responsible for everything like an adult. Exclusion, alienation ... he can take anything."

"When that time passed, I actually regretted it. I shouldn't be angry with a child and do things like this."

"But it would be too shameful to say that, so wait."

"It's okay, just wait."

Minglu looked at the sea: "Wait someday in the future, call him home for a quick meal, it's almost time to let the past things pass."

The old head of the Ren family held on to his crutches and stayed in place, still silent.

Every sentence of the other party was right, so he couldn't say anything.

There won't be this day again.

The child who would be called Grandpa is no longer there, sleeping where Shuangmei originally wanted to sleep.

On the day that the child was brought to see them, when he heard that they called him Xiao Huo Miao like Shuangmei, he was full of panic and surprise, and his eyes brightened as if he had been brought home.

…

In the end, the old Mr. Ren didn't bother Mingchi anymore.

He left one of Ren Shuangmei's relics - when they held the funeral, they were so angry with Luo Zhi that they didn't let the child get anything that Ren Shuangmei had with him.

When Ming Lu returned to the boat, the old owner of the Ren family was still standing by the seaside motionless, looking at the sea covered in mist.

Mrs. Ren was impatient to wear those extra cumbersome accessories. She didn't wear earrings very much. The earrings she often wore were also small, delicate and unique. That relic was a platinum stud earring, in the shape of a plum tree in a splendid manner.

"It happens that the progress over there is very fast. As soon as the designer saw this, he adjusted the original design."

The jewelry craftsmen were on the boat, and Ming Lu came a little later to pick up the newly made pendant: "If you find a suitable one, Mr. will give it to the young master."

Mingwei Pavilion took the flannel-lined box and opened it to check.

There was no modification to the earring, except that the fine needle on the back was removed, and it was carefully polished and smoothed. It's already small enough to be embedded in a pendant and it doesn't look out of place anywhere.

The platinum plum branches are pure white and strong, corresponding to the half of the pavilion eaves, firmly protecting the small piece of polished and smooth discolored glass.

A pigeon's blood red diamond was carefully embedded in the center of the glass.

Mingweiting thanked him, turned around, and walked up the steps.

For the first time, Ming Chi indulged himself to cry happily in front of the tomb.

He knew that his aunt would be proud of himself and would never worry about himself again, so he could cry with confidence, because everything would be fine after crying.

Ming Chi cry is super cool.

He wiped his tears with his sleeves, thinking that his aunt would definitely come to scratch his nose, he couldn't help pursing the corners of his mouth.

His face was a little hot, and Mingchi put his forehead on the monument, not feeling it was enough, so he put his cheeks on it.

He took a few deep breaths and rehearsed quite a few times, and finally got the confidence, but he still opened his mouth a few times before calling out, "Mom."

"Mom." Ming Chi whispered, "Let's go play."

... no matter how many times the sentence is recited. He didn't expect it to be so painful and so refreshing when he said it.

Ming Chi is very familiar with every tree in this cemetery, and has chatted with every tree.

He wanted to tell every tree now that he was going to take his mother to play.

The footsteps came, and Ming Chi knew who it was as soon as he heard it, pursed the corners of his mouth, and raised his eyes with super bright eyes.

Ming Weiting walked up to him, held his hand, and returned his precious glass to him.

Ming Chi was stunned, looking at his palm.

…

They probably have a lot to say.

There were so many that I didn't know how to explain it clearly, so Mingweiting took the pendant directly, so even if Mingchi didn't remember a lot of things, he recognized it at a glance.

Ming Chi took a deep breath, took a moment to recover, and found his own mouth and voice: "Damn."

Mingchi rubbed his eyes twice, lowered his head, and looked at the pendant that was revived with him.

"Oops."

He strictly controlled his hands and body, but his voice was still a little unstable: "It was planned to cry for only three minutes."

Ming Weiting put his hands behind his head and neck, lowered his head, and his eyes fell into his eyes without any distractions.

Ming Chi pursed the corners of his mouth, spread his palms over, and said softly, "Sir."

Ming Weiting kissed the pendant lightly in the palm of his hand, and then Ming Chi lowered his head and kissed it. He raised his head warmly, and found that this time, Mr. Ming's auricle seemed to be faintly flushed.

Ming Weiting touched his hair, picked up the pendant, and helped him put it on carefully.

The tiny buckle clasped behind his neck with a click, and the piece of glass slid in along his neckline, touching his chest with the warmth of the palms of the two of them.

"It's okay." Ming Weiting touched his ear and said softly, "Big flame."

Ming Chi lowered his eyelashes, pursed his lips and smiled: "Yes, big flames."

Ming Weiting wrapped Ming Chi's head and neck, let him raise his eyes, and shook his head gently.

Ming Chi was slightly startled, and blinked at him.

Ming Weiting touched his hair: "Little boy."

Ming Chi's chest rose and fell silently.

He suddenly slammed into Mr. Shadow's arms.

He stretched out his hand and hugged Mingwei Pavilion tightly involuntarily, with such strength that his whole body was trembling slightly.

Mingchi wanted to speak, but for a few seconds, he couldn't make any sound—but it didn't matter.

It doesn't matter at all, they are so tacit.

Mr. Shadow tightened his arms, and that hand firmly covered his shoulders.

Ming Chi closed his eyes.

Their hearts were beating fiercely through their chests, the pendants were so nice, so pretty and so hot.

The pendant followed him, and he carried each of his homes.

They take each home to surf, go on voyages to dive, watch the sun rise and set, and become captains.

He went back and bought another car, which was exactly the same as the original one.

He was very familiar with driving, and he took Mr. Shadow to drag a car, go for a ride, go over mountains and mountains, and go to the other side of the world.

"Mother."

He heard Mr. Shadow say to his aunt, "Fire take us out to play."