Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 259 - 259 256 Funeral

Chapter 259: Chapter 256: Funeral Chapter 259: Chapter 256: Funeral Xu Qian had completed the procedures to retrieve Xie Huifang’s remains, and the next day he took them to the crematorium. Afterward, he collected the ashes and took them to a nearby temple for the ritual services.

All the necessary procedures were followed without exception, and it wasn’t until the third day that they set off for Xu Qian’s grandmother’s ancestral home.

It was a small village on the outskirts of North City, over a thousand kilometers away from Yunzhou.

The group set out early on the eleventh day and did not reach the small town closest to the village until six in the evening.

The town was particularly small and did not have a single guesthouse.

Jiang Yan got out of the car to inquire and found that the only lodging available was fifteen kilometers away in the county town.

The group spent the night in the county and set off early the next day for the Xie Family Village.

Almost everyone in the entire village bore the surname Xie, but Xu Qian’s grandfather had passed away early due to illness, and his lineage ended with Xie Huifang. The thinking of the people in the past was rather simple; generally, widows were not encouraged to remarry, so her grandmother had spent her life accompanying her only daughter, Xie Huifang.

The arrival of the two cars caught the attention of many villagers. Jiang Yan’s car led the way and when it stopped, Xu Ang got out to inquire about Xie Huifang’s mother’s gravesite.

“Xie Huifang? From our village?”

The middle-aged man who spoke looked to be in his early forties, wearing a green military coat and a locomotive cap, looking more put-together than the average villager.

But when Xu Ang mentioned Xie Huifang, his face was a picture of bewilderment.

“Her mother used to be a village welfare recipient, with only that one daughter, and her father died early.”

“Village welfare recipient?” The man’s eyes lit up. “Are you asking about the matriarch?”

He spoke in the local dialect, which Xu Ang did not quite understand.

But then the middle-aged man turned and shouted to an old man standing fifty meters away at the intersection, “Third Uncle, come here a minute, someone is asking about the matriarch’s grave.”

After calling out, he turned back and said to Xu Ang with a somewhat awkward Mandarin, “This Third Uncle is the cousin of the man you’re asking about, the matriarch’s husband. Their family graves are all together. He will definitely know where it is. But young man, are you related to the matriarch? Are you going to visit her grave?”

Xu Ang was about to speak when the old man who had been called over approached.

The middle-aged man repeated Xu Ang’s question, asking, “Third Uncle, was the matriarch’s aunt named Xie Huifang?”

Third Uncle Xie nodded, “Yes, her name is Huifang. However, she married over to Dawangzhuang next door a long time ago and hasn’t come back in over a decade. I heard she and her husband moved to Beijing and are living quite well.”

Xu Ang fell silent for a moment before he said solemnly, “We are here today to bring Aunt Fang’s ashes back, hoping to bury her alongside her mother.”

“Ashes?” Third Uncle Xie was shocked. “She’s passed away? When did it happen? How? Why didn’t the Lin Family come to notify us?”

The man in front of him was Xie Huifang’s cousin. However, with so many siblings in the past, and life in the countryside not easy, even blood brothers could hardly take care of each other, let alone cousins.

And since Lin Jian’an also had no parents, it was not unusual for there to be almost no contact between the two sides and for them not to know about Xie Huifang’s situation.

Xu Ang did not want to elaborate on Lin Jian’an’s abandonment of his wife and child; after all, Xie Huifang was no longer alive, and what was the use of talking about it now?

At that moment, Jiang Yan also got out of the car and walked over. He slipped a pack of cigarettes into the hands of Third Uncle Xie and the middle-aged man, asking if they could help find some people to dig the grave, with the wages negotiable.

“What kind of wages? Who asks for wages to help with a funeral?”

Old Third Xie turned his head and ordered the middle-aged man to call others, “A few of my boys are here, tell them all to grab shovels and go to the cemetery in the north…”

After arranging the manpower, Old Third Xie turned and walked away, “I’ll take you there.”

Jiang Yan stopped him, “Please get in the car, sir.”

Old Third Xie twisted his head to look at the two fairly impressive sedans not far away, wondering to himself, had that Lin boy made good? Could he actually afford cars now?

After wondering, he realized something was amiss. Huifang was dead, and even if they hadn’t been in touch for many years, the Lin Family wouldn’t have forgotten to notify them, but why would they send her back to her maiden home for burial?

There was clearly a problem.

And these two lads, he remembered, Huifang had given birth to two daughters…

Once on the car, Old Third Xie found two girls who looked very similar sitting in the backseat. They not only resembled each other, but they also looked very much like Huifang in her youth.

“You are…”

Xu Qian looked at Old Third Xie, and Jiang Yan introduced him, “This gentleman is your aunt’s third uncle, you should call him maternal grandfather.”

“Maternal grandfather,” Xu Qian promptly greeted him.

Old Third Xie nodded in acknowledgment, and his gaze unintentionally swept down, only then noticing the urn she was holding in her arms.

“This is… Huifang’s ashes? May I ask how she passed away?”

In their rural village, the customs of burial were particular, for instance, a married daughter couldn’t be buried back in her maiden family’s ancestral tomb at will. Having to deal with the Lin Family’s grand stature, for sure they wouldn’t agree to let Xu Qian do so.

The reason Old Third Xie called for help without a fuss was that he was concerned about his cousin’s lineage being in decline, with hardly anyone visiting to burn offerings during Qingming or New Year’s. On the other hand, it was because their families’ graves were divided and not in the same place, only some distance apart, which wouldn’t affect anything.

Therefore, it was also good for Huifang to be buried here. Considering the two cars that brought her back, he thought they wouldn’t have to worry about no one sending money to his cousin during the festivities in the future.

Xu Qian saw that this maternal grandfather was amiable and genuinely interested in finding out the cause of her mother’s death, so she softly recounted the experience of the mother and daughters leaving here for Beijing fifteen years ago, which naturally included Lin Jian’an remarrying in Beijing, with a son who was already fifteen.

Upon hearing this, Old Third Xie turned livid with anger, his mustache quivering, “That bastard, he’s like the modern-day Chen Shimei! And that old Lin, before he passed away years ago, he said his grandson was making big money in Beijing and that Huifang was living a blessed life with him there. Every Qingming when I burned offerings for your maternal grandparents, I couldn’t help but resent her in my heart, wondering why she never came back to see her parents after leaving for so many years. My wife even cursed her as heartless, who could have imagined…”

Tears welled up in Old Third Xie’s eyes as he talked. He raised his hand to touch the urn, muttering, “Poor Huifang, your mother was so fond of you. Had she known Lin would treat you like this one day, she would have never let you marry him…”

The car traveled from the south heading north through the small village, eventually stopping by a dirt road as guided by Old Third Xie.

“We need to take this narrow path on foot; the car can’t go through.”

The group got out of the car, and Yu Heng and Yu Feng lifted an expensive glass coffin they had purchased in Yunzhou from the trunk.

Old Third Xie was stunned by the exquisite little coffin for a moment, then took another look at Mu Chenyan and her family’s imposing presence, he couldn’t help but wonder, hadn’t Huifang met with misfortune long ago? How come there were such influential people arranging her funeral?

Or was it that all these people came just because of her eldest daughter?