CHAPTER 390: CHAPTER 380: RELUCTANT TO LET GO

Tomb-Sweeping Festival rain drizzles down.

Tomb-Sweeping Festival is a school holiday, as well as a day for tomb sweeping.

Though there is a custom of not bringing women along for tomb sweeping, Qin Guanglin didn’t care at all. His own wife, shouldn’t he bring her to meet his old dad?

Driving his family to North Mountain Cemetery, he didn’t just bring food like before. He Fang picked several bouquets of flowers from the nearby flower shop, following Qin Guanglin, turning left and right, they arrived at the secluded grave. They cleaned up the dead branches and fallen leaves around it and then offered incense.

"Dad, I’ve come to see you again."

Qin Guanglin gazed at the photo on the tombstone, feeling quite sentimental.

"In the blink of an eye, I’m almost as old as you were...Tch, sigh, it’s an inevitable journey. I wonder if you felt the same way looking at me, the little guy, as I feel now."

"Your granddaughter is four now, she can run and jump, healthy and well, all is good. You don’t need to worry about anything. I have a wife, and a daughter too, life feels complete. Just need to get through that thing in two years, then it’ll be truly perfect, you’ll have to bless me..."

He Fang, holding an umbrella, nudged him gently. What nonsense he was talking.

"This is my wife, He Fang. Attracted by fate from a thousand miles away, marrying her was also a blessing from the ancestors of the Qin family. My mother really likes her... I like her too, haha. The house I burned for you last time, are you used to it? This time, I brought you a car, a Maybach, much better than the beat-up car I drive..."

The light drizzle didn’t affect the blaze in the fire basin; flames leaping and casting flickering shadows across Qin Guanglin’s face. In a low voice, he murmured about recent events, how since he became a father, he understood the difficulties his own father faced.

"Dad, I don’t want to end up like you. I want to watch Anya grow up, see her get married, watch her mature step by step, and accompany her through all these experiences..."

As the time approached that He Fang had mentioned, an inexplicable sense of panic rose from the depths of his heart about the future, the unknown—how unpredictable life is, no one knows whether an accident or tomorrow will come first.

A slight mishap could erase everything had, currently have, or have yet to experience; all laughter and sadness could vanish in an instant.

Gone means truly gone.

He wasn’t afraid of leaving too early, only afraid of leaving behind He Fang and his daughter, all alone.

...

Chen Rui was also at North Mountain Cemetery.

Only, he was in another corner, holding an umbrella, bending over to place a bunch of gypsophila in front of the tombstone.

The tombstone bore a photo of a girl with a bright smile, a fair and delicate oval face, brows curved upward; the photo had faded a bit, showing its age.

Looking at her for a long time, a soft smile appeared on Chen Rui’s face. He sat down beside it, unmindful of the damp grass, resting his hands on his knees, and looking up at the sky, he pursed his lips.

"I’m about to turn forty," he sighed after a long time, "and you’re still twenty-nine."

"You should call me ’Uncle’ now."

The fine raindrops pattered on the surface of the umbrella and, after accumulating, they slid along the curve to drip off the edge.

The nearly-forty-year-old Chen Rui had a touch of gray at his temples and, sitting beside the tombstone, he seemed different from his typical energetic demeanor, emitting a sense of evening gloom.

He straightened his back, exhaling deeply, and reached over to touch the photo on the tombstone.

"It’s really tough to get down to business properly... You’re lucky, you never saw the dark side of the industry."

"We were both too naive back then."

"I thought, after Sun Wen’s issue was dealt with, we would soar high... and indeed, the prospects were bright. Qin Guanglin and I... like I mentioned to you before, in just a few years, we had built the company into something impressive, and its growth kept accelerating. At that time, the speed of our company’s development was so fast that it scared me; I had to slow things down to stabilize it."

"But now I think about it, fast or not, doesn’t matter. As long as it’s not to a certain extent, it’s all fine."

Chen Rui smiled wistfully, "I understand now, though honestly, it’s a bit late. I should have quietly gathered strength from the shadows, not been so high-profile—although we were bound to be noticed, we’d have some time to prepare, instead of being suppressed and almost pushed out of the industry."

"Business is like a battlefield, now I really understand. Not only are there no channels, but our people are also always being poached, search rankings suppressed, even our websites have been hacked a few times... Creating quality products with dedication isn’t easy."

"But luckily, there’s a group of companions..."

The photo on the tombstone silently listened to his ramblings. The rain increased and then decreased. Chen Rui didn’t move but just sat there with his pants soaking wet. He took out his phone and placed it in his upper pocket, propped up the umbrella high, sharing its small shelter with the tombstone.

"I’m really envious of that guy, truly, especially envious." Chen Rui shook his head as he looked out through the rain, "Sigh... but envy is useless."

"One family’s joy is another’s sorrow; I’ve long understood that. It’s enough to just wish them well. Actually, there’s no need even for that; whether I wish them well or not doesn’t matter. Someone like him, provided there are no mishaps, will definitely live a harmonious and happy life. Do you know why?"

He asked with a laugh, pausing as if waiting for a response, but there was only the rustling of raindrops with no other answer.

"I guess you don’t know. When he resigned, we had a meal together, even drank a little... beer, not enough to get drunk. I wanted to keep him actually, it didn’t matter whether he resigned or not. There was so little overtime, and on the rare occasions when there was, he could take it home, rather than lingering in the office. Why not accept the pay of a director?"

"That’s what I asked him. Do you know what he answered? ... He said he was reminded of his original intention, the reason for earning money—to ensure that his wife and kids lived well, to provide happiness for his family, to make his wife happy. When earning money conflicted with the original intention, he didn’t want to lose sight of what’s important."

Chen Rui sighed deeply, pausing for a moment, then wiped the raindrops splashed on the tombstone with his sleeve.

"I miss you so much."

"I could give up the company, too, and come home to be with you."

"I’m so envious..."

His voice trailed off as he leaned his head against the tombstone, gazing into the sky, his face filled with melancholy.

After a long time, as the rain lessened, he struggled to stand, slipping a little before steadying himself against the tombstone. He smiled at the photo, "Can’t bear to leave me, huh?"

"I’ll come to see you again."

"My wife."