Epiphanies of Rebirth Chapter 79 (Part 3)
Translated by Pure
Chapter 79.3 To Beseech and Obtain Benevolence
The news of Elder Qi's death rang right before the peak of summer.
However, there are only a few people who were truly grieved for him. When Shen Juanying mentioned this matter, the only thing that accompanied the news was a deep sigh.
"Qi Kai, that kid, is completely outrageous. Not to mention smuggling, he was involved in that kind of business with Shi Nanxing. What a sin. The elderly arranged for Shi Nanxing to leave the country and secretly stuffed Qi Kai in the same ship. No one knew he was there, and without any precautions, now he’s been kidnapped by those bastards."
"The old lady of the Shi Family was admitted to the hospital on the day she got the news; their whole family is in chaos now. Shi Nanxing's parents seemed to have gone crazy. They have mobilized all their people in the Southwest, saying they want to crack down on opium trade on the border... What's the use of such belated actions? They should have stopped it beforehand."
Lin Jingzhe frowned when he heard this. In his previous life, he didn't dare to touch such things as pornography, gambling, and drugs— even in the most absurd of times, so he couldn't comprehend the behavior of children born with silver spoons so willingly to jump into the fire pit.
He became overly fearfully tense, grabbed Shen Tiantian who was silent at the side and warned, "You mustn’t learn from them, do you hear me?"
Shen Tiantian was stunned for a moment, and buried herself into his arms. Lin Jingzhe realized he may have spoken out of line, and for fear of scaring his sister, he patted her back comfortingly.
Shen Juanying looked at the two with a hesitant expression. In fact, she specifically mentioned this matter to Lin Jingzhe due to another intention besides serving it as a warning.
She asked, "How about you come with us to the funeral?"
After no longer concealing their relationship, Shen Juanying had been trying to find an opportunity for Lin Jingzhe to appear in the name of her family. This way, the outsiders could clearly discern the whole Shen Family support of him, and with this, the car accident before would not happen again.
Lin Jingzhe was still a little hesitant. Even though he was recognized as part of the Shen Family in his previous life, he hardly attended any large-scale events with Shen Juanying and the others. He was used to keeping a distance, and to have suddenly shortening this distance left him a bit unaccustomed. Even though he knew that Shen Juanying had good intentions, he still had concerns.
Lin Runsheng was silent for a long time with his usual tense expression. With a seldom seen boldness, he said, "Let's go together."
Shen Tiantian also grabbed his arm and shook it, "Brother, let's go together!"
The eyes of his family members were full of sincerity and apprehensive, Lin Jingzhe took a deep breath, and finally nodded in compromise.
******
When Elder Qi passed away, there wasn't even a person who could perform the ‘smashing pot[1]’ custom. In the end, it was one of his old friends who substituted with one of their own children to help.
The plain white curtains, paper money, pearl flowers, and the lively suona could hardly conceal the desolation.
When Lin Jingzhe and Shen Juanying went up to pay respects, it seemed as if he had traveled back in time and was reliving his grandfather's funeral. He had never seen Elder Qi, but now this old man, who was known as a great scourge by the bystanders, left only a black and white image of a kind and smiling old man. After his fire ceased to flicker, no matter what kind of deep hatred in the past, Lin Jingzhe felt very uncomfortable at this moment.
He lit a stick of incense for the old man and stared at the funeral banners, lost in thought. Shen Juanying, who was next to him, was busy introducing him to a friend who asked about his origin, "This is my son!"
"Jingzhe, his name is Lin Jingzhe. Isn’t he handsome?"
"He studies at Yan University, majoring in finance. Just like his father, smart and has good grades."
"He has his own real estate company. Big business? Nono! It's only a couple hundred million."
She then called for Lin Jingzhe, in which Lin Jingzhe calmly looked over and greeted the other party politely.
Regardless of what others were truly thinking, Shen Juanying clearly expressed her attitude, bringing Lin Jingzhe out to meet familiar faces with great fanfare. The outsiders could only cooperate and praise him.
Shen Tiantian followed behind her brother, like his little henchman, with her head lowered and didn't talk much to others. She was feeling somewhat complicated. After all, she didn't expect Qi Kai to be involved in this matter. Elder Qi concealed it too well; she and Xiao Chi had only thought Shi Nanxing was on the cruise ship.
Karma was really inexplicable and elusive, but was always implemented by fate.
And due to this, she fell into a seldomly felt emotional state. After burning the paper money, she felt depressed, and quietly hid outside the mourning hall for a breather.
It was then some random uncle and aunt pulled her back and asked, "Is that man your brother that was picked up from outside?"
Shen Tiantian glanced into the room and saw Lin Jingzhe was squatting, burning paper money with a solemn expression. His gesture of burning ritual money was done much more earnestly than compared to most of the children in the courtyard. She knew that her brother must be feeling uncomfortable again, and for a moment, felt deeply moved about his benevolent nature. "Yes."
"Tsk tsk tsk." The inquiring person shook his head repeatedly, "There’s nothing to pick at etiquette-wise. It seems that he is a formidable character."
Shen Tiantian realized the inappropriateness of his sentence, so she frowned slightly, showing a gloomy look, "What are you saying..."
"Tiantian." Lin Jingzhe's voice suddenly came from the room, interrupting her anger that was about to ignite. After Lin Jingzhe burned the paper money, he got up and saw Shen Tiantian surrounded by others. He thought his younger sister was entangled with someone, so he quickly stepped forward, and in just a moment, the solemn expression on his face was replaced with an impeccable smile, "What are you doing?"
Shen Tiantian saw that he was wary of the outsiders, and immediately restrained her expression as she softly introduced the group of people around her.
Lin Jingzhe calmly stretched out his hands to shake hands with everyone present. At the same time protected his sister by pulling her behind him, "This is a special occasion, and it is not a suitable time for chatting. If you uncles and aunts are free, please come visit our house more often."
"Definitely. Definitely." The elders couldn't help but feel guilty and tense under his pleasant countenance but unquestionable aura. All they could do was to agree again and again.
Shen Tiantian followed behind Lin Jingzhe obediently.
The people watched the brother and sister harmoniously leaving, stunned. When they finally came to their senses, they all shook their heads pessimistically.
"It's over, it’s over, that young man is a difficult one. For him to be able to enter the Family under Shen Juanying's radar, it seems that the Shen Family will be a mess in the future."
"Shen Tiantian is such an idiot, to actually obey his every word. Just wait and see, haha, she will cry when all the family property is robbed in the future."
Once they reached the inner corner of the room, Lin Jingzhe looked at his sister worriedly, "Did you get bullied just now?"
Shen Tiantian lowered her head and shook her head obediently, instantly subduing her brother. She then discreetly glanced towards the door from her peripherals.
She clearly memorized the faces of every member from that scum-of-a-group, they’ll get what’s coming to them!
She wanted to take this opportunity to act coquettishly with her brother again, but her plans were dashed when a figure came towards them from among the group of juniors in the mourning hall. Before she could react, Xiao Chi stuck himself to Lin Jingzhe's back.
Lin Jingzhe looked back as Xiao Chi said: "My mother asked me to come and invite you all, as well as Aunt Shen and Uncle Lin, for the two families to have lunch together later."
Lin Jingzhe's attention was immediately directed away as he quickly followed Xiao Chi away.
Shen Tiantian let out a long sigh, she had already given up communicating with this overprotective in-law, for fear that Xiao Chi would open his bag and throw the box of sunglasses and accessories on her face.
She helplessly followed behind them.
Amidst the noise, Xiao Chi looked back at the lonely altar, and silently recited a Ksitigarbha Sūtra for the old man in the black-and-white photo who hadn't smiled like so for many years.
Amitabha.
.
.
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Footnote:
[1] Smashing pots is an important custom in folk funerals. When the coffin is lifted, the pots used to burn paper money are smashed. This custom is generally undertaken by the eldest son. If there is no eldest son, the eldest grandson will operate it. If there is no eldest son and grandson, the second son will operate it. Smashing the pot means smashed into pieces (碎碎), which sounds similar to the the word onwards (岁岁) from the idiom 'May you have peace year after year' (岁岁平安). This is the confirmation of the identity of a 'filial son', representing that the "living will be mournful and obedient, and live the rest of their lives well."
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