At six o'clock in the evening, Xu Sheng took Tang Zhi out of the car and walked into Xu Yin's mourning hall in the dusk.
White curtains hang on the beams of the hall, and a photo of Xu Yin when she was young is placed in the center of the black sacrificial table. There are sacrifices and incense burners next to the photo. The hall is filled with the rich smell of smoke and burning candles.
As soon as Xu Sheng stepped through the door, the Taoist priest began to chant sutras.
Xu Hefu sat in the diagonal corner of the mourning hall, with his two closest secretaries standing behind him.
The relatives sitting next to the coffin and keeping vigil for Xu Yin all raised their heads and looked towards the door.
Tang Zhi glanced at them and saw that everyone looked dull, as if they were very tired from sitting. Due to the presence of Xu Hefu, they had to behave well and did not dare to relax.
Xu Sheng lit incense for his mother and knelt on the crimson cushions. The hem of his suit was wrinkled a little, his head hung slightly, and his back was straight.
He knelt in the middle of the dim mourning hall for a while. The Taoist priest stopped singing, and Xu Jin approached him and helped him up.
Tang Zhi stood behind him, staring at Xu Sheng's back with some disbelief, not sure what he should do.
After Xu Sheng stood up straight, he turned around and glanced at Tang Zhi. Xu Jin's wife, who was standing not far away, immediately approached Tang Zhi.
"My son-in-law also wants to express my gratitude." She whispered. She seemed to be planning this wake, neatly handing two sticks of incense to Tang Zhi's hand.
She was plump, wearing a long black dress, and her face was kinder than the others in the Xu family. She lit incense for Tang Zhi.
The purple-red long incense feels a bit rough, and fine smoke floats from the top, exuding a choking aroma.
The Taoist priests sang again.
The sound of chanting was like a mass of murmurs, filling the black and white mourning hall. The relatives around were like pale wax figures, scattered everywhere listlessly.
Tang Zhi followed Xu Sheng's practice, lit incense and knelt before Xu Sheng's deceased mother, and then walked to the coffin with Xu Sheng.
Two juniors stood up from the black high chairs and made room for them. One of them, Tang Zhi, recognized him as Xu Yanlu, who had celebrated his eighteenth birthday not long ago.
She glared at Tang Zhi coldly and walked away without saying anything.
The coffin was placed very high, but not as high as a person.
Xu Sheng did not sit down immediately. He stood beside the coffin, lowered his head quietly and stared at his mother in the coffin. Tang Zhi stood beside him and looked at him silently.
Xu Yin was lying in the coffin, wearing a simple and elegant dress, her eyes were relaxed and closed, as if she was asleep.
Tang Zhi met her twice.
Once I registered my marriage with Xu Keyu, and once I held a wedding. Before registering their marriage, Xu Yin and Tang Zhi chatted for a while.
Xu Yin spoke in a low voice, which made Tang Zhi think that he was a gentle person, not as sharp as Xu Sheng said.
At that time, Xu Sheng was much more ruthless and business-like towards Tang Zhi than he is now. Perhaps in order to warn Tang Zhi not to reveal his secrets, he kept staring at Tang Zhi, which made Tang Zhi very nervous. She wanted to treat Xu Keyu well.
But until now, Xu Yin has passed away, and Tang Zhi doesn't know if he treated Xu Keyu well, nor does he know if his marriage performance at that time satisfied both her and Xu Sheng.
Xu Sheng was probably dissatisfied, Tang Zhi guessed as he was distracted. Because Xu Sheng has relatively high requirements and is easily dissatisfied.
The embalmer put soft makeup on Xu Yin, making her look the same as before she was alive.
Perhaps because she is too thin, her eye sockets are sunken, her cheekbones are a bit protruding, and she still looks sickly.
Xu Keyu’s cheekbones resemble Xu Yin.
Tang Zhi thought suddenly, then turned his head and looked at Xu Sheng.
Xu Sheng had no expression on his face and stood indifferently.
All the relatives present looked at him secretly, as if whoever looked at him the longest could guess what he was thinking.
Xu Sheng seemed not to notice, the corners of his lips drooped slightly, and he looked at Xu Yin intently, his back straightened.
Perhaps sensing Tang Zhi's eyes, he finally withdrew his gaze, looked at Tang Zhi, remained silent for two seconds, and said to Tang Zhi, "Sit down."
They sat down on the cold high chairs and kept vigil for a while.
The Taoist priest's voice was sometimes louder and sometimes softer. They sang a few more rounds. The sky turned dark and it was pitch black outside the house.
There was only the light of candles in the mourning hall. Some long candles were covered with glass covers, and some were short ones without. The night light filtered in from the door and the bedside, dizzying the scattered candlelight in the dim room.
At half past seven, Xu Hefu was leaving.
He stood up with the help of his secretary, called Xu Sheng aside, spoke to him alone for a few words, then patted him on the shoulder and said: "After twelve o'clock, you can go back to sleep. Your mother also I don’t want you to be too tired to guard.”
Xu Hefu did not lower his voice when he said this, and many people in the mourning hall heard it.
Xu Sheng said nothing, watched Xu Hefu leave, and sat back next to Tang Zhi.
Xu Sheng sat upright and looked in the direction of the coffin again.
Tang Zhi saw him sitting down out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help turning his head to look at him.
The dim light blurred Xu Sheng's profound facial features. His jaw was slightly drawn, and his temperament was solemn, but he could not see too much sadness.
Tang Zhi felt that the way Xu Sheng looked at the coffin looked like the person with the least relationship with Xu Yin in the entire mourning hall.
It seemed that just remembering Xu Yinshang for a few hours on the plane was enough for him to put away his sadness and lock it back in the secret room called Xu Sheng's emotions.
Tang Zhi didn't look at him for long before Xu Sheng glanced at Tang Zhi as if to remind him. Tang Zhi was stunned and looked away.
After Xu Hefu left, the remaining relatives of the Xu family found excuses one after another to scatter.
At half past nine o'clock, only Xu Jin's family was left.
Xu Yanlu and Xu Mingwu sat opposite the coffin, both looking very impatient. Xu Mingwu looked at his phone frequently and was reminded by Xu Jin clearing his throat. He glared a few times and sat upright reluctantly.
No one spoke in the room, and it was eerily quiet.
The mourning hall was surrounded by wreaths sent by relatives and friends, and the scent of white chrysanthemums and night dew mixed together, overwhelming the smoke.
The Taoist priest stopped singing for nearly two hours. Xu Yanlu and Xu Mingwu finally got Xu Jin's consent and said goodbye to Xu Sheng.
Tang Zhi watched them walk out, sniffing the fragrance of flowers in a daze, and suddenly heard Xu Sheng's cell phone vibrating. He turned to look. Xu Sheng took out his cell phone, glanced down, and went out to answer the call.
For some reason, as soon as Xu Sheng went out, Xu Jin also stood up and followed him out nervously.
Tang Zhi did not move, still sitting. Not long after, Mrs. Xu who was sitting opposite suddenly stood up, walked to Tang Zhi and sat down. She nodded to him friendly and said, "My condolences."
Tang Zhi also nodded towards her.
She sat next to Tang Zhi and first asked what happened to the gauze on Tang Zhi's right hand. Tang Zhi said, "I cut myself while peeling some fruit."
Mrs. Xu whispered in surprise, "Why do you have to peel the fruit yourself?" Tang Zhi didn't answer, just smiled.
After a while of silence, she asked Tang Zhi with a concerned tone: "How is Keyu's condition?"
"Still in the hospital," Tang Zhi didn't know too well, so he said generally, "It's almost the same as before."
"Oh." She nodded, placing her right hand on the green jade bracelet on her left wrist.
The color of the jade is very good, like clear water flowing, making her wrists white and plump.
After half a minute, she asked Tang Zhi: "How did you and Keyu meet?"
"Classmate," Tang Zhi said, fearing that the short answer would make her feel impolite, so he added, "High school classmate."
She nodded to Tang Zhi: "Have you been in love for so many years?"
"Almost, a long time." Tang Zhi said while noticing that she was pressing the jadeite with the thumb of her right hand, rubbing it subconsciously.
She looked at Tang Zhi, as if hesitating, and after thinking about it for a while, she asked tentatively: "I heard that her brother agreed to your marriage only after Ke Yu forced him to die?"
Tang Zhi stared at her, and after a moment, nodded.
She frowned slightly and sighed: "Her brother is like this, sometimes unreasonable. Even his own marriage can be used as a bargaining chip to please him, let alone his sister's."
Tang Zhi was silent in disbelief. Perhaps she had misunderstood and asked Tang Zhi again: "He took you with him and didn't let you get involved in any business matters, right?"
Tang Zhi thought for a while, nodded to her, and then she said, "Then what do you do every day?"
"Stay in the hotel," Tang Zhi said following her, "or wait outside."
Mrs. Xu made a look of regret and became quiet again.
After a long while, she told Tang Zhi: "Xiaotang, aunt is telling you a few words honestly, don't take it too seriously. I heard that last time Xu Sheng visited your mother, she changed her will and changed the original Half of the shares given to Keyu were also given to Xu Sheng."
Tang Zhi looked at her and moved his lips, saying, "Really?"
"I don't know." Tang Zhi said slowly, revealing a hint of helplessness to her.
She shook her head, sighed, looked at Tang Zhi with pity, and continued: "But when I went to see Yinyin before she was alive, she always said that her biggest regret was Keyu, and she wanted to leave more things for Keyu. "
Mrs. Xu has deep double eyelids, but they are a little droopy, making her look a little old.
Her voice was smooth, with the sandy texture of a middle-aged person. Perhaps it was because the mourning hall was too dark and the candlelight was too flickering. As Tang Zhi listened, he began to lose focus.
"...I don't know what happened to Keyu," she suddenly changed the topic, frowned a little more, and hinted, "Assistant Xu Sheng was not seriously injured."
Tang Zhi felt nothing in his heart. He pretended to be innocent and sad and said to Mrs. Xu: "It seems to be because Keyu didn't wear a seat belt."
Mrs. Xu looked at Tang Zhi for a while, smiled bitterly, shook her head, and said: "Xiaotang, you have just graduated from college and have not been exposed to much society. Your brother... you still have to be careful, just for Keyu."
She spoke sincerely, and everything written in her eyes was for Tang Zhi's good, which made people believe her.
However, Tang Zhi paused for a few seconds before she realized that the "brother" she meant was Xu Sheng.
Tang Zhi said "hmm", and she raised her hand again, pressed Tang Zhi's shoulder, and stroked it gently, like a loving mother comforting her child.
However, it was difficult for Tang Zhi to accept this kind of physical touch. The way she touched Tang Zhi only reminded Tang Zhi of bad things.
A strange discomfort surged up, prompting Tang Zhi to politely push Mrs. Xu away, but Tang Zhi wanted to hear what else she wanted to say, so he suppressed the discomfort forcefully.
After enduring it for half a minute, she finally spoke.
"Xiaotang, aunt knows that it's difficult for you," she said softly, "You and Keyu were in love, but he opposed it so much that they finally got married, but something happened to Keyu again... Now he keeps you with him for a month. I couldn’t see Keyu several times…”
Tang Zhi looked disappointed and lowered his head.
Encouraged by Tang Zhi, she slid her hand onto Tang Zhi's arm, gently pressed it between Tang Zhi's elbows, and whispered softly: "Xiao Tang, please leave a phone number for your aunt. If you feel uncomfortable, call her Call me. My aunt sometimes makes soup and will give you a portion."
The Taoist priests started singing again. In the sound of chanting, Tang Zhi took out his mobile phone and wrote down her number. I don’t know what happened. Tang Zhi saved the number and when he was about to put away the mobile phone, her hand was still there. Put it on Tang Zhi's arm.
She lowered her head and looked at the photo of the puppy on Tang Zhi's screen. She pointed with her other finger, perhaps to let Tang Zhi hear it more clearly. She leaned close to Tang Zhi's ear and said with a chuckle: "Xiao Tang, You like puppies—"
"—Auntie, what are you doing."
Xu Sheng's low and cold voice came from not far away. Tang Zhi looked up and realized that Xu Sheng had walked in at some point.
He immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and Mrs. Xu's hand finally moved away.
She turned back to look at Xu Sheng and said with a slightly raised voice, as if she was a little nervous: "Oh, Xiaotang and I were chatting about Keyu."
"Really?" Xu Sheng looked at her coldly.
"Of course," she said, then looked around and asked Xu Sheng, "Where is your uncle?"
"Uncle wants to leave," Xu Sheng lowered his eyes and told her politely, "Waiting for you outside."
Mrs. Xu was stunned, stood up, said goodbye to Xu Sheng quickly, and walked out in small steps.
Xu Sheng watched her walk out the door, then turned back and looked directly at Tang Zhi expressionlessly.
Tang Zhi looked at Xu Sheng a little pitifully, and wanted to ask Xu Sheng why it took him so long to come back, but because there were other people in the mourning hall, he didn't say anything.
Perhaps Xu Sheng saw that he was really miserable, and his face gradually became warmer. He sat next to Tang Zhi, without looking at Tang Zhi, and said, "Watch for another twenty minutes."
Tang Zhi asked Xu Sheng in a low voice: "Aren't you going to keep watch all night?"
Xu Sheng calmed down, looked up at the coffin for a moment, and said very softly and very lowly: "I won't be guarding anymore."
At twelve o'clock, Xu Sheng took Tang Zhi out of the mourning hall on time.
Tang Zhi looked back and saw that Xu Yin's mourning hall was dotted with candlelight in the dark night, and the sound of chanting came from inside. It was very noisy and lively, but the hall seemed lonely.
After getting in the car, they slowly left the ancestral home and drove up the mountain road.
Tang Zhi was sitting in front. He knew that Xu Sheng didn't like him turning his head to look, but he still turned around and took a look.
Xu Sheng was in a daze, but he may have noticed Tang Zhi's movements out of the corner of his eye and looked up.
The two people made eye contact. Xu Sheng didn't seem to be angry this time. He looked at Tang Zhi. After a few seconds, he moved his eyes away and lowered his head to hold the phone. He didn't know what he did, but Tang Zhi's phone vibrated.
Tang Zhi took it out and looked at it, and Xu Sheng sent him a message: "Turn it back."
Tang Zhi felt that Xu Sheng, who was face to face but didn't speak and only sent messages, was weird and a little funny, so he turned around obediently.
I sent Xu Sheng a lot of weird expressions that Xu Sheng asked him not to send. I saw Xu Sheng secretly opening the text message in the rearview mirror without replying to him.
When they arrived at home, the housekeeper took Xu Sheng's coat and they walked upstairs in silence.
Tang Zhi went back to the room to wash up, wipe his hair and come out. Suddenly he saw the little penguin Xu Sheng gave him still on the coffee table, so he walked over, picked it up and looked at it.
The little penguin is still clean, but the coloring of the plastic piece is not very uniform, and the dark blue on the back is dark and light.
Tang Zhi turned on the switch and placed it on the marble countertop. The little penguin squeaked forward, and finally fell silently on the carpet, with its feet still swinging back and forth.
Tang Zhi turned off the penguin and put it back in its original position.
He felt that he actually couldn't like the penguin that Xu Sheng gave him too much, but he didn't want to throw it away if he had it in his hand.
When Tang Zhi was about to go to bed, he received a call from Xu Sheng.
Xu Sheng asked him "what he was doing in his room."
Tang Zhi hesitated, Xu Sheng said "come here" and hung up the phone.
Tang Zhi put on a coat, tiptoed across the corridor, and knocked on Xu Sheng's door.
Xu Sheng opened the door and walked in with a bad expression on his face.
Tang Zhi felt that he was a little unhappy, and didn't know why, so he tentatively followed him, stretched out his left hand to hold Xu Sheng, and lightly touched Xu Sheng's warm palm with his fingertips.
Tang Zhi didn't use any of his strength, but Xu Sheng was still stopped by him.
Xu Sheng turned around and looked down at Tang Zhi. His eyes were a little stiff, but he held Tang Zhi tightly.
Tang Zhi instinctively smiled at him and asked him: "Why are you unhappy?" Then he took the initiative to report: "When you went out, Mrs. Xu told me a lot of things, maybe she wanted to instigate me. .”
"He also left my number and said he would make some soup for me," Tang Zhi said, "I don't really want to drink it."
Xu Sheng looked down, raised his hand, touched Tang Zhi's elbow, and after a few seconds, said to Tang Zhi: "You don't like Xu Rong touching you, why don't you push it away?"
"Won't you refuse?" Xu Sheng looked at Tang Zhi and asked in a low voice.
Tang Zhi was stunned for a moment. First he felt that Xu Sheng's question was inexplicable, and then he felt very uncomfortable and funny.
Xu Sheng said it simply, as if it was easy to refuse, as if he had always supported Tang Zhi's refusal and had never watched silently.
But that doesn't seem to be the case.
Tang Zhi didn't want to argue with Xu Sheng, so he didn't respond to Xu Sheng's question. He looked at Xu Sheng quietly for a few seconds and wanted to take his hand out, but Xu Sheng reacted quickly and grabbed him tightly, preventing him from escaping.
"What are you doing?" Xu Sheng frowned.
"It hurts to be scratched by you." Tang Zhi lied to him.
Tang Zhi deceived him very perfunctorily, but Xu Sheng looked at him, paused briefly, and then let go of his hand.
After a few seconds, he said to Tang Zhi: "I mean, if you don't like others touching you in the future, just push her away."
"That's it," Tang Zhi looked at Xu Sheng, his brain was a little hot, and he couldn't restrain himself and said, "But that's not what you told me when Xu Keyu hugged me."
Xu Sheng looked at him and seemed startled.
The way he looked at Tang Zhi reminded Tang Zhi that his mother had just passed away and her body was still lying in the mourning hall halfway up the mountain.
Tang Zhi felt a little pity for Xu Sheng. He looked at Xu Sheng for a while, softened his attitude, leaned closer, and whispered: "Forget it, I didn't say anything, just forget it."
Xu Sheng paused and accepted his weakness much faster than Tang Zhi expected. He stretched out his arms and hugged him and said "ok".