You're my wife, don't doubt it!

Xiao Yao: "..."

Shen Jie said, word by word, "If I transfer schools again because of you—if I transfer schools again because of you, you will never have another chance to find me."

“Okay,” Xiao Yao promised, then bargained, “I can agree to that, but you have to add me back so that it’s convenient to contact you if anything comes up, and so that Tianyun and I can at least know that you are still safe.”

Shen Jie neither agreed nor refused, but simply sat down in the back seat of the car with a gloomy expression and closed the door.

Shen Hongsheng shrugged at Xiao Yao, spread his hands, then raised his right index and middle fingers together, placed them above his right eyebrow, and then raised them to the upper right.

Xiao Yao understood that this was the victor's mockery.

The setting sun, reflecting off the white snow, cast a lonely image on the car window with the curtains drawn.

Chapter 412 The Living and the Dead

2024-04-30

That evening, Xiao Yao went home to get some clean clothes for his grandmother.

Suddenly, a very sharp sound came from the landline at home.

Xiao Yao never liked hearing this sound at night, because it always made him feel uneasy.

And what it brings is always bad news.

For example, a phone call from the homeroom teacher complaining about something.

"Hello?" Xiao Yao's voice was still a little choked when he answered the phone.

"Xiao Yao, it's me." It was Yu Luying's voice on the other end of the phone.

"What's wrong?" Xiao Yao had already vaguely guessed what Yu Luying was going to say.

“...Grandma.” Yu Luying spoke after a long silence.

"I understand." At this moment, Xiao Yao's heart was as calm as still water: "I'm coming over now."

He didn't need to bring any more clothes for his grandmother, so he flagged down a taxi and rushed to the hospital.

On the way, Xiao Yao took out his phone and opened QQ.

The QQ interface showed that Don Quixote sent a friend request a few hours earlier, and "It's Xiao Jie~" accepted the request about 10 minutes later.

Don Quixote:

[expression]

Don Quixote:

Why did you change your QQ name?

It's Xiao Jie!

Ok.

Don Quixote:

Are you home yet?

It's Xiao Jie!

Ok.

Don Quixote:

Thank you again today.

It's Xiao Jie!

Ok.

It's Xiao Jie!

Go take a shower.

The above is the complete chat history. Shen Jie replied with a total of six words: "Hmm, hmm, hmm, go take a shower."

Xiao Yao wiped his eyes and began editing the message.

Don Quixote:

Are you asleep?

After waiting for two minutes, Shen Jie did not reply.

Don Quixote:

My grandma has passed away.

It's Xiao Jie!

My condolences

It's Xiao Jie!

By the way

This time, the reply came instantly.

--split line--

"What do you mean by saying you can't come back from Equatorial Guinea?" Xiao Yao roared, gripping the landline receiver. "That's your mother! Your mother's memorial service!"

“I don’t need you to remind me,” Xiao Tu said wearily. “The tight schedule here is one issue, but the other is that all flights back to Shanghai are currently suspended due to the weather. Can’t I see what the weather is like outside and you can’t see it either?”

Xiao Yao: "..."

I'll wire you the money for the funeral arrangements.

Xiao Yao had attended the funerals of other elders when he was a child, but he had never done the actual funeral arrangements.

Such a big task fell on the shoulders of Xiao Yao and Shen Tianyun, two teenagers of 15 or 6. Neither of them had any experience, so you can imagine the pressure they were under.

"Didn't Great-Grandma have any other children besides your father?" Tianyun complained. "I don't remember it being like that."

“My dad has a younger brother, a younger sister, and another younger sister,” Xiao Yao told Tian Yun. “But do you remember? Yesterday, right after Nima passed away, she gathered all the relatives and the will notary to make arrangements for her affairs, leaving this house and all her savings to her eldest grandson, me.”

"Just for this dilapidated house," Tianyun said incredulously, "they don't even care about their own mother's funeral arrangements? Are all your relatives this materialistic?"

“They didn’t say they wouldn’t care,” Xiao Yao said wearily. “But they were probably not very happy. They said that since I am the eldest grandson, my rights and obligations are equal, and it is only right that I contribute money and effort to the funeral arrangements—so they just put up with their tantrum.”

"Your family members are all ingrates!" Shen Tianyun roared in fury, "Not a single one of them is any good!"

“Yes,” Xiao Yao agreed wearily, “Everyone in my family is an ingrate, not one of them is a good person.”

“I meant you people with the surname Xiao,” Tianyun thought for a moment, then realized that her previous statement was inappropriate and somewhat implicated her, so she revised it to: “None of you Xiao family members are good people!”

“Yeah whatever,” Xiao Yao said, “You Shens are all good people, abandoning your husbands and daughters, you’re really something.”

Although the funeral arrangements were incredibly stressful, some people still managed to help.

First, Yu Luying and her parents and uncle all came to help with the arrangements.

But Yu Luying herself was still a child, and no matter how close the Yu family was to Xiao Yao, they were still considered outsiders.

Xiao Yao's uncle, who lived next door, was more conscientious than Xiao Yao's reclusive mother. He helped a lot in various ways.

As for Xiao Tu's younger siblings, although they complained and said they wouldn't care, and indeed they didn't contribute a penny, they still did their part in the end.

She even had a dispute with Xiao Yao.

"Have a priest celebrate Mass? What's wrong with you? Are you out of your mind?" the old lady said.

“Your uncle knows the abbot of the Xiahai Temple,” the aunt said. “You can get a big discount by having the monks from the Xiahai Temple perform the rituals for the deceased.”

Upon hearing the words "Xiahai Temple," Xiao Yao immediately thought of that old bald monk Shi Hui, whom he hadn't caught yet, and shook his head vigorously.

“Okay, come and get it,” the uncle said. “With priests, pastors, and monks all involved, and nowadays we’re advocating for green and environmentally friendly practices and frugal funerals, I think we should just find a cheap, all-inclusive service.”

On the bright side, the uncle might have meant well, wanting to save his youngest grandson some money, but Xiao Yao didn't appreciate it.

"Alright!" Xiao Yao raised his hand to interrupt their argument: "Since everyone keeps emphasizing that I am the eldest son and grandson, since everyone voted to elect me to arrange Grandma's funeral, and since everyone unanimously agreed that I should be responsible for all expenses, then I have the final say. What I say goes."

The older aunt, the younger aunt, and the uncle were all stunned by the junior's tough attitude and looked at each other in bewilderment.

Then, the two aunties jumped up and started arguing with Xiao Yao.

Frustrated, Shen Tianyun covered her ears, wrapped herself tightly in her blanket, and rolled over on Xiao Yao's bed.

"And who is she? Why is she always here?" the young woman asked, pointing to Tianyun's back, which was wrapped in a blanket.

"There are plenty of people here who don't know who they are, why don't you ask yourself?" Xiao Yao retorted impatiently.

"How dare you talk to the adults in your family like that?" the auntie shouted sternly.

"How dare you, a grown man, speak to the head of the household like that?"

……

Funerals should traditionally be held three days after the deceased's death.

However, since Xiao Yao and Tian Yun were completely inexperienced, they didn't learn about this tradition until noon the next day.

However, the endless arguments with relatives meant that nothing that needed to be done had been accomplished.

Then, the dispute was further complicated by accusations and criticisms that the funeral would definitely be postponed.