dare to love

Chapter 49 The So-called Freedom

In the quiet and deserted corridor, Su Shikang signed the death notice.

He was finally truly free, and no one in this world held him anymore.

Chen Wei walked behind him, following him closely.

Chen Wei called a car, the old lady's body should be transported back, and the last three days should be spent at home.

Back in Nanhe County, their small home, the old lady's room was cleaned up and her body was placed there.

The old man in the posthumous photo smiled happily. It was Su Shikang who took her to the city to take the photo on her [-]th birthday.

Su Shikang is a free man, he loves to see beautiful mountains and rivers, and flowers blooming like brocades, but he has a grandma, so he is destined not to run far in this life.

He used to think it was a pity that he couldn't run far. He was not willing to stay in this small county town and accompany his grandmother to plant two acres of land.

He thinks that if he develops well in the future, he may be able to be free. He can’t let go of his grandma and he can take him away. He can take her to and fro in big cities, take her on subways and trains, and he can buy two copies when he is on vacation. Movie tickets, take her grandma to watch the big screen, or go to a melodious and gorgeous restaurant on her birthday, and eat a western meal that she has never eaten in her life. He also buys skirts for his grandma and asks him to make one Back to the princess.

On a beautiful night, the old lady would put on an old-fashioned cheongsam, walk by the lakeside of the rockery in the park, hold endless fragrant wild lilies in her hands, and chat with him with a smile.

So this kind of entanglement is not a drag, it has always been happiness.

His grandma raised him so hard, he must make her happy for the rest of her life.

But now, the bondage is gone, all his previous fantasies are gone, and he followed his grandma westward on this dead summer night.

Su Shikang called Su Wenjun that night. Su Wenjun finally had some feelings after knowing that the old lady had gone west, and he would rush back before the cremation of the body.

The neighbors around all came to worship, the Li family next door, and the owner of the small shop, they also helped Su Shikang hire a funeral team to help him preside over the ceremony.

The dirge and music played continuously, and after Su Shikang finished preparing everything, he persuaded Chen Wei to go back.

Every place has its own funeral customs. In Nanhe County, people who are not related to the deceased or are not neighbors should not attend the funeral.

Chen Wei didn't really want to leave, not only because he couldn't let go of Su Shikang's current situation, but he also wanted to send Grandma Su off for the last time.

Seeing his ugly face, Su Shikang was afraid that he would not be able to bear it, so he said, "Go back, I'm here."

But he himself was powerless to say this, but he was still worried that Chen Wei would not be able to hold on.

"I……"

"That's right, young man. It's time for County Magistrate Su to come. There's nothing wrong here. If you want to see the old lady, you can come and see after we're done. Outsiders are very taboo about funerals here..."

"Aunt Li." Su Shikang interrupted her, "I'll just tell him."

"Ai!"

"Let's go."

Su Shikang walked side by side with him and led him outside.

The same summer, the same scenery, but it is a pity that things have changed.

"Chen Wei." Su Shikang said quietly when he was far away from those sorrows and joys: "Thank you these days for keeping you busy for so long."

"Why do you have to be so alien to me..."

"..."

Su Shikang didn't say anything more, but his face became haggard. In just two days, Chen Wei saw him become thinner and haggard, with a faint beard on his chin. He didn't cry after his grandma left, he was as calm as a pool of stagnant water .

He just put on the mourning clothes in such an orderly and numb manner, dressed her grandmother, and then took care of the funeral.

He is already an adult, and it is not difficult to take care of his funeral.

His eyes were red and swollen from not closing for days.

Chen Wei looked at him, his heart ached more and more, he really wanted to hold him in his arms, kiss his eyes, and comfort him.

He wants to say you still have me, you are not alone, you are bound, you should rest well, sleep well, grandma doesn't want to see you like this, right?

But he didn't have the courage, because although Su Shikang didn't cry, he looked broken and he didn't dare to touch him.

"Then, I'll go first, and I'll come to see you on the night of the funeral..."

"Yeah." Su Shikang said lightly, his tone still very gentle, "You have a good rest."

After seeing off Chen Wei, Su Shikang returned to Grandma Su's body and knelt on her right side.

As night fell, after the funeral guests had finished eating, a strong wind began to blow, and the wind lifted the door curtain, exposing the coffin in the room. The kneeling people and the coffin in the room were facing the gate.

The typhoon is about to cross the border.

Outside is the endless night, the wind is blowing the treetops, and the wildly swaying branches are waving like ghosts.

She seemed to be waving and saying: Come on, come on, come on, it's time to go, and you won't be bothered when you get to the underworld.

Su Shikang's eyes were empty, he looked ahead, through the guests, at the path leading outside.

Then he saw Su Wenjun rushing back carrying a suitcase.

The wind blew in, blowing the swaying white wax, and blowing the white mourning belt around Su Shikang's waist.He stared at the man who rushed back from afar with his blood-red eyes.

"County Su!"

"County Su!"

"..."

The people who were sitting stood up one after another, as if they were welcoming the god of Nanhe County.

The man strode into the room, his eyes swept around the coffin like a falcon, and then fell on the incense burner in front of the coffin, and finally on the smiling portrait.

He sighed, put down the leather case in his hand, then walked to the incense burner and lit three sticks of incense.

"Mom... I'm back..."

It's been too long, this seems to be the first time in Su Shikang's memory that he heard Su Wenjun call his grandma "Mom"

He stared at him, watching this indifferent man kneel down and kowtow, Su Shikang's eyes were too red, as if he could shed tears in the next second.

"County Su, condolences!"

The people from the funeral team put filial piety on Su Wenjun. In the eyes of others, he was nothing more than very filial.

Then he glanced at Su Shikang, the father and son didn't speak, and Su Wenjun knelt directly on the left side.

There was no one else at home, so the father and son could only stand in front of the coffin, waiting for the old man to be sent out.

When the guests had almost returned home, Su Shikang got up to see the guests off. He knelt for too long, and because he hadn't closed his eyes for the past two days, he staggered when he got up, and barely stood up by holding on to the bench on which the coffin was placed.

Some people saw that Su Wenjun was still kneeling there, and they all came to comfort him, "It's time to get up, the county magistrate, I have been kneeling for three hours, and I don't need to kneel tonight with the old lady."

Su Wenjun said, "It's okay, I can still kneel."

Su Shikang looked at him sideways, and the guests all came to persuade him. Su Shikang saw Su Wenjun kneeling there pretendingly, no matter how much he persuaded him, he couldn't get up.

He suddenly smiled.

How ridiculous, this man had just rushed over from Shanghai, and had barely spared a little time away from his wife and children to attend his mother's funeral.

"It's okay, Aunt Li, let him kneel down, and I'll take you out."

He looked calmer than Su Wenjun.

Aunt Li let out an "Ai" and followed Su Shikang out of the door.

Su Shikang saw off Aunt Li, and then stood outside the door to see off all the guests. It seemed that he, Su Wenjun, couldn't escape this tragedy.

When he came back, Su Wenjun was still kneeling inside.

Su Shikang walked in step by step, and stood in front of Su Wenjun, his blood-red eyes swept over him, and then fell on the word "filial piety" on his arm.

"Do you think you are worthy of this word?"

He leaned slightly, hooked the filial note with his index finger, then pulled it, and held it tightly in his palm.

At that moment, he didn't want to pay attention to any etiquette or rules.

Seeing Su Wenjun kneeling there, he felt sick to his stomach and wanted to vomit.

Su Wenjun raised his eyes and stared at him too.

"What do you want to do?"

"...what do I want to do?"

With a hiss, Xiaotiao was directly pulled off by Su Shikang, held tightly in his palm, his whole arm trembling.

"Because there are guests here, I gave County Mayor Su enough face, but I still don't understand, what are you doing when you come back? A hypocritical trick?"

"Shut up!" Su Wenjun reprimanded: "Your grandma is lying in front of you, do you have to make her feel uneasy?"

"When grandma was alive, you didn't let her live. Now that she's dead, you tell me to let a dead person die? I ask you... If grandma didn't die, wouldn't you come back at all? You've been waiting This day, right?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

Su Shikang suddenly smiled: "I'm talking nonsense? It's not me talking nonsense, it's grandma who is lying to me all the time."

"I have been away from Pengchenghe for three years. During those three years, my grandma called me every year and told me that you would come back every week, and you would bring a lot of things with you every time you came back. She told me not to worry, and not to get angry with you. But you never came back to take a look at her, even during Chinese New Year, did you?"

"And our last phone call a few days ago." Su Shikang wanted to laugh as he spoke, but he didn't have much strength, so he could barely stand upright by supporting the pillar next to him.

"Grandma said... your dad came back a few days ago, and brought a lot of wild lilies that grandma likes! I actually believed it when I heard it, but I didn't expect..." His eyes changed again, He became vicious, "I didn't expect your family of three to go to Shanghai. Oh no, it should be a family of four. Speaking of which, I haven't congratulated you yet. My good father, congratulations on giving birth to the heir of the Su family."

"You...you actually..."

"I'm not an idiot!"

"..."

"But do you know? Grandma is a big fool. She has been looking forward to you at home all day, year after year. Why can't you come back and see? Why can't you pity her?"

Su Shikang said that his emotions had collapsed in the end, and he even knelt down on the ground, facing Su Wenjun, his hands tremblingly clutching Su Wenjun's collar, and his meticulous white shirt was a mess.

"Grandma did something wrong, but you have hated and hated it too much. You are living so well now, with both children and children. Why don't you forgive her? Why do you still hate her? Why are you so cruel? Why..."

"What did I do wrong again? You must be disgusting to give birth to me with a woman you don't love? So you just abandoned me and grandma...Su Wenjun, you have no heart! You don't..."

"Shi Kang, your grandma told you everything, didn't she?"

"……Yes."

Su Shikang tried his best to calm himself down, and then slowly let go of the hand holding Su Wenjun's collar. He hung his head, and because he had no strength, he could only stand up slowly.

"I sympathize with what happened to you when you were young, but it doesn't affect me hating you. I should never forgive you."