Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Mother had been dead for 30 years and since then Jing Zhongxiu didn’t touch another woman. Jing Yichen knew about it. What he didn’t know was that his mother had been imprinted inside his father’s heart. Father believed that she was alive and on her death anniversary every year, he kept her company for food, for wine and talk.
He suddenly realized that it had been ridiculous of him to hate his father for so many years. Maybe Jing Zhongxiu hated himself more than his son.
When they reached back to the car, Jing Yichen took Ning into his arms all of a sudden. He almost suffocated her.
Tears dropped upon her face, but there were not hers.
When the bullet had pierced through Jing Yichen’s heart and lungs, he didn’t shed a tear. But he did so now.
Shangguan Ning held him tightly and kissed his face softly as if silently telling him that she was always beside him.
Jing Yichen couldn’t hold the pain in his heart. Only the warmth of Shangguan Ning’s body was able to bring him comfort.
Much later, Jing Yichen’s pain disappeared gradually. He released his wife and said the words, both to her and himself, “Ning, I will never leave you.”
I am not sure if I will be able to live on, like father, without you beside me. The world will be a place of darkness without you and I will become a walking corpse.
I am not as strong and persistent as father, so I can not lose you.
Shangguan Ning could read his mind and seemed to be able to sense the pain inside Jing Yichen. Her tears leaked out as well.
“We won’t be separated. We will always be together.”
In the evening, Jing Yichen took Shangguan Ning home and realised that the sky had turned darker. He called the Butler. “Uncle Lu, is dad home yet?”
The Butler wasn’t expecting Jing Yichen’s call. But what surprised him more was that he asked about about Jing Zhongxiu, whom he had never cared about till date.
Were his ears working well when he heard Elder Master calling the Lord “Dad”?
He hadn’t called him that for years. He had always addressed Jing Zhongxiu by his name instead.
The old Butler’s eyes were filled with tears. He said happily, “The Lord is not yet back. He has not been sleeping much recently and isn’t feeling well either. Please, Elder Master, bring him home.”
Every year on this day, it had been the Butler who brought a drunk Jing Zhongxiu back home. But this year, Jing Yichen had called him, so the Butler pushed the entire matter towards him. After all, it wasn’t a usual thing that Elder Master called and asked about the Lord of his own accord and he shouldn’t let the opportunity slip away.
He was afraid that Jing Yichen would turn down the offer and was about to try to persuade him some more when a shocking answer came from the other side of the phone, after a moment of silence. “Okay!”
Jing Yichen hung up the phone and informed Shangguan Ning before driving back to the graveyard of Family Jing.
The graveyard was located in the outskirts, quite far from the city. When he arrived there, it had turned completely dark.
Jing Yichen walked slowly upwards alongside the cobble path in the dim moonlight.
It was a graveyard, quiet and mysterious.
Jing Yichen couldn’t imagine that father was alone in this place on this day each year, getting drunk to get himself numb whilst tolerating the pain of losing his wife.
He reached his mother’s grave and found his usually well dressed father in a messed up state. He had discarded his coat on the ground. His shirt was creased and had a wine stain on it.
He looked unusually pale in the moonlight and was leaning against the gravestone as if this way he could stay a bit closer to her.
He kept mumbling. “Qing, do you feel cold here alone? Are you still angry with me? I am sorry, I was wrong. Please punish me!”
Could this be the formidable and powerful Jing Zhongxiu whom people saw every day?
In this moment, he was as fragile as a child.
Jing Yichen’s heart broke. He almost couldn’t stand still.
He took a deep breath, wiped off his own tears and strode to Jing Zhongxiu’s side.
“Dad, it is late. Time to go home.”
Jing Zhongxiu got startled hearing his voice. He lifted his hands to rub his eyes and found that it was his elder son standing in front of him rather than Butler Lu.
The alcohol had made him confused. But he still sounded very astonished. “What are you doing here?”
He wanted to stand up, but the alcohol had numbed him and he couldn’t get up.
Jing Yichen walked up to him and carried him onto his back before saying softly. “I am here to take you home.”
Although Jing Zhongxiu was completely drunk, yet he had a strong will and could figure out what was going on. He wasn’t used to being so close to his son, so despite his heavy headache and the stiffness of his body, he said, “Put me down, I can walk by myself.”
Jing Yichen didn’t let him go. Instead, he walked slowly on the path. “I remember you carrying me up here when I was young. Now it is my turn to carry you.”
When Jing Yichen was four years old, he came to spend this day with Jing Zhongxiu. He still remembered burying his mother at the age of 3. But he didn’t believe that his mother had died and abandoned him, so he didn’t want to go up. Jing Zhongxiu had to carry him up, instead.
That was the only time in thirty years of his life when his father had carried him. So he remembered the experience clearly.
Apparently, Jing Zhongxiu was also reminded of what had happened years back. But he didn’t expect that his son would still remember. So he didn’t insist on walking by himself again and allowed his son to carry him.
Jing Yichen’s eyes got moist, carrying him on his back.
His tall and strong father had apparently aged. When did he get so light? He didn’t even need to use much strength to keep him on the back.
Father was 188 cm tall and should have weighed at least 85 to 90 kilos, but he seemed to weigh just 10 or 15 kilos more than Shangguan Ning who was around 45 kilos.
Maybe Jing Zhongxiu felt his heart secured as he lay on son’s back. When Jing Yichen put him into the car, he didn’t resist and fell asleep.
Jing Yichen drove Jing Zhongxiu back to Family Jing. And then he carried Jing Zhongxiu back to the villa, all the way to the bedroom under the astonished eyes of everyone in the Family.
It was the death anniversary of Elder Master’s mother and everyone at Family Jing, including the servants and bodyguards knew about it. Elder Master always had a row with the Lord on this day of the year and the Lord always got drunk and was carried back by the Butler afterwards.
How did it become different today?
