Chapter 281 White Crane
The summer of 1994 seemed to be all rain, and the air was mixed with acrid fishy and musty smells.

This kind of weather made Lin Zihao a little annoyed.

He didn't know why, even though the college entrance examination was only ten days away, he could hardly concentrate on his studies. In fact, the classes had stopped long ago. He stayed in the classroom with a girl in his mind. He always felt inexplicably restless and wondered whether he should find time to go to Hongshan.

After school, Lin Zihao and several friends including Huo Xiaoguang walked out of the school gate holding umbrellas and waved goodbye. When they turned around, they heard Huo Xiaoguang calling him: "Hao, your dad is here to pick you up!" Lin Zihao turned his head and saw his father's car parked across the street, so he walked over, but halfway through, he saw Zhang Yunqi getting out of his father's car.

Lin Zihao stopped walking. He couldn't figure out what connection his father had with Zhang Yunqi. He didn't run over until Zhang Yunqi walked away and knocked on the car window: "Dad."

The car window rolled down quickly, revealing Lin Yongqiang's face, which was extremely pale, with an indescribable sense of dejection, and the hand holding the cigarette seemed to be shaking. Lin Zihao had never seen his father like this before, so he asked, "Dad, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, maybe I didn't get enough rest last night. Is it time to go home from school?" Lin Yongqiang forced a smile on his face, then patted the seat next to him: "Come on, what do you want to eat tonight?"

As soon as Lin Zihao got in the car, he asked, "How is the seafood in Nanhai Fishing Village? By the way, Dad, why is Zhang Yunqi in your car? Do you know him?"

Lin Yongqiang said while steering: "I know him."

Lin Zihao was a little surprised: "How do you know him?"

Lin Yongqiang asked: "Why are you asking about this?"

Lin Zihao said: "It's just a casual question."

Lin Yongqiang smiled and took two puffs of his cigarette: "It would be fine if I just asked casually. Whether you hide it from me or not, I can guess that you hate him and you felt uncomfortable when you saw him get in my car. It's all because of that first meeting, right?"

At this point, Lin Yongqiang lit a cigarette, but the smile on his face had an indescribable sense of decadence: "If it were before, I would say that this is your classmate, you should have a good relationship with him, compete harmoniously, and get along with him in a friendly manner. Now, I don't want to say this nonsense, and you won't listen even if I say it. Children are stubborn and naive, which is understandable, but can I ask you to promise me one thing?"

"what?"

Lin Yongqiang reached out and touched Lin Zihao's head: "I used to advise you to stay away from Chu Jian, but now, I beg you to stay away from Chu Jian."

"why?"

"Don't ask why. There are not so many whys in this world. You live a life of luxury and enjoy seafood feasts as a daily routine. If you have time during the summer vacation, go back to your hometown and see what the young people of your age in the village eat every day and what they dig in the soil. But has anyone ever told them why they were born with such a fate?"

Lin Yongqiang's tone was a little heavier. He just didn't want to tell his son that Zhang Yunqi's background, power and wealth in Jiangchuan were not something they could afford to offend.

It is said that there are eighteen layers of hell underground, and what about the ground? There may be more than one hundred and eighty layers. This may be too cruel for a child, but is Lin Zihao still a child? Zhang Yunqi is one year younger than him!
Lin Yongqiang looked at the drizzling rain outside the window with mixed feelings. This son of his seemed like he would never grow up. He was proud and conceited, and looked at problems in a one-sided, simple and direct way. He could never learn to be as calm and restrained as Zhang Yunqi, but an 18-year-old boy should also learn to face reality.

Thinking of this, Lin Yongqiang said to Lin Zihao, who was silent and seemed to be a little emotional: "You know what? I have always wanted to be like other parents, personally send you to the examination room on the day of the college entrance examination, and then wait for you outside the school gate with your mother, and celebrate together as a family."

Lin Zihao said, "What's the big deal? On the day of the college entrance examination, you can come with my mom." Lin Yongqiang smiled and flicked the ash from his cigarette, "Maybe not. I have to go on a long trip."

Lin Zihao was stunned: "Where are you going?"

Lin Yongqiang said: "In prison."

******
Friday night is the Chu Dapeng Ascension Ceremony.

Zhang Yunqi asked for a day off, and many students in Class 156 also asked for leave. The head teacher Wang Mingzhen came, and Ji Ling also came. That night, many tables were set up in the auditorium of Hongshan Lane, the suona was sad, and the atmosphere was warm.

Before the meal started, Yang Wei approached Wang Xiaokai while cracking melon seeds and said, "I used to hear people say that it's hard to meet a family for the first time. This time, I really can't even put it into words. Alas... Anyway, it's not easy at all."

At this time, the fat man Tian Zhuangzhuang said mysteriously: "I heard from others at school that Chu Jian's father's car accident was related to his winning the lottery, and the person who sold the lottery ticket was Lin Zihao's biological father. This is really weird."

Kaizi glanced at him and said, "Don't worry about it. Don't we still have our boss Zhang? Is there anything that can't be settled in Jiangchuan?"

Zhang Yunqi felt annoyed when he heard this. He didn't want such gossip to spread around the school. It would have a bad influence on him and would be even more unfriendly to Chu Jian. He knocked on the rice bowl and said, "Kaizi, don't be so talkative. You'd better keep your mouth shut and don't let trivial things spread all over the city. The food is served, let's eat!"

After dinner, when the memorial service was held in the evening, the small courtyard of Chu Jian's house was filled with people. Chu Jian, her mother, and her two daughters knelt in front of the mourning hall. The person who read the memorial was a cadre from Hongshan Lane. He spoke in a half-Chinese, half-foreign Jiangchuan accent, praising Chu Dapeng's life and deeds, which sounded like the cry of a ghost.

The ceremony of raising the sacrifice did not end until the second half of the night. Friends and relatives all climbed onto the makeshift card table and sent Chu Dapeng off to his final journey amid laughter, cracking melon seeds and playing cards.

The burial will take place the next day.

Despite the heavy rain, the road was still crowded with villagers, sixteen people carried the coffin, and moved forward slowly in the rain. On the top of the coffin stood an old man riding a white crane, swaying in the wind and rain. Every time the pole was changed, Chu Jian, dressed in white, would hold the portrait and kneel in the rain to kowtow with his ignorant heart. The suona sounded sadly on the muddy road. When the suona stopped, the drums and cymbals sounded, echoing for a long time in the lingering thick fog and heavy rain.

After leaving Hongshan Lane, the coffin was loaded into a car and taken directly to Wangxianling Jiangchuan Xiangshan Cemetery. This is an ordinary cemetery, which is generally used to bury the ashes of ordinary people, but as long as you have money, you can also choose a tomb to bury the coffin.

When the burial took place, the heavy rain stopped for a while.

The second large-scale ban on firecrackers in 1994 had not yet affected Jiangchuan, a small southern city. Everything was done according to the practice of burial in the rural areas of southern Hunan. Dingxian timed it well, cut a knife on the neck of the rooster and threw it into the grave. After setting off a string of firecrackers, Chujian jumped in holding the portrait and burned paper and kowtowed. At that time, black clouds from the north were surging in the sky. The dying rooster struggled desperately in the grave, and the bright chicken blood was scattered all over the ground and Chujian. Everyone just looked at her, watching this girl shout three times in a row: Dad, rest in peace...

It was an ethereal voice, echoing in the empty and cold cemetery. There was no sadness, no pain, and no hatred. It even made Zhang Yunqi unable to feel love, hate, anger, ignorance, or human joy and anger.

When the coffin was lowered, Chu Jian was already kneeling in the muddy rain in front of the tomb. She hugged the portrait and bowed her head to the ground. She seemed to smell the scent of earth, a scent from another world, with a bitter, fishy and musty smell.

******
(End of this chapter)