Chapter 812 - 781: A Bit Desolate
Xu Chunliang confirmed the location and asked Pu Jian to come pick him up. When Pu Jian heard they were going to the crematorium, he said it was unlucky and simply tossed the car keys to Xu Chunliang. Anyway, he still had a gas car, and lately he didn’t use the electric one much. He told Xu Chunliang to return it whenever he left, with only one condition: don’t forget to have it washed before giving it back.
Xu Chunliang drove to the crematorium that Chen Zhiyun had mentioned. The trip went smoothly enough.
By the time he arrived, the sky was overcast and a light rain was drifting down.
At the ashes collection office, he saw Chen Zhiyun waiting. A rather delicate-looking young woman, dressed plainly, cradling a powdered milk tin as she waited to collect her brother’s ashes.
Because Chen Jianxin had died suddenly, and not a normal death, and because there were no other men in the family, Chen Zhiyun had talked it over with her older sister and decided to keep everything simple: have him cremated locally and then take the ashes back to their hometown for burial.
Judging from the scene, the Chen Family didn’t have any relatives or friends around; only Chen Zhiyun was there waiting. Everyone else who was waiting to collect ashes was surrounded by a whole family. The contrast only made her situation look even more desolate.
Xu Chunliang walked over and stated who he was. He was here under the banner of being Chen Jianxin’s friend, though he and Chen Jianxin hardly counted as friends. In the past, he’d even beaten Chen Jianxin up over that whole Zhao Xiaohui business. But now Chen Jianxin was dead, and even Zhao Xiaohui had let it go—what was there left for him to hold on to?
Men like Chen Jianxin, with questionable character, are hardly rare in society. Not everyone is born with a golden key in their mouth; people like Chen Jianxin, born poor, are the majority. In order to change their fate, they have no choice but to struggle and work hard. Some, impatient to change their destiny, stray onto the wrong path and even resort to desperate measures.
Xu Chunliang offered his condolences, telling her to accept fate and move on. Chen Zhiyun thanked him. After all, from the time of her brother’s accident until now, this was the only "friend" who’d come to offer sympathy. That too had to do with the kind of person Chen Jianxin had been. Because he’d come from a poor background, he did things by any means necessary and was despised by those around him. A man who could hand over his own girlfriend to someone else—how could he possibly have any true friends?
Xu Chunliang glanced at the screen display. Chen Jianxin was still in the queue waiting to go into the furnace. He took out Zhao Xiaohui’s bank card and handed it to Chen Zhiyun, saying, "When your brother was alive, he lent someone a sum of money. It’s all deposited in this card. The PIN is written on this piece of paper."
Chen Zhiyun looked at the card but didn’t take it. "My brother would never lend money to anyone. Don’t try to trick me. I’m not taking it."
Seeing she wasn’t the type to grab for money, Xu Chunliang sighed. "You should still take it. It’s someone’s way of showing their feelings."
Chen Zhiyun asked, "Who asked you to pass this on to me?"
Xu Chunliang thought to himself that this couldn’t really be hidden, since the account holder was Zhao Xiaohui. He lowered his voice and said, "Your brother’s ex-girlfriend."
Chen Zhiyun said, "Hardly easy for her, still having a bit of old feeling for my brother. I can’t accept this money. She just wants to buy herself some peace of mind."
From her words, Xu Chunliang heard the hatred toward Zhao Xiaohui. He thought this little girl hated the woman for no reason at all—after all, it was her brother who’d set her up back then. But then again, family will always side with family. If Chen Zhiyun didn’t speak up for her own brother, she certainly wasn’t going to speak up for an outsider.
Since Chen Zhiyun refused to take the card, and since he hadn’t fulfilled Zhao Xiaohui’s commission, Xu Chunliang felt awkward about just walking away. The main thing was he thought Chen Zhiyun was too pitiful—no one there to help her at all. He asked her if there was anything she needed help with.
Chen Zhiyun shook her head. The girl was still quite stubborn.
Xu Chunliang took in her clothes: so plain they were almost rustic. According to what Zhao Xiaohui had said, Chen Jianxin came from a bad family background, and once he started working he took on the duty of earning money to support the household. After Zhao Xiaohui saw through his ugly side, he could no longer get any benefit from her, so he turned to cling to the big tree that was Liang Wenjing.
Liang Wenjing was far more seasoned than Zhao Xiaohui. She was willing to spend money on Chen Jianxin, but it was nowhere near as easy for him to achieve a leap in class through her. That was why he ended up being bought off by others.
Before coming, Xu Chunliang had prepared two options. He’d checked that Zhao Xiaohui’s card held a hundred thousand yuan, so he had withdrawn a hundred thousand in cash ahead of time and put it in a bag, along with a list of many names. To make the matter look genuine, he wrote down people like Pu Jian and Chen Qianfan. If Chen Zhiyun refused to take Zhao Xiaohui’s card, he would have to use the second method to give her the money.
He handed over the money to her. Of course, Chen Zhiyun asked where it came from. He told her that it had been pooled together by friends, and the list of names was all there.
Although she was somewhat suspicious, she really did need money right now. After declining a few times, she still accepted it.
She carefully put away the list of names, saying that she would definitely repay the money in the future.
At that moment, the notice came to collect Chen Jianxin’s ashes. Xu Chunliang went with her. She’d been quite strong up to then, but the moment she saw her brother’s ashes, she could no longer hold herself together. Tears burst forth like a flood from a breached dam.
Seeing her crying uncontrollably, Xu Chunliang helped put Chen Jianxin’s ashes into the powdered milk tin. He couldn’t help but feel that Chen Jianxin was truly tragic—dead and not even afforded a proper urn.
In fact, it wasn’t that Chen Zhiyun was stingy; she was simply thorough in her thinking. She still had to take her brother’s ashes back to their hometown today. If she were carrying an urn, she would probably run into all kinds of trouble.
After he packed the ashes, Xu Chunliang handed the milk tin to her. Still crying, she hugged her brother’s ashes and walked out.
Xu Chunliang reminded her that she needed to burn the yellow paper she’d brought. Chen Zhiyun had only brought a two-inch photo of her brother. She set it on top of the milk tin and kowtowed to him.
Watching, even Xu Chunliang felt a pang of pity. Good thing he’d come today, or the girl’s misery would have been too much to bear.
After burning the yellow paper, Chen Zhiyun picked up the milk powder tin and was about to go out to hail a cab to the train station when Xu Chunliang took the initiative to offer to drive her.
Chen Zhiyun hesitated a bit. After all, she was carrying ashes; would people feel it was unlucky? Xu Chunliang reminded her that it was hard to catch a taxi around here.
Xu Chunliang personally drove Chen Zhiyun all the way to the train station. When she was leaving, she held her brother’s ashes and gave Xu Chunliang a deep bow. "Brother Xu, thank you."
Xu Chunliang said, "No need to be so polite. Hurry home and give your brother a proper burial. Be careful on the road, and give me a call when you arrive."
With tears in her eyes, Chen Zhiyun took her leave.
Xu Chunliang had more or less completed Zhao Xiaohui’s task. He briefly told Zhao Xiaohui what had happened. Just as Chen Zhiyun said, Zhao Xiaohui gave that money simply to ease her conscience; she didn’t care whether the Chen Family appreciated it or not. Fortunately, Xu Chunliang was thoughtful and came up with a flexible way to get Chen Zhiyun to accept the money.
Xu Chunliang was driving while talking on the phone. When the light ahead turned red, he stepped on the brake. He did bring his car to a stop, but the car behind him didn’t and slammed right into him.
The hit caught Xu Chunliang off guard. Luckily, it wasn’t too serious. He got out and saw that the car behind was a black Genesis GV80.
Inside sat a ponytailed beauty. She was clearly startled as well; it wasn’t until Xu Chunliang knocked on her window that she pushed open the door and got out.
"I’m sorry, I was following too close."
Xu Chunliang didn’t make a fuss. He checked his rear bumper; nothing major, just some paint scraped off. He looked at that Genesis GV80 again—its damage was much worse, part of the front bumper had even come loose. For all that this Korean-made thing looked imposing, the quality wasn’t much.
The ponytailed woman took the initiative and suggested, "Why don’t we settle this privately?"
Xu Chunliang smiled and said, "And how exactly would we settle it privately?"
"I’ll pay you a thousand yuan."
Xu Chunliang wiped his rear bumper with a car cloth; the damage really wasn’t serious. He waved his hand cheerfully and said, "Forget it, let’s each go our own way. If we keep this up, we’ll jam up traffic."
But the woman insisted that Xu Chunliang leave a phone number. Xu Chunliang felt it wasn’t necessary, so she stuffed one of her business cards into his hand.
Xu Chunliang glanced at her business card—Bai Lan.
During this May Day holiday, Dongzhou Barbecue reached a new peak in popularity. Dongzhou Barbecue City also managed to open during the holiday, instantly pushing Dongzhou Barbecue to an unprecedented height. According to incomplete statistics, during the May Day period, Dongzhou’s tourist numbers and per capita tourist spending both hit record highs. Dongzhou Culture and Tourism, long ranked third from the bottom in Pinghai Province, might very well leap straight into the top three.
Faced with such a gratifying situation, everyone from top to bottom was full of joy. After finally getting through the busy May Day holiday, Director Fu Guomin of the Culture and Tourism Bureau managed to squeeze out a day to return to the Capital City to visit his family.
On his way back, Fu Guomin contacted Xu Chunliang and invited him to a meal.
Xu Chunliang tactfully declined Fu Guomin’s invitation. The man had finally come back once; he should be spending time with his wife and kids. What was the point of him tagging along and playing gooseberry?
On this matter, however, Fu Guomin was very insistent. He said they would be eating at Dongzhou Restaurant that evening, that the gathering was organized by Li Xiumei, and that it was specifically at her request that he invite Xu Chunliang.
Hearing him put it that way, Xu Chunliang couldn’t very well refuse and agreed to go that evening.
When Xu Chunliang arrived at Dongzhou Restaurant, Li Xiumei came out to greet him right away and said with a smile, "Director Xu, how come you came to the Capital City and didn’t even give me a call? Did I do something wrong and offend you somehow?"
There was a reason she said that. The last time Xu Chunliang came, the new deputy director of the Beijing Office, Qin Xinli, had deliberately downgraded the VIP treatment he was supposed to receive. Hearing from Fu Guomin that Xu Chunliang had already been in the Capital City for a while and that this time he hadn’t chosen to stay at Dongzhou Restaurant, she figured he must have taken it to heart.
Xu Chunliang said with a smile, "Sister Li, you’re overthinking it. I came to the Capital this time on personal business, so I didn’t go to the Beijing Office. Actually, I wanted to, but I was worried people would gossip."
Li Xiumei said, "Since when do you care about what other people think? In my eyes, you’ve always been the type to go your own way."
Xu Chunliang said, "Sister Li means I’m an oddball."
Li Xiumei giggled, led Xu Chunliang inside, and told him that Fu Guomin had already arrived, and that also attending tonight’s banquet were Qian Aijun, director of the Beijing Office, and deputy director Qin Xinli.
Hearing that Qin Xinli would be there too, Xu Chunliang felt a bit irritated. If he’d known earlier, he would have turned this down.