The story of Rose starts with being a brother

Chapter 293 The Real Death Countdown Plan

January is the coldest time of winter. The weather in Shanghai is gloomy today and the weather forecast says it will snow lightly today.

Sheshan Catholic Church, whose full name is Sheshan Christian Basilica of Our Lady, is also called Sheshan Cathedral of Our Lady or Sheshan Basilica of Our Lady.

This church is known as the largest cathedral in the Far East and enjoys the same status in the Catholic world as Notre Dame de Paris and São Paulo Cathedral in Brazil.

The main building of the church is a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles, and it also incorporates some traditional Chinese architectural techniques. The exterior walls are built with red bricks and the top is covered with green glazed tiles. The 17-meter-high dome in the center symbolizes the loftiness of heaven, and the symmetrical bell towers on both sides point directly to the sky.

And today, Zhou Chongguang's funeral will be held in this magnificent and sacred place.

When Jian Xi and his group hurried over, there were already many people with the same purpose as them entering the church one after another.

Everyone was dressed in black or dark-colored clothes, with a small white chrysanthemum on the left side of their chest. They looked solemn, sometimes lowering their heads to whisper, and then shaking their heads and sighing regretfully.

The closer we got to the church, the heavier the depressing and sad mood became.

Lin Xiao held Jian Xi's hand tightly and followed Gu Li and the others. She had cried with her best friends before coming here, and although she had no tears to shed now, the pain in her heart did not ease at all.

On the way here, she even thought it was just a prank by Zhou Chongguang, but when she actually saw the church, she knew something really happened.

A good friend actually passed away.

She remembered the night of Gu Li's birthday. A lot of things happened that night. Nan Xiang left Gu Li, she had a fight with Jian Xi, Gu Li's father was in a car accident, and when she went to the hospital, she saw Zhou Chongguang lying on the hospital bed.

The writer who had always used illness as an excuse to delay his manuscript submission actually had stomach cancer this time.

It was also that night that Zhou Chongguang said that he hoped she could play a song at his funeral - "Auld Lang Syne", which was his and Gong Ming's favorite song.

But now, Lin Xiao looked up at the church that seemed to have no end in front of him, and wondered if he would have another chance to play this song.

Just as they walked up the stairs and were about to reach the church door, a familiar figure appeared in front of them.

"Gu Yuan? Why are you here?"

Gu Li and Tang Wanru, who were walking in front, were the first to see Gu Yuan at the door. Gu Li was just slightly stunned, then lowered his eyes and said nothing. However, Tang Wanru asked subconsciously.

Gu Yuan, who was also wearing a black suit and a white chrysanthemum on his chest, seemed to have been waiting here for a long time. When he saw Tang Wanru asking, he replied, "The Ye family and the Gong family are old friends. Zhou Chongguang is Gong Ming's younger brother and also a member of the Gong family. I am here to attend his funeral on behalf of the Ye family."

After all, Gong Ming had come to his engagement ceremony, and now that it was Brother Gong Ming's funeral, it was natural for him to come as well.

However, Gu Yuan did not mention the engagement ceremony again. After all, the person who was most seriously injured at the ceremony was Gu Li in front of him.

Seeing that the other party lowered his head and didn't look at him, Gu Yuan moved his throat slightly, took the initiative to walk forward and whispered to Gu Li: "Gu Li, are you... okay?"

"Ah."

Gu Li nodded, as if she had a thousand words to say, but now, she could only respond like this for the time being.

Gu Yuan was not disappointed seeing this. He had anticipated this before coming here today. He was the first one to leave at the ceremony and left Gu Li there. Afterwards, when he calmed down, he felt regretful.

Isn’t it just that you saw a picture of your girlfriend sleeping with another man?
What's the big deal?
If you love her, you must accept everything about her!
But the relationship was indeed a bit strained at the time, and after the conflict, the two never apologized to each other or asked for reconciliation, so he could only suppress his impulse and deal with his mother instead.

In addition, with Jian Xi passing on the message, the two people who both felt sorry for each other had long since stopped harboring resentment. However, meeting in such a place at this moment, it was really not appropriate to exchange pleasantries.

We can't just dance in public like we did at the engagement ceremony, right? That would be too disrespectful to the atmosphere of the funeral.

After Gu Yuan briefly greeted his good brothers behind him, he quietly replaced Tang Wanru's position next to Gu Li, and Tang Wanru also followed Nan Xiang.

A few people followed the crowd into the nave of the church, and what caught their eyes was the huge black-and-white portrait of the deceased surrounded by many white carnations, which was placed at the front of the rows of benches.

In the portrait, Zhou Chongguang looked calmly, staring straight ahead, as if he was watching the people coming in from the door to attend his funeral. Perhaps he was just a boy who liked to act cute, because he had no expression on his face in the portrait, but there seemed to be a faint smile at the corner of his mouth.

As soon as they saw this portrait, everyone who was already depressed felt even more depressed, and the feeling of separation between life and death became stronger.

A young life was lost, and the momentary sense of loss comes to mind with this photo.

Especially in front of the portrait, there was a coffin covered with white cloth. At first glance, it looked like just a table, but everyone knew that Zhou Chongguang, who had been laughing and joking together not long ago, was now lying inside.

Subconsciously, Lin Xiao held Jian Xi's hand tightly. Jian Xi had misunderstood his relationship with Zhou Chongguang, and they had even broken up because of it. After they reconciled, Lin Xiao said that he would introduce Zhou Chongguang to Jian Xi, but because he was afraid that Jian Xi would misunderstand him again, he put the matter on hold. He didn't expect that this put would lead to their separation forever.

Gu Yuan and Gu Li, who had been keeping a distance in front, also subconsciously held hands. After seeing the scene in front of them, they couldn't help but feel a little sad.

Gu Li thought of her father's death a few months ago, and the painful memories that had finally been smoothed out by time suddenly came flooding back.

After attending two funerals within half a year, one for his father and one for his friend, Gu Li, who had lived for more than 20 years, suddenly realized that death was right beside him.

The same was true for Gu Yuan. He also thought of the funeral of Gu Li's father, and suddenly felt even more distressed for Gu Li. The biggest feeling he had from these two funerals was that in the face of life and death, what did the unpleasant past between him and Gu Li matter?

Cricket cuckolding is not a big deal. It is enough to be able to be with the one you love.

Death is always a heavy topic.

After a brief pause, the few people, feeling more heavy-hearted and complicated, sat down in pairs on the church benches like the other people attending the funeral. Jian Xi and Lin Xiao sat together, Gu Li and Gu Yuan sat in front of them, and Nan Xiang and Tang Wanru sat behind them.

The church was unusually quiet, with only the chaotic but light sounds of footsteps and the rustling of clothes against pews. Everyone sat down silently, waiting for the priest to preside over the funeral in the dull atmosphere of regret and remembrance for the deceased couple.

However, Jian Xi's eyes became strange from the moment he walked into the church and saw Zhou Chongguang's portrait in front of him.

Even though he was sitting with Lin Xiao at this moment, he still squinted his eyes and looked forward from time to time, with other thoughts in his mind.

He knew that the funeral in the original drama was a scam and Zhou Chongguang was not dead!
In fact, when Kitty called him in the morning, he began to suspect whether this was the plot in the original drama, but he didn't know whether the time matched, so he couldn't be sure.

After all, the current plot has deviated because of him, and many things have developed differently.

Jian Xi did not take Lin Quan to study abroad like his original self in the original drama, which has changed the course of many things. He remembered that in the original drama, Lin Xiao and Gu Li were still on vacation abroad when they learned of Zhou Chongguang's death.

The Roman vacation in the original drama was a strategy arranged by Gong Ming to lure the tiger away from the mountain.

Several people who were very familiar with Zhou Chongguang were transferred away, and then Zhou Chongguang's death was faked and the funeral was held.

Because "ME" also had a huge financial loophole, and this financial loophole was almost fatal to the Gong family. The legal representative of "ME" was Gong Xun, that is, Mr. Gong. Once "ME" collapsed, Gong Xun would have to go to jail and the Gong family would go bankrupt.

But fortunately, the Gong family has Zhou Chongguang, Gong Xun's biological son who has no blood relationship with him, and Gong Ming's half-brother, who has stomach cancer!

It is a bad thing that a son has stomach cancer, but everything has two sides. When the Gong family is in crisis, it would be great if a son who can take the blame and save the situation had stomach cancer!
So Gong Xun made the decision and Gong Ming executed it. In the original drama, the legal representative of "ME" was changed to Zhou Chongguang, and then this fake funeral was arranged to kill the legal representative who was responsible for the financial loopholes of "ME", thereby avoiding this disaster for the Gong family.

Well... this is the real death countdown plan that Gong Ming mentioned.

Of course, for this death countdown plan, it doesn’t mean that the younger brother will really die. In the original drama, Zhou Chongguang’s operation was successful, but later for the sake of this fake funeral, it was announced to the public that the operation was not successful and the younger brother still died.

However, the real Zhou Chongguang reappeared in the future with a new identity after undergoing minor plastic surgery and became a contracted model of "ME".

In this way, not only did the younger brother not have to die, nor did he have to become a jailer due to financial loopholes, he could also start a new life with a new identity. At the same time, the crisis of the Gong family was also resolved. This was a perfect plan that killed two birds with one stone.

This is what Gong Ming, as an elder brother, did for Ou Doudou, for the village... uh, for the family!
Of course, there are a lot of bugs in this. The fact that the company's financial loopholes may not necessarily exempt the company from legal liability due to the natural death of the legal representative is enough to overturn this damn death countdown plan.

Moreover, according to the timeline of the original drama, "ME" changed its legal representative after Zhou Chongguang was hospitalized for gastric cancer. Anyone with a discerning eye would know that this was done to avoid debts, and it would be difficult to justify it in court.

Younger fraudsters know to use their grandfather, who is over 75 years old, as the legal representative of the fraud company...

Therefore, Gong Ming’s plan itself would be difficult to succeed under normal circumstances.

We will not mention many other bugs for now, after all, the structure of the original world is built on bugs.

Although Jian Xi felt speechless, he expressed his respect. After all, his time travel was the biggest BUG.

But he is still not sure whether this funeral is really the same funeral in the original drama.

Because the timing doesn't match!
It’s not the time of the funeral. He heard Kitty on the phone in the morning saying that Zhou Chongguang had the surgery on Christmas Day last month. In the original drama, Zhou Chongguang had the surgery earlier because in the original drama, the other party appeared at the engagement ceremony on Christmas Day.

Moreover, in the original drama, Zhou Chongguang decided to have the surgery and give it a try because he fell in love with Lin Xiao and thought that there were still things in this world worth his attachment, hoping to create a better future.

But now he is not the useless person he used to be, and he did not quietly quit to study abroad. Lin Xiao and Zhou Chongguang do not have any emotional connection. Even if Zhou Chongguang simply did not want to die and had the surgery, would it be successful?
Moreover, the surgery was delayed for such a long time, and was done much later than the original drama, so it is possible that the ending would be different from the original drama.

Maybe Zhou Chongguang really died just by trying it?
This is also what Jian Xi is suspicious about now. Is Zhou Chongguang lying in the coffin in front?
Moreover, there is one biggest doubt - this funeral came too suddenly.

In the morning, when Kitty called Lin Xiao, she explained that because Zhou Chongguang had not woken up after the operation, Gong Ming had been looking for experts to discuss methods out of concern, and he also did not allow outsiders to disturb his brother, so he did not reveal the news to others.

But by the time others found out the news, they had already received invitations to the funeral.

Even Gu Yansheng’s funeral was not handled so neatly!

Although it was a heavy and solemn atmosphere, Jian Xi still had some thoughts of disrespecting the dead.

Although the dead are the greatest, if they are not dead, then doesn’t it matter?
Moreover, in the original drama, Zhou Chongguang is Jian Xi's love rival... Although the original drama is the original drama and reality is reality, it doesn't matter. The dog man has always been a person with flexible stance, and he has studied dialectics in depth. He can always find a pretext to accuse someone of a crime!
Even if we take a step back, can't he empathize with the original character in the original drama? Who made him a boy with empathy?

Just as Jian Xi was thinking, the priest began to hold mass next to the portrait in front of the church.

"The Lord of Mercy dwells in heaven, granting the dead to rest in peace under his wings..."

Everyone attending the funeral listened silently, with only the priest's voice ringing in the church. If it weren't for the uniform dark clothing and the funeral arrangements in front, it might have been more like a worship service.

Gu Li was also immersed in this atmosphere at the moment, with her head down and a slightly depressed mood, but her hands were still tightly clasped with Gu Yuan beside her.

However, at this moment, a head popped out from between Gu Li and Gu Yuan.

"Old Gu, do you want a gift? If you want a gift, just ask and I'll give it to you later!"

The dog man sitting behind the two of them stretched his dog head over and spoke in a low voice, which was very much like the scene when they were in school where the talkative student at the back desk harassed the student at the front desk who was listening attentively in class.

(End of this chapter)