My Taoist nun girlfriend is from the Republic of China era, 1942.

Chapter 163 Death and Security

The days flew by and it was already the end of November.

Zhao Qiang's mother battled cancer for two years, but ultimately succumbed to it...

The funeral was held in Zhao Qiang's rural hometown. The mourning hall was set up on a large flat area at the entrance of the village, with white wreaths placed from the doorway all the way inside.

Zhao Qiang was dressed in all black, his eyes were red, and he looked as if all his energy had been drained away.

He didn't cry; he just stood there numbly, bowing repeatedly to the relatives and friends who came to pay their respects.

Qi Lili followed beside him, methodically arranging various matters and greeting the guests.

Chen Xiaomiao didn't know what to say.

In her memory, death was a common occurrence.

Those who starved to death, those who died of disease, those who were killed by artillery shells... their bodies were piled up by the roadside and eaten by wild dogs, with no one to collect them.

But seeing Zhao Qiang's dejected appearance, she felt a tightness in her chest.

She took an envelope from Lu Yuan, walked up to Qi Lili, and awkwardly stuffed it into her hand.

"Sister-in-law, please accept my condolences to you and Brother Qiang."

On the day of the funeral, the weather turned bad, and a light drizzle began to fall.

A cold wind, carrying raindrops, lashed against people's faces, chilling them to the bone.

As the coffin was slowly lowered into the dug grave, and the yellow earth piled up into a mound, Zhao Qiang, who had been holding on, finally collapsed.

This seven-foot-tall man, who had served in the army and was now a father, knelt down in the mud with a thud and wailed, calling out "Mom" indistinctly.

Seeing her husband cry, Qi Lili couldn't help but cry too. She held her daughter, Jasmine, in her arms and shed tears with her.

Lu Yuan stepped forward, said nothing, but forcefully pulled Zhao Qiang up from the mud and patted the mud off his brother's knees.

Chen Xiaomiao silently opened her umbrella and sheltered them from the sun.

Rainwater slid down the edge of the umbrella, like a string of beads that had broken off.

No matter the era, the most important events in life are nothing more than life and death.

……

After the funeral, Zhao Qiang accompanied Lu Yuan to the capital to handle some business.

At night, a dim floor lamp illuminated the living room of the villa.

Zhao Qiang was lounging on the sofa, with a bottle of Moutai and two plates of snacks on the coffee table in front of him.

He was already six or seven parts drunk, his cheeks flushed.

With a "gulp," he downed another glass of baijiu, letting out a long, hot breath.

"Damn... time really flies." Zhao Qiang held his wine glass, staring at the ceiling. "Yuanzi, can you believe it? We're both fathers now."

Lu Yuan sat opposite him, his expression calm: "We're not old, so stop acting all old."

“It’s different.” Zhao Qiang shook his head and said to himself, “Before, I always felt like I hadn’t grown up, and I was always clumsy in everything I did. Even after becoming a father, I’m still the same.”

But after my mom left... it's like I suddenly understood everything.

He paused, his voice lowering.

"She used to nag me all the time, complaining that I spent money recklessly and that I was never home... I found her annoying, but now I don't even have the chance to hear her nag me anymore..."

Lu Yuan didn't respond, but silently filled Zhao Qiang's empty glass with wine.

He understood that such moments of profound realization were mostly the product of the combined effects of alcohol and sadness. When he sobered up tomorrow, life would still go on as usual, and he would still have all the troubles.

Zhao Qiang rambled on and on, from being beaten for stealing persimmons from his neighbor when he was a child, to the trouble he caused when he was in the army. In the end, his voice grew softer and softer, his head tilted to the side, and he drifted off to sleep on the sofa.

Lu Yuan asked the housekeeper to get Zhao Qiang a blanket, and went up to the second-floor terrace alone.

The evening breeze carried the chill of early winter in the north, clearing one's mind.

Lu Yuan had experienced the same realization Zhao Qiang had made six years ago.

The night his parents left, he felt as if he had grown up overnight and was forced to shoulder everything.

But once he got to college, he realized that deep down he was still a kid.

So-called maturity is nothing more than a protective shell shaped by experience, a disguise relative to one's peers. Perhaps a person never truly grows up.

So even today, Lu Yuan is unsure whether he has truly matured and grown up...

Thinking about this attitude, I felt a little empty inside.

Lu Yuan took out his phone and skillfully dialed a familiar number.

The phone rang twice before being answered, and a furry head appeared on the video feed.

"Why are you calling again? Didn't we just video chat two hours ago?"

Chen Xiaomiao sounded as if she had been woken from a sweet dream, her voice still groggy and soft.

Looking at the sleepy face on the screen, Lu Yuan exhaled a faint breath of alcohol: "I want to see you and Yangyang."

"Here..."

Chen Xiaomiao turned the camera around and aimed it at her son, who was sleeping soundly in the crib.

"Have you seen enough?"

The camera then panned back to Chen Xiaomiao, who leaned closer, her delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed: "You've been drinking again?"

"I didn't drink much." Lu Yuan leaned against the railing. "Qiangzi was in a bad mood, so I drank a little with him."

"Oh……"

Chen Xiaomiao didn't ask any more questions; she could understand the pain of losing a loved one.

She yawned, rubbed her eyes, and shifted into a comfortable position on the bed, resting her chin on a pillow.

"How long are you going to stay in the capital this time?"

"It's still unclear, it will probably take a few more days."

"Then finish quickly and come back early."

She seemed to suddenly remember something: "Oh right, there's something I forgot to tell you. Sun Yu called me today and said she's getting married on New Year's Day."

Lu Yuan nodded: "Okay, if we have time, we'll go over there."

"Okay," Chen Xiaomiao responded, then hesitated before adding, "There's something else..."

"explain."

"It's... Sun Yu's man, that guy named Zhou Yi. Sun Yu said he's currently preparing for some kind of... large-scale comprehensive supermarket, and it's in the final stages of restocking. It will be open next month."

Although Chen Xiaomiao was simple-minded, he could still understand the hidden meanings in Sun Yu's words.

It all comes down to money...

Lu Yuan smiled and suddenly suggested, "Why don't you invest in Zhou Yi Supermarket?"

"Me?" Chen Xiaomiao pointed to her nose, looking completely bewildered. "How would I know how to do this!"

"Give it a try." Lu Yuan's smile widened. "You can handle the money with Lü Xin. As for legal issues like the contract..."

He hesitated for a moment, intending to say that he would let his lawyer handle it, but then changed his mind.

"Let's find Song Jia. She opened a law firm, so we can give her a business opportunity."

"middle……"

Seeing that the man wasn't joking, Chen Xiaomiao nodded solemnly and carefully wrote it down.

"It's getting late, go to sleep, or your son will wake you up again at night and keep you awake."

"Well, you should get some rest too."

After hanging up the video call, Lu Yuan stood on the terrace for a while longer.

Without that thin piece of paper as evidence, he and Chen Xiaomiao are nothing in a legal sense.

Letting the girl hold something in her own hands is a way to give her some security.

Perhaps you'll never need this kind of protection in your lifetime, but it's better than nothing.

(End of this chapter)