Chapter 513: Chatting with Shangguan Zhuren

After Shi Yong and I finished the three kneelings and nine kowtows,

I unpacked all the cigarettes Shi Yong had bought.

I know Shangguan Zhuren loves smoking, so let this cute old man smoke his fill.

I lit each cigarette and stuck them into his grave mound.

His grave mound was stuck full of cigarettes.

I believe that right now, Shangguan Zhuren underground is surely smoking, a cigarette in his mouth and another in his hand.

He looked extremely happy.

I also lit a cigarette.

I told Shi Yong and Director Wang to go ahead.

I want to stay here and chat with Shangguan Zhuren.

After Shi Yong and Director Wang had left,

I sat cross-legged before the grave mound.

Looking at the tombstone still unpainted and ungilded.

I thought to myself: Shangguan Zhuren, can you hear me?

"Jianqiang is listening," Shangguan Zhuren replied, as if from the air.

"We've won, you know that, right?"

"I know, I already knew; from the time you stole back Zaocheng, I knew."

"I never thought you'd go ahead of me, missing this day of victory. Today I came specially to pay my respects to you."

"I bought you cigarettes, and also your favorite liquor."

"You down there, smoke to your heart's content, drink to your heart's content."

"Smoking, drinking. All right, Jianqiang, don't be sad; everyone dies eventually. I'm already over sixty. Death is death. Living however many years is long."

"Alas, in the end I failed to help you, falling short of becoming a burden. Jianqiang, what are your plans now?"

"As you say, Shangguan Zhuren, without your help there would be no Zhao Jianqiang today. I really don't know how to thank you."

"You are the best teacher I will forever remember." After saying that, I raised a liquor bottle.

First I poured a little liquor onto the grave mound,

then I took a sip myself.

I felt,

that Shangguan Zhuren and I are still like yesterday, sitting together drinking,

sometimes we don't need good food or good liquor,

it could be just a peanut and a bottle of sorghum liquor,

but we two drink it with gusto.

"Tell me about your future plans," Shangguan Zhuren asked beside my ear.

"From now on I have no plans either. We won, but Da Heng Group has become someone else's. Alas, after all the busyness, it ends up empty."

"Shangguan Zhuren, this is fate."

"I'm already tired; I don't want to fight anymore."

"I want to rest first."

"For now I have no plans." I said, looking into the distance.

"No plans, you brat; I still don't know you—you keep things to yourself, never speaking out unless there's something concrete."

"You want to live an ordinary life—how could that be?"

"Jianqiang, if you were an ordinary person,"

"you say, I also believe it,"

"who are you? You are Zhao Jianqiang,"

"if you live an ordinary life."

"then there is no one more formidable in this world."

"If you don't say it, I won't ask either."

"The road ahead—walk it well; I can't help you anymore."

"I'll tell you, this place is well chosen; standing high, you see far."

"I just like standing here every day to look,"

"look into the distance, look at the scenery."

"watch people cry, watch people laugh." Shangguan Zhuren took a sip of liquor.

I also saw him relax.

"Shangguan Zhuren, I ask you: how exactly did you die? Was it killed by those from Kong Shi? If so, even if Kong Shi goes to prison, I won't let him off; I'll find a way to kill him in prison." I said fiercely.

"Hey, Jianqiang, you're not done yet, are you? Old Kong doesn't have the guts. How I died isn't important; my death has nothing to do with them, so you don't need to worry about my affairs."

"Those days I was exhausted to death; death is also a kind of release."

"They also didn't have a good outcome."

"Everyone ended up like that."

"By the way, how is Xiao Fang? Why didn't she come?" Shangguan Zhuren asked, looking.

"I haven't yet told Xiao Fang about your death, Shangguan Zhuren; she's still in Sijiucheng, and Wen Han has already promised Xiao Fang to help her get into the TV station."

"I'll go to Sijiucheng in a few days; then I'll tell Xiao Fang,"

"then bring her over." I explained hurriedly.

「Xiao Fang, this child just likes to preside over things. There's nothing to be done; since Wen Han said so, let her stay and develop in Sijiucheng. Zaocheng is, after all, a small town. Xiao Fang's heart is restless—when she just graduated from university, she already wanted to develop in Sijiucheng, but I didn't agree。」

This time it fulfills her wish.

When you have time, let her come back,

If she doesn't come before me, I won't be considered dead. My soul also hasn't settled; it's just drifting around here.

Only the closest people can come to comfort my soul.

Jianqiang, Xiao Fang is already a young lady,

"My death, she will understand, she will get over this painful experience—life always involves life-and-death trials." Shangguan Zhuren told me in a halting voice.

I hurriedly said: "Shangguan Zhuren, I will definitely let Miss Xiao Fang come back as soon as possible."

I have many things to say to you.

I have many matters that need to discuss with you, but I don't know where to start.

Shangguan Zhuren, sometimes I feel empty inside,

I can't figure out, winning will be like this,

What meaning does this have?

Moreover, I have lost you.

This is where I feel the most pain.

Sometimes I feel everything is meaningless.

Really, life is like this.

In old age, aren't we just like these individual graves?

Shangguan Zhuren, can you hear me?

Tell me.

"What is the meaning of our efforts?" I called out to Shangguan Zhuren in an urgent voice.

I only heard Shangguan Zhuren give a few hearty laughs,

and then there was no sound at all.

At that moment I suddenly opened my eyes,

I found myself actually holding a wine bottle, having fallen asleep in front of Shangguan Zhuren's grave.

My communication with Shangguan Zhuren was just my dream.

We talked in the dream.

Perhaps it's because my body is weak; otherwise Shangguan Zhuren wouldn't appear in my dream.

I poured the last of the wine from the bottle onto the ground before Shangguan Zhuren's grave; I've pretty much said everything I needed to say.

I should also leave now.

When you have time, come visit Shangguan Zhuren again.

I stood up and brushed off the dust on my body.

Dreaming of Shangguan Zhuren, I felt no fear at all; instead, my heart felt warm, because Shangguan Zhuren is a good old man.

He will always protect me.

After I got up,

I took another look at Shangguan Zhuren's tomb.

I let out a long sigh of relief and then walked down from the platform.

At that moment, it was the scene of the afternoon sun about to set.

A red sun in the west slowly sank below the horizon.

A few birds flew in from afar,

because on the hill of the public cemetery there are many trees, and the birds have their nests in them.

Birds return to their nests; people return to their roots.

This is fate.

I walked through countless graves.

If life has something you can't let go of, come here to look.

Each grave has its own story, a different life.

They all have their own eternal regrets,

There's nothing to be done; this is life—we must face life and death. No one can escape.

In the human world, aside from life and death, everything else is trivial.

I quickly arrived at the funeral home.

At that moment, the funeral home had just received the bodies of a family killed in a car accident.

Looking at the ground, those corpses,

truly a human tragedy,

all around are relatives and friends weeping bitterly.

but no one has the power to save those who are already dead.

They were not people who deserved to die.

There is no fairness to speak of under heaven.

Live well, cherish each day, love everyone around you who loves you, make them happy—that's enough.