Chapter 229: You've never cried since you were little, right?

At this moment, Li Jiaci seems like a completely different person from his usual resolute self.

Because his eyes are filled with tears, his eyelashes frost over.

She leaned on Wang Yingna's shoulder and said a lot.

It seemed as if she had released all the repressed emotions of this period.

Wang Yingna listened quietly.

She gently stroked his back.

She felt intense heartache for her man.

Even the strongest person will have moments when they can't hold it in.

"It's all over, it's all over..."

……

New Year's Eve.

The workers have already gone home for the holiday.

Li Jiaci locked the factory's main gate, then turned and got into the car.

Three vehicles, front and back, drove toward the southern suburbs.

Zhang Shiqiang had lived here before his death in a self-built two-story small building.

After his accident, Li Jiaci searched all his connections but still couldn't raise enough money to buy a grave, so he could only bury him in the small building's backyard.

After several months, they returned to this familiar place.

Li Jiaci's state of mind had already become very different.

Looking at the overgrown courtyard, he said to Li Yihu, "Go check the side—there should be a sickle there. Clean up all these weeds!"

Li Yihu nodded: "Got it, bro!"

Zhao Chen walked forward with the key, fiddled with it a few times, and pushed open the paint-peeled wooden door.

With a creak,

Thick dust fell from the beams.

Zhao Chen shook his head and stepped back a few steps.

"Bro, the inside also needs cleaning!"

"The dust is too much!"

Li Jiaci pointed to the courtyard pond and said, "First fetch a bucket of water, sprinkle it all around to knock down the dust!"

Upon hearing that, Zhao Chen patted the dust off himself, found a bucket, and went to the courtyard to fetch water.

Zhang Chuqiang and Liu Jiang were inventorying the sacrificial offerings.

Because it was the first year since Zhang Shiqiang's death, the brothers wanted to hold it as grandly as possible, buying whatever they could, filling the trunks of the three cars completely.

Everyone was busy to the point of being unable to stop.

But they heard a suppressed sob coming from inside the car.

Liu Jiang poked his head out and couldn't help but scold, "You idiot, you still have time to cry? Hurry down and help!"

The one crying was Wang Lan.

He is the youngest, and his self-control isn't as strong as these older brothers.

Arriving at this familiar place, looking at the house once filled with laughter and joy, his emotions couldn't be contained.

Wang Yingna opened the car door, gave Liu Jiang a look, and said unhappily, "What's wrong with letting him cry a bit? You've never cried since you were little, right?"

"No, sis, crying also depends on the timing—look how busy we are!"

Liu Jiang said helplessly.

"Okay, I'll come help you!"

Wang Yingna got out of the car, still not forgetting to hand Wang Lan a pack of tissues, gently rubbed his head, and instructed, "Little Lan, just stay calmly in the car; with sister-in-law protecting you, you'll be fine."

Seeing this scene,

Liu Jiang laughed, shook his head, and complained, "Being young is still good—no matter which sister-in-law, they all treat him like a treasure!"

"How many sisters-in-law do you have?"

Wang Yingna poked his occiput with her index finger.

"Just you, hehe—good sister-in-law, thanks for helping me get that bag of spirit money down!"

"Tsk, you're just being cheeky!"

After a bout of busyness,

Wang Lan also got out of the car.

Looking at the cleaned-up two-story small building, he sniffed twice and asked Li Jiaci, "Bro, when do we start?"

"Let's get started now!"

"Let's finish quickly, then hurry to the new villa to prepare the New Year's Eve feast!"

"Brother Wang Zhen and the others will come over tonight!"

Li Jiaci patted the dust off his hands, finished saying that, then gave Liu Jiang a look.

Liu Jiang immediately understood.

Bringing Zhang Chuqiang and Wang Yingna, who were carrying big and small packages, they entered the courtyard.

The group went around the side of the small building to the backyard.

Before them lay a small mound, burying the person the brothers constantly thought of day and night.

Li Jiaci walked forward, knelt on the ground, and used his sleeve to wipe Zhang Shiqiang's tombstone.

"Big brother, today is New Year's Eve, the brothers have all come to see you!"

You're doing pretty well over there, right?

Hey, even if you didn't tell me, I'd know; if things weren't going well, you'd have sent me a dream by now, right?

But little brother still hopes you can come by in my dreams when you're free!

I've been holding back a lot of things I want to tell you!

Wipe the tombstone clean.

Li Jiaci stood up and told Zhang Chuqiang, "Loop the firecrackers around the backyard a few times to liven things up for Big Brother Zhang!"

Sure!

Zhang Chuqiang immediately got busy with Liu Jiang.

After unpacking, Li Jiaci picked up each firecracker box and laid them flat on the ground.

In a bit we'll line up and kowtow together to Big Brother Zhang!

Huzi, go tear open the spirit money!

First, let's show Big Brother Zhang what we've got!

Burning these old spirit money, even if Big Brother Zhang had a treasury, he couldn't hold it all!

Hahaha!

A bunch of people were amused by Li Jiaci's words.

Several brothers squatted on the ground burning spirit money for Zhang Shiqiang.

Then Wang Yingna coughed and reminded, "Jiaci ge, you haven't introduced me to Big Brother Zhang yet!"

Oh right, come over!

Li Jiaci put down the spirit money in his hand.

He took her to Zhang Shiqiang's tombstone.

Big brother, let me introduce you!

This is your sister-in-law, Wang Yingna!

You also know her brother, Wang Zhen, who runs the Song and Dance Hall!

Now we're partners in business, we've become one family!

Come on, Xiao Na, burn some spirit money for big brother!

Wang Yingna took the spirit money Li Jiaci handed over.

Squatting on the ground, she tossed the money into the fire while saying, "Big Brother Zhang, you gotta bless my man with abundant wealth and smooth sailing!"

Li Jiaci lit a cigarette, stood to the side, and inhaled and exhaled a few puffs of smoke.

Xiao Na, you can't just come out with demands right away!

This money hasn't even reached my big brother's hands yet!

Let's tone it down a bit!

Wang Yingna beamed.

She kept on voicing many beautiful wishes.

Whether they come true or not, it's good to have something to hope for.

A moment later.

Deafening firecracker sounds erupted in the backyard.

Li Yihu covered his ears with one hand, held a cigarette in the other, lit the firework's fuse, and crouched back.

Whoosh, the fireworks shot up into the sky.

Although we couldn't see the details, the lively atmosphere was absolutely top-notch.

After the firecrackers stopped, the fireworks kept going.

Li Jiaci brought a few people to the tombstone, and they all knelt neatly on the firecracker boxes.

They kowtowed three times in a row.

Everyone else got up, only Li Jiaci remained kneeling.

Seeing that, the others knelt down again.

Li Jiaci lifted his head, saw they were still kneeling, and quickly pressed his head down again.

Back and forth several times.

Wang Yingna even laughed.

What are we even doing here?

Li Jiaci said, "I'll count to three, then we'll rise together!"

Three, two, one, up!

This time everyone managed to stand up together.

Li Jiaci patted his pants and teased, "Sorry about that, Big Brother—this is the brothers' first time paying respects, they're inexperienced; next time we'll be perfectly in sync, no slack!"

Pop!

Suddenly a firecracker exploded.

Zhang Chuqiang laughed and said, "Big Brother Zhang received it!"

Hahaha!