Chapter 513: Inheriting Your Relics, Fulfilling Your Wishes

Jingguan City, the real Jingguan City.

The two of them flew here directly.

After arriving in this unfamiliar universe, they were suppressed and repelled by some of the universe's will and laws, causing their strength to decline somewhat, but they could still maintain a flight speed of two or three times the speed of sound; this was already faster than most fighter jets in this world, and with a little concealment and disguise, they could not be discovered at all.

The two soon arrived at a residential complex on the edge of the Second Ring Road.

This complex was about the same as the original one; the complex itself and the surrounding buildings were almost exactly the same as those in the Mijing, only the storefronts downstairs had changed a bit, the furniture store across from the complex had been replaced by a large supermarket, and there were still some old, time-honored shops that hadn't changed.

The two found a pork intestine noodle shop that had been open since before Shengzu left.

Chen Shu ordered a bowl of pork intestine noodles, with an added side of intestine knot soup and a guokui flatbread; Ning Qing ordered hot and sour noodles, and instead of the intestine knot soup, she added three intestine knots separately.

This girl really likes eating these kinds of messy things.

"Slurp..."

Chen Shu slurped the noodles, the tail of a noodle swaying and flicking soup toward Ning Qing, only to fall just before it could hit her face.

Ning Qing stopped her chopsticks and glanced at him coldly.

"Hehe..."

Chen Shu grinned cheekily and asked her, "How does the authentic hot and sour noodle taste?"

"Average."

"I think it's pretty good."

"The ones you make are better."

"Emmm..." Chen Shu fell silent for a moment, then asked her again, "Do you mean the ones I make aren't authentic?"

"?"

A cold gaze was cast his way once more.

Chen Shu hurriedly lowered his head to eat his noodles.

In all fairness, for this shop to have been open for so many years, it still had some merit. The taste of the noodles was very good, the pork intestine was rich in fragrance, the intestine knot soup was very fresh, and the intestine knots were washed clean inside, so one wouldn't end up eating the filling.

The guokui also tasted good.

It was just that this woman had a very specific preference in taste; when Chen Shu usually cooked hot and sour noodles for her, they were heavy on the sour and spicy, whereas shops outside inevitably tended toward a compromise in flavor, moving toward the mainstream to cater to the tastes of more customers.

Thinking that perhaps many years ago, Shengzu might have also brought his wife and daughter into this shop on some morning when he didn't want to cook, to eat a bowl of noodles, perhaps even adding an intestine knot or a fried egg guokui, Chen Shu felt an inexplicable emotion, as if through this small shop, he was meeting him across time and space.

"Here, have some pork intestine."

Chen Shu sighed and placed two slices of pork intestine into her bowl.

Ning Qing did not respond, lowering her head to eat silently.

"Want some guokui?"

He held the half-bitten guokui out in front of her.

Ning Qing lowered her head slightly, and the hand holding the guokui moved to meet her, whereupon she took a bite.

"Crunch..."

The outer shell of the guokui was very crispy; when she bit into it, a distinct sound could be heard, the shell crumbling, with fragments even scattering, while inside was a pork filling, a small amount of meat mixed with soft flour, a salty, fresh, and slightly numbing taste, with a heavy oil fragrance that paired perfectly with the crispy crust.

"Good, right?"

"It's okay."

"We don't have this where we're from..."

"You can make it yourself."

"I don't know how to make this..."

"Learn."

"That could work."

Chen Shu nodded, pulled his hand back, and continued munching.

"So annoying."

"?"

"I don't want to think too much about sentimental things, but I can't help it."

"..."

"I had originally planned to just scatter Shengzu's ashes on Xiling Snow Mountain, Four Girls Mountain, and in the river of Tuojiang Prefecture, and call it a day," Chen Shu said. "I felt that approach was more straightforward, more suitable for me... Do you know what 'straightforward' means?"

"Easy, decisive."

"How did you know?"

"Guessing."

"Alright then..."

"Then why come here?"

"I felt it was more responsible this way; it counts as providing closure for him and his family," Chen Shu said. "I suspect this is what he would have wanted."

"..."

Ning Qing picked up the pork intestine he had just put in her bowl and put it in her mouth, saying nothing more.

The two finished eating almost at the same time.

Chen Shu paid the bill and walked out of the shop.

Right next door was the entrance to the residential complex.

Chen Shu looked up at that window, took a deep breath, and walked into the complex with Ning Qing, the security guard acting as if he hadn't seen them at all.

A few minutes later—

"Ding-dong!"

Chen Shu rang the doorbell and used an Illusion Array to conceal his figure.

Footsteps came from inside.

The footsteps stopped at the door; Chen Shu could feel the person inside looking out through the peephole, but in her eyes, there was no one outside.

Only a few items on the ground.

Before long, the woman vigilantly opened the door a crack and looked at the items at the entrance.

Chen Shu recognized her at a glance—

Compared to the woman in the photo in her prime with exquisite makeup, she now had traces of time and life on her face, was no longer smiling, and her clothing and makeup were much simpler; she was looking down at the ground in confusion.

On the ground was a simple and rustic Black Jar, as big as a bucket, with an exquisite wooden box placed in front of it, and a letter resting on top of that.

The woman looked left and right, then picked up the letter.

There was no return address, zip code, or anything of the sort; it only read: To be opened by Ms. Liu Xin.

The woman frowned, tore open the envelope, and took out the letter paper.

There was no formal letter format inside, just a few paragraphs written casually.

The woman read silently in her heart:

"Respected Ms. Liu Xin, it is with regret that I inform you your husband has unfortunately passed away due to unavoidable reasons. Entrusted by him, I have specifically brought back his ashes."

Just after reading the first sentence, she froze for a moment.

She looked down at the jar and the wooden box on the ground, immediately squatted down, and opened them.

The box was filled to the brim with various gemstones, dazzling and eye-catching, while the jar contained gray-white ashes, also a full jar—Chen Shu had set a simple little Illusion on the jar so that to an ordinary person, it looked like normal ashes, which would automatically dissipate once the Spirit Power was exhausted.

The woman fell silent for a moment, then hurriedly spread out the paper:

"I am very sorry that I cannot tell you about his experiences or the true cause of his death, but at least I can tell you that he did not intend to abandon you and your daughter, nor did he violate any laws or regulations, nor was he harmed by others; it was a reason no one could resist, and he had tried everything he could, but he could not return.

"Rather than calling it death, I would prefer to call it a sacrifice; you may as well consider that he sacrificed himself for the country and the people.

"We are very grateful to him.

"I do not know how you and your daughter have been doing over these past ten-plus years. Calculating the time, he and your daughter should be taking the college entrance exam by now. The deceased is gone, and all we can do is hope to provide you with some meager financial compensation; naturally, it is far from being comparable to your loss of a loved one or his life, but I hope you and your family can live a little better in the future, at least financially. I sincerely ask you to accept it.

"He was a great man, and it was my fortune to have known him."

The woman's gaze suddenly became unfocused and wavering, looking left and right, not knowing where to fix her eyes; she stood in place, seemingly at a loss.

Then she stared at the ash jar and fell into a deep silence.

More than ten years of "death by a thousand cuts" had long since exhausted her capacity for grief. She did not cry out in sorrow, nor did she collapse in a loss of control; perhaps, over these years, she had already anticipated this outcome, what she had not anticipated was that after so many years, someone would still return his ashes.

After about a few more seconds, she finally reacted, suddenly running to the elevator entrance to check the elevator, then leaning against the window next to the elevator to look down.

It was destined to be in vain.

A few minutes later.

The woman finally returned to the door, picked up the ash jar, as well as the letter and the box, and went back inside; after a while, her sobbing could be heard.

"Sigh..."

Chen Shu couldn't help but sigh, turned his head to meet Qingqing's eyes, not knowing what to say, nor knowing what could be said.

"Fellow townsman, oh fellow townsman, I have fulfilled your final wish for you."

Chen Shu lamented, and said to Qingqing:

"Let's go."

The two turned and left this place.

One day later, in a small city in the same province as Jinguan.

Two figures walked along the sidewalk.

Qingqing's height was taller than most of the men they encountered along the way, and coupled with her exceptionally good figure and extremely pure and beautiful appearance, whoever passed by, whether male or female, would often cast their gaze toward her; even some elderly people and children couldn't help but look at her.

The average level of attractiveness in this world was indeed lower than in Dayi.

Due to development reasons, the average height in Dayi was taller, and with the popularization of cultivation and various health and skincare products containing Spirit Power, most people walking on the street had long legs, and their skin was so good that it was hard not to look good.

Returning here actually made Chen Shu feel a bit unaccustomed.

"Do you want to know about my... past life?"

"I have seen it in her memories, I am no longer interested," Ning Qing said indifferently. "But if you want to talk about it, you can say it again."

"Then let's not talk about it; I'm too lazy to say it anyway."

"As you wish."

"Sigh..."

Chen Shu walked along the street, and everything that came into view stirred up many memories deeply hidden from his previous life.

It felt as distant as if it were someone else.

Chen Shu's family background in his previous life was quite good, and his parents were also quite healthy, but unfortunately, it was hard to say where things went wrong, and his relationship with his parents was not very good. And in his previous life, he did not have the ability to "train" his parents as he did in this life; regarding their rigid thinking, he was both helpless and regretful at the time.

Later, his academic performance was very good, his job was also quite good, and he was financially well-off, but in the end, he did not live well.

It was not the life he wanted to live.

To sum it up in one sentence—

Unhappy.

This was a life that had gradually gone off track during his growth from childhood to adulthood; by the time he realized it, it was basically set in stone, and it was very difficult to correct.

This was very frustrating.

At the age when one should be making choices, he didn't understand what he really wanted; by the time he understood what kind of life he wanted to live, life had already reached its end. All his relatives and friends were basically fixed; to cut off the past and embrace life anew required immense courage to resist the secular world.

Chen Shu remembered that before crossing over, he had already made this determination and was just preparing to do so.

To live a different life, one that belonged to himself.

This made him feel proud for once, feeling that he had finally been awesome for a change.

Then, the accident happened.

Yes, this was an accident.

Chen Shu had thought about it before, especially when watching those film and television works, often wondering what the meaning of his transmigration actually was—was it to save the world, or was it some heaven-defying grand scheme set up by a big shot? Later, he roughly figured it out—

This was an accident from the very start.

If it had to have a meaning, then its greatest meaning was only one thing: to restart a life.

"Lucky..."

Chen Shu sighed inwardly.

Turning his head to look, Qingqing beside him remained without sorrow or Joy, as if she were indifferent to his sentiments and reflections, yet she still remained by his side, which made him feel inexplicably much more at ease.