One Life, One Incarnation, Beautiful Bones

54

Simply from observing this scene, Tong Jiaren appeared to be the most virtuous and thoughtful of grand daughter-in-laws and very much had the elderly woman's affections.

When they arrived, several of the girls who were walking back and forth serving tea all greeted him with "Eldest Young Master."

Hearing this, the elderly lady naturally turned around to look, and from behind the beaded curtain, she beckoned at Shi Yi. "Ah, Shi Yi, come."

Zhousheng Chen smiled and indicated for her to go over.

Shi Yi hurriedly slipped past the curtain and crouched down in front of the elderly woman.

"Why don't you sit here?" Supporting her protruding belly, Tong Jiaren said in a quiet tone, "The air here isn't very good. I want to go outside for a walk." As she spoke, she had already stood up with a smile.

Although she did not make mention of it, everyone understood that, after today's farewells, Tong Jiaren would have no association with the Zhou family anymore.

On the other side of the beaded curtain, Shi Yi could only see that in the end, Tong Jiaren had let a young girl hold her arm to support her, and when she brushed shoulders with Zhou Wenchuan, their eyes did not even so much as intersect...

Each gesture and movement, each frown and smile of these people behind the beaded curtains were like performance after performance of plays that had been rehearsed in advanced. Peaceful, loving, and warm. As if the scheming and plotting against one another, the mindset that one must die in order for the other to live had never existed. As if Wenxing truly was only somewhere abroad undergoing treatment and rest and could not make it back to offer her birthday wishes. As if Tong Jiaren and Zhou Wenchuan still had a harmonious marriage...

The only unusual detail was that there were two men accompanying Zhou Wenchuan, and upon closer scrutiny, one could see that these two, who appeared to be Second Young Master's attendants, were unmistakably restricting his movements and freedom. Zhou Wenchuan needed to make an appearance so as to not cause Grandmother to perceive anything out of the ordinary. And perhaps, this would be the last time he would show up out of necessity for his presence.

Shi Yi was somewhat lost in thought as she watched Zhousheng Chen take a seat in front of Xiao Ren.

Nonchalantly, he picked up a white Go chess stone between his two fingers. Xiao Ren quietly greeted him, "Big Brother," and he smiled in return.

"Have a seat, Shi Yi."

Grandmother gently took her hand into her own, pulling her attention back to where she was.

She shook her head. "No, it's fine, Grandmother. I'm good like this." Her half-crouched posture was the perfect position for talking to the elderly woman.

The old woman gave her a little smile. "You and Wenxing are the same. When you talk to this old woman, you always like to crouch down in front of me." As she spoke, she gently patted her own knee. "When she was small, she even liked to lay on her tummy right here..."

Shi Yi also smiled and answered her with an "mm."

Downstairs, it had gradually grown quiet. The Chinese opera show had started.

Shi Yi did not really understand what she was hearing[2], but she did find it to be novel, the instrumental accompaniment to be refreshing and lovely to listen to, and the vocals to be soothing and sweet. Grandmother was enjoying this, and when she heard something she found pleasing, she would give a sentence of praise over how strong the foundation was of the singer's traditional singing technique.

Shi Yi would answer her, while occasionally allowing her eyes to glance over at Zhousheng Chen through the curtain of beads.

From time to time, he would smile and give pointers to Xiao Ren.