"That’s fine! After all, you’re a grown man now! It’s ti you took on more responsibilities! Tomorrow there will be even more people, and you will have to kneel for a longer ti! Nobody can replace you in this; hope Xiao Yu doesn’t get so exhausted from kneeling that she faints from hitting her head during the kowtows."
Zhen Yu: "..."
In her previous life, when Zhen Yan and Mrs. Zhen were handling the funeral, she was still young! And as a daughter, Mr. Zhen didn’t let Zhen Yu take charge, he took on everything himself. At that ti, Zhen Yu just kowtowed a few tis in front of the coffin on the day of the funeral...
Later, when Mr. Zhen passed away, her stepmother Ju Zhen despised her to the bone! Even when she wanted to help, they were afraid she was there to fight for the inheritance... So in the end, Zhen Yu just pretended to participate like an outsider, crying a few tis.
The only difference was probably that she knelt and knocked her head on the ground a few more tis.
So strictly speaking, this was truly the first ti Zhen Yu was participating in a family mber’s funeral as a filial daughter...
Although she had made up her mind, Zhen Yu still looked at Zhen Yan with concern, "Brother, can you manage it?"
"Man up and deal with it! If you can’t, you still have to manage! Zhen Yan, tonight you must pull yourself together!"
Just as Zhen Yan was about to respond, Mr. Han began to encourage him.
And for so unknown reason, he suddenly started talking about creepy matters!
"After all, your sister is still a young girl! Guarding the night, though it is for her father, can easily frighten her badly! Unlike you, young and full of energy! If your dad really ca back, this would be the last ti you see him!"
Zhen Yan was completely shocked!!!
He was truly frightened to the core! He nearly blurted out, "Please don’t!"
---
Luckily, Zhen Yu was quite sympathetic towards her brother.
Just as Zhen Yan was about to slip up, Zhen Yu quickly chid in, "Where shall we go for dinner, Uncle Han?"
"Let’s go to the restaurant across from Four rchants Store! It’s close!"
"Sounds good! Let’s go there!" Zhen Yan hurriedly took over the conversation: "There should be a small in nearby. We can just leave Xiao Yu there!"
Zhen Yu, who didn’t like the word ’throw’, subtly drooped her eyelids, pretending not to hear it. She then began arranging Zhen Yan’s schedule for the next day, "That’s settled then! I’ll co to swap with you early tomorrow morning! After breakfast, you can co to the hotel to catch up on sleep."
"No need! I can manage without sleep,"
Before Zhen Yan could finish, Mr. Han and Zhen Yu simultaneously contradicted: "You still need to sleep!"
"No way around it!"
When the adults spoke, Zhen Yu and Zhen Yan quickly shut their mouths. Mr. Han then continued, "This vigil must last three days! Staying up one night is fine, but three nights without sleep won’t do! Especially since there is much to rely on you on the day of the funeral! Your father only has one son! In this cold winter, if you really get sick from overexertion, who will perform the rituals for him! Who will carry the banners!"
At this point, Zhen Yan really dared not oppose any further! Scratching his head helplessly, he could only nod and agree.
However, he was internally complaining about Mr. Han just like his sister!
"My dad, how co he has only one son! He clearly has another one!"
"And not just sons, he has two daughters as well!"
"He wasn’t short on children! But in the end, it still cos down to my sister and to take care of his final rites..."
——
That evening, after returning to the Zhen Family house, Mr. Han went straight to Zhen Hailong’s third wife and got two thick cotton mats!
He did this specifically for Zhen Yan to kneel on when keeping vigil at night, and for Zhen Yu during the dayti mourning and ritual kneeling.
Seeing Zhen Yan place the cotton mats and kneel precisely, Mr. Han glanced around the morial hall before heading back to the main house. This ti, he took an old mattress, a thick quilt, so nails, and a small hamr.
Because he rembered that during the day when he ca over, the doors of the morial hall were wide open!
Even though the doors were finally closed this evening as there were no visitors, cold air still whistled through the gaps!
Mr. Han personally nailed the cotton mattress to the doorfra inside the storeroom, turning it into a makeshift cotton curtain to block the wind!
After finishing all this, Mr. Han turned to Zhen Yan and advised: "Alright! Uncle Han sees you’re dressed warmly. Wrap this quilt around you a bit more! You shouldn’t freeze tonight. We can talk more tomorrow if needed."
"Thank you, Uncle Han! You should find a place to rest too! My father’s funeral wouldn’t have been managed without your help!"
"Ah! Don’t ntion it! Catch up on so sleep tomorrow morning! Tomorrow is the first day, and in the afternoon, you still need to co over to weep for the deceased!"
——
The next afternoon, under Aunt Zhen’s arrangents, all of Mr. Zhen’s children arrived!
Perhaps thinking there were too few people for a sufficiently somber atmosphere, several aunts took the initiative to also call so of their own children.
Then this group of Mr. Zhen’s descendants, led by a middle-aged woman summoned by Mr. Han, began the mourning session.
Since they were approximately arranged by age, Mr. Zhen’s four children were scattered throughout the crowd.
Thus, on Zhen Yu’s left was her biological brother, yet on her right was a certain cousin!
She had sowhat of an impression of this cousin, only because he had been particularly mischievous since childhood!
However... just as the woman in front started her loud wail, "My dear~ big brother!", that cousin "pfft"—laughed out loud.
Zhen Yan, unable to contain it, turned his head and glared fiercely past his sister at him!
But for Zhen Yu! Though she wasn’t too moved by a stranger mourning her father,
this was still her deceased father’s mourning session, and hence Zhen Yu’s mood was quite heavy!
Yet, just because of that cousin’s laugh, it completely disrupted her state of mind...
Zhen Yu quickly forced herself to maintain a stern face!
Just as she was trying to get her emotions back on track, that cousin suddenly whispered a chain of apologies. "Sorry, sorry! It’s my first ti participating! I just couldn’t hold it in, and suddenly..."
But following the rise of his voice, another thunderous wail sounded as the leading woman slamd her thigh to the ground and burst out crying!
"Hailong ah... how could you have left us so suddenly..."
"My goddamn..."
With expletives racing through her mind, Zhen Yu really couldn’t hold back now! She bit her lower lip vigorously to prevent herself from bursting into laughter with her cousin!
If she, as a grieving daughter, laughed as well, the spectacle would just be too ridiculous...
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