She did not hang herself like most people do, suspended from the beam in the middle of the room. With her broken legs, she couldn’t climb onto a stool. Instead, she used a strip of white cloth to strangle herself by looping it around her neck and fastening it to a bedpost, suffocating to death.
What determination it must take to strangle oneself to death.
Miss Du stared blankly at the cold corpse, unable to utter a word for a long ti.
She said she wanted to find him; this was the thod she chose in the end.
If sothing isn’t yours, it never will be. Even if you resort to such asures to find him, it’s still not ant to be—why couldn’t she understand?
After a long while, Miss Du started blankly and said faintly, "Arrange a funeral procession, bury her generously!"
...
In the end, Wanqing was indeed the daughter of the Du Family. Cast out from the Jie Family, Miss Du had taken her back in, so upon her death, it was fitting that she be laid to rest in the ancestral grave of the Du Family.
Miss Du ordered a tomb to be built beside Wanqing’s biological mother and erected a gravestone for her according to the standards of the Du Family daughters.
The ritual prayers lasted three days, and many prominent friends, out of respect for Miss Du, attended the funeral. All in all, it was a dignified affair.
Youyou persuaded her, "I didn’t expect you to encounter such an event upon your return. Don’t be too saddened; in death, she is, after all, liberated."
Miss Du clung tightly to Jie Yi, "Now, she truly is the only family I have left. While she was alive, even though I didn’t like her, we at least shared the sa surna."
Youyou sighed, "I understand what you’re thinking. Don’t dwell on it too much; let’s bury her first!"
Miss Du hated Wanqing so much, yet still took her back to care for her after the Jie Family kicked her out, if for nothing else but the fact that she was her kin.
Youyou suddenly recalled her grandfather’s words: In this world, with the death of each relative, one less remains.
There are so many people in the world, and to beco relatives is a valuable connection indeed.
That’s why Youyou treated the Gu Family mbers kindly. Fortunately, they weren’t all that bad. Even though they had done many wrong things in the past, they had now reford.
Burying soone must be carried out by their own kin. Only Miss Du could perform the burial rites for Wanqing.
The funeral procession carried the coffin, blowing and beating drums all the way to the ancestral hill of the Du Family.
Clad in white mourner’s cloth, Miss Du stood out starkly within the crowd.
Ragged beggars, hobbling unevenly with crutches, followed behind a group of beggars, watching them from a distance.
After the burial rites were completed, four hours had passed. The beggar felt sowhat tired from standing so long and leaned against a nearby tree.
Seeing that the funeral attendees were starting to pack up their things to leave, the nearby beggars showed excited grins.
"Hey, la man, don’t just stand there. When they’re gone, we can go and grab so offerings to eat."
"Mhm, okay!" The la beggar by the tree smiled and gripped his crutch tightly.
The old beggar beside him frowned and said, "Your leg is injured, and you only have one arm, and even that needs a crutch. How will you manage to grab any offerings later? Sigh, I think you should just rest here, lest you injure your other leg."
The other beggars laughed, showing no regard for the cripple.
They thought: By the ti he hobbles over there with his crutches, we’ll have eaten everything.
The la beggar smiled faintly without speaking and leaned back against the tree.
"At least you know your limits, haha. If I manage to get hold of a lot, I might just treat you to a bun," said the man leading the beggars.
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