“A person’s words become virtuous as death approaches.”

This saying didn’t apply to Old Lady Xia at all.

Even on her deathbed, she didn’t feel she had done anything wrong, never reflected on herself, and only resented that her entire family had wronged her!

Her eldest son was in prison.

Her second son claimed he would be filial but left her in the care of a vicious woman.

And her third son, Hong Bing, her Red Guard, had no idea she was suffering…

Old Lady Xia’s breathing was like a large bellows.

Her breathing became increasingly rapid, then suddenly ceased.

This harsh and bitter old woman, who didn’t even care about driving her granddaughter to death, took her final breath.

Her death wasn’t peaceful; she was in great pain.

Her death wasn’t dignified either, with bare legs and bodily waste beneath her.

She died with open eyes, cursing everyone until her last moment!

Did everyone wrong here?

Perhaps.

But whom had she ever treated right?

Fan Yu waited until Old Lady Xia had breathed her last before holding her nose and cleaning up the bed where the old woman had slept, covering her with a blanket. It was utterly disgusting, but this would be the last time – the old hag was finally dead.

By the time Xia Dajun returned from his delivery run, the funeral hall was already set up. Fan Yu sobbed, “Ah, Mother was so strong-willed. After Hong Xia took Jun Bao away, she refused to eat or drink. She only lasted two days before passing…”

Xia Dajun was completely dazed.

His mother had passed away.

All this confusion about Hong Xia taking Jun Bao away – Xia Dajun couldn’t process any of it.

The room had been set up as a funeral hall, with Fan Yu crying and wailing, and Xia Dajun hadn’t even seen his mother’s face one last time.

What was there to see? Fan Yu said she didn’t know when he would return, so she had taken the initiative to have Old Lady Xia cremated. Now Old Lady Xia’s ashes were in a small urn.

“Dajun, I had no choice. This is someone else’s house, and they wouldn’t let me keep the body here. Even so, the landlord came several times and wouldn’t even let me set up the funeral hall. I thought Mother couldn’t leave without any ceremony, so I insisted on having people set up the hall.”

Their place in Shangdu was rented.

The rent wasn’t cheap.

While landlords could understand tenants having weddings in their properties, having a tenant die in their house was considered extremely unlucky.

If Fan Yu hadn’t been a woman with a small child, the landlord would have brought people to tear down the funeral hall – who sets up a funeral in someone else’s house? When people are sick, they should be sent to the hospital, die there, be taken directly to cremation, and then returned to their hometown for burial. That’s the normal process.

The house would be uninhabitable, and they couldn’t rent it out anymore.

Xia Dajun remained in a daze until the landlord came to speak with him, and he finally came to his senses.

His mother was dead!

Xia Dajun fell to his knees and wailed. Seeing such a burly man cry so hard, even the landlord felt some sympathy.

“Ah, we can discuss the house matter later. Please accept my condolences, take care of yourself, and lay the deceased to rest first!”

Xia Dajun glared with bloodshot eyes: “How can you city folks be so heartless? My family has had a death – my mother died!”

So what?

Was the landlord supposed to wear mourning clothes for the tenant?

The landlord grew angry too. “You talk about being humane, but you abandoned your mother at home without care. Why don’t you ask the neighbors how your mother died? I can’t reason with someone like you. Move out as soon as the funeral is over!”

Even if the house remained empty with no tenants, the landlord didn’t want to rent to the Xia family anymore – what a messy bunch!

For others, the landlord’s words would have raised suspicions, as there were hidden implications.

But Xia Dajun was known for being thick-headed and merely thought the landlord was deliberately making things difficult for his family. He failed to consider the deeper meaning behind the landlord’s words.

Fan Yu cursed at the landlord until he left. Seeing Xia Dajun still grieving without any suspicion, she felt relieved.

Moving was fine with her – with Old Lady Xia having died in the house, she was scared to sleep there anyway.

Fan Yu felt somewhat guilty, worried that the neighbors might gossip and rumors might reach Xia Dajun’s ears.

Now that the burden was gone and the old woman was dead, with Xia Dajun’s decent income, Fan Yu felt life with him was acceptable – she had wanted to marry up, but the men willing to associate with her earned less than Xia Dajun.

She couldn’t connect with officials like Fan Zhenchuan who had real power.

Even if she was fortunate enough to meet them, they wouldn’t want anything to do with her.

Even widowers looking to remarry could easily find honest, proper women – why would they want to get involved with someone with such a reputation?

The more conservative a place was, the faster such rumors spread. Fan Yu wasn’t as charming as she imagined, nor did she have the good prospects she thought she had.

She was blinded by her delusions, feeling wronged and believing she could only stay tied to Xia Dajun.

“Dajun, let’s take Mother’s ashes back to the village for burial, then move to a new place. The three of us can live a good life together from now on.”

Fan Yu crouched down to comfort Xia Dajun, who hugged her and cried.

Liu Fen had rejected him.

Xia Xiaolan didn’t acknowledge him.

His mother had closed her eyes forever.

From now on, he only had Xiao Yu and his son!

Thankfully, he still had Xiao Yu and his son.

Xia Dajun cried with snot and tears, but after grieving, he had to gather his strength to return to the village for Old Lady Xia’s burial. Xia Dajun originally wanted to notify his brother Xia Hong Bing, but after Fan Yu described Hong Xia’s awful behavior, his hands trembled with anger.

Fan Yu suggested that if Hong Xia hadn’t taken Jun Bao away, Old Lady Xia wouldn’t have died from anger.

“The doctor said Mother couldn’t get angry, but Hong Xia didn’t care about her grandmother at all, ah!”

Xia Dajun bit his cheek, “Third Brother is unfilial, I won’t acknowledge him as my brother anymore!”

Fan Yu secretly rejoiced and took the opportunity to spread more negative words about Xia Hong Bing’s family, saying they were all lazy and relied entirely on Xia Dajun’s support… These were true stories that had happened before, but previously Xia Dajun had viewed himself as a savior and was willing to support Xia Hong Bing’s family when he had the means.

With Fan Yu’s constant brainwashing and Xia Dajun’s focus on his son, he lost interest in supporting his nephew.

After this incident, Xia Dajun completely despised Xia Hong Bing’s family and was determined to cut ties with them. Even for his mother’s burial in the village, he would handle it himself.

Couldn’t he manage the funeral arrangements on his own?

No, his income was quite good even by provincial city standards, and he would arrange a grand funeral in the village, with music and ceremony to send his mother off!

Xia Dajun carried his mother’s urn back to the village.

Fan Yu held their child, and the family of three wore black gauze on their shoulders, clearly marking them as being in mourning.

Liu Fen hadn’t expected that in a city as big as Shangdu, she would run into Xia Dajun.

Who had died…

When Xia Dajun recognized Liu Fen across the street, wearing a red windbreaker, and looking young and energetic, his first instinct was to grab her – his mother had passed away, and Liu Fen should be in mourning. But after one step, he remembered that Liu Fen no longer had any obligation to mourn.

Did he dare to touch even a finger of Liu Fen’s?

Xia Dajun was a coward.

His courage only showed when dealing with the powerless “Liu Fen” who couldn’t resist his violence. The current Liu Fen was reborn, an existence he dared not provoke.

Xia Dajun hugged the urn and hurried away with his head down.

This would be the last time Liu Fen would ever see Xia Dajun in her life!