A drizzle of rain sprinkled down. The sky was stretch of gray. Heavy clouds covered the Earth, and the air was dull and depressing. The hazy rain curtain made the suburban cemetery feel cold. Two black cars slowly slid to a stop in front of the cemetery gate.
A group of brightly adorned, middle-aged couples alighted from the car in the front. The middle-aged man was still pretty resilient, sporting a black tux suit, and gloomily got off the car. But, the middle-aged woman next to him seemed to be only used to luxury, having a mouthful of complaints. When she got off the car, she exclaimed: “It’s so dirty, where has all the money been spent? Can’t they even repair this road ?!”
Auntie[1] Wang nodded humbly and helped the Madame hold the umbrella.
Just then, a pair of slender legs came out from the car behind. The youth’s fair-skinned hand gently stretched out to open the umbrella, and the sleek plain-black suit made him appear thinner than usual. He held the umbrella and passed by his aunt[2] who was still complaining, following his second uncle into the cemetery grounds.
Today was Old Master Rong’s death anniversary.
For the original owner, the death of his parents was a grievous memory in his childhood, but the departure of Old Master Rong became turning point in his life. Although the original owner become rebellious and strange because of the death of his parents, when the old man was still there, he didn’t dare to be so wild. Only until the death of the old man, when the last person who really cared about him was gone, did he become the way he was afterwards.
So, it was imperative that Rong Xu came today. Every year, the original owner came secretly, not following his uncle. But, Rong Xu’s memory did not contain the location of the old man’s burial site, so could only follow his Uncle Rong.
While the group entered the cemetery, Rong Heng walked in front gloomily, but Mrs. Rong was still complaining about this and that with Auntie Wang. Finally, even Rong Heng couldn’t continue to listen, and turned back to reprimand her. Who would have expected that Aunt Rong would glare back: “What, when your father died, I didn’t see you looking too sad, what are you getting angry at me for?”
Rong Heng’s face changed a few times, but he didn’t refute.
Rong Xu calmly listened to their arguments, walking for a while before finally reaching the Old Master’s grave site.
Steward Duan placed flowers and offerings on the site. Aunt Rong no longer had the audacity to complain further, and honestly gave the Old Master a bow. At this point, this simple ceremony was over. Aunt Rong complained about leaving. Rong Heng had wanted to stay for a while more, but couldn’t stand his wife any longer.
In front of the tombstone, there was only a youth left who was still standing tall and straight, holding an umbrella and staring at the picture in place.
Aunt Rong walked for a bit before turning back around, saying in a strange tone: “Oh, the big-name star is still looking? What filial grandchild are you pretending to be, when the old man died back then, didn’t you spend a lot of time outside and not want to come back? It’s too late to be sad, the old man can’t see it.” After a pause, she seemed to think of something suddenly, and giggled: “No, the superstar’s acting is so good, I must have some sort of misunderstanding.”
This sarcasm, Rong Xu didn’t take it to heart at all. He stared at Old Master Rong’s stern looking photo on the tombstone. After a while, he squatted down slowly and wiped the raindrops off the photo with his fingers.
Aunt Rong suddenly laughed: “Rong Heng, look at your nephew. His acting really is quite good.”
Rong Heng’s face also changed a few, saying loudly: “Rong Xu, what are you doing, why aren’t you coming.”
As if the youth didn’t hear them, he stared at the tombstone for a bit, closing his eyes and clasping his hands. After a while, he got up and left, this time directly bypassing Rong Heng and Aunt Rong, heading straight for the front gate of the cemetery.
Rong Heng’s face turned dark, and there was embarrassment on Aunt Rong’s face. She shouted loudly: “Rong Xu, what kind of education did you receive, when elders talk to you, don’t you reply?”
The youth continued to walk forward, completely ignoring these 2 people.
Aunt Rong was even more furious: “What. What are you doing. The quality of this Rong star’s namesake really is incomparable to this ordinary woman’s. Rong Heng, do you see this, your nephew’s wings have already fully grown and become a big star’s. Why would he be willing to talk to you.”
The group continued forwards. While walking, the complaints and ridicules of Aunt Rong were continuous. When they arrived at the gate of the cemetery, Aunt Rong sneered: “That’s right, you can’t blame others. The other’s mother never had the opportunity to teach him. Rong Heng, you also be considerately understanding of your nephew. Without a mother’s teachings, it would be fine as long as he didn’t kill or set fires … Ah! ”
Aunt Rong ‘s eyes widened in horror, and she unbelievably reached out to wipe the rain on her face, angrily shouting: “Rong Xu, what are you doing!”
Under the black umbrella, the delicate youth narrowed his eyes, and said lightly: “I don’t have a mother’s teachings, what do you say I did?”
Aunt Rong’s face was smeared with rain-moistened dirt. Rong Xu had flung off the drops of water from the umbrella onto her cosmetics covered face. These cosmetics already couldn’t cover her aging face. Coupled with her years of pampering, her face was blessed to appear like a white bun, and with the addition of excess foundation, it only resembled a white bun even more.
Aunt Rong was so furious that she couldn’t wait to go over immediately and bite the youth to death, but Rong Heng held her back and sternly reprimanded Rong Xu: “Rong Xu, how could you use violence. She is your aunt. Have you wings really hardened, capable of doing of anything. You dare to hit your own aunt, will you attack your uncle tomorrow!”
Saying that, Rong Xu was a bit surprised that Rong Heng could still hold back his temper.
“Second Uncle, I just tilted the umbrella, I didn’t expect Auntie to lean so close.” The boy raised his corner of his mouth with a smile on his face, “Second Aunt’s voice is so small, I thought she was scolding me from far away, but I didn’t expect her to be so close …” He blinked innocently. “If Second Aunt didn’t speak, I’m afraid I would have paid more attention.”
Rong Heng: “You!”
Aunt Rong: “Rong Xu, you come here!”
Looking at the nearby mirror and seeing her own reflection, ugly and fat, Aunt Rong finally exploded, pushing past Rong Heng to walk towards Rong Xu. As she walked, she said: “Today, as your elder, I will let you know what it means to respect the old and love the young,” and then reached over to grab the youth’s ears.
This action was very fast, such that normal people shouldn’t have been able to react, but Rong Xu dodged aside quickly, leaving Aunt Rong to grab at empty air and almost fall to the ground.
Aunt Rong hadn’t reacted yet and hurried to pull at Rong Xu again, but the youth successfully dodged another three times in a row.
One light-footed and nimble, one fat and awkward, Auntie Wang held the umbrella at the side while trying to persuade Aunt Rong. Soon, others in the cemetery who came to pray had noticed the situation, and started to point fingers.
When Rong Heng saw this, an ugly look flashed across his face, and he shouted angrily: “What are you doing? Don’t you feel ashamed of yourselves!”
The gathered audience finally saw clearly the faces of these people.
“Eh, isn’t this the Rong Family? Today seems to be Old Master Rong’s death anniversary. They are here to pray. How did they start arguing in the graveyard?”
“I remember that Rong Xu, didn’t our girl say a few days ago that she really liked this Rong Xu?”
“Why does she like Rong Xu, isn’t this Rong Xu a bastard and a hooligan?”
“You don’t know, this Rong Xu went to go become a celebrity, your girl likes him quite a lot.”
“If the girl likes him, then he must be good. That Rong Heng seems to be very harsh on this little nephew, you see, even with this large audience, his wife is going around hitting the nephew…”
The people who could be buried in this cemetery were all at least from wealthy families that knew all the trivial matters of B City.
Hearing these mutterings and discussions, Rong Heng only felt ashamed and that he had thrown away his face. His blessed wife was still chasing his nephew, wanting to hit Rong Xu. But, Rong Xu always kept calm and avoided her, deliberately only dodging by a little bit so that Aunt Rong would think she could catch him on the next try.
That kind of pampered body could still be considered passing if she sat honestly like a noble lady, but now she was like a barbaric village woman, hitting and beating. She disgusted him even more than a simple village woman.
Rong Heng’s face was so gloomy that he was about to drip water. He whispered to the steward beside him: “Why aren‘t you quickly pulling the Madame and Rong Xu apart!”
Steward Duan looked down while holding the umbrella, saying: “The Second Madame said we must formally educate the young master.”
The implication was that he could not interfere.
Rong Heng was so angry that his eyes were about to pop out, but this Steward Duan was already an old hand in the Rong family, and he also had a certain amount of status in Rong Family. He couldn’t make a move for the time being. So, when seeing Aunt Rong pulling at Rong Xu again and the people on the sidelines accuse him directly, Rong Heng rushed out from under the umbrella and dragged the woman back.
“Enough, stop fussing, we will talk when we get home!”
Aunt Rong’s mouth was still full of scolding, though, she no longer touched Rong Xu for the sake of Rong Heng’s face. Up until she walked out of the gravesite, she was still scolding. By the time she opened the car door to get on the car, she ridiculed again: “How can big stars still ride with us? Rong Heng, you also look highly on your Rong family. The other party is a big-name celebrity. They are different from us now.”
“Pa—”
The black umbrella snapped closed sharply, making a ear-splitting noise in the quiet atmosphere.
Aunt Rong’s words were suddenly interrupted and she turned her head to look at Rong Xu, only seeing in the hazy drizzle, the handsome and cold youth slightly raising his lips. His eyes stared at her calmly, and he said with a slight smile: “Auntie, naturally, big stars are different. Big-name celebrities…… can swallow you alive, do you understand?”
Suddenly, an oppressive pressure spread out over the cemetery.
Within the slight sprinkle of the rain, that pair of eyes were clearly smiling, but they were also were cold and deep. He appeared to be sitting upon a throne and looking down at this woman. His words seemed to be said jokingly, but the phrase “swallowed alive” hung heavily in her heart.
Suddenly, she felt a cold sweat, and Aunt Rong stayed in place with a stunned look on her face. Even when Rong Xu entered the car, her spirit didn’t return for a long time. After she got into the car, she still wanted to curse at Rong Xu, but although at this time Rong Xu was no longer in front of her, she dared not speak.
Whenever she tried to open her mouth to curse, those fierce eyes flashed through her mind, making her tremble as if something was pressing down upon her and preventing her from breathing. The hairs on her arm all stood up.
The grave sweeping ended like this. Rong Xu did not return to the Rong Family mansion, but separated from his Uncle and Aunt Rong at the intersection. When he left, his uncle and aunt did not get out of the car to send him off at all, but Rong Xu didn’t care. Holding the umbrella, he just walked away steadily.
Luo Zhentao drove to pick up Rong Xu and was surprised when he saw him alone. But, he quickly figured it out. He also complained a little: “When you said you were going to grave sweep with your uncle and aunt, I already didn’t think that was a good idea. Xiao Xu, I’ll bring you here in the future. You have a bad relationship with your uncle and aunt. It’s best to have minimal contact with them.”
Rong Xu closed his umbrella. When he heard those words, he said with a smile: “Then, next year I will have Brother Luo send me here.” After all, he already knew the exact location of the Old Man’s graveyard now and would not reveal his secret.
What happened today, Rong Xu did not tell Luo Zhentao, but Luo Zhentao should have been able to guess. With regard to the relationship between Rong Xu and his uncle and aunt, it was guaranteed that nothing good would have happened, nor would everyone have been cordial.
The situation passed just like this and Luo Zhentao began to talk about the MV recording situation for next day. Rong Xu nodded slightly, but his eyes slowly looked outside the car.
Dark black clouds covered most of the sky, pressing on everyone’s heart, as he replayed every scene that happened today in front of his eyes.
Aunt Rong’s foolishness and irritable temper, Rong Heng’s coldness and pretending to be indifferent, Steward Duan’s bystander stance, Wang Ma’s meekness and timidity … and Rong Heng’s eyes when he looked at his wife with a flash of disgust.
Since he is so disgusted, how could they live with each other and yet be fine?
Rong Xu leaned back against the car seat, his lips slightly tilted up, as if something he had discovered something interesting.
That night, Rong Xu made a phone call and calmly discussed the price with the party on the other end of the phone, fixing the time and content of the task. The next day, Rong Xu and Luo Zhentao arrived at a recording studio in the suburbs of B City. Before they had entered the door, a lady in fashionable dress walked over quickly, grabbed his hand, and said very excitedly: “Rong Xu? Rong Xu! I waited a long time for you, come quickly!”
The Author has something to say:
Qin Cheng Cheng: Today, why did you not let baby even show a name……
Sister Fu: This kind of scene, where do you think you can appear…….
TL notes: Chapter 53 will be up by April 1
Previous | Index | Next
(Google img: Capital Grand Theater)
Surreal Sky Translations 