Surrounded by the Billionaire's Deep Doting-Chapter 688 - 528: Of the 8,000 Characters in the World, Only "Love" Kills
Before entering the mourning hall, Su Xiaomeng took the hemp clothes from the servant and dressed herself before also dressing Huanghuang and Shuangshuang.
Prince Huang watched as Su Xiaomeng placed a black armband on his shoulder, furrowing his brow,
"Mom, I don’t want to wear it."
"Huanghuang, be good. Look, mommy is wearing one too."
Su Xiaomeng coaxed him.
She was actually very scared, pretending nothing was wrong in front of the children made her feel terrified every second.
To the children, she and Yin Shixiu pretty much made up their entire world, and now half of that world had suddenly collapsed.
Su Xiaomeng didn’t know if Shuangshuang and Huanghuang could bear it.
Claire said a three-year-old child can’t understand, just trick them, and it’s fine.
But really... is it okay to just trick them?
"Do I have to wear this to see Dad?"
Prince Huang looked unwilling, his expression filled with disgust as he gazed at the armband on his shoulder, as if he was convinced it represented something ominous.
"Yes."
Su Xiaomeng responded.
Over there, Shan Minglang had already put the armband on Shuangshuang, who wasn’t as sensitive as Huanghuang. Just the thought of wearing the armband to see Dad made him excitedly tell Shan Minglang,
"Brother, wear two more!"
Shan Minglang chuckled ruefully, just silently holding Shuangshuang’s hand while following Su Xiaomeng and Huanghuang into the mourning hall.
At this moment, on both sides of the mourning hall, Yin Shilan, the Shi Hua couple, and Shi Lan’s son and daughter-in-law along with their grandchild were kneeling on cushions.
Other elders of the Yin Family were also present in the hall.
When they saw Su Xiaomeng bringing the two children back, for a moment, no one dared to say anything.
Instead, it was Su Xiaomeng who spoke first, greeting the family members on both sides and asking Shuangshuang and Huanghuang to greet them as well.
The elder relatives stuttered in response.
Yin Shaohuai, sitting in the living room, saw that Su Xiaomeng still wore a baseball cap on her head, and his brow furrowed instinctively. Just as he was about to speak up, he saw Su Xiaomeng take off the cap—
Even though the sporadic sobbing and crying continued in the mourning hall...
The collective gasp that came almost simultaneously was hard to ignore.
Once the cap came off, the hair on top of her head was a patch of gray and white, about ten centimeters in length, starkly contrasting with the dark and shiny ends of the remaining hair.
One night of turning gray...
What kind of anxiety and suffering, what kind of heartbreak...
Yin Shaohuai, who had opened his mouth, silently closed it, leaving behind only a sigh.
Yin Meng, upon seeing the change in Su Xiaomeng’s hair, burst into tears instantly.
Shan Minglang stood right behind Su Xiaomeng, and he didn’t need to lower his head; what he saw was a head of white hair.
No one would have thought that Su Xiaomeng, who had lost her husband, couldn’t go on living.
Her grandfather is Bai Fengmao, from a similarly illustrious family, and now, she herself is a student at the University of Bath, having garnered some academic attention with her speech at an interpreting competition.
Su Xiaomeng can live well, brilliantly, and with endless prospects ahead.
But yet...
The news of her husband’s death directly caused the vibrant black hair of the young widow to turn completely white.
Love has made people age throughout history—this tragic saying has come true once more.
"Huanghuang, kneel down, kowtow to Dad."
As Su Xiaomeng spoke, she first knelt down, and Prince Huang followed suit, despite his mind being filled with questions but still listening to Su Xiaomeng.
Xiao Meng kowtowed, and Prince Huang followed.
Minglang, behind them, also kowtowed with Shuangshuang.
After kowtowing, Su Xiaomeng stood up, and her outward calm really surprised people.
If it weren’t for that shockingly white hair, at this moment, the tearless Su Xiaomeng would surely have been called "cold-blooded and heartless" by others.
Su Xiaomeng took Huanghuang’s hand to move to the side, but Prince Huang pulled on Su Xiaomeng’s hand with a sudden force that made her pause for a second. She looked back to meet her son Chengming’s gaze...
"Where’s Dad?"
"..."
"I want to see Dad..."
"..."
"Huanghuang has already kowtowed to Dad... why hasn’t Dad appeared yet?"
"..."
"Dad!"
Prince Huang shook off Su Xiaomeng’s hand and immediately shouted. Seeing no one responded, he became stubborn,
"Dad! No hide and seek!"
"Dad!"
As Prince Huang shouted, Shuangshuang quickly joined in, grabbing Prince Huang’s hand and asking,
"Is Dad playing hide and seek with us?"
Prince Huang nodded,
"Yes!"
Shuangshuang’s eyes lit up, and the siblings ran back and forth in the mourning hall as if Yin Shixiu was really playing hide and seek with them...
Su Xiaomeng stood frozen in place, tears welling up in her eyes.
Listening to Shuangshuang and Huanghuang calling out one after the other, everyone’s hearts tightened... 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
Su Xiaomeng suddenly reached out and grabbed Yin Meng beside her...
Yin Meng’s face was already covered in tears, and she looked at Su Xiaomeng, witnessing the tears swirling in her eyes.
She was desperately holding back...
Yin Meng knew that Xiao Meng was fighting with all her might to hold back...
"Help, help me deceive them... I, I can’t..."
Xiao Meng choked out with difficulty.
Yin Meng’s heart felt as if it were being gnawed by countless ants.
Su Xiaomeng had married into the Yin Family for over three years, at nineteen, an innocent and lively college student, now utterly devastated.
There are eight thousand characters in the world, but only the character for "love" is the most lethal!
Is such a cost for so-called love worth it?
Once you love, you just love; why give yourself so completely without reservation?
The deeper the love, the more painful the separation.
Xiao Meng once said she had already loved Yin Shixiu down to her bones; how could she let go? If she really had to let go, it would be like tearing nerves from bones.
Now, she was enduring this bitterness, this pain.
Yin Meng nodded,
"Alright, I’ll help you deceive."
"Thank you."
After saying this, Su Xiaomeng turned her head away, her tears falling to the ground, the rest forced back into her eyes.
How Yin Meng and Ming Liang and Ming Xu deceived those two three-year-old children, she didn’t listen.
She just quietly sat alone, kneeling at the closest spot to the wooden coffin. She finally saw that segment of an arm and saw the countless flowers arranged around it.
She stared with determination, without a trace of avoidance.
The way of Heaven is constant, the cycle of cause and effect.
She always believed in this, that good people would be rewarded with good, and evil people with evil; it’s not a matter of if, but when.
But looking at this severed arm, she couldn’t understand.
What had her husband done wrong... why was he given a fate where "not even bones remain"?
She couldn’t understand, though Shi Shengde had already been captured, how did he successfully escape prison?
She couldn’t understand, when her husband faced danger without fear, exchanging life for life, how did he become labeled as an illegal element in the face of media and public opinion?
She couldn’t understand, how power and interest could truly be worth more than human life?
And she couldn’t understand even more, how evildoers, having committed every conceivable crime, could still roam free.
Is it truly impossible to be a good, law-abiding person, does being unambitious and non-competitive inevitably lead to a chilling fate?
Shi Shengde, Shi Yuancheng, Yin Shiqing...
And... who else?
When Bai Sidong and Shan Mingxu told her everything that happened that night, a line had already formed in her mind.
There must be someone else, no, maybe more than one, behind Shi Shengde, using him mercilessly and wanting to extract themselves cleanly.
Su Xiaomeng took a deep breath.
Shuangshuang and Huanghuang were taken back to Jun Garden by Yin Meng and Shan Minglang, the siblings cried until they were exhausted, then fell asleep.
The two elders of the Yin Family hadn’t gotten up since they fell that night.
For three days of vigil, Su Xiaomeng remained by the wooden coffin for all three days.
Occasionally, she would eat or drink a little, all in front of the wooden coffin.
In three days, the doors of the Yin Mansion had not opened again. All guests were refused entry; this was Su Xiaomeng’s decision.
Xiao Meng kept looking at that severed arm, just looking...
After three days, this severed arm would be treated as her husband’s entirety and sent for cremation.
So abruptly and unexpectedly... a thought flashed through her mind.
If it were turned to ash, nothing would be left.
"Aunt, what are you doing?"
The sky outside was dark, and in the mourning hall, only Su Xiaomeng was left. When Shan Mingxu entered, he saw Su Xiaomeng taking the severed arm from the wooden coffin.
Xiao Meng steadily looked at Shan Mingxu for a long time, and then softly spoke,
"Ming Xu, has this arm been forensically examined?"
