Chapter 80 Part 3

Yan Hang held the number Cui Yi had sent him, glanced at the map nearby, and said, “It should be over by the hillside.”

“The air here is really nice,” Chu Yi said.

“It’s all trees and grass, no people,” Yan Hang replied, “Of course the air’s good.”

As they walked towards the hillside, they didn’t talk much. Chu Yi gently held his hand, and that’s when Yan Hang noticed his palms were a bit sweaty. Despite the heat, his fingers were cold.

There was still some sadness, perhaps, for the mother he never had in his memories.

The closer they got to the number, the colder Yan Hang’s hand felt, and his steps slowed.

One tombstone after another, each with a name, each marking a different life.

Finally, he stopped in front of one.

It was a couple’s tombstone, half of it had a black plaque with a name and photo, while the other half was blank.

This was the first time Yan Hang learned his mother’s name.

Lu Xiaozhou.

Yan Hang smiled. It was quite a cute name.

Judging by the condition of the tombstone, it seemed like his dad had replaced it with a new one a few years ago.

The area around the tombstone was very clean. As they arrived, they even saw workers cleaning up, so it seemed like it was maintained daily.

So, if his dad had come by, there wouldn’t be any trace of it left.

No.

There was still something.

Yan Hang crouched down. In front of the tombstone was an incense burner, quite large, bigger than the one next to it. It was filled with rice, but the incense sticks hadn’t burned down completely. Yan Hang looked at the small incense burner by the neighboring tombstone and confirmed that the workers wouldn’t clean the incense burners.

His dad wasn’t into the whole incense and paper money thing… but why put an incense burner there?

He hesitated for a moment, then poked at the rice with his finger.

There was something buried in the rice.

With a light flick of his finger, a beautiful little ring emerged from the rice at his fingertips.

“Ah.” Chu Yi looked a little surprised.

“Playing at being romantic, huh?” Yan Hang smiled, “Wanna guess what else is in here?”

“A ring,” Chu Yi said.

“…I already pulled out the ring,” Yan Hang dug through the rice again, then froze, “What the…? You should set up a fortune-telling stall, seriously.”

“There’s more?” Chu Yi was stunned as well.

“Yeah,” Yan Hang pulled out another ring, “This one’s older than the first.”

“Does he buy one every year?” Chu Yi squatted down as well.

“Probably not. If he bought one every year, there’d be a whole pile by now,” Yan Hang sighed softly, continuing to sift through the rice, “Though the rice might get changed out every year.”

“Fresh rice is tastier,” Chu Yi said, “Old rice isn’t as fragrant.”

Yan Hang glanced at him and chuckled, “Silly dog.”

There wasn’t too much in the rice, just three rings, a small pendant, a bracelet, two paper hearts folded from cigarette packs, a few dried rose petals, and… a tiny photo, cut into a circle, with edges that suggested it had once been inside a photo pendant.

Yan Hang picked up the photo and his hand shook violently.

Although the photo was small, the person in it was him, and he could spot the details at a glance.

"Old fox," he gritted his teeth.

"Let, let me see," Chu Yi leaned over, first stunned, then suddenly looked up at Yan Hang, "This is, is, is, this is you, you..."

"This is my head waiter uniform," Yan Hang said.

"How, how did he take it?" Chu Yi was very shocked.

"Don't know," Yan Hang stared at the photo, "it's not very clear, he must have been quite far away and then zoomed in to take it."

"Hmm," Chu Yi also stared at the photo.

"The old fox secretly took a photo of me," Yan Hang said, "this old fox actually secretly photographed me."

"Report him," Chu Yi said.

Yan Hang suddenly laughed: "Aren't you annoying?"

"Annoying," Chu Yi also laughed.

"This is probably downstairs by the trash can, I smoke there every day," Yan Hang looked at the photo, "I don't know when it was taken, the uniform looks the same every day."

Chu Yi didn't speak, his mind was already shaken and he couldn't think anymore.

The missing Uncle Yan for so long actually had a photo of Yan Hang as a head waiter.

"Secretly took a photo of me," Yan Hang's voice lowered, "this person is so shameless, he actually secretly photographed me."

Chu Yi felt Yan Hang's voice trembling, and he put his arm around Yan Hang's shoulder.

"Looks like I'm handsome enough to get secretly photographed by my own dad..." Yan Hang lowered his head and buried his face in his arms, "I'm going to report him."

"Hmm," Chu Yi gently patted Yan Hang on the back.

He heard Yan Hang's very faint, low sobbing.