Chapter 491: Ji Family’s Medal No. 194, Miss Bai’s Rank_1
 

Ji Heng’s destination was Nanling Mountain.

Nanling Mountain wasn’t a public cemetery but an upcoming tourist attraction under development below Xiangcheng, with several renowned people’s graves nearby.

Located at the southernmost point of Xiangcheng, the mountain range stretched on endlessly. The roads were tricky, with half of them under expansion to prepare for the tourist route, and Nanling Park was still pending opening.

Ming Dongheng drove slowly to the edge of Nanling Mountain, where Ji Heng asked him to stop at a spot.

Bai Lian, carrying items for the memorial service, followed Ji Heng as he got out of the car. The attraction wasn’t open until summer vacation, but at the entrance, they could already see signs with four routes, directing to “Nanling Park,” “Nanling Mountain,” “Guo Shan Tomb,” and “Hongye Hotel.”

The signpost was very new; it must have been installed not long ago.

Ming Dongheng, sitting in the driver’s seat, looked up at Bai Lian following Ji Heng along one of the paths and couldn’t help but pick up his phone.

Ming Dongheng: [It’s Qingming Festival today. Miss Bai, what are you doing at the tourist attraction?]

Ming Dongheng: [Are you paying respects at Guo Shan Tomb or the General’s Tomb?]

Xu Nanjing: [Don’t forget to come pay respects later.]

Xu Nanjing was at Martyrs’ Mausoleum.

**

Nanling Mountain.

Ji Heng hadn’t taken Bai Lian to the tourist attraction but led her deeper into isolation along the mountain paths. The route was challenging, but Bai Lian tread easily, and Ji Heng’s breathing remained steady. They walked for about fifteen minutes.

Finally, Bai Lian saw three tombstones. Ji Heng stopped in front of the last one, which was the only one with an actual grave; the other two were cenotaphs.

The tombs looked well-tended and clean, without a single weed, suggesting someone had been regularly maintaining them.

“I brought Alian to see you,” Ji Heng squatted down, brushing off the barely visible dust on the tombstone; “You probably haven’t seen her.”

As he spoke, he looked towards Bai Lian with an unfamiliar gentleness in his deeply furrowed eyes, “Come, let her see you.”

Bai Lian stepped forward, reading the inscription on the tombstone—

The tomb of Ji Wanxin

Wanxin, Ji Wanxin. Was this her grandmother?

Bai Lian placed down the chrysanthemums in her hand, bowing respectfully. Such a tender name.

Ji Heng kept silent.

Kneeling before the grave, he burned an embroidered handkerchief with lilacs on it, waiting until it was entirely consumed by flames. Then, he took out from the basket some alcoholic drinks and three cups, placing them neatly in front of the two other tombstones, pouring the liquor to the brim, and poured a cup for himself as well.

“You can call them grandpa,” he quietly said to Bai Lian, sitting casually to one side, drinking with the two tombstones.

Twenty minutes later.

Ji Heng left behind the liquor pot and cups and got up, “Let’s go, don’t keep Xiaoming waiting.”

Bai Lian followed him down the mountain but looked back while descending the steps.

Mist lingered among the mountains, with the wind gently brushing through the trees and sunlight casting the tombstones and leaves in a golden hue.

Seeing her repeatedly look back, Ji Heng raised an eyebrow, “Have you seen your grandmother’s photo before?”

Bai Lian shook her head.

“Figures,” Ji Heng might have had a bit to drink, his thoughts somewhat unclear, he became more talkative with Bai Lian, “I’ll look for one and show you when we get back, I have quite a few.”

**

On the way, it turned out Ming Dongheng was heading to Martyrs’ Mausoleum.

Ji Heng sat upright, asking Ming Dongheng to take them along.

The Martyrs’ Mausoleum was on the way and a bit secluded, but there were many people at the entrance today, with the towering monument of the martyrs visible from afar.

Several young people were handing out chrysanthemums for free at the entrance to the mausoleum.

Standing beneath the giant martyrs’ monument at the entrance, Bai Lian heard a familiar cough.

She instinctively looked up and, as expected, saw Ning Xiao supporting Granny Wang in front of her.

Granny Wang was still wearing the same oversized camouflage uniform, which didn’t match her build, and she seemed somewhat better today, with Ning Xiao silently assisting her.

Neither of them noticed her.

Bai Lian didn’t call out to them; instead, she remembered the three obituary photos she saw on her first visit to Granny Wang’s home.

Ahead, Granny Wang paused for a moment. She put her hand to her mouth, coughing twice, then, looking at a group of people gathered in the second row, she thought for a bit, “Let’s visit your brother and his father first, they’re at the back. There are too many people at your grandfather’s, we’ll skip him for now.”

Strictly speaking, Ning Xiao wasn’t Granny Wang’s biological grandson but Ning Yiruo’s half-brother through their mother, who, upon discovering his defects—he neither cried nor laughed—sent him to Xiangcheng to be with Granny Wang.

Today, with many people coming to pay respects, the two stopped in front of a tombstone. Ning Xiao squatted down, looking at the photo of Ning Yiruo with a radiant smile, and placed the large bouquet of sunflowers on top of it.

He resembled his brother in looks, though their personalities were worlds apart.

Granny Wang always worried about him.

Most offerings were chrysanthemums, what they prepared for the other ancestors in the mausoleum.