Chapter 137: A Love Triangle

This was nothing short of a melodramatic soap opera. In a normal scenario, the old lady would have loved my grandfather in her youth, but he didn't return her feelings. Out of spite, she would have married a "good, honest man," yet never once masked her lingering feelings for my grandfather. It would have been bad enough that she nearly remarried in her younger days, but to come all the way to Luoyang to stir up trouble at her age, simply because she was green with envy—that is quite something. Forget the intensity of her feelings for my grandfather; the man she actually married must have been a saint of endurance. Any other man would have found such humiliation intolerable. Fatty claimed her husband was a remnant of the Qing Dynasty nobility. I had assumed it was a case where the wife held all the power, but since the Qing Dynasty is long gone, those remnants hardly count for much—after all, even Puyi had to buy a ticket to visit the Forbidden City, didn't he? But then "A" arrived, and a single sentence from him caused a storm to rise in my heart.

The man I thought was a saint of endurance was actually the "Sixth Master" that A spoke of?

There is no need to even describe A’s status, but the concept of the Sixth Master—the man above even A—was something I dared not even imagine. That a man of such stature could tolerate his wife loving another man, and even acting out of jealousy for him, was beyond my comprehension. At the very least, if it were me, I couldn't stand it. I would rather stay a bachelor for life than have a wife like that.

Fatty’s face turned beet red, and even my big brother’s expression shifted. This was a bombshell dropped right into our midst.

Just as I began to think things might not be as I had imagined, the old lady sneered at A and said, "Do I need you to teach me how to conduct myself? At the very least, I didn't mention his name. It is your advice that has truly trampled his old face into the dirt."

A replied sheepishly, "I apologize."

"An apology is useful? Go tell him this: don't think I don't know what he’s plotting. He thinks everything he does is seamless, but I will settle the score with him for how he stoked the flames in this matter sooner or later." The old lady’s tone was sharp; she scolded A as if he were a child.

To my shock, A didn't show a hint of temper. I realized that in front of this woman, whether you are a dragon or a tiger, you have to coil up and lie low. A, a man as shrewd as they come, couldn't even lift his head while being reprimanded by her. After a moment, the old lady said, "Since you all know the truth, proceed with the funeral. When that old man finally shows his face, tell him that there is an old lady in Tianjin with her eyes wide open, waiting for him. I want to see how much longer he can hide."

With that, the old lady walked out and got into her car. Before she left, the little girl stuck her tongue out at me and waved goodbye. Once their motorcade had vanished into the distance, I gave Fatty a bitter smile and said, "Damn it, why does this feel like a dream?"

Fatty shrugged. "Who isn't feeling that way? The world is too small. My respect for your grandfather has turned into a rushing, endless river. The 'Grand Empress Dowager' of Tianjin, the wife of the capital’s Sixth Master, has pined for him her entire life, and yet he spent his whole existence holed up in this godforsaken Fudigou?"

I pulled out a cigarette, and just as I was about to light it, a lighter was offered to me. I saw it was A and quickly cupped my hands around the flame out of respect. After he lit his own, he smiled at me and said, "My apologies, I hope you weren't offended by the spectacle."

"What exactly is going on? Your Sixth Master has the patience of a saint!" Fatty exclaimed.

A gave a bitter laugh, and Chen Dongfang looked equally helpless. A shook his head and smiled. "Every family has its own secret hardships. The lady loved someone else, but the Sixth Master had been pursuing her relentlessly since they were young. I once asked him about the situation, and he said that when she married him, they made a pact of three conditions. Don't laugh—in her youth, the lady was said to be the most beautiful woman in the Central Plains; it is no exaggeration to say she eclipsed Xi Shi or Diaochan. It is a long story, but what I didn't expect was that Tianhua’s wife turned out to be her daughter. The world is truly small."

"Small? It’s not small at all," Fatty said to A. "Aren't the descendants of Chen Jinzhi still working under you? Guo Zhongyong of the Ghost Sect died too suddenly, leaving too much unsaid. This circle seems vast, but it is actually tiny, revolving around this one thing. Don't play dumb with me—I’ll get to the bottom of this eventually."

A gave Fatty a meaningful look, then reached out to shake my hand. As I gripped it, he said, "Fatty is right, but Old Ye was a friend to both the lady and the Sixth Master, and Tianhua is my brother; we will always be friends. Go on, bury Old Ye’s cenotaph; it is already past noon."

I nodded and called Chen Qingshan. He brought neighbors from the village to help, and I walked in front holding the spirit tablet, while my brother served as a pallbearer for our grandfather. After the burial, everyone ate at my house. The villagers were still buzzing about the old lady—she was a topic with too many layers: wealthy, sharp-tongued, and, most importantly, my grandmother.

Naturally, the villagers' discussion eventually boiled down to confirming whether that woman was truly my grandmother. I didn't know how to answer, so I simply defaulted to silence. Everyone looked at me with envy; in their eyes, my family, once penniless, had achieved comfort through my brother’s return, and now with such a powerful grandmother, we were surely destined for greatness. I could only offer a bitter smile; I couldn't bring myself to be happy.

After the guests left, I collapsed onto the sofa, exhausted. A moment later, my mother walked into the room. We all looked at her, and she looked back at us. We all wanted her to explain, but she was too fragile, prone to tears. We had agreed that if she wanted to talk, she would, but we wouldn't force her.

My brother and I couldn't bring ourselves to ask, so Fatty was pushed forward. He stood up, scratched his head, and said, "I’m close with Ye-zi, so I’ll just call you Auntie. What exactly is the story here?"

My mother’s eyes reddened instantly. Seeing this, Fatty quickly raised his hands. "Auntie, if you can't talk about it, that’s fine. We were just curious."

My mother wiped her eyes and said, "It was fate. I didn't know about the situation back then, though my brother likely did. That’s why when Tianhua came to our house, my brother tried to make things difficult for him. In the end, Tianhua took down dozens of my brother’s men in an instant."

"So, Uncle’s heroic martial prowess swept you off your feet?" Fatty asked with a grin.

My mother’s face flushed red with the shyness of a young girl. She nodded and said, "Later, he asked me if I wanted to come with him and be his wife. I was foolish and just followed him. So many years have passed, and it still feels like a dream."

Fatty gave my mother a thumbs-up. "Auntie, you were right. Uncle was a peerless hero, and you were a beauty of your time. Beauty and heroes have always been a perfect match!"

I tugged at Fatty’s sleeve, signaling him to stop. It wasn't that he was wrong, but we didn't dare mention my father in front of her; he was her softest spot.

I might not have understood before, but after meeting Han Xue, I gradually began to grasp the nature of love. My mother might have followed my father in a daze, but as a wealthy young lady who came to this remote village and held our family together after he died, I knew that even if she never said it, her love for my father was the only thing keeping her going.

I stood up and hugged her. I noticed many gray hairs woven into her locks. I whispered, "Mom, Dad will definitely come back. Didn't you hear Grandmother? The Dragon Head Monument of the Ghost Sect can grant immortality. Uncle Zhuzi said so, and Grandfather admitted it. Dad is inside the Feng Shui eye of the Dragon Head Monument. He will come back. He promised you, didn't he?"

As I spoke, I closed my eyes. I didn't know if he could really return.

If he truly could, I hoped it wouldn't be too late.

After all, this woman had already been waiting for twenty-three years.