上海安全生产监督局

Chapter 30

The next day, Shen Nian woke up at half past three in the morning.

She took out a black dress from the wardrobe and put it on. She didn\'t put on any makeup and tied her hair into a simple bun. Her clothes were black, her hair was black, and even the hair tie holding her bun was black. The black color was somewhat oppressive.

After getting ready, she went out holding the bouquet of sunflowers.

There were still taxis around at this time, though not many. Shen Nian was quite lucky and only had to wait five minutes before a taxi came.

After getting in the taxi, she said lightly: "Cemetery in the east of the city."

Getting a request to go to the cemetery at such an early hour really frightened the taxi driver. He glanced at Shen Nian in the back through the rearview mirror.

She was dressed all in black, and with the darkness outside, her whole person was shrouded in gloom. Because the light was off, he couldn\'t see her expression clearly, which really gave a creepy feeling.

A hand stretched out which gave the driver a fright and he almost cried out. But on closer look he realized the slender, fair hand was holding a red bill.

"I\'m not a ghost," Shen Nian explained flatly, seeming to know what the driver was afraid of. "Thank you for the trouble."

When Shen Nian didn\'t speak, she really was frightening. But hearing her voice, the driver was not so scared anymore.

From here to the cemetery in the east of the city, even with the higher nighttime taxi fare, a single trip would not cost more than fifty yuan. Shen Nian very generously gave a hundred yuan bill, which was a huge tip.

The driver took the money with a smile. "Little miss is going to pay respects?"

"Mm," Shen Nian murmured in agreement.

The car drove on. There were not many cars on the road at this time, so the journey was quite smooth.

Perhaps because of the quiet surroundings, the driver kept trying to make conversation.

"Paying respects to family?"

"No, a friend."

"A friend, ah..." The driver looked back at Shen Nian again. Without makeup, Shen Nian looked even more youthful. In the dim light, the driver could not make out every detail of her face, but he could see she was a young and pretty girl.

Her friend was surely around the same age as her.

Passed away so young...

The driver felt somewhat regretful.

Shen Nian held the sunflowers in silence, only answering the driver\'s numerous questions with the occasional "mm".

She looked out the window. There were very few cars on the highway, and the streetlights swiftly slid past her vision.

After looking for some time, Shen Nian lowered her head again to press her phone screen. The originally dark screen lit up.

Her phone wallpaper was very simple, nothing special about it.

At the top of the screen was the time, it was already four o\'clock.

Below that was the date.

Saturday, June 15

A very ordinary day, no special occasion at all.

Mm, not special at all.

The schedule she had set suddenly popped up with a reminder.

[Lu Lingrui\'s birthday]

Mm, today was Lu Lingrui\'s birthday.

It was very quiet in the car again for a long time, until they finally arrived at the cemetery in the east of the city.

Shen Nian got out of the car holding the flowers and walked in.

At this time of day, the whole city was peaceful and quiet, not to mention this place.

When Shen Nian reached the cemetery entrance, the security guard was an old grandpa. Grandpa had not yet rested. Seeing Shen Nian arrive, he smiled, "You\'ve come."

"Grandpa," Shen Nian said in surprise, "You haven\'t slept yet?"

"Knowing you were coming today, this old man waited up specially for you," the old man said. Then he pointed to the calendar on the table next to them, which showed today\'s date. Below the 15th the grandpa had written some big words to remind himself and prevent mistakes.

Shen Nian was stunned for a moment, then showed a smile. "Thank you, grandpa."

"Alright, go on in quickly."

It was a bit cold in the early morning, and the cold wind blowing on her felt chilling.

"Foolish girl, how could you come out without a coat?" the old man nagged.

Hearing the fussing, Shen Nian\'s lips curled up in a smile. She said something back to him, then took the tools she kept here before going in.

It was very peaceful and desolate here.

She didn\'t need any lights or directions, turning familiar corners until stopping in front of a grave.

She stood there, first lowering her eyes to glance at the icy gravestone without putting the sunflowers down, but placing them to the side instead.

Squatting down on one knee in front of the gravestone, she put the tools borrowed from the old grandpa beside her leg.

It was a small bucket. The old grandpa had already helped fill it with water for her beforehand.

Shen Nian soaked a dry towel in it, then wrung it out cleanly and carefully wiped the gravestone, getting rid of all the dirt on it.

She didn\'t speak, just silently doing the task at hand.

After wiping it clean, she finally hugged the bouquet of sunflowers and looked at the gravestone. The sky was a bit dark and she couldn\'t see the words clearly, but Shen Nian knew what was written on it.

Grave of eldest daughter Lu Lingrui.

She lowered her eyes. She placed the sunflowers down and said gently, "I\'ve come to see you. Today is your birthday, happy birthday."

"... "

No one answered her. Just another gust of cold wind blew up.

Shen Nian was very quiet. She had never been a talkative person to begin with.

Leaning against Lu Lingrui\'s gravestone, she drew up her legs and hugged them with her hands.

She didn\'t speak again, just sitting there very quietly, head lowered in silence.

When she had arrived, the sky was still very dark, but summertime days came early. In less than an hour, the sky had already started to brighten faintly, and soon the last remnants of darkness faded away as the first rays of morning sunlight shone down.

Feeling the light on her, Shen Nian\'s body moved a little. She looked up at the sun in the sky.

"It\'s bright now."

She didn\'t expect it to get bright so quickly.

She turned her head to look at Lu Lingrui\'s gravestone, moved her lips, wanting to say something but not knowing what to say.

In the past, it was always Lu Lingrui who had actively brought up topics with her. Now left to come up with a topic herself, she was silent for a long time but couldn\'t think of anything to talk about.

Actually, just seeing the photo and name on the gravestone already gave her great comfort.

She took out her phone to check the time.

Today was Lu Lingrui\'s birthday. Her family would come to see her.

All these years, Shen Nian had purposefully come at different times to avoid unnecessary conflict.

She knew Lu\'s family didn\'t want to see her at all.

It was still early now. Lu\'s family probably wouldn\'t come this early.

On the other hand, Lu Lingchen was accompanying Li Mingshi to see Lu Lingrui. Lu Lingchen held a bouquet of sunflowers in one hand, and supported Li Mingshi with the other.

Over the years, Li Mingshi\'s health had not been good. Sometimes when she was overwhelmed with grief over Lu Lingrui, she would even faint.

"Mom, you didn\'t need to come see sister so early," said Lu Lingchen.

Li Mingshi was not wearing any makeup and looked very haggard. Her hair was just casually tied back with a hair band.

Hearing her youngest son\'s words, Li Mingshi shook her head. "Mom dreamed of your sister. She used to love her birthdays so much... Your sister must miss us."

That was why she wanted to come early to see her.

Seeing his gaunt mother, Lu Lingchen didn\'t know how to comfort her, and could only remain silent.

It was always said girls were more thoughtful and understanding of their parents than boys.