Chapter 551 Finale (Part 2)

Shan Ji left the treasure ship and took a small boat, preparing to return to Wuyi Xuewei.

But the further he walked, the more uncomfortable he felt. He always felt that he didn't beat Yan enough last time at Yan's house.

At that time, he almost lost half his life because of a knife wound in the chest by Qing Yuan. As soon as he recovered from his injury, he rushed to Yan Mansion in Kyoto City to rescue Yun Chen.

When he saw Yun Chen locked in a cold iron cage, Shan Ji was so heartbroken that he almost went crazy. Just as he was about to start a killing spree, he ran into Huo Gannian who had also sneaked into Yan's Mansion.

Shan Ji realized that everything was part of Huo Gannian's plan. Although he understood that he had no choice but to do so to save the Nan Kingdom and the people, he still couldn't help but feel sad for his sister and could only beat him up to vent his anger.

After seeing Yun Chen with dark circles under his eyes and weak steps, Shan Ji felt an itch in his palms, as if he had not beaten him enough last time.

He sailed out for a distance in a small boat and then turned back. With his excellent lightness skills, he returned to the treasure ship and appeared behind someone who was sent by Yun Chen to get incense and candles from the warehouse. He rushed up with a sack and beat him all over the face.

With Huo Gannian's skills, he immediately felt Shan Ji appear behind him. He thought he was being attacked, so when the sack pounced on him, he immediately used the sharp candle to block and fight back.

The two men quickly started fighting in the dark warehouse. When Huo Gannian realized that the other person was Shan Ji and stopped fighting, he was already disheveled and his hair was messy.

Shan Ji didn't get any advantage either. There was a wound on his face and he sat there with a sullen look on his face.

Huo Gannian lowered his eyebrows and eyes, smiling a little dog-like.

Shan Ji silently cursed with his mouth, and after thinking for a long time, he finally found a suitable and appropriate reprimand:

"I understand you two want to have a child, but you have to take your time. There's no need to rush!"

"Don't worry, brother." Huo Gannian smiled awkwardly, thought for a moment, and then the smile disappeared from his face. He whispered:

"Chen'er can't get pregnant. Brother, don't tell her about this."

Shan Ji was stunned for a moment, his expression instantly dark and sad:

"If she knew, she would be so sad."

"So when the time is right, I plan to say that I can't have children. No one will ask about this anymore." Huo Gannian said this seriously and calmly.

This made Shan Ji stunned again.

As a man, Shan Ji knows how insulting and hurtful the three words "I can't" are.

The look he gave Huo Gannian immediately lost two hundred percent of his hostility, and he patted him on the shoulder:

"That's good. But does that mean you're going to lie to Chen'er again?"

"It's not a lie, it's a cover-up." Huo Gannian said, "Brother, aren't you also hiding it from Chen'er? Are you really planning to never recognize him again?"

Shan Ji shook his head, his eyes looking at the distance as if lonely, and said with a smile:

"No."

I don't want her to know her mother's embarrassing past and destroy the image of her mother in her mind; I don't want her to feel guilty towards her father, whom she had misunderstood for many years, especially when her father has passed away and the pain can never be made up.

I also don't want her to know about my shameful past.

She didn't want the world to be curious and speculative about the life experience and past of the "Emperor's Master", causing her to be caught in the whirlwind of public opinion and rumors.

In life, there are not so many things that we need to know clearly. It is good to have some regrets.

Huo Gannian could guess the following words without Shan Ji saying them out loud.

The two men looked at each other, and saw the determination to protect the same woman in each other's eyes, and smiled broadly.

Shan Ji stood up, patted his pants, and deliberately slapped the dust on Huo Gannian's face:

"Okay, I'm leaving now."

Huo Gannian was choked and coughed repeatedly, not daring to frown, but asked considerately:

"Brother, you have the token of the Huo Gang Bank, right? You can spend money anywhere in Nan Country without any restrictions. Please tell Lu Yu to take good care of himself and not to worry about money."

"She needs your money to support her? Bullshit!" Shan Ji rolled his eyes, and without stopping, he jumped over the bow of the boat and left.

Huo Gannian sat there for a while, as if he understood something, shook his head with a smile, then picked up a whole box of incense and candles and returned to the ninth deck.

…

…

July 15th is the Ghost Festival.

As dusk approaches, the sea is bathed in brilliant sunset glow.

Yun Chen was busy at the long table, placing tablets, bowls, chopsticks, and wine glasses at each seat, and bringing up the wine to be drunk during the wedding ceremony.

Seeing Huo Gannian taking so long to move the incense and candles, and still covered in dust for some unknown reason, she shook her head and gave orders:

"It's getting dark, light up all the incense and candles. Over there, bring over those two paper beauties, the bag of rattles, the complete set of eighteen kinds of paper weapons, the saddle, the bag of trousers... and that... bring them all over here."

Huo Gannian was being directed like a top. He couldn't understand where Yun Chen got all these strange sacrificial items while other families just burned gold and silver ingots and clothes.

She looked extremely serious, and it seemed that she still believed in the existence of souls after death.

He felt that it was all because Yun Chen missed her old friend too much, and he couldn't bear to refuse her feelings. After arranging everything neatly and quickly, he told her:

"Okay, Chen'er, let's go eat."

Yun Chen checked everywhere several times and felt that everything was in order.

She gently sat down at the main seat at the end of the long table and sighed:

“I want to eat with them.”

Huo Gannian did not refuse and sat down next to her in another main seat:

"Okay, let's do it together."

He searched among the cold sacrificial dishes on the table, and brought over a plate of glutinous rice cakes, which was Hua Jue's favorite food when he was alive, from in front of Hua Jue's tablet, and shared them with Yun Chen.

As they ate, they talked about their old friend's past. When they missed each other deeply, they couldn't help but burst into tears and cried for a while.

They sat like this from dusk till dark, until the bright moon rose into the sky and numerous candles illuminated the entire deck. However, the long table was still empty, with only the two of them sitting there, looking quite lonely.

At this time, a small black figure appeared out of nowhere, jumped into Yun Chen's arms, stood up like a human, raised its two little front paws, held Yun Chen's face, and squeaked.

Yun Chen hugged Mo Mo's fluffy and round body and wiped his tears with its shiny black fur.

"The little guy is fat again."

Huo Gannian smiled and said, "It knows how to enjoy itself. It jumped up when the boat started and immediately went to the kitchen to make its home. It must be because Rong Yi treats it badly that it always wants to come to you."

Yun Chen recalled that once he went to Rong Yi's house to see Mo Mo, the little guy was held in the arms and kissed by Rong Yi's more than 20 wives and concubines in turn until he was dazed.

After one lap, the black fur was covered with lip balm, which made Momo lick it for three days. His chin was sore, but he still hadn't licked the fur smoothly.

Mo Mo obviously couldn't bear the good fortune of Rong Yi's family, and she sneaked out to find Yun Chen every few days.

On the day of the wedding, when the treasure ship set sail, Mo Mo quietly boarded the ship and went straight to the kitchen warehouse. From then on, he lived a life of drunkenness and dreams, eating until his belly was full and round, even fatter than when he was kept in Rong Yi's mansion.

Yun Chen hugged Mo Mo and buried his face in the warm and fluffy fur. The sadness of missing his old friend flowed along with his tears, gradually wetting Mo Mo's fur.

Huo Gannian sighed, worried that Yun Chen would catch a cold after crying for too long, so he turned around and went into the house to get a cloak.

Momo took this opportunity to struggle away from Yunchen's arms, jumped to Huo Gannian's position and lay down carelessly, combing and licking his own fur while looking at Yunchen with his little eyes, as if to say:

"Why are you crying? Aren't they all here?"

Looking through Momo's eyes——

I saw that the long altar was filled with figures, all of whom were translucent, as if faded by the moonlight.

They ate the fruits and vegetables on the table as tribute, and clinked glasses with wine. Everyone had a warm smile on their face, and they talked and laughed loudly with each other.

Hua Jue stared longingly at the plate of sweet glutinous rice cakes that Huo Gannian had taken away, and said helplessly:

"I give in. I love to eat that. Why did you take it away? The young master is really partial!"

Ye Yan was busy taking care of her two children. She took a moment to nibble on a chicken drumstick and said with a smile:

"It's okay, Achen loves you. I see there's a big bag of pants over there, I'll burn it for you right away!"

"Hahahahahahahaha——" Xun Xun laughed while holding the wine glass, then walked to Yun Chen.

Seeing her holding her chin with her hands and crying, Xun Xuan wiped his face, smiled with tears in his eyes, called her "silly boy", and gently clinked his cup with hers. Unfortunately, no sound came out, but Xun Xuan still said happily with a choked sob:

"Achen, congratulations on your wedding. This wedding wine is really delicious."

After saying this, Xun Jian saw Xiao Liu still munching on the pig's trotter, and couldn't help but yell at him:

"Xiao Liu! You little brat still wants to eat! Achen found two wives for you, why don't you come and see them first?"

"Here it comes--" Xiaoliu's mouth was stuffed with food. He raised his sleeve to wipe his mouth and ran to see the two paper beauties.

After reading it, Xiaoliu came back and muttered unhappily into Yunchen's ear:

"Brother Yun, what's this? She's too thin. I like fatter ones. Hello, hello, can you hear me?"

"Don't bother my boss!" Luo Dongdong hit Xiaoliu on the head with a chicken bone. The two boys immediately found the fun and started fighting with each other while laughing.

In other places, Dankou and his brother, Doji and his grandmother, Miaomiao holding the cat... were all eating and drinking happily.

At the seats closest to the main seat, two pairs of relatives were toasting each other endlessly:

"My dear relatives, I love my daughter-in-law so much!"

"Huh, I'm also a little satisfied with Gan Nian."

"My son's Imperial Tutor is so graceful and elegant, how could he be just 'a little'?"

Yun Zhongjun rolled his eyes at Huo Leiting, and then his eyes turned red:

"What do you know? Do you have a daughter? Do you know how it feels to marry your daughter off? Woo woo woo..."

The whole table was amused by this "old father".

Finally, Shen Youning slowly walked to Yun Chen and gently stroked Yun Chen's head with the hand that could never be touched or felt.

She leaned over and kissed Yun Chen on the forehead.

Yun Chen seemed to have sensed something. He hugged his cold body tightly, raised his tear-stained face, and looked up at the void in the sky.

Her eyes were filled with tears, and she whispered softly:

"I miss you guys so much..."

The next moment, a large and warm cloak wrapped her tightly, and Huo Gannian sat down next to her again, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Don't cry, silly."

"The body returns to dust, but the thoughts are eternal."

“They are all in our hearts…”

(End of full text)