betray
On a sunny day in March, at Taipei City’s No. 1 Funeral Home.
The funeral hall for Jin Yu's farewell ceremony was decorated solemnly and elegantly.
The posthumous photo chosen was one of him with curved eyebrows and a faint smile. In contrast to the solemn atmosphere around him, it reproduced his unruly and carefree character during his lifetime, a kind of dazzling and unrestrained style unique to musicians.
On the incense table, blue smoke curled up, and elegant flower baskets and garlands were silently placed on both sides, with elegiac couplets from all directions hanging low.
The sound of chanting was accompanied by elegant and pious music, which was a stark contrast to the desolate atmosphere in the Jin family's living room a few days ago.
Xiang Yang and Secretary Dong urged the etiquette company to arrange all of this.
At this time, the smart and responsible Secretary Dong and several staff members were patrolling carefully to ensure that every detail was perfect.
People came to burn incense one after another.
Du Tianming arrived with several old colleagues from the production company, looking sad.
Jin Yu’s college classmates arrived, as well as several friends who used to write songs and play in a band together in the simple studio. They all bowed silently and burned incense.
Even some of Jin Yu's partners who met and worked with him in Beijing, although unable to attend in person, sent flower baskets across the sea to express their condolences.
Jin Cang changed into a black suit, making his figure look more upright.
He stood in the position where family members responded to the greetings and bowed deeply to everyone who came to pay their respects.
Father Jin Changan sat alone on a chair in the corner of the mourning hall, looking at everything in front of him with blank eyes. His figure was hunched over, as if he was carrying a heavy burden.
It was somewhat unexpected, yet also seemed reasonable that Xiangyang also followed suit and ran around.
He did not return to Beijing immediately after the ashes were handed over as originally planned. He stayed, not only to assist, but also to provide silent companionship.
On the day of the farewell ceremony, Xiang Yang, along with Yao Fengqin and Zhao Zhiling, mother and daughter, stayed in the reception area, helping to guide guests, handing out signature books, and accepting condolence gifts.
There were unfinished paper lotuses scattered on the corner of the table. Xiang Yang picked up one very naturally, and slowly folded it with his slender fingers, listening to the whispers of Yao Fengqin and Zhao Zhiling beside him.
"That... is the president of the hot dance club who was chasing after him and became known throughout the school, right? What's her name... Lin Yuexia?" Zhao Zhiling lowered her voice and pointed at a figure who had just signed.
Yao Fengqin nodded and glanced at another group of people: "These guys used to work in the same group with Dayu. After working overtime, they would come to my store for supper and specifically ask for three-fresh dumplings." Her tone was filled with nostalgia for past memories.
Zhao Zhiling's eyes fell on a few wreaths. The signatures on them looked unfamiliar. "Mom, look, many of those wreaths were sent from Beijing. Brother Dayu must have made a lot of true friends over there."
Yao Fengqin hummed, flipping through the autograph book. Suddenly, she pointed at a name and frowned slightly. "Huh? Dai Tianyu? I have some impression of this name. Dayu seemed to take good care of this junior in the past."
For some reason, Zhao Zhiling's face changed color slightly. Following her mother's gaze, she saw the backs of a man and a woman walking towards the coffin. The man was still as handsome as she remembered, but there was a bit more sophistication between his brows. The woman was holding his arm affectionately. She was wearing a black suit from a famous brand and was carefully groomed. Even when she was burning incense in the mourning hall, she still looked noble.
"So... he really got married." Zhao Zhiling's voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible, and the sigh was inexplicably complex.
Dai Tianyu.
These three words suddenly pierced Xiangyang's eardrums. He paused in folding the paper lotus, and suddenly looked up. His eyes were like sharp arrows, shooting straight at the man who was walking towards Jin Yuling side by side with his wife Jiang Cailing.
Dai Tianyu and Jiang Cailing burned incense in front of the coffin and bowed three times.
Jiang Cailing's expression was serious, but Xiangyang couldn't see Dai Tianyu's expression at the moment. He only felt that every movement of his was like a mockery over and over again.
Jin Cang, who was standing aside to return the greeting, frowned unconsciously and his eyes became a little colder the moment he saw Dai Tianyu's face clearly, but he did not get angry in the end. He just returned the greeting according to the procedure.
After offering incense, Dai Tianyu did not approach the family members to exchange greetings and express condolences like other mourners. Without stopping for a moment, he took his wife's hand, turned around and walked out of the mourning hall in a hurry.
Xiangyang put down the paper lotus in his hand and stood up suddenly.
Those eyes, always gentle and calm, were now churning with uncontrollable emotions. Without a moment's hesitation, he took off and chased after her.
Almost at the same time Xiangyang stood up, Jin Cang, who had been standing quietly in the family seats, also quietly left his seat and followed closely behind Xiangyang.
Outside the funeral home, the mid-spring sunshine fell brightly on the alleys of Minquan East Road, casting a mottled halo of light on the ground.
Dai Tianyu and Jiang Cailing walked in silence, a stark contrast to the affectionate image they had deliberately projected in public. A subtle distance separated them, each of them lost in thought. Dai Tianyu led his wife toward a black sedan parked in the alley.
Xiang Yang followed them a few steps behind them at a leisurely pace. When Dai Tianyu was about to open the car door, he called out, "Mr. Dai Tianyu, please stay."
Dai Tianyu turned around when he heard the voice, a look of surprise flashing across his face. He obviously didn't expect someone to follow him. "Who are you?"
"Xiang Yang." Xiang Yang's voice was calm, but his eyes were fixed on him. "Jin Yu's friend in Beijing. I was the one who sent him back."
"You brought him back?" Dai Tianyu frowned slightly, sizing up the man before him. His tall figure shone brightly in the sunlight, carrying an invisible sense of oppression. "You're his..." he asked, his tone inquiring.
"Don't get me wrong." Xiang Yang interrupted him, his tone calm but penetrating like a question. "Jin Yu told me that he was hurt too deeply. He said it's unlikely he'll ever trust love again."
Dai Tianyu's expression froze, his lips moved, and he stammered, "Why...why are you telling me this?"
His eyes flickered as he struggled to escape from the topic.
Xiangyang's gaze passed over him and turned to Jiang Cailing beside him.
She watched the confrontation, seemingly unexplained, with unease. Who was that? What were they talking about? She clearly heard the name "Jin Yu"... and even her delicate makeup couldn't hide her current awkwardness.
Xiangyang forced a formal business smile. "I suppose this is Mrs. Dai? Didn't the children come with you?"
Jiang Cailing twitched the corners of her mouth, revealing a polite yet forced smile: "We...we don't have any children yet."
Dai Tianyu's face turned even uglier, as if someone had stepped on a sore spot. He hurriedly said to his wife, "Cai Ling, wait for me in the car first."
Jiang Cailing's eyes were full of suspicion. She looked at her husband and then at Xiangyang, who had an imposing aura, but she nodded obediently and turned to walk towards the car.
She opened the car door, but did not get in immediately. Instead, she leaned against the door and looked back nervously.
After Jiang Cailing walked a few steps away, the air around her seemed to have frozen.
Xiang Yang's voice suddenly dropped, his calm exterior shattered, revealing the undisguised anger underneath. He practically gritted his teeth and said, "So that year, when you used her pregnancy as an excuse to break up with Jin Yu, you were lying to him?"
Dai Tianyu's face flushed crimson, as if the most filthy wounds in his heart had been exposed in public. Even his breathing quickened, and his voice unconsciously rose slightly, filled with offended anger: "Who are you? What do you mean by this? What qualifications do you have to come here and accuse me?"
"What do you think?" Xiangyang asked back, his eyes completely cold, full of disdain and contempt, like two cold sharp edges, which made Dai Tianyu feel uneasy.
Being stared at like that, Dai Tianyu's arrogance diminished, and his voice lowered, but he still defended himself with a vexed expression, "Why do you do that? He's just too fragile... Life is so long, and there are so many goals in life. Feelings are just a tiny part of it. He can't see things clearly, and he's obsessed with it!"
"That's how you casually told him back then, right? That's how you treated his feelings like dirt, right?"
Xiangyang's questions became more and more pressing, and every word seemed to hit Dai Tianyu's face and heart.
"Who, when they were young...didn't they learn their way through relationships?"
Dai Tianyu tried to remain calm, but his eyes were wandering and the frivolity and uneasiness in his tone were obvious.
"Explore?" Xiangyang took a step forward, his tall figure becoming even more oppressive. "You used his money to rent an apartment in Taipei, used his connections and support to rise through the corporate ladder, and then used his trust to explore your own sexuality?"
This series of interrogations, every word piercing the heart, hit Dai Tianyu's rational defense line like a heavy hammer.
He was speechless, his face turned red and white, and beads of sweat oozed from his forehead.
His lips trembled as he forced himself to retort, "I...I didn't deceive his feelings! I was sincere to him!"
"Really?" Xiangyang curled up the corner of his mouth in a sneer, his eyes full of contempt, that expression seemed to be saying, you don't even believe this lie, right?
If, if he had not made the sudden decision to stay a few more days before returning to Beijing, he would have personally seen Jin Yu off on this final journey.
If, because of the hustle and bustle of the Jin family, he hadn't happened to be helping out in the reception area, he would have happened to hear Yao Fengqin inadvertently mention that forgotten name.
If he hadn't seen Dai Tianyu, accompanied by his charming and well-off wife, appear at Jin Yu's farewell ceremony with a look of happiness on his face as a "winner in life"...
If it weren't for these ifs, Xiangyang might not have been able to understand so vividly and painfully what kind of grievances, loneliness, desolation and barrenness Jin Yu had endured in the past three years away from home, alone in the huge city of Beijing.
Those past events that Jin Yu had mentioned in a nonchalant tone in late-night messages, which he had once easily ignored, now became extremely heavy and sharp because of the appearance of Dai Tianyu, the instigator, and they bit his heart hard.
An unquenchable rage surged in Xiangyang's heart, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.
"Jin Yu," Xiang Yang said in his heart, word by word, "Don't be afraid anymore. Don't feel any pain anymore. I'm here. I'll get you the justice you deserve, bit by bit, in full."
Not far behind their fierce confrontation, in the shadow of the alley, Jin Cang stood quietly, his presence unnoticed by Xiang Yang or Dai Tianyu.
He heard fragments of conversation, enough to piece together a picture of his brother's past that was more brutal than he had imagined.
The air was filled with a tense atmosphere. Jin Cang clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles turning white, and there was no expression on his face.
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