A slender figure squatted by the pillar above the entrance, the dim light casting a hazy and desolate shadow on her face.
Rong Zhaonan froze, as if he could see the person from his memory still alive.
Ye Yuan ignored him, got out of the car and walked straight toward the figure.
The two men guarding the slender figure came forward: "Director Ye, Dongdong really doesn't want to leave, but she's alright."
"Thank you for your hard work. You should drive back now." Ye Yuan nodded.
After seeing the two off, he walked over to the slender figure and squatted down beside her: "Dongdong, your second brother has come to take you home."
The girl looked at him with red eyes: "Second brother, where is Brother Zhaonan? Has he gotten that woman and no longer wants me? That's why he hasn't replied to my letters."
Ye Yuan looked at his sister's pitiful appearance and then glanced at Rong Zhaonan, who had followed him down.
He reached out to pull Ye Dong and comforted her, "Dongdong, some people haven't come back for so many years, and they haven't replied to a single letter from us. He's no longer the Zhao Nan brother you used to know."
Ye Dong murmured softly, refusing to believe it: "Brother Zhaonan loved me the most. He didn't reply to my letter because he didn't want to burden us, and he was afraid that my sister would be sad in heaven, right...? Brother Zhaonan will always be my Brother Zhaonan..."
Ye Yuan took a deep breath and said coldly, "People change!"
Suddenly, tears welled up in Ye Dong's eyes: "Second brother... I miss sister so much. When sister was alive, we were all so close... Now sister is lying in the grave, she will never move, never speak, never hold me again. I tried so hard to grow up, but even now, Brother Zhaonan doesn't want me anymore..."
Rong Zhaonan stood not far away, raised his head and stared intently at the tombs that were faintly visible on the distant hills. He clenched his fists, his heart filled with complex and bitter emotions.
He closed his eyes, walked behind Ye Dong, and said, "Dongdong, you should go home."
Ye Dong suddenly looked up at him, and was instantly stunned: "Brother Zhaonan?!"
She jumped to her feet, her eyes reddening, and tried to rush forward, but ultimately stopped in her tracks—
"What are you doing here? This is where my sister rests. She doesn't want to see you! Go find your female educated youth!"
Rong Zhaonan frowned: "You're only seventeen, and you came to your sister's cemetery and stayed there until the middle of the night, making everyone skip meals and look for you. Do you really think your sister would like to see you like this?!"
Ye Dong's big eyes instantly filled with tears: "It's all because you were mean to me! You and my sister never used to be mean to me. You've changed!"
Looking at the girl's thin but stubborn appearance, Rong Zhaonan said patiently, "Okay, it's my fault. I won't scold you anymore, but you're a grown woman now. Don't worry your family. Go home."
Ye Dong bit her lip and stared at him intently: "Brother Zhaonan, I don't like that woman named Ning Yuan. She's nothing like my sister..."
Rong Zhaonan's gaze darkened, and his face instantly turned cold: "That's your sister-in-law. She's nothing like your sister, and she doesn't need your affection. She's the wife I married, not you!"
He couldn't stand them pointing fingers at Ning Yuan, even though he regarded Ye Dong and Ye Yuan as his own sister and brother!
Ye Dong burst into tears. The girl stomped her feet and screamed, "I don't like her! I don't like that she's like my sister! I don't like that you're marrying her! No one can replace my sister!"
After saying that, she turned and ran into the cemetery.
"Ye Dong!" Ye Yuan was startled when Ye Dong suddenly ran away and immediately chased after her.
The next moment, a figure swept past him like a leopard, directly to Ye Dong's side, and grabbed her shoulder with his backhand.
Then……
With a "snap," Rong Zhaonan swiftly brought his knife down, cleanly slashing her neck.
Ye Dong closed her eyes, and Rong Zhaonan caught her, hoisting her up like a sack and carrying her towards the car.
"Rong Zhaonan, what are you doing!" Ye Yuan could hardly believe that he would actually lay a hand on his own sister.
Rong Zhaonan glanced at him coldly: "You saw it? Knock her out, or what? Let her rush into the cemetery and disturb the peaceful rest of the elders and Sister Ye Qiu?"
Ye Yuan was momentarily speechless, only gritting his teeth: "Then you shouldn't have been so rude, carrying people like that!"
Rong Zhaonan raised an eyebrow slightly: "Then you carry it."
As he spoke, he took Ye Dong off his shoulder and calmly shoved him into Ye Yuan's arms: "Alright, we've found him. Let's go back and eat. It's already 8:30. Aren't you hungry?"
Ye Yuan hurriedly caught Ye Dong and carried him horizontally, struggling to keep up behind him: "Rong Zhaonan, you bastard, wait a minute!"
Rong Zhaonan got into the driver's seat and looked at him with disdain: "After all these years, you haven't exercised at all. Your third son, who is three years younger than you, is already a deputy battalion commander in the army. You still can't carry Dongdong?"
Ye Yuan finally managed to carry Ye Dong to the back seat, then climbed into the passenger seat angrily and glared at him: "If my old man finds out you knocked Dongdong unconscious, you're finished!"
Rong Zhaonan started the car nonchalantly: "Then you have to tell the old man first that you let Dongdong come to the cemetery alone to throw a tantrum."
Ye Yuan choked, gritting his teeth: "You bastard surnamed Rong!"
Rong Zhaonan turned the steering wheel and said calmly, "Is this the first day you've met me? Dongdong is still young, so it's understandable that she's willful, but how old are you? Why are you still blindly following her lead?"
Ye Yuan fell silent for a long while before saying in a hoarse voice, "Rong Zhaonan, even now, you still won't tell me why my eldest sister chose to break up with the eldest brother of the Xiang family, nor will you say what happened that night. How am I supposed to think about this?"
Rong Zhaonan paused for a moment, then stepped on the gas and the car sped away.
"There are some things you can overcome, but not everyone can." Ye Yuan chuckled.
Rong Zhaonan remained silent. His cold gaze swept across the rearview mirror, reflecting the gradual disappearance of the Bashan Cemetery in the mirror.
He gripped the steering wheel tightly, lowered his eyes, and concealed the barely visible sadness, resentment, and self-loathing in his gaze.
Ye Yuan saw his expression in the rearview mirror and sighed inwardly.
The eldest sister still has influence over Zhaonan.
...
10 PM
Ning Yuan stood on the small balcony, drying her freshly washed hair, watching the jeep stop downstairs.
Ye Yuan got out of the car, and then Rong Zhaonan followed suit.
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