“Where are you?” Yu Yao asked through gritted teeth.

Her father’s voice on the other end was exhausted, and there was a lot of noise in the background. He said, “What’s wrong? You’re home? I have an emergency situation here and need to go out. I’ll be back tonight…”

Yu Yao interrupted him, almost screaming, “Didn’t you say you’d be home to take care of Mom? Didn’t you say you’d be here?”

Her father on the other end finally realized something was wrong and asked, “What happened? Is Mom okay? Did she go into labor? Contact your grandmother first, I’ll be there right away…”

Yu Yao hung up. She didn’t want to hear another word from this man, this liar who had caused her mother’s and brother’s deaths!

Later, she called her grandmother, and her uncle came to handle the body. Her mother had died from excessive bleeding after falling into a coma, and the baby boy had suffocated. When her father returned and cried on the floor, she watched him with cold indifference and didn’t call him “Dad.”

In the years that followed, she never called him “Dad” again. She started deliberately angering him, ignoring his words, doing whatever he disliked, even wishing for his death.

Now, he was really gone.

Yu Yao didn’t want to cry. Her emotions were too complex to express.

Suddenly, the wind picked up, rustling the trees on either side. Yu Yao finally stepped forward and gently placed the bouquet of white chrysanthemums in front of the monument, saying, “You spent your whole life busy being a hero, and in the end, you died being a hero. It’s as if you fulfilled your life’s ideals. I won’t judge. I hope you don’t have regrets in the end.”

He was a good man, she knew, but even though he was dead, she wouldn’t reconcile with him, and she wouldn’t come here again.

They both held to their own convictions and had no regrets.

The next destination was the cemetery, which was quite a long distance from the monument. There were still many white chrysanthemums in the car. Although Jiang Zhonglin hadn’t mentioned it, Yu Yao could guess who he was taking her to see, so she took the initiative to hold the chrysanthemums close to her chest.

The first place they visited was Jiang Zhonglin’s parents’ joint grave. Yu Yao offered flowers, called out “Mom and Dad,” and performed three bows. Jiang Zhonglin’s parents were enlightened individuals with the distinctive aura of high-level intellectuals, especially Jiang’s mother, who had treated her very well.

Next was her grandmother’s grave. Her grandmother was Yu Yao’s favorite elder besides her mother. After her mother’s death, she had stayed with her grandmother for half a year because she didn’t want to stay at home. If it weren’t for her uncle and aunt’s objections, she might have stayed longer. Her grandmother passed away from illness when Yu Yao was in high school.

Nearby were her mother’s grave and… her own grave.

Jiang Zhonglin watched quietly as she moved past the gravestones of her relatives, finally focusing his gaze on her own gravestone.

He said, “Your mother’s and grandmother’s graves were relocated here from the old cemetery by your father-in-law. Your grave was made by him five years after your disappearance.”

The man had erected a gravestone for her but had kept her missing person notice hanging on for forty years.

“I feel a bit strange looking at this gravestone,” Yu Yao wiped her tears, trying to keep her voice as light as possible.

“Yeah, today, besides letting you see the graves of your loved ones, we also need to take down this gravestone,” Jiang Zhonglin said.

Yu Yao casually suggested, “Why not just leave it? It might come in handy later.”

Jiang Zhonglin looked at her as if she were a child speaking without restraint. His expression was serious, and his tone carried a hint of reproach. “Don’t say such things.”

Yu Yao was silent. She thought about how the younger Jiang Zhonglin would have reacted—probably frowning and softly saying, ‘You shouldn’t say that.’ Even if he were angry, it would be in a gentle way, and he would laugh at the slightest tease, lacking any real authority.

It was clear that with age, Jiang Zhonglin had indeed become much more stern.