FIO CH65

Chapter 65: What Kind of Goblin Is Hidden Here?

“Knock knock……”

“Knock knock……”

The door was knocked so loudly it seemed to shake the heavens, accompanied by a cacophony of shouting. With such a commotion, anyone would be woken up.

Lu Fangchi furrowed his attractive brows and burrowed deeper into Zhou Zheng’s embrace with his eyes closed.

Zhou Zheng’s thick eyebrows were also knitted together. He raised his hand and pulled the blanket higher, trying to block out the noise.

But outside the door, the noise only grew worse. The knocking turned into kicking, with a “bang” “bang” each time, causing the door frame to vibrate as well. The aggressive behavior was palpable.

With this, Lu Fangchi’s drowsiness was completely chased away. He struggled to get up but was held back by Zhou Zheng. The alpha raised his chin and gestured with his eyes for him to keep sleeping.

Zhou Zheng got up, quickly put on the clothes draped over the chair, and walked towards the door.

Zhou Zheng opened the door, propped his hand against the door frame, and asked in a low voice, “What are you doing?”

The alpha exuded a low-pressure aura, his brows furrowed into a frown, his lips tightly pursed, and his deep gaze silenced the three or four aunts and uncles at the door for a moment. Then, they started chattering again.

The uncle pointed his finger at Zhou Zheng’s nose and shouted, “How many calls have I made to you? What are you doing hiding here?”

Zhou Zheng raised his chin irritably, avoiding the uncle’s impolite finger. One of the aunts reached out and stopped the uncle’s hand, acting like a peacemaker and speaking earnestly, “Zhou Zheng, your uncle has a quick temper. Don’t mind him.”

The uncle, who had been stopped, slapped the door hard and walked away.

The aunt continued, “But you, my boy, really. The deceased are to be respected. At such an important moment, how could you……” She hesitated, stretching her neck to peek inside the room, curious to see what kind of troublemaker was hidden inside.

Zhou Zheng blocked the entrance firmly, not letting them see a thing. He said in a hoarse voice, “I understand. You all go back first.”

The aunt stood still, not moving an inch.

Zhou Zheng saw her point to the inside and make a face, saying in a dialect that was fast and mumbled, “Leave together. You should call him to go with you. So that you won’t run off again later.” The latter half of the sentence was in the local dialect, spoken quickly and indistinctly.

Zhou Zheng didn’t catch it clearly, but he guessed it wasn’t anything good. He was about to refuse when he heard Lu Fangchi’s voice from inside the room: “Zhou Zheng.”

The voice was firm and gentle, as if to soothe. Zhou Zheng’s anger subsided, and he responded with a frown and an impatient “Mm,” before closing the door and going back inside.

Lu Fangchi had heard most of it and spoke up, “I’ll go back with you.” At this moment, he wanted to be by Zhou Zheng’s side and also wanted to learn more about the alpha’s past living environment.

Zhou Zheng’s brows were tightly furrowed. He licked his lips, looking as if he wanted to say something but held back.

Judging from the rude behavior of those people just now, Lu Fangchi could guess Zhou Zheng’s current concerns. He reached out and hooked Zhou Zheng’s hand that was hanging by his leg, saying, “I don’t know anyone or anything here.”

Zhou Zheng seemed to be convinced by this statement. He squeezed Lu Fangchi’s hand, rubbed it in his palm, and said with a troubled expression, “Sometimes I might not be able to take care of you.”

“It’s okay. I’ll just wait for you on the side. You can finish your business first,” Lu Fangchi tickled Zhou Zheng’s palm with his finger.

Alright, as long as he was within sight. Zhou Zheng tightened his grip on Lu Fangchi’s restless fingers and reluctantly agreed with a conflicted expression.

Following Zhou Zheng back home, Lu Fangchi finally understood the disheveled state of the alpha this morning.

The iron gate led to a space that inexplicably dropped about ten centimeters in height. The cement floor and the narrow space had a large coffin placed right in the center. In front of the coffin was a stainless steel basin, filled with burning yellow paper money.

Lu Fangchi had never seen such a scene before. His eyelashes fluttered rapidly as Zhou Zheng led him to a seat on the side. He then saw the alpha put on a layer of white cloth over his body, wrapped his head with a circle of white, and tied a white sash around his waist with a hemp rope.

This was… wearing mourning clothes?

Such feudal remnants. Lu Fangchi’s brow furrowed slightly.

An even more exaggerated scene was yet to come. People kept coming through the front door, each wailing and shouting words that Lu Fangchi couldn’t understand, mixed with terms like “hard fate” and “difficult.”

A thick layer of straw was spread on the ground, and Zhou Zheng knelt beside the coffin, kowtowing to each person who came in to mourn and pay respects.

Lu Fangchi’s brows furrowed tighter and tighter. He didn’t understand the rural customs and didn’t want to interfere, but the scene was too oppressive. He couldn’t help but get up and go to the backyard to catch his breath.

Compared to the oppressive and heavy atmosphere in the front hall, the backyard was so relaxed that it seemed completely disconnected, almost like a different world. People dressed in white mourning robes gathered together to chat. Men smoked, women cracked sunflower seeds, and they formed small groups.

There were even those who had been crying their hearts out in the front hall just a second ago, but as soon as they stepped into the backyard, they changed their expressions and joined the chatting crowd with smiles on their faces.

Lu Fangchi didn’t intend to eavesdrop, but their loud discussions drifted into his ears, some of which he couldn’t understand, while others he could grasp the general idea.
“Li Xia’s son is really heartless. From the day before yesterday until now, I haven’t seen him shed a single tear,” one of the women said.

“It’s normal that he doesn’t cry. When he was a child, his father didn’t love him and his mother didn’t care for him either,” another woman chimed in.

“What do you mean?” someone asked, puzzled.

“The Zhou family, they’re infamous,” the aunt spat out a sunflower seed shell and gestured for everyone to come closer, her face full of mischief as she said, “Zhou Dawei was a gambler and a drunkard. He would get drunk every day and go gambling. If he won, it was fine, but if he lost, he would surely take it out on that child. In the past, we could hear the child wailing every few days.”

“What about Li Xia? Didn’t she do anything to help?” someone else questioned.

“How could she? Li Xia is the most peculiar woman I’ve ever seen. She only cared about herself. She would dress up nicely every day and go out to have fun. If she remembered, she would leave some money for the child; if she forgot, not only would she not leave any money, she wouldn’t even leave the door open. There were several times in the middle of summer, when the sun was scorching at noon, that child would stand in front of my house after school, swallowing his saliva, his stomach growling with hunger.”

“Didn’t you give him something to eat?” another woman asked.

“At first, I did, but after a while, I just pretended not to see. Could you give him food every time?” the first woman replied.

“I suppose not. He does have parents after all,” the second woman agreed.

“Anyway, everyone has their own fate. We should just mind our own business,” the first woman concluded.

The group of women sighed in unison.

“Li Xia’s brother isn’t any good either. He’s making a big deal out of the funeral and has received so many red envelopes that his hands are tired from all the money,” one of the women said.

“Shouldn’t he give the money to Zhou’s son?” another woman asked.

“Give it to him? No way. After Zhou Dawei and Li Xia moved to the city to work, have you seen any trace of our rural folks in Zhou’s son? He doesn’t understand the ins and outs of this place. Besides, he probably looks down on our meager offerings,” the first woman said.

“That’s true. Zhou’s son now looks so proper. He’s even stingy with hiring a suona band,” another woman added.

“The richer people are, the more they pinch pennies,” a third woman remarked.

“He doesn’t even smile at me. I used to feed him a few meals when he was a child. In my opinion, he’s just an ungrateful wolf,” the first woman said.

“Although Zhou Dawei and Li Xia aren’t good people, they both look quite good, and their son is handsome too. Have you seen Zhou’s son? He looks very proper,” one of the women said.

“Yes, he’s tall and has good features. He’s an alpha, right? Does he have a partner?” another woman asked.

After listening for a while, Lu Fangchi, who was in the corner, felt the women’s gazes fall on him. They seemed to be discreetly sizing him up, nudging each other and whispering, “Look, that’s the partner Zhou’s son brought back.”

“Oh my, he looks quite distinguished. His appearance is also more gentle. I think he looks more comfortable than Zhou’s son,” one of the women commented.

“He seems to be an alpha too. Maybe they’re just good friends? How do you know he’s his partner?” another woman questioned.

“Friends, my foot,” the aunt whispered conspiratorially, “They stayed at the Vienna Hotel at noon today. Li Xia’s brother and his sister-in-law went to catch them.”

Lu Fangchi’s lips pursed into a straight line. That was quite a harsh thing to say. What was wrong with sleeping with one’s partner? It made it sound like they were caught in an affair with someone unsavory.

“Oh dear, how could this be? An AA relationship? What a pity,” one of the women said.

“Because he was neglected as a child, he’s become a pervert when he grew up,” another woman remarked.

“Really, sigh…” The aunt shook her head repeatedly, looking very disappointed.

Lu Fangchi’s chest heaved slightly, his palms clenched into fists, and he ground his molars, preparing to go and argue with them.

As he took a step forward, his wrist was grabbed. Lu Fangchi turned his head and met Zhou Zheng’s gentle, watery eyes.

Zhou Zheng pulled Lu Fangchi into a small room nearby, shook his wrist, looked at his tightly pursed lips, and coaxed softly, “Let’s not stoop to their level.”

It would have been better if Zhou Zheng hadn’t mentioned it, but as soon as he did, Lu Fangchi couldn’t help but feel upset. His attractive eyebrows furrowed into a frown, and he said with displeasure, “How can they just say whatever they want?”

“Don’t be angry, don’t be angry,” Zhou Zheng soothed, rubbing Lu Fangchi’s wrist with his thumb, “They’re just like that. Just ignore them. Treat their words as if they’re nothing but hot air.”

Lu Fangchi was still not very happy, his lips tightly pursed, but he knew Zhou Zheng was right. Rural women were the most difficult to deal with, and ignoring them was probably the best solution.

Lu Fangchi exhaled, composed himself, and when he turned back, he had regained his calmness. He asked Zhou Zheng, “Are you done?”

“Mm-hmm,” Zhou Zheng sat down on a chair, opened his legs a bit, pulled Lu Fangchi between his legs, buried his face in his stomach, and inhaled deeply, as if drawing energy from him.

The alpha’s weary voice sounded, “It’s dinner time. They’re setting up a feast outside. There will be quite a commotion later.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Fangchi heard “Testing, testing” twice, the host at the door tried the microphone, and then began the warm-up activities. The sound of suona playing rang out, accompanied by cheers.

Zhou Zheng explained, “It’s the custom for a joyful funeral. I argued with them for two days, but I didn’t get through to them. They insisted on keeping the ice coffin at home for two days. With this hot weather, it won’t look good later, so I had to give in.”

“I made a fool of myself,” he added.

Without complaining, just a few words of narration were enough for Lu Fangchi to imagine how helpless Zhou Zheng must have felt. He touched the alpha’s hair with a pained expression and pinched his earlobe.

Unable to come up with any comforting words, Lu Fangchi could only ask, “When will it be over?”

“Soon,” Zhou Zheng said, “It will end tonight. We’ll go for cremation at three in the morning. Then we can go back home.”

“Mm,” Lu Fangchi nodded.