One Life, One Incarnation, Beautiful Bones

11

Chapter 4.1 - Story in the City (1)

She was very quiet, listening to the slow, steady beat of her heart.

Zhousheng Chen smiled.

She unexpectedly heard, outside of their room, the sound of shoes stepping on the wooden floors. There were not many private rooms on this floor of the restaurant, and therefore, the number of people being served was limited. Throughout the entire meal, footsteps such as these had only been heard two or three times.

However, this last time, they came to a halt right outside their door.

A hand pushed open the door, and a little face poked out from behind it. It was a young boy. "Big Brother." There was a look of surprise on Zhousheng Chen's face. When the door was opened completely, there was not only a little boy but also two young women, both wearing cheongsams and shawls, following after him. Shi Yi noticed that the lower abdomen of one of the girls was protruding slightly, and it was apparent she was pregnant.

She was taken aback by this girl's age. Judging from the teenage girl baby fat that had not yet completely disappeared, she likely was not even twenty years old yet.

The unexpected visitors caused the quiet room to become livelier.

"Why have you come out as well?" he asked them.

They exchanged a look and then the little boy quickly rushed to explain, "The Cold Food Festival has made us have no appetite. If it's not cold dishes, it's more cold dishes, so we decided to come out together and feed ourselves a big, sumptuous meal."

They were all very well-mannered. Besides greeting her when they first met, their gazes did not excessively land on her. When they saw the golden lock on her chest, though, they appeared rather shocked but then very quickly concealed their emotions.

Shi Yi moved to sit beside Zhousheng Chen, giving her spacious seat to the pregnant woman.

During the brief introductions, Shi Yi tried to commit the names to memory. One was his younger cousin-sister, Zhou Wenfang; the girl who was pregnant was his elder cousin-brother's wife, Tang Xiaofu; and the boy who had entered the room first was called Zhousheng Ren.

She had not expected that there would be another boy with the surname Zhousheng. According to Zhoushen Chen, he was the firstborn son of the firstborn son, so therefore, in this generation, there should be no other person bearing the same surname as him.

Then, why was this boy also surnamed Zhousheng?

The word, "son" popped into her mind, and her eyes quickly swept over the two of them. It would seem that they should be about thirteen to fourteen years apart in age. Zhousheng Chen seemed to see through her thoughts and rather amusedly informed her, "He is my younger brother."

When he said this, the little boy did not show any peculiar reaction.

The two women, though, noticeably quieted for a brief moment but very quickly started a conversation on another topic.

From what they were saying, it seemed this was the first time the girl named Tong Xiaofu had come to Zhenjiang.

She seemed as if she was very unaccustomed to the old manor, grumbling repeatedly that when she went to sleep at night, she would always be afraid that ghosts would appear. Zhou Wenfang said disapprovingly, "If I was you, I would use the fact that I was pregnant to just get out of that place."

"I've already used the fact that I am pregnant to not participate in offering sacrifices to the ancestors. If I didn't stay there, I would probably be reprimanded by the elders."