CHAPTER FORTY-ONE: Family Matters
His mother was serving maid in the Ni household where Ni Jian was the master, and Fan Jing Ping his wife. He had heard from his mother that she and Ni Jian fell in love but due to his fear of his wife, their love was kept a secret until the time when it could no longer be concealed. Fan Jing Ping was furious when she found out that her husband had a pregnant lover, but was persuaded to let her enter the family to maintain the face of the Ni household. But her condition to that was to have the marriage after the birth.
But she didn’t keep her word. Ni Jian was helpless when his lover and his newborn son were left to die on a drifting raft, with no food, no water and no hope. It was only fortunate that Yang Zai Sheng had found them and took care of them, on condition that his mother had to marry him.
To preserve the life of her son, she agreed, but years later due to her longing for Ni Jian. Nevertheless, he was raised as Yang Zai Sheng’s son. Yang Ji Fan had never accepted Ni Shen as his name, but instead, happily accepted the name “Ji Fan”, to remind him of his continuous drifting in the earlier months of his birth.
Years later, when Yang Ji Fan had severed from the Holy Snake Clan, he reencountered his biological father back in Xian Yang where his mother asked for her ashes to be buried, but refused to acknowledge him, only informing him of his whereabouts due to the last wish of his mother.
Then twelve years ago, he suddenly received a flying pigeon from his “father”, reading:
“Shen Er,
I know I have not carried out the duty of a father throughout all these years, but still blood is thicker than water. My Deep Fields Manor will soon be under attack from the Holy Snake Clan, after your brother, Ni Cao, has refused to marry off his daughter to Holy Snake Clan’s Chen Ming Jun.
In consideration that the same blood flows through both of us, please use your relationship with the Holy Snake Clan to call off the attack. My granddaughter is only eight this year, and I am not sure that we would survive this calamity. Please, let her take refuge in your Smoke Gathering City until all of this is over.
As a father, as a grandfather, I beg of you to agree, and thus reunite as a family.
Your Father,
Ni Jian”
Yang Ji Fan had never forgiven his father for not saving his mother, and still, he never did. And more, this niece of his was from the son of Fan Jing Ping, so he bluntly send a refusal letter back.
Then months later, he received the news that Deep Fields Manor had been burnt to the ground and severely regretted his rash decision. He personally went to Xian Yang to locate his niece, but instead found Fan Jing Ping. She was the only survivor of the fire, except her granddaughter, Ni Chang, and a servant that they had sent to their Virtuous Manor in Gu Su. But when they got to Gu Su, the whole province had been attacked by an epidemic and the whole manor was empty.
Thus, Fan Jing Ping followed him back to Smoke Gathering City but the two rarely spoke. Their relationship never grew any closer, as she blamed him for not receiving her granddaughter and he blamed her for treating his mother so badly.
Yang Ji Fan passed by the courtyard where Wan Qiu Ning was seated in the pavilion. All this anger and hatred dispersed at the sight of her soothing face; love and gentleness filled it instead. But how could he have ever known that this was the last time that he would see her happy face, the last time he would feel happy and contented before the dreadful truth was revealed.
Both the ship and boats were anchored stilly in the calm waters that would unpredictably rise into towering tidal waves, and then settle back to its original form as if nothing had ever happened. It was getting dark, and the injured Wan Neng needed to rest. He had already vomited blood twice in one hour and feel into a coma once again. It had seemed that eh wouldn’t survive the night. The sky was slowly darkening, as if a heavenly being was slowly drawing a curtain over the sun, shutting its life-giving rays from the eyes of mankind.
They were only metres from the boats, but Lian Le Yi broke free from the crowd and ran to in front of the three stone tablets before the tablets. Kicking one of them hard, she cried, “That’s for hurting my foot earlier in the day and causing my location to be revealed.” By the dimming light from the setting sun, the words “The Grave of Mr. Qi.” was clearly visible on the worn surface of the gravestone.
Yang Ji Fan knelt down before the tablet and read, “The Grave of Mr. Qi.” It was the gravestone of Qi Qian Yu father! Lian Le Yi gasped with fear as soon as she realized she had kicked a grave and dropped onto her knees, begging their spirits for forgiveness. The middle one was accumulated with dust, cobwebs, moss and weeds and even if there were words, it could not be seen. So Yang Ji Fan quickly ran to the other clean gravestone and found the grave of Madam Qi there – Qi Qian Yu’s mother.
He closely examined the two tablets and surprisingly found that the graves were free of cobwebs and moss, and must have been cleaned regularly with care and respect. He thought to himself “Qi Qian Yu must have done this as her duty to her parents, “ but when he looked at the dirty middle one, he wondered with curiosity why it was so neglected.
Taking a stick from the ground, he carefully brushed off the layers of dirt and moss of the stone, revealing lines of small neat characters, engraved deeply into the stone with care and patience. This stone tablet was at least twice the thickness of the other two. Was this a grave too and if so, whom did it contain? <IMG SRC="smilies/confused.gif" border="0">