HBWMA -Chapter 226 Past, Foreshadowing

After seeing the guilt in Shen Lanxi’s eyes, Shen Zhuang smiled and patted his head.

“Lanxi, next time when little Hua says something about you, try explaining it to her.”

Shen Lanxi’s gaze froze.

“Tell her that this time you didn’t abandon her and A-Ling. This time, you did very well.”

“……”

After Shen Zhuang left, Shen Lanxi sat by the window for a long time without coming back to his senses.

He stared motionlessly at the red string on his wrist.

Everyone said he was cold and heartless. On the day his parents were buried, the entire Shen family was engulfed in grief, yet only he refused to attend the funeral procession.

Later, it was his grandfather who coaxed him up the mountain, then held him as a handful of yellow earth was placed over the coffin. Only after the dust settled did he suddenly lose control of his emotions, breaking through everyone’s obstruction to dig up the new grave.

Everyone thought he had gone mad.

But only he knew he hadn’t—he simply couldn’t bear to let go of his father and mother.

It was his grandfather who ignored customs and ancestral rules, ordering the ground to be reopened and the coffin to be exposed again.

“Lanxi, don’t be afraid. This time, properly say goodbye to your father and mother.”

Because of resentment over repeated broken promises from his parents, he had thrown away the red string his mother had woven for him, and when his father gently tried to persuade him before leaving, he never stepped out of the room.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love his parents. It wasn’t that he wasn’t heartbroken. It wasn’t that he was cold-blooded. He simply couldn’t accept it.

Because he knew this loss was forever.

That was the only time in his memory that he cried out loud. He cried until he fainted on top of his parents’ coffin, and when he woke up, the place was surrounded by people.

He heard someone say:

“Based on the young master Lanxi’s symptoms over the past few days, we preliminarily diagnose bipolar disorder. This condition is dangerous. He must be hospitalized for treatment.”

“Dad, we should listen to the doctor.”

He wasn’t sick. He was just exhausted and didn’t want to speak.

But everyone believed the doctor, because his hysterical behavior at the funeral left him with no credibility.

Yet he knew he couldn’t be hospitalized. Once he admitted he was ill, he would no longer be able to carry the glory his father had wanted him to inherit.

In utter despair, he grabbed his grandfather’s hand and explained in a hoarse voice:

“Grandfather, I’m not sick. I’m normal.”

Later, his grandfather pulled him into his arms and drove everyone away with anger.

If his grandfather had only been the family head, how could he have gone against the world and reopened the ancestral tomb for a child’s unreasonable request?

A family head would not defy tradition or disrupt ancestral graves for a child, nor would he trust a child’s words so blindly.

He was, first of all, his grandfather.

After successfully driving Shen Lanxi away, Jiang Huashan felt refreshed and began enjoying Huai City’s food under the flower rack in the courtyard.

Fu Sui’er had come several times in the morning but missed her each time. This time too, she wasn’t expecting anything—until she suddenly saw Jiang Huashan awake. Overjoyed, she jumped up on the spot and rushed forward.

“Oh my God! You’re finally awake!”

“Ugh!” Jiang Huashan nearly suffocated.

Fu Sui’er quickly patted her back in panic. “Are you okay?”

Jiang Huashan swallowed the food in her mouth and drank a sip of water. “What do you think? Even Bai Zheng isn’t as heavy-handed as you.”

Feeling guilty, Fu Sui’er hurriedly poured her another glass of water. “I was just too happy! You have no idea, I was terrified when I heard you were kidnapped, and even my mom prepared S-country assassins.”

“Pfft!” Jiang Huashan almost spat out her drink. “My godmother is that powerful?”

Fu Sui’er handed her tissues, slightly aggrieved. “You should know that already. Next time, can you at least tell me before something happens? If something like this happens again, I’ll really die of fright.”

Jiang Huashan felt a little embarrassed. “Got it. It won’t happen again.”

Fu Sui’er didn’t actually blame her and just looked her up and down. “I heard Bai Zheng is a pervert. Are you hurt?”

Jiang Huashan shook her head.

Although the incident looked dangerous, it had mostly been within her control.

She knew the general direction of the plot, and she also knew that Shen Guiling and she wouldn’t be in mortal danger. That was why she had dared to take the risk and try to find a variable in the storyline.

But she had still miscalculated. She had only considered survival at the most basic level and overlooked other possible dangers for Shen Guiling.

A boy’s innocence was still innocence too.

Suddenly, she thought of something.

“I heard Shen Guiling stayed in Nanyan?”

Fu Sui’er nodded. “Mm. Brother A-Ling was shot in the leg. The National Military Academy entrance exam is in a few months, so Grandpa wants him to recover properly.”

Recover?

More like recovery was just an excuse—he was probably enjoying the fruits of victory.

What an ungrateful guy. She had protected his innocence, and he couldn’t even share any secrets with her?

She took another sip of water.

“Oh right! With the Shen family’s strength, there’s no way it should’ve taken them so long to find us. Do you know what happened?”

Fu Sui’er nodded and briefly explained how the Shen family tracked them and negotiated with the Bai family.

“Huashan, this time we really have to thank Brother Lanxi. Otherwise, it would have taken even longer.”

Jiang Huashan was slightly surprised. She hadn’t expected that the same “ice block” who couldn’t be warmed before had suddenly developed humanity.

Fu Sui’er continued thoughtfully, “Don’t you think it’s strange? There just happened to be a group of bandits on that ship. It’s too much of a coincidence.”

“Bandits?” Jiang Huashan’s eyes sharpened. For some reason, she suddenly thought of the infamous “Annihilation Gate” that terrified the financial elites of Whale Harbor in her previous life—also carried out by a group of bandits.

No part of the plot exists in isolation. Those bandits couldn’t have appeared out of nowhere.

Jiang Huashan’s expression turned serious.

“Sui’er, were all those bandits caught?”

Fu Sui’er shook her head. “I heard most were killed on the spot, and a few escaped by jumping into the sea. They’re still wanted.”

Foreshadowing.

Could it be that the financial-family massacre two years later would happen again?

“Huashan, what’s wrong? Is there a problem?”

In her previous life, those bandits had stormed the Fu family, looting the entire ancestral estate. Aunt Feng died protecting Fu Sui’er, hacked to death with knives.

Jiang Huashan thought for a moment and decided to give Fu Sui’er a warning first.

“Do you still remember the predictions I gave you before?”

Fu Sui’er’s expression changed slightly.

She remembered.

Her mother’s death. Aunt Feng’s tragic end. And how she would meet the wrong person and be deceived in both heart and life.