Chapter 56: Returning Home

  Qiao Yan's funeral was set for three days later. Qiao Bo Yuan fell ill after returning from the hospital that day. Qiao Le Xi had been in a low mood, while Qiao Yu endured his grief and busied himself preparing for several days. Except for losing control in front of Ji Si Xuan that day, he didn't dare show his fragile state again in front of his father and sister.

  The temperature was very low on the day of the funeral, and the weather was gloomy. Many people came one after another, and Qiao Boer stood aside with a pair of children to pay their respects.

  Wen Shaoqing and Xiao Ziyuan arrived early with their family of three, all dressed in black. Even little Xiao Yunxing was wearing a small black suit. After the ceremony, he hugged Qiao Yu's leg and called him "Second Uncle".

  Qiao Yu's eyes were a dull gray, he rubbed his temples and forced a smile, "Alright, Uncle is feeling a bit dizzy, so I won't hold you."

  Xiao Yun woke up and nodded obediently, waving at him with her hand, "Mm, Second Uncle, squat down."

  Qiao Yu squatted down, and Xiao Yun tiptoed over to gently pat Qiao Yu's head with her small hand, muttering, "Second Uncle shouldn't be sad, Second Uncle should behave..."

  Qiao Yu's eyes suddenly turned red, and she hugged Xiao Yunwu tightly, unable to say a word.

  Xiao Yun Xing pointed over there and said, "Pretty sister said that if I do this, Second Uncle won't be sad anymore. But why are you crying, Second Uncle?"

  Qiao Yu looked back and saw Ji Siyuan and a group of people from the architectural firm standing together, smiling at him.

  Her eyes no longer held resentment or entanglement, as if everything had already passed, her smile was the same as before, bright and beautiful like a flower.

  The funeral had just begun when Qiao Le Xi couldn't hold back anymore and burst into tears, hugging Qiao Yu. He was also infected, his eyes quickly reddening as he struggled to hold back his emotions, but he forced himself to turn away, patting Qiao Le Xi's back, "Okay, okay, you just gave birth, crying is bad for your body."

  "While speaking, she beckoned Jiang Shengzhuo over, 'You come and coax her, I'll go take a look at Dad.'"

  Qiao Bo sat motionless in the rest room, and Qiao Yu suddenly felt a thread of fear in his heart. He carefully touched him and whispered, "Dad, are you okay?"

  Qiao Bo Yan quickly regained his composure, rubbed his temples and said, "It's nothing, you sit down."

  "Although Qiao Yu knew that this sentence was too pale and powerless, he still opened his mouth to say it, 'Dad, don't be too sad.'"

  Qiao Bo let out a sigh, "Hmm, I'm not sad. Being able to be father and son is fate, but everything has an end, and we'll eventually part ways. It's just that I didn't expect it to be so soon, nor did I think he would go first. But thinking about it, there's nothing much to it, he suffered torment every day he was alive, leaving early is also a kind of liberation. I'm his father, and there's nothing more I can do for him."

  Qiao Yu suddenly felt stifled and after comforting Qiao Bo Yuan for a while, he went out of the resting room. Standing by the window to catch his breath, he ran into Xiao Zi Yuan and Wen Shao Qing.

  Xiao Ziyuan handed him a cigarette, but Qiao Yu didn't take it. Instead, he smiled and said, "I don't smoke anymore. My brother said smoking is bad for the body, so I won't smoke from now on."

  Xiao Ziyuan saw Qiao Yu's forced smile for the first time, he was always warm and gentle with a sincere and warm smile, but now seeing him like this didn't know what to say.

  Wen Shaoqing patted his shoulder and didn't say anything either.

  Qiao Yu smiled quickly, "Alright, I'm going over there, no one is on that side and I don't feel at ease."

  Ji Siyuan watched from afar, watching him stand for a whole day and return the courtesy, watching him force a smile as he spoke with the guests, watching him clearly already on the verge of collapse but enduring to comfort his father and sister, as the pillar of the Qiao family taking care of everything, the tall and slender figure seemed to be carrying many things, not just responsibility.

  This man was so gentle and quiet, bringing joy to her heart, yet secretly hurting her.

  After the funeral, Qiao Yu arranged for someone to send Qiao Bo far away to rest, and also instructed Jiang Shengzhuo to take good care of Qiao Le Xi. Afterwards, he stood alone in front of Qiao Ye's memorial portrait for a long time, looking up at the smiling face in the black-and-white photo, his eyes filled with memories of childhood.

  In a summer with cicada chirps and gentle breeze, two brothers were locked in their grandfather's study to practice calligraphy.

  "Brother, I don't want to write anymore, I want to go out and play!"

  Qiao Yan carefully glanced at the door, then pulled out a few sheets from a stack of written papers and handed them over. "Put them in between, they won't be easily discovered. I'll finish writing twenty sheets soon, and when I'm done, I'll help you write."

  Later they grew up slowly...

  "Brother, how exactly do you solve this problem? Can you teach me?"

  "Brother, I want to major in architecture, can you help me tell Dad?"

  "Brother, I like a girl, can you meet her sometime?"

  ……

  Memories flooded back, Qiao Yu looked at the smiling face in the photo frame, forced out a smile, and trembled as he spoke, "Brother, take care on your way, I'll take good care of Dad and little sister..."

  Ji Siyuan stood outside the door without entering, leaning against the wall to gaze at the distant sky. Dark clouds were pressing down, slowly floating by, and soon she felt a cool drop on her face. She stretched out her hand into the air, is it going to rain?

  "Why don't you go in?"

  Suddenly there was a voice behind her, Ji Siyun turned her head to look, and surprisingly saw Lin Chen who was dusty and exhausted.

  She glanced at Qiao Yu's figure and pursed her lips. "He doesn't need company, he probably wants to be alone with his brother for a while."

  Lin Chen probably received the news and rushed back from abroad, with a tired look on his face. "Ji Shimei, sometimes you give people a sense of being high above, not even bothering to know what others think in their hearts, not even bothering to pretend, careless and unrestrained. But at other times, you make people feel that you are meticulous and gentle, with a heart full of roses."

  Ji Siyuan's gaze shifted, looking at Lin Chen and asking, "Lin Shixiong is praising me so much, are you afraid that I will expose you for deliberately coming late to avoid someone?"

  A hint of embarrassment flashed across Lin Chen's eyes, and he looked up to see Ji Siyu nodding slightly. He followed her gaze and saw Wen Shaoqiang standing in the drizzle, looking at him, perhaps having waited for a long time already.

  Qiao Yu didn't have any worrying behavior and rested for a few days after the funeral before returning to work as usual.

  A few days later, Ji Siyuan made an appointment with Qiao Yu by the lake.

  Qiao Yu arrived just as Ji Siyun was standing by the lake skipping stones. She heard footsteps and turned her head to look over.

  Qiao Yu found it somewhat strange, "Why did we agree to meet here?"

  Ji Siyuan pointed to a house not far away and asked, "Does it look familiar to you?"

  Qiao Yu felt strange when he came over just now and nodded slightly.

  Ji Siyuan stretched out her hand to him, "Did you bring the key?"

  Qiao Yu handed Qiao Ye the key she had left for her, and then saw her walk over to open the door, standing in front of it calling out to him.

  Qiao Yu suddenly understood something and slowly walked in. As he passed by the garden, he remembered what he had said to Qiao Yan that year.

  "Brother, in the future I will definitely build a house, with a big garden in front of it. In spring, I'll see a hundred flowers blooming; in autumn, I'll appreciate the moon; in summer, I'll enjoy the cool breeze; and in winter, I'll tread on snow. The lighting inside the house must be good, so that no matter what time it is, I can always see Ji Siyuan smiling at me in the sunlight."

  "Who is Ji Siqi?"

  In his memory, that voice slowly echoed, Qiao Yu traversed through time and space, softly replying, "Ji Siyuan is the person Qiao Yu wants to protect for a lifetime."

  His voice was extremely low, and Ji Siyu walked in front without hearing clearly, only heard her own name after he called her, "Hmm?"

  Qiao Yu smiled and shook his head.

  After passing through the garden and pushing open the door, everything inside the house was familiar. They were all his ideas, all from that blueprint, the one he had drawn halfway and then abandoned.

  Ji Siyun stood in front of the tall bookshelf and began to explain, "At that time, your brother brought a drawing to me, but it was only half finished. He wanted me to complete the other half. I just felt that the drawing looked very familiar, but I didn't know it was your brother..."

  Ji Siyuan told him everything related to Qiao Yan, and after finishing, she suddenly felt that Qiao Yan was indeed a good brother. If she were Qiao Yu back then, she would have made the same choice as him.

  At that moment, Ji Siyu was startled by her own idea, and then suddenly enlightened. The gloom accumulated in her heart over the years dissipated instantly, leaving only a warm and gentle heart.

  After that day, Qiao Yu's mood seemed to have improved a bit, but Ji Siyuan was about to leave.

  The project is coming to an end, and the people from the law firm are gradually withdrawing. Xu Bingjun and Wei Xin returned a few days ago to take over new projects, and she can only drag on until today because Qiao Yu has not returned yet.

  Qiao Yu didn't ask her to stay, and Ji Siyuan also didn't say when she would come back.

  They are no longer young, and time has taken its toll. In the gentle years, not only have cherry blossoms turned red and banana leaves turned green, but they have also learned to tolerate and care for each other. Back then, he couldn't bear her giving up her dreams for him; now, how could he possibly ask her to stay? Although she would remain if he asked her to, after all that has happened, she understands his feelings, including the guilt and heartache of sacrificing for each other.

  After Ji Siyuan returned, the new project she took over was very tricky. She had been up all night for several days and then had to take a plane to rush to the construction site. Getting up too early in the morning gave her a splitting headache, and her temples were throbbing as she walked to security after checking in. Just a few steps later, she suddenly stopped. Standing in the bustling airport hall, she suddenly didn't know where she was or what she was doing there. She opened her eyes wide and searched hard for recognizable signs, and it wasn't until then that she slowly remembered, oh, this is an airport.

  All these years she has been running around the world, sometimes waking up in a hotel in the morning and asking herself where she is, with no sense of belonging.

  Before taking off, she sent a text message to Qiao Yu and then turned off her phone.

  Qiao Yu, I'm tired, I want to take a rest. I said I miss you, can you come see me? Is that okay?

  She got off the plane and went to the hotel, then slept soundly until she woke up rolling around in bed wrapped in a blanket before crawling out of it. She reached for her phone to check the time, then looked at the latest message reminders.

  Qiao Yu did not respond.

  They're probably having a meeting.

  She sighed, rubbed her head and sat up, then saw Qiao Yu sitting on the sofa opposite the bed.

  She rubbed her eyes and asked foolishly, "Am I still not awake?"

  Qiao Yu smiled softly and bent down to caress her eyebrows, "Ji Siyuan, I'm here to take you home."

  How long has it been since someone called her name with such solemnity?

  She had long forgotten about it.

  She had spent so many days and nights abroad, fantasizing countless times that Qiao Yu would suddenly appear in front of her and say, "Ji Siyuan, I'm here to take you home."

  Ji Siyun didn't seem moved at all and continued to ask foolishly, "How did you get in here?"

  Qiao Yu smiled but did not answer.

  Ji Siyun suddenly lost her energy, let out a sigh and opened her arms, "Come give me a hug."

  Qiao Yu's words made her lean into his arms.

  She threw herself into Qiao Yu's arms and took a deep breath, then suddenly spoke in a hard voice, "Say sorry to me."

  Qiao Yu didn't ask much and solemnly apologized according to her request, "Sorry."

  "Say you love me."

  Qiao Yu found it somewhat amusing, "What's wrong with you?"

  Ji Siyuan buried her face in his chest and replied in a low voice, "Qiao Yu, I missed you."

  Qiao Yu suddenly put away his smile and opened his mouth lightly but firmly, "Ji Siyuan, I love you."