The winds at the cemetery swept up the dry leaves.
They swirled around the brand-new tombstone.
The tombstone bore the inscription "27th Family Head of the Li Family, Li Quhu."
Li Qingsui, draped in mourning robes, knelt before the tombstone, wiping both the new and old tombstones, while the attendants behind her had all dispersed... Qingzhong was a quiet place, the members of the Elder Council had stayed outside, leaving her this final tranquility.
She had stayed here for a long time.
She had nothing she wanted to say to her father... She just wanted to stand here.
It was very quiet here.
Quieter than any other place in the world.
It’s just... that the outside world wasn’t noisy because it was naturally so.
Where there are people, there is noise.
Two hours after Li Qingsui had stood quietly in front of the tombstone, the members of the Elder Council waiting outside the cemetery were losing their patience.
Several elders exchanged glances, unsure of what the girl standing in front of the tombstone was doing.
Her silhouette resembled a stone monument more than the crumbling tombstone.
"She isn’t doing anything?"
"Just standing there..."
"How long will she stand?"
The cemetery remained quiet.
But the Spiritual Communication was filled with such noisy voices.
Theoretically, after the burial beneath the tombstone, the ceremony had ended and those who had come to the cemetery with respect had all left... But the Li family was one of the ancient five great families, possessing a complete and solemn etiquette.
The Family Head was dead.
Although the "succession" ceremony hadn’t been held yet, Li Qingsui, the designated successor by the Family Head, was the new "Family Head."
The Elder Council could not leave.
If she didn’t move, those elders had to wait outside the cemetery, unable to move as well.
Another thirty minutes passed.
The Second Elder sighed softly, slowly approached, and comfortingly said in a gentle voice, "Miss... please restrain your grief."
The girl standing in front of the tombstone slowly lifted her head.
She looked directly at the old man in front of her, her voice not loud, but the members of the Elder Council waiting nearby could hear everything.
Li Qingsui said, word by word,
"Call me Family Head."
The Li Family’s Second Elder, with white eyebrows and beard, maintained his gentle demeanor, his eyes complex... Without a moment’s hesitation, he corrected his address: "Family Head, it’s getting late, and..."
The Heavenly Cloud was overcast.
There had been no rain when they arrived.
But now, distant rumblings of thunder could be heard.
Changye, every winter, was , cloudy with frequent rains and snows.
"If we stay longer, I’m afraid it will start raining."
In less than a second.
Li Qingsui said, "The rain is what I’m waiting for."
This remark took the Second Elder by surprise.
For a moment, he didn’t know what to say.
"If you’re all willing to stay here, I assume it’s out of profound sadness..."
Li Qingsui glanced at the sky, turned back to the elders, and calmly said, "Then let us all get drenched together."
She had deliberately chosen this day to get soaked in the rain.
If the rain wouldn’t come.
Then everyone... please wait with me.
When Gu Shen left the inner cemetery.
The rain had been falling for half an hour.
He climbed to the top of the hill, and in the midst of the mist, he gazed from afar and saw a young girl, drenched but with a straight back, and a group of elders soaking wet.
These people stood in front of the tombstone, maintaining a strange solemnity.
It was indeed a rare scene.
On ordinary days... it was hard to imagine the pampered elders of the five great families in such a disheveled state.
Theoretically, the funeral should have ended already.
The accompanying crowds had all departed, and those remaining here should be the core members of the Li family and the Elder Council members.
Li Qingsui had not left...
Had she intentionally wanted to get soaked?
Gu Shen did not approach; standing in the mist from afar, he quickly noted a noteworthy detail...
This funeral, it seemed Uncle Gao had not attended, at least Gu Shen had not seen him.
Apart from that, some people in the rain stood silently, still solemn, maintaining their posture upright.
But there were others who no longer maintained the basic etiquette, whether it was their posture or demeanor, all seemed tired, no longer stiff.