Tao Yu grabbed his hand and shook it, looking pitiful: “Take me there. The lake is so big, we might not even run into the Zhou family. We can just walk around the edges.”
Yue Linze was softening, and Tao Yu immediately said: “If you don’t take me, I won’t give you a child!”
This sentence hit Yue Linze’s weakness, and he nodded in agreement. Tao Yu, seeing he had agreed, laughed, comforting him before they left together. After stopping at a small eatery, they arrived at Wei Huan Lake around noon.
It was lunchtime, with people either returning home or going to restaurants. The lakeside was sparse. The wind blew, making the tree branches tremble, accompanied by the lake’s moisture, creating an indescribably pleasant atmosphere.
If not for the white mourning banners and simple altar in the distance, with faint crying sounds, the scene would have been enchanting.
Yue Linze glanced at the mourning Zhou family and frowned at Tao Yu: “Let’s go. Seeing this makes me uncomfortable.”
Tao Yu looked ahead, seeing a horse-drawn carriage heading towards the altar. She calculated the time and said, “They’ll leave soon. They won’t make you uncomfortable anymore.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the Zhou family, seeing the carriage, cried and boarded it. The carriage turned and drove away, leaving only a servant boy guarding the altar.
Yue Linze relaxed slightly, though still not in high spirits: “I don’t like this.”
“I know. We won’t look. Let’s walk somewhere else,” Tao Yu consoled with a smile.
Yue Linze gave her an awkward glance, finally nodding with a pursed mouth. The two held hands and walked to a place far from the mourning hall. Tao Yu said a few words to him, then circled back to Zhou Ying: “Is the place where they set up the mourning hall the same place where that person drowned?”
“No, it’s just a flat area suitable for setting up the mourning hall. Zhou Ying drowned over there,” Yue Linze said, pointing to a spot ahead, which was also surrounded by white mourning banners, but with scattered stones that could only be fixed with rocks.
