When The War Is Over, Will You Plant A Blossom Tree For Me?Ch40 - What Remains

 
What followed that tragic evening was a strange quiet. Fei Li had been prepared for there to be numerous issues given the situation, and the burning hate Lu Qinyi was bound to have towards the Feng household. But instead, it was quiet. Lu Qinyi was strangely docile.

Feng Haoran had provided Fei Li and Lu Qinyi guest rooms since it became apparent Fei Li had no intentions of taking Lu Qinyi away before he had attended the funeral. The wake period was 7 days, in which the deceased would be watched over in turns. Lu Qinyi however essentially never left Lu Yanlin’s side. In that dim and silent funeral room thick with the smell of burning incense, he sat with his back against the platform that held her casket and his knees drawn to his chest. Whether others of the Feng household, or Feng Haoran himself, paid their respects and spent time watching over her, or whether he was alone in the room aside from someone assigned to monitor him, it didn’t matter. He was largely unresponsive to anything. Fei Li had to hand him the food in order for him to eat it. If it was placed near him instead, he would ignore it. Fei Li was the only one brave enough to approach Lu Qinyi for the task, and so he would do it himself, every meal time and every day.

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The only time Lu Qinyi spoke following Lu Yanlin’s death was when Feng Haoran was detailing the plans for Lu Yanlin’s funeral.

“She should be laid to rest in the South.” 5bK1r9

Feng Haoran startled at the sound of Lu Qinyi’s voice quietly piercing through the room as his head spun to look at the figure seated on the ground. Just having Lu Qinyi around set him so ill at ease, he didn’t sleep right. But as days passed, he had gotten accustomed to the other’s silence. He only sat there like a shadow, so Feng Haoran had begun to simply skirt around his presence. “What?” He blurted dumbly in his alarm.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Lu Qinyi met his gaze. “Yanlin should be laid to rest in the South. Not here.”

Feng Haoran initially felt anger flare at such a disrespectful suggestion, but he quickly recalled who he was dealing with. Feng Haoran suddenly felt a bit choked and the skin on his neck seemed to itch. He pulled at the collar of his garments and a drop of sweat dripped down the back of his neck. “Th-that’s not possible. She is officially married into the Feng household. She will be buried here, but she will have an altar in my ancestral hall as is proper. She will be mourned and paid respects as the wife of the head of the family.”

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Feng Haoran left the room following after he had finished and had received a nod of acknowledgement by Fei Li, leaving his servants to begin preparations. This included leaving a very anxious looking maid to face Lu Qinyi. She admirably inched over to the lonely figure, her mind turning to try and figure out how you would even address someone with Lu Qinyi’s complicated status. She forewent the bows but did speak respectfully still. “Ex… excuse the interruption Sir. We would like to use Mrs Feng’s favourite flower for the ceremony. Could you… tell me what Mrs Feng’s favourite flower is?”

Lord Haoran didn’t know that much? What a useless husband. It would have been better to pick a better suitor but it wasn’t like there were options. Fei Li decided it was pointless thinking about these things now anyway, he could only offer the passed Yanlin his apologies and pay his respects.

Lu Qinyi, rather expectedly, didn’t respond, or even acknowledge anything around him, exactly as he had been before.

“S-sir? Mrs Feng’s favourite flower…” rw3IqQ

Nothing.

When finally had enough of watching the poor girl struggle with what to do, Fei Li testingly called “General Lu?”

Lu Qinyi didn’t stir, so Fei Li thought before he tried something else. “About Miss Lu Yanlin…”

Lu Qinyi twitched this time. Slowly, he raised his head to glance in Fei Li’s general direction. Fei Li gestured to the maid who tried not to tremble under the two men’s attention. “Her-her favourite flower. If you would please…” h6 lEi

Lu Qinyi glanced passively at the maid before his eyes filled with sorrow and pain. He simply shook his head slightly and lowered it again.

Given Lu Qinyi’s reaction, he seemed willing to respond if it was about his sister, and yet he had shaken his head in reply… Fei Li gathered that Yanlin’s favourite flower was likely a flower only native to the South. He tried to think of any kinds he knew of. Although he knew plenty of the terrain and landscape of the South, his knowledge on their flowers was limited. It was then that he recalled something he had almost forgotten as time had passed. A gold and white jade blossom branch. Winter Blossoms bloomed in the cold of winter, thus their name, so they only really thrived in the colder South. It was said there were many of them, even entire forests, although Fei Li had never had the chance to see them before. “Use blossoms,” he instructed the maid before turning to return to his temporary room.

—

After the week had passed, the white lanterns were lit and white cloth was hung above the door to signify the loss and period of grief the household would be enduring. Feng Haoran spared no expense for the funeral, and completed his duties within it to the highest respect he could. Whether this was because he felt guilt towards his late wife, or to appease the terrifying figures looming in his home, was uncertain. Lu Qinyi was scarily unpredictable and his state of mind had to be unstable. Fei Li was the nation’s prize and their finest mind and soldier. He also clearly had some sort of relation with the Lu family to go to the efforts he had. These weren’t people Feng Haoran could afford to offend any further than the damage already done. 4B0ljd

Neither of the men made any comment. Fei Li attended despite the fact he wouldn’t even be considered an acquaintance of Lu Yanlin. Then again, it wasn’t like any of these people besides her brother could be considered close to her, so how out of place could he really have been? Said brother stood beside the casket, gripping onto its edge so hard his knuckles went white. If it hadn’t been the finest quality of wood, it might have been warped under his grip. The casket had been opened for the ceremony. Lu Yanlin made for beautiful sight in an eerie kind of way with her death tinged pale skin and her dark hair contrasting starkly to the fine white silks she had been dressed in.

Lu Qinyi slowly released his fingers so he could pull one of the slips of joss papers among Yanlin’s offerings. He took his time to carefully fold and twist it into the shape of a blossom, although the petals looked a bit different from the many blossoms surrounding the casket. After he had laid it in her casket, he finally forced his gaze to see her face for the last time. Very slowly, he raised his hand to gently brush a stray strand from his older sister’s face. Just as he was about to withdraw his hand, his gaze caught on the two hairpins exposed from half bun at the side of her head. Grief buried into him like a sharp knife and it felt like he couldn’t breath. Lu Qinyi lightly touched the pins with his fingertips before shutting his eyes and finally turning away. He exhaled a shaky breath as he stepped back again. His head remained bent for the rest of the ceremony, only glancing up again to watch the flames consume Yanlin’s funeral offerings until only dust was left behind.

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Author’s Notes: Xp2z8N

Firstly, look at this INCREDIBLE art by our talented reader Aerlind! I can’t get over how amazing it is, I’m in love with them.

 
Now onto the notes. This chapter took a while to write since I wanted to include an adapted mixture of ancient and modern Chinese funeral traditions. rX2DdZ

Some of the references I used (3 of the like 8 I read through):
Ancient China Funeral rites
Modern Chinese Funeral Customs
Traditional Chinese Funeral Customs

Many thanks as always to our dear alpha reader Raevynne, and many thanks to you guys for being patient and letting me have the time to write the chapters at my own pace. I can’t even begin to say how much I appreciate it as I can’t write under pressure. I have two more chapters written, one of which will go out in the next few days. Enjoy!