Chapter 1030: Chapter 1030

A red-haired girl in plain clothes stood by the window, reaching out her hand.

The dim sunlight passed through the glass window, sprinkling on her pale fingers. She lowered her head, looked at the sunlight on her fingertips, and gently clenched her fist, seemingly trying to grasp that scattering light.

A crisp knock on the door came from outside, along with the slightly deep voice of the blond Chief of Staff, "Lin Na, it’s about to start."

"Okay, I’ll be right there."

The girl glanced at the sunlight outside the window and responded softly.

When the footsteps outside gradually faded, she turned her head back towards the window.

Layers of clouds covered the sky, and the dim shadows had already enveloped her entire hand, the scattering sunlight that was originally spread over her hand had now disappeared.

She gently released her palm, lowered her head slightly, and raised her wristband to open her mailbox.

As usual, the mailbox was stuffed full of crowded promotional advertisements, with no new emails.

She put down her wristband and walked towards the door step by step.

As she placed her hand on the doorknob, she turned back and took one last look at the room.

The spacious room was simple and monotonous; besides the bed, there was no decoration, as if the person living in this room did not stay here often.

It was just a place for brief stays during sleep.

Finally, the girl’s gaze fell on the photo frame on the bedside table, the only ’decoration’ in the entire room.

Looking at the old photo frame, she hesitated for a moment, let go of the doorknob, and slowly walked over, gazing at the frozen time within the frame.

After a brief pause, she picked up the frame, seemingly wanting to get a closer look at the person in the frame.

But the moment she picked up the frame, her gaze briefly faltered.

She turned the frame over, looking at the back of it.

A folded paper was stuck in the back clip of the frame.

The girl’s hand trembled slightly, she removed the paper, put the frame back on the bedside table, and then slowly unfolded the paper.

There were no instructions or long messages.

Slightly rigid handwriting sketched a short sentence on the paper,

[If you see this paper, child, I hope you stay healthy.]

The red-haired girl’s thin fingers pinched the thin paper, her body slightly bent, lightly sniffing.

After a while, she lightly inhaled, shrugged her nose, carefully folded the paper again, and at this moment, her gaze fell on the photo frame below.

An old man with graying hair stood in that frozen time, gazing forward, his calm gaze seeming to traverse time and space, landing on the girl’s tender cheek.

If nothing had happened, she might never have entered this room or seen this message stuck behind the frame.

The girl crouched down slightly, her fingertips brushed over the face on the frame.

Then she took a deep breath, carefully tucked the folded paper into her garment’s inner pocket, and walked towards the door.

Breeze fluttered the vast sea of jasmine flowers, the darkening clouds gradually filled the sky.

The continuous convoy already filled the street in front of the White Jasmine Flowers, fully armed soldiers stood on both sides of the street, isolating the convoy and the crowd.

Six sturdy horses drew a gem and gold inlaid old flatbed carriage, standing at the end of the convoy.

And on that carriage, a black coffin covered with White Jasmine Flower flags lay quietly.

"It’s about to rain."

Sitting in the open-top carriage in front of the horses, Ini holding a camera, looked up at the cloud-covered sky.

"Perhaps, God is also mourning."

Sitting beside Ini, Liz also holding a camera, glanced at the sky and said softly.

As members of the newspaper funded by Mr. Lin En and reporters covering the event, they were invited here.

Then Liz withdrew her gaze, looking at the erected barriers on both sides of the street and the densely packed crowd standing behind the barriers.

The thick crowd stretched from the street continuously to the end of the street, merging into the land and clouds, with no end in sight.

Ini let out a light sigh, leaning back, aligning her camera towards the crowd.

Then she noticed that somewhat youthful-looking little boy, Jerin, and standing behind him, holding his hand, a woman whose complexion was somewhat pale but clearly much recovered.

The woman seemed to notice Ini’s gaze, pulled the little boy, raised her hand, and looked in her direction, waving gently with the boy.

Ini put down her camera and nodded in response.

"It’s about to start."

At this moment, Liz, holding the camera, glanced at the time on her wristband and said softly.

Ini shifted her gaze back, clutching her camera, and looked towards the horses and carriage behind her.

The sturdy horses snorted, lightly tapping the ground with their hooves.

In that sea of jasmine flowers, the plain-clad red-haired girl also slowly walked through the scattered petals and stood behind the carriage.

There were now nine people standing there, including the aforementioned eight pallbearers and an elderly white-haired figure.

He stood beside the carriage, quietly gazing at the coffin covered with White Jasmine Flowers.

The red-haired girl gazed somewhat blankly at this figure.

When she first came here, she hadn’t noticed this figure’s presence; the white-haired silhouette seemed to blend in with the crowd, indistinct and almost unnoticed standing there.

But as she approached, she suddenly realized that this white-haired figure seemed completely different from the surrounding people.

He stood there like a gem standing on the sand, making it impossible to avert one’s gaze.

"This is Mr. Levi, the Honorary Speaker of the City Council,"

The blond Chief of Staff immediately introduced, "Mr. Lin En’s... relic was brought back by Mr. Levi."

At this moment, the white-haired figure also turned his head, looking at the red-haired girl.

The girl spoke softly to him.

"This is what I should do,"

Levi shook his head, looking at the girl’s face, and sighed lightly, "You look a lot like your father."

Then he turned his head back, looking at the blond Chief of Staff, and asked, "Is it about to begin?"

The blond Chief of Staff nodded lightly.

Levi lifted his head, glanced once more at the pitch-black coffin, then turned around, naturally appearing at the very front of the carriage, reaching out to hold the reins of the lead horse, "I will lead the way for him."

At that instant, aside from the red-haired girl, everyone standing here, particularly Lante, the blonde Chief of Staff, Corvey, and Mid, all displayed a noticeable surprise.

But having exchanged glances, they said nothing and naturally split into two rows of four each, standing on either side of the coffin.

Several ceremonial guards stepped forward, following behind Levi, taking hold of the reins of several horses.

The red-haired girl stood at the back of the coffin, looked ahead at the procession, then glanced at the dense crowd lining the streets.

She lowered her head, her face still maintaining its calmness, showing no sign of emotional fluctuation.

At this moment, the blonde Chief of Staff standing on the left rear side of the coffin turned her head back, looked at the girl behind her, opened her mouth, but ultimately just sighed softly.

With a subtle sound, the horseshoes struck the ground, and the procession slowly commenced, moving forward.

Light raindrops from the sky sprinkled down, landing on the White Jasmine Flower flags covering the coffin, and also into everyone’s hair.

The crowd’s gaze followed the slow procession, and members of the Mayor’s Guard also stepped forward continually, maintaining order.

When the procession finally moved out from the first street, the crowd did not disperse.

They gathered together, following far behind the procession, forming a river of people, gazing at the pitch-black coffin.

Light raindrops continued to fall on everyone.

The girl walked on foot under this quiet path, her shoe soles stepping on the cold road, moving forward step by step.

A guard held up an umbrella, walking to the girl’s side, but she gently shook her hand to refuse.

Everyone standing guard in front of the coffin also rejected the offered umbrellas.

Ini leaned on the convertible, holding up a camera, aiming at the carriage and crowd behind.

Along with the procession slowly moving forward, the following crowd also increasingly swelled.

They crowded closer and closer, approaching nearer to the carriage.

Some guards took out barrier tape, intending to block the approaching crowd.

But that red-haired girl at the end of the column raised her head, looking towards the dense crowd behind, her voice low and hoarse as she spoke, "Don’t block them."

The surrounding guards exchanged glances, and after a brief pause, communicated using radios.

Those guards holding the barrier tape gradually retreated, allowing the crowd behind to continuously draw nearer.

Finally, the distance of several tens of meters between the crowd and the procession rapidly closed to within ten meters.

The guards escorting the procession became tensed for a moment, tightly gripping their firearms.

But when the crowd reached about five meters from the end of the procession, they naturally stopped, the crowd restraining each other, no longer pressing closer to the procession, but quietly following the pace of the procession forward.

The girl also withdrew her gaze from the crowd behind, looked toward the coffin ahead, and continued stepping through the streaming raindrops.

The white-haired figure at the front holding the reins turned his head back, glanced at the red-haired girl, then at the dense yet orderly crowd, withdrew his gaze, and continued forward.

Ini pressed the camera button, capturing this moment.

The cold rain kept falling from the sky, the cold wind brushing past everyone’s cheeks.

The stretching crowd grew longer, finally connecting into a dense, long line.

Those at the very back actually could no longer see the procession, but they were unwilling to leave, instead closely following the crowd ahead.

They walked in the rain, escorting the elderly Mayor on his final journey.

"I have never seen so many people."

Looking at that endless sea of people, Liz held her camera, her voice hoarse as she spoke.

"I’ve never seen this before either."

Ini held her camera, gazing at the seemingly endless stream of people captured within the camera lens, she gently said.

Within the narrow frame, there were elderly wearing ragged patched clothing, modestly dressed women, neatly dressed middle-aged people, young girls in exquisite dresses, and even tattooed, burly men with fierce appearances.

They gathered here, standing on the same piece of land, crowding together for the same purpose.

The procession moved slowly forward, and the continuous stream of people grew longer.

One by one, figures emerged from the depths of the streets, from towering buildings, from vehicles parked beside the road; they watched the departing carriages, naturally blending into the lengthy queue, following the procession onward.

In the latter half of the journey, the procession left Saint Ilan District and entered Wick District, the road became more rugged, but the stream of people became even denser.

Ini quietly lay on the vehicle, taking one photo after another.

According to the original plan, the funeral procession set out from the White Jasmine Palace in Saint Ilan District, and passed through Wick District, Cena District, and Nevus District in the last stretch of the route, following a spiral path, finally arriving at the cemetery.

Accompanied by the nearly city-covering, continuous raindrops, the procession passed through each district, ultimately reaching the cemetery near Nevus District.

Ini turned her head, looking to each side, where dense crowds had already gathered, the spacious square was even filled with people.

The flowing wind blew across the raindrops, bringing the distant fragrance beside the lady.

Ini raised her head, stretching out her hand to catch the pink petals swirling in the wind and rain.

"It’s peach blossoms,"

Ini held the petal in her hand, lifted her gaze, and looked behind.

Dense pink and white petals were blown by the breeze, brushing past the quietly advancing procession, past the side of the woman in red.

At the end of this tsunami of petals, in the distance of Ini’s sight, plentiful peach and plum trees blooming with flowers stood erect in the quiet park.

"Special cultivated ever-blooming peach blossoms."

She released her hand, letting the wind blow the petals away, merging them into the wave of pink and white blossoms.

The redhead girl at the end of the line raised her head, watching the sky full of petals, and twitched her nose.

Just then, as the coffin was about to pass by the side square, under that pervading wave of petals, on the side of the procession, the crowd that had been waiting here began to stir slightly.

It seemed that something was being prepared within the surging crowd.

The pervasive raindrops fell on everyone, beneath the fluttering petals, the Guards raising their heads, carefully gazing at the stirring crowd.

A large white billboard was slowly raised from the crowd.

But immediately after, the weight of the billboard seemingly exceeded the lifters’ estimates, and someone standing in the corner trembled, causing the billboard to fall downwards.

Just then, a pair of hands reached out from the side, supporting the edge of the billboard.

Subsequently, pair after pair of hands stretched out through the blurry raindrops, tightly gripping the billboard, holding it up.

Then these pairs of arms crowded around the white billboard, slowly exerting strength, lifting it over their heads, over the storm and rain of flowers, to the highest point of the huge crowd, facing the black coffin covered by the flag of the White Jasmine Flower.

It bore just a simple phrase:

[Mr. Lin En, good night.]