Huo Yaowen's eulogy can be said to be tear-jerking, smelling sadness, listening to tears, almost everyone who came to mourn was crying silently, and sadness came from the heart.

After the memorial service ended, Sir Chow's second son Zhou Qibang and his wife Tan Yueqing walked to Huo Yaowen's side together, both of them were wearing mourning clothes, because they had just cried, their eyes were still red at the moment, and there were still traces of tears on their faces.

"Mr. Huo, my father, please come over. ”

When he visited Sir Zhou last year, Huo Yaowen met Zhou Qibang, although he was not familiar with him, but he also knew each other, and when he heard him say that Sir Zhou was looking for himself, Huo Yaowen couldn't help asking: "I don't know where Sir Zhou is?"

Zhou Qibang said: "My father is in the room behind the mourning hall, Mr. Huo is at his own convenience, I still have some business, so I won't take you over." ”

"It's okay, I'll just go by myself. ”

As he spoke, Huo Yaowen walked towards the room behind the spiritual platform.

At this time, Zhou Qibang's father-in-law, Tan Huantang, walked up to the couple's side, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Qibang will go back to comfort and comfort your father later, I'm afraid that he will be too sad to stay alone in the room." ”

Zhou Qibang said: "I know my father-in-law, I will persuade my father when I go back, but just now Mr. Huo passed, I think he will help comfort him." ”

"Him!"

Tan Huantang smiled bitterly: "Your father cried so sadly, it's not that Mr. Huo's eulogy is too tear-jerking, a cultural person is a cultural person, alas, ......"

Tan Huantang is in his sixties, and he has long been accustomed to seeing life and death, so it stands to reason that he will not cry like that when he comes to attend the memorial service of the old lady of his in-laws, he will not cry like that, but the eulogy that Huo Yaowen said just now, the one who came to mourn, the one who did not cry bitterly.

Hearing this, Zhou Qibang didn't know what to say, so he could only remain silent.

Tan Huantang paused and said, "Okay, Qibang, Yueqing, I'll go back first." ”

Zhou Qibang didn't say anything, just nodded and understood.

It's not that he doesn't know how to be polite, but there are many unwritten rules for attending funerals in Hong Kong.

In addition to not wearing brightly colored clothes and not wearing conspicuous gold jewelry, there is also no need to say thank you as long as you have a heart.

Many people in Hong Kong have scruples about funerals, and if they are not relatives or close friends with the deceased, they will not attend unless necessary. Therefore, for the family of the deceased, they will be very grateful to the people who come to mourn sincerely, but do not say "thank you" to them (you can replace it with "heart"), and do not send guests off when leaving.

Because funerals are not a good thing, it would be unlucky to say "thank you", and the people who were sent away from the funeral home were not alive, and sending them off was equivalent to cursing them.

So when the guests are leaving, just nod politely, or say "bye-bye" if necessary, and let them leave.

......

When the relatives and friends at the memorial service dispersed one after another, on the other side, Huo Yaowen walked into a room behind the mourning hall.

There was a knock on the door, and the word "come in" sounded in the house.

Huo Yaowen pushed the door in, only to see Zhou Xinian sitting alone on the chair, his back looking unusually lonely and sad.

Huo Yaowen took a step forward and said, "Sir Zhou, the festival mourns and changes." ”

"Yaowen is here. Sir Zhou glanced back at Huo Yaowen, smiled and said, "Please take a seat." ”

Looking at the chair next to him, Huo Yaowen sat down in response, "I don't know what Sir Zhou is looking for me?"

Sir Zhou said: "It's nothing, it's just that the eulogy just now is very well written, Yaowen, you have a heart." ”

"It's nothing. Huo Yaowen shook his head and comforted: "Sir Zhou, don't be too sad, take care of your body." ”

"Alas......" Zhou Xinian sighed deeply, at this moment he has lost his former vigor, and the whole person looks very decadent, especially those eyes, which were originally bright, are dim and a little muddy at the moment, as if they are much older than before.

Seeing such a decadent Sir Zhou, Huo Yaowen couldn't help but think of his tragic experience in the next few years.

If before the 70s, it was the peak era of Zhou Xinian's upward movement, then after entering the 70s, the Zhou family gradually went downhill.

In 1972, Zhou Xinian's Dairy International Company was viciously acquired by Jardine Matheson, because of the shameless behavior of Jardine Matheson, this vicious acquisition became the fuse of the outbreak of the Hong Kong stock market crash in 73.

After losing his chairmanship of Dairy Farm International Corporation, Chow's influence was no longer what it once was, and in '74 he lost his seat on the board of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which he had held since 1946 (but was awarded the title of honorary director in the same year).

Soon after, he was hospitalized for a stroke in 1976, and although he was later cured and discharged, he was once wheelchair accessed, and since then he has rarely appeared in public, and has been living a retired life at the Chow family mansion on Cottonton Road.

In his later years, Sir Zhou's life was not very smooth, and his two sons and daughters-in-law fought with his newly married wife over property, which led to family discord, and after his death, this dispute lasted for nearly 20 years before it was barely settled out of court.

......

Outside the Hong Kong "Grand Hotel".

The two had just walked out.

Luo Qiaozhen asked, "What did Sir Zhou do to you just now?"

"It's fine. Huo Yaowen shook his head and said, "It's just that Sir Zhou is a little sad, and I went over to comfort him." ”

"Oh. Luo Qiaozhen responded, and didn't say anything more.

At this time, two old men walked outside the door of the "Grand Hotel", one carrying a big basket, walked to Huo Yaowen's side and said, "Hou Shengzi, did you just attend the funeral?"

Looking at these two fifty or sixty-year-old men, Huo Yaowen raised his eyebrows and asked, "What's wrong?"

One of the old men said: "Have you received Jiyi? If you do, just throw it away, you can't take this thing home." (Jiyi is a white straight envelope with a red bar in the middle that says "Jiyi" in blue letters)

As soon as she heard this, Luo Qiaozhen came over in a trance, and hurriedly took out the Jiyi she had received before from her bag, opened it, took out a packaged candy inside, and threw the envelope directly into an old man's basket.

After throwing it, Luo Qiaozhen looked at Huo Yaowen beside her and asked, "What about yours?"

Huo Yaowen leaned out, looked at the things in the old man's frame, all of them were white envelopes, and asked curiously, "Why did you throw it away?"

Luo Qiaozhen said: "You take out the candy in it first, and then throw it away, I'll tell you later." ”

"Oh, good. Although Huo Yaowen didn't know what he was doing, he still took out the white envelope he had obtained from the inner pocket of his suit, took out the candy from it, and threw it into the frame.

The two old men got the auspicious gift, turned around and walked towards another wave of people who walked out of the "big hotel".

...

After a while, Huo Yaowen and Luo Qiaozhen walked to the parking lot and got into the car.

"Why did you throw Jiyi away?"

As soon as the car started and drove out, Huo Yaowen looked at Luo Qiaozhen in puzzlement, the contents of this envelope, he had also opened it before, there were three things, a very small white towel, a piece of sugar, and a one-yuan coin, I think it should be a person who thanked and condoled.

Luo Qiaozhen asked, "You haven't attended the funeral, have you?"

"Nope. Huo Yaowen shook his head, although he had participated in his previous life, but he had not participated once in Hong Kong at this time.

"That's right. ”

Luo Qiaozhen explained while driving: "The three things in Jiyi, the white towel is for the guests to wipe their tears, and the purpose of the candy is to use sweetness to reduce the grief and sadness of the funeral participants, and they should be eaten on the same day." As for the one-dollar coin, it is used as a return gift for silk, because the silk gold cannot be an integer, otherwise subtract one yuan, and the mantissa will become nine, and the funeral is good once, and the words of "long" are not good, so this yuan must be used on the same day, and must not be taken home, otherwise it will bring mildew and bad luck. ”

"I see. ”

Hearing this, Huo Yaowen understood why when he was preparing the silk gold before, Grandma said not to give a whole number, but to add a yuan in front, which turned out to be here.

While waiting for the traffic light at the intersection, Luo Qiaozhen glanced sideways at Huo Yaowen and asked, "Are you going to the United States on tomorrow's plane?"

Huo Yaowen nodded: "Well, tomorrow morning's plane." ”

Luo Qiaozhen said with a smile: "I just came back from the UK and went to the United States again after a few days, it seems that you are very busy? The foundation has a lot of things to do during this time, Liu Xuyan has already begun to prepare investment securities in the past two days, and you, the president, will leave as soon as he says, leaving me and Director Zhang to be busy." ”

"You and the teacher have been tired for a few days first, and then you can wait until you are busy for a while. Huo Yaowen doesn't want to run around, he still has a lot of things to deal with.

"Hmm. Luo Qiaozhen responded, and just at this time, the green light turned on and drove forward.

Nothing to say for a while.

Huo Yaowen suddenly remembered something in his arms, he took it out, a gift box brought back from the United Kingdom, and gave it to Luo Qiaozhen, but there were more things in the past few days, and he was so busy that he forgot about it for a while.

Huo Yaowen casually put it on the platform in front of him and said, "Well, this is a gift I brought to you from the UK, and I have forgotten it in the past few days." ”

Luo Qiaozhen glanced at it, and felt a little happy in her heart, but she didn't show it on her face, she just asked curiously, "What is it?"

"You'll find out for yourself when you go back and see. ”

...

Night.

In Luo Qiaozhen's boudoir, she was alone in the room, silently unpacking the gift box that Huo Yaowen gave her in the afternoon, and entering it was a silver-white necklace.

There is no pendant on the necklace, just a simple necklace made of silver, with clear lines and beautiful styles.

Immediately, she picked up the necklace and walked to the mirror, gestured at her chest, and smiled quietly at the corner of her mouth.

...

On the morning of the second day, Huo Yaowen took a taxi with his suitcase to Kai Tak Airport, and after waiting for more than ten minutes, he got on the plane to the United States alone, which was the first time he went abroad alone.

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