They Regretted it After Their Hearts Turned to Ashes - Chapter 34

Luo Jun later got off the boat alone.

When it was almost dawn, Ming Lu asked Luo Chengxiu to come out to breathe, and he saw a figure lingering in the fog on the pier.

Luo Chengxiu didn’t seem to look any better.

Minglu has seen a lot of people like him who put their interests first and are ruthless.

Nothing is more important than those business matters, and they naturally despise the physical and mental torture of others.

Small injuries and minor illnesses are not hypocritical, people come and go are not worth caring about, nothing is really serious to that point, you have to die in pain and despair.

Until now, Luo Chengxiu didn’t even understand what his son who was “prepared to treat him” had experienced.

Luo Chengxiu even thought that Luo Zhi was just a little sick and felt unwell.

He still thought that Luo Zhi was just arguing with Luo Jun on the cruise ship, and because of the accident on the cruise ship, Luo Jun pushed him off the sloping side of the ship together with Jian Huaiyi who was protecting him.

Luo Chengxiu regarded this as an accident with the eldest son as the perpetrator.

The Ming family was not unreasonable, so they just took Luo Chengxiu into the reception room in the cabin, asked Luo family master to sit down and drink tea, and found someone to read Luo Zhi’s injury appraisal and medical records over the years.

The reception room was odd, with extremely narrow walls, no windows, and a ceiling so high that it seemed impossible to see the head. No matter how you look up, you can only see the empty darkness.

Luo Chengxiu sat on the ice-cold concrete floor, looked at the cup of high-quality pre-rain tea brewed in front of him, and listened to these things without saying a word.

He hid in the shadow that seemed to have no temperature, and was silent for a long time before he said in a low voice: “I see, it’s my fault.”

It turned out that Mr. Ming wanted this, no wonder the Luo family would be forced to this point.

Luo Chengxiu clenched his palms hard, he said carefully, his tone was obviously stiff and stiff: “It’s me who didn’t fulfill my responsibilities, to him over the years…”

“You’re probably mistaken, Mr. Luo.” Ming Lu raised his hand to interrupt, “Have you memorized it?”

Luo Chengxiu was stunned: “…what?”

“How’s it going?” Ming Lu looked kindly and turned his back to the half-light cast outside the door, taking away the injury appraisal from his hand.

Minglu’s tone was very gentle, even as if he was carrying out the most common random check to a student who was only in his teens and was having a headache with his schoolwork: “How much have you memorized?”

Luo Chengxiu’s mind went blank for a moment.

He has always been sensitive to crises, and at this moment, he felt uneasy for no reason: “He, he has bad ears…”

“Why not?” Minglu asked.

Luo Chengxiu’s heaving chest suddenly froze.

“Why not?” Minglu probably thought he didn’t hear clearly, and asked again, “Patriarch Luo, remember?”

Luo Chengxiu shuddered, and his back slowly climbed into the chill.

…

He instinctively realized that if he couldn’t answer now, there might be some more serious consequences.

Luo Chengxiu desperately searched for the impression left in his mind, his body froze on the cold hard concrete floor, sweat slowly seeping out from his forehead.

…he wasn’t listening too seriously.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to listen or understand, it was just that he had too many things to think about at that time.

How can the Ming family stop, how can they make up for this shortfall, what assets should be sold so that the Luo family will not collapse in an instant, and how can they not be eaten by the surrounding opponents after they are greatly damaged.

I am afraid that Luo Jun’s appearance cannot be counted on. Can Jian Huaiyi hold up the Luo family? No, what was he thinking, do you really want to give the Luo family to an adopted son who has no blood relationship…

Forced by the situation to come to Ming’s house, sitting in this reception room, his mind was filled with all these messes.

When I read the injury appraisal, read the medical records, and read the scriptures in a flat tone, although I briefly had some concepts about these contents, they were soon overwhelmed by more thoughts.

…

He even subconsciously gave birth to a vague upset.

He knew that the son was wronged, he knew that Luo Zhi had suffered a lot of injuries, but when is it now? Why does Luo Zhi never learn to be sensible, and always trouble him when he is the busiest and most irritable—

Then he suddenly remembered that Luo Zhi seemed to be dead.

Luo Chengxiu raised his head.

He looked at Ming Lu and suddenly remembered what Ming Lu said to Luo Jun on the deck just now.

Luo Zhi was in that water.

Luo Zhi has indeed learned to be sensible and will never come to upset him.

“Mr. Luo.” Minglu called him.

Luo Chengxiu regained his senses, and he suddenly saw what Minglu was holding, it was an hourglass.

The fine sand in the hourglass is flowing slowly, the speed is very uniform, nothing can stop the fine sand, because they have no shape and are just falling.

Minglu put the hourglass on the table: “Time is running out.”

Luo Chengxiu’s chest also sank suddenly following the hourglass, he suddenly woke up, clenched his fists and tried to speak: “Yes… he was beaten, someone beat him…”

At this point, he has only guessed, and it is impossible to say any more detailed parts.

Luo Chengxiu knew very well that this kind of answer could not satisfy the other party. He watched as the fine sand slowly drained, and the two strong figures slowly walked in front of him, not even shrinking his pupils consciously.

He was dragged up by his arms and walked into the darker and colder corridor.

The fear caused by visual deprivation multiplied, he heard his legs that were too soft to be dragged and staggered, heard his rapid panting, and heard the unhurried footsteps of Ming Lu beside him.

“He was saving the girl in your house, and seven or eight people were chasing him. He ran away with the girl behind his back, but he couldn’t get away, so he went back and led those people away.”

Minglu said: “Those people became angry and beat him until he stopped moving.”

These people were later personally sent to prison by the evidence collected by Luo Chi, and the sentences would be longer than their lives. It was not difficult to obtain the real record of the situation at that time.

All of these contents have been noted on the injury appraisal that was given to Luo Chengxiu. Since he has not memorized it, Ming Lu will read it to him again.

This time, Luo Chengxiu finally listened to these contents thoroughly.

He really had nothing else to hear, nothing to think about.

Those details were terrifyingly real, and he had almost seen himself being tortured with revenge in the same way. The intense fear and pressure made him tremble uncontrollably, and the cold sweat kept falling.

There was only deep blackness in the field of vision, the gloomy traces penetrated into the skin, and the sound of footsteps echoed neither light nor heavy.

“Patriarch Luo.” Ming Lu finally finished the last word, “Have you ever thought that it would be nice if that child died on that day?”

Luo Chengxiu’s spirit has been tortured to the limit, and he can’t control his anger at such accusations: “How is it possible! That’s my son, why should I think so, how can I think so—”

Minglu was silent for a moment and looked at him: “Then why are you doing this?”

Luo Chengxiu opened his mouth wide and froze in place.

His expression was grim and contorted, cold sweat dripping down, and he looked almost embarrassed and funny.

…why why?

What did he do? Could it be that after Luo Zhi came back, he was forcing his son to death?

Luo Chengxiu couldn’t control his irritability.

He shook his head desperately, trying to figure out any business or family thing to think about. He didn’t want to think about those things anymore… These people better start to abuse him now.

Yes, best to do it now.

These people had better come to take revenge on him now, to do all the harm Luo Zhi has suffered to him, and then write off the grievances, so that he doesn’t have to be tortured by these messy thoughts again.

After the Luo family breathes a sigh of relief, he will transfer the family’s assets as quickly as possible, and will never be involved in business at sea again. After a while, he will have a long time to think about things related to Luo Zhi. He will go to Luo Zhi’s tomb and talk to that son…

Minglu pushed open a door.

Luo Chengxiu had long since lost his demeanor. He was limp and dragged by others, and was thrown in like mud.

He closed his eyes, even impatiently waiting for the punches that were about to fall on him.

Now there’s nothing to blame, right?

He used his own method to repay the debt to that son, and he willingly suffered what Luo Zhi suffered.

When Luo Zhi was alive, the injuries he failed to stop for Luo Zhi as a father have now been returned to him in the same way, so that they can be cleared up.

Luo Chengxiu waited anxiously. He even began to think about whether he would deliberately anger those people for a while, and then start to be more ruthless, and let the anger on the Ming family’s side be vented as soon as possible, so that the Luo family would have a chance to be left behind…

The wait time was a bit too long.

Luo Chengxiu finally sensed something strange and opened his eyes.

As far as the eye can see, there is only deep darkness without a trace of light.

Only himself, no one else.

Minglu took the people away.

Luo Chengxiu’s hands and feet were weak, and after a long while, he struggled to prop up his body, and he stretched out his hands to touch the surroundings while trembling.

It’s not only pitch-dark, but also deadly, and the space is extraordinarily cramped and cramped. He couldn’t even stand up straight, there were thick iron plates all around him, no matter how much he knocked, he could only hear his own echo.

The darkness was so thick that it seemed to have become liquid, and there seemed to be not enough air, and his chest began to twitch and spasm.

Luo Chengxiu smashed and shouted like crazy, finally exhausted, and fell heavily and sat back.

He was breathing heavily, habitually trying to find ideas to fill his mind, but after a long time, he found nothing. Reason was crushed by the fear accumulated by the blunt knife cutting the flesh, and finally only the things that had just been heard were left.

…Did he ever think that it would be nice if the child died that day?

If not… why would he do that?

“No.” Luo Chengxiu shook his head heavily, “It’s not like that.”

“I’m for our family. I punish you to keep your memory long, to make you sensible, not to torture you.”

Luo Chengxiu stared at the darkness in front of him, his voice hoarse and dry: “I didn’t mean to torture you.”

“I didn’t realize that you were so ill, I didn’t know you were so uncomfortable.” Luo Chengxiu shivered and whispered, “That’s how you are, you hold back everything, why don’t you say it? You said it. I knew it, you—”

“Dad.” He heard Luo Zhi’s voice, “After I die.”

Luo Zhi said, “Sprinkle the ashes in the sea too.”

Luo Chengxiu seemed to be wrapped around his throat by some icy touch.

He closed his mouth and slowly looked behind him.

…

Luo Zhi rarely spoke to him.

It’s not Luo Zhi’s problem, it’s that he doesn’t want to hear it.

Either because he didn’t have time, or because he was upset when he saw Luo Zhi—in his opinion, anything related to Luo Zhi would always bring a lot of inexplicable troubles.

Luo Zhi ran away with his sister, and then his wife’s mental state went wrong.

Luo Zhi was brought back, and then the situation of the family business suddenly took a turn for the worse.

Every time Luo Zhi came to Luo’s house, he would disturb the whole family. Either it is unreasonable, and it is calculated to deal with an adopted son, so that outsiders will come to see the jokes of the Luo family…

The last time he spoke to Luo Zhi calmly was at Ren Shuangmei’s funeral.

The child in the Ren family couldn’t accept the sudden death of his mother. It was said that he passed out due to excessive grief and was still recuperating in the hospital, so Luo Zhi came to help him.

The little boy, dressed in a solemn black suit, bowed to everyone who came.

Everyone had to bow once, and the figure seemed to be unable to get up again every time it bent, but it just clenched its hands until it trembled, and slowly raised its particularly pale face.

Luo Zhi had a wound on his forehead, which was covered by a dressing.

The injury was due to a conflict with the Ren family. Ren Shuangmei’s last wish was to sprinkle the ashes into the sea, but the Ren family did not agree.

Under the quarrel, the old man moved his hands angrily, smashed his cane heavily on Luo Zhi’s head, and asked him what qualifications he had to speak here.

Luo Zhi failed to do this.

He helped Ren Chen Bai and helped Ling, watching the jar of ashes being buried in the best cemetery in Feng Shui, watching the guests coming and going and sighing.

The burned paper ashes were blown away by the wind, and the sky was dark. Luo Zhi was still standing there, not moving at all.

…

After the funeral, Luo Chengxiu did not leave immediately like the others because he wanted to pick up Luo Zhi.

When Ren Shuangmei was there, she could leave Luo Zhi at Ren’s house to help take care of her.

Now that people are gone, and that kind of bad conflict has started again, it is no longer appropriate to keep Luo Zhi here.

Luo Chengxiu knew that Luo Zhi couldn’t give him peace of mind – he could even have a conflict with Ren’s family at the funeral, and the trouble was so stiff, and he didn’t know how to repay the favors involved.

When he went to Luo Zhi, he was angry, but for some reason, his anger did not come out during that meeting.

…

Perhaps it was because Luo Zhi looked so wrong at that time.

It was a very cold and overcast day, and it started to snow from the evening.

When the sky darkened completely, the snow had already accumulated very thickly.

Luo Chengxiu’s assistant went to pull Luo Zhi, and with a little force, Luo Zhi fell on the snow.

The assistant was startled and dragged Luo Zhi into the car. Luo Zhi’s right leg was stiff and could not bend, and it couldn’t fit into the seat.

After tossing for a long time, Luo Zhi seemed to recover from a state of being completely isolated from the outside world.

Luo Zhi slowly apologized to the assistant, slowly curled up, and slowly sat in the small space in the back seat of the car.

Luo Chengxiu sat in the co-pilot, watching them toss, impatiently motioning the driver to turn up the heater.

…never mind.

Luo Chengxiu thought so.

He knew that Luo Zhi and Ren Shuangmei had the best relationship, and Ren Shuangmei also vented her anger for Luo Zhi, and called the door to find him trouble.

Now that people are gone, he is not going to make trouble for a child at such a time.

“Get the blanket yourself.” Luo Chengxiu explained in a deep voice, and couldn’t help frowning, “Your Aunt Ren passed away, why didn’t you even know how to cry?”

Luo Zhi sat holding his knees for a while before raising his head slightly: “Death.”

He said these two words softly, at a low volume, and after a while, he asked, “Do you all cry?”

“Of course people who have a heart will cry.” Luo Chengxiu was a little upset, “If some people don’t even have a heart, there’s nothing they can do, and it’s useless to force.”

Why would you say such a thing then?

After Luo Chengxiu blurted out, he felt that it was too much, so he waited for Luo Zhi to talk back.

Being able to talk back and refute, at least it’s better than the appearance of losing his soul.

But Luo Zhi didn’t say anything, just made a soft “um”, and buried his face in his arms again.

Seeing him like this, Luo Chengxiu felt even more annoyed. After a while, he suddenly said, “If you feel uncomfortable, it’s not impossible to go home and stay for a while.”

Luo Zhi’s shoulders trembled slightly.

His hand holding his arm unconsciously exerted some force, slowly raised his head, and looked at Luo Chengxiu.

Luo Chengxiu actually regretted it as soon as he said it. After all, the family would definitely be in chaos. His wife’s illness had been repeated over the years.

“You say… it’s the child of a distant relative.”

Luo Chengxiu pressed his eyebrows hard, thinking of a compromise solution: “Stay at our house for a few days.”

“I’ll have your room arranged farther away from the main house. You don’t usually go out. I’ll have someone bring your food there.” Luo Chengxiu said, “I’ll buy you a house somewhere else after a while. You move out.”

He thought it was a very thoughtful idea, and he had tried his best to take care of Luo Zhi’s situation, but after a long while, he couldn’t hear Luo Zhi’s answer.

Luo Zhi just stared at him.

Luo Chengxiu’s expression became colder, and he glanced at the rearview mirror: “Talk back.”

“No.” Luo Zhi said slowly, “No need, thank you.”

Luo Zhi shook his head: “I’m going to look at the sea, and Aunt Ren said, I can go to look at the sea.”

The Wanghai Villa is not close to the main residence of the Ren family. It is a good place to escape the heat in summer. However, in this kind of cold winter weather, probably no one from the Ren family will go there to blow the sea breeze on a whim.

Luo Chengxiu breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that he was interested in himself, and motioned the driver to drive to the beach.

Luo Zhi sat in the car for a while, and the state of losing his soul was much better.

Luo Zhi apologized because of his state just now, and politely asked Luo Chengxiu if he could ask the driver to take him to the beach first, away from Wanghai Villa, where the tide is the worst.

Perhaps it was because there were few such peaceful conversations between father and son, Luo Chengxiu agreed.

The car was parked on the side of the road, Luo Zhi got out of the car and sat on the reef watching the waves.

Luo Chengxiu stood under the reef smoking a cigarette.

He happened to have nothing urgent to do that day, so he also left some rare patience to Luo Zhi.

Luo Chengxiu looked at the right hand that Luo Zhi had been clasping since he got in the car: “What?”

“Hair.” Luo Zhi said, “Aunt Ren’s.”

He secretly cut out a small piece and kept it in his hand, undetected.

Luo Chengxiu frowned. He probably guessed what this was for. Although he didn’t understand the significance, he still asked, “Find you something to put it on?”

Luo Zhi shook his head.

He suddenly opened his palm, those broken hairs were rolled up by the sea breeze, and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

“Aunt Ren likes the sea and said she wants to sleep in the sea.” Luo Zhi said, “Aunt Ren wants me to be the captain.”

Luo Zhi said, “I will have a small boat that can’t be overturned by any storm.”

Luo Chengxiu disliked him the most, and the irritability that was finally suppressed rose again, and said coldly: “Okay, there is no such thing.”

“Have you had enough trouble?” The weather was so cold that Luo Chengxiu put out the cigarette, and his patience was finally exhausted, “If enough trouble, get in the car and take it to you to look at the sea.”

Luo Zhi didn’t seem to hear what he said.

Luo Chengxiu lost his patience and turned to leave.

Luo Zhi was sitting on the rocks behind him. In fact, Luo Zhi’s voice was not small, probably so that the broken hairs who were swept away by the wind and fell into the sea could hear.

“Have fun, be happy.”

“I will go and find a lot of people who like me and find a lot of happy things.”

“I will find someone I like and bring it to Aunt Ren.”

“I will Survive.”

Luo Zhi’s voice was trembling, and he promised intermittently, “I will live until I am eighty years old.”

…

The icy waters dragged him out of memory.

I don’t know where the water poured in, and it rose faster and faster, and it actually drowned my chest at this moment.

Luo Chengxiu shuddered violently. He pushed the water away and smashed the heavy iron bulkhead with even greater strength.

He was slapped on his face by the surging salty water, squeezed into his nose and mouth, pushing the air out of his lungs, and all that was left in his ears was the roar of water pounding against his eardrums.

Did Luo Zhi fall asleep like this?

Luo Chengxiu instinctively opened his mouth to gasp for breath, but he could only swallow more seawater. He finally found out that he was really a very stubborn person – he was so stubborn that he was willing to think about it until this time.

He remembered every lie Luo Zhi told by the sea.

Luo Zhi was lying there, using the worst lies to deceive Ren Shuangmei, who could no longer teach him a lesson. The tone of a child’s lying is not difficult to distinguish at all, can’t he hear it? If he couldn’t hear it, he wouldn’t remember it now.

Luo Zhi never asked him anything, nor did he tell him that he would sprinkle his ashes into the sea.

It was he who subconsciously thought about how Luo Zhi would say this to him, it was he who comforted himself, Luo Zhi probably also wanted to sleep in the sea, so the result was not bad.

He said this to himself every night before going to bed, it was not difficult to sleep in the sea, and Luo Zhi didn’t suffer much.

Suffocation pain in chest and lungs, eardrum torn. Luo Chengxiu’s consciousness began to blur for a while, and then someone suddenly opened a certain door, and he fell heavily along with the turbulent sea water.

Luo Chengxiu couldn’t help coughing. He guessed that he might have coughed out his lungs. His entire chest cavity was empty, with only burning pain and blood. He was put up on the deck to breathe, and Ming Lu stood beside him, still with a very kind expression.

“Please be quiet, Master Luo.” Minglu said, “The sound of the video should not be too loud.”

Luo Chengxiu was paralyzed on the deck, gasping for breath, staring blankly at the silhouettes hovering on the dock under the boat.

…what video?

…

Ming Weiting took off his headphones.

The volume of the video has no effect.

The husband of the Ming family was not interested in torturing people, he just dragged the progress bar and glanced at it casually, then closed the computer and handed it over to Ming Lu, and sat back in front of Luo Chi’s bed.

Luo Chi closed his eyes, his complexion was fine, but he didn’t sleep soundly.

He seemed to be in a dream unknown to outsiders, his breathing was a little short, his eyelashes fluttered slightly, and water vapor came out silently.

Minglu was a little worried: “Do you want to call a doctor?”

“No need for now.” Ming Weiting shook his head. He checked the data of the monitoring equipment and held Luo Chi’s hand hanging by the bed.

He is learning to infer emotions based on Luo Chi’s subtle reactions. Now Luo Chi is asleep, without the instinct to hide when he wakes up, it is not very difficult to judge.

If he guessed correctly, Luo Chi should not have been in a bad dream.

…

Luo Chi was in a very good dream.

After Aunt Ren passed away, he saw Aunt Ren for the first time in a dream.

Luo Chi has been introspecting for many years. He thought that Aunt Ren must be angry with him.

It may be because he lied, and Aunt Ren saw it at a glance, so he was punished.

It may be because he failed to fulfill Aunt Ren’s wish, leaving Aunt Ren trapped in that luxurious and boring cemetery, so there was no way to come to him.

So he often went to that cemetery, he chained himself to that tomb, and never went far. He has already breached the contract, so Aunt Ren must not be bored.

But he still can’t dream of Aunt Ren, no matter what. The closest one was probably the shipwreck. He sank in the water, saw the shadow of Aunt Ren, and flew over with joy, but he fluttered in the air.

For the first time, Luo Chi saw the person he really wanted to see in a dream.

He couldn’t say anything. He wanted to pretend that he lived a super invincible and happy life, and wanted to make up a lot of happy things to tell Aunt Ren, but his body seemed to melt.

Except for the outer shell, everything turned into water, rushing out of his eyes.

He cried so hard that he bit his arm and tried to endure it, but Aunt Ren patted him on the head, and the arm behind him rubbed it into his arms.

Auntie Ren lowered her head and smiled at him, scratched the tip of his nose and laughed at him, pinching his earlobe gently.

Luo Chi raised his hand and wiped away those tears indiscriminately.

“Crap,” he whispered. “Crap, Auntie.”

“I owe a lot of paintings, how come I owe so much, there are more than 100 paintings.”

Luo Chi’s voice was super small: “I may have to paint until I’m eighty.”