'I was planning to pick a more formal day to come pay my respects and sweep the tombs, but I guess I couldn't help myself and just wandered over.'
Li Xiang gazed at the spot, his eyes welling up slightly. It was a cenotaph for his parents. Not far from it was his grandfather's grave.
However, his grandfather had died young, so he had never actually met him.
According to his grandmother, Li Xiang's father wasn't even an adult when his grandfather passed away. His grandmother had raised her children all by herself, helping them start their own families and careers. She had endured countless hardships.
His grandmother had also lived a hard life, a widow for most of it. In ancient times, she would have at least earned an archway in honor of her chastity.
'And my own father's life was just as bitter, wasn't it? He lost his father as a child, then died alongside my mother in middle age. Grandma had to endure the pain of a parent burying their own child.'
