Su Hai shot a glance at the two of them, standing ramrod straight. Although he had been confined and had pointed a gun at his own elder brother, as far as he was concerned, he never thought he was wrong.
If he was at fault, it was for not being ruthless enough.
"Aren’t you going to kneel?" Su Jiang shouted at him.
"Even if I were to kneel, I wouldn’t kneel with you." Su Hai said irritably, "You actually wanted to shoot Ningning dead. If I kneeled with you, the old man would probably strike both of us. No, the old man might even jump out of the coffin."
Su Jiang was so furious that his vision darkened for a mont. Recently, Xiao Hai had been throwing tantrums at him! Rebellious just like when he was a teenager, although truth be told, Xiao Hai hadn’t been rebellious in his youth!
Too lazy to argue with him, Su Jiang placed the chrysanthemums, cigarettes, and liquor in front of the tombstone, then kowtowed heavily three tis.
When he lifted his head again, his eyes were slightly damp.
"Father," he said in a heavy tone, "As your son, I have failed miserably and am quite useless. I didn’t take good care of Ningning, I’m sorry!"
Su Huai’an’s eyes were already red, having been quite affected during this period; he hadn’t been to school for quite so ti.
"Grandpa..." he bit his lip and after a long while said, "I believe Ningning is definitely okay, she’s surely still alive!"
"Exactly! If Ningning were really dead, the old man would have jumped out of the coffin by now." Su Hai, feeling indignant at Su Jiang’s coldness, deliberately rubbed salt in his wounds.
"If it were okay for her to be dead, it would be fine since the old man cherished Ningning so much. You sent Ningning away right after he left..." Before Su Hai could finish, Su Jiang suddenly stood up and punched him, causing him to stagger and instantly bleed from his nose.
Covering his nose with his hand, he gave Su Jiang a cold glance and then turned to leave without looking back.
Watching his brother’s retreating figure down the mountain, Su Jiang suddenly realized that his brother had lost a lot of weight during this ti.
"Huai’an, have I been a failure?" Su Jiang asked in confusion.
Su Huai’an stood up, bowed to Mr. Su again, and then slowly said, "Dad, as a rescue comrade, you were an honor to the rescue world, a revered leader. But as an elder, as an uncle, as a son, you have been very, very much a failure."
The last four words were spoken emphatically, with gritted teeth.
"Grandpa, please rest in peace, your unfilial grandson has no face to see you." Su Huai’an bowed and then descended the mountain, stepping on the path Su Hai had walked.
Before the tombstone, only Su Jiang remained. He couldn’t help but smile bitterly, sitting cross-legged as if reminiscing the tis when Mr. Su was alive, and father and son would sit together and talk intimately.
"A lifeti’s reputation ruined in an instant!" He picked up the bottle of liquor at the tombstone, opened it, and took a sip himself before realizing he shouldn’t drink in front of the old man’s grave, so he poured so on the ground.
In this manner, alternating sips and pours, the entire bottle of Moutai was emptied.
"Old man, I have to return to the Southern District tomorrow, I can’t drink with you anymore." With half a bottle of alcohol in him, Su Jiang felt more sober and calm the more he drank.
"I have saved so many people, defended the border, couldn’t return ho, and nearly missed seeing my father one last ti. Despite doing so much, priding myself on a lifeti of glory, I ultimately failed to rescue my niece. It’s absolutely disgraceful, shaful, unforgivable."
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