Chapter 95: Who Are They Waiting For Now?

Xu Yunzhou listened silently.

Going to see a... legendary old person who is said to be his "student" from over seventy years ago, yet he himself has no memory of it at all?

What should he say when he sees her? It simply makes one at a loss for what to do.

But he had to go. He had to go to conclude this karma for his future self, so as not to let this old person die with regrets.

"Where is she?"

Xu Yunzhou asked.

"Not far. Elder Wu has been recuperating in Shanghai in her twilight years."

Lin Ruoxuan reported an address located in the western suburbs, and added,

"I've already contacted her family. They know you are going and said you can go over anytime. However..."

She looked at Xu Yunzhou, a trace of reluctance flashing through her eyes:

"The attending doctor told me privately that Elder Wu waking up suddenly this time, although her vital signs are temporarily stable, it is highly likely... a terminal lucidity."

"This might really be... the last time she sees you."

Xu Yunzhou nodded. He couldn't describe the feelings held in his heart at this moment.

"Right,"

He suddenly remembered something,

"Can you... take me to buy a Mao suit first?"

Since he had to act, he had to act the full set.

Lin Ruoxuan, however, shook her head gently, the corners of her mouth curling into an extremely faint arc:

"No need. There are some in my bedroom, I prepared them long ago."

She turned and walked to the master bedroom, and a moment later brought out a dark gray Mao suit.

"Back then at Elder Wu's house, after seeing that treasured portrait of you she kept,"

Lin Ruoxuan handed the clothes to him, her gaze lingering on his face for an instant,

"I had people custom-make a few sets according to the style in the portrait."

Xu Yunzhou took the clothes, his fingertips brushing over the fine wool blend fabric.

Portrait?

He remembered that sketch Song Jiaru once drew for Wu Xiuyun—the self in the painting wearing a Mao suit, with handsome and clear features.

It turns out the foreshadowing was laid long ago.

When he changed clothes and came out, Lin Ruoxuan was standing at the entryway waiting for him.

She sized him up, something flashing through her eyes, and quickly hiding it again.

"Very fitting."

She said softly,

"Let's go."

The black bulletproof sedan drove out of the underground garage, out of the urban area, and wound onto the elevated highway leading to the western suburbs.

Outside the window, the city lights gradually became sparse, replaced by large expanses of fields sunk into darkness and sporadic lights of villages and towns.

The car cabin was very quiet, with only the low hum of the engine and the subtle sound of the air conditioning wind.

"How did you and Elder Wu... get to know each other?"

Xu Yunzhou broke the silence, his gaze staring at the winding driveway ahead.

Leaning against the passenger seat, Lin Ruoxuan chuckled softly upon hearing this:

"Those years looking for you everywhere, I was like a madwoman."

She said,

"Asked many people, searched many clues. Domestic, foreign; scientific, metaphysical; Buddhist Zen masters, Daoist Heavenly Masters, Tibetan Tantric Gurus, and even visited a few shamans who were said to be able to channel spirits..."

She turned her head sideways and looked at Xu Yunzhou:

"After all, your appearance itself is not something science can explain. I could only exhaust all possible methods."

She turned her head sideways, looking at the rapidly passing night outside the window:

"Later, probably the year after I met Song Jiaru in Chengzhou, a girl studying in Cambridge proactively contacted me. She said she was a friend of a master, and heard from him about the person I was always looking for, feeling the description was very familiar."

"She told me that her great-grandmother—which is Elder Wu—once told her some stories, and the 'Mister' in those stories was very similar to the experiences I described."

Lin Ruoxuan's voice was very light, like narrating an ancient legend:

"Later she returned to the country and took me to see Elder Wu. That was my first time meeting this legendary figure."

"I chatted with her for a whole afternoon. Listening to her tell how, over seventy years ago, that 'Mister' who 'appeared out of thin air' taught her, how he gave her strength at her most desperate times, and how he quietly left when she was about to achieve victory, leaving only an entrustment spanning over seventy years..."

She paused, turned her head to look at Xu Yunzhou, her eyes complex:

"Only then did I know, you... or rather Mister, what you did was far more than helping me alone. You were already changing the trajectory of history in an even earlier era."

The fingers Xu Yunzhou used to grip the steering wheel tightened slightly.

"And then?"

"And then,"

Lin Ruoxuan smiled, that smile having a few more points of emotion,

"Elder Wu became the biggest supporter of my 'Wallbreaker Plan.' Without her behind the scenes utilizing those relationships and connections accumulated over decades, relying solely on me, a merchant, many things simply couldn't be pushed forward."

"For example, Academician Qin Shuyi, the first in Great Xia to win the Nobel Prize in Medicine, was personally invited out by Elder Wu."

"Also, her disciples and old friends in the military, in scientific research institutes, in various key departments... Among her children and grandchildren, there are also many people in important positions, most of whom have cooperated with me."

Xu Yunzhou nodded.

As expected.

He had long felt that for Lin Ruoxuan to be able to push the "Wallbreaker Plan" to that extent in just a few short years, the backing was absolutely not just capital power.

There had to be something more!

Looking at his calm side profile, Lin Ruoxuan suddenly chuckled lightly:

"Actually, you should know all this, right? Elder Wu said, before you left back then, you once instructed her—if one day in the future, a girl named Lin Ruoxuan comes looking for you, I hope you can help her."

Holy shit! Here we go again!

The hand Xu Yunzhou used to grip the steering wheel stiffened, and he could only vaguely give an "mhm":

"There was such a thing, I guess... that was all... over eighty years ago."

He thought to himself.

I have to keep pretending.

Even if the current him knows absolutely nothing about this, he still has to hold the fort for his future self.

Western suburbs of Shanghai, Sheshan.

A typical Jiangnan garden-style old mansion, with white walls and black tiles, flying eaves and upturned corners.

At this moment, however, the inside and outside were densely surrounded by a dark mass of people.

There were men and women, old and young, dressed in various ways. Some in suits and leather shoes, some dressed simply, some even wearing military uniforms.

Those were Wu Xiuyun's descendants.

This legendary female general, under "Mister's" guidance back then, married a patriotic merchant surnamed Xu from Shanghai.

Later, the two became a loving couple, joining hands for half a lifetime.

Although her husband had long passed away over twenty years ago, she left behind seven children, over twenty grandchildren, and even more great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren scattered like stars.

In addition, there were a few old friends who rushed over upon hearing the news—equally white-haired and stumbling in footsteps, yet insisting on coming to see off this old comrade-in-arms, old sister, on her final journey.

At this moment, they quietly gathered inside and outside the mansion, either conversing in low voices or waiting silently.

Regarding Elder Wu's severe illness, everyone had mentally prepared long ago.

One hundred and three years old, having experienced wind and rain, with a house full of children and grandchildren, this is already a "happy funeral" that ordinary people find hard to reach.

For many people, this gathering was more like a rare family reunion.

The over a hundred people who had branched out and spread their leaves were usually scattered to the ends of the earth, each having their own lives.

Some side branches had even long become estranged and declined.

Gathering here at this moment, some were genuinely grieving, some were doing routine duty, and some... held other thoughts, hoping to use this opportunity, in the old ancestor's final moments, to perhaps seek some help or care.

For example, the three people in the corner of the crowd.

A middle-aged man around sixty years old, wearing a jacket common among civil servants, was speaking in a low voice with a couple beside him.

That couple looked around fifty years old. Their clothing was neat but not considered high-end, their faces carrying some constraint and curiosity as they craned their necks to look toward the depths of the mansion.

The middle-aged man pointed inside and lowered his voice:

"See that? Those few wearing military uniforms, the youngest one, two bars and four stars on his shoulder, Senior Colonel.

The one beside him wearing a Mao suit is the Deputy Director of the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission, deputy bureau-director level. And that lady wearing glasses is Academician Qin Shuyi..."

He paused, his tone carrying some emotion:

"After so many years, Elder Wu's connections here are still strong."

Hearing this, the man in the couple swallowed a mouthful of saliva and asked softly:

"Uncle Chen, so our family... really has a relationship with Elder Wu?"

The middle-aged man called "Uncle Chen" was named Xu Chen, a section-chief-level cadre in a certain bureau in Binzhou.

He nodded, then shook his head:

"There is a relationship, but it's distant. Elder Wu's husband was my grandfather's cousin, calculating to your branch, it's long past five mourning grades."

(TL: "Five mourning grades" refers to the traditional Chinese kinship system; being past it means being distant relatives.)

"If it weren't for coming to Shanghai on a business trip this time, drinking tea and chatting with a leader surnamed Xu, and discussing genealogies, I really wouldn't know about this layer of relationship."

The wife pulled her husband's sleeve and said softly:

"If we had known earlier... we should have called Yunzhou over too. Let him also get to know these people, for his future..."

This couple, the man was named Xu Zhongshan, the woman was named Yang Wenhui.

And Xu Chen was Xu Zhongshan's cousin-uncle.

Xu Chen glanced at them and didn't pick up the conversation. He just cast his gaze toward the depths of the mansion again, thoughtfully:

"Do you know who they are waiting for right now?"

Xu Zhongshan and Yang Wenhui both shook their heads.

How could they know? For this level of a great family, what kind of big shot would they be waiting for?

"Could it be... they are waiting for a big politician?"

Cousin-uncle? never heard of this famility title, it's the cousin of one of your parents btw. In this case the cousin of the MC Grandparents so a very distant relative.