Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 434: Chapter 430 Father’s Comrade-in-Arms

After celebrating the New Year at the Huang family’s place, the Spring Festival arrived.

On the first day of the new year, heavy snow had fallen on the Imperial Capital, and Huo Sining, along with Heitan, strolled outside, inadvertently making her way to Chang’an Street.

Although she had only been there once, Huo Sining remembered the route to Lao Huai Hutong very clearly and arrived at the old mansion’s entrance without any trouble.

Because she had the keys, Huo Sining didn’t disturb Uncle Tong. After opening the main gate, she silently took a shovel and cleared the snow from the front of the house.

Uncle Tong, who lived in the back, heard some noise and came out from the backyard. Seeing Huo Sining, he wasn’t surprised but silently took the shovel from her hands and proceeded to clear the remaining snow in the yard.

Huo Sining watched Uncle Tong for a while before she suddenly asked, ”Uncle Tong, do you know where my father’s grave is?”

Uncle Tong’s movement with the shovel abruptly paused, and he was silent for a few seconds before turning his head to look at Huo Sining and making a gesture toward her.

Huo Sining understood the meaning behind his gesture and smiled, ”As long as you know. I want to visit the cemetery to see him and offer some incense.”

Liang Ruining’s grave was in Martyrs’ Forest, located in a remote suburb. Although she had gotten the address of the Martyrs’ Forest from Uncle Tong, Huo Sining still had a hard time finding the place.

Since it was the first day of the lunar year, there were few people in Martyrs’ Forest and the road conditions were not good due to the recent snow. Huo Sining had to trudge through the mud to enter the mountain.

With the assistance of the custodian in charge of the Martyrs’ Forest, Huo Sining found out her father’s gravestone number.

As she walked along, all she could see were gravestones, and the entire Martyrs’ Forest was engulfed in a silent and desolate atmosphere.

Following the custodian’s directions, Huo Sining climbed up the mountainside, crossed a stone path, and headed toward the belly of the mountain.

Checking the gravestone information posted on the public cemetery along the mountainside, Huo Sining continued upward and saw a man in black standing silently in front of a grave from a distance.

At first, Huo Sining didn’t pay much attention, assuming he was a relative taking advantage of the lunar new year’s day to mourn a deceased family member. She was about to walk past him when a glance at the inscription on the gravestone made her stop in her tracks, her gaze turning suspicious toward the tombstone.

She hadn’t mistaken it; the name engraved on that tombstone was indeed that of her father, Liang Ruining.

Fearing she had erred, Huo Sining looked at the number at the base of the tombstone, reconfirming it several times to ensure that this was indeed the final resting place of her father.

Having confirmed this fact, Huo Sining subconsciously looked up at the unfamiliar man.

The man appeared to be in his forties, very tall, roughly one meter ninety in height, with broad shoulders and a rigid frame standing straight, an aura of keep-your-distance coldness emanating from him.

Huo Sining had learned military boxing and grappling techniques when she trained at the military camp with Chen Deping. Although her skills were not refined, she had the basics, and coupled with her possession of the Water-Repelling Pearl, which heightened her senses, she could tell at a glance that this man knew martial arts.

Moreover, the way he stood unconsciously with his feet splayed outward in front of the grave was a fighting stance that someone would naturally assume after frequently sparring with others, ready to either attack or defend.

Normally, a person who comes to the cemetery to mourn on such a significant day as the middle of the lunar year would indicate a deep relationship with the deceased before their death.

Huo Sining wondered who this man at her father’s grave could be, why he had come here, and what was his relation to her father?

Huo Sining’s eyes revealed deep puzzlement.

Perhaps because Huo Sining had stood beside him for too long, the man raised his head, his gaze sharply shooting toward her.

The eagle-like sharpness in his eyes startled the frozen Huo Sining, and she subconsciously took a step back.

However, after getting a clear view of Huo Sining’s face, the man was taken aback and asked, furrowing his brow, ”Are you Liang Ruining’s relative?”

Huo Sining nodded, ”I am his daughter.”

Upon hearing this, the man did not doubt her words, but instead smiled and said, ”No wonder you look familiar to me, you really do resemble your father.”

Huo Sining took a few glances at the middle-aged man and asked with confusion, ”Who might you be?”

The man introduced himself with a smile, ”I was once a part of the Wolf Fang Troops, codename Razor, and your father was my comrade-in-arms.”

Huo Sining looked at the man before her in amazement, this was her first encounter with someone from her father’s military unit, and she quickly extended her hand, saying, ”Hello, my name is Huo Sining.”

Perhaps it was strange for the man to hear Huo Sining not having the last name Liang like Liang Ruining; confusion flickered through his eyes, but soon the different expression in his eyes vanished in a flash, and he exclaimed,

”Never thought that a comrade of the past would be separated by life and death by now. Fortunately, he has children and the family line continues. The child is so grown up now; I suppose he should rest in peace.”

Eager to learn more about her father from this man, Huo Sining couldn’t help but ask, ”Could you talk about my father’s time in the military?”

”There’s no problem with that,” the middle-aged man nodded.

Huo Sining gently placed the white rose in her hand in front of her father’s gravestone and took out a small iron shovel from her backpack, prepared in advance, to start clearing the accumulated snow around the grave.

The middle-aged man, meanwhile, sat on a stone opposite and began to tell various anecdotes from their time in the military.

The dry weeds beside the tombstone were pulled out one by one by Huo Sining. From her bag, she took out a packet of rose seeds and scattered them around the grave; these seeds had been treated with Spiritual Energy, so there was no need to worry about them freezing to death in this season, and it was estimated that it wouldn’t take long for them to sprout.

Huo Sining silently watched the grave in front of her, touching the cold gravestone. Here, within this tombstone, lay her father, whom she had never met, an event that was so desolate and sad.

Only by listening to the middle-aged man’s stories about Liang Ruining could Huo Sining sketch out in her mind the image of a father full of justice and valor. Before this, her image of Liang Ruining had always been vague.

”Did my father have any particularly close buddies or comrades-in-arms during his lifetime?” Huo Sining suddenly asked.

The middle-aged man fell into a reminiscence, and after a while, he responded with a hint of hesitation,

”Your father was amiable in the military and got along with everyone quite well, but if you’re asking about someone he was really close to, that would probably be Ling Tong. Their relationship was solid; they even liked to take on missions together.”

As he spoke, the middle-aged man’s eyes were filled with sorrow and nostalgia, with a growing expression of sadness on his face.

Huo Sining, however, failed to notice the change in the man’s expression. Hearing him mention Uncle Tong, her face suddenly lit up with joy, ”You know Uncle Tong? That’s wonderful, he would be so happy to see you!”