The moment Tan Linyuan spoke, the crowd fell even quieter than before.
The rain seemed to accentuate his handsome features, his eyes cold and still. "Uncle Shen, what do you think is the problem?"
Shen Suhai leaned on his walking stick and walked step by step up to Tan Linyuan. His old eyes narrowed slightly. "This gravestone doesn't bear the name of Nanyu, the future daughter-in-law of our Shen family."
"This gravestone cannot be erected yet."
As soon as he said this, before Tan Linyuan could respond, another elder of the Shen family suddenly exclaimed angrily, "The burial of the old master has a set time. How can we stop the ceremony because of personal reasons?"
Some people echoed him.
It was raining heavily, which was bound to make people irritable. Now that there was this unexpected trouble in the middle, it naturally made people restless.
"In my opinion, it's more important to finish the ceremony first!" After the elder finished speaking, he coughed twice. "It's not proper to let the old master stay in the rain like this!"
Shen Suhai's face remained cold. "Linyuan, according to the rules, when can we replace the gravestone later?"
Tan Linyuan replied, "A new tombstone cannot be erected for the first three years after burial."
What he meant was that no new gravestone could be erected during the first three years of mourning. If they wanted to modify or re - erect it, they had to wait for three years.
This answer made Shen Suhai frown.
Before Shen Suhai could give another order, the people of the Shen family couldn't sit still any longer. They began to discuss and protest one after another:
"Suhai, it's more important to let the old master be buried in peace!"
"Uncle Shen, you can pick a fight with anything, but why do you have to stop the old master's burial?"
"If we miss the auspicious time, how can any of us bear the blame from our ancestors..."
"If this goes on, our Shen family will be punished by heaven!"
"..."
The crowd was in a complete uproar.
Suddenly, there came a heart - rending wail. A well - dressed woman staggered and knelt in front of the tomb.
The woman looked quite young, with only a few fine lines at the corners of her eyes. At this moment, she was a complete mess of tears. "Shengdong... You can't even rest in peace after death..."
This was the late Master Shen's youngest wife.
Master Shen had had a total of four wives in his lifetime. After his first wife passed away at the age of sixty, each subsequent wife was younger than the last. The last one was even less than forty.
An old man with a young wife was not a rare thing in this circle.
Although she enjoyed wealth and honor, it all depended on Master Shen being alive. Once Master Shen passed away, the Shen family would surely not treat her well.
After Master Shen's death, the siblings of the Shen family fought over the family fortune. Since she, as the youngest wife, hadn't given Master Shen a son, she naturally had no say in the Shen family.
It was an exceptional opportunity for her to be able to attend this funeral.
Her outburst at this moment was undoubtedly for show in front of outsiders.
Her commotion instantly made Shen Suhai the target of everyone's criticism.
Under everyone's gazes, Shen Suhai's face looked extremely ugly. Finally, he waved his hand. "Continue!"
The ceremony continued.
Nanyu stood in the crowd, watching what had just happened. The corner of her eye twitched slightly.
She didn't know why her name wasn't on the gravestone, but her intuition told her that it should be Tan Linyuan's doing.
...
After the funeral, Nanyu and Shen Yanche took the same car back.
Shen Yanche was almost crazy with anger. As soon as he got in the car, he asked her with a cold face, "Did you do something?"
Nanyu remained calm. "I don't understand what you mean."
Shen Yanche pushed her contemptuously and said in a voice only audible to them, "Nanyu, stop pretending to be so high - and - mighty. Did you whisper in Tan Linyuan's ear when you slept with him last night and ask him to secretly interfere?"
His speculation was not unfounded.
As the most authoritative living deity in Jiangcheng, Tan Linyuan was highly respected by all the noble families.
Since Master Shen's funeral was entrusted to him, he must know all the funeral procedures.
This also included the content engraved on the tombstone.
"If you think it was him who did something, you should ask him instead of me." Nanyu shifted her position. "How would I know about your Shen family's affairs?"
"Don't play dumb with me!" Shen Yanche lowered his voice, not wanting the driver in the front row to hear. "You know very well whether you did it or not!"
Nanyu sneered. "Engraving a tombstone is not something that can be done overnight. Even if I had asked Tan Linyuan to help me last night, could he have arranged it today?"
Shen Yanche fell into deep thought. Apparently, he also agreed with Nanyu's words.
"Besides, didn't you say it was just a formality? I don't know what it means to have my name on the gravestone. Why would I ask Tan Linyuan for help? It's you who has a guilty conscience."
Shen Yanche suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable and ended the topic hastily.
Nanyu also knew that she couldn't get anything out of him, so she didn't bother to ask him anymore.
They didn't stop until they returned to the Shen family mansion.
Shen Suhai first summoned Tan Linyuan alone, and the two talked in a room.
As soon as they met, Shen Suhai got straight to the point. "Linyuan, why isn't Nanyu's name on the gravestone?"
The content of the tombstone had been determined long ago. How could there be such a problem at the last minute?
The problem was most likely with Tan Linyuan.
Thinking of this, Shen Suhai's face turned even colder. "Linyuan, bringing the grievances from the chamber of commerce into personal matters isn't very magnanimous. This isn't your style."
Facing his suspicion, Tan Linyuan remained expressionless and said in a calm tone, "I never mix personal feelings into matters of life and death."
"Instead of suspecting me, you might as well ask the person you arranged."
Shen Suhai was taken aback for a moment. Suddenly, he seemed to realize something, and his face turned gloomy.
Soon, a servant of the Shen family was called over. He was shrinking back, looking like he had done something wrong. "Sir, the old master's gravestone was engraved a long time ago. Only... only Miss Nanyu's name was engraved temporarily."
Shen Suhai was impatient. He slammed his walking stick on the ground. "Get to the point!"
The servant shivered in fright, and his legs began to go weak. "I don't know who showed the wrong character to the engraver. The character engraved was 'Yu' without the radical. After Mr. Tan checked it last night, he said it was inauspicious. If we were to engrave the radical later, the characters would be too crowded, which would damage the overall layout of the gravestone. So he decided to grind off Miss Nanyu's name temporarily..."
After saying that, the servant immediately knelt down with a thud. "Sir, I really don't know what's going on! The engraver said it was given by someone from the Shen family. I thought it was arranged by you, so..."
Tan Linyuan crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows meaningfully. "Uncle Shen, before you suspect me, you should probably suspect your own family members first."
"I don't need your reminder." Shen Suhai said coldly. "I'm old enough to know how to handle this."
Tan Linyuan continued, "Instead of suspecting, Uncle Shen should really thank me. I went to check the gravestone in the rain last night and only then discovered this problem."
"So what?" Shen Suhai was impatient.
"You should know very well about the feng shui of names." Tan Linyuan curled his lips. "A small error at the beginning can lead to a big difference in the end."
Shen Suhai didn't say a word.
Of course, he knew what Tan Linyuan was talking about.
In Nanyu's eight - character horoscope, the main element of her birth date was water, which was a rare water - element destiny. A water - element destiny symbolized wealth.
If a single character was wrong, it would be a huge mistake.
Tan Linyuan smiled. "This shows that Uncle Shen should not only stop suspecting me but also thank me properly."