Chapter 3571 A Different Kind of Romance

The news of Master Kongyin's passing quickly spread throughout Japan.

The Japanese people have always respected and loved this long-lived Buddhist master, so when they heard the news, countless people went to the Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto to pay homage, and TV stations also reported on his life in a rolling manner.

When Lin Wan'er boarded the plane and prepared to take off to return to China, her phone was still receiving push notifications about Kong Yin.

Lin Wan'er was heartbroken and flew back to Jinling.

On the plane, Sun Zhidong came to the front cabin and saw Lin Wan'er leaning against the window, dazed.

He walked forward carefully and asked respectfully, "Miss, are you okay?"

Lin Wan'er came back to her senses and forced a smile: "It's fine. Thank you for your hard work, following me all the way to Japan."

Sun Zhidong quickly bowed and said, "It is my honor to serve you, young lady. During the years you were away from China, I often talked about you with the brothers and sisters who grew up with you. Although everyone has made achievements in different countries and fields, when they talked about you, the one they envied the most was actually Old Zhang. He was the only one who had been by your side for so many years."

Lin Wan'er sighed, "It's just hard for him. He's been by my side for so many years, but he doesn't even have a child of his own."

Sun Zhidong sighed softly, "Actually, for those of us who can't find our ancestral heritage, there's really no need to continue our bloodline."

After saying this, he suddenly thought of this short trip to Japan, so he asked her: "Miss, is that Master Kongyin also an orphan you raised?"

"Yes." Lin Wan'er nodded and sighed, "Back in Japan, I adopted quite a few orphans from Kyoto. Over time, I became quite famous in Kyoto. As a result, many people left their unwanted or unable-to-raise newborns at the door of my mansion. Zhengping was one of them."

At this point, Lin Wan'er couldn't help but sigh, "That period of time was so long ago. All those children have long since passed away. Zhengping was the last one to pass away. With him gone, all the children I raised in Japan are gone."

Sun Zhidong asked him, "Miss, was Master Kongyin the one you loved the most among those children?"

Lin Wan'er shook her head: "I can't say I love him the most, it's just that his life is the hardest."

After that, she recalled the past and began to speak, "Shohei's mother gave birth to him when she was seventeen, during the coldest time of year in Kyoto. After giving birth, she left him outside my house and drowned in the Yodogawa River. In the weather at the time, the newborn Shohei probably wouldn't have survived more than half an hour. Fortunately, he cried loudly in his cradle, and the other children heard and told me, so I took him in."

Sun Zhidong asked in surprise: "Then why did his mother commit suicide?"

Lin Wan'er said, "Zhengping's mother left a letter on Zhengping's body. According to the letter, his father was a live-in son-in-law of the Ito family in Kyoto at the time, and Zhengping's mother was a maid in the Ito family. His father was oppressed by his wife all day long, so he secretly got together with his mother. Later, Zhengping's mother became pregnant. His father was afraid of being exposed, so he sent her out of the house and found another house for her to live and give birth. However, the affair was eventually discovered by other servants. The Ito family wanted to wipe out the roots and killed both him and his mother."

Sun Zhidong was puzzled: "Why didn't the Ito family punish their son-in-law for cheating on their wife? Instead, they wanted to kill a maid."

Lin Wan'er said, "The Ito family had their concerns. The reason they wanted to recruit a live-in son-in-law was because the head of the Ito family at the time only had one daughter. He needed a live-in son-in-law to continue the Ito family's bloodline. Zhengping's father and the Ito family's daughter already had a son named Ito Keiichi. The Ito family head knew about this and was afraid that after his death, Zhengping's father would use his son Ito Keiichi to bring his son from outside the family to the Ito family, so he wanted to cut off the roots."

"Ito Keiichi..." Sun Zhidong murmured, "This name sounds familiar."

Lin Wan'er explained, "Ito Keiichi is the founder of the Ito family, the largest family in Japan. He single-handedly transformed the Ito family from a small, wealthy family in Kyoto into a tycoon in Japan. Shohei is his half-brother."

Sun Zhidong suddenly remembered something and exclaimed: "Mr. Ye seems to have a good relationship with the Ito family."

"Yes." Lin Wan'er nodded and said with a sigh, "If Zhengping had accepted the rejuvenation pill, he might have been able to meet Ito Takehiko in the future. Ito Keiichi is Ito Takehiko's great-grandfather."

The plane returned to Jinling at night. After Lin Wan'er returned, she immediately locked herself in the mountaintop villa of Zijin Villa and was heartbroken.

This time, meeting Kong Yin and experiencing farewell made her realize one thing. She always adopted some children in the past, raised them up, prepared them for the world, and then disappeared from their world. She thought they would forget each other, but she didn't expect that these children's feelings for her would not be forgotten after more than a hundred years.

Kong Yin is like this, and I think some of the other surviving children are the same.

For the sake of safety and to break away from things, Lin Wan'er rarely contacted them. But in Lin Wan'er's heart, these people were her children. How could she not miss them?

So, she secretly made up her mind in the courtyard, under the tree of the Mother of Pucha, that if Wu Feiyan was no longer a threat in the future, she would definitely go and see the children who were still alive, if it was still not too late.

Because the youngest among them is probably seventy years old.

……

Three days later, Master Kongyin's funeral was held in Kyoto, Japan. What was touching was that the person who presided over the funeral was Master Jingqing, a young Buddhist master from China and Kongyin's close friend.

Master Kongyin's body was cremated at the Kyoto Funeral Home. All of Japan was expecting that Master Kongyin would leave behind relics after cremation, but unfortunately, Master Kongyin turned into a wisp of smoke and left, leaving behind only a handful of ashes.

In accordance with Master Kongyin's last wishes, his ashes were not left in Kinkakuji Temple. Kinkakuji Temple only enshrined his spirit tablet, and his ashes were secretly buried in a cemetery in the suburbs of Kyoto by his chief disciple.

This cemetery has a history of more than a hundred years and is one of the earliest large-scale cemeteries in Kyoto. The number of people buried here has already reached tens of thousands.

This cemetery has run out of new graves for sale several years ago, but some people have already bought empty graves that have not yet been used.

Among them, there is an empty tomb, which was bought by Master Kongyin a few years ago.

After Master Kongyin was buried, his tombstone was erected in front of the grave. However, unlike most people, his tombstone only had the six big characters "Tomb of Saito Shohei" and the year of his death at the bottom.

Because there is no date of birth left, few people actually know how old the owner of this tomb was, and no one knows that this tomb is the final resting place of Master Kongyin.

Next to the tomb of Saito Shohei, there are a few tombstones with the surname Saito, including Saito Keiko, Saito Toyama, Saito Hide, Saito Suzu, Saito Ryo, and so on.

The years of death of these people span a wide range, with the earliest even dying in 1926.

Those who don’t know may think that a certain Saito family buried all their deceased relatives here, but some elderly people in Kyoto know that these people with the surname Saito are basically orphans adopted by the famous Miss Saito.

They were all very successful when they were young, and most of them went on to have children all over Japan and even around the world, but without exception, before they died, they asked their families to bury them here.

The tomb of Saito Shohei is just one of these Saito tombs. Apart from the fact that the tombstone is a little newer, there is nothing special about it.

However, for these orphans who grew up together, have no blood relationship but are as close as brothers and sisters, isn’t it a different kind of romance to be buried together after death?