Chapter 81 - How Grandfather Fu Got Over His Grief
Fu Hua ended the call on a bad note. In the end, Feng Alix was surprised by his outburst of anger.
This was definitely not her boyfriend!
Even though Fu Hua sometimes acted cold towards her, at least he hasn't ever fired back this way and this took Feng Alix by surprise.
She felt that Fu Hua has changed a lot. But what could be the cause of the change?
Late at night, Jia Li remembered she didn't tell her friends that she has left the town, so she opened her WhatsApp to send a message to them, especially to DanDan.
It was the first time in days that Jia Li was opening her social media App. The last time she did that was the morning of the day her parents died, so that means that she hasn't seen her mother's last message to her.
As Jia Li opened her WhatsApp, countless messages kept flowing into her phone from several days ago.
She felt dizzy looking at it, so she looked away and allowed her phone to continue buzzing. Because of the fast internet speed, Jia Li picked up her phone a minute later.
She saw so many notifications on her phone, as not all of them were from WhatsApp.
There were more than 1000+ messages on her WhatsApp. Jia Li didn't have a lot of friends, but she was in some WhatsApp groups that were active, hence the number of messages.
Jia Li didn't have time to go through all of them at the moment, so she directly searched for 'Frendzy Group'.
There were some messages from her friend, so she replied to the ones that were directed to her before going ahead to make the announcement she had in mind and after that, she was about to leave the group when her fingers mistakenly scrolled down the screen of her phone.
Immediately, Jia Li's attention was caught. She saw a message from her mother and she felt teary. She caught a glimpse of the date of the message and her sight clouded with tears.
Her fingers were shaky before she managed to click the message open.
She saw that it was a video.
'Mum, we're you trying to tell me something?.' Jia Li asked herself as she clicked on the video to download it.
Without hesitation, she clicked on the video and watched it. It was a 2 mins video.
As Jia Li watched the video, tears streamed down her eyes. She could see her mother's smiling face, and then her panicked face when she heard the noise from outside the room.
She saw her mother talk in a hurry before she ended the video recorder.
Jia Li knew the hooligans were approaching, so her mother had to end the call. Jia Li didn't need anyone to tell her what happened next.
Jia Li turned off her phone and cried till she became very weak. And when she woke up the next morning, her eyes were swollen again with dark circles around them.
She hasn't had a good sleep for a long time.
Five days later, Grandfather Fu invited Jia Li to his study to talk about her enrollment into college.
"Jia Li, here is your college acceptance letter. It has been with me for three days now. I didn't want to disturb you because though you wouldn't be in the mood for school. But it's time to move on with your life. Tell me when you're ready to start school, as I will assist you with the college procedures."
Jia Li took the envelope from the old man and opened it. She took out her new college acceptance letter and glanced at the words body written, then she proceeded the read the body of the letter.
Jia Li smiled and glanced at the old man with a grateful smile and thanked him.
"Thank you, grandfather. I'm so grateful!"
"No need to thank me, this is one of the little things I could help you with. These days, have you been able to get your spirit back?" Grandfather Fu asked.
The smile on Jia Li's face slowly faded.
"Grandfather to tell you the truth, my spirit is a little down and it's hard to come knowing I can't see my parents forever." Jia Li said with her gaze on her fingers.
Grandfather Fu sighed and said to her, "Take a walk with me in the garden."
Jia Li followed the old man to the back of the house, and it was her first time being there. She saw beautiful flowers and a strawberry 🍓 garden.
She didn't know why the old man took her there, so she thought it was just to ease her mind. She only found out the reason when he began to talk.
"I lost my wife when Fu Hua was still young. He was about 12 years when she got ill. Even with the money and connections I had, I still couldn't save her."
"My wife was the most gentle and kind person I have ever met and you share some resemblance to her character in her young days. Her personality changed when she went into business, but still, I loved her the most. Her name was Fu Ju, and she created FJ Styles back then."
'It turned out that the FJ in FJ Styles was the initials for her name' Jia Li thought.
Grandfather Fu took Jia Li as they walked into the strawberry 🍓 garden.
"She didn't like strawberries but she still ate them and even went ahead to plant them. I asked her why she planted and ate the fruits she didn't like and her answer was funny." Grandfather Fu said as he smiled brightly.
"Grandfather, what was her response?" Jia Li asked earnestly.
"She said Strawberries were beautiful, so she planted them and even ate them even though she hated sour foods." Grandfather Fu replied.
Jia Li nodded in wonder and allowed the old man to continue with his story.
"Fu Ju was the person I loved the most in this world and when I lost her, I felt a part of me was gone. The only thing that kept me, were her words. She asked me to live a good life and take care of the things we raised together. Do you know, I helped her to plant these flowers and the strawberries. We raised Fu Hua together and when she left, I continued to raise Fu Hua alone. Before she left, she passed the company to Fu Hua but asked me to look over it till Fu Hua matures and can handle it."
Jia Li could tell the Old man loved his late wife dearly and she didn't know how to console him. She knew he must have had a hard time getting over her death.
"Getting over Fu Ju's death wasn't easy for me, but it was something I had to do. I had to distract myself with work so I wouldn't be depressed. While taking care of the things she left behind, I learned to recover from my grief. While watering the flowers, I liked to talk to her. Jia Li, it is not easy recovering from grief, but you have to do that. I'm sure your parents would want you to live a good life. They had great hope on you and you still need to make them proud."
Grandfather Fu talked to Jia Li for a while as they took a stroll in the strawberry garden. Jia Li felt better as she glanced at the bright red strawberries.
Two hours later after Jia Li and the old man talked in the garden, they returned to the house.
"Grandfather can I take a stroll in the garden on my own?." Jia Li asked. She was unsure if she could do that without asking for permission. After all, that was the garden Late Mrs. Fu created and it held a lot of memories for the old man.
"Of course, you can. We can harvest the riped strawberries in two days." Grandfather Fu said with a smile.
Two days later, Jia Li and Grandfather Fu went to the garden to harvest the ripped strawberries in the morning before breakfast.
Jia Li didn't know how to take care of plants, so she watched as the old man taught her before she joined him.
At the end of the section, Jia Li and the old man harvested a basket full of strawberries. When they were done, four servants came over to divide the strawberries into kitchen containers and carried them inside the house.
Jia Li and the old man went to freshen up before going to have their breakfast. They were the only ones at the dining table.
Earlier, the old man had already permitted them to eat without him.
After breakfast, Jia Li went into her room. She was eating strawberries while going through her sketches when she paused.
Her eyes went to the acceptance letter of her new college, and she picked it up. She glanced at the contents again and mulled over it.
Right there, she made a decision. She decided to resume school the next week.
She went to find the old man and Butler Lu took her to the study.
When she broke the good news to the Old Man, he smiled and even hugged her. He kept praising her for taking the rugby decision.
"I have to thank you grandfather, for showing me the right way to get better!" Jia Li said to the old man with a grateful smile when he kept praising her.