Hero of heart The amazing son in law complete
Chapter 7396
News of Master Kongyin’s passing quickly spread throughout Japan.
The Japanese people have always respected and loved this long-lived Buddhist teacher, so when they heard the news, many people went to Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto to pay their respects, and TV stations also reported on his life in turn.
As Maria Lin boarded the plane and prepared to take off back to China, her phone was still receiving push notifications about Kong Yin.
Maria Lin was heartbroken and flew back to Aurous Hill.
On the plane, Sun Zhidong came to the front cabin and saw Maria Lin leaning against the window, dazed.
He stepped forward carefully and asked respectfully, “Miss, are you all right?”
Maria Lin came to her senses and forced a smile: “It’s okay. Thank you for your hard work, following me all the way to Japan.”
Sun Zhidong immediately bowed and said, “It is my honor to serve you, Young Lady. While you were away from China, I often talked about you to the brothers and sisters who grew up with you. Although everyone has achieved success in various countries and fields, when they talk about you, the one they envy most is actually Elder Parker. He is the only one who has been by your side for so many years.”
Maria Lin sighed, “This is really hard for him. He’s been by my side for so many years, but he hasn’t even had a child yet.”
Sun Zhidong sighed softly, “Actually, for those of us who can’t find our ancestral heritage, there’s really no reason to continue our lineage.”
After saying this, he suddenly remembered his short trip to Japan, so he asked: “Miss, is that Mr. Kongyin also an orphan you raised?”
“Yes.” Maria Lin nodded and sighed, “In Japan, I adopted several orphans from Kyoto. Over time, I became quite famous in Kyoto. As a result, many people left their unwanted or unraised babies at my doorstep. Zhengping was one of them.”
At this point, Maria Lin couldn’t help but sigh, “That was so long ago. All those children died long ago. Zhengping was the last to die. With his passing, all the children I raised in Japan died as well.”
Sun Zhidong asked her, “Miss, is Master Kongyin the one you love the most among those children?”
Maria Lin shook her head: “I can’t say I love him the most, just that his life is the hardest.”
After that, he reminisced about the past and began to speak, “Shohei’s mother gave birth to him when he was seventeen, during the coldest season in Kyoto. After giving birth, she abandoned him outside my house and he drowned in the Yodogawa River. With the weather at that time, Shohei’s newborn probably wouldn’t have survived more than half an hour. Luckily, he cried loudly in his cradle, and the other children heard and told me about it, so I took him home.”
Sun Zhidong asked in surprise: “Then why did his mother commit suicide?”
Maria Lin said, “Zhengping’s mother left a letter on Zhengping’s body. According to the letter, her father was the son-in-law of the Ito family living in Kyoto at the time, and Zhengping’s mother was a maid in the Ito family. Her father was oppressed by his wife all day, so he secretly had an affair with her mother. Later, Zhengping’s mother became pregnant. Her father, afraid of being found out, threw her out of the house and found another house to live and give birth. However, the affair was eventually discovered by the other maids. The Ito family wanted to eradicate the infidelity and killed both her father and mother.”
Sun Zhidong was puzzled: “Why didn’t the Ito family punish their son-in-law for having an affair? Instead, they wanted to kill a servant.”
Maria Lin said, “The Ito family had their own 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 line. Zhengping’s father and the Ito family’s daughter already had a son named Ito Keiichi. The head of the Ito family knew this and was afraid that after his death, Zhengping’s father would use his son, Ito Keiichi, to bring a son from outside the family into the Ito family, so he wanted to sever ties with the Ito family.”
“Ito Keiichi…” Sun Zhidong muttered, “This name sounds familiar.”
Maria Lin explained, “Ito Keiichi was 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 was his half-brother.”
Sun Zhidong suddenly remembered something and exclaimed: “Mr. Wade seems to have a good relationship with the Ito family.”
“Yes.” Maria Lin nodded and said with a sigh, “If Zhengping takes the rejuvenation pill, he might be able to meet Ito Takehiko in the future. Ito Keiichi is Ito Takehiko’s great-grandfather.”
The plane returned to Aurous Hill that night. After Maria Lin returned, she immediately locked herself in her mountaintop villa, Zijin Villa, heartbroken.
This encounter with Kong Yin and the subsequent separation made him realize one thing. He always adopted children, raised them, prepared them for the world, and then disappeared from their world. He thought they would forget each other, but he never expected these children’s feelings for him to remain forgotten for over a hundred years.
Kong Yin was like this, and I think some of the other children who survived were the same.
For safety and to avoid trouble, Maria Lin rarely contacted them. However, deep down, these people were her children. How could she not miss them?
So, he secretly made a vow in the courtyard, under the Mother Pucha tree, that if Victoria was no longer a threat in the future, he would definitely go to see the surviving children, if it wasn’t 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 officiating ceremony was held by Master Jingqing, a young Buddhist teacher from China and Kongyin’s friend.
Master Kongyin’s body was cremated at the Kyoto Funeral Home. All of Japan hoped that Master Kongyin would leave behind relics after the cremation, but unfortunately, Master Kongyin turned into a wisp of smoke and disappeared, leaving only a handful of ashes behind.
In accordance with Master Kongyin’s final wishes, his ashes were not left at Kinkakuji Temple. Kinkakuji Temple only preserves his memorial stele, and his ashes were secretly buried in a cemetery on the outskirts of Kyoto by his chief disciple.
This cemetery has a history of over a hundred years and is one of the oldest large-scale cemeteries in Kyoto. The number of people buried here has reached tens of thousands.
The cemetery ran out of new graves for sale several years ago, but some people have purchased empty, unused graves.
Among them, there is an empty tomb, which was purchased by Master Kongyin several years ago.
After Master Kongyin was buried, his tombstone was erected in front of the tomb. However, unlike most others, his tombstone only bears the six large characters “Tomb of Saito Shohei” and the year of his death at the bottom.
Because no birth date remains, few people actually know how old the owner of this tomb is, and no one knows that this tomb is the final resting place of Master Kongyin.
Next to Saito Shohei’s grave, there are several tombstones with the Saito family name, including Saito Keiko, Saito Toyama, Saito Hide, Saito Suzu, Saito Ryo, and so on.
The years of death of these people cover a wide range, the earliest even dying in 1926.
Those who don’t know might think that a certain Saito family buried all their deceased relatives here, but few old people in Kyoto know that these people with the Saito surname were essentially orphans adopted by the famous Miss Saito.
They were all very successful when they were young, and most of them had children all over Japan and even around the world, but without exception, before they died, they asked their families to bury them here.
Saito Shohei’s grave is just one of Saito’s. Apart from its slightly newer tombstone, there’s nothing special about it.
However, for orphans who grew up together, unrelated by blood but as close as siblings, isn’t being buried together after death a different kind of romance?