Battered Young Miss 107 Hideou

The ashes of the grandparents of the Zhang heiress lay beyond the Hai river, since their death was from an unnatural cause, the couple had to be cremated and their ashes scattered in the river. The drive took many twists and turns until finally the body arrived outside the gated entrance of acres of land that spanned miles and miles away. Other cars had parked by the side of the road as though in a queue.

The gates automatically opened when the person who remotely controlled it, saw that the vehicle the heiress was in had arrived. HuaDu, a security company under the umbrella of Zhang Corporation, employed people to pick up on any activity that could be going on at the burial site. Director Ko packed behind the rest of the other cars, afterwards both he and Yang Lin got out of the limousine. The pallbearers opened the back of the limousine to get the casket out, the four men took position on each end of the closed casket which rested on their broad shoulders, as they began to walk unhurriedly in the direction of the entrance.

Within the confines of various cars were people waiting for the lying-in-state to commence, when they saw that the coffin was making its way inside, they got out of their cars with bouquet of flowers in hand to place at the headstone of the heiress.

"What a pity, that she had to die so young!"

"All that money and no one to give it to!"

"You tell me! Pass me some tissue paper so that I can clean my eyes! She is so pitiful!"

"At the end of the day, all her assets goes to her uncle."

"Why did they have to quarrel in the first place? If only she knew that she wasn't going to live that long!"

"Didn't you hear the press conference President Zhang gave? Everything Zhang Mi had was in the company's name, she doesn't have anything! Oh wait! That's not true! She does have something."

"What? Tell me, what does she have?!"

"The money from the viewing! That's all she has left!"

"Hehn?! I thought you were going to say she had an offshore account or property that doesn't have the company name behind it!"

The exchange came from part of the people that had come in to pay their respects.

It was a very solemn time indeed, three male grave diggers had been called upon earlier by Yang Lin, the graveyard workers ceased shoveling when they saw the coffin. Pallbearers finally laid the coffin on the lustrous well tended grass close to the grave of the late Zhang Jinxia (nee Ji) which had fresh bundle of white roses against its marble tombstone, none of the people gathered found it strange, it was as though the flowers were handpicked that morning!

No sooner had all of the mourners assembled within the large acre of land with only two tombstones lying side by side which was neither too far nor too close to the entrance, that was when the waterworks began, it was as though the act was orchestrated.

"Poor Miss Zhang!"

"May her soul rest in peace!"

"May we see each other in the great beyond!"

"What a pity!"

The gravediggers remained unfazed as they saw people crying in front of them, the only ones that didn't shed a single tear was Director Ko and his crew. On by one they began to place flowers on the grass where the casket sat. It was then the grave diggers took out wads of yellow colored square papers that resembled "real" money, but the difference was the word "hell" printed at the center and on all four corners was drawing of a lotus flower in green. The men lit the bunch of papers on fire with a silver lighter, tossing them in the air in accordance with ancient rite for safe passage of the dead.

Zhang Tianyu took his daughter by the hand, as the two went to look at the face of his niece for the last time, afterwards they began heading out to the car. One after the other, each person stopped to look at the casket, neither Duan Feng nor his parent paid much attention when it came to their turn, their eyes barely gazed on the face of the heiress, probably from guilt.

The Hongs had a somber look on their face, while gazing at the "body" of the heiress, Hong Lian had to keep a tight hold on the arms of his sister who was about to burst into another round of tears.

There was no emotion on the tear streaked faces of Assemblyman Ji and his wife, the two didn't look at what laid inside the coffin, they both walked stiffly out of the Zhang burial site. Among the rows of cars were those that belonged to reporters, who secretly took shots of Zhang Tianyu and the rest of the mourners. They rushed out with their cameras and mics in preparation for the lying-in-state coverage of the Zhang heiress. Unfortunately for them, the gate slid shut making it impossible to get any further.

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On the other side of town was an unregistered black car whose blue tinted windows shielded the morning rays from getting to the occupants of the car. The driver had dark shades on and a black baseball cap on his head, holding on one hand the steering wheel.

At the backseat sat a young woman who appeared as though she was asleep, a seat belt across her shoulders held her in place on the car seat. Dressed in a light weight purple short sleeved dress that ended at her knees. Wearing a crescent shaped earring of gold on each earlobe, the face although without makeup looked quite attractive.

Suddenly the sound of a phone ringing came from a device mounted against a dark suction cup stand by the windscreen, the man that drove picked up on the third ring.

"Uncle Guo! Where are you?"

The voice on the other end sounded somewhat frantic.

"On my way to deliver your package. I'll have it delivered by nightfall."

The caller picked up on the noncommittal tone from the man and gave a terse reply instead.

"Can it get there sooner?"

"No! Bye! I'm hanging up!"

"Wait!..."

The call was cut off by the hand that rested on the car's lower window seal. The man looked at the rear view mirror and saw an all too familiar face that had graced the front pages of newspapers and entertainment magazines. There was no mistaking the rise and fall of the chest, as the woman continued to sleep, seemingly unaware of what was to come.

Chapter end