"Is...that Miss Zhang over there?"The curious looks coming from the high profile figures further intensified when they heard the woman.
"Yes Sir! That"s Miss Zhang in the coffin, in less than ten minutes her body will be transported out of Zhang villa to be put to rest."
The tone of officer Cao made the people in the room stare harder at the unknown woman, who made no effort to introduce herself to them.
Without any warning, she broke down completely right in front of them, her feet gave way with knees. .h.i.tting the hard marble floor, tears ran without end, soaking the floor and her clothes. Officer Cao was thrown aback by the blatant display of raw emotion, not even the immediate family of the "deceased" heiress showed that much grief.
"Sir?"
Almost like a question, the officer called out to the woman in a bid to make her aware that she was beginning to cause a scene at the heiress"s funeral.
When Yang Lin saw who walked in, unconsciously he felt his body stiffen, not expecting her of all people to show up at Zhang villa. He turned to the opposite side of where he was to see that Duan Feng was not too pleased at the intruder that came into the home of his ex-girlfriend.
"This is going to get ugly"
Yang Lin muttered under his voice, while watching the reaction of everyone in the s.p.a.cious room. Director Ko on the other hand was busy chatting with other celebrities from big name fas.h.i.+on label and had to halt the conversation when he saw how shabby the newcomer looked. If he could put a name to her facial appearance, the word that came to mind was "lifeless" there was no vibrancy in the way she walked or spoke.
"Do you know her?"
Director Ko asked to one of the women he was conversing with, as the other replied, "I don"t think so, nothing about her strikes me as someone that Miss Zhang will a.s.sociate herself with, that"s why I hate funerals, all sort of funny characters keep showing up!"
"Tsk! Don"t say that darlin""
The ladies that surrounded the flamboyant Director Ko, discretely gave a laugh at what he said, not wanting to call undue attention to themselves, while closely watching the woman with curiosity in their eyes.
"Dad, who is that woman? Is she Aunt Mi"s friend?"
When Zhang Tianyu saw who his daughter pointed at, an unexplained emotion ran through his body, for some unknown reason it was as if he was looking at himself from over twenty years ago. The President of Zhang Corporation gently placed his daughter back on her feet, not giving a response to what she asked.
Meanwhile, Yang Lin left where he was on the right side of the room to cover distance between him and the crying woman.
"Were you the one that brought her in?!"
Facing Officer Cao, Yang Lin asked the other man if he had anything to do with it.
"Yes, I led her in under the directions of my commanding officer."
The response that came from the officer sounded unapologetic as he looked Yang Lin straight in the eye.
"And who are you?!"
The man thought Yang Lin was questioning his ident.i.ty and became visibly upset by the rude remark.
"I.."
"Don"t say a word! I"ll be the one doing the talking from now on!"
The men weren"t paying attention to the woman during their face off, neither knew when she suddenly raised her head up to snap at them.
"We have met before, haven"t we? Mr Yang Lin."
The tone of the woman sounded really sweet, but the look in her eyes said otherwise.
"Let me introduce myself in case you have forgotten, I am Niu Xiao, warden general of PaoYin District women prison."
"...."
Very few had seen guard Niu in her uniform, therefore she looked different in civilian attire, the moment they heard who she was, the shock on their faces said it all and with it came curiosity as to why the warden general was paying a condolence visit to the home of the Zhang heiress.
Niu Xiao rose on her feet, walking past the two men to where the casket of Zhang Mi was, both Zhang Tianyu and his daughter were ignored, as she bent to pick some of the flowers to create a path to get closer to the casket. Straightening up with the bundle of lilies in her hand, Niu Xiao drew near to the head of the coffin, visibly struggling to get her emotions under control. The dignitaries in the room watched to see what she was going to do, only to see her bend to place her lips on those of the Zhang heiress.
"Hey! Stop! What are you doing?!"
Niu Xiao paid no heed to the words of Zhang Tianyu, as she kept her lips on those of Zhang Mi for several seconds, the other hand that wasn"t holding the flowers, tenderly stroked the perfectly set hair of the heiress, while fiercely battling the tears within from spilling on the one that that taken a strong hold in her heart, her lips trembled to form the words that was soul deep.
"You are beautiful Miss Zhang, even in death. I wish we had met sooner."
"What are you doing?! Get her out of here!"
"Dad, why are you chasing her away? isn"t she a friend of Aunt Mi?"
Zhang Jie kept looking from Niu Xiao and her father through eyes devoid of guile.
"Jie! Be quiet! Don"t let me hear another word from you!"
Looking at the warden general, a look of pain came over Yang Lin, one one hand he felt admiration towards her that she could openly display what she felt for the person she loved, while on the other hand he was jealous that she found out about hers sooner than he did.
"Who let her in?!"
The roar of anger from the President of Zhang Corporation made the eyes of everyone widen in alarm, as they looked from him to the warden general. The look written on their faces read "what is her relations.h.i.+p with the heiress" while stupidly staring at her with their mouths hanging open.