yournovel Chapter 76 Ending One's Own Funeral
Chapter 76 Ending One's Own Funeral
On the truck's large screen, Li Chenghao's expression went through three stages in just a few seconds.
Confused, what is that?
I was startled to realize that someone was filming me.
Finally, it collapsed.
Li Chenghao opened his mouth, as if to say something, but his lips only opened and closed in vain, without making a sound.
His fingers loosened, and the phone slipped from his palm, falling to the floor with the screen facing up.
His two bodyguards also stopped what they were doing and stood there, at a loss.
A deathly silence fell over the farewell hall.
Then Lee Jae-hyun made a move.
His fingers clenched spasmodically on the armrests of his wheelchair.
His chest heaved violently, like an old tree being blown by the wind.
"President, please take a deep breath."
"Bring the oxygen over."
"Check your blood pressure first."
His current wife immediately rushed over, placing one hand on his chest and reaching for his medicine with the other.
Several doctors and nurses rushed in through the side door and surrounded him, with stethoscopes, blood pressure monitors, and oxygen masks all in place within seconds.
Lee Jae-hyun waved their hands away.
He took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled.
He took another sip, then spat it out.
My shoulders were still trembling, but the shaking was much less intense than before.
"I'm fine."
The crowd fell silent and looked at him.
Family members, company executives, and extended relatives—all eyes were on the elderly man in the wheelchair.
They were waiting for his reaction.
We await his final verdict on this farce.
Lee Jae-hyun didn't look at anyone.
He looked ahead at the empty coffin, the portrait, and his second son standing beneath it in a sequined suit.
Lee Woo-bin took a deep breath and stepped forward.
Then he did something that no one had ever seen him do in their entire lives.
He knelt down.
He knelt down in front of his father.
"Father, I'm sorry. I lied to you."
The arrogant "resurrected one" who was standing on the truck stage just now is now kneeling on the ground, head down, like a primary school student who has made a mistake.
Lee Jae-hyun looked down at him and remained silent for a long time.
Then he laughed.
"Okay, okay!"
He said "good" three times in a row.
"You're really something. You've got your dad, your brother, your sister, everyone on your side, completely fooling you."
Lee Woo-bin lowered his head, recalling the script that Lee Jung-il had given him.
"Father, I didn't mean anything by it. I just felt heartbroken to see my brother living on the streets."
Lee Jae-hyun's smile faded, and his eyes became complicated.
"So you've learned to care about your brothers now."
"I……"
"alright."
Lee Jae-hyun impatiently raised his hand to stop him from saying anything more.
"You managed to fool even your older brother. It seems you've become smarter after surviving such a close call."
Lee Jae-hyun placed his hand on the armrest of his wheelchair, and his assistant immediately stepped forward to hold the armrest.
He looked at his second son.
The good news is that he is still alive.
What angered me was that he had lied to himself.
But his intentions were good; he wanted to clear his brother's name and find the person who framed Zheng Yi back then.
As for whether he had any ulterior motives, Lee Jae-hyun didn't care.
Enough with the farce.
Time to end.
"Since this is your funeral, you should preside over it yourself."
After he finished speaking, he gestured to his assistant to push the wheelchair.
He didn't look at Lee Woo-bin as he passed by. The wheels of his wheelchair rolled over the fallen white chrysanthemum petals on the ground, making a soft, crunching sound.
The crowd automatically parted to both sides, making way for a passage.
Lee Woo-bin knelt on the ground, watching his father's figure disappear through the doorway.
Then he slowly stood up, his knees a little weak, but he couldn't help but smile.
My father praised me for being smart.
My father praised me for being smart for the first time.
He was screaming inside, but outwardly he was trying to maintain a solemn expression, as if to say, "I am presiding over my own funeral."
The pulling between the two made his face look a little twitched.
At that moment, a steady footstep came from the other side of the farewell hall.
Long Zhangzhu.
CJ Group Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer.
Among all the family members and company executives, he was one of the very few who neither kicked him while he was down nor panicked.
From beginning to end, he simply observed everything quietly.
He walked up to Lee Woo-bin and bowed slightly.
"Second Young Master, what are the next steps?"
His tone remained unchanged from before the funeral—neither cold nor warm, neither humble nor arrogant.
Lee Woo-bin subconsciously asked a question in return.
"How should I arrange this?"
"Since the president has asked you to make the arrangements, it's your decision."
Long Zhangzhu pushed up his glasses and glanced at the still-shocked crowd in the farewell hall.
"Should this funeral continue?"
Lee Woo-bin stood there, and suddenly felt that the ground beneath his feet had changed.
He looked up at the unsealed coffin, then turned to look at the large screen behind him.
In the scene, Li Chenghao has been pulled out of the room by the bodyguards, leaving only the empty living room and the open safe.
The guests remained standing in place.
Second Grandmother Li Shuxi's mouth was open and she forgot to close it, while her cousin Zheng Minghuan's face was at least two shades paler than when he had just scolded Li Zheng.
Those executives who had just been kicking someone when they were down are now all silent.
Everyone was waiting for him to speak.
He cleared his throat.
"Since it's my funeral, it can't be abandoned halfway."
He paused, looked around, and then added a sentence.
"Dear elders and guests, thank you all for attending my funeral today. As the protagonist of this funeral, I hereby announce that the memorial service is now over. You may take the wreaths with you, and the monetary gifts will be refunded."
Uncle Zheng Minghuan opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again.
Long Zhangzhu nodded slightly, turned around and whispered a few words to his secretary behind him. The secretary quickly walked to the side door of the farewell hall to convey the message.
Lee Woo-bin stood beneath his own portrait, watching all of this unfold before his eyes.
In his twenty-six years of life, this was the first time so many people had been waiting for him to give orders.
Even something as trivial as "ending the funeral" is something he decides to do.
He looked down at his hands, his fingers still damp with sweat from holding the microphone.
The third brother is right.
Sure enough, doing as he said brought benefits.
He looked up and smiled at his black-and-white portrait.
Then he reached out and took the photo off the shelf, tucked it under his arm, and turned to walk out.
He gave Li Zhihui a sour look as he passed by.
He wasn't really angry; he just didn't know what expression to wear when facing his older sister, who had just been ripping him off on the phone.
If we're talking about who in this room most wants Li Chenghao to suffer a setback, it's definitely this woman.
Do you know Lee Boo-jin from Samsung?
Lee Woo-bin felt that his older sister was a plus version of Lee Boo-jin.
If one day, all three brothers were to die in a car accident, this woman would not shed a single tear.
Instead, she would laugh wildly.
Because she immediately became the sole heir to the CJ Group.
Lee Ji-hye didn't care about Lee Woo-bin's attitude at all, and even raised her teacup to him, the curve of her lips saying "Well done".
Lee Woo-bin walked out of the farewell hall.
The snow outside was heavier than before, and the pine forest was covered with a thin layer of white.
He stood on the steps, holding his own portrait, looking at the low-hanging gray clouds on the horizon.
Then he took out his phone, opened Kakao, found Li Zhengyi's profile picture, and sent a message.
"You're right, fathers only favor the strong children."
He suddenly remembered that after the funeral, he would have to find a place to dispose of the portrait.
Throw it in the trash can?
Very unlucky.
Hang it on the wall?
Even more unlucky.
Forget it, let's burn it.