Departure

Xiaoguo did not hesitate to give Yu Ling the confidence she needed.

She did not lose her mother. Instead, she would always be in her mother’s arms.

Her mother was with her.

—-

According to Zhao Yuyan’s last wish, there would be no burial. Instead, she had asked for a cremation.

Although the old village chief did not approve of a cremation, he still had to respect her last wishes. The dead should be given due respect. He led a few villagers to help build a bed frame out of firewood for her.

In the year 43 of the Shao Kingdom, on the 13th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, at a quarter past seven in the morning, the sky was clear without a cloud in sight. It was bright and sunny. It was also the time of Zhao Yuyan’s death.

At half past seven, her remains were tidied up.

At 9:15 a.m., the fire was lit.

The fire burned out at a quarter to 1 p.m.

According to her last wishes, her daughter, Zhao Yuling, personally scattered her ashes into the sea.

When Zhao Yuyan was alive, she did not manage to find freedom. She hoped that she could roam freely in the arms of nature after her death. Her wish was to live spontaneously and freely.

This was also why she chose the sea as her resting place.

Zhao Yuyan would exist in a state that was invisible to everyone. She had transformed into all things in the world to accompany those who were still living on earth.

—-

The next day, as soon as Xiaoguo opened her eyes, she saw two little girls lying on either side of her.

Each girl was hugging onto one of her arms. It was no wonder that she dreamt of herself being hit by a car and ending up with broken arms. The reality was that her arms had turned numb.

Having been held all night, it would be odd if her arms did not lose all their sensations.

While chatting last night, the two children dozed off in the midst of their conversation because they were hit by an intense wave of sleepiness. Maybe it was after seeing Xiaoguo that they were finally able to let go of the tense feelings that were bothering them throughout the day.

In the end, Xiaoguo carried the two sleeping girls back to their beds to rest. After which, she went down alone to shut the main door.

Xiaoguo opened her eyes for a while before gently retracting her arm. Enduring the numbness in her arms, she carefully walked past the two of them and went down the attic.

When she went down the ladder, she didn’t even dare to exert too much strength with her arms. She felt like her arms would break if she applied too much force.

When she arrived at the kitchen, she looked around in satisfaction. There was indeed more stuff here as compared to the last time she was here, although it still didn’t seem like much.

Using the available food, she made a pot of seafood porridge. As there was no main dish to go with it, she could only make the porridge less watery.

Soon, the fragrance of the porridge woke up the two girls in the attic.

The two of them were still feeling dazed. They looked at each other for a long time before they remembered that Xiaoguo had returned last night.

At the thought of this, the two of them scrambled out of bed and went down the attic after putting on their shoes, fearing that Xiaoguo would be gone if they were a second late.

Xiaoguo, who was adding firewood, heard the sound of running feet. She guessed that the two girls had woken up.

Since they were up, it was time to eat.

She added the last handful of firewood and dusted off her hands.

Just as she was about to serve the food, two young girls came running in.

They called out in unison, “Sister Xiaoguo!”

“What’s wrong?”

Xiaoguo stopped what she was doing and looked at them.

“Hehe, it’s nothing. We just wanted to check if this is real.”

“That’s right. So we weren’t dreaming.”

“Sister Xiaoguo, you’re really here!”

“We just woke up and thought that this was part of our dream.”

“It wasn’t until I smelled the porridge that I realized that you are really here!”

Xiao Zhu and Yu Ling each hugged her arms and started chattering non-stop.

The two of them could barely stop talking before the seafood porridge turned into a paste.

One of them was fighting to bring out the bowls while the other was fighting to bring out the pickled vegetables.

Helpless, Xiaoguo followed behind them with three pairs of chopsticks.

At the dining table, Yu Ling deliberately avoided Zhao Yuyan’s favorite seat. Her eyes were fixed on the porridge and she did not look up.

Xiaoguo noticed it too, but she didn’t say anything. She just added more pickles to her bowl when it ran out.

Xiaoguo let out an almost inaudible sigh.

.

It was unlikely that Yu Ling had come to terms with her mother’s death. She would probably be grieving for some time.

Fortunately, there was Xiao Zhu who was good at managing the atmosphere at the table. At least with her chattering, it wasn’t too quiet at the table.

After dinner, the three of them sat down together after washing the dishes.

It was impossible for Xiaoguo to stay here all the time, so she hesitantly asked the question she had mentioned the last time. She was really worried about the two young girls living alone.

As they grow older, it would be inevitable that some malicious people with impure intentions will prey on them. Therefore, she felt that it was better for them to stay with an adult.

This time, neither of them hesitated. They said in unison, “We’ll go wherever Sister Xiaoguo goes.”

Xiaoguo gave a sigh of relief. This was the best outcome.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s leave today. We can still make it in time for the Mid-Autumn Festival.”

Xiao Zhu and Yu Ling had no objections. They stood up and happily packed their bags.

Xiao Zhu returned to the attic to pack her few belongings, which consisted of a few old patched garments, a tattered book, a bristled brush and a tiny piece of inkstone.

She only had one small bag. After Xiao Zhu was done packing, she walked around the house four or five times. She really did not expect herself to have only these few pieces of belongings, having lived in this house for more than ten years.

Before this, Xiao Zhu was already quite dependent on Xiaoguo. However, since she wanted to spend more time with her parents, she stayed behind in this place. Now that she had spent some time with them, she was finally able to move on, although she still had some worries.

It was good to leave now, not to mention that she was going to stay by her favorite Sister Xiaoguo’s side.

Yu Ling gently stroked the empty ceramic jar in her arms, and tears fell from her eyes again.

“Mother, let’s leave with Sister Xiaoguo.”

When Zhao Yuyan was alive, she often told her to stay with Xiaoguo and repay her kindness. Xiaoguo had saved them from the island—her kindness should be remembered for the rest of their lives. On top of that, Xiaoguo had even found them a place to stay.

Every single thing that Xiaoguo had done, should not be forgotten even in their dreams.

Before Zhao Yuyan died, she had repeatedly reminded Yu Ling to repay Xiaoguo’s kindness. Unfortunately, she had no chance to do that anymore, but Yu Ling still had the chance.

Yu Ling retracted her thoughts and wiped the tears off her face. She smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Mother. I’ll bring you along to repay her kindness.”

On the other side, Xiaoguo went to the old village chief’s house alone while the two girls packed their bags.

There was still a lot of food in Xiao Zhu’s house that was bought some time ago. Xiaoguo was not planning to take it with her.

Hence, she asked the old village chief to gather the villagers who had helped with Zhao Yuyan’s funeral, and have them share the remaining food grains.

When the old village chief heard this, he rejected the offer without hesitation. The amount of wheat flour and rice that he had gotten someone to buy was quite substantial. If converted into silver, it was worth quite a lot.

“Village Chief, listen to me. We can’t thank the villagers enough for their help, but I came in a hurry this time and didn’t prepare any gifts. You must accept this as a token of my appreciation.”

It was understandable if the villagers were unwilling to help. But for those who voluntarily came forward to help, Xiaoguo did not want them to work for nothing.

The old village chief was adamant. He said firmly, “The money you gave me the last time was enough for our emergency funds. I definitely can’t accept it this time.”

Xiaoguo was shocked. The money she gave him was for him alone. She didn’t expect him to use it as the village emergency funds.

Hearing his words, she couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of respect for him. Although the old village chief didn’t look righteous, he always did things in the most righteous manner.

One should never judge a book by its cover.

Seeing how determined he was, Xiaoguo didn’t say anything else. Instead, she told him about Xiao Zhu’s plan to leave.

The house would be left empty but she might come back to visit occasionally. She hoped that the old village chief could help to take care of the house.

The old village chief agreed to this request without hesitation. He always agrees readily to any request from anyone in the village. This was because he lived by this principle—the matters in the village were his business and the people in the village were his family.

As long as he was alive, this would remain as his responsibility.