Annual Ceremony

Chapter 34: Minor Heat (Part )

Zhenyi looked at him: "I just want to go home."

Now that her grandfather was gone, she only wanted to accompany her grandmother back to their home in Jinling, rather than staying alone in a foreign land far away from her family for a freedom that did not really exist.

"Of course you can go home. I can send someone to escort you back to Jinling first, and then get your family's consent." Ertu said, "You don't have to make an impulsive decision. You can discuss it with Mrs. Dong first. I will wait for your reply here in three days or five days!"

Zhenyi shook her head: "Ertu, thank you very much. You don't have to wait, I won't come."

Meeting those clear and determined eyes, Ertu completely lost the face to continue. He clenched his fists to suppress his emotions, tightened his jaw, and turned his head away and no longer looked at Zhenyi.

"Goodbye." Zhenyi raised her hand, saluted, and turned to leave.

After walking more than ten steps, Ertu's unwilling voice came from behind: "...sooner or later you will regret it!"

Zhenyi did not stop.

The back figure was like a thin green bamboo that could not be bent. Ertu felt very depressed and punched the tree trunk, causing a few leaves to fall.

It was already dark when Zhenyi and her grandmother left the general's mansion.

Baoyin escorted Zhenyi out of the house, holding back tears, and said to her, "When you decide on a day to leave, remember to tell me so I can see you off... If you leave without saying anything, I will hate you for the rest of my life."

Old Mrs. Dong declined Mrs. Dolan's suggestion to send someone to see her off and took her granddaughter on the green donkey cart.

Qisheng was walking with the donkey, and Taoer was following beside the cart. The donkey cart moved slowly, from the beginning of darkness to the bright moonlight.

On a summer night in the wilderness, the shadows of donkeys and people were stretched out by the moonlight.

The donkey was pulling a cart without a carriage. Zhenyi sat on the cart with her legs hanging over the edge. Her vision was unobstructed. Looking around, the surroundings were filled with moonlight and starlight, accompanied by the sound of insects chirping.

It has been more than half a month since her grandfather passed away, but Zhenyi only now began to understand what death means - she can still clearly see many traces of him, but no matter how far she goes or how many mountains she climbs, she will never be able to find him again.

Zhenyi was looking at the invisible wind in the surroundings, lost in thought, when she heard her grandmother ask softly beside her: "When I returned home with your grandfather, did we take this road and see this scenery?"

Zhenyi felt a lump in her throat and nodded to her grandmother, then leaned on her shoulder.

Old Mrs. Dong did not shy away from mentioning Wang Zhefu. The deceased has gone on his way, and the sadness and longing in the hearts of the living also need a way out, and they cannot be blocked from leaving.

"Don't be afraid, grandma is here." Old Mrs. Dong patted her granddaughter gently.

Zhenyi reached out and hugged her grandmother, sniffing her scent, and said in a husky voice, "Don't be afraid, mother, Zhenyi is here."

"Silly child, your mother is old, what are you afraid of..." Old Mrs. Dong smiled, hugged her granddaughter, patted her gently and slowly, and said slowly: "This pat only makes me realize that our Deqing has grown into a big girl without knowing when."

Zhenyi just hugged her grandmother tighter.

Orange couldn't help but move closer and snuggled up behind the grandparents.

No one can resist warmth, not even cats.

"One should not be afraid of sadness..." Old Mrs. Dong coaxed her granddaughter softly: "Sadness is a mirror of the heart. The more sadness you have now, the more warmth you have received in the past... Just as there is summer, there is winter, there is prosperity, and there is withering, isn't this the way of nature that your great grandfather often said." "Sadness is inevitable, but as long as we are willing, we can have expectations for the future even in the most difficult days. Although some people leave, others will come..." Old Mrs. Dong said softly: "Soon you will be able to see your father, uncle, and your big brother... Back in Jinling, your mother, little Jingyi and the others are waiting and looking forward to it. I wonder if Jingyi is a bit like our Deqing?"

The words of the Great Mother were like the quietly falling moonlight, filling the cracks in Zhenyi's heart, allowing the seeds of hope to be planted there, giving it warmth and allowing the seeds to grow boldly without fear of withering in the future.

Juzi lay behind Old Lady Dong and Zhenyi, squinting his eyes slightly in the moonlight, his furry and round body swaying slightly on the bumpy donkey cart. At this moment, Juzi had a different understanding of the word "cultivation" in the world, and for Zhenyi, this was probably growth.

As the Lesser Heat comes to an end, the summer wind becomes hotter.

Zhenyi liked Han Yu the most. Han Yu once wrote a poem saying "It's like sitting in a deep steamer being steamed", which was referring to this moment.

Lu You was also severely burned by the heat, and under the unbearable heat, he also left a poem "Sitting and feeling the steam in the pot."

The lower part of the character “夏” (summer) is taken from the character “煮” (cook), with a sun hanging above it, which is the embodiment of roasting and cooking all things.

The summer in Jilin is not that hot, so Zhenyi did not have the feeling of being boiled by heaven and earth as the two poets repeatedly mentioned.

On this day, while the sun was at its hottest, Mother Zhuo took out all the clothes and hung them out to dry in the yard. Zhenyi was also busy taking out the books left by her grandfather and hanging them out to dry, almost filling the entire yard.

Lesser Heat is the beginning of the dog days. Many places have the custom of "drying the dog days", which means drying clothes and scriptures. It is said that the palace would also dry the dragon robes on June 6th.

Juzi was sitting in the corridor with her hands in her pockets, still watching Zhuo's mother and Zhenyi working. Among the clothes that Zhuo's mother had hung out to dry was Juzi's floral jacket.

Wang Zhefu's clothes were neatly folded and sealed in a box, waiting to be taken back to Jinling and buried with his ashes.

After Zhenyi arranged the books, she came over to Juzi and sat down to rest.

Before his death, Wang Zhefu once said that he would leave all these books to Zhenyi for safekeeping.

The summer breeze blew, ruffling the clothes and turning over a few pages of the book.

Zhenyi was in a daze, looking at the wind swirling in the yard, and suddenly thought, when a person dies, does he really disappear completely?
Human beings are originally objects, and objects must have shapes and traces. When our great-grandfather was burned in the fire, was there a part of him in the flying smoke?

Although my great-grandfather is no longer with us, his presence seems to be everywhere, so subtle that it is invisible. Perhaps the death of a person is just a change of way of existence?

Zhenyi was unable to see the truth for the time being and could only imagine it this way.

My grandfather once said that, under the condition of support, imagination is a very valuable ability, just like questioning. Without imagination and questioning, academics will be like a stagnant pool of water, existing only under the shadow of their ancestors.

Thinking of Zhenyi here, I suddenly felt that my grandfather was everywhere. He left behind many precious things, not just these books.

Zhenyi picked up Juzi who was lying beside her, and Juzi lay on Zhenyi's legs casually. The man and the cat were staring blankly in the summer breeze.

The Great Heat season arrived soon, and Wang Xichen and his party also arrived soon.

　Thank you all for the double monthly tickets, rewards, and messages ~ Good night, and I wish you all a sweet dream.

　
(End of this chapter)