Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 236 Longing is the most distant and unending
Behind the wooden-tiled house was an earthen embankment, and on top of the embankment was a piece of land planted with many yellow fruit trees.

Due to the erosion caused by the heavy rain, part of the earthen embankment collapsed, and the dry, cracked soil piled up in the ditch under the eaves, indicating that it had been collapsed for quite some time.

Ran Qing picked up a hoe, quickly dug up the soil, and then used a bamboo basket to remove the soil, quickly clearing the ditch.

He then went to the woods behind the house to collect some firewood, and entered the wooden house where the smell had mostly dissipated, and began to start a fire with practiced ease.

The dark, old wooden-tiled house gives off a gloomy and precarious feeling.

Long Zongshu looked curiously at the uninhabited house and said, "My grandfather said that uninhabited houses rot very quickly... It turns out it's true."

This house has been vacant for years, and its musty smell is filled with a chilling atmosphere, quite unlike a house where living people have lived for many years.

Ran Qing found a kerosene lamp in the room, lit the wick, and the dim light illuminated the surroundings.

Mo Li looked around at the old house where Ran Qing had grown up and said, "It seems like you'll have electricity soon."

On their way here, they could see piles of utility poles along the roadside from time to time.

In some villages and towns, utility poles have already been installed, but power lines have not yet been laid.

At the bend in the open space at the entrance to Ran Qing's village, there were also many utility poles piled up.

The power grid will soon be installed in this remote mountain village.

Ran Qing sat by the fire, looking at the four paper figures standing side by side outside the house, and listening to the strange cries coming from the night wind outside the door.

He nodded: "If every household could have electricity, that would be wonderful."

Light is a powerful tool for humanity to fight against evil spirits.

Even powerful evil spirits and monsters are not afraid of light.

However, if electric grids could be erected everywhere, the lights shining from every household at night would frighten away the weak evil spirits and monsters, causing them to flee into the deep mountains.

Most people will live more peacefully and will no longer encounter evil spirits or ghosts so easily.

After the firewood was lit, Ran Qing went to fetch a bucket of water and boiled it to cook four bowls of instant noodles.

This was the dinner the three of them had after a long day of traveling.

The bedding and blankets in the room were taken out of the box, tidied up, and aired out before being laid on the hard bed board.

Ran Qing will sleep with Zong Shu tonight, while Mo Li will take Xiao Mianhua to sleep in another room.

The ancestral tablets of Heaven, Earth, Ruler, Parents, and Teacher, which had been deserted for many days, were lit with incense tonight.

It was getting late, and the three of them, who had been traveling all day, were exhausted and just wanted to rest as soon as possible.

In such a tired state, it's not good to search for that eerie giant tree.

After eating and drinking his fill, and resting for another night, Long Zongshu got up the next day feeling refreshed, only to find that his pillow was empty.

Ran Qing, who slept with him last night, is now busy in the courtyard by the door.

Xiao Mianhua and Mo Li sat lazily in the sun at the doorway, while Ran Qing swept the dust and fallen leaves around the house.

Ran Qing had many things to do upon returning to her old house.

A few roof tiles that were blown away by the wind or damaged by hail need to be replaced.

The area in front of and behind the house must be cleaned up. The soil that was moved from the ditch last night must be carried to the field behind the house, not piled up next to the house.

That collapsed earthen embankment also needs to be repaired.

Ran Qing, who had only slept for two hours, had actually been busy all night.

Around 4 a.m., he took four paper figures to his grandparents' graves to sweep their tombs.

Ran Qing, who cannot return to her hometown to burn paper money during the Qingming Festival, can only sweep the graves and pay respects to the deceased during her annual holiday.

Two graves stand side by side in a grove of yellow fruit trees, one new and one old, where my grandparents are buried. The weeds are cut down twice a year, but each time I return, they grow vigorously over the grave mounds.

After clearing away the weeds and burning paper money, Ran Qing sat alone in front of the grave for a long time.

The tombstones of my grandparents stood silently and darkly under the night sky, like two kind and gentle old faces watching over us.

As a child, Ran Qing didn't understand why adults would go to the graves to sweep the tombs and burn paper money every year.

That's just a mound of earth, what's so interesting about it?

It wasn't until he personally buried his grandmother in this yellow earth that he saw his familiar grandmother lying in the coffin, being laid to rest underground.

After that, he suddenly realized the weight of this longing.

Sitting in front of her grandmother's grave, looking at her grandparents' tombstones, with the cool night wind blowing on her face, Ran Qing felt no eeriness or fear.

He didn't speak, didn't complain, and didn't share his experiences with his grandmother.

He knew his grandmother was gone and resting in peace. No matter how much he said, she wouldn't hear him.

Those who walk the path of the dead are the most knowledgeable about ghosts in the world, and they also know best that there is no spirit in heaven after the dead.

Even Ran Qing, a spirit medium, felt a strange, indescribable tranquility as he sat by his grandmother's grave, looking at the yellow earth that buried her.

He sat there blankly, not knowing how much time had passed.

It wasn't until the sky began to turn gray and a hint of dawn appeared in the east that Ran Qing, who had been sitting blankly all night, finally returned home, covered in dew and accompanied by the four paper figures that had followed her.

Mo Li sat at the door of the wooden-tiled house, playing Tetris on a game console.

When she saw Ran Qing return, the girl greeted her with a smile, but did not ask where Ran Qing had gone.

Soon after, Little Cotton also came out and curiously squatted down next to Mo Li, watching him play this novel game console.

The morning sun pierced through the night and shone down on the mountains.

The small village at the foot of Lao Wang Mountain is also gradually awakening in the morning light.

After the rooster crowed, some villagers got up, picked up their hoes, and went out to work in the fields.

Standing in the courtyard in front of Ran Qing's house, the view is extremely open, overlooking the entire vast river valley in the distance, where two winding mountain ranges resemble two giant dragons.

In the vast valley between the dragons, a green river surges forth, flowing to the foot of Lao Wang Mountain and forming a broad pool.

From a high vantage point, it resembles a green mirror embedded in the rugged mountains.

It is early morning, and a light mist is rising from the Zangke River.

The mist rose into the air, forming a thin sea of ​​clouds.

Mo Li asked curiously, "Ran Qing, are there any big fish in the lake below?"

As Mo Li asked, he licked his lips and said, "Wild fish smells so good..."

Mo Li, who loves food and has a discerning palate, clearly doesn't want to eat instant noodles anymore.

Ran Qing said, "I was just about to go to the river to see if I could catch a couple of fish to cook."

Mo Li's eyes lit up, and he immediately stood up, saying, "I want to go too. I'll take you on my motorcycle."

Upon hearing this, Long Zongshu also became curious and quickly said, "I'll go take a look too."

In the mountainous and rugged Zangke region, large rivers and lakes are a rarity.

Long Zongshu was clearly seeing such a large river and lake for the first time, and he was full of curiosity about the fish in the lake.

(End of this chapter)