Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 242 The Love of Our Fathers

The morning sun shines on the mountains, while Old Wang Mountain is eerie and haunted by cries at night. But by day, it is a beautiful paradise on earth.

Under a clear, azure sky, the verdant mountains appear as if draped in a jade veil.

Ran Qing and her three companions walked through the Huangguoshu forest, which was of varying heights.

My mother's grave is somewhat remote, located at the edge of a mountain range in the distance, surrounded by three mountains with a rushing stream below.

It was far from villages and main roads, and there weren't even any mountain trails.

Fortunately, the terrain of this mountain is steep and large trees cannot grow. There are only some low shrubs about half a person's height spreading and undulating. Although the terrain has a large drop, it is still relatively easy to climb.

—At least for Ran Qing, who grew up in the mountains, there was no difference between these mountains and flat roads.

For Ke Moli and Long Zongshu, two students who grew up in the city, walking on this kind of mountain road was very difficult.

Ran Qing had no choice but to wait for them in the bushes.

In particular, the tall and thin Long Zongshu had a very disproportionate physique, and the rugged and steep mountain terrain was a torment for him.

He used almost both hands and feet, afraid that he might slip and tumble down into the Zangke River at the foot of the mountain.

Mo Li rubbed his ankle and said, "These shoes of mine are going to be ruined when I get back..."

I've been hiking on mountain trails for the past two days, and they're extremely remote and difficult to traverse. The soles of Mo Li's sneakers have come unglued; they don't look like they'll last much longer.

Ran Qing had no choice but to carry everything on her back and move forward with a heavy burden.

Even after unloading their burdens, Mo Lilong and Zong Shu still struggled to walk.

Their hands and feet were extremely uncoordinated as they climbed the slopes, making Ran Qing's eyelids twitch.

They were afraid that the two of them might slip and slide down the steep, almost straight uphill slope.

Ran Qing had no choice but to speak up and persuade them: "Why don't you go back and wait for me? I'll go up by myself."

With two burdens, not only was their speed greatly slowed down, but Ran Qing was also filled with anxiety.

My two companions survived the demons and monsters, but I hope they don't die on this steep, winding road...

Hearing Ran Qing's suggestion, Mo Li was somewhat tempted.

Long Zongshu shook his head repeatedly: "That won't do. We'll have to help if we encounter any trouble near the grave."

"Moreover, we have more manpower and can excavate graves and open coffins faster."

Long Zongshu stubbornly refused, not wanting Ran Qing to go to the grave alone.

After all, given the strange changes that occurred with Ran Qing's mother's body, no one knew whether there would be any danger near her grave.

Ran Qing could only go last, letting Mo Li and Long Zongshu go first.

By staying at the back, he could reach out and grab Mo Li and Long Zongshu in time if they slipped and fell.

It took Ran Qing nearly two hours to climb what seemed like an easy climb to reach the mountain, until the midday sun was blazing, before the four of them finally arrived at the grave halfway up the mountain.

The view here is expansive, overlooking the river valley.

Mountains stretched out in front of us, winding left and right, while the river rushed beneath our feet. A fierce wind howled past the grave, rustling the low bushes around it.

Little Cotton happily wags its tail and chases after a white butterfly by the grave.

Sometimes lucid, sometimes dazed, she had clearly forgotten that she was a human being.

The three of them sat by the grave for a while. Mo Li looked at the bare mound and said, "Your father came..."

The weeds and branches on the grave mound had been cleared away, and there were marks from the sickle.

The area around the grave mound was originally overgrown with weeds, but now all the weeds have been cut down, leaving only clumps of roots scattered on the ground.

In front of the stone tombstone, there are two bowls of offerings and two burnt-out candle bases on the left and right.

Deep characters are engraved on the stone tablet, which has become rough and mottled from being exposed to the wind and sun.

[Tomb of my deceased wife, Ou Caixia] Ran Qing looked at the exquisitely carved tombstone, with its flying eaves and wall-like structure, resembling a lintel, and her expression was complicated.

On the stone lintel, there are neatly carved seven-character couplets on the left and right.

[Azure Dragon's Writing Brush Appears Towards the Sky]

[The White Tiger Jade Seal Delivers a Letter]

Ran Jianfei did come. He cut down the weeds and branches on the grave mound, and there were ashes of the paper money he burned on the ground.

He was clearly not as indifferent to his deceased wife as he was to Ran Qing.

Although in the story Grandma told, Father and Mother's marriage was an arranged marriage, and the two had never even met before the wedding.

But at least after marriage, the couple had a good relationship.

The family I remember from my childhood was indeed warm and loving.

His father, who was taciturn and didn't talk much, also cared for and loved him.

When he was bullied by the bad kids in the village, his father took him to the other kids' parents to demand an explanation.

During the Spring Festival, he would sit on his father's shoulders as the family of three went to the ferry crossing at the foot of the mountain to listen to others sing folk songs.

Sitting around the fire at night, the playful little Ranqing stuffed the corn kernels his mother had roasted into his nostrils and played a game of spitting them out. But they got stuck and he couldn't spit them out, so his father carried him to the town clinic to find a doctor that very night...

In my childhood memories, I was mischievous and lively, pampered by my mother, cared for by my grandmother, and protected by my father. I was clearly living a very happy life.

He couldn't understand why such a dramatic change would occur after his mother's death.

Ran Qing could understand why her taciturn father, whom she remembered, had remarried.

In the story Grandma told, the father and mother's marriage was an arranged marriage by their elders.

Before he met his mother, his father had already met and fallen in love with a woman named Luo Caixia.

After his mother passed away, Ran Jianfei went to remarry his first love, which is only natural.

Ran Qing couldn't understand why her father had become so cold and heartless after getting married.

He used to think that his stepmother was the one causing trouble, and that she was a gossipy, mean, and vicious woman.

But after getting to know her as an adult, I found that this stepmother wasn't so terrible.

After being targeted by the evil spirit and seeing his mother's corpse, he felt a renewed fear that he had done something foolish when he was young and naughty, causing his mother's death and making his father hate and despise him so much.

However, when the father and son confronted each other, Ran Jianfei personally said that his mother's death had nothing to do with Ran Qing.

The taciturn man in my memory seems to be simply selfish and simply doesn't want to pay attention to Ran Qing.

From a certain perspective, this is precisely what makes Ran Qing most desperate.

In the hospital, the father, who was usually taciturn and rarely played with him, was happily frolicking with his daughter, enjoying the simple joys of family life...

Ran Qing stood before the tombstone, her expression dazed for a long time.

He originally thought he hated Ran Jianfei.

At least on the night his sixth aunt passed away, he did glare at his father, utterly disappointed in that man, and all the grievances and hatred that had been bottled up in his chest for ten years burst forth.

At that time, he wished he could sever all ties with this man named Ran Jianfei and have nothing to do with him anymore.

But as time went on, he found that the hatred in his heart had disappeared.

He still didn't like that man, but he could no longer hate him.

Standing before his mother's grave at this moment, he realized that he was only feeling resentment.

I'm indignant that the other person is this kind of person.

If only that man hadn't been so selfish...

(End of this chapter)