A young boy from the 1970s, separated from his family, fled famine and led his younger brother into

Hoshino squatted in the flower bed and pulled weeds much faster, her little hands pulling out handfuls of weeds, her eyes darting around, but her ears perked up.

The two old men walked around the stone table and stood on either side of him, their shadows completely covering him.

Lu Zhenhua spoke first, his voice not loud, but his authority was not diminished in the slightest.

"Hoshino, look up."

Hoshino slowly stood up, still clutching a handful of weeds in his hand, his fingers covered in mud.

Zhang Chengzhi held the drawing paper up to his eyes and pointed to the two identical old men on the right.

"Explain this to Grandpa, what does it mean?"

Hoshino glanced at the screen, then at the two wrinkled faces in front of him, his expression calm.

"The ones I drew."

Lu Zhenhua's beard stood up, and he poked his entire index finger into the round head labeled "Great-Grandpa" on the painting.

"Look at this face, then look at that face, they're exactly the same! Did you draw a family portrait or a photo of twins registering their marriage?"

Zhang Chengzhi nodded repeatedly beside him.

"Exactly, kid, how do I look like your great-grandfather?"

Hoshino tilted his head, his gaze shifting from Lu Zhenhua's face to Zhang Chengzhi's, scanning back and forth three times, his expression growing increasingly confused.

"You two both have white hair, white beards, and wrinkled faces."

He spread out his two hands and gestured.

"I can't tell the difference."

Lu Zhenhua's face turned a purplish-red, and he put his hands on his hips, in the same posture as when Su Nianci was scolding Banxia.

"How can you not tell the difference? Look at my nose!"

He turned his head to the side and traced a line down the bridge of his nose with his finger.

"Isn't it upright and well-proportioned? When I was young, you couldn't find another nose like mine in the entire military region!"

Hoshino blinked and then looked at Zhang Chengzhi.

"My second grandfather's nose is the same."

Zhang Chengzhi slapped his thigh and laughed so hard he almost fell over. He stopped halfway through his laughter because he suddenly realized that the words meant he looked just like Lu Zhenhua, which was equivalent to him being insulted as well.

He coughed twice and straightened his expression.

"It's different! I have a mole on my nose! Why didn't you draw it on?"

Hoshino stared intently at Zhang Chengzhi's nose for two seconds.

"It's too small; the crayon can't draw it."

Lu Zhenhua slammed his hand on the stone table.

"What about my military cap? I wear it every day, and you didn't even draw a single stroke on it!"

"Grandpa, you're not wearing a hat today."

"I have special circumstances today!"

"Then I drew today too."

Lu Zhenhua opened his mouth three times, but couldn't utter another word.

Zhang Chengzhi was laughing so hard his shoulders were shaking, shaking his head as he laughed.

"Alright, Lao Lu, what are you arguing with a three-year-old for?"

"Don't gloat! He drew you like that too!"

"I don't care, I have a broad mind."

"You're so magnanimous? Last month, when your grandson drew you, he drew three hairs on your head, and you chased him all over the yard!"

"That's a different matter."

The two old men started arguing again, their voices getting louder and their arguments becoming more and more outrageous. They argued about everything from the bridge of the nose to the eyebrows, from the eyebrows to the earlobes, and finally, they argued that whoever had fewer wrinkles was younger.

Banxia came running over from the other end of the yard, clutching a twig in her hand. She squatted down next to Xingye and peeked at the drawing paper.

She looked at it for a full five seconds and nodded very seriously.

"I really can't tell the difference."

The two old men turned their heads and glared at her at the same time.

Banxia was not frightened. Instead, she stood up, threw the branch into the flower bed, and squatted down in front of Xingye.

"Brother, if you draw a hat for Great-Grandpa and a cane for Second-Grandpa, you can tell them apart, right?"

Hoshino's eyes lit up.

He bent down and felt around on the ground, then pulled out the crayon box that was lying next to him, and started revising it while lying on the stone table.

A green crayon drew a hat on "Grandpa's" round head. The brim was tilted and the tip was pointed. The overall shape was somewhere between a military cap and a chef's hat.

A red crayon added a cane next to "Grandpa's" hand. The cane was drawn too thick, so the crayon was changed to yellow and then a layer of blue was added. In the end, the cane became rainbow-colored.

Hoshino put down his crayons, picked up the drawing, looked at it, and nodded in satisfaction.

"alright."

Lu Zhenhua leaned closer and stared at the crooked "military cap," his lips twitching slightly.

Zhang Chengzhi stared at the rainbow-colored cane in his hand, and his lips twitched twice.

The two of them snorted at the same time.

Lu Zhenhua took the drawing paper from Xingye's hand, turned it over and over and looked at it, saying "What kind of crap is this?" while his fingers carefully held the edges of the paper, not even making a single wrinkle.

Zhang Chengzhi put his hands behind his back, pretending not to care.

"Alright, it's just a child's drawing, why take it so seriously?"

"You were the loudest when you were arguing just now."

"I call that guidance."

"That's called being a sore loser."

Su Nianci stood at the courtyard gate for a long time, waiting for the two old men to finish their argument before going in to collect the crayons from the table.

Banxia tugged at the hem of her clothes.

"Mom, did Grandpa and Grandpa make up after they had a fight?"

Su Nianci looked down at her.

What do you think?

Banxia thought for a moment, her face full of determination.

"It's always like this; after arguing, we go for tea together."

Sure enough, ten minutes later, the two old men sat at the stone table in the courtyard, each with a cup of goji berry tea. The teacups clinked together, and neither of them spoke, nor did they leave.

After dinner, while tidying up the living room, Su Nianci squatted under the coffee table to pick up the crayon stub that Banxia had dropped. She reached into the gap between the sofa and touched something hard.

He pulled it out and took a look.

It was Lu Zhenhua's military notebook, with a dark green hard cover, about the thickness of a thumb, and white edges worn down at the corners.

She opened it, and the first page contained the family photo.

The drawing paper was pressed flat and neat, with the edges aligned. Even the crooked line that Hoshino drew was perfectly preserved without a single crease.

Su Nianci closed the notebook and stuffed it back into the sofa cushions untouched.

After washing the dishes and wiping the stove, she cleaned the kitchen and went into the bedroom.

Lu Xingzhou was already lying in bed, flipping through an old magazine, though it was unclear whether he was actually reading it.

Su Nianci changed into her pajamas, lifted the covers and crawled inside, turning her back to him.

The room became dark.

Lu Xingzhou placed the magazine on the bedside table and turned off the lamp.

A thin ray of moonlight pierced through the gap in the curtains and fell on the edge of the pillow.

Su Nianci's voice rang out in the darkness, not loud, as if she had thought about it for a long time before speaking.

"Sailing".

"Um."

"I want to go back to that dilapidated temple."

Lu Xingzhou turned over to face her back.

"Didn't we just go there last time?"

"Last time we went to see the flowers, this time it's different."

"Where are you going?"

Su Nianci's breathing paused for two beats in the darkness.

"There are some things I want to bury there myself."