How did hiring someone to press a pig image during Chinese New Year become a top trend?

The tricycle was parked fifty meters away from the wooden house.

It wasn't that Xu An didn't want to drive there.

There was truly no way out.

The wheels were covered with pine needles that had accumulated for who knows how many years. They were so soft, like stepping on a cotton ball, that they left a dent with every press.

"Woof—!"

A dog's bark shattered the decades-long silence that had plagued Black Wind Ridge.

The voice didn't sound fierce; it was even a little hoarse.

It conveyed a sense of surprise and hesitation, as if someone hadn't seen a living person in a long time.

Xu An got off the car.

He straightened the collar of his military overcoat and then subconsciously touched the letter in his pocket.

Still.

It's still warm.

"Family members."

"arrive."

"Shh-"

"Don't disturb the...gods in the mountains."

Xu An took his phone off the handlebars and fixed it to the simple handheld gimbal.

The camera shakily pans, and the lone wooden house gets closer and closer in the frame.

The log cabin was built entirely of logs, with the gaps filled with dry moss and mud, making it look as if it had grown out of the ground.

A black dog was tied up at the door.

He was so old that his fur had turned gray. He lay in his nest with his eyelids drooping. He only made two symbolic calls, without even wagging his tail.

In the open space in front of the wooden house, there stood a bare pine pole.

Above, the five-star red flag was stretched straight by the wind, making a "whooshing" sound.

This is the only bright spot in the world.

It is also the only heartbeat in this black and white landscape painting.

The hundreds of thousands of viewers in the live stream were surprisingly quiet; no one spammed "hahaha" or made any memes.

The screen was filled with cautious comments.

[ID Tribute]: Does this place... actually have people living here?

[ID Forest Ranger]: This looks familiar. This is the old forest farm. There was no electricity or internet, and you even had to carry water from the ravine.

[ID Tears Up]: That flag...it made my heart ache.

"Squeak—"

The door of the wooden house opened, and an old man wrapped in a sheepskin coat came out.

He was not tall, had a slightly hunched back, and carried a gleaming machete.

The wrinkles on his face were so deep they could trap a fly, and his skin was a purplish-copper color from long-term exposure to high levels of ultraviolet radiation.

He stood at the door, staring at Xu An.

His eyes were like those of an old bear whose hibernation had been disturbed—warnant.

Xu An's social anxiety flared up instantly; his throat tightened and his palms sweated.

He wanted to say hello, but after opening his mouth for a long time, he couldn't utter a single word.

This is a classic case of "bully at home." He dares to brag to millions of people in the live stream, but when he actually meets a stranger, he immediately becomes as timid as a quail.

"that……"

Xu An hesitated for a long time, and finally just stupidly raised the letter in his hand.

"Post...post office!"

"The messenger!"

That shout cracked his voice.

The echoes reverberated through the empty valley: the messenger… the letter… the…

The old man was stunned for a moment.

He didn't move.

He squinted, looked Xu An up and down, glanced at the dilapidated tricycle behind him, and finally focused his gaze on the letter.

"Where did it come from?"

The sound was like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together, so dry it was unpleasant.

"Xu Family Village".

Xu An answered honestly.

"He's here to deliver a letter on behalf of Li Xingbang...Teacher Li."

Upon hearing the name "Li Xingbang".

The old man's machete clattered to the ground.

He staggered, as if he had been blown off course by the wind.

Then he ignored the knife on the ground and Xu An, who was still live-streaming.

Without even wearing shoes, his two big, bare feet covered in frostbite trudged through the snow, one step at a time.

He rushed up to Xu An and snatched the letter from him.

His movements were so rough, it was as if he were fighting for his life, but the moment he received the letter, his hands trembled as if he were shaking.

That's a frequency that even Parkinson's patients can't produce.

The old man held the letter up to his eyes; it was an envelope from 1978.

Yellowish, crispy, and even with a musty smell.

But he looked at it as if it were a rare treasure that had just been unearthed.

That was Li Xingbang's handwriting, the handwriting of the bespectacled, bookish leader of the educated youth team who always talked about "knowledge changes destiny".

"They're here..."

The old man's lips trembled, and tears streamed down his face without warning.

The water flowed down his deeply lined face and into his graying beard, instantly freezing into shards of ice.

"Forty-eight years..."

"I knew it..."

"You son of a bitch, you bookworm..."

"You won't forget to write to me!"

Xu An stood to the side, at a loss for what to do.

He wanted to offer a tissue, but his pockets contained nothing but a bag of walnuts.

The viewers in the live stream were completely overwhelmed.

[ID breaks down in tears]: Forty-eight years?! A letter waited for forty-eight years?

【ID: Slow in the Past】: Carriages, horses, and mail were slow; a lifetime was only enough to love one person... But this is way too slow!

[ID Keeps Promises]: Teacher Zhao didn't send it out, but he kept it. Xu An delivered it, and that's enough!

The old man didn't open the letter; he couldn't bear to part with it.

He vigorously rubbed his calloused and pine-staining hands on his clothes.

Then he carefully held the letter by the corner, as if cradling a newborn baby.

"Come inside."

The old man tossed out two words, turned around, and walked back.

After taking two steps, he turned back and glanced at Xu An's ears, which were red from the cold.

"There is boiled water."

"And... roasted potatoes."

The cabin was dark, with only a few pine logs burning in the central fire pit, emitting wisps of smoke.

There wasn't much furniture in the room.

A wooden plank bed, a table made from a tree stump, a hunting rifle hanging on the wall, and several yellowed certificates of merit.

The most eye-catching thing was a neatly stacked pile of diaries in the corner.

Each book was filled with writing, densely packed, like ants carrying food.

Xu An took a closer look; it was a mountain patrol diary from the past few decades.

March 5, 1988, sunny. Patrolled the mountain for twenty li and replanted thirty red pine trees.

[August 1, 1995: Heavy rain, landslides, road closures; people ate pine nuts to stave off hunger.]

On May 12, 2008, an earthquake struck. The trees didn't fall, and neither did I.

January 28, 2026, heavy snow, no one around.

simple.

dull.

But it was like a nail, firmly fixed to this mountain.

The old man sat by the fire pit, and by the firelight, he finally opened the letter.

The letter paper was brittle.

It makes a soft "click" sound when opened.

There weren't many words on it, and the ink from the fountain pen had smudged, but they were still barely legible.

Old Wei read it out word by word.

He read very slowly, as if he wanted to chew every word and swallow it.

Xu An zoomed in and focused the camera on the letter.

Forty-eight years ago, a young educated youth wrote his last words to his comrades who stayed behind on the eve of leaving the mountains.

Old Wei:

I'm going back to the city. The college entrance exam has been reinstated, and I'm going to go to university.

The saplings here have all survived. Those three thousand larch trees are our lifeline; you have to watch over them for me.

Don't let the sheep eat it, don't let anyone steal it.

I'll come back when the tree grows up.

We drank under the tree.

Don't worry about it.

Li Xingbang.

1978.10.15]

It contains only a little over a hundred words, without any grand pronouncements or descriptions of life and death.

There is only one promise regarding the "tree".

Old Wei finished reading it.

He pressed the letter to his chest, closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and let out a whimper that sounded like a wolf's howl.

"I've grown up..."

"Guodong..."

"The tree has grown tall..."

"They've all grown up..."

"Why did it take you so long to write...?"

"I'm getting old too..."

"I can't drink anymore..."

Xu An looked at the old man who was crying like a child.

My heart feels like it's stuffed with a wad of wet cotton, making me feel suffocated.

Is this what friendship was like in that era?

The phrase "Keep an eye on it for me" was used.

One person guarded it for a lifetime.

One mountain has remained green for half a century.

The barrage of comments in the live stream was like a flood breaking through a dam.

[ID Tribute]: This is the promise of the Chinese people! A promise is worth a thousand pieces of gold!

[ID Forest Ranger]: I know this forest! It's the best windbreak forest in the Taihang Mountains! It was planted by two people!

[ID tearful]: Teacher Zhao went back to the city, while Lao Wei stayed. Neither of them let the other down!

Old Wei cried for a long time.

After he had cried enough, he wiped his face and pulled a dusty jar from under the bed.

As soon as the mud seal was broken, a strong aroma of wine instantly filled the entire hut.

"drink!"

Old Wei found two bowls and filled them to the brim.

He handed a bowl to Xu An.

A bowl of soup spilled on the ground.

"This bowl is for that bookworm."

"This bowl is for you."

"Little kid, this road has been closed for decades, and you managed to climb up here..."

"He's a real man!"

Xu An looked at the bowl of murky wine and felt a little scared.

He can't hold his liquor!

If you took a sip of this, you'd probably be able to put on a "Guan Yu reincarnated" performance right there on the spot.

But this wine.

I can't not drink it.

This is the handover between two generations, and the 48 years of friendship.

"Um... sir."

"I can't hold my liquor."

"But this wine, I'm drinking it on behalf of Teacher Zhao..."

"To you!"

Xu An picked up the bowl, just about to take a sip as a gesture.

But then Old Wei's generous spirit kicked in, and he picked up his wine jar.

"Dry!"

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh.

He drank most of the jar in one go.

Xu An was dumbfounded. This old man... was a bit too fierce!

He could only grit his teeth and take a small sip.

hot!

It felt like a ball of fire, burning straight from my throat to my stomach.

His face turned red instantly; he truly "instantly turned into Guan Yu" (a famous Chinese comedian).

"Cough cough cough..."

Xu An choked so badly that tears streamed down his face.

Old Wei laughed, his face crinkling with wrinkles, revealing a set of broken, yellow teeth.

"What's that?"

Old Wei pointed to the phone stand that Xu An had placed next to him.

"This thing... can take pictures?"

Xu An recovered and nodded.

"able."

"It will also allow many people to see you."

"Sir, there are hundreds of thousands of people watching you."

Everyone is wishing you a Happy New Year.

Old Wei was stunned.

Hundreds of thousands?

He's met fewer than ten thousand people in his entire life.

"Are they all looking at me?"

"Why are you looking at an old geezer like me?"

Old Wei rubbed his hands together somewhat awkwardly, subconsciously reaching out to straighten the tattered sheepskin coat.

"Look at the heroes."

Xu An said earnestly.

"Sir, would you please take me for a walk?"

"I want to see..."

"The grove you and Teacher Zhao planted."

Old Wei's eyes lit up instantly; it was his proudest work and the only medal he had ever won.

"Walk!"

"Let me show you!"

"That tree... it's incredibly thick!"

Old Wei, carrying a machete, strode out of the wooden house, his back ramrod straight.

Xu An quickly followed, left the wooden house, and turned around a mountain ridge.

The scene before him surprised Xu An and everyone in the live stream.

He was speechless for a moment.

What was once a desolate mountain ridge was now covered with towering larch trees.

Each tree is as thick as a person's embrace, piercing straight towards the sky, its canopy forming a continuous expanse that blocks out the sun.

The wind blows.

The pine trees rustle in the wind, like a green ocean, surging and turbulent on the Taihang Mountains in winter.

This is forty-eight years, and this is the meaning of the phrase "Keep an eye on things for me".

"Family members..."

Xu An's voice trembled slightly.

"this……"

"It's Old Wei's 'child'."

"That was also left by Teacher Zhao... that stroke of the pen."

Old Wei stood under the largest pine tree, patted the rough bark as if patting an old friend on the shoulder.

"Guodong."

"Look."

"The tree is alive."

"I didn't embarrass you."

This moment.

There is no background music or special effects.

There was only an old man, a vast forest, and the sound of the wind.

In the live stream room, the screen was filled with the three words arranged neatly.

The tree has survived.

The person is still alive.