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

Xu An's hands were trembling slightly.

It wasn't because of the cold, but because the person on the screen, "Old Wang from Shenzhen," was frantically refreshing the Carnival feed.

Special effects were everywhere, turning the live stream into a PowerPoint presentation.

"Um... Auntie."

Xu An swallowed hard and handed the phone forward.

"How about... you say a few curses?"

"He seems... to really want to hear you swear."

Liu Shufen was stunned. She squinted at the golden name on the screen, her eyes, which had been stained with smoke for forty years.

[Old Wang from Shenzhen (verified identity: Chairman of XX Construction Group)]

The old lady didn't know many words, but she recognized the portrait.

It was a black and white photograph. In the photo, a young man wearing a vest and covered in dirt was grinning foolishly.

The background is this large iron pot and the stove that was only half-built.

"Bang!"

The large iron ladle in Liu Shufen's hand fell to the ground once again.

This time she didn't pick it up. Instead, she rubbed her hands haphazardly on her apron, and as she rubbed, she wrinkled the apron.

"Wang...Degui?"

The old lady called out tentatively.

The voice wasn't loud, but those three words were like pressing the pause button on the live stream.

The screen was filled with comments like: "Quiet! Everyone be quiet! Let the old man talk!"

The next second, a bolder, larger golden barrage of comments slowly floated by.

[ID: Shenzhen Lao Wang: Shufen, it's me.]

[ID: Shenzhen Lao Wang: I didn't go far.]

[ID: Shenzhen Lao Wang: Actually... I'm in Shenzhen.]

[ID: Shenzhen Lao Wang: I didn't dare remarry. I'm afraid I won't hear the sound of you chopping tofu in my dreams.]

Four simple lines, no sentimentality, no explanation, just an almost clumsy frankness.

Liu Shufen looked at those lines of text and suddenly smiled.

He laughed so hard he was doubled over, and tears streamed down his face, washing away the cigarette ash and creating two deep furrows.

"You old bastard!"

"You heartless bastard!"

"You... coward!"

She pointed at the phone screen as if she were pointing at that person's nose.

"You think you're so great just because you're in Shenzhen?"

"Does becoming a big boss make you more capable?"

"Forty years!"

"Do you know how I've survived these past forty years?"

"The smoke from the stove was so thick that I couldn't open my eyes."

"The smell made the villagers laugh at me, calling me the 'Black Widow'!"

"You're something else!"

"You're acting like a coward in Shenzhen!"

As Liu Shufen continued her rant, her voice choked with sobs.

She plopped down on a small stool next to the pile of smoked tofu.

She covered her face, looking like a wronged little girl. In the live stream, with over two million viewers, no one posted a smiley face; everyone remained silent.

Until [Old Wang from Shenzhen] spoke up again.

[ID: Shenzhen Lao Wang: Shufen, I know I was wrong.]

[ID: Shenzhen Lao Wang: I was genuinely scared back then.]

[ID Shenzhen Lao Wang: Later... I saw in the newspaper that you had become a "ten-thousand-yuan household" and a "March 8th Red Banner Pacesetter" in the whole county.]

[ID: Shenzhen Lao Wang: I'm even more afraid to go back.]

[ID: Shenzhen Lao Wang: I feel I'm not good enough for you.]

[ID: Shenzhen Lao Wang: I'll work like crazy, build like crazy. I'm thinking, when my skyscrapers can outshine your chimneys... then I'll come back.]

Xu An looked at this comment and his lips twitched. This damned, clumsy pride of men from that era.

Because he ruined the stove, he felt useless; because the woman was too outstanding, he felt like a burden.

So they desperately tried to prove themselves, and that proof lasted a lifetime.

"Not good enough for you?!"

Liu Shufen suddenly raised her head and shouted into the phone:

"Wang Degui, you listen to me!"

"My tofu is famous precisely because of its smoky flavor!"

"If you fix the stove, nobody will buy this tofu!"

"You're such an idiot!"

"A complete idiot!"

The live stream chat exploded instantly.

[ID Logic Genius]: Hahahaha! It's a closed loop! A perfect logical closed loop!

[ID Real Estate Tycoon]: Mr. Wang: So all my 40 years of hard work have been for nothing? My success stemmed from a construction accident?

[ID shipped]: This must be the best kind of love! Your mistake became my trademark!

Seeing that the atmosphere was quite right, Xu An quickly stepped in to act as a peacemaker.

"Um... Chairman Wang."

"The old lady has vented her anger and swore her piece."

"Look..."

"Should we fix this stove or not?"

On the other side of the screen, in a top-floor office in a CBD in Shenzhen.

An elderly man with gray hair and a sharp suit was wiping away tears with a tissue.

The secretary next to her was so frightened that she didn't dare to breathe.

What's wrong with the chairman? He didn't cry like this even when he lost a multi-billion dollar project.

With trembling hands, the old man typed a line of text on the tablet.

[ID: Shenzhen Lao Wang: Fix it!]

[ID: Shenzhen Lao Wang: Not just repairing stoves.]

[ID: Shenzhen Lao Wang: I want to go back and build a factory.]

[ID: Shenzhen Lao Wang: I want to sell Liuwan's smoked tofu to Shenzhen, to Hong Kong, and to the whole world!]

[ID: Shenzhen Lao Wang: Shufen, save me a bowl of tofu pudding.]

[ID: Shenzhen Lao Wang: I'm flying to Zhengzhou tonight.]

Looking at the words "Leave me a bowl of tofu pudding," Liu Shufen, who had just been incredibly shrewish, suddenly became somewhat hesitant.

She subconsciously tidied her hair and then looked at her red cotton-padded jacket, which was covered in bean curd residue.

"that……"

"Young man."

Liu Shufen looked at Xu An somewhat embarrassed.

"Look at what that old lady is wearing... doesn't it look a bit dowdy?"

"He's a big boss now..."

"I..."

Xu An smiled, revealing a set of bright white teeth.

"aunt."

"That's not what you call rustic."

"That's what we call the warmth of everyday life."

"It's also the taste that Wang Degui craves most in his life."

"We'll see."

"He ruined the stove."

"He started this smoke."

"You'll turn into charcoal."

"He has to treat you like royalty!"

After hearing this, Liu Shufen was stunned for a moment, then laughed heartily.

"middle!"

"I'll listen to you!"

"I'll wait for him wearing this!"

"Let's see if he dares to look down on me!"

After the old lady finished speaking, she turned around, picked up the large iron ladle, and shouted to the long line behind her:

"We're not selling tofu today!"

"Keep them all for my old man!"

"Let's disperse!"

The crowd groaned, but no one was really angry; everyone was laughing and making a ruckus.

"Aunt Liu, are we going to drink the nuptial wine?"

"This smoked tofu should probably be renamed 'Lover's Tofu' from now on, right?"

Seeing that the mission was complete, Xu An prepared to leave.

This place is unbearable; the stench is too strong—the stench of falling in love.

"Auntie, I'll be going now."

"There are still several letters that haven't been delivered."

Xu An picked up his phone, preparing to turn around.

"stop!"

Liu Shufen gave a stern shout, and Xu An's legs went weak, almost causing him to kneel down.

"Wha...what's wrong?"

Liu Shufen walked over in a few steps and scooped out several large pieces of freshly cooked, steaming hot, and dark black smoked tofu from the pot.

He wrapped it in lotus leaves, stuffed in two bottles of homemade chili sauce, and shoved it all into Xu An's arms.

"Take it!"

"These are wedding candies!"

"It's not candy, but it's sweeter than candy!"

"Eat if you get hungry on the way!"

"Thank you on behalf of that old man!"

Xu An held the steaming hot tofu, smelling its unique smoky aroma, and felt a warm glow in his heart.

"Alright!"

"Thank you for the gift, Auntie!"

"Wishing you and Chairman Wang a long and happy life together!"

Xu An, clutching the tofu, ran out of the alley as if fleeing; the old lady's aura was too strong.

If I don't leave soon, I'm afraid I'll be dragged into being a groomsman.

Back at the village entrance, a group of children had already gathered around the black Raptor.

When Xu An returned carrying a dark, murky bag, the viewers in the live stream laughed again.

[ID Foodie]: Is this the legendary wedding candy? It looks like lumps of coal!

[ID Intangible Cultural Heritage]: This is smoked tofu, an intangible cultural heritage item! Chairman Wang just said that it will be sold all over the world!

[ID Envy]: This streamer gets such treatment, eating wherever he goes, is this the legendary "mukbang"?

Xu An placed the tofu on the passenger seat, fastened his seatbelt, and started the car.

The raptor let out a deep roar and slowly drove away from Willow Bay Village.

In the rearview mirror, the chimney belching black smoke still stands stubbornly, like a lighthouse that has been watching over us for forty years.

Waiting for the captain who lost his way to return.

"Family members."

Xu An drove while reminiscing.

"I used to think that time went by too fast."

"It happened so fast that there wasn't even time to say goodbye."

"Let's take a look now."

"Time moves quite slowly."

"So slow it could blacken a stove."

"So slow it can destroy a relationship..."

"Smoked to infuse flavor."

"Grandpa Wang has spent forty years proving that he can build skyscrapers."

"Aunt Liu has proven over forty years that even a broken stove can produce delicious food."

"This is probably..."

"Two negatives make a positive."

In the live stream, gift effects flooded the screen once again.

This time it's not about showing off wealth, but about the love that time has refined into fine wine.

Xu An glanced at the metal box on the passenger seat.

Two letters are missing, but the story has only just begun.

The next letter.

Xu An reached out and touched it. The envelope was very thin, with no stamp, only a line of crooked pencil writing.

[Give...a stone.]

There was no address, no signature, not even a proper name.

He only has one nickname: Stone.

But on the back of the letter was a strange symbol, which looked like a hammer or a mountain.

Xu An parked the car on the side of the road and carefully examined the symbol.

Suddenly his pupils contracted sharply; he had seen this symbol before.

Right behind Xujia Village, in the back mountain, lies that long-abandoned, supposedly haunted... old quarry.

There lived a strange old man whom everyone called "the mute," who spent his days carrying a hammer and hammering at the stones.

Nobody knew what he was doing or where he came from. The old folks in the village said he was a madman.

But Xu An remembered that when he was a child, he had seen a room full of stone carvings in that madman's stone house.

Each one seemed to be crying.

"Family members."

Xu An's voice turned somber.

"Next stop, let's go back to the village and go to the old quarry on the back mountain."

"Go see that... person who only talks to stones."

……

As evening fell, the setting sun cast a blood-red glow, and the black pickup truck stopped on the hill behind Xujia Village.

This place is desolate, with jagged rocks and only a narrow path leading to a cave halfway up the mountain.

That was a grotto left from blasting rocks in the past, and now it has become the home of that "madman".

Before I even got close, I heard a "ding-ding-ding" sound.

The sound was crisp and rhythmic, like someone was hammering the heartbeat of the mountain.

Xu An got out of the car, holding the letter without a stamp, and took a deep breath.

He whispered into the live stream:

Have you ever seen someone... carve their tears into stone?

"Let's go and see for ourselves today."

"What does it mean to be...heartless?"

"Let's see for ourselves... what it means to be... earth-shattering."