Cangmang Asks the Way 1: Guardian of the Lamp

After Cang Houde finished speaking the last word, the main room fell into a deathly silence.

For a full ten seconds, no one spoke, no one moved. The only sound was the occasional crackling of the charcoal fire.

Then, Cang Jianguo abruptly stood up from his chair, the chair legs scraping loudly on the floor. He stared intently at his father, his lips trembling as he said:

"Father...why...why didn't you say so sooner? If you had said so earlier...back then..."

"Shut up!" Cang Houde interrupted him sharply. "Jianguo, don't you understand yet? Are there things you can say? Do you dare to say them?"

The old man's chest heaved violently. He reached for the teacup on the table, but his fingers trembled so badly he could barely hold the handle. Seeing this, Cang Tianci silently stepped forward, picked up the teacup, and held it to his grandfather's lips. Cang Houde took a sip of water from his grandson's hand, and his breathing calmed down slightly.

He took a breath, his voice softening: "You accuse me of favoritism, of hiding things. Yes, I am biased—I favor this copper coin and this booklet, I favor these things my father earned with his life and reputation. Because they don't belong to our family, they belong to our nation. If I tell you the secret, can you guarantee you can keep it from me under duress or temptation?"

Cang Jianguo opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but couldn't utter a single word. If he had known the truth back then, could he really have kept quiet?

"By not telling you, I was actually protecting you and the Cang family! But I was also worried that if I suddenly passed away one day, wouldn't the secret that Father risked his life to protect be lost? So, I was also observing you, observing who was the most suitable to entrust this secret to. In the end, I chose Yuanzhi."

At this point, Cang Houde looked at Cang Yuanzhi, his eyes filled with pride, but even more so with heartache. Everyone's eyes also turned to Cang Yuanzhi.

"Don't think this is me showing favoritism towards him. What I passed on to him is not honor, but a heavy responsibility. He is a combat hero recognized by the state. His broken leg is his medal and his armor. As long as our Party exists, no one will dare to touch him."

"When Yuanzhi heard this secret, he was both proud and shocked. He advised me to tell the organization. I listened and was preparing to write a report when Yuanzhi..."

At this point, the old man coughed heavily, his whole body trembling. Cang Liuqing quickly stepped forward and gently patted his grandfather's back.

Upon hearing this, tears involuntarily streamed down Liu Wenxiu's face. Her father-in-law's words reminded her of her painful past...

She came from a family with a bad social class background. She finally found a village schoolteacher who didn't look down on her and was willing to live with her, but less than two years into their marriage, shortly after giving birth to Liu Qing, he suddenly fell seriously ill and passed away. There was some gossip in the village, and men with ulterior motives often lingered around her. That year, she lived in constant fear; if it weren't for the infant Liu Qing, she would have collapsed long ago.

Her husband passed away, and the school was short of a teacher. She knew some characters, so she took her husband's place and became a substitute teacher.

That day, she taught the children to be filial to the elderly and to care for the young. She quoted Confucius: "Respect the elderly in your own family, and extend that respect to the elderly in other families; care for the young in your own family, and extend that care to the young in other families."

Someone reported her for promoting feudal ideas in class. It was Yuanzhi—the man with a broken leg but as imposing as a mountain—who stood up, blocking her path, and pointed at the shouting crowd, shouting sternly, "Teacher Liu teaches children filial piety and love, what's wrong with that? Anyone who dares to touch her will have to step over me first!"

At that moment, as she looked at this man who had stood against the whole world for her sake, at his empty left trouser leg and his straight back, something inside her collapsed, and something else sprouted from the ground.

It wasn't gratitude, it was love. It was a love mixed with heartache, admiration, and a willingness to share any fate with him.

When he tore up the guarantee and said, "I'm quitting this deputy director position," she cried uncontrollably. Not for herself, but for him. She knew what this meant—her future ruined, cold shoulders, and possibly even the entire Cang family implicated. She desperately refused, saying she was "unlucky and brought bad luck to her husbands," that she was "not good enough for him." But he said, "I don't believe in fate, I only believe in people."

These words were like a ray of light, piercing through all the gloom and self-deprecation that had plagued her for over twenty years.

When he was so hungry he was about to faint, he would quietly slip his half-eaten cornbread into my hand and say, "Teacher Liu, you're contributing to the village by teaching the children to read. It's only right that I help you."

His eyes were as open and honest as the autumn sky.

Marrying him was the bravest and most regretless decision of her life. Even if it meant a simple life, even if she faced scorn, even if he remained just an ordinary commune member forever. Because he gave her what a woman longed for most—dignity, respect, and a home where she could hold her head high.

Hearing her father-in-law recount the secret from years ago, the truth he almost revealed, Liu Wenxiu's heart ached even more. It turned out that so early on, Yuanzhi had already shouldered such a heavy family responsibility. If he had successfully become the deputy director back then, perhaps this secret would have been handed over to the state long ago, and the Cang family wouldn't have had to endure it for so many years. But because he married her, he lost that position, indirectly causing this secret to remain buried...

A wave of overwhelming guilt nearly overwhelmed her. She was the one who had dragged him down, and perhaps even the entire Cang family? This thought sent chills down her spine.

But just then, a warm, rough hand grasped hers. It was Cang Yuanzhi. He seemed to read her mind, squeezing her hand firmly and whispering, "Wenxiu, don't overthink it. Marrying you was the best decision I ever made. Without you, without Liu Qing, my life would be no different from being dead. What's meant to be will be, and now is the perfect time."

His gaze remained as firm and open as it had been years ago, devoid of any regret or resentment. That gaze acted like a stabilizing force, instantly calming her turbulent emotions. Yes, he had said he didn't believe in fate, only in people. They were husband and wife, one, weathering storms together. Today, they, along with their entire family, would face this truth that had come decades too late.

Tears welled up again, but this time, they were not of sadness and guilt, but of relief and determination. She gripped her husband's hand tightly, wiped away her tears, and straightened her back.

Cang Liuqing listened quietly, her vision blurred with tears. As a daughter, she knew from a young age how difficult her parents' marriage was, how hard her mother had worked, and how much her father had sacrificed for the family and her mother. She had always been proud of her father, not only as a war hero but also as a truly upright, loyal, and righteous man.

Hearing her grandfather recount this story, and seeing her mother's tear-streaked face clasped tightly with her father's hand, she was overwhelmed with emotion. It turned out that at the juncture where family duty and personal destiny intertwined, her parents' story was so closely linked to her great-grandfather's secret.

She saw the fleeting guilt and pain in her mother's eyes, and her heart ached as well. But then, her father's firm grip and whispered words, and her mother's straight back, filled her with a surge of warmth and immense pride.

These are her parents. Caught between personal destiny and family responsibility, between the tides of history and their inner convictions, they composed a profound and heroic song in their own way. Her father sacrificed his future to uphold love and morality; her mother endured stigma but won dignity and true love. Their choices may have inadvertently delayed the revelation of their secret, but they preserved the integrity of their family, allowing her—Cang Liuqing—to grow up in an environment filled with love and resilience, becoming the person capable of shouldering this heavy responsibility today.

Cang Liuqing stood up, walked to her parents' side, and stretched out her arms, gently placing one hand on her father Cang Yuanzhi's shoulder, which trembled slightly with emotion, and the other holding her mother Liu Wenxiu's cold hand. Her gaze was clear and firm as she looked at her grandfather, father, and mother in turn, then swept over each of her closest relatives in the main room, and said:

"Grandpa, Dad, Mom, Great-Grandpa protected the flame with his life, Grandpa guarded the secret with a lifetime of silence, Dad and Mom protected this family with half a lifetime of hardships... Now, it's our turn."

She released her grip, took a step back, and bowed deeply and solemnly to the three elders and to the direction of her great-grandfather Cangyun Mountain's spirit in heaven.

"This fire has been passed down through four generations, burning through the cold nights of Beiping, enduring the hardships of fleeing south, and buried in the soil of Xiqiao. Today, it should be lit."

She straightened up, her eyes blazing:

"It's not about illuminating the honor and disgrace of a single family, but about illuminating a history that should not be forgotten, illuminating the names and sacrifices that should be remembered. This is the original intention of my great-grandfather in leaving it behind, and this is the meaning behind our Cang family's four generations guarding it, protecting it, and waiting for it."

Inside the main room, the charcoal fire crackled and burst into a bright spark, instantly illuminating the faces with their various expressions.