(1)
Rain seems to be an eternal topic that Qingming can never escape.
In a mountainous water town of Jiangnan like this small city, besides the rain, there is also fog.
A hazy, cyan mist, like a thin veil.
The continuous drizzle was brushed by a gentle breeze, coating the white Fukang Sedan.
The windshield was already covered in raindrops, but the wipers did not move an inch.
With a series of sputtering sounds, the car stalled.
Yu Minghui propped up her chin, helplessly restarting it a few times. The old car let out a few rumbles like a cough before finally starting up again. The beads of rain covering the entire windshield were scraped aside by the large wipers, revealing once more the distant cyan mountains and the wet mud road nearby.
The small, compact body made a sharp turn, veering into a tunnel carved out with crude tools. After driving through the twisted, pitch-black tunnel for a while, light finally shone in from the outside again.
The car stopped in front of a field of flowers that spread across the hills. Yu Minghui held a black lace umbrella as she slowly stepped out and gently pushed the car door shut.
The click of the door closing seemed to blend into this mountain village that was nearly overtaken by nature.
The flower fields were no longer tended; various flowers grew wildly, tangled with many vines. In those fields, a few small trees had even sprouted, their fresh green leaves radiating vibrant vitality.
Yu Minghui opened the trunk, which was connected to the back seat, and took out a beautiful large flower basket. She first held it with both hands to gauge the weight, then carried it with her right hand, her body leaning slightly to the right as she followed the slope all the way up.
Her Great-Aunt was already waiting in front of the mud-brick house. Seeing Yu Minghui approaching, she walked over with a smile and gave a soft greeting: “Huihui is here.”
“Great-Aunt, is anyone else coming today?”
“The eldest son of the Fanzhong family came, and the granddaughter of the Chen Chang family came. They both just went up.”
“Okay, Great-Aunt, let me carry that for you.”
“No need, no need, I can carry it myself.” The wrinkles on the Great-Aunt’s face bunched together as she guarded the bamboo basket in her hand, as if afraid Yu Minghui would snatch it away.
Following the gravel path upward, they arrived beside a cylindrical house that looked like a water tower. Yu Minghui stared at a red flower blooming on the wall and slowly rounded the back of the tower.
There was also an elevated blue-stone bridge here, with a mountain stream below. The rising river water was rushing along with the wind.
The stone bridge had only a crude wooden railing, which looked like it wasn’t very sturdy.
Yu Minghui took her Great-Aunt’s arm and carefully led her toward the other side of the bridge.
That was another mountain, where burial mounds were scattered throughout. Some that were rarely visited were almost entirely covered by the greenery of the mountains.
“The last time I came was last year’s Qingming.” The Great-Aunt walked very slowly. She always stepped out with one foot first, and only after making sure it was steady did she move the other leg. Sometimes when she couldn’t walk well, she had to use her hands to support herself.
“It’s hard to come here normally.”
“Yes… the road is difficult…”
Walking across the arched blue-stone bridge and through the overgrown mountain paths, on this special day, one could still see several other people who had also come to visit graves in this desolate mountain.
Everyone wasn’t actually familiar with each other, so they just gave a soft, distant nod as a greeting.
Finally, Yu Minghui and her Great-Aunt stopped in front of a burial mound halfway up the mountain.
A few stone slabs were laid in front of the grave, and the inscription on the modest tombstone had already become somewhat blurred.
The Great-Aunt tremblingly took a large red candle from the bamboo basket. She struck two matches before lighting it, then used the candle wax to fix it onto the open space in front of the grave.
Buried in the tomb, which had been smoothed over significantly by time, were Yu Minghui’s great-grandfather and great-grandmother.
For a grandchild like Yu Minghui, they were people from an era very distant from this one. But for the Great-Aunt, they were her biological parents who had left indelible marks on her life.
Yu Minghui lit the incense sticks and gave half to her Great-Aunt. The latter took them and held them in her hands, bowing stiffly and heavily.
When she slowly inserted the incense into the soil, Yu Minghui had already lit more candles, arranging them in a circle before the tombstone.
Finally, she took out a stack of yellow paper and silver ingots, and together with her Great-Aunt, she used a candle to light them.
Unlike Yu Minghui, the Great-Aunt burned them one by one. She always waited until the fire was about to reach her hand before letting go, allowing the ashes to swirl around her and fly into the high sky against the blue-gray rain.
“Father, Mother, I am already older than when you left… much older.” The Great-Aunt looked at the firelight reflected in her eyes, murmuring with a faint, bittersweet smile, “I’m old now, I’ve grown old too. To think I would become this old… the days really pass too quickly…”
***
(2)
The mid-sized bus from the center of the small city to the rural town stopped slowly in front of the station. A dozen or so people scattered from the bus and disappeared into the narrow but interconnected alleys of the town.
“Girl, where are you going? Get on and we’ll leave immediately!” A middle-aged man wearing a leather trench coat sat on a red rural motorcycle and shouted.
Yu Mingfei hesitated for a moment before stopping her steps: “Are you going to Chai Village?”
“Ten yuan for Chai Village!” the other party replied readily.
“Stop for a moment when we pass through the township. I need to buy some incense and firecrackers.”
“Deal!”
So, Yu Mingfei grabbed the shoulder seam of the middle-aged man’s trench coat—which was almost rubbed bald—and straddled the motorcycle with a “Heave-ho.”
The bike cooperatively tilted slightly before quickly regaining its balance.
“Do you smoke, girl?”
“No.”
“Heh heh, then I’ll smoke one before we go.”
“Ride while you smoke, I don’t mind.”
“Alright!”
The motorcycle slowly drove out of town and then sped along the provincial road, which wasn’t very wide.
The lush green fields receded behind them, dotted with yellow rapeseed flowers, giving a sense of warmth.
Yu Mingfei’s tense face slowly relaxed, letting the wind toss her hair.
“We’re passing a township market up ahead, do you want to stop?”
“Stop for a bit.”
Yu Mingfei nodded hurriedly.
It was a small township market; even during Qingming, there weren’t many people.
She walked into an incense shop that looked slightly larger and shouted to the boss: “Give me two candles and a bundle of incense—how much is one of these fireworks?”
“Five yuan each.”
“How many shots?”
“Sixteen shots.”
“Give me two, and then I want a box of Two-Kickers. Oh, right, a pack of hell bank notes too…”
She quickly bought the items she would need for the grave and had the owner put them together in a large red plastic bag. When she straddled the motorcycle again, the middle-aged man had finished another cigarette. After waiting for Yu Mingfei to sit steadily, he twisted the throttle again.
By the time her face was almost frozen from the wind, the bike finally stopped in front of her Grandmother’s house.
She shouted to her Grandmother, who was washing clothes in the small river in front of the door: “Grandmother!”
“Oh, Feifei is back.”
“Yeah. Grandmother, have you gone to the grave yet?”
“I went yesterday.”
“Oh, then I’m heading up?”
“Wait a minute.” Grandmother briskly climbed the steps and quickly came over, bringing a small half-bottle of green Erguotou from the house. “Give this to your Grandfather to drink later.”
“Oh, oh… okay.”
“Come back and eat lunch after you’re done. I made Qingming dumplings at home…”
“Okay, I’ll go first then, Grandmother.” Yu Mingfei nodded to her Grandmother and then to the middle-aged man who had already turned around to leave.
“Vroom vroom—” That was the roar of a motorcycle echoing in the countryside.
“Boom boom—!” That was the thunder and lightning bringing the spring rain.
The rain intensified a bit. Yu Mingfei opened a small, short-handled umbrella and walked up the stone steps leading to the highest point of the village.
***
(3)
“Grandfather, your granddaughter has come to visit your grave.” Yu Mingfei smiled faintly, lighting the candles in the rain. Although their flames flickered, they showed no sign of going out. “The rain this Qingming is a bit heavy, and it’s even colder than last year…”
Yu Mingfei casually lit the hell bank notes printed with a string of zeros after the number ‘1’, and then lit the incense sticks in the fire.
She didn’t even bow; she just poked them into the clay pot in front of the grave. Then, as if remembering something, she slapped her forehead: “Oh right, Grandfather, I brought you cigarettes today. The ones you loved most are out of production, so I could only buy a pack of Lion Cigarettes to show my respect…”
Although Yu Mingfei grew up on the island of her hometown, she occasionally stayed at her Grandmother’s house for a period of time—the most vivid memory was that summer break during elementary school.
That was also the last time she saw her Grandfather.
During that summer, Grandfather took her to dig for earthworms to go fishing; to catch crabs in the small creek; to pick the corn that had ripened in July or August and roast it; they even encountered a wild boar in the middle of the night, which Grandfather scared away with a toy-like powder gun…
The memories weren’t many, but every single one was precious.
And in her impressions, Grandfather’s most iconic feature was a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth—he seemed to be smoking all the time.
Even while eating, he would tuck one behind his ear…
Yu Mingfei stuffed the lit cigarettes into the mouths of the two small stone lions on either side of the stone slab in front of the grave.
It looked as if the two of them were smoking.
“Grandfather, smoke as much as you want. If it’s not enough, I’ll light more for you.” A hint of a smile appeared on Yu Mingfei’s face.
“Do you remember saying when I was little that you would give me a huge red envelope when I got married?
“Unfortunately, you won’t be able to fulfill that promise. But it doesn’t matter, because there’s a high probability I won’t get married anyway… even if I do, I probably won’t invite many people.
“Next year, I’ll bring Sister Huihui here. You should meet her too. After all, I plan to entrust my life to her—or rather, we should be entrusting ourselves to each other.
“Oh, and the wine Grandmother told me to bring. There’s only a little left; I reckon it’s what was left over from cooking… just make do with it.”
Yu Mingfei unscrewed the cap and poured the remaining bit of Erguotou in front of the grave, then bent down to light the fireworks and the Two-Kickers: “I’ll set off some fireworks and crackers to make it lively for you. I hope you won’t be startled…”