Liang Qiaoqiao listened for a long while before asking in a faint, unsteady voice, “Must we really find a man to smash the basin?”
She wasn’t very familiar with funeral customs from different regions, and she was completely baffled by Wutong Village’s ancestral tradition of basin-smashing.
All she knew was that in modern big cities, the deceased were directly taken to crematoriums for incineration.
Family members of the deceased with status and connections might hold a memorial service for appearances.
But someone like Liang Qiaoqiao—who had just graduated from university before being struck dead by a car on the street—probably wouldn’t even have her parents bother to collect her ashes.
No matter how large her accident compensation might be, in the eyes of her son-preferring parents, she wouldn’t deserve a burial plot.
Most likely, her ashes would be scattered on the spot.
At best, they might become fertilizer for roadside plants or end up dumped in the trash.
Imagining that scene, Liang Qiaoqiao couldn’t help but shed hot tears for her pitiful future self.
Born unloved by her family—she was truly tragic.
The old men had no idea what she was thinking. Seeing her red-rimmed eyes and nose, they assumed the young girl was grieving over her grandmother’s death again.
“Ah, if it really can’t be helped, we’ll just have to think of something else.”
“That’s right, Qiaoqiao. No need to worry too much. Didn’t the village chief go to the village entrance to receive someone? Let’s discuss this again when he returns.”
She was just a teenage girl, younger than their own granddaughters—what could they expect her to understand?
The old men sent Liang Qiaoqiao back to continue keeping vigil.
After gathering to discuss for a while longer, they decided to go together to meet the village chief.
Outside Chen Laoda’s courtyard gate at that moment.
An army-green jeep screeched to a halt by the corner of the wall.
The rear door opened first, revealing a straight, long leg clad in green military trousers and liberation shoes.
The next moment, a tall, long-legged officer with four pockets on his uniform and a ramrod-straight posture leaped out of the vehicle.
This officer was extremely young, at most in his early twenties.
But his appearance was strikingly handsome, like the sun falling from the sky into this remote mountain valley of Wutong Village, dazzling to the eyes at first glance.
Only his sharp, blade-like eyes slightly tempered the mesmerizing effect of his face.
Combined with his formidable, imposing presence, it was clear he had experienced battlefield combat.
Old Village Chief, who had stepped out a moment later, hurried forward.
Facing the young, handsome officer, the village chief’s wrinkled face blossomed into a chrysanthemum-like smile: “Battalion Commander Mu, please come in.”
Mu Yang, temporarily assigned to represent the army in comforting the family of a fallen soldier, nodded casually.
His expression then turned solemn as he observed the mourning-draped farmhouse courtyard, deep regret and sorrow surfacing in his eyes.
They had ultimately arrived too late!
If only they had come earlier, they might have been able to see the elderly woman one last time…
Habitually adjusting his military cap, Mu Yang led his two subordinates (who had emerged from the front seat) and followed Old Village Chief into Chen Laoda’s courtyard.
Inside, several old men who had just approached the gate ran straight into Old Village Chief leading three soldiers into the yard.
“Village Chief, you’re back!”
“We were just looking for you to decide—Chen Laoda’s family has no one to smash the basin.”
“Exactly, we certainly can’t use Chen Laoer’s side of the family…”
Mu Yang and his two companions halted their steps with the Old Village Chief. After listening to the elders explain the situation briefly, they quickly understood the matter at hand.
“If no one is going to smash the basin, then I’ll do it,” Mu Yang stated solemnly.
“That’s right, we’ll join too!” Zheng Cheng and Nong Yisong, who had come with him, chimed in unison.
Hearing this, the Old Village Chief and the other elders turned to look at them with surprise. “Are you serious, comrades from the military?”
Soldiers had come to smash the basin and send off Chen Pozi in her funeral?
These three were all officers with four pockets on their uniforms—even Mingzi, in his lifetime, probably hadn’t reached such a high rank.
Mu Yang, as their leader, nodded gravely to affirm. “Comrade Chen Ziming was our dear comrade-in-arms. He sacrificed his life for the country, so his mother is our mother too. We are the filial sons and grandsons of Mother Chen.”
As comrades from the same military district and fellow soldiers of a martyr, there was nothing inappropriate about them smashing the basin to send off the mother of a hero.
Inside the courtyard of Chen Laoda’s home, the villagers of Wutong Village felt a complex mix of emotions upon hearing this.
Chen Pozi had lost a son, but in return, she gained three officer “sons” to smash the basin and carry her funeral banner.
Was this a twist of fate to be envied?
Yet, if given the choice, none of them would have traded places with her.
With myriad emotions, the villagers, led by the Old Village Chief, escorted the three military comrades to the ancestral hall.
Outside the ancestral hall, Liang Qiaoqiao, who had received the news a step earlier, was already waiting to greet them, accompanied by the village aunties.
The two groups met at the entrance of the ancestral hall.
Guided by the elders, they exchanged greetings according to local customs between hosts and guests.
“On behalf of my mother and Mingzi, I thank the military leaders for remembering and caring. Thank you for coming all this way.”
Liang Qiaoqiao, dressed in mourning clothes, bore a gaunt face marred by colorful medicinal stains, making it hard to look at.
She kept her head lowered as she bowed in gratitude to each of the three tall military comrades.
Mu Yang, acting as their representative, helped her up. “We’re sorry for arriving late… Comrade Liang Qiaoqiao, please accept our condolences.”
His sharp eyes swept over Liang Qiaoqiao from head to toe as he looked down at the only remaining survivor of Chen Laoda’s household.
First, he frowned at her emaciated frame, barely concealed beneath the white mourning clothes. Then, his gaze fell on the unnatural wounds on her face and forehead, prompting a flicker of contemplation in his eyes.
There seemed to be something off about this adopted sister of Comrade Chen Ziming.
Having grown up in Wutong Village, she should logically have good relations with the villagers.
Yet the injuries on her face and the back of her head, wrapped in white cloth, were clearly unusual. How had she gotten them?
And what about the sudden illness the Old Village Chief had mentioned, which caused Mother Chen’s death?
Could it be that the elderly woman hadn’t died of natural causes?
Was someone in Wutong Village bullying the family of a martyr?
Mu Yang made a mental note to investigate this thoroughly later.
After the three military comrades paid their respects before the spirit tablet, the time slowly passed half-past one in the afternoon.
With the basin-smashing role confirmed, the funeral procession was quickly arranged.
At exactly two o’clock, under the brightest sunlight, all the villagers of Wutong Village, except for Chen Laoer’s family, turned out to escort the hero’s mother on her final journey.
Accompanied by the three military comrades and the villagers, Liang Qiaoqiao, the only remaining military dependent, sent off the last relative she had never had the chance to meet since crossing over, laying her to rest on the hill behind the house.
Kneeling before the old woman’s grave, Liang Qiaoqiao scooped up a handful of broken earth and scattered it over the black thin coffin in the pit.
Her sobs were hoarse and broken: “Mom, may you rest in peace! When you get to the other side, reunite happily with Dad and Mingzi!”
In her heart, she silently added: And that little girl who followed you all—may your family be whole again in the afterlife!