In the quadrangle, with a small child and a pregnant woman present, Village Chief Li sent the somewhat lively Xiao Xiao Hei to the security team.
The eight wolf puppies had grown into half-grown cubs, taller than adult local dogs. During the slack farming season, the security team took these cubs out for training and patrols.
Upon seeing Xiao Xiao Hei arrive, the cubs gathered around him without any unfamiliarity.
Seeing that Xiao Xiao Hei could integrate, Li Zhengguo confidently handed Xiao Xiao Hei over to the security team for management.
Xiao Hei was getting older and less willing to move.
As the Lunar New Year approached, Xiao Hei, who always lay by the heated kang to warm himself, actually got up and tugged at Tian Jing's trousers, pulling her outside.
Tian Jing didn't understand Xiao Hei's intention, but seeing its stumbling appearance, she had a guess.
She brought a basket and carried Xiao Hei into it.
Li Weili asked her mother where she was taking Xiao Hei.
Tian Jing patted her daughter's shoulder, "Xiao Hei is probably done for. I'm taking it into the mountains."
"No!" Li Weili stopped her, "Just let Xiao Hei stay at home."
Li Zhengguo persuaded their daughter away and waved his wife to leave alone. kAnshu伍.ξà
Tian Jing packed the Lunar New Year goods into another basket and carried the load into the deep mountains.
She first took Xiao Hei to see Xiao Song, wanting Xiao Song to communicate with Xiao Hei.
Xiao Song, however, wailed and said that Xiao Hei was leaving, and now there was one less person it could communicate with.
Tian Jing sighed, "Xiao Song, human lifespans are not long. I will also leave before you. You need to accept this reality."
Xiao Song refused to accept it, "Tiantian, before you leave, please don't come to see me. If you don't come, I'll just assume you're too busy down the mountain to visit me."
"I've practiced for a long time, but I can't shrink myself into a bonsai. I can't go down the mountain, and I won't have to face separation and death, woo woo woo."
Tian Jing "..."
"I'm not dead yet. I plan to live for a hundred years or so, at least another six or seven years. Why are you crying so sadly?"
"Really?" Xiao Song's crying stopped abruptly, "Can you really live for a hundred years or so?"
Tian Jing nodded, "That's what I plan to do. I don't know how many years heaven intends for me to live."
Xiao Song then realized it had been tricked, but the sadness was gone:
"Xiao Hei said it wants to be buried in the mountain that you and it chose together."
Tian Jing's nose twitched. It really wasn't a good thing to develop feelings with inanimate objects.
She and Xiao Song talked with Xiao Hei until the sun set, and Xiao Hei finally closed its eyes.
Tian Jing couldn't help but shed tears.
She sat there quietly, talking to Xiao Song about Xiao Hei and Xiao Hei's father.
In the early morning, Tian Jing, who had almost become an ice pop, moved her body and put the stiff Xiao Hei into the basket:
"Xiao Song, you were right. Before I leave, I definitely won't come to see you."
Xiao Song regretted it again, "No! You must come. Come to me, and we'll reminisce about the past together, lest I forget you as time passes."
Tian Jing picked up the basket and left, "We'll see. If I can move, I'll come. If I'm bedridden, you can just assume I'm still down the mountain pretending to farm diligently with my powers."
After burying Xiao Hei, Tian Jing went to the valley to see her grandfather.
Ah Guang did not expect Group Leader Tian to come into the valley before the New Year.
He went down to the cave and moved all the Lunar New Year goods into it, "Group Leader Tian, don't send me food for three months. I can't eat it all."
Looking at the noticeably thinner Ah Guang, Tian Jing asked, "Do you want to go down the mountain?"
Ah Guang shook his head, "I'm fine here. Down the mountain, there's no one I want to be with."
Tian Jing no longer persuaded him. She glanced at Xiao Bai, who was basking in the sun by the cave entrance, and wondered if getting a dog to keep Ah Guang company would be good or bad.
Squatting by her grandfather's grave, Tian Jing chattered about some trivial matters before going down the mountain.
When she returned to the quadrangle, she was surrounded. Everyone was worried that she had been away all night.
Tian Jing shook her head and said she was fine. Xiao Hei didn't pass away until dark, and she waited until dawn to bury it.
Li Weili cried, saying she hadn't accompanied Xiao Hei on its final journey.
Tian Jing comforted her daughter, "Birth, old age, sickness, and death are the laws of life for humans and objects. The more emotion you invest, the more pain you feel at separation."
"You wanted Xiao Xiao Hei, wasn't it to transfer your affections? Just consider Xiao Xiao Hei as Xiao Hei."
Li Weili nodded with tears, "Xiao Hei knew that. It was the one who created Xiao Xiao Hei for me."
"Alright, stop crying," Tian Jing patted her daughter's shoulder, "Go wash your face. I haven't eaten yet."
Mother Li quickly went to the kitchen to cook for her daughter-in-law.
As soon as they finished eating, someone came to inform Tian Jing that Zhang Fangcao's ashes had been returned.
Li Min, in a bad mood, retorted, "Just send them to the Zhang family. Why tell my sister-in-law?"
A villager looked at Tian Jing, "Group Leader Tian, the person delivering the ashes said that Zhang Fangcao specifically asked for you, and there's a letter."
"I'm not going!" Li Min grabbed Tian Jing, who was getting up, "Whether Zhang Fangcao can be buried in the Zhang family's ancestral grave is the Zhang family's business, it has nothing to do with my sister-in-law."
Tian Jing patted her sister-in-law, who was protecting her, "I'll go see the letter first. After so much confrontation, I didn't expect her to be like Zhao Xiaofang, thinking of me even on her deathbed."
"Bah, bah, bah!"
Li Min spat repeatedly, "Don't talk nonsense. You're not a child."
Tian Jing pulled at her clinging sister-in-law, "Let's go together. Let's see if she mentioned you."
"Bah!" Li Min spat again, "Sister-in-law, can you stop talking nonsense? Why would I want her to think of me?"
Despite her words, Li Min didn't let go and was pulled to the village committee office by her sister-in-law.
The person who came was a young man who said he was hired by the deceased for five hundred yuan to handle her post-mortem affairs.
The deceased asked him to cremate her and then deliver the letter to the person on the envelope at the village committee according to the address on the envelope to complete her wishes.
The young man confirmed Tian Jing's identity, handed her the letter, and left with the urn.
In front of everyone in the office, Tian Jing opened the letter.
To Tian Jing:
I don't want to apologize to you.
In my life, I have wronged too many people.
I went to see the four children according to the four addresses given by Village Chief Li.
The one who brought me back is the eldest of the four children. Doesn't he look like the Li family? He looks like his adoptive father.
Actually, this child is truly Li Aiguo's, but since he suspected me like that, I didn't tell him. I just took his child and married Lin Sii Lai.
All four children are living well. I am relieved.
Da Niu has found a place. I am relieved.
No matter who I have wronged, I don't want to end it with an apology. Whatever I owe in the next life, I will repay.
Finally, I have one last favor to ask of you: take my ashes to the back mountain. Whether you scatter them or bury them, as long as it's in the back mountain.
I wish to be born in Ku Mountain in the next life, no matter what I am. Even if I am just a blade of grass, an ant, I want to be the grass and ant of Ku Mountain.
Please.
Tian Jing handed the letter to Li Zhengguo and walked out of the office with the urn. She was stopped by Zhang's father and mother.
They wanted to bury their daughter in the Zhang family. They had already discussed it with their son and daughter-in-law.
Tian Jing refused, "Zhang Fangcao wanted me to take her to the back mountain. She wants to be a spirit in Ku Mountain."
"You don't believe me? Look at the letter in Li Zhengguo's hand. She didn't mention the Zhang family once."
Avoiding Zhang's father and mother, who were greatly shaken, Tian Jing carried the urn to the back mountain.
She scattered Zhang Fangcao's ashes at the foot of the same mountain where Xiao Hei was.
This pair, having known each other, could look out for each other.