"Gulp, gulp."

Where am I? I can't breathe, and I can't move my hands or feet. It's so uncomfortable.

Shouts, footsteps, and arguments accompanied the sound of someone falling into the water.

Xu An clearly felt someone grab his arm, and the darkness in front of him gradually dissipated, with the light growing brighter and brighter.

The man kneeling on Xu An, performing chest compressions, was suddenly thrown over by a tremendous force. Before he could react, he heard cheers from the surrounding crowd.

"He's awake! He's been saved! He's alive!"

After a violent bout of vomiting that felt like it was vomiting up his heart and lungs, Xu An's attention slowly returned to normal. He realized that his right hand was tightly gripping a fish, a fish so mangled and bloody that it was unrecognizable as a fish.

The moment Xu An saw the fish, he instinctively pulled it into his arms. His subconscious told him that this fish was extremely important to him.

This strange action startled those around him, and several people who had initially wanted to help him up slowly returned to the crowd.

An elderly woman called out to Xu An hesitantly, "Young man from the Xu family, young man from the Xu family?"

Xu An looked up at the person who spoke. The old woman was about seventy years old, with her silver hair neatly styled. She had a kind smile on her face and was holding clothes full of foam in her hand. She must have just been washing clothes.

Isn't this the village's Third Grandma? But didn't she pass away three years ago? How come she's alive and well here, and no one around her seems to be acting strangely?

A sharp headache struck, and large chunks of memories flooded Xu An's mind.

Xu An remembered when this scene had occurred.

This is a scene from fifteen years ago, when my grandmother fell down the stairs and broke her right leg. After receiving treatment at the hospital, she returned home to recuperate. I went to the river to catch fish to supplement my grandmother's nutrition, but I suffered a leg cramp and almost drowned. I was rescued by someone.

Another image simultaneously flashed into Xu An's mind: he was standing on the rocks by the sea, with waves rolling in one after another, and a huge wave swept him into the sea as he awaited rescue.

Xu An looked at his body. He was wearing a big, tattered striped T-shirt with patches, and below his coarse cloth shorts were two legs as thin as bamboo poles, with two vegetable leaves hanging from his feet.

This was his favorite outfit when he went out to work. He only gave it up when he got caught on a tree branch while chopping firewood near the end of his senior year of high school. The branch tore the clothes to pieces, and they were so badly damaged that they were difficult to sew back together.

Is this a return to the summer vacation after the college entrance examination, fifteen years ago?

"The Buddha said, 'There are too many emotions in a lifetime; love and hate drag on and on, and one's brows are always furrowed with worry.'"

The phone suddenly rang, and the man took it out of his pocket. Xu An saw the date on the screen: June 13, 2012.

June 13, 2012!

At this time, the younger siblings had not yet been sent to the aunt's house!

Xu An jumped up, thanked the enthusiastic villagers around him in a flurry of words, and then ran home as fast as he could.

Xu An suddenly pushed open the gate to the courtyard and saw his younger brother and sister washing vegetable leaves in the yard. He immediately hugged them both.

The younger brother's name is Xu Kang, and the younger sister's name is Xu Le; they are twins, a boy and a girl. On June 15th, they were sent to the home of their aunt, who had been married for seven years without children, and registered under her household registration, becoming Xu An's cousins ​​instead of his biological siblings.

"Brother, you're squeezing me so tightly." The two tried to push Xu An away, but they were too small and weak, and Xu An didn't budge.

Upon hearing this, Xu An snapped out of his reverie, quickly released his hands, and then roughly pinched the two people's delicate faces.

Xu Le crawled out of Xu An's arms and peeked behind him. Not seeing the familiar fish basket, he asked with some disappointment, "Brother, where are the fish? Didn't you go to catch fish? Didn't you catch any?"

Xu An rubbed Xu Le's head, and looking at the two of them looking pale and thin, he said apologetically, "Brother didn't catch any fish, so we won't eat fish today, how about we eat meat instead?"

Upon hearing Xu An's words, the two little ones stared at him with wide eyes, their faces filled with disbelief: "Brother, do we really eat meat? Is it the meat from a pig?"

Looking at their expectant eyes, Xu An smiled and tapped their little noses, confirming, "Yes, we're eating pork today."

"Aww, time to eat meat! Time to eat meat! Time to eat pork!"

The two excitedly circled around Xu An, constantly muttering "meatball" as they ran.

In 2012, most families were able to enjoy meat at every meal. But in the Xu family, they could only afford to eat meat as a luxury during festivals.

Xu's mother died from postpartum hemorrhage during the birth of Xu Kang and Xu Le. Xu's father worked on a construction site and, in order to earn more money, he took on some dangerous jobs. He accidentally fell from a building and died. After several disputes, he paid 30,000 yuan in compensation.

From then on, only Grandma Xu remained among the Xu family's direct relatives. Fortunately, Grandma Xu was in good health and had a whole garden full of vegetables. She would carry them to the market every day to sell, earning some living expenses, and she could still make ends meet.

But Grandma Xu broke her leg while repairing the house a week ago. The treatment cost more than 10,000 yuan from the 30,000 yuan compensation, which made the already impoverished family even worse off.

"Anzi, is Anzi back?"

Grandma Xu seemed to hear the noise outside, and her weak voice carried through the window.

After stopping the two playful children and locking the courtyard gate, Xu An went inside.

Upon entering the living room, you are greeted by a long table with three red plastic incense burners on it. Above the incense burners, three black and white photographs hang on the wall.

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