In the evening, at Wang Tianxiao's suggestion, everyone laid an oilcloth on the big stone at the entrance, and the oilcloth was filled with all kinds of fruits, dried fruits, snacks, mooncakes, wine, drinks and so on.

Everyone sat cross-legged on the rocks, chatting around the food.

They were chatting and laughing, eating and drinking.

Everyone gathered here, in a joyous reunion.

The moon was also very cooperative tonight, large and bright, making the surrounding stars appear much sparser.

The Milky Way still resembles a white chain, stretching across the sky.

The starry sky of that era was incredibly beautiful, with countless stars scattered across the deep blue sky like a scattering of silver beans.

The constellations that should appear this season are also clearly visible.

Around 8 o'clock, the weather gradually got colder, and the mountain wind began to blow.

Everyone had a great time chatting, and I just put on an extra layer of clothing.

Wang Tianxiao was happy and had a rare drink, but he didn't expect his alcohol tolerance to have deteriorated so much. He felt like he hadn't drunk much, but he still got drunk in the end.

I don't even know how I got back to my room.

The following morning, when Wang Tianxiao was woken up by Li Yali, he was still dizzy. He opened his eyes and looked at his wife in confusion, not understanding why she had woken him up.

In this situation, his wife would usually be considerate and let him sleep until he woke up naturally.

"What's wrong, Lili?"

Li Yali's expression was complicated, and she couldn't tell whether she was happy or sad. She hesitated for a moment before saying, "Tianyi came this morning and said... he said that Hua'er has returned."

"ah?"

Wang Tianxiao sat up abruptly, asking in surprise what had happened.

"Let Tianyi tell you the details. I'll go out and call him in."

"good."

Wang Tianxiao rubbed his dizzy head, put on a coat, and leaned against the wall of the kang (a heated brick bed) when he saw Wang Tianyi come in looking travel-worn.

"Second Brother."

Wang Tianyi sat down on the kang (a heated brick bed).

"What happened? I heard from your sister-in-law that Hua'er is back?"

"That's right. Yesterday, I was sleeping in the middle of the night when I suddenly heard a child crying outside. It startled me. I thought it might be a ghost in the middle of the night. When I ran out, I found Hua'er squatting at the door crying. I was so scared. I thought... I wondered what was wrong with the child."

Wang Tianxiao thought it was no wonder; a child who had been missing for a long time suddenly squatting at the door crying in the middle of the night would probably scare anyone.

"Did you ask what happened? Where has the child been all these days? Where is her mother? Didn't she come back with her?"

"I asked, but the child seems to have some mental issues. No matter what I ask, he won't say a word. He either sits and cries or just stares blankly. Look at the mess this is in, what should I do?"

Where is the child now?

“It was just sent to my mother. But when my mother asked her questions, she seemed to ignore her, which made my mother cry. I don’t know what’s wrong with that child.”

The image of Hua'er, that child, flashed before Wang Tianxiao's eyes.

She is a bit introverted and has a pair of dark, bright eyes.

She seemed more mature than her peers, at least much more mature than her aunt Wang Xiaozhu.

"I'll give it a try."

Wang Tianxiao got up, dressed, brushed his teeth quickly, and then went to his mother's room.

Since the disaster, my mother has been living in the mountains, sharing a room with Xiaozhu and Hongwei.

Xiaozhu has to go to school, so Wang Tianxin takes her down every morning, but it's a bit difficult for her to come back in the afternoon.

However, there's nothing we can do about it.

Compared to many families who can only live in makeshift tents, she is already doing very well.

When Wang Tianxiao arrived at his mother's place, Hongwei and Wang Fang were playing outside, so it was just his mother and Hua'er.

The mother sat on the side, sighing and looking completely at a loss.

Hua'er sat there with her knees drawn up to her chest, her eyes vacant, a thin blanket draped over her back.

She was like a wounded little animal, huddled in the cold wind.

Wang Tianxiao felt a pang of heartache.

There's an old man in his soul who can't bear to see children suffer.

Although he and Hua'er are only uncle and niece, he already feels a sense of special affection for each other across generations.

Seeing such a small child turn out like this is truly...

I was both angry and heartbroken.

When Wang Tianxiao came in, his mother looked at him with pleading eyes.

Wang Tianxiao then gestured for his mother to go outside for a walk, and he tried to talk to the child.

The mother nodded, got off the kang (a heated brick bed), and went out.

The two of them didn't say a word the entire time, and the atmosphere was so suffocating that it felt like it had frozen solid.

It's like a room filled with gunpowder, just waiting for a spark to come in, which could explode in an instant, destroying everything and reducing it to ashes.

An eleven-year-old girl.

She's already very sensible.

Girls naturally mature earlier than boys, and this was especially pronounced in those impoverished times.

Wang Tianxiao clearly remembered what Hua'er looked like before, and knew that although she was just a child, she already understood everything.

This includes the various complex relationships between adults.

She also personally inquired about Wang Tianxiao and his parents.

I never imagined that in just about a year, things would have come to this.

It really is... things have changed.

Wang Tianxiao watched for a while, sighed, picked up a comb from the windowsill next to him, gently sat down next to Hua'er, placed her aside, and untangled her messy braids.

People in this era all wore their hair in braids.

People have a lot of hair, and sometimes if you can't twist one, you'll have to twist two.

Hua'er didn't have much hair, so she just twisted it, but because she hadn't re-tied it in a long time, it was a mess, with some hair falling down from the front, sticking out and looking rough. It was no longer a hairstyle at all.

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