The night in the mountain village is so quiet that you can hear your own heartbeat.
The moonlight, like a thin, cool veil, enveloped the sleeping Xujia Village.
Zhou Qiqi walked along the dirt road, her flashlight illuminating the path, her shoes making a soft, rustling sound as they rubbed against the pebbles.
The village is long and narrow; it took nearly twenty minutes to walk from the village chief's house to that familiar place at the end of the village.
The night breeze, carrying the coolness of the mountains and fields, brushed against her temples. The initial trepidation of traveling at night strangely subsided as she drew closer to her destination.
After walking along a long, deserted dirt road with no houses on either side, I looked up and saw—
Under the moonlight, three large houses with blue bricks and gray tiles stood steadily at the foot of the mountain.
This courtyard has been uninhabited for a long time; the gate is ajar and unlocked.
Zhou Qiqi reached out and gently pushed the door hinge, which made a familiar and long "creak" sound, which was particularly clear in the quiet night and also made people feel particularly at ease.
She stepped into the courtyard and then closed the door behind her.
The moonlight shone unhindered throughout the courtyard, illuminating the old locust tree with its gnarled branches in the center.
The shadows of the trees swayed, casting dappled patterns on the ground.
Zhou Qiqi's gaze slowly swept over:
The courtyard, paved with blue bricks, now stands empty, the shed in the corner that once stored firewood still empty. The smooth stone trough remains in its old spot, and several rounded pebbles, worn smooth by time, lean against the window...
She knew this place all too well.
Every brick and tile is etched into their very bones.
She walked step by step, her fingertips tracing the cold window frame and touching the thick elm wood door.
Every brick, tile, blade of grass, and tree here seems to be an imprint etched into "her" bones, so familiar that she could describe it with her eyes closed.
This was her true "home" for the first five or six years of her life, and her only spiritual haven after her parents passed away.
For countless days, the little girl would come alone, pulling up the weeds in the yard, sweeping away the cobwebs under the eaves, and clumsily repairing the doors and windows that had been bent by the wind and rain...
This place holds her most carefree laughter, and it is also imbued with her most solitary guardianship.
At this moment, standing in this empty, quiet, and even somewhat desolate old house, Zhou Qiqi's heart was enveloped by a strange and abundant sense of happiness.
There was no fear, only a sense of peace and security, like a wanderer returning home.
She stood in the main room for a while, as if she could hear her mother's gentle drizzle and her father's cheerful voice echoing between the beams.
Go to the west room again—
That was her childhood room. Several small animal patterns were carved on the beams. It hadn't been cleaned for more than four months, and the empty earthen bed was covered in dust.
After standing quietly for a while, she reluctantly went around to the back of the house.
Not far behind the house, nestled among a few pine trees, stand two inconspicuous little mounds side by side.
There was no tombstone, only a few piled-up stones as a marker.
However, it was kept very clean, with only some newly grown low weeds.
This is the grave of Zhou Shuisheng and Qi Lin.
Back then, when cholera was rampant, people were afraid of spreading the disease, so they wouldn't allow burials in the fields. They could only be buried at the foot of this mountain, all alone.
Zhou Qiqi walked over and took out a small cloth bag from her bag.
Inside are three small wooden memorial tablets.
She had a carpenter in the village carpenter carve this out after dinner in the evening.
There were also a few sticks of incense, a small packet of matches, and a few packets of snacks.
Without saying a word, she first carefully placed two wooden memorial tablets with names engraved on them in front of the grave.
The match snapped open, and the orange flame flickered, lighting three sticks of incense. Wisps of smoke rose, adding a touch of softness to the cool moonlight.
She knelt down and respectfully kowtowed three times.
"Father, Mother,"
She knelt down, clasped her hands together, and said softly, "Qiqi is back."
At that moment, her heart was in turmoil.
She was a soul from another world possessing the body of someone else's daughter, but the warm memories of her parents, the deep longing and grievances in her mind were all real.
She was grateful from the bottom of her heart.
"Although I am not the original Qiqi, this body was given to me by you, and the memories in my mind were left by you. You gave me a chance to live again, allowing me to meet Huaichuan, to leave this mountain valley, and to live a different life... In my heart, you are my parents."
Her throat tightened slightly. She paused, suppressing her surging emotions, then kowtowed again, her voice even softer, yet filled with utmost sincerity:
"Thank you. Don't worry, I'm doing very well now, really well. I've never been this good before."
The incense burned quietly, and the ashes fell silently.
Zhou Qiqi took out three more incense sticks, lit them, and respectfully placed them in front of her parents' graves.
Then, she walked to a spot slightly in front of the two graves and carefully piled up a small, new mound of earth using the soft soil nearby.
Then he picked up the remaining small memorial tablet, which had no name engraved on it, and stuck it in front of the mound of earth, and lit three incense sticks.
Amidst the swirling smoke, she gazed at the small mound of earth, her voice barely a sigh:
"Qiqi,"
"I don't know if you can hear me, or where you are now. Are you already reunited with your parents in heaven, or... like me, have you been transported to a completely unfamiliar world and are starting your life anew..."
The moonlight shone on her serene profile.
The night wind rustled through the grass on the grave, making a soft, mournful sound.
"I'm the one who took over your body, I'm sorry, but don't worry, those who bullied you, Xu Shu, Lin Yao, and Li Guixiang and her husband, all met a bad end! None of them escaped! I've avenged you for all the grievances you suffered!"
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