In Mushroom Village, the passing of a 100-year-old is considered a happy occasion. Villagers will come to ask for a set of bowls and chopsticks, hoping to share in the longevity of the deceased.
Yan Xiaoqiang bought a large pile of bowls and chopsticks and put them on the table at the entrance of the yard. Anyone who wanted them could take a set. However, Yan Xiaoqiang had already hidden the bowls, chopsticks, and other items used by Grandma Yan in his cabinet.
Ye Ren bowed and offered incense to Grandma Yan's altar. It was indeed so. The last time we met was to see you off. He hoped that you would meet Qingping and that Qingping could take care of you.
The brothers, including Dongnan, Beinan, and others, were busy seeing off their guests. The guests never expected that a birthday banquet would turn into a funeral. However, to live to the age of the old lady of the Yan family and to leave so peacefully was a great fortune in life.
Yan Xiaonan sat on Grandma Yan's kang (a heated brick bed) without eating, drinking, or speaking, which worried Ye Chenming and the others greatly. Cuihua even cried and begged Yan Xiaonan to speak.
Amidst the commotion, Ye Chenming nervously took the phone and handed it to Yan Xiaonan: "Nannan, it's Grandpa Xue calling to talk about things on the mountain."
Yan Xiaonan seemed to have regained some of her senses, took the phone, and spoke.
Xue Honggen did not attend Grandma Yan's birthday party, so he had no chance to send her off on her final journey. He still regrets it to this day, blaming his own body for being so weak. Thinking of Grandma Yan's voice and smile, he couldn't help but tear up.
He called to comfort Yan Xiaonan, and also to remind her that the agreement she signed had expired, but considering the current situation of the Yan family, the contract could be postponed for one month.
Yan Xiaonan put down the phone blankly. Since her grandmother left, Yan Xiaonan suddenly felt that she had lost her way. She didn't know what she wanted to do, or who she was working so hard for.
The diligent, ambitious, intelligent, and capable Yan Xiaonan of the past is gone, leaving behind only a heartbroken person who has not yet come back to life, bearing her sorrow alone, unwilling to wake up.
Xue Honggen's call jolted her awake. He was gone, but the living had to go on. She still had three children, she was still the matriarch of the Ye family, and she had a contract to fulfill to ensure the Ye family's safety.
Since there was still a month left, Yan Xiaonan decided to spend another month with her parents and grandmother, and also take the opportunity to recover her mental state.
Ye Chenming had to go to work, and the children also had a lot to do, so he had to return to Beijing first. However, he was worried about Yan Xiaonan, so he asked Bei Nan to take good care of Nannan, promising to return as soon as possible.
Yan Xiaonan knew that her mental state was not right. She wanted to go for a walk in the mountains. Cuihua was worried about her daughter and wanted to go with her, but she refused.
Yan Xiaonan arrived at the foot of the mountain, and the aura of the mountain god erupted forth, causing all the animals to roar. Yan Xiaonan quickly ran up the mountain, releasing his own aura of the mountain god as he ran.
It wasn't until she reached the hot spring and plunged into the pool that her frustration eased slightly. Absorbing the energy from the hot spring water, Yan Xiaonan, who hadn't slept well for several days, fell into a deep sleep while soaking in the hot spring.
She slept from dawn till dusk. When she opened her eyes, everything was already blurry. She could hear Bei Nan and the others calling out to her, and the tense, restless sounds of wild boars.
Seeing the new Tiger King standing to the side watching him, Yan Xiaonan smiled, pointed in the direction of the wild boars and said, "My family is here to see me. Chase them away."
King Xinhu turned and left. Yan Xiaonan quickly climbed out of the water, flashed into his spatial dimension, changed into a clean and thick set of clothes, and ran down the mountain.
When they reached the halfway point of the mountain, they saw Yan Xiaoqiang and Bei Nan leading the villagers, waving flashlights around. The halfway point was the villagers' end point on the way up the mountain, and they dared not climb any further.
Bei Nan, with her sharp eyes, saw Yan Xiaonan coming down the mountain and quickly ran up to her. Yan Xiaoqiang, even more anxious, pulled Yan Xiaonan up and down to check her over, only letting out a sigh of relief after confirming that everything was alright.
"Nan Nan, my goodness, are you trying to scare me to death? You have no idea how worried Mom is. Come on, let's go home."
Yan Xiaonan felt very guilty. Her parents were getting old, and she had made them worry about her. She was really being inconsiderate. She couldn't let them live in fear anymore.
Cuihua stood at the door, gazing anxiously at Mushroom Mountain in the distance. The way Cuihua stood by the door, with an expression almost identical to her grandmother's, made Yan Xiaonan's heart ache again.
He ran a few steps faster, hugged Cuihua tightly, and burst into tears. Since Grandma Yan passed away, Yan Xiaonan had never cried so loudly except for silently shedding tears.
Seeing Yan Xiaonan cry out loud, Cuihua finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that she could cry; she was afraid that if her daughter kept it all inside, it would make her very sick.
Time flies, and a month has passed in the blink of an eye. Yan Xiaonan is leaving. She is worried about her parents staying alone in Mushroom Village and wants to take them with her. But Yan Xiaoqiang shakes his head. His parents are here, his ancestors are here, so his home is here too.
When persuasion failed, Yan Xiaonan had no choice but to return to the capital. After making some preparations, she went up the mountain to fulfill her contract. Master Yu led her all the way to their residence.
They reached the highest point of the mountain, watching the clouds roll and unfold overhead, and the rooftops in the distance, half exposed and half hidden in the mist, giving them a feeling of wanting to ride the wind and return home.
There was a very wide flat area in front of us. It looked like an artificial playground that had been leveled and paved with cement. I guess it was where Master Yu practiced his kung fu.
Behind the flat ground was a house, a very simple house. There were pebbles everywhere in front of the house. Yan Xiaonan didn't hear what Master Yu was saying. She stepped on a pebble, and the stone slab under her feet suddenly flipped open. If Master Yu hadn't grabbed her, she probably would have fallen in.
Still shaken, Yan Xiaonan dared not be distracted and instead followed Master Yu's footsteps carefully, step by step, into the house.
It was a living room with a door frame in the front but no door, and a window frame in the back but no glass. It was bright and drafty, with the biting mountain wind blowing from the back window to the door and then out through the door. You could hear the howling of the wind.
Yan Xiaonan wasn't afraid of the cold. She even went to the window and looked at the distant mountains. The mountain wind blowing on her gave her a sense of pride, like someone who had reached the top of a mountain and looked down on all the other mountains.
"Master Yu, where does my daughter Enming live?" Yan Xiaonan asked.
Master Yu pointed to the stairs next to him. Yan Xiaonan found it strange. From the outside, it looked like a one-story building with a normal height. Why could she go upstairs? Could it be that Master Yu used an illusion?
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