There is a Buddhist story: Once upon a time, there was a scholar who agreed with his fiancée to get married on a certain day of a certain month of a certain year.
On that day, his fiancée married someone else, and the scholar, devastated by this, fell ill and never recovered.
Just then, a wandering monk passed by and took out a mirror from his robes, asking the scholar to look into it. The scholar saw a vast sea and a murdered woman lying naked on the beach. A passerby glanced at her, shook his head, and walked away. Another passerby took off his clothes, covered the woman's body with them, and left. Yet another passerby came over, dug a hole, and carefully buried the body.
The monk explained that the female corpse on the beach was your fiancée's previous life; you were the second person to pass by and had given her a piece of clothing.
She fell in love with you in this life only to repay a debt of love. But the person she ultimately owes a lifetime of gratitude to is the one who buried her in the end—that person is her current husband. The scholar suddenly understood.
After listening, Zhang Shouyi raised his eyebrows; he didn't believe any of this.
"You may not believe these things, but you are destined to be a lone star in this life. If you believe in the afterlife, it wouldn't be a bad idea to listen to my advice."
The family halfway up the mountain isn't ordinary either; wouldn't it be nice to have someone to keep you company?
These words persuaded Zhang Shouyi, who smiled and said, "Alright, I'll listen to this master. Village chief, I'll pay the villagers to help with the tidying up."
Liu Maocai nodded. As long as this person doesn't always go up the mountain alone, the rest is not a problem.
The next day, Zhang Shouyi led twenty villagers to the burial ground of the Zhang family. He wasn't ignorant of these things, and he respectfully burned paper money in front of the Zhang family graves.
Then twenty people began to level the area. It took them three days to finish, and then Zhang Shouyi asked people to plant many trees on the leveled area.
Liu Maocai ignored his antics and waited for Liu Jingze to call, then told him about Zhang Shouyi's situation.
"Third Uncle, have him call me tonight."
"I understand. When is this guy leaving? I think he's finished with all that fuss."
"Hehe, Third Uncle, I tried to persuade him today, but he's a very stubborn person and might not come back. If he stays, then you can do whatever you want with him."
"Okay, I understand. I'll tell him to call you tonight."
Liu Maocai wished Zhang Shouyi would leave immediately, mainly because he was worried that if something really happened to him, he wouldn't be able to take the blame.
After dinner, Liu Maocai said with a smile, "Comrade, Jingze called and asked you to call him back."
Zhang Shouyi smiled; all his fussing around had annoyed the other person.
Why did you call me?
"War is about to break out."
Zhang Shouyi frowned. "Hasn't everything already been arranged over there?"
"The disparity is too great."
"Understood. Have a plane come to pick me up the day after tomorrow. I'll use up the last bit of my remaining energy."
After spending a month in Liujiatun, he felt much calmer and his anger dissipated.
He'd come to terms with it; even in death, he wanted to die with purpose. The thought of his pathetic wait to die was almost laughable.
"Alright, you've finally come back. This time you stay and I'll go to the border."
"We'll talk about it later." Zhang Shouyi said, then hung up the phone and went outside to leave with Liu Maocai.
Zhang Shouyi couldn't sleep tonight. He used to suffer from neurasthenia and couldn't sleep at night at all, but things have improved a lot since he came here.
I'm leaving soon, and I'm having trouble sleeping tonight.
The story of that master came to mind. He muttered to himself, "If that's really the case, then in this life I've buried you, so in the next life, will you marry me?"
"Marrying me isn't out of the question, but you must give me many sons so that my Zhang family can prosper."
Zhang Shouyi laughed after he finished speaking. He fell asleep shortly afterward.
The next morning, he went up the mountain again. Looking at the burial site he had chosen, he thought it was pretty good. He wished he could find his father's remains. But he had been searching for more than ten years and still had no news.
He glanced back one last time before leaving. Today he went up the mountain by himself and lay down by the pond; he wouldn't have such a leisurely time again.
He fell asleep without realizing it, but was suddenly startled awake. He sat up and rubbed his head, having been having all sorts of random dreams that he couldn't recall.
It was already past three o'clock, so we'd better hurry down the mountain, or the village chief will get anxious again. On the way down, we caught a few wild rabbits; that kid Stone will be happy again.
Zhang Shouyi left at noon the next day.
And so he resumed his busy work, taking on all the dangerous tasks. He told Liu Jingze that they needed to choose one of them to stay home and oversee things, so he went abroad alone, since the war hadn't even started yet. He also gained a lot from import and export trade.
Ten years later, people's lives have improved significantly, and the country's treasury has become much richer.
"I'm on vacation for a month."
“I’m on holiday too. You’re out running around all day, so it’s your turn to stay behind. I need to go out for a bit. I haven’t been home for so many years, so I’m going back to visit.”
"Okay, go ahead, it'll take you at most half a month."
"How come you get a whole month of leave, while I only get half a month?"
"You think it's not enough? Then a week will do."
Liu Jingze shook his head with a smile, there was really no way to deal with this person.
Liu Jingze returned to Liujiatun, and the villagers were all very happy.
He stayed at home with Liu Aimin and his wife. He also spent his days going up the mountain and learned about the burial site that Zhang Shouyi had chosen.
"Third Uncle, Stone, I want to be buried here after I die," Liu Jingze said with a smile.
"Jingze, you?"
"Third Uncle, everyone has to die eventually, I know that. Don't worry, I'll just tell Stone to keep a close watch on this place for me, I'm staying here too."
Liu Maocai didn't know what to say. His own nephew, at such a young age, was already making arrangements for his own future.
Five years later, Zhang Shouyi could no longer hold on and spent his days in the hospital.
That day, Liu Jingze came over and said, "Take me to Liujiatun."
"You can't move right now."
"I need to go right away."
Looking at the man who was so thin he was unrecognizable, Liu Jingze really couldn't bear to refuse him.
The doctor just told me that he's just going to have to endure it here, and he has at most another month left.
Since that's the case, let's grant his wish.
The helicopter took Zhang Shouyi back to Liujiatun. Liu Maocai was still in good health and could walk with the help of crutches.
The current village chief is Da Shan's father. He saw the plane land and then watched people being carried off the plane.
He knew that a high-ranking leader had already chosen a burial site on the mountain, so he wasn't surprised to see the person being carried down.
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