Chapter 2 Encounter

  Time flies, and eight years have passed in a flash.

  In the early spring of March 1986, it was still cold and warm, with morning fog floating like clouds and smoke. The chill of early spring wrapped in damp fog, a gentle breeze blew, and pedestrians on the road hurriedly shivered and tightened their clothes.

  Last night, a spring rain had just fallen, and Liujiacun at the foot of Wufeng Mountain was disturbed by a burst of bird calls after being awakened from its spring sleep like a person who had just opened their sleepy eyes. After a while, the sound of opening doors and indistinct or low-pitched conversations gradually came from afar and near.

  The top of Wufeng Mountain in the early morning is shrouded in mist, with clouds and fog swirling upwards.

  On a small path leading to the foot of Wufeng Mountain, a thinly dressed, clean-faced boy about six years old, carrying a bamboo basket on his back, was walking towards the foot of the mountain.

  The spring chill is even more piercing, and last night's spring rain has made the mountain air even fresher, but at the same time it's even colder. The road surface is still wet, and the small grass that has just sprouted on both sides of the road, as well as the leaves of the crops in the fields, are all rolling with tiny water droplets that seem to be dripping with dew.

  The little boy wrapped his shirt tightly with his hands, hugged his chest with both hands, and walked forward with his eyes slightly closed, shivering in the cold wind blowing from the top of the mountain.

  The little boy is named An Shaojie, and he is the son of An Bingwen and Bai Cuifen from Liujiacun village.

  He is going to go into the mountains to pick some mushrooms or spring bamboo shoots.

  In the pine forest of early spring, after several rains, mushrooms sprouted out like bamboo shoots after rain. The bamboo shoots burst out of the ground with a sudden "crackling" sound at night, just like the spring rain pattering against the window frames.

  At the end of a winding path, a little girl was holding onto an elderly woman's arm, slowly walking down a slope from the foot of the mountain towards the young boy.

  The little girl is the daughter of Qing Sheng and Liu Xiuzhen, Qing Lan. The woman next to her is her mother Liu Xiuzhen.

  "Mom, is it pretty?"

  Little girl wearing a pink cotton dress with embroidered flowers, holding a small yellow chrysanthemum in her hand, tilting her head, narrowing her eyes, and looking at Liu Xiu Zhen with a coquettish gaze.

  The delicate tassels on the purple gold hat of the little girl jumped with her as she hopped along, and the bangs that were exposed under the brim of the hat were blown a bit messy by the wind.

  "Beautiful." Liu Xiu Zhen stroked Xiao Qing Lan's head and smiled lovingly at her.

  Liu Xiu Zhen's body was actually sturdy and robust, with a rough complexion, but in front of Qing Lan, she became as gentle as a Jiangnan young woman.

  She had one arm around Qing Lan and the other arm was carrying a bamboo vegetable basket, which was full of green vegetables.

  This morning, Liu Xiu Zhen got up early and took Qing Lan out to pick vegetables in the vegetable garden at the foot of the mountain.

  Qing Lan saw An Shaojie from afar, walking uphill towards them.

  Ten meters away from him, Qing Lan involuntarily stopped in her tracks and stood by the side of the road, watching as he walked up the slope step by step.

  Liu Xiu Zhen still stood in the middle of the road, her massive body occupying the center of the narrow rural path, making it almost impossible for others to pass through.

  Qing Lan pulled Liu Xiuzhen's sleeve and said in a crisp tone, "Mother." At the same time, she made an eye gesture, indicating that Liu Xiuzhen should move to the side of the road.

  Liu Xiu Zhen glared at Qing Lan with wide, angry eyes. "You're so afraid of him? Is he a tiger or something? He thinks that just because he always has a stern face and never talks to anyone, everyone will be scared of him?"

  "What's the big deal?" She raised an eyebrow, with a mocking expression, and hummed twice before adding another sentence.

  Let Liu Xiu Zhen stand by the side of the road to give way to An Shao Jie, letting him pass in front of her calmly, but it made her extremely unhappy.

  "What's the point? Why should I give way to a little brat who doesn't even greet his elders or make way for them?" Liu Xiuzhen stood in the middle of the road, hands on her hips, spat once, shouted again, and spat once more, with grievances she couldn't swallow and resentment she couldn't resolve.

  "No, Mother Liu, I'm not afraid of him." Qing Lan pouted and said coquettishly, "I just don't want to argue with him."

  Qing Lan said that on purpose for her mother to hear, actually she had long been used to giving way to this little boy.

  "Yes, our family's little ancestor has never been afraid of anyone." Liu Xiu Zhen lowered her head, stroking Qing Lan's arm, and smiled gently at Qing Lan.

  "Right, we adults are magnanimous and won't bother with him." Liu Xiu Zhen poked Qing Lan's nose tip and smiled contentedly.

  Although Liu Xiu Zhen was extremely unwilling to give way to An Shao Jie, she couldn't withstand Qing Lan's pulling and coquettishness, so she slightly made a gesture of yielding and leaned towards the side of the road.

  However, she was still a bit angry and pulled Qing Lan's hand, staring at her and muttering a few words under her breath.

  "You're just a silly girl, only fierce at home, but afraid of people outside. On the surface you seem strong, but actually you have a kind heart. You'll definitely be taken advantage of in the future." Liu Xiu Zhen tapped Qing Lan's forehead.

  Qing Lan ignored Liu Xiu Zhen's nagging, quietly standing by the road and watching An Shaojie slowly walking up from below.

  An Shaojie lowered his head and quickened his pace as he walked past them.

  When she reached Qing Lan's side, Qing Lan still involuntarily called out, "Shao Jie Ge!"

  An Shaojie didn't even glance at her and quickened his pace, swiftly passing by them.

  From the moment Zian Shaojie's figure fell into Qinglan's line of sight, Qinglan had been staring at him with her big, black eyes. When he walked by her side, she looked at him with unblinking eyes, full of curiosity.

  She was full of curiosity about An Shaojie, she couldn't figure him out.

  Because in the village, among all the children of his age, there was not one like him, who had never smiled. She had never seen him play with any of the village kids, nor had she ever seen him talk to any of them.

  She often stood at the small bridge in front of the village, gazing at him alone, walking out from the village entrance and back again, with the sunset dragging his long and thin shadow.

  Qing Lan is just the opposite.

  She is a mischievous, willful, likes to drill into the crowd, loves to talk and make trouble little girl, so she can't imagine his world, how he can tolerate not having anyone to play with, lonely days? Can tolerate long periods of silence, dull and monotonous days?

  So every time she saw him, Qing Lan's eyes were filled with curiosity and admiration. Therefore, whenever they met, she would give way to him, and also require the people around her to give way to him, even though he had never looked at her once.

  In fact, Qing Lan was an extremely beautiful little girl with black hair, wearing a purple gold crown, big and bright eyes, a delicate pointed chin, making the whole person look elegant and refined, looking like an extremely obedient and weak little girl.

  But in fact, she is a very stubborn and obstinate girl.

  An Shaojie had just walked a short distance away from Qing Lan and the others when Liu Xiu Zhen couldn't wait to spit at his back.

  "Hum! Widow's son, still so arrogant. Look at what your mother is like - a fox spirit, and you're not even ashamed, daring to show your face in public." Liu Xiu Zhen gritted her teeth, with some resentment, and spat again.

  "Ah Niang!" Qing Lan coquettishly pushed Liu Xiu Zhen's arm and said: "This is the countryside, where did the streets come from? Where did the city come from?"

  "Am I speaking figuratively?" Liu Xiu Zhen gave Qing Lan a white eye and smiled awkwardly.

  With a tilt of her head and a curl of her lip, "Hmph! You think I don't know? It's exactly what Father always says about you: 'A woman should not show off in public, making a spectacle of herself.' Hmph!"

  Qing Lan turned her face to look at Liu Xiu Zhen and smiled, revealing a pair of shallow dimples on her cheeks. Her silly smile exuded charm, weakness, agility, and friendliness.

  Looking at Qing Lan, Liu Xiu Zhen's heart suddenly softened. She pulled her hand out of Qing Lan's arm and stroked his coarse black hair with her rough palm, smiling slightly with a hint of shyness.

  Whenever Liu Xiuzhen inadvertently spoke coarsely in front of Qinglan, she would become slightly flustered and embarrassed.

  Because she thought her daughter was sacred, although she didn't know what sacred meant, but in her heart, she had her own standards and interpretations, that is, not to say those dirty words in front of her.

  Although those messy words, the women in the village would come out unscrupulously at any time and place, Liu Xiu Zhen stubbornly believed that they could not be spoken in front of her daughter.

  Although she wanted to, Liu Xiuzhen, who was used to speaking in a coarse and rustic village dialect, would uncontrollably blurt out again when she got angry. But every time she turned her head or glanced sideways, seeing Qinglan beside her, she would suddenly rein in her sharp and sarcastic tongue.

  Qing Lan was still only a little girl of about five years old, but having grown up in the countryside, she knew what "widow" meant and also knew what "fox spirit" meant, but she didn't know the true meaning of "widow" and "fox spirit" that her mother mentioned.

  She only knew that her mother had always disliked An Shaojie's wife, and even resented her, often scolding her as a "widow" and a "fox spirit", so she also disliked An Shaojie.

  As soon as An Shaojie disappeared from Liu Xiuzhen's line of sight, Liu Xiuzhen's mood improved, and she chatted with Qinglan all the way to Liujia Village.

  In early spring, Liujiacun is already lush with green willows, peach blossoms and white pear blossoms surrounding the houses in front of the mountain.

  Entering the village entrance, sitting north and facing south is Liujiacun's big village, with more than 20 households. The ancestral mountain behind the village and the Qinglongkou and Baishou in front of the village are like two armrests, surrounding the big village.

  Opposite the big village is a small village, with only five or six households, facing the pond, and surrounded by green bamboo on three sides. From the big village, going around the pond to the opposite side can reach the small village, just a few hundred meters away.

  Qing Lan and her mother walked to the west end of Liu Jia Village's arch bridge, where they saw a little girl about Qing Lan's age squatting on the bridge playing.

  "Sister Lin."

  Seeing the little girl, Qing Lan broke free from Liu Xiu Zhen's hand and ran towards her quickly.

  A little girl was holding a withered branch and poking at the green moss on the bluestone slabs of the bridge.

  When she heard someone calling her, she stood up, turned around and pointed to the patch of moss she had just touched with a branch, saying: "Lanlan, come over here and look, there are many snails here."

  The little girl called Lin Jie by Qing Lan, named Lin Xi, is about a month older than Qing Lan. She has a round face, black hair, straight eyebrows, and fair skin. She wears an orange-yellow sportswear with white and blue stripes on the cuffs and hem, standing on the bridge like a rainbow fallen on the bridge.

  It's said that there was a snail, Qing Lan dropped Liu Xiu Zhen and ran over to squat on the bridge with Lin Xi to watch the snail.

  Liu Xizhen saw Qinglan and Lin Xi playing together, so she didn't bother with her anymore. She carried the vegetable basket to the east end of the big village.

  There is a bluestone bridge at the east end of the village. As soon as Liu Xiu Zhen walked onto the bluestone bridge, she entered Liu's Village.

  The first household in the village is Liu Xiu Zhen's home, a wooden stilt house built against Qinglong Mountain, with green tiles and flower-patterned windows. A fence surrounds the front courtyard, where a bluestone path leads to the house, and the backyard is a bamboo forest.

  Liu Xizhen carried a vegetable basket and pushed open the bamboo gate of the courtyard, walked along the bluestone path towards the house.

  She had just stepped across the threshold when she suddenly heard a heart-wrenching cry from the house diagonally opposite, accompanied by terrified shouts of "Something's wrong! Come quick! Come quick!"