Visiting the Grave

The next day, Wei Yin got up very early. By the time she left with her schoolbag, Hua Yu had only just gotten up. Seeing Wei Yin heading out, she asked, “Leaving so early?”

Wei Yin nodded. “I want to take the bus. It’s slower.”

“Be careful.” Hua Yu handed her a sun hat and an umbrella. “The forecast says it’ll rain. Call me if anything comes up.”

“Okay.”

After leaving the house, Wei Yin found the nearest bus stop. She had always liked riding the bus; sitting in the second-to-last row by the window, she could watch the city sway and lurch forward, pass each stop in turn, and see its truest face.

Q City wasn’t Wei Yin’s hometown. Her hometown should have been a city in the south, where summer lasted for two-thirds of the year.

In her memory, the plum rains had been damp and sticky. Her mother had brought her north in a torrential downpour and settled in Q City.

From then on, her mother worked while raising her, and the two of them relied on each other to get by.

After her mother died, Wei Yin never properly looked at this city again. She always felt she had no reason to stay, that she should leave. And yet, somehow, after lingering here all these years, she still hadn’t gone.

Her mother’s grave was in the suburbs. The bus ran all the way across town, and after getting off, she still had to take a taxi for another seven kilometers.

The cemetery was built on a hill and divided into different sections from top to bottom.

At the very bottom was a fountain; farther in was a scenic lake. In May, the water had a green sheen, and around it stood broad stretches of willow trees and grassland, lush and beautiful.

The feng shui here was excellent; it was considered an auspicious place. The cemetery management was meticulous too, and if you made an appointment to pay your respects in advance, they even provided a flower basket and offerings.

Wei Yin had brought a bag of homemade pastries. She took the items from the staff and walked up the path.

It was a little like going to see an old friend she hadn’t seen in a long time, forcing out a relieved smile.

The place where her mother rested was marked by a beautifully designed tombstone. The base had flowing, streamlined lines; the cap and stele were carved from a single block of white marble, and the patterns etched into it featured flowers, birds, fish, and beasts. The style was called “Amid Mountains and Waters.”

Wei Yin set down what she had brought and looked at the photo of her mother for a while before giving a simple, honest smile.

In truth, her mother had never had much artistic sense, and she didn’t like sightseeing or traveling. Wei Yin figured that after living frugally her entire life, she could never have imagined ending up buried in such an expensive spot, with a tombstone that had nothing to do with her at all.

She wiped the tombstone clean, pulled out the weeds around it, and arranged the offerings.

Wei Yin sat down on the ground and stayed silent for a long time.

A breeze drifted past, soft and refreshing, brushing her face as if her mother were reaching out to tuck back the hair fallen across it.

In a small voice, Wei Yin said, “You came to my dream a few days ago, and you even brought me the candy I like. Next time, I hope Miss Wei keeps up the good work and makes wontons for me with her own hands... It’s been nine years. If you don’t make them for me soon, I’m going to forget what they taste like.”

Only the wind answered her.

After a while, Wei Yin took out her phone. “I forgot to tell you, the insurance company you bought for me went bankrupt. Last month, too. The company folded, and there’s no compensation.”

Wei Yin’s mother had scent deficiency syndrome, so she had always been especially attentive to Wei Yin. From the moment Wei Yin was born, she had bought insurance for her and kept paying until she turned eighteen. After that, it was supposed to pay out 2,000 yuan a year and cover ninety percent of her hospitalization expenses for life.

Wei Yin’s mother died when Wei Yin was sixteen, leaving her with very little money—just enough for her first year of university tuition and living expenses. Even so, Wei Yin still insisted on setting money aside to keep paying the insurance.

“I really hate that insurance company. Why did they have to go bankrupt? If they didn’t have enough money, they could’ve just paid out less. If not 2,000, then even 20 would’ve been fine. If they didn’t reimburse anything, that would’ve been okay too,” Wei Yin muttered angrily. “That way, I could keep getting the money you gave me every year for the rest of my life.”

As if you were still loving me.

After cursing the insurance company for what felt like forever, Wei Yin fell silent for a moment. Then her expression softened. “I won’t scold anyone anymore. I’ll tell you some good news.”

“I ran into a friend from before I lost my memory.” Wei Yin’s eyes curved. “Last month the insurance company went bankrupt, so I rushed to buy flexible employment medical insurance. I could only use the plan I bought this month next month, but I just happened to be hospitalized this month. Self-pay hospitalization is absurdly expensive.”

“But don’t worry. My senior is really reliable. Not only did she pay for me, she even let me go stay at her place to work as a maid and pay her back.”

A few birdcalls came from the woods beside her, crisp and clear, as if echoing her words.

Wei Yin cupped her cheeks, looking utterly pleased. “I won’t keep anything from Miss Wei. Going home with my senior... well, that’s also because I’m hopelessly greedy.”

Greedy for what?

Her looks? Hua Yu certainly had those, but that wasn’t quite it.

Her excellence? Hua Yu was definitely outstanding, but Wei Yin wasn’t that practical.

In the end, she was still greedy for the whole person.

A wild intuition that if she stayed close to her, life would get better.

The human instinct to be drawn to strength and light.

Using the most straightforward language possible, Wei Yin went on praising Hua Yu, from the first day of her hospitalization all the way to that morning when she left home, praising her until she seemed unmatched in heaven and on earth.

“The main thing is, she doesn’t hurt me, you know? In this day and age, I’m a severely socially anxious disadvantaged person with scent deficiency. When I’m out in society, if I can’t even feel that I’m being hurt, that’s already amazing.”

“Miss Wei doesn’t need to worry about my body. Dr. Hua is a good doctor. Staying by her side gives me the feeling that even if I collapsed from shock in front of her, she could give me mouth-to-mouth afterward... mm, or bring me back with CPR.”

Wei Yin talked until her mouth was dry, chattering for two hours straight. She got up, wandered around, made a full circle, then came back and kept talking.

She had brought lunch with her, so she simply ate it in front of the grave.

A bird flew overhead and left a pile of droppings in front of Wei Yin.

Wei Yin used her foot to cover it with dirt and sighed. “Don’t chase me away, Mom. I live pretty far away, and I don’t come here often. You have to keep me company a little longer.”

A few dark clouds drifted across the sky; the weather that had refused to clear all morning finally turned overcast.

Wei Yin looked up a couple of times. “See? It’s not even hot today. Perfect weather for the two of us to chat.”

Another bird flew past, leaving a few feathers behind.

“I still don’t know what I’ll do in the future,” Wei Yin said as she ate and talked. “I’ll pay back the money for the grave first; I’m almost done. There’s only a little left.”

The wind suddenly picked up, stirring dust and pebbles off the ground.

Wei Yin sighed and said shrewdly, “It’s not like I don’t understand living within my means. The burial plot was bought by someone else, and I’ve been paying them back all these years. Sigh.”

The wind howled louder, and the weather grew increasingly eerie.

Wei Yin glanced at the sky and said speechlessly, “Really, Miss Wei? You’re going to lecture me about that too? Anyway, I can’t remember. I think it was because I didn’t have enough money to buy a grave, so I kept you at the funeral home. Later, someone helped me pay for one and moved you here... Mm, without my permission. I guess it was meant to be a surprise?”

“Why would the funeral home move you without asking me? I suggest Miss Wei go settle accounts with them. This is exactly the kind of backroom operation power can pull.”

“Why did I even need to pay it back? It wasn’t in the diary, but I just had to. Some inexplicable obsession. Like... a stone pressing on my chest. If I pay it off sooner, I’ll feel lighter sooner. I think I was supposed to do something very important, but unfortunately I’ve forgotten all of it.”

The mountains held plenty of moisture, and the evening rain in the forecast came early. Wei Yin leaned against the gravestone, and a few drops of rain landed on her face.

“Great, it really started raining.”

Wei Yin hurried into the small pavilion nearby. No sooner had she stepped inside than the rain suddenly intensified, pouring down in sheets.

The sky was shrouded over, crackling and rumbling in chaos. A sharp crack sounded from the horizon, as if a chisel had struck the curtain of heaven; thin purple lightning burst out like spider silk.

Silver serpents danced through the electricity, the wind roared, and rain lashed the entire mountain.