They went together to the backyard. Gray saw a row of roses in full bloom along the fence. The air was fragrant. Gray asked Dad if he had planted the roses, and Dad said no one had planted the roses—they had just grown on their own.

“There are seeds everywhere. Besides, aren’t you thinking about them?” Dad winked at Gray.

“Yes, I am. I’m thinking of our weasel, too . . .”

“In fact, the weasel came in the night. The weasel and the roses belong to the same family.”

Gray understood what Dad meant. He thought that he and Spoon also belonged to the same family. They weren’t together now, but they responded to each movement the other one made. Would roses grow where Spoon lived, too?

Father and son squatted to look at the roses and listen to the footsteps. No one passed by, but there were footsteps. They both knew what was going on, and they were immersed in the scene.

When Mom approached, they stood up at the same time.

“You’re accomplished now, Gray,” Mom said with tears in her eyes. “When I saw the roses growing, I remembered things from your childhood.”

“Mom, I’m sorry I gave you so much trouble.”

“That’s a silly thing to say.”

The sun was still bright and there was no wind. But the flowers were nodding along with the steady footsteps!

“Oh, my God,” Gray whispered.

Then they heard a knock at the courtyard door.

“Beard!” Dad exclaimed, and strode over to open the door.

As Gray sat down in Grandpa Onion’s room, he felt a little absentminded. Grandpa Onion told him that he had recently taken a rare herbal medicine, and his lumbar spine had become much stronger. As proof of this, he even demonstrated a few martial arts moves. Gray was astonished. When Onion stopped moving, Gray noticed that the upper and lower parts of the old man’s body were separated in the air. Gray was scared, and he couldn’t help but probe the gap between the two body parts.

“Ah! Ah . . . ,” he gasped.

“Ha-ha, this happens often,” Onion said.

“How could you—”

“So can you! Suppose you are ill—everyone can be ill—you can make room for your illness, as I did. Gray, this is the method your father taught me in the past! Before you were born, your father was paralyzed with a strange disease. He was bedridden. When I went to see him, I found that he wasn’t depressed at all. He was playing games with his illness. He was so excited playing these games that he kicked and waved—not a bit like a paralyzed patient! He played all kinds of games, and he was so engrossed in them. And then one day, he stood up.”

With this, Grandpa Onion told Gray to have a look outside.

He opened the door and smelled the wind from the mountains. Grandpa Onion said that the black-clad guard was passing a message to him. It was out of the ordinary for Grandpa Onion to do something like this, and once he did, those black-clad guards immediately knew and hastened to contact him. Onion asked Gray how he felt at the moment, and Gray said he felt very comfortable—he could hear bees humming on Niulan Mountain.