“Wait! Hello!” cried Gray, waving his hand.

The men stopped, seemingly unable to decide whether to go on. Then they moved on, and soon were out of sight in the mountains.

In the fragrance of the roses, Gray’s mind became very clear. He murmured, “Sir, many years ago when I was a boy, we met at the foot of Niulan Mountain, didn’t we? Will you come and see me again?”

Epilogue

Spring was coming. Standing on the road in Yun Village, one could see the flowers in full bloom on Niulan Mountain.

As she was enjoying the mountain flowers, Mrs. Ma decided to visit her husband’s grave. Mrs. Yi had just given her a bottle of herbal medicine. Somehow, Mrs. Ma wasn’t sad at all: she was animated as she dressed up and put on the embroidered shoes she had made for herself. Her daughter Yungu stood watching; she was also happy.

“Your dead daddy is full of tricks. He enjoys staying beside the cave alone!” said the mother.

“I think Daddy will be very happy today!” Yungu said. Then she lowered her voice and asked, “Uncle Mud won’t be jealous, will he?” She was referring to her stepfather.

“He can’t wait for me to go, so that his friends can come over for drinks. He said that he also wanted to be buried next to the cave when the time comes. It will be easy for your family to visit if the three of us are buried in the same place. More and more families in this situation are buried together now.”

Mrs. Ma put the medicine bottle into her sack, and set out joyfully.

When she went out of the gate, she noticed something. Calling for Yungu to come out, she pointed at the top of the fence. “Where is the mirror? Have you moved it? Put it back where it was! Your daddy will definitely return today, don’t you remember?”

Yungu ran into the house to get the mirror. Relieved, Mrs. Ma left.

It wasn’t long before she heard the song. She was blinded by tears—her dead husband was singing, not very loudly but with deep emotion.

“You damn fool! You damn fool!” said the woman. She nodded along with each line of the song.

As she neared the cave in the mountain, the singing stopped and everything became quiet.

“Dear, take your medicine,” Mrs. Ma said as she poured the liquid on the grave.

The scent of the herbal medicine pervaded the air at once.

“Mother, mother . . . ,” Yungu shouted. She came up panting.

“What’s the matter?” Mrs. Ma asked.

“The mirror . . . I think Daddy has come home!”

“What happened to the mirror?”

“There were many sika deer in the mirror! It must be Daddy who invited them. Daddy never shot sika deer when he went hunting. I looked toward the woods: I definitely saw no deer. They were just running in the mirror! I was thinking of Daddy’s last year: Daddy often made gestures and whistled to the mirror . . .” Yungu looked distressed.