2. 6 Years Later

Third person POV

"Hong er"

An old woman was lying weakly on the bed called out to her beloved child's name. Her face was so pale and made her looks very pitiful but the gentle smile on her face made everyone felt warmness in their heart. It has been 6 years since Hong er was taken in by the old woman. The old woman named her Hong er because when she picked her up, she was so red like a little tomato. (Hong is red in Chinese, er is like intimate way to call someone younger than you.)

Hong er: "I will be there in a minute granny, the medicine is almost done."

Hong er cheered from backyard. She crouched on the wet ground while fanning the fire. She glanced at the table beside her and couldn't help but sigh at the sight of the empty box. They were very poor and only by selling firewood that she collected from the forest, they could buy a couple packs of medicine for the granny.

Hong er had been thinking about searching for a job at the town but she afraid that something would happen to granny if she wasn't there beside her. After she got rid of her thought, she brought the medicine to their bedroom.

There were only a few furniture in their humble shack. A bed, a small table, and a closet all in one room. Although all of them were second-handed things that they found at the side of the road, they were grateful that they didn't have to sleep on the hard cold ground.

A backyard that they use for cooking and plant some vegetables. Since they couldn't afford to buy food from the market, they decided to just plant it themselves and sometimes they would sell it if the harvest was good.

Hong er helped granny to sit up and patiently fed her the medicine spoon by spoon. She put the bowl to the side and massaged the granny to relieve her stiff muscle as she laid on the bed for quite a long time.

After putting the granny to sleep, Hong er went back to the backyard to wash the dishes. Then she took her tools that were necessary for cutting woods and went in to the forest. The granny had always warned her to not walk too deep into the forest as they currently were living near the border between Da Qi and Da Chu.

She didn't know any martial arts to defend herself from unexpected danger. She only learned how to cook, read, and write from the granny. Though it was not that advanced, at least she could read the sign on the market's price board.

The granny was once a maid, yet framed by her own mistress and kicked out from her job just because she was so clever and attracted the mistress's husband attention.

Hong er had collected firewood for 2 hours and was looking for herbs along her way home. And when she bent down to pick herbs, the tree around her moved and covered her from the scorching hot sunlight. Hong er looked up and placed her palm on the tree.

Hong er: "Thank you for covering me."

Then a breeze softly brushed her face like it was replying to Hong er's thanks. Since little, Hong er felt like she could communicate with the nature and would gain a few weird glances from others.

Suddenly, a gust of wind pushed her to the direction of her shack. She had a bad feeling about this and without a delay, she ran as fast as she could.

Not long after, she reached her shack and the first thing that came into her sight was the bloodstain on the floor near the entrance. Her body froze and she didn't dare to see what happened inside. She tried to convince herself that everything was fine.

Hong er: 'Ma-maybe it is the animal's blood.'

Hong er slowly approached the door that separated her and her bedroom. Her heart was beating so fast, her hand was trembling as she pulled the door open. The old door creaked and made the whole situation more daunting.

She wasn't greeted by the usual gentle smile from her beloved granny, yet the old woman's body was covered with crimson blood and a dagger was buried deep into her stomach. The blood streamed down to the floor, creating a pool of blood.

A stream of tears flew down across Hong er's cheeks as she walked towards the granny. She almost puked when she stepped on the fresh blood. The only word that came out from her lips was 'granny'.

Hong er looked around the bedroom and it was like a wrecked ship. She kneeled beside the bed and took the granny's hand that was tightly clutching on her chest. She could feel a little bit of warmness from granny's hand and more tears came out when she saw the thing that the granny's desperately protect even if it cost her life.

A little oval shaped white jade with 'Wo de sun nu' (My granddaughter) craved on it. Her tears dripped on the jade as she read the words over and over. She hugged the jade close to her chest and cried the granny's name, hoping that the granny's soul could hear how much she loves her.

The sky got darker and a heavy rain poured down overlapping the cries of the little girl.

After about an hour of crying, Hong er decided to bury the granny in the most beautiful place she ever known. She carried the granny on her back and because of the disparity of their body size, the granny's legs were dragged and caused Hong er to need more force to move forward.

Another 3 hours, Hong er arrived at a small area surrounded with tall trees around it. She gently placed the granny down at the side and looked up to the tree.

Hong er: "Please ake care of granny for a while."

The tree used its leaves to cover the granny from the rain. Then Hong er started to dig the ground with a thick wooden stick, her hands began to bleed after a few hours of digging.

Seeing that she digged deep enough, Hong er went back to the granny and carried her to her grave. Hong er used a clean cloth to wipe the dried blood on the granny's body. A few drop of tears fell onto the granny's face, Hong er kissed her forehead and hugged her for the last time before she bury her.

After she completed the grave by putting a big stone and a few stalk of flowers on the grave. And for the last thing, Hong er kowtowed three times to the grave. However, at the third time she raised her head, something hard strikes her head and knocked her down to the ground beside the grave.