Night reflections full of memories

The clear night was slightly cloudy.

Wu Liang was pensive on his study bench, silently staring at the book in front of him, his desire to read dropped drastically.

Deep in thought swimming in the solitude of the silent room accompanied only by the fireplace and his grandfather, Wu Ming Qi, who had fallen asleep, but Wu Liang was now still awake and aware, daydreaming incoherently, while biting the corner of his lips, peeling off the dried skin of his lips, leaving fresh bite marks and withered and very thin pieces of lip skin.

His musings this time made him think a lot, trying to stay relaxed in his current state, trying to rest his body against the backrest of his chair, while playing with the pen and shadow cast by the moonlight bowl artifact.

A big stone filled his mind, making his brain and head feel heavy, he didn't know what he was thinking right now, he then turned his head towards the open window of the room, a cool breeze entered without permission, coming and seemed to caress Wu Liang's teenage body in his room.

Wu Liang gazed deeply into the silent sky, small and thin clouds floating in the sky without any trouble and hindrance, only that they would always disappear every once in a while, just as one cloud disappeared, another small cloud would appear to replace it.

His feelings this time were a bit ambiguous, personally he felt strange since he woke up from his coma, but however this feeling for him was just a feeling and abstract conclusions.

His body was obviously tired because today he had practiced hard, but after a few hours later his muscles relaxed, his body that was a little stiff and sore was trying to relax now, but his own eyes were obviously still not closed to sleep, his expression was exhausted but in his mind now, Wu Liang was discussing closely about his future.

For him too, the more time goes forward, the more he will be approaching the time to honor the ancestors which means his parents souls are also included there, Wu Liang to be honest, still gets nervous every time he wants to pray before the wooden slips of the nameplates of the ancestors or families of the Wu tribe who have gone forever.

After a while of gazing at the changing landscape of the clear night sky, Wu Liang looked down at his book again, then rose to his feet from his chair, pushed it back a little and then stood up and walked out of the room.

Walking in the slightly cold living room of Wu Liang's house, the hard wooden floor of the house, kept a chill that directly touched the soles of Wu Liang's feet, making Wu Liang himself even more awake and his sleepiness lessened, Then Wu Liang took a loaf of bread from the storage cabinet, and divided it, taking it for his share as a snack.

His light blue set of clothes was worn out, and smelled slightly of sweat, but for the Wu tribe it was not a problem, and Wu Liang was still wearing his light blue set of clothes.

Wu Liang sat leisurely on the terrace of his house, leaning back with his left hand supporting his body while his right hand was feeding his mouth, chewing the bread piece by piece with gusto but with a prominent flat expression.

The lonely and cold path in front of his house adds to the impression of solitude, loneliness, and a sense of emptiness that fills his soul right now, sitting leisurely with his legs extended to the bottom step until it touches the ground of the path.

His gaze was glued to the moon tonight which glowed pale white brightly, the moon's stature was like a blank canvas, providing Wu Liang with a way to fantasize and search for a depiction of his parents' faces.

Wu Liang stared intently at the moon, gazing at it between the clouds reflected in his eyeballs, with slightly sleepy eyes, and a body completely chilled by the air and the slight breeze.

One two three four five.... Wu Liang gazed solemnly and intently at the moon, like a teenage boy's sculpture that was carved with precision and detail and made to face straight towards the eternal day and night sky, but unfortunately a short while passed, there was no change in his gaze whatsoever.

The cool wind blew and tapped his eyelids, making his body want to shiver more and more, but with his mind being strong at the moment, Wu Liang ignored the whole condition of his skin that felt like freezing.

Some time passed, Wu Liang faced the sky and managed to imagine the silhouette of a woman, Wu Liang imagined it based on the facial characteristics of his aunts, which eventually formed the shadow silhouette that Wu Liang was imagining now, except that the silhouette Wu Liang imagined now had no face, Wu Liang replaced the silhouette's face with a beautiful shining moon.

That was Wu Liang's depiction of his mother who had left when he was born, that was Wu Liang's situation as an orphan.

Fate is indeed playful and cruel, indiscriminate to ordinary people.

Wu Liang immediately said,

"Mom, how are you doing there? To be honest, I had thought of going to see you, but I realized that I can't leave my brother and grandfather first, I promise with all my determination that I will live and grow up as a strong and great man, and will contribute a lot to the village, just like the aunts when thinking about the future of their children, I am Wu Liang's son mother, I promise wholeheartedly will fulfill my promise now".

Wu Liang instantly burst into tears, his eyelids holding back the droplets of teardrops that were about to drip onto his shirt, his nose also immediately filled with snotty mucus, his weak heart now feeling very empty and broken because of the emptiness itself.

An absolute eternal void that replaced the warmth of a mother's affection in Wu Liang's heart.

"huftt, Although mom is not around, but this son of yours Wu Liang, is grateful to be able to live with mom's sisters, although mom may be tired of hearing my complaints at this time, but I will never get tired of telling everything to mom, I am grateful to aunt Ao Mei who has taken care of me from childhood to replace mom who is there watching over me"

Wu Liang cried very loudly in the silence of his tightly closed mouth, trying to hold back the sound of his sobs tonight, while rubbing the corners of his eyes and cheeks that were wet with tears, Wu Liang tried to calm his fragile heart like a weed in a wheat field.

While finishing the last piece of bread, Wu Liang was about to get up, but suddenly Ming Qi's grandfather appeared behind Wu Liang and immediately asked Wu Liang's condition.

Wu Liang's crumpled face from crying loudly in silence made Ming Qi's grandfather frowned out of pity for his only grandson, slowly Ming Qi's grandfather approached Wu Liang, his long white beard danced slowly backwards in the cold night wind, along with his black hair that replaced his white which was not being held back by a black headband for the symbol of being a Wu tribe elder.

Grandpa Ming Qi then joined Wu Liang on the terrace of their house, together looking at the moon that shone pale white but gave the impression of caressing their soft and delicate faces.

Under this moonlight, Ming Qi's grandfather immediately turned his head and looked at his only grandson, then immediately said,

"Wu Liang, are you nervous again? Well that's for sure, however what you feel is very heavy and hard to get rid of."

Ming Qi's grandfather said while gently rubbing Wu Liang's back, trying to calm Wu Liang who was quietly pensive and lost in his reverie.

"Hmm, it's not good to stay out too long, you might get sick again later"

Ming Qi grandfather said to Wu Liang.

Although his grandson sometimes disappoints him but there are also some moments in his life when Wu Liang makes Ming Qi grandfather proud, for him, the presence of Shan Yu and Wu Liang is a blessing as well as a responsibility that the ancestors imposed for him.

And Grandpa Ming Qi also thinks highly of his destiny this time, starting from an orphan like Wu Liang, then joining the hunting lodge, then making a lot of contributions at once when returning to the village from his journey out there, to finally marrying Shang Ci, namely Shang Wei's grandmother's sister, but after that his life changed a lot after marriage, going through suffering that he never imagined before that and finally forged and made Grandpa Ming Qi the person he is today.

"I know you are always like this when you are about to attend the ceremony, however, my grandson is a man who will become a real man later, I hope you can turn your sadness into a forge in your life so that you can walk upright with both feet in the future, let's Wu Liang go to sleep, the ancestors said that Shan Xiao will roam the mountain at night, surely you don't want to be taken away right? Hohoho"

Grandpa Ming Qi said to Wu Liang, his gentle and caring tone was fully spoken by him to Wu Liang, while rubbing Wu Liang's back, then rose to his feet and then went into the house and headed for his room, and left Wu Liang back alone on the porch of their house.

Wu Liang just now only smiled faintly in response to his grandfather, his face which was also crumpled just now slowly finally improved, showing the face of a healthy young man although there were a few crying marks visible in some corners of Wu Liang's face.

Some time after Ming Qi's grandfather left, Wu Liang pondered his grandfather's words with a sad heart, then re-imagined the figure of his mother's face on the moon, and then got up to return to his room.

Now feeling a little relieved by his grandfather's enlightenment and advice, Wu Liang closed the window overlooking Cang Wuan's uncle's house which was only a few tens of feet away from Wu Liang's house, Cang Wuan's uncle's house was now dark with no light at all from the direction of the fireplace, then with a further view of the ravine and the slight hills of the Wu tribe mountain.

Wu Liang then fully lay down with relief and relaxation, his heart calming down and feeling better.

Slowly sinking into sleep, while imagining himself going to perform the ancestral honoring ceremony which means Wu Liang will also meet his mother and father's wooden slips.