Once a person immerses themselves in deliberate busyness, time flies by quickly. Another new year has arrived.
Last year, when Zhu Qingyu had just returned and hadn't fully recovered, she didn't participate in the tomb - sweeping activity on the first day of the first lunar month.
On this first day of the first lunar month, Zhu Qingyu was in full - swing condition. There was no reason for her not to participate. So, with a chicken in her left hand and a duck in her right, she followed the family to the mountain to sweep the tombs.
Just like the ancestral tombs of thousands of families in central Sichuan, the Zhu family's ancestral tombs were located on a desolate mountain. They only visited once a year. The most difficult part of each tomb - sweeping was to blaze a trail and find the tombs on this desolate mountain overgrown with weeds and wild trees, where there was hardly any place to set foot.
Fortunately, the Zhu family's ancestral tombs had steles with inscriptions on them, making them a bit easier to identify.
Zhu Lansheng and Zhu Qingfeng held sickles and hoes to cut the grass and chop the branches in the front. Mei Tang and Zhu Qingyu carried the sacrificial offerings and followed behind. The four of them trudged through mountains and rivers. When they reached the general area, they began to search around.
Zhu Qingfeng was the tallest and could see the farthest. Looking up, he saw a corner of a tombstone protruding from the grass and trees on the distant mountain, with the character "Zhu" written on it. Immediately, he pointed and said,
"We've found it! Over there!"
So the family moved further up. With her father and brother paving the way in the front, Zhu Qingyu blatantly slacked off. She waited until they had cleared away the weeds and branches blocking the way, and then slowly followed behind with the sacrificial offerings.
After the weeds on the higher ground were cleared, a small purple flower appeared on the newly - cleared path.
Zhu Qingyu stared at this small purple flower that had bloomed from Dingsheng Pass in the north all the way to central Sichuan in the south. She was stunned for a moment. Looking up along the winding path, she found that there were more and more purple flowers all the way up to the tomb.
Right, at that time, Zhu Dashan had even picked purple flowers for her. Sometimes, the little ancestor and Vice Minister Gu had quite similar tastes.
Now that the tomb was full of small purple flowers, the little ancestor should be quite happy.
As Zhu Qingyu was thinking like this and walking up along the cleared path, she suddenly heard Zhu Qingfeng say hesitantly,
"Lord Zhu?"
This long - lost address of "Lord Zhu" suddenly exploded into her ears. Zhu Qingyu suddenly looked up at Zhu Qingfeng, and asked in shock with a full - faced look,
"Brother, what did you say!"
Zhu Qingfeng pushed aside the weeds and looked at the exposed stele, saying,
"I made a mistake. It says 'Lord Zhu' on it. This isn't our family's ancestral tomb."
Zhu Lansheng, standing a few steps away from Zhu Qingfeng, replied,
"Since they all have the surname Zhu, they're all our Zhu family's ancestors. Let's offer sacrifices together. Hey, Qingyu, the mountain path is steep. Don't run so fast!"
Zhu Qingyu turned a deaf ear. Still holding a chicken in her left hand and a duck in her right, she rushed past Zhu Lansheng like the wind and all the way to the tombstone. She pushed aside the weeds in front of the tomb that hadn't been cleared yet, and the complete words on the tombstone were revealed.
A gentle breeze blew through the mountains, passing through the small purple flowers that had been blooming since ancient times, through the tombstone that had stood for five hundred years, and blowing up the stray hairs on Lord Zhu's forehead. It brought a message from the beloved one five hundred years ago to Lord Zhu, who was kneeling in front of the tomb, stroking the tombstone and suddenly in tears:
"Lord Zhu, so are we."
...
On Gu Heng's second birthday, Gu Zhao welcomed an old friend at the governor's mansion in central Sichuan.
Shen Xu was on an official mission by imperial order. Passing by central Sichuan, he came to see Gu Zhao and also brought a family letter for him.
While Gu Zhao was reading the letter, Gu Heng sat beside her father quietly, eating snacks obediently without making a sound.
At the age of two, Gu Heng's features were all reminiscent of Lord Zhu. Shen Xu stared at her and asked,
"Is your family urging you to get married?"
Gu Zhao, looking at the letter from his grandmother, replied,
"I have a wife, and Heng also has a mother. She's just delayed by something and will come back."
Shen Xu shifted his gaze and echoed,
"Right. One day in heaven is one year on earth. She's only been back for two days. Maybe she's just too busy for now."
Seeing Gu Zhao looking up, Shen Xu stood up and smiled, saying,
"I interrogated Shopkeeper Liu before he died. Since I'm on official business, I won't stay long. I'll take my leave."
Gu Zhao carried Gu Heng to the door to see Shen Xu off. Shen Xu looked at Heng, who had been silent all the time, and asked,
"Does Heng not like to talk?"
Most two - year - old children could say some simple sentences, but Gu Heng hadn't said a single word since she was born.
Gu Zhao looked at Gu Heng and replied,
"She has a steady temperament since she was in her mother's womb."
As Shen Xu mounted his horse and was about to leave, he said again,
"Shouming, I'm a bit envious of you. At least you have someone to wait for, and someone to accompany you while waiting."
After Shen Xu left, Gu Zhao carried Gu Heng back to the study. He took out the painting brushes and paper and asked Gu Heng,
"Do you still remember what your mother looks like? If you do, in case I can't wait for her, you wait for her on my behalf. When your mother comes back, you have to recognize her."
Actually, even without Shen Xu's reminder, Gu Zhao had already noticed Gu Heng's problem of not speaking. So he always seized every opportunity to talk to her more, hoping to help her learn to speak as soon as possible.
Gu Heng sat in Gu Zhao's arms, watching her father draw a picture of her mother. She just nodded but still didn't say a word.
No one knew if her nod meant that she remembered or that she promised to wait for her mother on her father's behalf.
Gu Zhao was already used to Gu Heng not speaking and wasn't discouraged. He rambled on,
"There are many differences in the way of speaking in your mother's place. They call homework 'assignments', ask about the time by saying 'what time', and call their mothers 'mom'. You have to remember these, otherwise you won't understand when she talks."
Two years had passed, and there was still no news of Zhu Qingyu. Although Gu Zhao replied to his family members, saying that he had a wife and Heng had a mother, in the dead of night, deep in his heart, he couldn't help but feel a faint uneasiness. He couldn't help but ask himself,
"What if she really doesn't come back?"
The information that was unique to her place and that she had casually left for him was so little. Gu Zhao was afraid of forgetting, so he rambled on to Gu Heng every day. He even became addicted to painting. He filled the study with her portraits and held Gu Heng in front of her paintings, saying,
"This is mom."
Worried that the paintings and calligraphy wouldn't last long, when the official in charge of constructing Qingyun Temple came to ask him what material to use for the statue of the Medicine Buddha in the main hall, Gu Zhao specifically drew a picture of the Buddha statue according to Zhu Qingyu's appearance and said,
"A jade Buddha."
On Gu Heng's third birthday, Qingyun Temple was completed.
Gu Zhao carried Gu Heng and climbed up Qingyun Mountain again. After the clouds dispersed, the sunlight shone down, and the rooftops glittered with golden light.
The golden light fell on people, like the illumination of Buddha's light.
Facing this Buddha's light, Gu Zhao carried Gu Heng into the main hall. There was a jade Buddha statue sitting on a lotus pedestal right in front of them. The features of the statue were all reminiscent of her.
Gu Zhao stared at this exquisitely - crafted and lifelike jade Buddha statue, standing still on the spot. For a moment, he even thought that she had come back.
Normally steady Gu Heng was not at all well - behaved in Gu Zhao's arms at this moment. She pointed in the direction of the jade Buddha with her finger and arched her body forward, signaling Gu Zhao to move forward. Her movements were so big that she almost fell.
Gu Zhao quickly held her down and carried her to the front of the jade Buddha, asking,
"Heng, what's wrong?"
Gu Heng placed his small hand on the jade Buddha and said,
"Mom."
This was three-year-old Gu Heng's first words since he was born.
Gu Zhao was so shocked and overjoyed that she stared at him cautiously and couldn't say a word for a long time. She even didn't notice that the originally gorgeous paintings on the roof of the newly-built main hall had become mottled, and the brightly-painted child statues standing on both sides of the jade Buddha had also lost their luster.
A group of people barged in noisily, breaking the tranquility inside the hall.
A short-haired man in strange clothes held a small red flag high and said in a booming voice,
"Friends, tourists from the capital, please follow me this way. Now we are visiting the statue of the Medicine Buddha in the main hall of Qingyun Temple. It was enshrined during the reign of Emperor Muxuan, which is already five hundred years ago. It is the most precious treasure of this temple."
