Monument of Life and Death

  Chapter 477 Memorial Ceremony

   "What does it mean?" Meili looked at Xiaolan and Jasmine.

   Jasmine shook her head solemnly, "Let’s get Lu Qianqian on the ship and leave."

  The river also changed its direction. They took a small boat and walked along the water to Moon Village. When they came to the bank of the river where the accident occurred, Xiaolan stood on tiptoe and saw the old man sitting behind the dense reeds.

In Meili’s yelling "Auntie, there is a big spider on your shoulder", Xiaolan helped the old man aboard the boat. The old man touched Lu Qianqian’s cold body, as if he understood something, and didn’t say more. The group continued on their way home quietly.

  The closer to the Moon Village, the lower the surrounding temperature, Xiaolan once thought it was the chill from Lu Qianqian's body.

   "It's coming soon." Jasmine opened her mouth, and a cloud of white air came up.

   "It's so cold here," Xiaolan's coat was almost rotten, she could only hug her shoulders, "It's almost like winter."

  As soon as the voice fell, snow actually floated in the sky.

   "Aren't we still warm when we left?" Meili and Jasmine lifted Lu Qianqian's body to the shore.

  The old man silently protected the face spider to his palm, and came to the land of his hometown, which had been long gone.

   "Old woman, you are going home." Meili said softly.

  The old man nodded, as if looking around blindly with those pairs. She sniffed and sighed, "Cause, disaster."

   Jasmine and Meili drag Lu Qianqian's body, Xiaolan supported the old man's arm and walked towards the village.

  From a distance, I saw the contiguous roof covered by the snow.

No pedestrians were seen on the road. The snow on the ground was deeper than knees. Everyone waded through the heavy snow and first came to the door of the Diaojiao Building of Patriarch Langhui. Xiaolan went up and knocked on the door. After a while, the door opened and dressed like a bear. The patriarch Langhui greeted them and enthusiastically invited them in.

  "What's going on here?" Xiaolan asked after entering the door.

"Disaster, disaster is coming again," Patriarch Lang Hui kept silent about their rhetoric that "No more disasters in Moon Village" left by them, "This year is freezing cold, and the crops are dead, but... It has been much better in previous years.

  These last words will not relieve their shame. Patriarch Lang Hui admits that he has no position to accuse them, so he bowed his head to serve them with hot tea, and only noticed Lu Qianqian and the elderly when he was serving the tea.

   "This is..." He was stunned, and his regrets quickly climbed up, "This Lord Jin Xian...Alas, Lord Jin Xian, Moon Village can't help you..."

   Jasmine quickly helped the bowing Patriarch Lang Hui up, "Patriarch, we can't help you."

   "Big Brother Lang Hui?" The old man standing at the back suddenly yelled tentatively.

   Patriarch Langhui shook his shoulders, his eyes turned to the old man, he looked up and down the old man’s appearance and said, "Sister Xiaomeng?"

   "Big Brother Lang Hui!"

   Patriarch Langhui widened his eyes, "Sister Xiaomeng, you are still alive... how did you become like this?"

   "It's hard to say a word..." The old man was pulled to the stool by the patriarch Lang Hui, and sighed his own experience.

   Patriarch Langhui listened, and as soon as he expressed his joy at the return of the old man, he hesitated to ask something.

   "So, even if you go there, you don’t necessarily have to..."

  Xiaolan knew what he was thinking.

  He was thinking about his other daughter.

  If his sister Xiaomeng had a chance of surviving, then would her daughter be the same.

   Xiaolan watched the patriarch Lang Hui igniting a little hope, bit her lower lip, and took out the ruby ​​from her jacket pocket.

   "Patriarch Lang Hui, look at this."

   Patriarch Langhui’s eyes suddenly lit up, and he cautiously put the gem in his palm, "Where did Master Jin Xian get it?"

   Xiaolan looked at the expectation in the man’s eyes, hesitated, and said, “We picked it up on the bank of the river. Maybe a girl accidentally dropped it when she escaped.”

   Patriarch Langhui’s hand began to tremble, “This is the gem of my eldest daughter. She is Yuerong’s sister named Xuerong.”

   "That's great," Xiaolan squeezed out a reluctant smile, "Maybe she is still alive."

   Jasmine and Meili glanced at Xiaolan, but did not speak.

  At this time, the sound of hurried footsteps sounded above everyone's heads, and Lang Yuerong's clear voice appeared on the edge of the stairs on the second floor.

   "Dad! Snow..."

   "Snow Rong?!..."

  Lang Yuerong saw the surprise expression on his father's face, and was a little startled for a while, "No...no...Daddy, the snow outside has melted, the freezing has passed, we are saved!"

   "Ah, the snow has melted, great," Chief Lang Hui's mouth trembled, "It's finally over."

  Opened the door, and the gentle sunlight shattered on them. This was the sunlight that Lu Qianqian had exchanged for.

  The surviving villagers cheered and shouted outside, the melted frost and snow slipped down the roof bitterly, and the air was moist and refreshing, as if it had just been a spring rain.

"Master Jin Xian might as well stay and participate in the evening bonfire rally before setting off," Chief Lang Hui said to them, standing at the door, "Every year after the disaster passes, we will gather together to commemorate the sacrificed children, and Tonight...I have some important things to discuss with you."

   Commemorate the sacrificed children.

   Xiaolan nodded.

  On the moist land where the snow melted, a high firewood was set up. The flames were a little bit, and the flames were about to ignite into the sky.

The people of the Mai and Lang clan stood in a few circles around the bonfire. This is a time to pay homage to the dead and one of the few people from the two clans to unite.

  Clan Chief Langhui and Mai Clan chief stood together, Chief Langhui cleared his throat and said, "After the two of us discussed, we think that maybe, it's time to migrate."

  Migrating?

  Except for Xiaolan and the others, the other villagers did not seem to express too much surprise, only a few women sobbed quietly.

The patriarch of Mai Mai also opened his mouth, "Everyone knows that since last year, we have been considering this matter. You may not be able to accept it for a while, but now, migration is the best choice."

  It turned out that they had already planned to escape.

  The guilt in Xiaolan's heart is inexplicably less.

  The two patriarchs continued to talk, pausing from time to time to wait for the villagers’ opinions, but the villagers were just silently sad, and no one opposed them.

  After all, this seems to be the only way.

  After finishing talking about the "big event", the memorial ceremony began. The two patriarchs recited the eulogy. Xiaolan and his group took out the relics of the deceased and threw the relics into the flames amidst the cries of the villagers.

   "You are home."

  The flames flew to the sky, shining with colorful brilliance in the moonlight, and the crackling of the flames seemed to hear the distant laughter from the horizon. They laughed and said goodbye to their loved ones one last time.

   Xiaolan watched the flames and the sky that was swept into the fuzzy by the heat wave, everything around him began to become fuzzy and soft.

   Xiaolan looked at Jasmine and Meili. Except for the three of them, everyone else was gradually fading away.

  This level is finally over.

  (End of this chapter)