No appetite, I ate a little and then went separate ways with the village chief.

He went to the county town to buy supplies, and I went back to the mountain to ask Master Yang to clean up the body.

As soon as I opened my mouth, he readily agreed and immediately started working.

I asked my grandmother to stay outside, afraid that she would break down if she saw it.

It's really terrifying. Even as a man, I felt uneasy looking at it.

Master Yang's technique was very skillful, starting from the thin and bony lower body of my uncle.

Then the stiff chest and back.

The skin on the chest was tightly attached to a row of prominent bones, the belly was deeply concave, like a cliff.

I even seemed to see the white color through the deep yellow skin.

Finally, it was the head, and I deliberately used a glass ball to put the missing eye back in.

After everything was done, I took out the money and asked Master Yang how much it would cost for this whole procedure.

He looked at me with an incredulous expression for a while, waved his hand, and said, "No need."

On the way down the mountain, doubts resurfaced in my mind. Looking at him, who was already in his nineties with a face full of age spots, I couldn't help but wonder, what was the purpose behind willingly doing all this?

"Old man, you've worked hard for so long, how can you not accept payment? Why?" I asked tentatively.

Master Yang glanced at my grandmother, who was sitting on the doorstep, shook his head, and said, "For redemption."

"Redeem for her? One can only redeem their own sins."

"Sins belong to everyone, we all have them."

I was puzzled, "Do you have sins too? Do the victims have sins as well?"

"Yes." He paused, looked at me for a long time, and then continued, "You really resemble your father when he was young, he had them too."

"???"

"He came to me with money, saying he wanted to hire me. Ask him, and you'll know."

Did Dad hire someone to take care of uncle's affairs?

Before I could ask further, the village chief called for someone to carry the coffin and the shroud up the mountain.

After changing Uncle into new clothes and arranging the mourning hall, it was already dark.

Winter nights fell early, and they were especially cold.

My grandmother handed me a bowl of white rice porridge with some pickled radish floating on top. It could warm me up on such a cold day.

But based on my experience during the day, I blew on it a few times before I dared to eat.

As expected, it was still scalding hot. I even suspected that she did it on purpose to harm me.

I knew that people here liked to drink porridge with something sour, but in my impression, it was either warm or cold porridge.

No one drinks it hot, it's really inexplicable.

But she herself was only drinking from the rim of the bowl.

After everything was settled, I lay down on the small bed my grandmother had prepared, in the same room as her, while Uncle lay in the other room.

My father called and asked about the situation. I reported it truthfully and said that I would return to Beijing overnight after the burial tomorrow.

Before hanging up the phone, I couldn't help but ask:

"Dad, this Master Yang today refused to accept my money and said you had already paid him. Is that true?"

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, and I could only hear his breathing becoming heavier and more urgent.

"Yes."

"When did it happen, before I came?"

Another long silence.

"No, it was when you were a child."