Elder Uncle sullenly took several deep drags from his cigarette. In the distance, Mother, busy at the cemetery, raised her voice and shouted, telling the two of us to hurry back and offer the last round of incense, then pack up the offerings and move on to the next visit.
Taking advantage of the walk back, Elder Uncle took out the cigarette he was biting, also taking away mine that I hadn’t had time to savor. Then he said,
“I’ll secretly take you to the place where your Elder Uncle passed. Before he left, he gave me that self-built house of his. In the future, it’ll be yours. His wife is not a steady person, and as for the child—well, who knows whose it is. Your mother probably doesn’t know about this yet. Remember not to tell her, or she’ll definitely go confront that unfaithful woman.”
“…Alright.”
*****
The village’s funeral parlor was quite dilapidated, but its basic functions and services still worked fine.
Because the funeral home and cemetery were integrated, once you took the memorial tablet out, you could go directly to the cemetery to find where the tombstone was.
Elder Uncle skillfully led us around to a corner of the cemetery, pushing aside the branches hanging over the top of the tomb.
Mother stared expressionlessly at the man on the tombstone, whose forced smile barely held together. I wasn’t close to him. Even when I was young, he never liked me much, and he didn’t want to see Mother either.
After a simple routine of pouring some wine, sweeping dust, cleaning leaves, and pressing joss paper down with a stone, Xiao Nannan lit more than a dozen sticks of incense and handed them to the people present. Elder Uncle’s wife and son were also there.
When the ritual ended and the incense was stuck in the burner, Elder Uncle pulled Elder Uncle’s wife aside and whispered something to her. When they finished talking, he nodded at me, said a word to Mother, and led me out toward the funeral parlor ahead of them.
“How about it? Still want to go?”
“Of course. Weren’t you always curious about what Elder Uncle wrote in his will? From the way you tested the waters before, I can tell you really want to know why your mother’s temperament suddenly changed, right? She’s nothing like she used to be.”
“So you’re really going to show me? Is that even appropriate?”
There weren’t many people on the path out of the funeral parlor, so we didn’t bother looking for a special place to talk. We just lowered our voices and chatted.
Elder Uncle reached out and knocked me on the head, “Of course it’s not appropriate. But I can give you a simple summary that doesn’t touch on private matters. Before he passed, your Elder Uncle made it clear that only your mother and I could read it. Not even your grandmother, or his own wife and that child—who knows whose—were allowed to see it. No matter how much his wife made a fuss, it was no use. Maybe he was worried about the inheritance being split up. Your mother probably figured out the truth, but she hasn’t dared to confront her about it.”
I thought for a moment. “As far as I remember, Elder Uncle’s wife and child are still living in the house, right? Is that okay?”
Elder Uncle shrugged. “What could be wrong? The only reason they’re still living there is because I let them. I actually planned to kick them both out, but then I thought better of it—at least I can say I’ve done my part. Your Elder Uncle also wrote that in the letter. I’ll let them stay until the kid is grown up and independent, then they’ll have to move out.”
With Elder Uncle’s assurance, I finally relaxed and got on his motorcycle, which was much bigger than mine.
Even though I’d ridden with Elder Uncle many times, every time I got on I still felt a jolt of nerves. I really couldn’t get used to how fast he drove.
*****
Elder Uncle’s house was located in the western outskirts of the village. That used to be Grandpa’s land. Since no one farmed it, it was left unused until Elder Uncle built his house there.
We arrived at our destination in no time. The current residents were still at the funeral parlor chatting with Mother, having been specifically told by Elder Uncle to come home a bit later.
Knowing they had no real standing, they obediently waited at the funeral parlor, afraid of upsetting Elder Uncle and getting kicked out.
Climbing the stairs, I saw that the house was actually quite nicely decorated inside. You could tell Elder Uncle had earned a good deal of money over the years. According to some gossipy relatives, he’d left a considerable inheritance for Elder Uncle and Mother when he passed, and his wife had received quite a bit too.
Pushing open the rooftop door, Elder Uncle took a deep breath, feeling the strong wind blowing across the top of the building. I couldn’t help but feel awed by the force of nature.
“There, that’s the spot. The place where your Elder Uncle passed.”
Elder Uncle said it with a joking tone, but I could clearly see the lines between his brows tightening and his smile stiff at the corners of his mouth.
“Want to go over and sit for a bit?”
Elder Uncle glanced at me after speaking, and when he saw my instinctive reluctance, he burst into hearty laughter.
“Ha! Honestly, I don’t dare sit there either. It just feels too uncomfortable. That’s perfectly normal. Most people are like that. Only your mother dared to sit there for half a day.”
“Really? Wasn’t there any kind of protection or safety measure?”
“What kind of protection could there be? I kept a close eye on her at the time—no way I’d let her get hurt too. Don’t worry about it.”
Elder Uncle waved his hand, rummaged in the corner, and pulled out two dirty plastic stools. He wiped them with his shirt before tossing one over to me.
The wind on the rooftop was strong—almost strong enough to make it hard to catch the stool.
There was a picture of a pair of old-fashioned, chubby, red-faced baby dolls painted on the plastic stool. They were holding a horizontal banner and grinning cheerfully—a boy and a girl. One banner read “Joy for the Whole Family,” the other “Congratulations on the New Home.” It seemed Elder Uncle had bought them at the local market when he moved in.
“Ha, brings back memories. I think your Elder Uncle and I picked these out together. We thought they looked pretty festive back then.”
Elder Uncle saw the spray paint on the stool too and gave a bitter smile.
We sat down in a spot away from the edge, enjoying the rare cool breeze. On a blazing summer day like this, if you had a popsicle or ice-cold Coke, you could spend the whole afternoon up here.
“Uncle, go downstairs and buy me some ice cream.”
So I chose to follow my heart and voiced my real desire.
That was the nice thing about being with Elder Uncle. You didn’t have to worry about offending him with what you said. You could treat him like a friend your own age—it was easy and relaxed.
“Buy it yourself. How old are you and you still want me to run errands for you? Think about how old I am—just going up and down these stairs wears me out.”
“For someone who takes motorcycle trips all the time, how out of shape could you be? I’ll send you three yuan to buy me three ice creams, okay?”
I knew perfectly well that the nearest convenience store was in the center of the village, and a bit further was the old man’s grocery by the lake, which didn’t have much. The market was way too crowded. I was just kidding with Elder Uncle.
“Alright, alright. I think there’s a fridge in Elder Uncle’s house. Wait a bit—I’ll check. If I let you take my bike to buy ice cream, and you scratch it with your lousy riding skills, it’s not worth it.”
Elder Uncle said with a cheeky grin, then burst out laughing at full volume. He swung his long legs, still in flip-flops, kicked open the rooftop door, and bounded downstairs. I really worried about his state of mind.
But that’s the good thing about being on the rooftop of a self-built house in the outskirts—no matter how loud you shout, no one will come knocking to complain about the noise. You can yell as much as you like, no need to worry about disturbing the neighbors.
Barely two minutes later, I heard footsteps, “pa-da, pa-da,” coming from the open stairwell door behind me.
I turned on my stool and met Elder Uncle’s surprised look. He was holding a big box of ice cream, chilled with ice cubes.
“Wow, that woman sure lives well. All these ice creams must’ve cost over a hundred yuan. Even the cheapest cones are three yuan each. When I’m filming, I can’t bring myself to eat such expensive stuff.”
“You brought the whole box? Isn’t she going to blame me later?”
“She wouldn’t dare. No way.”
Elder Uncle raised his brows dramatically, tossed me a rock-hard frozen mango popsicle, and popped open a glass-bottled cold drink for himself. I didn’t know what it was, but it definitely wasn’t soda.
After climbing mountains to make offerings during Qingming, I’d built up a heap of stuffy heat in my body. Now that I had the chance to enjoy free cold drinks, I certainly wouldn’t pass it up.
Xiao Nannan gulped down the drink in one go, then tossed the empty bottle back into the ice-filled box.
“Whatever. Let them clean up themselves. After all, they’re still living the high life with Elder Uncle’s money.”
Catching my curious look, Elder Uncle explained,
“Can plastic wrappers go in there too?”
“Of course. Give it here, I’ll do it.”
I handed over the torn ice cream wrapper, and Elder Uncle, braving the cold, shoved it to the very bottom of the box.
When he pulled his hand out, it was already bright red from the cold, but he just laughed freely, so cheerful that I couldn’t help but think of the wandering heroes from old wuxia novels—free and bold, living for pleasure and vengeance.
“Ha! If you’ve got any worries, now’s your chance to shout them out at the top of your lungs. It’s the perfect way to let off steam.”
“Me? I’ll pass. I’m not at that age yet, and I’m too self-conscious. Besides, my mouth’s still full of ice cream.”
I quietly took a few more bites of my cold mango popsicle and shook my head.
Elder Uncle unwrapped a cone and finished it off in a few bites, but didn’t go for a second one.
“Ah, too many cold drinks give you a stomachache. Best to take a break.”
With the eating done, Elder Uncle also calmed down from his excited, puppy-like mood.
He habitually took out his pack of cigarettes, about to hand me one, but I rolled my eyes and pushed it back.
“What’s there to worry about? If you ask me, people ought to enjoy themselves, treasure every moment they can be happy, you know?”
The wind on the rooftop was so strong that Elder Uncle’s lighter—clearly swiped from some restaurant—was no match for it, and no matter how he tried, he couldn’t get a flame. He angrily stuffed it back into his pocket.
“So what if you used to be sick? That’s all in the past. Now that you have a lovely girlfriend, open up and be honest with her. How do you know she’ll see things the way you do? Accidents can happen at any time. Even people who aren’t sick get killed in traffic accidents. As long as you take proper precautions, you just need to be responsible for each other. I may never have married, but I’ve dated plenty of girlfriends—that’s my exclusive experience, you know.”