Lunar New Year’s Eve would be tomorrow, so a lot of cars went to the airport. Today was the first day of the statutory holiday, but given the Spring Festival travel season, many people took a holiday a few days earlier. The legal holiday was for a few days, just enough to spend time with the family, visit relatives, and go to a party with old friends. The Spring Festival was the only one time that they could see each other every year and also the only time their relationship could be cemented.
A friendly company could win their staff’s loyalty. Job-hopping might be the fastest way to get promoted in the profit-oriented world. But everyone is human, not a machine, and they could make a choice after weighing the pros and cons based on their feelings.
Qin Sheng would go back with Su Qin every year when they were students in Shanghai. It was a special feeling to hold each other in the sleeping berth filled with smells and people, and to hear all kinds of accents and stories.
“Su Qin must be in Xi’an now?” Qin Sheng had no time to see her, and even if he had, he did not want to disturb Su Qin because he and Uncle Su had already made an agreement.
After graduating from senior high school, Qin Sheng rarely went back to Xi’an. The total number of times could be counted on his fingers, among which today was the most special, aside from that time they traveled.
Every time New Year was near, his classmates or friends studying or working in Xi’an would recommend a song in their Moments to greet their friends living in other places. When listening to that song, those classmates or friends would feel more desperate to go back.
The song was called “Back to Xi’an”, written by Ma Fei, one of the popular local singers in Xi’an.
The song came to Qin Sheng’s mind, then he told the driver in the front of him, “Xiaoliu, turn on Bluetooth. I want to listen to music.”
The Qin family sent two cars, one for Qin Changan and Gongsun, and the other one for Qin Sheng and Qin Ran. Hearing what Qin Sheng said, Qin Ran became jealous and said, “Xi’an is your real home, right? Are you feeling good now? Music?”
“This song comes to my mind suddenly and makes me recall lots of old friends and stories,” Qin Sheng replied, as if deep in thought.
Qin Ran teased him, “I’m just kidding. What music are you listening to? Let me try and find your taste.”
Qin Sheng had the driver connect the player to the Bluetooth and found “Back To Xi’an” on NetEase Cloud Music. Soon, the familiar melody started to play in the car. Looking out at those people in traffic, Qin Sheng thought of this song to be Back To Chengdu, Zhengzhou, Guiyang, etc.
“Picture, Weibo, noodles with bean paste again, no chili oil, but salt.
Foam bun of Mi started a branch in your dream. The time to get up is coming when breaking up, to the subway station.
Ah-yoo…
High buildings one by one in the city, but no room for me.
Friends are all in other places, leaving nobody to talk to. The day to afford a room in Beijing is far away.
Hello~ My friends, the paddywack is ready.
Hello~ My friends, are you still on the subway?
Hello~ My friends, when are you going to get back to Xi’an?
My friends, see you in Xi’an.”
When the song was over, Qin Sheng’s smile became bigger. The Xi’an accent sounded familiar and friendly. The lyrics were simple and frank, with a beautiful melody. The Xi’an accent made this song unique, especially the last part that was a talk between two friends and stirred up the listener’s feelings.
Every New Year, many people would be in floods of tears when listening to this music. They finally chose to leave those big cities and go back to their hometowns.
“You really have a great feeling for Xi’an!” Qin Ran laughed. She had few feelings for this song. After all, she lived a different life. But she could understand Qin Sheng.
Qin Sheng did not deny it and smilingly answered, “I lived there for over 20 years. It’s special to me.”
They arrived at the Capital International Airport by eight o’clock, and saw that it was full of passengers. But they were not affected by that because they would go to take Qin Changan’s private plane through the business boarding building.
The private plane was the most advanced Gulfstream G650 in Air China’s charge. Two stewardesses were the same beauties that Qin Sheng had met last time. After a smiling greeting, Qin Sheng went to take a seat, with Qin Ran sitting opposite.
The two beauties knew a lot about the Qin family. That middle-aged man looking as if he lacked vigor was the owner of the Gulfstream G650. That graceful beauty was his daughter. But the two beauties knew little about the young man they met just twice. They supposed from their conversation that he was that beauty’s younger brother, that man’s son. Then, why did he not show up with them?
The two beauties did not want to figure out the answer, and they were wondering whether he had a girlfriend or not. If one of them came into his sight, they could rise up from low class to high class and live a rich life. Therefore, they behaved very thoughtfully and friendly to Qin Sheng, showing him big smiles.
Qin Sheng did not know what they were thinking of. After chatting with Qin Ran for a while, he closed his eyes and fell asleep while Qin Ran took out a book to kill time since work was already done and there was no extra work. Qin Changan was reading some proposals about investments.
The plane landed at the Xi’an Xianyang International Airport at half-past 10.
Outside the plane, Qin Sheng took a deep breath of the familiar air. The haze was heavy but it was his hometown so it was the purest air to him. Of course, that was just a joke.
Gongsun made a good arrangement and prepared two Mercedes for them. Then, they took them straight to Zhongnan Mountain.
Qin Sheng was excited in the car because he got back after being gone for half a year. He kept introducing to Qin Ran local customs and landmarks.
After 40 minutes on the expressway and 30 minutes on the ring road, they finally got to the foot of Zhongnan Mountain, where Old Master was buried.
Zhongnan Mountain was a blessed place. Qin Sheng was familiar with it and had been to every valley. There were many of his old friends living here, like Master, Chang Baiji. But he did not know whether they moved to other places or not. He had no time to pay a visit to them and had to leave it for next time.
Qin Ran had been to Xi’an several times, but this was her first time going to Zhongnan Mountain. She read a lot about it in books so she was asking Qin Sheng, the local king, about it. The latter was also glad to answer her questions.
They pulled their cars over. Gongsun took out the stuff prepared ahead of time from the trunk and stood by Qin Changan’s side before Qin Sheng and Qin Ran got out of the car.
Qin Changan threw an eye to Qin Sheng and told him in low voice, “You’re familiar with this place. Be our guide today.”
Qin Sheng nodded and led them to a common grave where Old Master was buried. Only Qin Changan, Qin Ran, and Gongsun were following him, leaving the others to wait by the road.
It was not an easy path to the grave of Old Master. It was a twisted, unsurfaced road, with weeds and unknown trees. Ones clothes might be torn by accident.
Eventually, Qin Sheng led them to his grandfather’s grave several minutes later. Nobody would think the mound was a grave if they did not look closer. Qin Sheng pointed at it and said, “It’s here.”
Qin Changan and Gongsun were familiar with it and did not feel surprised because they had been here. Qin Ran was astonished. She was told a lot of legendary stories about her grandfather. In her mind, her grandfather was a mysterious and legendary figure. So his grave should be built magnificently at least. But why would it be so poor? It was as if the builder had chosen the place very casually and buried him in a really abandoned place.
“Here?” Qin Ran asked with astonishment.
Qin Sheng already knew that she would not believe it, but it was the truth. He gave her a bitter smile. “Here.”
Qin Changan took those things from Gongsun and slowly went to the grave of Old Master. He was in a bad condition recently so he squatted with some difficulty.
Seeing Qin Changan starting his worship, Qin Ran and Qin Sheng followed him forward with no words and then squatted by his side.
They took charge of clearly different work.
Liquor, flowers, fruits, circling, burning paper money, and then lighting a license stick; they knew it well and managed it with ease.
As the son of Old Master, Qin Changan took charge of offering incense because he was the representative of the Qin family, aside from his big brother, who already became a monk on Mountain Wutai.
Qin Sheng was in charge of pouring wine. He held the cheapest Xifeng 375 and poured it all on the grave. At the very moment, there were lots of things weighing on his mind. Thus, he was murmuring when pouring the liquor, “Grandpa, I’ve come back again. This time, I’m not alone. I’m with others in the family. Your son, your grandson, and my elder sister. You must have recognized them. You may want to have a big talk with them. But what a pity. You’ve gone.
“Grandpa, I have lots of questions, too. But I know you won’t tell me even though I ask you. So I won’t ask. I’ve been pondering the past for a while and believe that you must have done everything for my sake because I’m your grandson, and that I’m just not old enough to understand. Now I’ve come back to our family, so don’t worry about me. As for those things happening in the past, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Now that you chose to sleep here forever, you may hate to be disturbed by others. Well, then, I won’t tell any others do so but the Qin family. All right, the whole bottle of liquor is finished. If you want more, tell me in my dreams and I’ll bring you two bottles.”
Qin Ran had few things to say. After all, she did not build a firm relationship with Old Master and rarely saw him. She did not know whether Old Master preferred boys over girls or not. But she was curious about why such a legendary man would like to be buried here. Few people would like to make that choice.
Qin Changan kept silent as well, and there were few memories to talk about between the father and son. They had already had a big talk last time and Old Master knew everything he did before. After all, all the blessings of the Qin family were concentrated on him and Qin Sheng.
But there was still something he wanted to say: Father, you chose the life for Qin Sheng before he reached 20. I won’t complain about it. But from today on, please let me lead him to continue his life.
It ends where it started. The 28-year life of Qin Sheng came to a good end.
