.
"Father passed away three years ago, and Mother passed away two months ago."
Wang Ying stood beside Xiao Mo and spoke slowly.
The little girl who had once shared a bun with Xiao Mo had grown into a young woman and married into a family in Qingshan City.
Her daughter was already seven or eight years old.
"I didn't expect Village Chief and Aunt Chen's graves to be side by side." Xiao Mo smiled. "I remember Aunt Chen always telling me she'd married the wrong man, and that when she died, she'd make sure to be buried far away from that old geezer of hers."
Wang Ying smiled too. "Yes, Mother was like that. But when Father passed away, Mother was the one who cried the hardest. When she died, she specifically told me to bury her beside Father."
Xiao Mo crouched down and set a jar of wine in front of the gravestone. "Maybe that's what marriage is."
Wang Ying's daughter, Zhang Qianqian, started toward Xiao Mo, wanting to tug at his blue robe, but her mother pulled her back.
Wang Ying rested a hand on her daughter's shoulder to keep her from moving around. "Brother Xiao, before my parents passed away, they asked me to relay a few things to you."
"Mm." Xiao Mo nodded.
"When Father was leaving, he said the greatest blessing in his life was being able to teach a Zhuangyuan Lang like Brother Xiao to read. He only regretted that his own learning was limited and that he didn't know much."
"That's not true. Village Chief taught me a great deal. If not for him, I wouldn't even have passed the Imperial Examination for Children." Xiao Mo shook his head. "Did Village Chief say anything else?"
"Father also said that at most, he'd