"Yesterday, I called to notify you and your younger brother because your mother is elderly and kept insisting on retrieving the things and going to the cemetery. I informed you both just in case. What your family does with the ashes and belongings is your business. It has nothing to do with the relocation office or me." I spoke calmly. "That's only fair, isn't it?"
Liu Zhiguo hadn't said a word yet when Director Mao nodded in agreement.
Director Mao tried to persuade Liu Zhiguo. "Whatever's going on, you need to talk it through as a family. Your maternal grandparents have been gone for many years, right? Something may have happened in between, and your mother kept their things at home without telling you. You need to ask her about it. And maybe she has her reasons for wanting that cemetery, too. Don't just make the decision yourself. Your mother's getting on in years. This may be her one remaining wish. If you want to be a good son, listen to her."
As the director of the residents' committee in an old neighborhood, Director Mao was full of advice on matters like this.
I kept quiet and listened to her talk to Liu Zhiguo. She was actually a few years younger than him, but she knew all sorts of details about Song Xian, her husband, and what the Liu brothers had been like when they were young. She even dredged up old stories about Liu Zhijun giving up his newlywed home for his older brother, and Song Xian and her husband helping their eldest daughter-in-law through her confinement and taking care of the children.
Liu Zhiguo looked very unhappy and had no patience to keep listening. After a few perfunctory replies, he prepared to leave.
Director Mao said to us,