Mother

"Is that child from Wang Village going to die? Is he trying to jump into the river?"

"Who can save him?"

"In the freezing cold, people can't even survive themselves, let alone take care of a six-year-old child."

"He was already mentally challenged, and his mother was sick too. It's better that she's dead; she'll suffer less."

"I just don't know when this war will end."

"Once the king brings back the queen mother, it should be over."

"Why."

Squatting on the frozen riverbank, the tall-looking child listened curiously to the words of the emaciated adults.

He didn't know what war was, didn't understand life and death, and didn't know what it meant for people to be destitute. He only remembered that he hadn't eaten in a long time.

Following the direction I remembered, I returned to that square box, the place the woman called home.

As he entered, he accidentally knocked over the rickety door.

He hesitated for a moment, then immediately barricaded the door shut. A weak voice called from inside, "Shuisheng, is that you back?"

"Did she wake up from the cold? I'll lock the door."

Thinking this, the child braced himself against the door so that no one could tell it had fallen down and the wind couldn't get in. A few shouts came from inside, and after a long while, a soft footstep sounded.

She pushed the door a few times and saw the child blocking it through the crack. She couldn't help but laugh in exasperation, "You silly child, you're calling for your mother when the door falls down!"

The child was still stubbornly holding the door shut, but the woman had already pushed the door down from the inside. The child fell to the ground, neither wailing nor getting up, but sitting on the half-open wooden door, staring blankly at the woman in front of him.

"What are you doing sitting here causing trouble? Hurry up and go inside."

The woman's sudden statement puzzled the child, who asked, "The inner room is very dark."

Upon hearing this, the woman seemed to remember something and said with a smile, "I just remembered, you silly child are afraid of the dark, so let's do it here then."

The woman picked him up, though it looked like she was struggling.

She took off a piece of clothing from her clothes, spread it on the ground, and placed the child on it. "The ground is very cold. If you sit there for too long, you'll catch a cold."

The woman mumbled a few words, then turned around and stood the door up.

Actually, the front door had collapsed many times before, and the woman had always been the one fixing it. But lately, she seemed to really enjoy sleeping in and couldn't get up, so the door had collapsed many times, and the child had always held it up. However, he was too young, and the door always wobbled when he held it up. Today, the door that the woman held up was much more stable.

In a short while, cold sweat beaded on the woman's forehead. In the freezing cold, the wind made it even colder, but her face flushed, making her look beautiful.

Shuisheng went over and hugged her.

The woman stiffened, then hugged him tightly, scolding, "Where did you run off to today? I wanted some water, and I couldn't find you anywhere..."

At this point, the woman suddenly paused. She suddenly remembered that she had been sick for so long, and no one in the house had brought her water. Where had she gotten water to drink?

She thought for a moment, and was about to find another reason to teach Shuisheng a lesson, but to her surprise, Shuisheng reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of water, on which there were still some small pieces of ice that hadn't melted.

He held up his hand, bringing the cup of ice water to the woman's lips, and murmured dreamily, "Water."

When the woman saw this, she quickly reached out to unbutton his clothes. His shirt was already wet, and a large patch of it had frozen over as he walked back. A large red mark lay on his chest.

That was from ice cream.

It turned out he had heard her voice, but there was no water at home, so he went to find some. He chipped a piece of ice from the river and carried it back with him, but he was too slow and the ice melted.

The woman looked at the ice water he was holding, then suddenly knelt down and hugged him.

Shuisheng couldn't understand what she was saying, but he heard the woman repeatedly apologizing to him. What had she done wrong? She said she shouldn't have given birth to him.

But he enjoyed being with this woman.

Later, when it got dark, the woman went out for a while.

When she returned, she had some meat in her hands. She used the meat to make soup, and then gave all the meat to Shuisheng.

Shuisheng had no idea where she got so much delicious food. She ate all the meat in one go, leaving a lot of soup behind.

The woman ladled a bowl of hot soup for herself and him respectively.

She looked at Shuisheng and suddenly asked, "Shuisheng, do you want to live?"

What is living?

"Living is like today; you never know when you'll starve to death, or when you'll be able to eat meat like this again."

"Then I want to live."

The woman pushed the soup in her hand towards Shuisheng, smiling as she said, "Then you must drink this bowl too, so you can survive."

Shuisheng nodded, drank the soup, and then lay down with the woman. Her body was very hot, so Shuisheng held her tightly.

The woman patted his head and said:

"When I gave birth to you, I fell into the water and almost drowned, but thankfully we both survived."

"Looking back now, it might have been better if I had drowned back then."

"But what can I do? My Shuisheng wants to live."

Her voice was low and gentle as she softly held her child and said, "When I was little, I heard that swallows fly to the warmest place when it's coldest. It's too cold here. When I'm gone, you should fly south too. There's money under the kang (heated brick bed). Take that money and fly to a warm place. Whether you get cheated or robbed, just go if you can. If you can't... I'll come and get you."

The woman spoke a lot that night.

Shuisheng was asleep and didn't hear him.

The next day, when he woke up, he found that the woman's fever had subsided and that holding her would make him feel cold. After thinking for a moment, Shuisheng still held her tightly.

He didn't know why, but even after he held her for a long time, the woman's body grew colder and colder.

Are you thirsty?

The woman didn't answer him. Shuisheng Sheng suddenly stood up, covered her with all the blankets, and then took off his own shirt and put it on her.

Then they went to the riverbank to break the ice.

When he returned, he found his door open.

Shuisheng frowned.

The door is open; she'll get cold.

Just as he was about to go inside, a man came out cursing.

"You bitch, you're dead and still coming after me? Did you think you could have a few more days of fun? What bad luck!"

When the man came out and saw Shuisheng, he paused for a moment, then cursed, "Your mother, that slut, tricked me out of my flesh, and you, you bastard, ate it all! You deserve to die!"

He grabbed Shuisheng and slammed him against the door. The wooden door collapsed with a crash, and Shuisheng stood up, grimacing.

The man is gone.

Shuisheng quickly barricaded the door shut, went back into the inner room, took the ice cube he had been holding to his chest, and brought it to the woman's lips. "Water, drink water."

But the woman kept her mouth tightly shut and didn't utter a sound. Shuisheng hesitated for a moment, then ran out after dark.

After an unknown amount of time, a chorus of curses erupted from the village, seemingly accusing someone of stealing meat, accompanied by heavy thuds.

Shuisheng returned just before dawn.

His forehead was covered in blood, his nose was broken and swollen, and blood was flowing from one eye. The clothes she had sewn for him by hand were now reduced to just one sleeve, which he was still clutching tightly in his hand.

In his hand, he still held a piece of meat tightly.

Just like her, he cooked the meat and then fed her the broth.

"Drink."

But no matter how many times he fed her, the broth would always drip down the corners of her mouth.

Several days passed, and the woman's body grew colder and colder, but Shuisheng would still hold her while she slept to keep her warm.

Clang.

A loud crash was heard outside the door. Shuisheng went out to see what was happening and found that the door he had been propping up had collapsed again.

He reached out to help it up again, but the door had already been broken by him that day and couldn't be straightened anymore. Shuisheng squatted on the ground, looking at the fallen door. Cold wind mixed with rain and snow poured in, and the moonlight shone sadly. The village dogs hadn't barked for half a year. He didn't know which family's dogs were laughing and cursing in the dark sky. After a while, they turned into crying, low sobs, which made Shuisheng's chest ache and feel suffocated. He didn't have the strength to help the door up again.

He said softly, "Mother, the door is broken."

That night, he had a dream.

In his dream, he appeared outside a Daoist Temple.

A voice inside the Daoist Temple asked him if he wanted to cultivate.

He nodded.

In fact, no matter what others say, he will only nod.

But as he woke up from the dream, he gradually stopped being mentally impaired.

Many times, a bluish light would also shine from his body.

Everyone was afraid of him, and no one dared to hit him anymore.

He finally realized that his mother wasn't asleep.

So he dug a hole and buried his mother. Then he came to the place where he often chiseled ice, and looking at his reflection on the ice, he remembered what his mother had told him to fly to a warmer place, so he followed the river.

But no matter where he went, he always felt cold.

Among the swallows that fly to warmer places, he seemed to be the only one who got lost. He followed the river and wandered along until he encountered a group of people fighting each other.

A bluish light shone from his body, and the people began to call him master.

So he led those people onward, and as they walked, before he knew it, tens of thousands of people had gathered behind him, and those people called him their king.

But he didn't want to be the ruler.

He just wanted to go home.

Just then, a person he had never seen before appeared, whose face was shrouded in a thick fog.

He said softly, "Let's continue on with these people."

"But all I want is to go home."

"The country is also a home."

"No." "Then wait until you find a home, then govern the country, and then contend for supremacy."

"What's the use?"

"Once you have the world and the country, and you become powerful enough, you can return to your home."

"Really?"

"Good."

"I don't want the country or the world."

"Then let's put family first, then country, and then the world."

"What's this?"

This is the essence of family, All Under Heaven of the Family and State.