The sun sank in the west.
A thin but spry old man led a half-grown child slowly home along a dirt road.
The child fussed, refusing to walk and insisting on waiting for his father's motorcycle.
The old man chuckled. "Heh, settle down. Watch Grandpa do a parade march for you..."
Yang Ge opened his eyes. The orange-red sunset from his dream seemed to shine into the dark room.
His grandfather's face, wasted almost beyond recognition, played like an animated image in his mind, smiling at him, beckoning to him, calling his name.
His stiffened thoughts seemed to drift into his memories. He became his younger self, taking his grandfather's thin but warm hand and following the winding dirt road home...
The road home was so very, very long.
No matter how far they walked, home never came into sight...
He just watched blankly as the old man and the boy walked and walked along the dirt road.
Until daylight came.
The roosters crowed.
And at last, the dream ended...
He climbed out of bed, washed up as usual, and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.
Only today, Little Yellow lay outside the kitchen without even wagging his tail.
After breakfast, Yang Ge dressed properly and headed straight for a funeral supplies shop.
The first few days of the first lunar month were a time for honoring ancestors and visiting family graves. The funeral supplies shops in town were all doing brisk business, and Yang Ge searched for a long time before finally buying all the paper ingots, candles, and incense he needed.
On his way home, firecrackers sounded everywhere. People had put on their finest clothes and taken to the streets, smiling as they wished acquaintances a fresh start in the new year... whatever the past year