Lü Youcai's son was named Lü Dehai. He was thirty-one that year and already had a son of his own, who was in primary school.
He and his wife had been working in the fields. Seeing that it was nearly noon, they came back to help his mother cook and take care of a few other things. As soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw Li Long handing his mother money.
"What do you do?" Lü Dehai put down his iron spade and asked. "What brings you to our house?"
His wording was blunt, but his tone was not particularly rude. It was just an ordinary question.
Li Long glanced at him and his wife, then looked at Wang Xiangyu.
"He..." Wang Xiangyu accepted the money, hesitated, then said, "He found your father's... bones in the mountains."
"What?" Lü Dehai froze too, then looked at Li Long.
Li Long briefly explained once again how he had come across Lü Youcai's remains in the mountains.
He was a little worried too. Now that he had handed over the money, would this family think there had been more gold dust and demand more from him?
After listening to Li Long, Lü Dehai took the strip of cloth from his mother and examined it. Once he confirmed that it was his father's handwriting, he fell silent for a moment, then turned to his wife and said:
"Go start cooking. Kill a chicken. We have a guest."
Li Long hastily waved his hands and said:
"No, no, no. I'll be leaving as soon as I've finished what I came to do."
"How can you leave?" Lü Dehai shook his head. "My mother and I waited more than twenty years for my father without any news. We said he was missing, but honestly, I