Mom had said that people felt no pain when they dreamed.
Bai Congming's memories stopped at the moment Brother Ding had held him as he fell asleep, but when he opened his eyes, he saw a field of flowers, and Brother Ding was nowhere around. It was so strange.
So Bai Congming reached up and pinched his cheek. It did not hurt at all, and he knew he was dreaming.
His body was still sleeping in Brother Ding's arms, but a tiny part of him was playful and had run off here.
Bai Congming had never seen this field of flowers, yet it felt as though he had been here many times.
His steps were sure and beyond his control, carrying him toward that Silk Tree.
The pink-and-white silk flowers looked like little fans, and also like little brooms. They fell from the tree, drifted before Bai Congming's eyes, then dropped away.
Someone sat beneath the tree. Bai Congming could not see her face, but somehow, he knew who she was.
"Mom..." Bai Congming quickened his steps and broke into a jog. "Mom!"
The person beneath the tree turned around and opened her arms, waiting for her little hand grenade to charge into them.
"I swear, you lot! Do you know how hard it is for me to visit you in a dream? When you go back, tell your Auntie Zhou to burn more spirit money for me. I saved up for seven or eight years! Seven or eight years! And it was only enough for one visit!"
There should not have been smells in a dream, but with his head pressed against his mother's stomach, Bai Congming still caught a lovely scent.
It smelled like roasted chestnuts in autumn mixed with slightly scorched peanuts.
"Mom!"
"Silly boy." Bai Fang