Chapter 50: Bad News

A basketball court, traded for a romance. That's what I thought. Unable to suppress my excitement, I called my aunt and told her I had harvested my own love in Suxi.

My aunt was neither happy for me nor did she pour cold water on me. She kept saying "uh-huh" on the phone, indecisive, and finally said, "Find a time to bring her back. Let your parents see her, and I'll see her too."

I completely ignored my aunt's attitude, but I had to attach great importance to her opinion. I began to map out a plan to go home.

After that kiss, Xue Bing came to my place every afternoon. The kerosene stove from that year began to perform its function, and she cooked me some delicious meals every day, changing the patterns to satisfy my appetite to the greatest extent. Our romance was now public; when the cadres of the township government saw me, they would all laugh and ask me for wedding candy.

However, after every meal, Xue Bing's limit was to let me hold her and kiss her crystal-like lips; she wouldn't let me go any further. Although I often found her "flooding," she still guarded the final line of defense, making me anxious and causing me insomnia.

We lay on the bed, leaning against each other. Her head rested on my chest, her right arm wrapped around my waist, one leg draped over me, her chest pressed against mine, and a mass of tenderness wrapped around me. I reached into her clothes, and she hummed softly, closed her eyes, and offered her lips. I kissed her soft lips.

Such scenes were staged every day, and every day I would be dazed and confused.

I whispered in her ear, "Bing'er, I really want to."

She smiled gently, held my hand, and smiled shyly, saying, "Control yourself, Feng. I must become a woman on my wedding night."

I tapped her nose and said, "You are already my woman; do you still care about a procedure?"

"I don't care about the procedure; I care about the feeling." She climbed off me and combed her hair.

My cell phone suddenly rang. It was Liu Hongyan calling. She cried on the phone, "Chen Feng, my dad is gone."

As soon as I heard it, I knew something had happened to Township Head Hao. This was the first time Liu Hongyan had called me since she went to Beijing. I didn't expect the first call to be to tell me this bad news.

I comforted her, "Don't be afraid, be strong, we are all here." Thinking something was wrong, I asked, "Where is Hao Qiang?"

"My dad wouldn't let him come, saying the township had heavy work tasks." Hongyan sobbed. I imagined her isolated and helpless, and my heart suddenly ached.

The news of Township Head Hao's death spread through the township government like a bomb. Liu Quan anxiously convened a Party Committee meeting and quickly established a funeral working group.

During the meeting, Hao Qiang kept a gloomy face. I never saw him cry, but his face was distorted by pain. His hands gripped the chair beneath him so tightly that his fingers lost their color, pale and showing the tendons.

"The son wants to be filial, but the parent is no longer there!" I completely understood this kind of pain. I comforted him, "Director Hao, please restrain your grief."

Hao Qiang gave a weak, bitter smile, and tears poured down. He didn't cry out loud, but the suppressed sobbing made his shoulders twitch slightly.

The meeting decided that Zhu Shizhen would be the head of the funeral group, and personnel would be drawn from the Township Party Committee Office, the Township Women's Federation, and the Township Youth League Committee to form the funeral group. The construction in each village could not stop, and the funeral group would send people to Beijing to welcome Township Head Hao home.

Bringing Township Head Hao home was a big deal. How to bring him back? The body was in Beijing; the possibility of transporting the body back was almost non-existent. Cremate him in Beijing?

As soon as this proposal came out, it was immediately met with strong opposition from Hao Qiang.

A journey of more than a thousand kilometers—it was impossible for a plane to transport a body, and a train was also impossible. Only a car could do it, but finding a car in Beijing to transport a corpse back to Suxi was a major project.

Everyone knew that Township Head Hao had already prepared his coffin at home, and being buried in the earth was his only wish since he got sick. In Suxi Township, the custom for thousands of years had been earth burial. In this place with many mountains and waters, finding a place to bury someone was too easy. Whether it was superstition or something else, the people of Suxi Township believed that if a person was cremated after death, they would not be reincarnated in the next life.

Liu Quan was worried. This decision made him hesitant. Township Head Hao had worked with him for nearly ten years; even a stone would have been warmed up, not to mention that for so many years, Township Head Hao had always followed his footsteps, and now they were in-laws. His heart was bitter!

When the meeting reached a stalemate, Zhu Shizhen spoke: "As the head of the funeral group, I will state my position first: we must satisfy Township Head Hao, we must satisfy his family, and we must satisfy the people of Suxi Township. It's more than 1,500 kilometers from Beijing to Suxi, and there are mountain roads in between. If we transport the body back, it will take at least three days. It's still hot now, and I'm afraid there will be accidents. As long as the organization decides, I personally will resolutely obey."

No one spoke; everyone lowered their heads, not daring to express their position.

Liu Quan pondered for a moment and said, "Chairman Zhu, what is your opinion?"

Zhu Shizhen looked at Hao Qiang and said, "Cremate! Welcome the ashes back, and then use a coffin for earth burial."

"Then we won't be able to see Township Head Hao for the last time!" The director of the Women's Federation was the first to cry out.

Hao Qiang bit his lip and didn't speak. He had too much admiration and love for his father. His mother passed away when he was ten, and his father never remarried, relying on each other for survival. From the time he started school, no matter how tired his father was, he would boil a poached egg for him after he finished his homework. Until he went to police school and left his father, he would see his father standing outside the school gate every Sunday, blankly waiting for his son to run out. His father gave him too much love. On the eve of his wedding, the father and son talked all night. As a father, his greatest hope was to hold his grandson in his lifetime. But he failed to realize this wish of his father. No matter how he tried, Liu Hongyan's belly never showed signs of swelling. His father, who hadn't seen his grandson, was now gone. Hao Qiang's heart was torn with pain, and he could no longer control himself, wailing loudly.

The county also learned the news. County Magistrate Liu Qimeng personally sent a car to Suxi Township to pick up people, and the county sent two deputy directors of the government office to Beijing to handle Township Head Hao's funeral.

I was one of the people going to Beijing. Before leaving, Liu Quan found me and asked me to say hello to the middle school principal. On the day Township Head Hao returned, Suxi Township would welcome him back with the most solemn etiquette. ===== CHAPTER 51 =====