Ronan's Moonlit Journey Chapter 12

"Well, come home."

She leaned forward on the bicycle, and the bumps on the dirt road sent a numb feeling from the tiger's mouth straight to her cheeks. The pig-herding children came running, shouting and cheering. The pigs they were driving ran whirring at their feet. There were no children carrying schoolbags or Xiao Song among them. But she still couldn't help but ask: "Have you seen the pine tree?" A big clod of soil shook her to tears and her nose was sore. "Xiaosong, your mother is coming home!" Several children rushed to report the news.

Xiaosong, Jianbai, grandpa, and grandma were all standing by the door, watching Hong Ying walking with a smile among a group of children herding pigs. She was pushing the cart, and there were only black piglets around her, not the little ones. So Xiaosong broke free from grandma's hand and ran into the house. "This child, you don't recognize your mother after not seeing her for three months?" Grandma said and followed her in. Let Xiaosong help her untie the cooking apron from behind and straighten the hem of her clothes. Then the room darkened and the crowd came to the door. Hong Ying handed the bicycle handle to Jian Bai and walked straight to Xiao Song. Jianbai set up the car, locked it, and put it against the wall. Then he followed, separated by the crowd of onlookers. Hong Ying grabbed Xiao Song's arm and never let go, as if everyone was following her to see her son. Xiaosong felt embarrassed and couldn't get away. Hong Ying can hold on much better than grandma. Then Hong Ying started crying, bursting into tears, and was choking while trying to hold back the tears.

Hong Ying's lenses were fogged up. She simply took off her glasses (and gave them to her grandfather), revealing the red, swollen and shiny bags under her eyes. Tears fell on Xiaosong's face. Afraid that others would think he was crying too, he used his free hand to wipe the tears from his face. Sure enough, someone among the pig-herding children said: "Xiaosong is crying too, and he is wiping his tears." Grandma moved the wicker chair over and let Hong Ying sit down. Hongying stopped crying and leaned up, closing her eyes tightly, while holding Xiaosong's hand without relaxing it at all. Jianbai separated the children who were tending the pigs from behind and asked them to give some light. Hong Ying lay in front of the door just like Jian Bai pretended to have a headache last time. Grandpa put a small bench under her feet (for Xiao Song to sit and observe the dog hole). Grandma fetched a basin of hot water from the stove, twisted a towel and wiped Hong Ying's face. Hong Ying didn't hand the towel back either. She pressed the towel to her face and cried. New bright tears flowed out from the slits of the closed eyes, and were absorbed by the red and white striped towels on the cheekbones. After crying for a while, Hong Yingcai said: "I am worried about Xiaosong's future and his future!"

After saying that, I cried again.