The days in Jia Province seemed to flow by slowly, each one filled with quiet moments of familiarity and growing tension. Da Xia was determined to bring back the brothers' memories, yet nothing seemed to be working so far. She tried everything she could think of, doing the same things she had done years ago when they had lived together in that small house.
On the first day, she had the brothers help her clean the house just as they had before. She handed them old cloths and made them dust every corner of the home, from the bedroom to the little kitchen.
The chestnut tree in the courtyard was still standing tall, its branches swaying gently in the breeze as they swept the ground beneath it. She instructed them to sweep the leaves just like they had done before, hoping the physical actions would trigger their memories.
But as the day wore on, it became clear that while they remembered the actions, the deeper memories of their past were still locked away.
