Because Si Le's body had already decomposed, it was not kept in the main room of the house for three days according to local custom, but was buried in a hole that very day.
Now, although cremation has been implemented, Qinjiazhuang is still a mountain village where old habits die hard, and the practice of burial for peace remains the norm.
That same evening, Qin Siyu led Wang Hao to her home.
Qin Siyu's home was composed of three simple, low bungalows. In the courtyard stood a crooked pomegranate tree, and along the wall, there was a row of chrysanthemums.
It was the season of blooming chrysanthemums; the red sun cast its glow onto the golden flowers, a harmony of red and yellow in carefree contentment.
Even Wang Hao, who was a poor student, could not help but recall the lines of Tao Yuanming as he saw this scene, "Picking chrysanthemums beneath the eastern fence, I gaze leisurely at the southern mountain."
