Xu Hanlin paused briefly before looking up.
Gazing at the fiery red sun that was gradually setting in the sky, in the same position, the same twilight.
The light of the setting sun seemed to pierce through twenty years of time, once again shining on his body.
"It was also a beautiful evening, the sky ablaze with red, dotted with a few clouds," Xu Hanlin recalled. "The distant calls of the water buffalo, as I returned home, drenched in sweat. I pushed open the door, and my mother came out of the kitchen."
"She was wearing an apron, her hands dusted with flour, having just finished wrapping dumplings."
"She hugged me, crying and saying how could she have such a good child."
Xu Hanlin took a deep breath and exhaled a turbid breath, "When I saw my mother crying, I asked who had bullied her. I said I was already a big kid, that I could protect her."
"She said no one had..."
"I was young then, I didn't know anything, and I didn't ask."
