At sixteen, Tu Jiu inherited her father's trade and became the village's only undertaker.
1
Tu Jiu earned a good reputation throughout the surrounding villages with her careful, conscientious way of doing things.
Little did anyone know that an embarrassing incident had occurred the first time she handled funeral rites, two years earlier.
As they were placing the deceased into the coffin, the man's head suddenly fell off. The crowd panicked and scattered, kicking it this way and that as if they were playing cuju.
Tu Jiu chased after the head. After a few rounds, she finally managed to pounce on it.
She stood up, holding the head, and looked around in bewilderment.
Who had just kicked her?!
2
As the end of the year approached, news reached Weiming Village that the entire Xuanbei Army had been wiped out.
Tu Jiu's older brother, along with the village's other able-bodied young men, had been left in the western pass, where yellow sand filled the sky.
The enemy piled their bones high, as if flaunting some supreme glory.
The next day, Tu Jiu and Zhang Tiemei, the village head's daughter, resolutely decided to brave the winter cold and enter the pass. They would bring their loved ones home.
Theme: Strive to grow.
