Cloud Chaser Cemetery

Tang Yuhui couldn't believe that he had been in Ganzi for several months, and his luggage hadn't increased much.

He couldn't remember any details about the flight that left Beijing, but he memorized the number of the flight he left.

After staying for several months, the guest room belonging to Tang Yuhui looked like his own bedroom. The cabinets were filled with all kinds of odds and ends—stones Tang Yuhui picked up from the river, kangchong grass, etc. The bracelet stem woven for him, the scarf woven by Kang's mother, embroidered with Gesang flowers...

Tang Yuhui paused when his eyes turned to a rusty bell, and was secretly lost in thought.

It was taken by Kang Zhe from the neck of the "Little Prince of Kangba" when he accompanied Kang Zhe to herd sheep one afternoon.

The little prince is indeed Ah Zhe's favorite lamb, the bell is very clean, it should be washed frequently, and there is no fishy smell from the sheep.

Tang Yuhui was very familiar with its sound, because he remembered that the bell was tied around his ankle later, and it made a tinkling sound with Kang Zhe's movements. Kang Zhe would lean on him, his eyes would gather light, and he would look at him and smile unkindly.

Tang Yuhui held the bell in his palm and gently closed his eyes.

He was leaving tomorrow, but he still packed his things slowly.

When it was dinner time, Kang Zhe saw that he hadn't come down yet, so he came to his room and called him, "Have you packed yet?"

Whenever dinner is limited by the "last meal", it will have a sad sense of ritual.Because Tang Yuhui's flight was tomorrow morning, he didn't really want to eat this meal at first.

He was afraid that he would cry again, but he had cried too much recently.

"I have to wait for a while. Just ask your uncle and aunt to leave me whatever you want. You can eat first, and I will go down after I finish packing."

He didn't make any noise, but Kang Zhe didn't leave either. He stood there for a while, squatted down, and asked Tang Yuhui through a suitcase: "Do you need help?"

Tang Yuhui felt that he really didn't have the strength to speak, so he simply said, "No need."

Kang Zhe still didn't leave, he took out a hat from Tang Yuhui's carefully folded suitcase, squeezed it in his hand, "I took this away."

It was the same hat he bought in a supermarket in Kangding County and gave to Tang Yuhui.

Tang Yuhui said in a daze, "Didn't you give it to me?"

Kang Zhe said, "Well, but now I'm going to take it away."

I don't know why, but Tang Yuhui's heart was numb with pain because of a rough workmanship and not even a very beautiful hat.

Because it was something that Kang Zhe gave him and accompanied him after he clearly and embarrassingly cut himself open for Kang Zhe to see in that golden mountain sunset afternoon.

Now he's taking it back.

Tang Yuhui didn't answer, but squatted in front of the suitcase and folded his clothes. Kang Zhe didn't speak, but just looked at him quietly.

After a while, Tang Yuhui suddenly said as if discouraged: "Well, take it away."

"Thank you." Kang Zhe said.

He stood up and patted Tang Yuhui's hair, "I'll leave you something to eat in the kitchen, go to bed early after packing, and I'll see you off tomorrow."

After speaking, he was about to leave, but the corner of his clothes was gently grabbed.

Kang Zhe paused lightly, then turned his face calmly, and said lightly, "What's wrong?"

Tang Yuhui pursed her lips, her eyes avoided Kang Zhe's face, and she lowered her head, as if she didn't know how to speak.

He twirled the hem of the clothes he was pulling with his fingertips, and said after a long silence: "Can I take that down jacket away?"

The room suddenly became very quiet, as if the flow of air could be clearly heard.

Kang Zhe was slightly taken aback, he didn't expect him to say this.

He took a step back, and the corner of the clothes held by Tang Yuhui slipped out from between his fingers.Kang Zhe stood not far away, smiled at Tang Yuhui, "Yes."

"Thank you, Ah Zhe." Tang Yuhui also raised his head, looked at him and smiled.

Kang Che looked away and quickly left the room.

In the last time alone, Tang Yuhui didn't want to hug, didn't want to kiss, and didn't even want to get closer, the intimacy that could only be shared by him and Kang Zhe, because he knew that these were not forever.

Like a vending machine that grew up with him, he exchanged his feelings for the coins he put in. If the machine was empty and there was only the last lonely bottle of drink left, then he hoped it would stay there so that it would not It looks so lonely.

Tang Yuhui didn't fall asleep all night, it's not that he was so sad, but he had an hourglass in his heart, dripping quietly into the lightless sea.

Tang Yuhui thought of many scenes in movies and books, and asked in his heart over and over again, what kind of gesture should people say goodbye to their loved ones.

At dawn the next day, Tang Yuhui felt as if he had hardly fallen asleep, only that question was always lingering in his mind.He sat up from the bed, and Tang Yuhui rubbed his eyes when a thin dusty light just leaked from the skylight.

Kang Ding bestowed upon him the most gracious sunny day, and the day he left was still breathtakingly beautiful. Tang Yuhui smiled silently at a cloud that floated to the corner of the skylight.

Wearing a thin black coat, Kang Zhe helped him carry the suitcase downstairs, and then helped him tie the motorcycle, just like on the first day.

Tang Yuhui went to the hall to bid farewell to Kang's father and Kang's mother one by one. He folded his hands and bowed slightly to them. You can listen to my prayer and connect this fate to their family, so that they will be happy and healthy forever.

It was 48 kilometers to the airport. Tang Yuhui watched the beautiful scenery of the national highway passing behind him for a thousand miles, and looked back to see the green hills retreating behind him, like a silent farewell.

He tightened his arms around Kang Zhe's waist, pressed his face against his back, imagining the sound of blood circulating in the iceberg.

Tang Yuhui rubbed his cheek lightly, trying his best to remember this cold illusion.He is not hot, but he hopes that the person he likes so much can be as hard and free as a glacier.

No matter how far the journey was, they would still arrive. They didn't come too early, and Tang Yuhui should have entered the airport.

Kang Zhe helped him carry the suitcase down, but he was still sitting on the motorcycle with his legs propped up on the ground, it seemed that he didn't intend to send him in.

Tang Yuhui didn't know if he would look messed up when he smiled now, but he still tried his best to grin the corners of his mouth.

Kang Zhe stared at him silently for a while, and then said in a deep voice, "Let's go."

Tang Yuhui wanted to speak, but as soon as he said "yes", he began to cry. He could only forcefully cover his mouth with one hand, and nodded to Kang Zhe.

Kang Zhe waved his hand at him, Tang Yuhui just turned his head cruelly, and was stopped by Kang Zhe after taking a step, "Wait a minute."

Tang Yuhui turned his head, his eyes were already full of tears, in his glass-like eyes, and his eyelashes were about to fall off in a blink.

Kang Zhe did not know where to take out the hat that was tossing and turning among them, and called out in a deep voice: "Tang Yuhui."

Even after such a long time, when Kang Zhe called his name seriously, even on such a farewell occasion, it would make Tang Yuhui's heart beat regularly and steadily.

Tang Yuhui desperately held back tears and didn't let them fall.He took a step forward, Kang Zhe put the hat on his head, and called him softly: "Tangtang."

Kang Che's voice was like a whisper, very soft, passing by like a gust of wind, and then could not be found again.

"Give it back to you."

After finishing speaking, Kang Zhe twisted the engine of the motorcycle, did not look at Tang Yuhui again, and rode on the road farther and farther.

Tang Yuhui's tears still fell, they flowed violently on his face, slid over his chin and smashed on the road, becoming a part that was not particularly moving among the thousands of ravines, he heard Kang Zhe's voice from not far away From somewhere, mixed with many sounds, like the pulse of the wind, beating eternally in the flying prayer flags.

Tang Yuhui pulled the suitcase while crying, and didn't calm down until he walked into the bathroom where he had vomited so badly and washed his face.He found a Tibetan staff member and repeated what Kang Che said just now, and asked him gently what he meant.

The Tibetan brother looked at him with a smile, "Is this a friend who came to see you off? This is a very common blessing we say."

Tang Yuhui asked slowly, "What do you mean?"

People's sorrows and joys are not connected. Amidst the noisy boarding prompts at the airport, the Tibetan brother repeated to Tang Yuhui in a warm and friendly voice: "He said goodbye."

"And I wish you happiness and health."

The author says:

In some places, if a young man takes a fancy to a girl and wishes to marry him for life, he will snatch the girl's hat away.After a few days, the young man will come to return the hat. If the girl accepts it happily, it means that she has fallen in love with the young man, otherwise, the girl will not want her hat. ——Excerpt from the Tibetan chapter of "Chinese Marriage Customs"