News of Mr. Shi's death reached the Zhao Village on the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month, the day of the Ghost Festival.
The Ghost Festival is also known as the Festival of the Dead.
On this day, households would visit the graves of their ancestors to burn paper offerings and pay respects to their spirits.
The Zhao Village had an old custom that forbade women from visiting the graves. So, although Chen Wanqing and the others had come along, they stopped at the edge of the cemetery and did not venture further in.
While they were waiting at the edge of the fields for the men to return from the graves, members of the Chen family also came over in a group.
Xu Suying saw her daughter, so she stopped to speak with her.
The two of them stepped aside and found a spot in a small grove of trees.
"How's the packing coming along? When are you planning to leave?"
