Chapter 7 — Peace Is Home

I leaned on Tham Tu Yen's shoulder, listening to Minh Chau chirping and reciting the poem I had just memorized next to me. I turned my head to look out the window. The snow has just melted, the road ahead is wide open. 12 The bell of Ho Quoc Tu resonates deeply, echoing on the snow-covered mountain roofs. After offering incense, Tham Tu Yen led Minh Chau to the apricot forest behind the mountain to pick a flower branch. I stood alone on the stone steps in front of Dai Hung Bao Palace, looking at the pilgrims passing by. Everyone in life has something to wish for. Pray for wealth, pray for destiny, pray for peace, pray for the next life. I used to pray. Pray for love from parents, pray for harmony between sisters and brothers. “Madam, your hexagram.” An old monk with a kind face gave me a tattoo card. I bowed my head and looked, written above were eight words: "Dried trees meet spring, spring mountains have no place to return." The old monk clasped his hands. "Donor, the old story has ended, the future path will always be clear. There is no place to return, the place of peace in the heart is home." I carefully put away the tattoo card, bowed softly in response. Right. The Hua family that once made me suffocate is no longer the place I return to. Now, I have my own spring mountain. "Mother, look at this apricot branch, isn't it beautiful?" Minh Chau's clear voice interrupted my thoughts. The girl held up a branch of a brightly blooming apricot rose, stepped on the snow and ran towards me. Tham Tu Yen followed behind, holding a fox fur coat in her hand, walking steadily towards me. "Don't run too fast, be careful of falling." Tham Tu Yen put the coat on me, carefully tied the rope, and conveniently held my slightly cold hand in his palm. Minh Chau ran in front of me, stuffed an apricot branch into my hand, raised her small face, which had turned cold and turned red, and smiled. "Father said this apricot branch suits mother best." I lowered my head to smell, the cold fragrance rushed into my nose. I squeezed Tham Tu Yen's arm tightly, held Minh Chau's hand, turned around, leaving the lights of thousands of houses towards Ho Quoc Tu behind me, and walked with them down the stone steps leading down the mountain. "It's so beautiful, let's go home."