After Wen Qian left, only An An's family of three remained in the house. They still kept rabbits and a dog.
Since Yin Chuan had also marked out an area for himself and built a house there, he often traveled between the two places to hunt when it wasn't snowing.
Yin Chuan and An An shared their knowledge about books, essentially becoming reading companions. Their knowledge bases weren't entirely overlapping, allowing them to learn from each other.
In terms of practical skills, Yin Chuan had to learn everything from An An. She was more familiar with the survival guidebooks they had, and often demonstrated techniques for him.
Yin Chuan was always diligent in his learning, expressing admiration for An An's mastery of skills without feeling embarrassed about his own shortcomings.
An An found teaching him to be a pleasant experience. Living with someone for a long time was a significant commitment. Her mother had once asked her about spending a lifetime with one person.
Many people separate along the way or fall in love with others, believing they've found their true love.
An An was brave. She felt she could take responsibility for her choices.
If she could make it work with someone until the end, that would be wonderful. But if one day they both wanted to part ways, she could walk away.
People change. Even if you're deeply in love and get along well at first, it doesn't guarantee you'll still be in sync years later.
Marriage is just marriage; it doesn't guarantee eternal love. In moments of deep affection, you might wish to grow old together instantly, but aren't such thoughts fleeting?
While she hoped for a lifelong partnership, she could accept parting ways if necessary.
Hearing these thoughts, Wen Qian could only say that her daughter's ideas were admirable, but when real emotions are involved, actions aren't always so clean-cut.
Wen Qian believed that with such awareness, even if things didn't work out one day, her daughter would be able to pick herself up and move on, rather than sinking into despair.
It wasn't until An An actually had a partner and a child that she truly understood the complexities her mother had spoken of. She found herself softening, especially towards her child.
Although she appeared calm and rational on the surface, her mindset and choices did change slightly. She became gentler, as if her sharp edges had been wrapped in a softer shell.
Initially, her composure made Yin Chuan feel insecure. He thought his wife was too cool, almost to the point of being unapproachable.
But gradually, he realized that despite her cool demeanor, she was very patient with both him and their child, and paid great attention to details.
Before coming to the North, Yin Chuan had always imagined his future as mundane and predictable. He could envision an unchanging life stretching ahead of him.
Even when he first arrived in this forest and started building his house, he never imagined his future would change so dramatically.
Now, with a wife and child, Yin Chuan sometimes wondered if he was living in a beautiful dream. He had a family now, and could look forward to growing old with his wife.
This was something he had never imagined before. In the past, he could predict events based on minute data and details, but he never foresaw this turn in his life.
Although he could still see the general trajectory of his life, having someone by his side changed his perspective entirely.
This just goes to show that one's life plans should remain flexible. They shouldn't be too full or too rigid, as there are too many variables in between.
After the wise old lady passed away, An An often felt melancholic. Even their young child would occasionally ask where grandma had gone.
An An would point to the stars in the sky and say grandma had gone there. This was a common explanation, as children seemed less afraid of distant, twinkling stars.
If they told the child that the ashes were buried in the back mountain, he might not understand or even become scared, as it was so close yet unreachable.
It was better to let the child gaze at the stars.
Although An An was sad, she didn't stop her daily tasks. From a young age, her mother had taught her that regardless of emotions, necessary work must continue.
In the forest, one had to be like a squirrel, always gathering food.
After Wen Qian's passing, little Qiu Qiu took over her reclining chair. Sometimes An An would lie there too, with the child resting on her legs.
For An An, lying in that chair felt like returning to her mother's embrace. She could feel the sunlight and wind just as her mother had experienced them here.
One day, An An decided to make some pottery for herself. She and Yin Chuan went to the back mountain to gather some clay.
As his wife familiarized him with their surroundings, Yin Chuan was filled with curiosity.
He wondered about all the scattered items on the back mountain, how they got there, and how they were originally placed.
Even the clay they brought back seemed strange to him. It didn't seem native to the area, but rather transported from elsewhere.
This made him even more curious about his mother-in-law. What kind of background did she have that allowed her to gather so many materials here?
He guessed that perhaps there had been plans to build something here originally, but the project was abandoned when the natural disasters began. Or maybe his mother-in-law had used her personal resources to obtain these materials.
No matter how imaginative he was, he would never have guessed that his mother-in-law had access to a special space and could foresee disasters in her dreams.
With Wen Qian gone and the significant age gap between An An and her, these things remained unexplained. An An could only say that as far as she could remember, these things had always been there.
Yin Chuan knew that An An had been adopted by Wen Qian, as An An had told him when they got together. This also explained their age difference.
According to his wife, her mother initially had no plans for marriage or children, but decided to take her in when she found her abandoned.
An An's mother had also been adopted, so when she found An An abandoned, she decided to raise her as well.
Yin Chuan commented on this, saying, "It's like fate."
Indeed, it was like fate. The two of them relied on each other, and Wen Qian never expected to have company in her later years, with the sound of children's laughter filling the courtyard.
This was different from the old age life she had imagined, because the addition of An An brought about a change that dramatically altered her future.
Wen Qian hadn't considered eldercare when raising her child; the issue of aging had always been part of her own plans. All she could do was take good care of her own health.
From the beginning, her thinking differed from those around her. For instance, she didn't believe that marriage automatically meant someone would take care of her. Marriage should be about mutual support, meaning both parties should have the behavior and ability to care for each other.
Wanting to receive care from the other person without giving anything in return – where in the world could such a good thing exist? Even if it did, it wouldn't be available to everyone. It would be a case of some people falling into good fortune while others sank into a quagmire.
Similarly, those who believed that having children meant guaranteed care in old age – did everything really turn out as they wished?
From observing the lives of others, Wen Qian had learned that regardless of the choices made, people would regret not choosing a different path if their lives weren't going well.
It seemed as though choosing the other path would have made their lives better.
But was there a possibility that life was inherently filled with hardship, regardless of the choices made?
