Chapter 15

Chapter 15

When I was a child, mining operations were rampant all across the country.

They destroyed the environment and devastated the ecosystem.

Many farmers’ pastures and farmlands were polluted, leading to a policy change where all coal mines were ordered to cease operations.

Mingshan Mining was no exception; it shut down as soon as the policy was enacted.

The pits were backfilled, greenery was planted, and then the masses withdrew, leaving behind a scene of utter desolation.

Back then, the area around the coal mine was overgrown with wild grass. The so-called “greening” was nothing more than a formality.

You could still see many deep pits and mountains of slag throughout the coal mine; it felt like those people had left in a great hurry.

How old was I? Six or seven, I think, when my dad brought me here once.

He sat on a mountain of coal opposite me.

He talked eloquently to me about something.

Now, as the wind blows, it feels as if I can still see his shadow.

“Xiao Geng, what is your dream for the future?”

“What’s a dream?”

“It’s what you want to do most, the thing you’re always thinking about doing.”

“Oh. Then my dream is to sleep.”

“Hahaha, sleeping is good.”

“What is Daddy’s dream?”

He cast his gaze into the distance, looking at something I couldn’t see.

“My dream is to mine coal.”

“Oh.”

I didn’t want to listen to him; I just wanted to go home. The coal mine was too dirty.

He continued talking to himself, saying things I couldn’t understand.

“With coal, the country can become strong. Coal is the strategic foundation.”

“I never met my father-your grandfather. He went off to fight in the war back then.”

“Do you know why our fighting was so hard? Because we had no iron.”

“Where does iron come from? It’s smelted using coke.”

“And coke is mined from right here.”

“Not to mention the past, but when I was a child, the national steel output was six million tons. Do you know how much our neighboring country had? Nearly eighty million tons.”

“A difference of more than ten times. Tell me, if a war breaks out, how can it not be hard?”

“And…”

Seeing me yawn and about to fall asleep, he smiled and patted the coal dust off his clothes.

“Come on, Dad’s taking you home.”

That was the first time I had entered the coal mine and seen my father in his working element.

It was also the last.

“You… You’re… the Lin family’s youngest son… Lin Geng.”

I turned around.

An old man with white hair and a white beard rubbed his eyes, staring at me blankly.

“Yes, I’m Lin Geng. And you are?”

The old man stepped a bit closer. “Why are you back?”

“Just back to take a look.”

“It’s just a wasteland. What’s there to see?”

I finally remembered. This man was my family’s neighbor, Uncle Ge.

Not having seen him for many years, I felt a slight sense of warmth.

“Uncle Ge, what brings you here?”

“I’m getting old. I was just taking a stroll and ended up here.”

“How have you been all these years?”

He gave a dry laugh. “Good, my ass. After the coal mine went bust, there was nothing left to do. The land is ruined; you can’t even farm it.”

I remained silent.

Perhaps back then, my mother had already anticipated this situation.

“Anyone in the village with any ability has left. The young people are gone too. Only us old fogies are left, waiting for death day by day.”

“It was better when the coal mine was still here. Back then, you could make money just by putting in the effort.”

“By the way, is your mother’s health still good?”

“She passed away last month.”

“How did she die?”

“Liver cancer.”

He let out a long sigh. “The world is finished now. Many people in the village have died of cancer too. It’s a sin we’ve committed, and now the Heavens have come knocking.”

Uncle Ge might have been getting on in years, as he wasn’t very good at small talk.

After finishing with my mother, he started talking about my father.

He said my father was a good man, kind to everyone at the mine.

He said he knew everything; there wasn’t a single thing about the mine he didn’t understand.

If the coal mine were still here and he were still alive, he would have definitely become a big leader.

“The first time I saw your father, I felt he was different from the others. He truly lived up to being a former soldier.”

“My dad was a soldier?”

“He was. He served for two years.”

I really didn’t know about this; I had never heard him mention it.

According to Uncle Ge, my father had only been a soldier for two years when he was caught up in the institutional reforms.

With personnel optimization and system streamlining, many people were discharged at that time.

It was only after my father was discharged that he started studying, took the National College Entrance Examination, and got into university.

Finally, he came to Mingshan Village along with Mingshan Mining.

“My dad was a soldier… did my mom know?”

“What kind of question is that? How could she not know?”

The wind picked up.

Dust and grit were swirled up by the wind, stinging my nose.

Both Uncle Ge and I prepared to leave.

At the moment of departure, I felt as if I had remembered something, yet I couldn’t quite grasp it.

“Uncle Ge, the spot where we’re standing… used to be a mountain of coal, right?”

“That’s right. When your dad had nothing to do, he liked to sit here and fiddle with that little notebook of his, recording things.”

Yes!

The little notebook!

The journal!

Back when my father was carrying me away, he had lost that notebook. He spent a long time digging for it by himself before he found it.

He said that notebook was his lifeblood. He kept it with him at all times and could never afford to lose it.

It was as if I had been struck by lightning. Many things flashed through my mind at high speed, yet I still couldn’t catch them.

I dialed Officer Dong’s number.

“Officer Dong, please take a photo of my mother’s notebook and send it to me.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I need to confirm something.”

“Wait a moment, I’ll send it now.”

“Okay, don’t hang up.” I opened WeChat, enlarged the image, and carefully examined the old notebook. The more I looked, the more familiar it became.

“Officer Dong, run a test on this notebook. See if you can detect components like coal dust or coal slag.”

He didn’t ask why. Instead, he shared a piece of information with me.

The handwriting in that diary was indeed my mother’s.

Furthermore, those few sentences were written a long time ago.

The exact year was hard to determine, but it was between twenty-five and thirty years ago.

In other words, the date of Sun Congjun’s death had indeed been written many years ago, not added later.

The two of us didn’t say much more. After a few pleasantries, we hung up the phone.

I wasn’t surprised by the verification of my mother’s handwriting.

What I was worried about now was: after all these years, could coal dust still be detected?