Old man Liu sat in front of the door, smoking a cigarette, and looked ahead with dull eyes. After picking up the bones in the morning, he was depressed. Zhou Ping looked at his master's skinny back and felt that his master had something on his mind.

"Master, we can eat now," Zhou Ping shouted from inside.

"Oh."   Old man Liu slowly came to his senses.

"Master, you have been sitting there since you came back from the mountains. Wipe your face first." Zhou Ping handed me a towel.

"Ah Ping, how many years have you been with Master?" Old man Liu wiped his face.

"It's been almost ten years, Master." Zhou Ping helped Old Man Liu into the house.

"Hey, Master is old, and his body is not sharp anymore. You are all responsible for our work, so it is difficult for you." Old Man Liu coughed a few times.

"Master, please drink a glass of water first." Zhou Ping hurriedly handed a glass of water.

"Sigh, for so many years I thought I was a good person..." Old man Liu shook his head.

"Master is of course a good person, otherwise there would be no me. My parents died early, and later my grandfather was born, and it was Master who took me in. You are..." Zhou Ping looked at Old Man Liu strangely.

"Hey, it's alright, let's eat, it will be cold later." Lao Liu handed Zhou Ping chopsticks.

Looking at the master hesitating to speak, Zhou Ping felt that the master seemed to be hiding something from him. He had never seen the master look so dazed.

It was late at night, and Zhou Ping lay in bed tossing and turning. Thinking of his master's words during the day, he also remembered the life he had lived with his master all these years. The master gave him the skill of picking bones for many years, and he was afraid from the beginning to gradually adapt. Although it was hard work along the way, he had a very fulfilling life. The master had no children or grandchildren, and always regarded himself as his own grandson.

Zhou Ping suddenly thought of his grandfather. After his parents died, his grandfather supported him with a little money given by his uncle and two aunts every month. Later, when his grandfather fell ill, the uncle and two aunts suddenly refused to give his grandfather money for medical treatment. They said that his grandfather hid some family treasure and lied to them that he lost it, just to leave it to Zhou Ping, the eldest grandson. At that time, he did not know what had happened, but he only knew that his grandfather had swallowed rat poison so wrongfully, but his grandfather never told him about it until his death. Every time he thought of it, Zhou Ping would wet a pillow towel with tears.

In his sleep, Zhou Ping suddenly felt a glimmer of light. It turned out to be from his master's room, and Zhou Ping was a little puzzled. The master has always been frugal and never lights up when he goes to the toilet in the middle of the night. He walked slowly to the master's door, and through the crack of the door he saw the master sitting with his back to him by the bed, taking out their bag for tools during the day from under the bed, and then reaching out to take out a long thing from the bag. Through the dim light, Zhou Ping was stunned, and he saw that it was a hand bone - a complete bone from the upper arm to the palm of his hand. He slowly took out a bracelet from the bag, put it on the bone, and then gently leaned the bone against his face, sitting there for a long time, sobbing from time to time...

The next morning, before Old Man Liu got up, Zhou Ping came to the well early to fetch water. The master's actions last night made him not sleep well. Although the master was a bone hunter, he believed that these things were unlucky, so he never brought them back. The master was always upright and would never take anything from a dead person. What made Zhou Ping even more puzzled was the master's strange behavior last night.

A heavy cough came from the back room. Zhou Ping stopped what he was doing and quickly ran into the house. He saw the master slowly come out of the room, and Zhou Ping gently helped the master to sit down.

"Master, drink a glass of water." Zhou Ping handed Old Man Liu a glass of water.

"Sigh, this is God's will," Old Liu muttered to himself, his face looking very weak.

"Master, what's wrong with you?"

"I know why Master keeps telling you to be upright and not to beat people to death in our line of work." Old man Liu looked at Zhou Ping seriously.

"You said that you can't lose the big because of the small, and you can't ruin your reputation. This is how our good reputation is slowly cultivated.""" Zhou Ping answered seriously.

"Sigh, Master did something wrong. I don't want you to feel guilty like Master for the rest of your life." Old Man Liu coughed a few more times.

"Master, what's going on? From yesterday to now, your words are very strange." Zhou Ping gently patted Lao Liu's back.

"Sigh, there is something that has been in Master's heart for more than ten years. I thought I could forget it, but when I went to pick up bones yesterday, I remembered it again." Old Man Liu sighed.

"Yesterday on the mountain, I felt that something was wrong. Master, you were absent-minded, almost forgot to cover the ash when you installed the jar, and you didn't let me help. Fortunately, the family was not there. By the way! Why didn't the family come yesterday?" Zhou Ping thought about the strange things yesterday.

"Because that's your wife's tomb..." Old Liu looked straight at the door.

"You've never mentioned my wife in all these years, I thought." Zhou Ping suddenly realized, he recalled everything he had seen last night, knew the owner of the hand bone, and slowly understood his master's feelings.

"When I first started in this line of work, I was poor and disliked. But she never complained about me. She was busy at home and saved everything for her son to eat. But our two sons still died of starvation. She was still busy with this family during the day, but at night she would cry secretly alone."

"Then she got sick too, so she had to lie in bed and couldn't do anything. I've always felt guilty, and after following me, I never made her happy. At that time, I did something in town, and I had some money, and I wanted to give her something. But when I got to the county jewelry store, I didn't even have enough money to see it."

"She was getting sicker and sicker, and the doctor said her days were numbered. At that time, I used to hide in the woodshed and cry. But every day she would smile and watch me go to work." Old Man Liu sighed with tears in his eyes.

"One day ten years ago, I went to pick up bones from another village. I saw this jade bracelet, so I was cruel..." Lao Liu took out a jade bracelet from his pocket and handed it to Zhou Ping.

"This is from the dead man, Master." Zhou Ping looked at Old Man Liu in surprise and remembered the bracelet he saw last night.

"I carried it and ran all the way home in a panic. Sitting by her bed, I took the bracelet to her hand myself, and she smiled. It was the first time I saw her smile so happily, and I smiled too. I lied to her that I bought it from the city, and she said she had never seen such a beautiful thing. I held her hand and leaned against my face, watching her cry for the last time..." Lao Liu pursed the tears that flowed to his lips.

Zhou Ping looked straight at the jade bracelet in his hand and sat on the side, his eyes moist.

"But later I found out that this bracelet is the family heirloom, which caused the family to die. Since then, I have always had a pinch in my heart. I originally wanted to bury it with your wife and gradually forget about it, but yesterday..." Old Man Liu shook his head.

Zhou Ping stood up and walked to the door, tears slowly falling.

"Master should not hide it from you." Old man Liu also stood up and walked to Zhou Ping's side.

"Master, why were you wrong that time!" Zhou Ping slowly turned his head and looked at Old Man Liu with wet eyes. He picked up the shovel that was digging the grave and raised it high.

The early morning sun was blocked by thin clouds, and the cold wind was a little biting. Zhou Ping came to the familiar mountain, and stood quietly in front of an old empty grave, which was the grave of his great-grandmother (great-grandmother). He took out the blood-stained bracelet from his pocket and squeezed it tightly into his hand. One day ten years ago, his grandfather brought him here, and he vaguely remembered that he saw a thin back busy in the tomb. The adults turned away and dared not look, but the young man turned his head curiously and took a look. The figure secretly put a jade bracelet in his pocket…

"Grandpa, your family heirloom has been found."