The news of Great Chu's crushing defeat also reached Da Feng Village, and several families felt unbearably sad when they heard it.
"So many youngsters, all the mainstay of their households, just gone like that." Third Grandma wiped her tears, grieved for a while, then said to Mrs. Cui, "Dashan's wife, let's prepare a table of offerings, set up an incense case, burn some paper money, and see those children who died in battle off, shall we?"
Dashan's mother's family were a military family, several of his uncles had died on the battlefield. When Mrs. Fei was alive, she would burn paper money every Tomb-Sweeping Festival for the Great Chu soldiers who had died, saying it was a rule passed down in military households. Third Grandma got on well with Mrs. Fei; when she heard about Great Chu's defeat, she wanted to imitate Mrs. Fei and send off those who'd died in battle.
