bookbashuk Chapter 28 My Brother's Letter and the Table Lamp
Chapter 28 My Brother's Letter and the Table Lamp
When Li Qingge returned home with the warm jade pendant, the living room was quiet, except for Xiao Qingyi, who was lying on the carpet flipping through a picture book, her little legs swinging in the air.
He sat down next to his sister and patted her on the shoulder: "Yiyi."
"Brother!" Xiao Qingyi jumped up, her eyes sparkling. "My jade pendant?"
Li Qingge didn't answer immediately, but carefully opened the cloth bag. The mutton-fat jade gleamed softly under the living room light. "Yiyi," he pointed to the patterns on the jade, "do you know what this is?"
Xiao Qingyi leaned closer and shook her head.
"This thing... it's probably over a thousand years old." Li Qingge spoke slowly, looking at her younger sister's innocent eyes, "The beautiful older sister who gave you the jade pendant might really have been a princess. As for the 'ancestor' you mentioned..."
He paused, took a breath, and said, "If I'm not mistaken, he should be the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty, named Li Chengqian."
Xiao Qingyi blinked. The words "Tang Dynasty" and "Crown Prince" were too unfamiliar to her, but she remembered the name: "Yes! Our ancestor said his name was Li Chengqian!"
"It's Chengqian, not Chengqian," Li Qingge corrected, but he was even more certain in his heart. He held his younger sister's small hand, "Yiyi, do you want the ancestor to know... that you have family here too? And, who knows, we might really be his descendants?"
This thought had been swirling in his mind ever since he left Grandpa Chen's shop. If his sister really could travel to the Tang Dynasty and meet Li Chengqian, then their family line... might be descendants of Li Chengqian's son, Li Xiang? The vague records in the family genealogy and the portrait in the ancestral hall suddenly had a startling explanation.
Little Qingyi seemed to understand but not quite: "Didn't Grandmother know that Yiyi has a pot?"
"He probably doesn't know," Li Qingge said. "So, I'd like to ask you for a favor—next time you go there, could you please deliver a letter to our ancestor?"
"A letter?" Xiao Qingyi's eyes lit up. "Like the kind given to Santa Claus?"
"More or less," Li Qingge laughed, "but it's for the ancestors."
He went back to his room, found some stationery and a pen, and sat at his desk, pondering for a long time. How should he write this letter? Should he simply say, "I am your descendant a thousand years in the future"? That would be too frightening. Should he say, "My sister often travels through time to visit you"? That would be even more like a fantasy.
Considering that modern vernacular language might not be appropriate, Li Qingge opened her computer and spent a long time reviewing the materials.
The pen tip hovered over the paper for a long time before finally falling:
"A Qingge, a descendant of the Li family, respectfully presents this to Chengqian Gong:"
My younger sister, Qingyi, is still a child and innocent. If she has offended you in any way, please forgive her. Qingge respectfully thanks you for your care and consideration for my sister.
Our family has passed down the lineage of this patriarch through generations. A portrait of him in his youth hangs in the ancestral hall, resembling the appearance described by my younger sister. When Qingyi returned home, she often spoke of the loving kindness of our "ancestor," mentioning the gentle and kind princess who gifted her the jade pendant, and the friendly relationship between the two children, Zhinu and Sizi. Hearing this, I was both comforted and astonished.
If this letter reaches you, I only wish to know that Qingyi also has close relatives and loved ones here, so you need not worry. Qingge bows from afar, wishing you peace and good health.
Enclosed are a few small gifts, all common items of this world, for your amusement.
After finishing writing, Li Qingge read it over several times. The letter didn't mention "time travel," only saying that "Yiyi often talks about it when she comes back," implying that her sister could relay messages; it mentioned family legends and portraits, providing a reason for the blood relationship; it mentioned specific names to increase credibility; and finally, it indicated that Yiyi was being taken care of, putting the other party at ease.
He carefully folded the letter and stuffed it into a waterproof document bag. Then he began preparing those "little things"—this time he was more practical. Li Chengqian reviewed memorials every day, and he would definitely need a lamp at night, which would easily make his neck sore.
He found an LED eye-protection table lamp in his room. The lamp had a simple design, adjustable brightness, and was solar-powered. He specifically adjusted it to the softest warm yellow light and tested the switch.
She found a brand new neck massager—a birthday gift from a classmate last year, which he had used twice but then put away because he found it too troublesome. It was a U-shaped pillow type, with heating and several massage modes, and it was USB rechargeable. Li Qingge fully charged it and set it to the gentlest setting.
After thinking for a while, he took out two giant power banks.
"Our ancestors should have found these useful," he muttered to himself. A table lamp is better for the eyes than a candle, and a massager can relax the neck—more practical than any fancy gadgets.
Finally, he thoughtfully printed out a user manual and included it.
After packing everything into a file bag, Li Qingge took it to the living room. Xiao Qingyi had been waiting for a while, staring curiously at the bulging bag.
"Yiyi, look," Li Qingge squatted down and said earnestly, "There's a letter here, written by your brother to our great-grandmother. There are also some small gifts. Next time you visit our great-grandmother, could you give this to him?"
Xiao Qingyi nodded vigorously: "Yes!"
"But remember," Li Qingge said, supporting her sister's shoulder, "you can only give it to the Ancestor, or that Princess Chang Le. If there are other people around, don't give it to them yet; wait until it's just the Ancestor. Understand?"
"Understood!" Xiao Qingyi mimicked her brother's serious expression. "It can only be explained to the Ancestor and Pretty!"
"And one more thing," Li Qingge added, "If the ancestors ask how to use these things, just say... press here to turn on the lamp and adjust the brightness; wear the massager around your neck and press here to get it heated and massaged. If you can't explain it clearly, I've also included an instruction manual here."
He taught his younger sister to recognize the switches and buttons. Little Qingyi learned quite attentively, pointing her little finger at the touch switch of the lamp: "Press here to make it light up, press again to make it brighter, press again to turn it off!"
"Yes, Yiyi is so smart." Li Qingge patted her head. "The massager is the same. Press this round button to start it, and press it again to stop it."
Xiao Qingyi repeated it several times to make sure she remembered it. She hugged the file bag to her chest, as if she had received some important mission.
"Yiyi," Li Qingge asked softly as a final question, "Were you ever scared when you went over there?"
Xiao Qingyi shook her head, her eyes bright and clear: "I'm not afraid. Grandmother is good, pretty Jie Jie is good, and Zhi Nu and Si Zi Jie Jie are good too. They all smile at Yi Yi."
Looking at his younger sister's innocent face, Li Qingge suddenly felt his eyes well up with tears. He hugged her and whispered, "That's good. But Yiyi, you have to promise your brother that no matter where you are, if you feel uncomfortable or scared, you'll want to go home right away, okay?"
"Okay!" Xiao Qingyi hugged her brother back. "Whenever Yiyi wants to go home, she can go home!"
The setting sun slowly sank below the window, bathing the room in a warm golden light. Li Qingge held her younger sister, looking at the jade pendant on the coffee table that had traversed a thousand years, and felt an indescribable emotion—as if some invisible thread was quietly crossing the river of time, gently connecting two worlds that would otherwise never have met.
The gifts he prepared, especially the lamp and the massager, might have allowed his ancestor from over a thousand years ago to feel a little bit of clumsy but sincere care from his descendants during the long night.
Little Qingyi yawned in her brother's arms, her little hands still clutching the file folder tightly. She didn't know exactly what her brother's letter contained, but she knew it was a big secret between her and her brother—a secret about their ancestor, their beautiful older sister, and that world with tall houses and candlelight.
Secrets always excite children, but also make them extra careful. She had already rehearsed in her mind many times: how to hand the bag to the ancestor, how to explain these strange things, and how to tell the ancestor that her brother actually wanted to get to know him too.
Although she didn't quite understand how long "a thousand years" actually was, she felt that her ancestor would surely be happy to receive her brother's letter and gifts, just as happy as she was when she received the jade pendant from her beautiful older sister.