Chapter 65 Returning Home
Dayi County.

Huaishu Village.

The Jinma River flows past Huaishu Village like a silk ribbon. The water sways gently in the sunshine, sparkling, tranquil and deep.

Chu Yuan stood by the river, looking at the river that was strange yet familiar in his memory.

"Master, aren't we going back to our sect? Why are we here?"

Qu Feiyan stood behind Chu Yuan, seeing Chu Yuan staring at the river in a daze, and asked Chu Yuan.

"This is Master's hometown. Before returning to the mountains, Master wants to come here to take a look and see his family."

Chu Yuan sang to Qu Feiyan.

"Oh!"

Qu Feiyan nodded sensibly.

As he spoke, Chu Yuan turned and walked out of the river bank, onto the ridge of the field, and headed towards the home he remembered.

In fact.

Childhood memories of this village and this river in my mind.

Very little of it truly belongs to him, and most of it is actually the memories of the original "Chu Yuan".

It was the height of summer, and around noon, the sun was scorching, so there were few villagers to be seen in the fields on either side.

Even though there were a few villagers working in the fields at noon, they saw Chu Yuan and Qu Feiyan passing by.

They would just stop what they were doing and look at the combination of the man and the girl with curiosity.

After so many years, no one could recognize that Chu Yuan was the village's Chu Sanlang.

Chu Yuan took Qu Feiyan and walked in the village towards his home.

I was sent to the Qingcheng Sect to become a Taoist priest fifteen years ago.

Fifteen years passed in a flash.

Time has not brought much changes to this village. Huaishu Village is still exactly the same as I remember, with basically no changes.

But in the village, the familiar people in my memory are gone.

Sometimes the people you meet face to face are strangers.

Walking all the way to his home, Chu Yuan almost thought he had taken the wrong path.

Because the rammed earth house and fenced yard in my impression have long disappeared, and in their place there is a very luxurious blue brick courtyard.

In front of the courtyard is a pear tree with a crown as big as an umbrella.

Sixteen years later, the pear tree has grown a lot thicker, from the thickness of a bowl to the thickness of a pottery bowl.

The courtyard gate was a black lacquered wooden door with two copper rings on it. Chu Yuan stood in front of the gate with his hands behind his back, but he did not go forward to knock on the door for a long time.

"Master, let me knock on the door for you."

Seeing Chu Yuan standing in front of the door for a long time without moving, Qu Feiyan volunteered.

Chu Yuan did not stop her and let Qu Feiyan go forward and knock on the door.

Boom boom boom!
Qu Feiyan was too short and couldn't reach the copper ring even if she stood on tiptoe, so she could only use her small hands to gently tap on the wooden door.

There happened to be someone in the yard, who heard the noise and opened the wooden door.

"Who is this? Where did this little girl come from?"

The person who opened the door was a dark-skinned young man in his twenties, wearing a smooth, shiny black satin shirt, with his hair tied up with an iron hairpin. He had his sleeves rolled up and was holding a slice of watermelon in his hand, with juice still on his mouth. It seemed as if he was just... eating the watermelon?
After both sides were stunned for a moment, Chu Yuan did not recognize the other party at the first time, but the other party recognized Chu Yuan at the first time.

The man said happily: "Sanlang!"

Chu Yuan was stunned for a moment before recognizing that the man was his second brother, Chu Erhei.

His father Chu Qiao, who had followed this body, had gone to Qingcheng Mountain to look for him many times.

At first, he had planned to go back to meet her next time he went down the mountain.

But Chu Qiao and Chu Erhei, father and son, would go to Qingcheng Mountain every few months.

Chu Yuan couldn't avoid him forever, so they met once or twice every year.

"Second brother!"

Chu Yuan called out in a slightly unfamiliar tone.

"Third brother, who is this? He looks so cute."

Chu Erhei lowered his head and looked at Qu Feiyan who had just knocked on the door.

If his brother wasn't so young, especially since he was a Taoist priest, he would have thought that this was his brother's daughter.

"My new apprentice."

Chu Yuan replied.

"Come in, Third Brother."

Chu Erhei moved aside.

Chu Yuan and Qu Feiyan entered the courtyard.

A vertical shaft was dug in the southeast corner of the yard.

In the middle there are stone tables and chairs for resting, with some household items placed on them.

When Chu Yuan and Qu Feiyan came in, they saw a boy who was a few years older than Qu Feiyan, about eight years old, and looked somewhat similar to his second brother Chu Erhei, playing with a sparrow in his hand in the yard.

There were two old people, an old woman and an old man, both wearing patterned satin clothes.

A man was drying a quilt on a bamboo pole in the yard.

One of them was sitting on a low stool, weaving a bamboo basket for fish.

They were Chu Yuan's father and mother, Chu Qiao and Chu's mother.

"Dad and Mom, look who's back?"

After Chu Erhei brought Chu Yuan and Qu Feiyan in, he shouted to the two old men.

Hearing Chu Erhei's words, the two old men looked over.

"Saburo!"

When Chu's mother saw Chu Yuan, she was stunned. After recognizing that the young Taoist in front of her was her third son, tears suddenly flashed in her eyes.

However, when he thought about Chu Yuan in front of him, he realized that he was already the junior brother of the leader of the Qingcheng Sect. The change in his family's living conditions was also due to his third son who went up the mountain to become a Taoist priest.

The difference in status, coupled with the feeling of strangeness from not being able to meet for so many years, made her dare not approach him rashly.

Compared to Chu's mother, he can see Chu Yuan once or twice every year. As a father, he is more restrained and does not show too many emotions.

"came back?"

Chu Qiao asked.

"I went to Fuzhou Prefecture and just happened to be back in the mountains, so I came back to take a look."

Chu Yuan nodded.

"Just come back, have a meal before leaving?"

Chu Qiao said.

"Okay, let's eat first and then leave."

Chu Yuan agreed.

"Erlang..."

At this time, a woman wearing a silk skirt, with black hair tied up high and a copper hairpin in her hair, who was not beautiful but looked smart and intelligent, came out of the house and looked at the strange young Taoist priest in the yard with some doubts. "She is my wife Tielan, and this is my son Chucao."

Chu Erhei introduced to Chu Yuan.

"Uncle!"

"Uncle Three!"

Chu Erhei's wife and son were very unfamiliar with Chu Yuan, but they still shouted.

Although they had never seen Chu Yuan, they had heard of him a long time ago.

But their husband (father) and father-in-law (grandfather) always told them that the good life their family had now was all thanks to their third uncle (younger uncle) whom they had never met.

The other party was the younger brother of the leader of the Qingcheng Sect on Qingcheng Mountain. The Qingcheng Sect took good care of their family and ensured that everyone in the family had their own jobs.

The originally poor Chu family suddenly became the family with the best living conditions in Huaishu Village.

Many people in the village were envious and jealous of the Chu family, saying that Chu Qiao had given birth to a good son.

"Second sister-in-law!"

Chu Yuan responded to his second sister-in-law who greeted him.

He didn't expect that the second brother who used to take him around the village had already married and had children.

"Uncle, eat melon!"

The second sister-in-law went into the house nervously again, took out two slices of freshly cut watermelon and gave them to Chu Yuan and Qu Feiyan.

"Give!"

After Chu Yuan and Qu Feiyan took it, they took out a bag of crispy peanuts they bought on the road and handed it to their nephew.

These crispy peanuts were bought on the road to please his apprentice.

Although Qu Feiyan is sensible, she is only a five-year-old child after all, and sometimes she can be noisy, so on the way back to Qingcheng Mountain, he would buy some snacks for Qu Feiyan.

"Thank you, uncle."

Seeing Chu Yuan giving him food, the nephew looked very happy to take it and said thank you.

Qu Feiyan didn't say anything when she saw her master giving the snacks he bought for her to his nephew. She knew that if she wanted, her master would definitely buy them for her again.

"Where are the eldest brother, second sister, and third sister?"

Chu Yuan asked Chu Erhei while eating watermelon.

"My eldest brother separated from the family a few years ago and built another house in the village. My second sister got married a long time ago to Liu Dianli from the county town. My third sister got married just last year to the son of the owner of a rice shop in the prefectural city."

Chu Erhei explained to Chu Yuan.

"I didn't know you were coming back, third brother. If I had known earlier, I would have notified my eldest brother, eldest sister, second sister, and third sister, and asked them to come back for a reunion. Third brother, you came back late, so it's definitely too late to call now. But you can notify my eldest brother's family. He and his wife are at their home in the village today."

As he spoke, Chu Erhei finished eating the melon in his hand.

Chu Yuan shook his head slightly when he heard this. These brothers and sisters grew up, got married, and had their own families.

Except during the holidays, how can the whole family really be reunited just by coming back?

When my second and third sisters got married, Chu Qiao and Chu Erhei also went to Qingcheng to inform and invite me, asking me to come back to attend the weddings of my two sisters.

But I always feel that he didn't live in this family for long.

I didn't have such deep feelings for my family members, so it didn't make any difference whether I participated or not, so I refused.

After Chu Erhei finished speaking, he immediately instructed his son Chu Cao to run errands and inform his uncle's family.

Not long after, the eldest brother Chu Qingfeng came with his wife Mei Chunfang.

The eldest brother Chu Qingfeng was wearing a long gown and looked like a scholar, with an elegant temperament.

He is much older than Chu Yuan and Chu Erhei. Now he looks to be in his forties and has white hair.

He worked as an apprentice in a county pharmacy for many years, learned medical skills, and became a doctor.

Later, with the financial support of the Chu family, he opened a medicine shop in the county town, bought a house in the county town, and lived a pretty good life.

If Chu Yuan hadn't helped him, he would actually be the one with the best life in the Chu family.

"Third brother, why don't you stay at home for a few more days this time when you come back?"

Chu Qingfeng was chatting with Chu Yuan in the yard.

It can be seen that Chu Qingfeng, the eldest brother, did not act like an elder brother, and spoke with a respectful yet unfamiliar tone.

"No, I've been down the mountain for a while, and the sect still has things to do. I'll be back soon after I come back to take a look."

Chu Yuan said.

"That's great. We are all very happy that our third brother can come back to see us..."

Chu Qingfeng wanted to say something, but at the moment he had a thousand words in his mind, but he didn't know what to say.

Everyone in the family can live the life they have now thanks to Chu Yuan.

Even the second and third sisters were able to marry a minor official in the county and a wealthy businessman in the provincial capital thanks to Chu Yuan.

The entire Dayi County knows that Sanlang Chu from Huaishu Village is extraordinary and holds a very high status in the Qingcheng Sect.

All of them, the brothers and sisters, should say thank you to Chu Yuan.

"Thank you, Third Brother!"

In the end, thousands of words turned into one sentence.

"No need to say these things, we are all family."

Chu Yuan responded with a smile.

He had no conflicts with his family. Everything his parents did back then was just to keep the whole family alive.

It’s just that he has been staying in Qingcheng Mountain for many years, and his relationship with his family has become a little distant.

He is also relieved that his family can live a better life because of him.

After finishing the meal, Chu Yuan took Qu Feiyan and said goodbye to Huaishu Village in the sunset.

After not being home for many years, returning home did not bring him the affection of his family, but more like a strange sense of familiarity.

He was like a strange guest in this house.

Leave Huaishu Village.

The master and his disciple followed the official road, left Dayi County and entered Guan County.

One day later.

Chu Yuan brought Qu Feiyan to Xujiadu again.

"Master, how far is it?"

Qu Feiyan complained a little while crossing the river by boat.

The mountains are high and the roads are long, and there are many mountainous roads in Bashu. For a five-year-old girl like her, it was really difficult for her to follow Chu Yuan through most of the Ming Dynasty, from Fuzhou Prefecture all the way to Chengdu Prefecture.

"Look wherever you want to go."

Chu Yuan pointed to the mountains in the distance ahead that undulated like a blue dragon.

"finally reached."

Qu Feiyan looked delighted.

The ferry docked, and after getting ashore, the master and disciple continued on their journey.

……

(End of this chapter)