“Brother! Why are you saying that too?” Luo Cheng’an’s voice was choked with tears. “It has nothing to do with you. It’s Luo Shan’s fault. They were the ones who wanted to hurt people. It had nothing to do with you.”
Luo Yuan shook his head. “He wanted to harm us, and that’s what led to your parents being killed.”
“No, don’t say that.” Luo Cheng’an panicked. After a moment, he finally burst into tears. “It’s not like that. Don’t blame yourselves. It’s Luo Shan’s fault. It’s the bad people’s fault.”
Xi Yu’s chest felt heavy.
That was simply how things were in this world. Resentment, entanglements, cause and effect—sometimes there was no way to untangle any of it.
The group cried bitterly for a while.
In the end, Shen Qing held Luo Cheng’an in front of the grave and promised, “Cheng’an is my own son. From now on, whatever Xiaoyu has, he will have too.”
Xi Yu said, “But what if there’s only one?”
Luo Yuan and Shen Qing both froze.
They looked up at Xi Yu.
Finally, Luo Yuan said, “Then we’ll split it in half.”
He felt guilty toward Luo Cheng’an, but he also felt guilty toward Xi Yu.
The grudges and wrongs of the previous generation had dragged two innocent children into them.
“No.”
Xi Yu shook his head, his expression calm.
“If there’s only one, it goes to Luo Cheng’an.”
Luo Yuan’s heart trembled.
He had thought… Xi Yu would inevitably feel at least somewhat unhappy.
After all, Xi Yu was his biological son. He had failed to accompany him as he grew up, yet from now on he would have to divide half of his love between Xi Yu and Cheng’an.
But he hadn’t.
Not at all.
Luo Yuan was deeply moved.
What had he done to deserve having two such wonderful children?
Luo Cheng’an sniffled, looking at Xi Yu through tear-filled eyes.
“Brother… you love me so much.”
When they left the cemetery, Luo Yuan, Shen Qing, and Luo Cheng’an all had red, swollen eyes.
Xi Yu said he’d drive.
Luo Cheng’an sat in the passenger seat, looking listless.
“Brother, I want to see the place where you and Mom and Dad used to live.”
Xi Yu’s hand paused on the steering wheel.
Then he made a U-turn.
Qingliang Village.
Xi Yu parked the car outside the town. The road inside was too difficult to drive on—full of potholes, with rice paddies lining both sides.
It was currently harvest season, and there were plenty of uncles and older men working in the fields, all wearing straw hats.
Luo Cheng’an’s mouth fell open in amazement.
“Is that wheat?”
“That’s rice. Wheat can’t be soaked in water. It would spoil.”
Xi Yu got out of the car first and started walking inside.
Shen Qing wasn’t wearing high heels today, otherwise there was no way she could have managed this road.
“I didn’t know C City still had places like this.”
A City was the central region of Huaguo, a top-tier metropolis. C City was developing rapidly as it grew closer to A City.
Both were cities where life moved at a very fast pace.
No one had expected that somewhere within C City there would still be a place without even proper bus service.
It was also in this town that Shen Qing had been deceived by Luo Shan and the others into giving birth.
The place was more than twenty kilometers from the town itself, and they had never been here before.
Luo Cheng’an looked like a country bumpkin seeing the Grand View Garden for the first time.
“A tractor!”
Xi Yu asked, “Want to ride it?”
Luo Cheng’an cautiously asked, “Can I?”
Xi Yu didn’t answer.
Instead, he ran toward the tractor.
“Uncle Zhang!”
The man being called Uncle Zhang had originally been about to see which fool was blocking his tractor.
But when he got a good look, he saw an extraordinarily handsome young man.
He took off his straw hat, rubbed his eyes, and immediately jumped down from the tractor.
“Xiaoyu!”
“It’s really you. I thought I’d mistaken you.”
Uncle Zhang had a yellowed towel hanging around his neck. He wiped away his sweat.
The midsummer sun was scorching, and his face was bright red from the heat, yet it was full of joy.
“Old Zhang, you stopped your tractor in the middle of the road. It broke down, didn’t it?”
A woman carrying a lunchbox emerged from behind the tractor.
Old Zhang spat twice.
“What’s broken down? Hurry up and look who this is!”
The woman poked her head out from behind the tractor.
Xi Yu smiled.
“Auntie Hua.”
“Oh my goodness, Xiaoyu!”
Auntie Hua slapped her thigh.
“Is that really Xiaoyu?!”
“Yep.”
“Look how grown-up you’ve become! You’ve really filled out. You’re even more handsome than you were when you were little. I almost didn’t recognize you.”
Auntie Hua walked around Xi Yu, looking him over from every angle.
Xi Yu simply stood there and let her look.
Luo Cheng’an was completely dumbfounded.
Even Shen Qing found it a little strange. She awkwardly said, “Xiaoyu is quite… lively.”
Luo Yuan said, “The villagers must have treated him well.”
Luo Yuan could tell that their enthusiasm wasn’t merely superficial.
They were genuinely happy to see him.
Only after Auntie Hua had finished reminiscing did she notice Luo Cheng’an and the others and ask Xi Yu who they were.
“They’re good friends and his parents. They wanted to come here and take a look.”
Shen Qing’s heart gave a little jolt.
She felt a little sad.
Xi Yu noticed.
He asked Uncle Zhang where he was going and whether he could give them a ride home.
“What do you mean, whether it’s on the way? Come on, I’ll take you there.”
The group climbed onto the tractor.
Only then did Xi Yu explain, “This is complicated and won’t be easy to explain. Better to leave it vague for now.”
Shen Qing knew Xi Yu had a point.
She didn’t blame him.
She was simply a little disappointed.
After all, she’d never heard Xi Yu call her “Mom.”
Xi Yu wasn’t unaware of what Shen Qing was thinking.
He simply couldn’t bring himself to say it.
She wasn’t the mother of the Luo family’s son.
He had his own mother.
Luo Yuan patted the back of Shen Qing’s hand and quietly comforted her.
“There’ll be plenty of time in the future.”
The tractor was so loud that it drowned out their voices.
Xi Yu lowered his eyes and said nothing more.
Being jolted around by the tractor, Luo Cheng’an grabbed Xi Yu’s arm for support.
…………………..
Xi Yu turned his head to look at Luo Cheng’an.
Luo Cheng’an was curiously looking around at everything.
Forget it.
If he pushed Cheng’an away now, the boy would probably fall flat on his butt.
When they arrived at a particularly rundown single-story house, Xi Yu jumped off the tractor.
“Thanks, Uncle Zhang.”
Uncle Zhang grinned.
“What are you thanking me for? If it weren’t for you, I’d probably already be buried in the ground. How could I still be around to give you a ride?”
Luo Cheng’an’s ears immediately perked up.
But Uncle Zhang didn’t elaborate.
He simply waved at Xi Yu.
He still had work to do in the fields.
As soon as he left, Luo Cheng’an hurriedly asked, “What did that uncle mean just now?”
Xi Yu opened the door and casually replied,
“He meant that I’m awesome.”
The little house hadn’t been lived in for a long time, and a thick layer of dust had settled inside.
The weather was unbearably hot, and the small house felt like a steamer.
The furniture was all there, but it was obvious that it had been around for many years.
Luo Cheng’an asked, “Brother, you used to live here?”
“Yeah.”
The place was run-down, but Xi Yu didn’t feel the cold or heat, and it was quiet with no one to disturb him.
He thought it was perfectly fine.
But in Shen Qing and Luo Yuan’s eyes, it was an entirely different matter.
Shen Qing had grown up wealthy, accustomed to fine clothes and good food.
Luo Yuan’s family had been less well-off than hers, and he had worked his way to his current life with his own two hands.
But even before that, his family had still been comfortably middle-class.
He had never lived somewhere like this.
“Where’s the air conditioner? The TV?” Luo Cheng’an asked.
The room contained little more than a sofa and a wardrobe.
Xi Yu dusted off the sofa and let Shen Qing and Luo Yuan sit down.
“I don’t use those.”
He didn’t watch television either.
With that time, he could spend another while cultivating.
Xi Yu finished speaking.
When he heard no response, he turned around.
Three pairs of red, swollen eyes were once again showing signs of tears.
“Stop!”
Xi Yu immediately went on high alert.
“Put those tears away!”
Xi Yu finally understood what it meant to have someone else make you feel miserable about your own hardships.
That was what he hated most.
Fortunately, at that moment, Luo Cheng’an’s stomach growled.
Xi Yu hurriedly said, “We’ve seen it now. Want to head back? It’s already noon and none of us have eaten.”
Luo Cheng’an awkwardly covered his stomach and gave a sheepish smile.
“All right, then.”
There really wasn’t much else to see.
They had been gone for so many years that the house itself didn’t actually hold many memories anymore.
Luo Yuan had just helped Shen Qing to her feet when a booming voice came from outside.
“Xiaoyu! It’s noon already! Auntie made sweet-and-sour spare ribs. Come eat lunch at my place!”
The voice came closer and closer.
Auntie Hua came running in wearing an apron.
“No need, Auntie Hua—”
“What do you mean, no need? You disappear for so many years and now you think you’re too good for us?”
Auntie Hua glared at him.
“If you don’t come, I’ll be angry!”
She had made it impossible to refuse.
Xi Yu glanced at Shen Qing.
Shen Qing immediately took over.
“Then we’ll be imposing on you.”
“What imposing? Today is a big celebration!”
Only after they arrived at Auntie Hua’s house did they understand what she meant by “a big celebration.”
Several tables had been set up beneath the tree in Auntie Hua’s yard, all filled with people.
A few children were coming in from outside carrying dishes.
Uncle Zhang walked in carrying a large watermelon.
When he saw Xi Yu, he grinned.
“I heard you were back, so the village chief told everyone to bring all the dishes over here and eat together.”
Auntie Hua’s house was the closest.
They were probably worried that Xi Yu wouldn’t want to walk too far.
Xi Yu was just about to speak when the village chief came in, leaning on a cane.
His cloudy eyes were filled with a smile.
“Good, good, good. I was wondering if I’d get to see you one more time before I died.”
Xi Yu looked at the village chief.
He was already over seventy, his head full of white hair, yet his back was still remarkably straight.
Xi Yu helped him sit down.
“People always miss what they can’t have and get tired of what they have every day. When I was still living in the village, you used to chase me for two li every single day.”
Auntie Hua glanced at Shen Qing and Luo Yuan.
Their clothes made it obvious that they weren’t ordinary people, but she wasn’t intimidated in the slightest.
She warmly pulled them toward the seats of honor.
“Come sit here. It hasn’t been this lively in Qingliang Village in ages.”
Shen Qing and Luo Yuan felt somewhat uncomfortable, but the villagers greeted them with genuine enthusiasm.
Every one of these people had helped Xi Yu.
No matter how capable Xi Yu had become now, his parents had died young, and that tiny little boy had been raised bit by bit by the villagers.
The two of them felt deeply grateful.
Luo Cheng’an was different.
He immediately made himself at home and took the watermelon from Uncle Zhang’s arms.
“Uncle, did you just take this watermelon out of the refrigerator?”
“What refrigerator? We barely use that thing. We put this in the well water to chill all morning. Don’t hold it—I’ll take it inside and cut it.”
Qingliang Village might have been a village with underdeveloped transportation, but by now every household had all the basic things they needed.
Xi Yu simply didn’t have them because he didn’t need them.