BXBX NOVEL Chapter 32: Going Home, Return
Translator: 549690339
Having stayed at the Crimson Whale Gang for two days, Lu Changsheng set out to return to his hometown.
Li Feiyu had taken two people to accompany him on his journey.
Since Lu Changsheng planned to settle his family well, he would go directly to Ruyi Prefecture and then return to Qingzhu Mountain.
Li Feiyu naturally went back with him.
The two people were brought along for the convenience of settling Lu Changsheng’s family later on.
“I wonder how my parents have been during the three years of my absence.”
As he set foot on the road home, Lu Changsheng couldn’t help but feel sentimental and apprehensive as he drew closer to his village.
After all, it was the home where he had lived for eighteen years.
Even after awakening the memories of his previous life, those first eighteen years were still a part of his life.
Six days later.
A carriage traveling on a bumpy, dirt road arrived at a small mountain village.
At the entrance to the village stood a stone pier, engraved with the three characters for ‘Woniu Village’.
Lu Changsheng, seeing the landscape familiar from his memories, had the carriage stop outside the village and quickly walked into it alone.
There wasn’t anyone to be seen at the village entrance, but from afar came the sound of cheerful music; Lu Changsheng guessed that some family was celebrating an occasion, drawing the villagers to join the festivity for a feast.
He walked towards his own house.
Hearing the music grow louder, he quickened his pace.
He soon saw a tiled two-courtyard house fenced with hedges ahead.
The surroundings of the house were adorned with large ‘Xi’ characters, and tables were arranged both inside and outside the courtyard, where many villagers were chatting, standing, squatting, or sitting.
Some people were playing gongs, drums, and trumpets, and many children frolicked around, creating a joyful atmosphere.
“Could it be that my younger brother is getting married?”
Lu Changsheng felt a slight surreal sensation as he looked at the familiar courtyard he had lived in for eighteen years.
He was the third child in the family, with an older sister and brother above him, and a younger sister and brother below him.
His brother, five years his junior, was now sixteen and of marrying age.
“Young Master, who are you looking for?”
At that moment, a woman with somewhat coarse and dark skin, carrying a child, noticed Lu Changsheng approaching and came over to inquire.
Gazing at the woman before him, a surge of emotion welled up in Lu Changsheng.
After a moment of silence, he answered with a somewhat hoarse voice, “Sis, I’m Changsheng.”
The woman in front of him was in fact Lu Changsheng’s eldest sister.
“Changsheng?”
Upon hearing this, the woman looked incredulously at the noble-looking young man before her.
Then, closely examining the face resembling that of her brother who had left home three years ago without any news, her eyes became moist, and her voice choked up as she exclaimed, “Changsheng, you are Changsheng!”
“Where have you been, Changsheng? You’ve not returned for three years; do you know how worried our parents have been…”
“It’s good that you’re back, it’s good… Ah Lung, this is your uncle, your second uncle.”
The woman with the cloth sleeves wiped the moisture from her eyes and excitedly spoke to the toddler, who was only two or three years old, in her arms.
Then, about to reach for Lu Changsheng to take him inside, she hesitated as if fearing she might soil his clothes and withdrew her extended hand.
She said to Lu Changsheng, “Today happens to be the happy day of Changqing’s wedding; I’ll go tell dad and mom.”
With that, she walked briskly into the courtyard, holding her child, and shouted loudly, “Dad, mom, Changsheng has come back!”
“Changsheng? Who’s that?”
“The third son of Old Man Lu, the one who disappeared suddenly three years ago.”
“I always thought that child was odd from a young age; how did he just come back after three years?”
“He looks nothing like he used to.”
“Indeed, he’s got such fine skin and looks even more refined than those young masters from the city.”
Other villagers, hearing the commotion, also turned their attention towards Lu Changsheng at the entrance and started to murmur among themselves.
Soon, the woman returned with two elderly people with grey hair and faces weathered by the years, dressed neatly, walking out of the house towards Lu Changsheng standing in the courtyard.
Lu Changsheng also fixed his gaze on the two elderly people.
In three years, the degree of aging in his parents had exceeded his expectations.
His lips parted slightly, trembling as he called out, “Dad, Mom!”
That day, something sensational happened in Woniu Village that astounded everyone.
The Lu family’s third son, who had vanished for three years, returned home.
Normally, this sort of event wouldn’t concern the other villagers much and would be nothing more than small talk over tea or dinner.
However, once this third son of the Lu family got home, he threw a wedding celebration for his younger brother with over a hundred tables of banquet that lasted for half a month.
He also built large houses for his own siblings and his father’s family and purchased lands for them.
As a result, the old man Lu went from a commoner to being addressed respectfully as “Lu Yuanwai.”
Even the villagers of Woniu received a handsome share of the wedding joy money.
This incident would surely be the talk of Woniu Village for decades.
Yet Lu Changsheng, the man who had become the talk of the town, stayed at his parents’ house for just one day before leaving Woniu Village with Li Feiyu, returning to Ruyi County City.
“Why leave so soon, without staying a while?”
On the official road, Li Feiyu looked towards Lu Changsheng beside him and asked aloud.
“There’s nothing left to stay for, they are all well, and their future lives will be worry-free, which puts my mind at ease,”
Lu Changsheng shook his head, looking at the blue sky and spoke softly.
Three years apart, and I embarked on a path entirely different from normal people.
Now back at home, the way my parents and family look at me carries a mix of unfamiliarity and awe.
Thus, after ensuring that my parents and family were well settled, I left straightaway without much hesitation.
Nine days later.
Ruyi County City.
Outside the city gates.
“Brother Hong, no need to see us off any further, the mountains are high and the rivers long, we shall meet again,”
“We shall meet again!”
Lu Changsheng and Li Feiyu, leading their spirit horses, bid farewell to Hong Yi with a clasped-hands salute.
“We shall meet again. I wish both fellow daoists a prosperous and evergreen path in cultivation,”
Hong Yi returned the gesture with a salute.
He looked more spirited than before.
A few days ago, he showed his father, the Marquis of Ruyi, the thirteen talismans given to him by Lu Changsheng.
He indicated that his friend had become a Talisman Master, and henceforth, stable trade of talismans with the Marquis’s Mansion could be established.
Upon hearing this, and seeing that Hong Yi had received the talismans without having paid any Spirit Stones, his father believed in Hong Yi’s words.
He praised him greatly, encouraging him to foster a good relationship with Lu Changsheng and even assigning him some responsibilities within the Marquis’s Mansion.
Hong Yi was overjoyed by this, and his whole demeanor grew more buoyant and confident.
Lu Changsheng and Li Feiyu also returned the salute and then mounted their spirit horses to set off.
After traveling a distance, Li Feiyu spoke up, “I see that Hong Yi seems to have warmed up a lot to you.”
“Although Hong Yi is born to the Marquis, he is just a son of a concubine, and his life cannot be said to have been easy,”
“Making friends with me as a Talisman Master may well improve his position in the household,”
Lu Changsheng naturally knew the reason.
On this trip home to fetch the spirit horses, Hong Yi had brought fifteen Spirit Stones as payment for the previous talismans.
And expressed that because of this, he had received praise from his father, the Marquis of Ruyi.
He hoped that if Lu Changsheng ever planned to sell talismans to outsiders in the future, he would consider him as a priority.
Naturally, Lu Changsheng nodded and agreed to this proposal.
He also felt that it would be worth considering to sell some talismans through Hong Yi as a channel.
Otherwise, with so many talismans on hand and lacking strength, it would be troublesome to sell them.
“True, it’s very difficult to make money and cultivate in the secular world,”
Li Feiyu lamented as well.
After chatting casually for a while, the two took to the official road once again and hastened on their journey.