章 27: The Past of the Old Era
編集者: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"That year, I went to the prefecture capital with Old Liang and the others. Coincidentally, I met with something that I would never forget..." Under the oil-paper umbrella, Shen Tong took two puffs of his pipe, his thoughts gradually returning to many years ago.
"When we went to the prefecture capital, we happened to run into celestials who came to the mortal world to take in disciples. They would enter the mortal world to take in disciples every few decades or so, but the intervals would be sixty years. It's too long, so many people don't know about this."
At that time, Shen Tong was still a young man. After hearing about the matter of celestial recruiting disciples, he remembered it clearly and told the people around him when he came back to the village. However, how many people would believe that there were celestials in the world?
Without exception, everyone thought that Shen Tong was joking and didn't believe him. As a result, he gradually began to suspect this matter himself. In the end, he buried the matter of the celestials taking in disciples deep in his heart and completely forgot about it.
If it wasn't for Ye Yan's methods today, which reminded him of the past, he might have carried this memory to the end of his life.
His daughter-in-law, Madam Chen, was startled when she heard her father-in-law talking about the past and connected it with Ye Yan's actions today, "Dad, could it be that the child of the Ye family is also a celestial?"
Shen Tong smoked his pipe and didn't comment, "Who knows? I've heard that celestials have to cultivate step by step from mortals. Perhaps this kid from the Ye family is still cultivating!"
"Oh right, father. I remember that a while ago, that kid from the Ye family seemed to have said something about his sect recruiting people to cultivate and become celestials back in our village's grain-sunning grounds," Shen Bo seemed to have thought of something and quickly shared what he had seen and heard, "At that time, I thought that the children were joking. I even went over to take a look!"
For some reason, when Shen Tong heard this, he suddenly lowered his head as if he was thinking about something. Then, he quickened his pace, "Wondrous people live in this world, truly so..."
In the Lin family, Ye Yan took two pieces of wood and put them in front of the broken door. Then, he walked into the house. Liu Yi had passed out due to exhaustion after he had escorted his mother and daughter into the room. He was resting on the bed now.
Widow Liu was holding a basin of water, carefully avoiding the wounds and cleaning Liu Yi's body. As for Liu Qian, she was watching the fire in the next room.
"Aunt Liu, you should go and rest. I'll look after Yi," Ye Yan sat beside Liu Yi and said to Widow Liu.
He dared to say that he was most aware of Liu Yi's current condition. Seeing Ye Yan coming over, Widow Liu was a little bewildered. She was worried about Liu Yi but thinking of their relationship and Ye Yan's performance just now, she could only nod and sit aside.
"Don't worry! Liu Yi is my brother," Ye Yan smiled brightly.
Widow Liu nodded. Her eyes were red, "Xiao Yan, that animal is no human! Xiao Yi was hit by his stick a few times and even spat out blood. Yet, he still wanted to hit his head. If it wasn't for the uncles and brothers who came in time to stop him..."
Halfway through her sentence, she could no longer control her emotions and broke down in tears. Ye Yan looked at her silently, sighing in his heart. From the gossip in the village, he had learned about Widow Liu's past. He heard that before she married into the village, she was a well-mannered woman with a good upbringing. After so many years of farming work, she still had the spirit of a scholar.
Liu Yi and Liu Qian's names were given by her. Back then, Widow Liu was stranded in Dumen Village during a disaster. She was taken in by the third son of the Liu family, Liu San, who was Liu Yi's father. The two of them got along very well and later got married.
However, because Liu San had married an unknown woman and his marriage was thus deemed "bad", he fell out with his family because of this. From then on, they lived independently.
The other members of the Liu family had become worse after the separation. They kept insulting Widow Liu, saying that she was more like a vixen than a farmer.
After Liu San passed away, these people did even more outrageous things. They took advantage of the fact that Widow Liu no longer had a husband and abused her wantonly. They did not help her when she was in trouble either, causing her family to live in particularly difficult times.
Liu Yi and Liu Qian grew up relying on the hard work of many families in the village, as well as the few acres of land that Widow Liu planted herself. As for the Liu family, not only did they not help, they even came to take a share when they saw that her family was doing good.
Liu Yan knew that it was difficult for Widow Liu. He sympathized with this mother who had a hard life and despised her husband's family, the Liu family. After Widow Liu left, Ye Yan turned around and looked at Liu Yi's arm.
It was a little swollen. Ye Yan was shocked and quickly undid his sleeve. With only one look, he exclaimed that something was wrong. Liu Yi's arm was swollen, and even after losing consciousness, it was still trembling. It was so purple that it had turned black.
"It's over, his bones are broken!" Ye Yan panicked. He didn't expect that Liu Yi's hand bone would be broken, "I don't know how to fix it. What should I do? In such a situation, if the injury isn't treated well, Liu Yi will be crippled..."
After pacing back and forth anxiously, he seemed to have thought of something and quickly ran to the room at the side, "Aunt Liu, Yi's hand is broken. He needs to be treated as soon as possible. I'll go get my grandfather to treat it."
Without waiting for Widow Liu's response, he dashed out of the house. With the help of being in the first level of the intermediate Qi-forging Realm, only Liu Yi's shadow could be seen as he ran.
Liu Yi's house was not far from his grandfather's house. He arrived at the Ye residence in almost two minutes. At this time, there were no lights in the Ye residence, and the main door was locked. It seemed that his grandpa and uncles were already asleep. Ye Yan didn't want to wake up his uncles, so he came up with a seemingly reasonable idea: climbing over the wall.
"Climbing over my own family's wall shouldn't be a problem, right?" He mumbled to himself as he stood by the low wall. Then, he leaped.
"Pata!"
With a crisp sound of feet landing, Ye Yan sneaked into the yard and walked towards his grandparents' room. The weather had been very stuffy these few days. Even though it was raining today, the air was still stuffy and annoying. As such, his grandpa had, as he expected, left the window open.
Ye Yan couldn't see clearly in the dark room, so he tiptoed in. The moment he landed, he seemed to have heard the sound of something breaking through the air.
"Pa!" A tobacco pipe hit Ye Yan's face directly.
"Ouch! Grandpa, don't hit me, it's me, it's me!" Ye Yan quickly covered his face and called out in a low voice.
"Yo, you rascal!" His grandfather heard that it was his grandson and let down his guard, "What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"
His grandpa didn't lower his voice and Grandma Ye was woken up as well. She was stunned when she saw Ye Yan, "My good grandson, what are you doing here?"
"Grandpa, there's an urgent matter. Brother Scar's hand is broken. I remember that you know how to fix it, so I came to get you," Ye Yan didn't explain too much and said concisely.
His grandfather was anxious when he heard this. He quickly picked up a straw raincoat and put it on, "Tsk, poor child. Let's go, grandson. Let's go and help him."
Ye Yan was touched by his grandpa's anxiety, but after a moment of hesitation, he rushed to his grandpa and carried him on his back, "Grandpa, hold tight. We're about to take off."
"Eh? Take off?" Grandpa knew something was wrong before he even finished his sentence.
On a rainy night, two figures flew through the night.
-- 贈り物
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