Chapter 584: The Sole One

Li Er rode the green ox, heading west all the way.

After leaving Cheng Zhou, he never went anywhere else.

Those feudal states, those cities, those scenery he once wanted to see—none of them seemed important anymore.

He only wanted to go back.

The green ox walked slowly, as if it knew he wasn't in a hurry, and also as if it were matching his mood.

After walking for more than half a month, familiar mountains and waters gradually appeared before his eyes.

Li Xiang, Qu Ren Li.

The old tree at the village entrance was still there.

Li Er got off the ox's back, stood under the tree, and looked up at its lush branches and leaves.

This tree had grown several rings thicker than when he left.

He withdrew his gaze, led the green ox, and slowly walked into the village.

The dirt road was still the same dirt road, but the houses on both sides had completely changed.

New, old, tall, short—none of them were familiar to him.

He walked while looking around.

By the roadside, a woman was basking in the sun, dozing with her eyes half-closed.

Li Er glanced at her, but did not recognize her.

A middle-aged man carrying a pole came from the opposite direction, nodded slightly at him in greeting, then brushed past him.

Li Er turned his head to glance at the man's back, but did not recognize him.

Several women squatted by the well washing clothes, chatting and laughing as they worked.

Li Er walked past them; they merely lifted their heads to glance at him, then lowered them again and continued chatting about their own affairs.

No one recognized him.

No one knew who he was.

Perhaps someone had seen him in childhood, but with the passage of years, they had completely forgotten him.

They only knew that a man named Li Er had left the village to serve as an official elsewhere, whether dead or alive unknown, and only that the village had two mysterious immortals..........

Li Er continued walking forward.

He arrived at the former site of Chen Hui's home, which had become a new house, with a young man he did not know standing at the doorway.

He walked a full circuit.

Everyone he knew was gone.

The elders who had watched him grow up, the playmates who had played with him, the villagers who had seen him off at the village edge when he left—

All had passed away.

Li Er stood on the empty ground, looking at the unfamiliar faces, unfamiliar houses, unfamiliar bustle, and suddenly did not know which way to go.

He lowered his head to look at the land beneath his feet.

This land was still familiar.

Suddenly, a clamor arose.

Li Er raised his head and looked in that direction.

A group of children came running from the side, the older ones seven or eight years old, the younger four or five, a noisy flock like a flock of startled birds.

The boy leading the pack wore a patched coarse‑cloth outfit, his hair messy, his face smeared with mud. He ran at the front, shouting back as he ran:

"Hurry up! If you're any slower, you won't catch up!"

The children behind followed, panting; if someone couldn't keep up, he would run back, pull them along, then continue running.

They were chasing a dog.

The village dog ran incredibly fast, looking back and barking as if taunting them.

"Woof woof woof!"

"Don't run! Stop!"

The children chased the dog, running past Li Er, then farther on, disappearing around the village corner.

Li Er stood where he was, watching their retreating backs.

The boy in front ran the fastest, shouted the loudest, feared neither dirt nor fatigue.

Mud clung to his face, and his clothes were strewn with grass he didn't know where he'd picked up, but he didn't care, his mind fixed solely on chasing the dog.

Li Er suddenly laughed.

He recalled many years ago.

Back then, he was just like that.

Every day he led a gang of little followers, running wildly through the village.

Climbing trees to pull out bird nests, diving into the river to catch fish and shrimp, causing chickens and dogs to scatter, making the adults stomp their feet in anger.

Chen Hui was his chief follower, always trailing behind him.

Back then, Li Shi would also stand at the doorway, calling him home for a meal.

"Ah Er, come home and eat!"

Back then, he thought such days would go on forever.

The children ran off, the dog's barks faded, and the village entrance grew quiet.

Li Er stood by the road, gazing in that direction for a long time.

"I'm home............"

Li Er led the green ox, continuing onward.

He passed through the street, went around the small grove that had already changed its appearance, and a small courtyard came into view.

The courtyard walls were new, the fence was new, and the house's doors and windows were also new.

But that place, it was still the same place.

The courtyard gate stood open.

In front of the gate lay a bamboo chair, on which a person was reclining.

That person had his legs crossed, eyes narrowed, holding a palm fan in his hand, lazily fanning.

The afterglow of the setting sun fell on him, giving him a warm coating of golden light.

Still the same lazy appearance.

Exactly the same as it was decades ago.

Li Er stood at the courtyard gate, looking at that figure, and suddenly didn't know what to say.

Yu Lin opened his eyes and glanced at him.

"Yo, you're back?"

That tone was casual, as if asking whether he had eaten today.

Li Er nodded.

"Mm."

Yu Lin sat up, sized him up from head to toe, and asked feigning ignorance:

"How come you're back again?"

Li Er looked at him and gave a bitter smile.

"I got kicked out again."

Yu Lin let out an "oh," not surprised at all.

He patted the nearby stone stool, gesturing for Li Er to sit.

Li Er drove the green ox off to graze, then walked over and sat on the stone stool.

Yu Lin looked at him and asked again:

"This time, if someone comes to invite you again, will you go or not?"

Li Er shook his head.

"I won't go."

Yu Lin nodded and said nothing more.

The two just sat there, watching the sunset on the horizon sink little by little.

They remained silent for a long time.

Li Er suddenly spoke.

"What about my mother?"

Yu Lin raised his hand and pointed to the sky.

"She's gone to heaven."

Li Er froze for a moment, then lifted his head to look at the sky dyed red by the evening clouds.

Yu Lin looked at him and asked:

"How so? Missing your mother?"

Li Er gave a faint smile.

That smile was thin, as if a breeze would blow it away.

"Yes, I miss my mother."

He paused, then looked again at that expanse of sky.

"Going to heaven is fine, it's fine."

He didn't ask anything else, just sat there, gazing at the horizon, silent.

Yu Lin also didn't speak.

The two just sat there, watching night fall slowly, watching stars light up one by one.

After a long while, Li Er suddenly spoke again.

"You didn't record that time you called me 'father,' did you?"

Yu Lin froze for a moment, then broke into a grin.

"Am I the kind of person who takes advantage of others' peril..................."

"I really am; want to take a look?"

Li Er smiled helplessly.

"Forget it, let's just record it; it won't hurt this time either."

Having said that.

Li Er also didn't say anything further.

He just sat there, looking at the horizon, not knowing what he was thinking.

The night wind blew by, carrying the scent of earth from the fields.

In the distance came a few dog barks, then gradually faded away.

The stars grew more numerous and brighter, filling the entire night sky.

Yu Lin lay on the bamboo chair, stopped fanning with the palm fan, narrowed his eyes, as if asleep.

Li Er sat on the stone stool, motionless.

He gazed at that starry sky, at those countless twinkling points of light.

Recalling his childhood, Li Shi held him as they sat in the courtyard, pointing at the stars in the sky and telling him those ancient stories.

"That brightest star, no matter where you are, it remains in that direction."

"Ah Er, if you ever get lost later, just look up at the stars."

He raised his head and gazed at that stretch of Starry Sky.

The star remained in that direction.

It seemed eternal and unchanging.

"Only One, at the beginning of all things, enduring through eternity..............."