Chapter 398: Another Year When Snow Falls

"Grandpa, it's snowing again, such heavy snow!"

"Yes, such heavy snow."

On a bitter winter day, with another New Year approaching, as a heavy snow fell in swirling flakes, Fengzhou once again became covered in silver.

The once verdant peaks turned into a vast expanse of white, like giant beasts lying still, shimmering with a cold, faint light under the clear sky; the winding river lost its surging momentum, lying stiff in the valley like a plain silk, with deep coldness.

And on the west side of the river, in the dense forests seen everywhere, thousands of branches were wrapped in ice and snow, turning into a boundless sea of jade; where the wind passed, there was a rustling cold sound, rolling up thousands of piles of snow foam.

At the entrance of Yang Village in He County outside Fengzhou Prefecture, a group of half-grown children were running wildly on the snow, leaving behind continuous footprints.

And on the west side where they were chasing and playing sat a group of old farmers, all wearing dark, thick, old cotton-padded jackets, hands tucked into their sleeves, watching their grandchildren running east and west.

Their expressions were peaceful, their eyes filled with doting love for their grandchildren, but behind this doting, there seemed to be a deeper level of worry, making them fall into silence from time to time while chatting.

"The grain storage cave on the mountain has been dug since autumn; is it finished now?"

"Replying to Third Uncle, it's basically finished. In two days, Grandfather will give notice, and then everyone can hide their grain in it for backup. However, the ratio of keeping grain and hiding grain is something you have to decide for yourselves."

"How did Old Nian's family distribute it?"

"Keeping one-tenth at home, hiding nine-tenths."

"So much?"

"Living a bit tighter now is still better than starving to death later."

The farmer named Old Nian said this while taking two puffs of his dry tobacco, the smoke exhaled mixing with the cold fog of deep winter.

Hearing Old Nian's words, everyone fell into silence, and one could faintly hear sighs between breaths.

In fact, judging by their clothing, they were not that poor; even the cotton-padded jackets they wore were full of cotton, and their figures were not as thin as sticks, but their words were full of despair for the future.

It was in this silence that a group of strong laborers came from the east of the village, one carrying a wooden ladder, others carrying sacks, walking all the way to them.

"Qingsheng, is your child at home about to go to school?" Old Nian asked upon seeing the person.

"The age is enough, but who knows."

"You still have to ask next year; if you can go, you should go, even recognizing a few characters is good."

"Uncle is right, but... I'm afraid there won't even be anyone running the school next year."

Qingsheng laughed dryly, telling the person carrying the ladder to put it down in front of his uncle's door, then climbed onto the ladder, reaching out to wait for the crowd below.

The people below immediately handed over the paper lanterns needed for the New Year, as well as the couplets symbolizing bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new.

But strangely, the paper lanterns they hung were plain white, not festive red; the key was that the couplets posted in front of the door were also plain, and those couplets were empty of words—not only did they not look festive, they were even very inauspicious.

In fact, this was indeed inauspicious, because according to Fengzhou customs, white lanterns and empty couplets were only used when a family member had died.

But those old farmers sitting at the foot of the wall didn't have any anger, as if they were supposed to do this.

In fact, it wasn't just their village, but the neighboring village, the neighboring village's neighboring village, and even the entire Fengzhou was like this this year.

This was not an order from the government, nor was it discussed in advance, but happened to coincide by chance.

Soon, Qingsheng helped them hang the paper lanterns and post the couplets, then took people to the next house; before parting, the old farmers didn't speak, but smoked their tobacco or remained silent.

Just at this time, the children who had run far away ran back again.

"Grandpa, Brother Ming said he wants to take us to play in the big courtyard in the city."

A half-grown child named Shaobing, with snot running, said to Old Nian sitting at the foot of the wall.

Hearing this, everyone's expressions changed slightly, and then they called all the children back: "How many times have I told you, go to the city less in the future."

"Why, Grandpa?"

"In short, go less if you are told to go less, especially in front of those big mansions; don't go there again, those are places for immortals."

Shaobing wrinkled his small face: "We often went last year, why are we not allowed to go this year?"

The oldest of these children was no more than ten, and the youngest was only five; they didn't know many things about the world.

They only knew that from a long, long time ago in autumn, probably when the leaves all over the mountains turned yellow, their family members suddenly didn't let them go everywhere to play, especially warning them not to get close to those big mansions with carved beams and painted rafters.

But a child's heart cannot withstand provocation; once the older children suggested it, they naturally couldn't help it.

So before long, some children began to cry, but even so, they didn't get permission and were dragged directly back home.

Old Nian also raised his hand, wiping the tears from Shaobing's face with the back of his rough hand.

In the past, Fengzhou was indeed a place where children could go everywhere, but from a certain day in autumn, they weren't sure, because on that day, the sky over Fengzhou collapsed.

"Go home, child, your father is frying rice cakes at home."

"Grandpa, I don't like eating rice cakes..."

"Silly child, such food, it's not certain if you can eat it in the future; do you know that if a person is truly starving, even tree bark won't be left."

Old Nian said with a sigh, then heard a call from behind, and saw the group of old farmers who had chased their children home standing at the millstone at the entrance of the village waving at him.

So he chased Shaobing home, puffing on the dry tobacco in his hand, and followed the crowd toward the low mountain behind the village.

This was also one of the customs of Fengzhou: after hanging lanterns and posting couplets, they had to invite their ancestors home to celebrate the festival.

Burning paper money, lighting incense candles, in the deep-cold earth grave area, a group of hunched figures were constantly busy.

When the paper money before the ancestors' graves burned out, they rose and bowed three times, which counted as inviting the ancestors home.

However, they didn't rush to leave, but lined up to go up the mountain, walking toward a small temple, lighting the incense they had brought extra, and inserting them into the small incense burner before the temple one by one.

Ji clan member, a native of Yuyang.

At seventeen, the whole clan was slaughtered for offending the Xian Sect, only he survived, and there was no home left.

Three years later, cultivation was completed, then entered the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan, later slaughtered the Xian Manor and established a noble family, held the power of taxation, and exempted harsh taxes to relieve the people's distress.

In the year of the snow disaster, cut off the supply of spirit stones, opened the granary to provide relief, re-founded the Wulu Firm, recruited workers to relieve hunger, and saved countless people.

In the autumn of the sixth year of Taiyuan, ascended to the heavens, forever reaching ultimate bliss.

Before the temple, the crowd bowed to the swordsman statue in the temple.

Young Master, you've come home.

Hanging paper lanterns, posting couplets, welcoming ancestors, sweeping the house—the New Year's Day arrived amidst a drifting snow.

In Shengjing, there were continuous banquets and songs and dances filled the streets.

And in a mansion without courtyard walls on the east side of Chunhua Lane, a man in a plain robe was also frying rice cakes, accompanied by a young lady who looked quite noble, her expression peaceful and well-behaved.

In fact, from their appearance, the two should be very well-matched in age, both in their twenties, one in the prime of youth, the other graceful and charming.

It's just that for some reason, the man's temples were gray, with large patches of white hair growing among them, looking very inconsistent with his age.

As the oil pan began to bubble, the first batch of rice cakes came out of the pan; the man used chopsticks to pick up a piece and placed it on the young lady's plate.

After the golden-fried rice cakes cooled slightly, the young lady tasted it, then nodded gently and said it was delicious.

The man smiled lightly, then fried all the remaining rice cakes.

After stopping the fire, the man went out, called someone to send a portion to the orphanage in the north of the city, then put the rest into a basket, carried wine and dishes, and walked out of the courtyard with the young lady.

Shu-shu-shu—

The accumulated snow on the street sank with the footsteps, and the snow hanging on the branches also scattered due to contact.

Before long, two strings of footprints were printed all over the long street from east to west.

At that time, the man and woman held paper fans and turned into the third alley, arriving before a wooden door, and after pondering for a long time, pushed the door and entered.

This was a large mansion, with a firm facing the street in the front, and an elegant and deep back courtyard.

However, just looking at the fallen leaves frozen in the ice on the surface of the pond, one knew that no one had lived here for a long time.

After the two crossed the threshold and looked inside for a long time, the woman spoke first: "The shop assistant from the vegetable market is arriving; I'll go tidy up the kitchen first, and wait for you to cook later."

"Okay."

The man nodded gently to the woman, watched her walk toward the kitchen, then placed the basket in his hand on the balcony, took out a bundle of incense from it.

Holding this bundle of incense, the man reached out and pushed open the main hall, stepped over the threshold, and looked at the memorial tablet placed in the hall.

It wasn't long, nor was it short—it had been almost half a year; sometimes he still seemed unable to accept the fact that his good friend had returned to the Heavenly Dao.

Especially during the period when he first found out, he stayed in the Si Xian Jian day and night, searching through all the medical books he could find, which was why he had grayed his temples.

But the fact was that whether you believed it or not, it was just there.

So everyone stopped struggling later, feeling that resting in peace was the most important thing, so they went to Fengzhou together to hold a memorial service for him.

Their original intention was not to make a big deal out of it, but they didn't know who spread the news, causing all the people of Fengzhou to come to see him off, with crying sounds filling the sky.

His good friend stayed in this world for a short time, but left a heavy stroke that history could not bypass; it's just a pity that he himself could not see these things.

After that memorial service, Brother Ji was not buried in Fengzhou, but was taken away by the Spirit Sword Mountain Little Appraisal Master.

He had no relatives left in this world, so how to deal with the remains was indeed up to the Little Appraisal Master.

The daughter of the Pill Sect later followed to Spirit Sword Mountain, and Yuan Chen returned to the Sages' Holy Land, following his father to continue restoring the Sages' Holy Land.

Others all returned to the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan, those who were in seclusion remained in seclusion, and those who cultivated the Dao continued to cultivate the Dao.

From autumn to the end of winter, in the blink of an eye, it had been half a year; everything seemed to have calmed down, and this world did not stop turning because of losing anyone, still existing well.

It's just that at certain times, he still felt as if a piece was missing in his heart.

The man recalled for a while, then reached out to light the incense and inserted it into the incense burner.

"Brother Ji, the New Year has arrived."

"The snow this winter is abundant, but it didn't brew into a disaster; because the autumn harvest was good, so this winter probably no one will starve to death."

"Huwa from the orphanage has grown a bit, and currently has left the orphanage to help at Taiping Building; he is very diligent, and making a living is not a problem."

"How is it in the sky? Is it really as free and auspicious as they say in the legends?"

"Just don't grab the Heavenly Father's silver when you lose your temper, lest you be targeted by the Heavenly Father again."

"According to Qingyun customs, deceased relatives will all come home to see during the New Year; I don't know if you will go to Fengzhou, or to Spirit Sword Mountain, or come here."

"However, because I was afraid you wouldn't find anyone when you came back, Wei Rui and I decided to spend the festival here."

"In previous years, you were the one cooking during the New Year; this year you can rest, leave it to me."

The man muttered while wiping the memorial tablet with a silk handkerchief.

Outside the courtyard, the young lady had already cleaned the kitchen, and the vegetable vendor from the East Market had also delivered the vegetables he had ordered earlier, which she placed by the stove; at this time, she looked at the main hall from afar, waiting calmly and patiently.

After a long time, the man pushed the door and came out, wiping the corners of his eyes, came to the kitchen, then picked up the kitchen knife, took the cleaned cutting board from the corner, and began to cut vegetables in an orderly manner. ===== CHAPTER 399 =====