Leaves fell as they gazed toward home, yet a single sheet of paper lay between them.
Yuan Qi and Gongyang Dong had wandered abroad for too long, and homesickness was inevitable. Years of making the four seas their home had worn away their former hot-blooded passion. Gradually, they began pondering when to return home, and as they grew older, they became increasingly afraid of dying in a foreign land.
As the saying went, fallen leaves returned to their roots. They feared that, separated by life and death, they would only be able to climb the Gazing at Homeland Platform and look toward their old home.
Only one-eyed, deaf Huang Cao remained utterly carefree.
For mountain and wild spirits, digging a hole made a den. Their sole purpose was to eat their fill and live well. To beasts, it made little difference where they died; once their lives ended, countless scavengers would gladly help dispose of their corpses.
Shuangdu Town was peaceful.
Green trees shaded the lakeside, and the mottled tea house gathered the fragrance of tea.
Well water brewed the tea over old wooden tables. Six or seven weary travelers sat about, while a flock of white geese strode proudly past the door with their heads held high.
Yuan Qi frowned deeply, his mind unsettled. Gongyang Dong leisurely sipped coarse tea, while Huang Cao ignored the tea completely, having no interest in it. He preferred grease and oil to a bowl of leaf soup, and his greedy gaze followed Big White Goose.
The coarse tea was bitter. Yuan Qi sighed as he watched several yellowing bamboo leaves spin down past the window, his gaze becoming even more lost.
Carpenter Gongyang grabbed a mung bean cake and stuffed it into his mouth, only to choke because he ate too hastily.
"Cough,