Yun Family Village, Homeward Bound

Early the next morning, the mist over Holy Soul Village had yet to fully disperse when three small figures were already standing beneath the old locust tree at the village entrance.

Tang San turned and glanced at the empty blacksmith shop.

The doors were tightly shut, the chimney stood cold and silent, and the iron tools hanging beneath the eaves swayed gently in the morning breeze, giving off faint clinks.

He knew his father had already left. That figure would never again appear before the anvil, and those callused hands would never forge hidden weapons for him again.

Though a bitter ache still welled up inside him, he was no longer as utterly lost as he had been the night before.

"Let's go." Tang San withdrew his gaze, his voice calm. "There's no point in staying in this village alone."

Standing beside him, Xiao Wu was unusually quiet. She merely reached out and gripped Tang San's wrist, offering silent comfort.

Tang San lowered his head to look at her, then tugged at the corner of his mouth in a smile to show that he was fine.

Leaning against the old locust tree, Yun Tian gnawed on a piece of dry flatbread he had bought in the village. Seeing the two of them like this, he swallowed the crumbs in his mouth and said, "Since neither of you wants to stay, then let's go. There's still nearly a month before the holiday ends. We can't just sit around doing nothing."

"Brother Yun, what are you planning?" Tang San turned to ask him.

Yun Tian thought for a moment, brushing the crumbs from his hands. "I'm planning to go back to Yun Family Village. I haven't been back in over three months. Village Chief Grandpa is getting old, and I don't know how his health is. I should go check on him."

"Yun Family Village?" Xiao Wu's interest was instantly piqued. Letting go of Tang San's wrist, she leaned closer. "Your hometown? The place where you grew up?"

"Yeah. Yun Family Village is even smaller than Holy Soul Village. There are only around a hundred households, and they live off the mountains."

Tang San and Xiao Wu exchanged a glance. The same light of curiosity gleamed in both their eyes.

Ever since meeting Yun Tian, they had only known that he was a work-study student from Yun Family Village. But they had never heard him speak in detail about what the village was like or what kind of life he had lived there.

"We're coming too!" Xiao Wu was the first to raise her hand, her eyes shining. "We don't have anywhere to go anyway, so we can visit your home!"

Though Tang San said nothing, his slight nod had already made his position clear.

Seeing their expectant gazes, Yun Tian smiled. "Sure, we'll go together. But let me warn you first, Yun Family Village doesn't have all the nice things you have at the academy. The food is plain, and the accommodations are pretty shabby. Don't complain."

"Do we look like that kind of people?" Xiao Wu put her hands on her hips and shot him an annoyed glare.

Tang San could not help laughing. "Let's go. We can talk on the way."

The three of them left at once, hiring a carriage at the village entrance headed toward Notting City.

The driver was a middle-aged man with a face full of stubble. When he heard that the three children were going to Yun Family Village, he scratched his head and said, "That place is remote, near the foot of the mountains, and the road's hard to travel. I can only take you to the fork in the road. You'll have to walk the remaining few li yourselves."

Yun Tian nodded in agreement. After settling on a price, the three climbed aboard.

The carriage jolted along the country dirt road, its wheels rolling over gravel and mud with a steady rumble.

Fields gradually spread out on both sides. Golden waves of wheat rose and fell in the wind, while layered mountain ridges stretched in the distance, painting the horizon with blue outlines of varying shades.

"This place is way prettier than Holy Soul Village."

"There must be rabbits in that forest over there."

"Tang San, look! Doesn't that mountain look like a turtle?"

Xiao Wu leaned out by the carriage window, her braid swaying behind her as she chattered without pause.

Tang San sat beside her. Each time she spoke, he answered her, occasionally looking in the direction she pointed. A relaxed smile remained on his face throughout.

Leaning against the carriage wall, Yun Tian watched the fields and distant mountains flash past outside the window, and a rare sense of peace rose within him.

His days at Nuoding Academy had been fulfilling, but in the end, he had still been living on someone else's turf.

Yun Family Village was different. It was where he had started, the first place he had called home after crossing into this world.

Village Chief Grandpa, the aunties and uncles who had brought him meals, the companions who had run wild with him along the field ridges—even after three months apart, their faces remained vividly imprinted in his mind.

"Hey, Yun Tian." Xiao Wu suddenly turned around, interrupting his thoughts. "What's your house in the village like? Is it big? Does it have courtyard walls?"

"A small mud house with a thatched roof. The yard is pretty big, though, and there are two jujube trees planted in it." Yun Tian smiled. "When the jujubes ripen in summer, you can pick a whole basketful."

"Wow! Will there still be jujubes when we get there?" Xiao Wu's eyes sparkled.

"They're long out of season by now. Wait until summer."

"Then we'll come again in summer!"

Tang San could not help cutting in, "You really know how to pick the time."

"Of course!" Xiao Wu lifted her chin righteously. "Sister Xiao Wu has traveled far and wide for years. What delicious food and fun things haven't I seen?"

Tang San smiled and shook his head, not exposing her nonsense about having traveled far and wide.

After traveling for nearly two hours, the carriage stopped at a fork in the road.

The driver pointed at the winding dirt path stretching toward the foot of the mountains in the distance. "Follow this road in, and you'll reach Yun Family Village after another half hour. The road's not easy, so be careful."

Yun Tian jumped down from the carriage, paid the fare, and slung his old bundle over his back.

Tang San and Xiao Wu climbed down as well. The three stood at the fork, looking down the dirt road. Waist-high wild grass grew on both sides, and several low hills could be seen in the distance. Faint cooking smoke drifted up from the foot of the mountains.

"Let's go." Yun Tian took the lead.

The dirt road truly was difficult to walk. It was full of potholes, and some stretches were still muddy from the rain a few days earlier.

Xiao Wu's shoes were soon splattered with mud. She looked down at them, then looked up at Yun Tian, who was walking steadily ahead, and could not help muttering, "Your home is really out of the way... How did you even get out of here back then?"

"Every month, a cart from the village delivers grain to the city. I hitched a ride with it." Without turning his head, Yun Tian said, "When Village Chief Grandpa sent me to study in Nuoding, I sat on the grain cart with my bundle on my back and got jostled around for most of the day before arriving."

Walking behind him, Tang San observed the terrain and vegetation along the way.

The plants on either side of the dirt path grew denser and denser, and the air carried more of the damp scent of mountain wilderness. Birds occasionally flew overhead, their calls crisp and clear.

He could tell that this truly was a remote little mountain village, isolated from the outside world and self-sufficient.

After walking for about half an hour, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

A small village appeared at the foot of the mountains, with around a hundred households. Most of the homes had low rammed-earth walls and thatched roofs, scattered neatly across a gentle slope.

At the front of the village was a small pond, where several ducks swam across the water.