At dusk, the setting sun spilled into the courtyard, stretching the wall's shadow long.
Ji Yuan heard that Lin Hu had just returned, and soon afterward, someone knocked on his courtyard gate.
"J-Ji!"
Lin Hu was visibly much more excited when he saw Ji Yuan.
"Mm, come inside and talk."
Ji Yuan smiled. As it happened, he had quite a few things he wanted to ask Lin Hu about.
Although Lin Hu's strength was still lacking, he now took his boat out fishing every day and went to the Fish Pen daily to sell his catch, so he knew a fair bit about what was happening in Zengtou City.
Even after they entered the house, Lin Hu was still rubbing his hands excitedly.
"Ji, I'm so happy to see you back. I thought—I thought—"
"You thought I'd died in Cloud-Rain Marsh?"
Ji Yuan asked with a smile.
"No, no." Lin Hu hurriedly waved his hands. "I thought you'd joined the Water Dragon Sect."
"Oh, give it a rest."
"By the way, Ji, I—I..." Lin Hu scratched his head and said rather bashfully, "I'm going to be a father."
"Then congratulations in advance. You'll have a heavier burden on your shoulders from now on."
"Mm!"
His skin already dark from the sun, Lin Hu nodded vigorously, a complicated expression on his face.
Come to think of it, he was only nineteen, yet he was already about to become a father. Ji Yuan changed the subject. "Did anything major happen in Zengtou City while I was away?"
"Nothing major. Everything's pretty much the same as before."
Lin Hu spoke after thinking it over.
Ji Yuan nodded slightly. That made sense. The biggest event in Zengtou City over the past twenty or thirty years had been the discovery of that Foundation Establishment Cave