"Big Brother, Brother Ox, come back soon."
Run Tu waved to them.
Li Ping'an and Old Ox walked with light steps, slowly disappearing down the ancient road.
They had no particular destination on this journey.
They traveled in fits and starts, coming across a man and woman having sex in a cornfield. The man called the woman his stepmother.
Their relationship was a complete mess.
They also encountered disputes between cultivators, but no fighting.
Instead, they argued until their faces were red and their voices terribly hoarse, yet neither side struck a blow.
Li Ping'an helped catch a thief and rescued a child who had fallen into the water.
He also stayed for over a month in a plague-stricken village and got to know many people.
On the day he left, many people came to see him off.
Everyone cried bitterly, but Li Ping'an smiled as he said goodbye.
A human life was but a brief sojourn, fleeting as dust swept up by a gale.
Since we were all passing travelers in this mortal world, why grieve over the parting before us?
And so they traveled, stopping along the way.
Poplar fluff drifted toward them, wind and clouds shifted without constancy.
And so, four months later.
Li Ping'an stopped in a small town.
The town was not large, but it had quite a few people.
Li Ping'an learned that the most famous local dish was braised carp.
He went to the most famous restaurant in town, only to find that he had to queue.
Every seat inside was taken.
Good food was worth the wait, so Li Ping'an did not mind.
He sat outside the restaurant, with a river right before him.
Along the riverbank were two, three, four, five... alleys.
He waited for more than an hour.
Only then