After staying with the Red Whale Gang for two days, Lu Changsheng set off for home.
Li Feiyu brought two men along with him.
Lu Changsheng planned to settle his family's affairs, then go straight to Ruyi Commandery before returning to Green Bamboo Mountain.
Naturally, Li Feiyu would return with him.
The two men would make it easier to arrange things for Lu Changsheng's family.
I wonder how my parents have been these three years I've been away.
Once he set out for home, Lu Changsheng could not help growing sentimental, his apprehension deepening as he drew closer.
After all, this was the home where he had lived for eighteen years.
Even though he had awakened the memories of his previous life, those first eighteen years were still part of his life.
Six days later.
A carriage rattled along a potholed dirt road and arrived at a small mountain village.
A stone marker stood at the village entrance, bearing the words "Crouching Ox Village."
Looking at the familiar scene from his memories, Lu Changsheng had the carriage stop outside the village and walked briskly inside alone.
He saw no one at the entrance, but the joyous sound of musical instruments drifted over from afar. He guessed that some family was celebrating and that the villagers had all gone to join the festivities and enjoy the banquet.
He headed toward his home.
As the music grew clearer, something stirred in his heart, and he quickened his pace.
He soon spotted a tile-roofed home with two courtyards enclosed by a fence.
Large "double happiness" characters covered the walls, and tables stood inside and outside the courtyards. Many villagers were gathered there, standing, squatting, or sitting as they chatted.
Some beat gongs and drums or blew horns, while children laughed and played. The whole place brimmed with joy.
Is my little brother getting married?
Looking at the house and courtyards before him, that deeply familiar place where he had lived for eighteen years, Lu Changsheng fell into a brief daze.
He was the third child in his family, with an older sister and brother above him and a younger sister and brother below.
His younger brother was five years younger than him, making him sixteen now-about old enough to marry.
"Young master, are you looking for someone?"
Just then, a woman with rather rough, dark skin noticed Lu Changsheng standing there and approached with a child in her arms to ask.
At the sight of her, a surge of emotion welled up in Lu Changsheng's heart.
After a moment of silence, he said in a slightly hoarse voice, "Sister, it's me, Changsheng."
The woman before him was his eldest sister.
"Changsheng?"
Hearing this, she stared in disbelief at the young man before her, who looked like a noble young master.
Then she carefully studied his face, so like that of the brother who had left home three years ago without a word since. Her eyes grew wet, and her voice suddenly caught. "Changsheng, you're Changsheng!"
"Changsheng, where have you been? You left three years ago and never came back. Do you know how worried Father and Mother have been...?"
"As long as you're back. As long as you're back. Lengzi, this is your uncle, your second uncle."
Wiping her damp eyes with her sleeve-covered hand, she murmured those words, then spoke joyfully to the child in her arms, who was only two or three years old.
She reached out to lead Lu Changsheng into the house, but seemed afraid of dirtying his clothes and withdrew her hand.
She said to him, "Today happens to be Changqing's wedding day. I'll go tell Father and Mother."
With that, she hurried into the courtyard with the child in her arms, calling loudly, "Father, Mother, Changsheng is back!"
"Changsheng? Who's that?"
"Old Lu's third son, the one who suddenly disappeared three years ago."
"I always thought that boy was strange, even when he was little. How come he's back after three years away?"
"He doesn't look anything like he used to."
"Right, his skin's so fair and soft. He looks even nobler than the young masters in town."
Hearing the commotion, the other villagers also turned toward Lu Changsheng at the entrance and began talking among themselves.
Before long, his sister emerged from the house with two neatly dressed elderly people, their hair graying and their faces weathered by hardship. They looked toward Lu Changsheng in the courtyard.
Lu Changsheng looked at them as well.
In just three years, his parents had aged far more than he had imagined.
His lips trembled as he opened his mouth and called, "Father, Mother!"
That day, something happened in Crouching Ox Village that caused a stir among everyone.
Old Lu's third son, who had vanished for three years, had come home.
Normally, such a thing had nothing to do with the other villagers. At most, they would chat about it after meals.
But after this third son of the Lu family returned, he arranged a rolling wedding feast of over a hundred tables for his younger brother.
The feasting went on for over half a month. He also had large houses built for Old Lu's family and all his siblings, and bought them farmland.
Old Lu became Landowner Lu overnight.
Even the villagers of Crouching Ox Village each received a generous share of celebration money.
It was enough to keep all of Crouching Ox Village talking with relish for decades.
Yet Lu Changsheng, the subject of all that talk, stayed at home for only a day before leaving Crouching Ox Village with Li Feiyu and heading back to Ruyi Commandery's capital.
"Why leave so soon? Aren't you going to stay a little longer?"
On the main road, Li Feiyu looked at Lu Changsheng beside him and asked.
"There's nothing more to stay for. They're all well, and they won't have to worry about making a living in the future. That puts my mind at ease."
Lu Changsheng shook his head and gazed at the azure sky as he spoke quietly.
Over their three years apart, he had embarked on a path entirely different from that of ordinary people.
Now that he had returned home, his parents and family looked at him with a measure of unfamiliarity and awe.
So after settling his family's affairs, with little left weighing on his heart, he chose to leave straightaway.
Nine days later.
Ruyi Commandery's capital.
Outside the city gates.
"Brother Hong, there's no need to see us off any farther. The mountains stand tall and the rivers run long; we'll meet again!"
"Until we meet again!"
Leading their Spirit Steeds, Lu Changsheng and Li Feiyu cupped their hands in farewell to Hong Yi beside them.
"Until we meet again. May your paths to immortality remain evergreen, fellow Daoists!"
Hong Yi clasped his hands and bowed.
He looked noticeably more radiant than before.
A few days earlier, he had taken the thirteen talismans Lu Changsheng had given him to show his father, the Ruyi Marquis.
He explained that a friend of his had become a Talisman Master and could supply the marquis's estate with talismans on a regular basis.
Hearing this, and seeing that Hong Yi had obtained the talismans without paying any Spirit Stones, his father believed him.
He praised Hong Yi lavishly, told him to maintain a good relationship with Lu Changsheng, and put him in charge of some of the estate's affairs.
This delighted Hong Yi beyond measure and lent him an added air of confidence and vigor.
Lu
Changsheng and Li Feiyu returned his bow, then mounted their Spirit Steeds and set off.
After they had traveled some distance, Li Feiyu said, "Hong Yi seems to have grown even more enthusiastic toward you."
"Although Hong Yi comes from a marquis's household, he's only a concubine's son. His life isn't all that comfortable."
"Befriending a Talisman Master like me should help raise his standing in the estate."
Lu Changsheng naturally knew the reason.
When he returned this time to collect his Spirit Steed, Hong Yi had brought him fifteen Spirit Stones as payment for the talismans.
He also said that the matter had earned him praise from his father, the Ruyi Marquis.
He hoped that if Lu Changsheng sold talismans in the future, he would consider giving him priority.
Naturally, Lu Changsheng nodded and agreed.
He also felt that he could consider selling some of his talismans through Hong Yi.
Otherwise, with so many talismans on him and insufficient strength, selling them would be troublesome.
"True. Earning money in the mortal world to support cultivation is far too difficult."
Li Feiyu sighed as well.
After chatting for a while, the two reached the main road and pressed onward at full speed.
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