Homecoming, part one

Shiheng stood quietly where he was, his gaze following the others as they departed, until those familiar figures vanished completely beyond the end of the road, leaving nothing more to be seen.

An indescribable sense of loss crept silently into his heart, as though the whole world had become empty and desolate in an instant. Parting from these companions, with whom he had fought bloody battles and faced life and death, filled his heart at once with heavy sorrow and uncertainty.

Only now did he truly understand why the poets of old had so loved to write verses of farewell-that lingering ache and concern surging deep within could be so painfully real. He shook his head gently and forced that sorrow down into his heart. Every gathering had to end; those truly bound by fate would meet again at greater heights.

No longer dwelling on the sorrow of parting, Shiheng drew a deep breath and abruptly turned around. His steps grew resolute again as he walked slowly toward home. The bundle on his back was heavy, filled with gold coins. The magic cores they had won on their adventure were not merely medals of their bloody battles; every last one had been exchanged for tangible wealth.

Under the distribution plan they had agreed upon beforehand, each person received fifteen thousand gold coins. To ordinary people, that was an astronomical sum. An ordinary household spent only a thousand copper coins a month on living expenses. A thousand copper coins could be exchanged for ten silver coins, and ten silver coins for one gold coin. By that reckoning, these fifteen thousand gold coins were an enormous fortune, enough to change the course of a lifetime.

The road beneath his feet grew increasingly familiar, yet the closer Shiheng came to home, the more tangled his thoughts became. The sorrow he had just forced down quietly resurfaced. The days when they had fought desperately together in the Magical Beast Forest, watched out for one another in the darkness, and laughed freely over their spoils still seemed to lie before his eyes. Yet in the blink of an eye, his companions had gone their separate ways, leaving him alone on the road home.

He reached up and touched the heavy bundle on his back. The faint clinking of gold coins was especially clear on the silent road. Fifteen thousand gold coins were enough to ensure that he and his family would never again lack food or clothing, worry about making a living, or struggle through their days with empty stomachs as they once had. Yet for some reason, despite possessing this great fortune, he felt none of the wild joy he had imagined.

He suddenly understood that, compared with gold coins and other worldly possessions, the bonds forged through facing life and death together were the most precious treasure. They meant someone stepping in front of him without hesitation when danger struck; someone offering a mouthful of clean water and a word of encouragement when he was exhausted; gritting their teeth and charging forward side by side, even with their hearts full of fear. Those days had truly been hard and exhausting, yet his heart had always been warm.

Shiheng sighed softly. Every gathering had to end. It was easy to say, but only when parting truly came did one understand the bitterness and helplessness in those words. Yet he also knew that everyone had their own road to walk. Some had to return home to their families, some had to pursue their studies at higher academies, some had to seek greater strength, and some had to shoulder their families' burdens. They were not severing their ties, only separating for a time. He hoped that when they met again, they would all be stronger and stand somewhere more brilliant.

At that thought, the uncertainty in Shiheng's eyes gradually faded, replaced by an increasingly steady resolve. He could not remain lost in the sorrow of parting. He had a family to protect, strength to improve, and a road of his own to walk. This parting had never been an ending, but an entirely new beginning.

He clenched his fists tightly, feeling the strength flowing slowly through his body, then reached up to touch the heavy bundle on his back again. These were what gave him the confidence to face the future. Home lay just ahead. Returning this time, he was no longer the naive boy who needed his parents to shelter him. He already had enough ability to shelter his family himself.

Without his noticing, his steps grew steadier and stronger.

Keeping low along the way, Shiheng slipped quietly back into Yanhe Village without alerting any of the neighbors and headed straight for his family's shabby little house. He gently pushed open the creaking wooden door. In the dim yellow light inside, his parents sat at a battered wooden table, each holding a bowl of porridge so thin it could almost reflect a person's face. In the center of the table sat only a small bowl of stir-fried greens, with scarcely a trace of oil in the dish.

At the sound, both turned toward the doorway. Their eyes met, and time seemed to stand still for several seconds. The next moment, his mother sprang to her feet, hurried over, and pulled Shiheng inside. His father quickly rose as well, reaching back to shut the door tightly and instinctively sliding the bolt into place, afraid someone outside might see.

"Child, why have you come back so suddenly?" His mother's voice was startled and anxious, her eyes slightly red. She hastily turned toward the stove. "I'll cook you another bowl of porridge. Sit down and rest."

His father remained where he was, his face so serious it was almost grim. His heavy gaze rested on Shiheng as he asked in a low voice, enunciating every word, "Xiaoshitou, did you... desert?"

It was hardly surprising that he would think so. Enlisting meant five years of military service, and the law expressly forbade returning home within those five years. Breaking it was a grave crime that implicated the entire family. Shiheng had been in the army for less than a year, yet he had suddenly appeared at their door. Anyone would have suspected the worst.

Shiheng looked at his thin, haggard parents, then at the two bowls of watery porridge and the plate of meager greens on the table. A sudden ache gripped his chest, and his eyes instantly burned. He had been fighting and adventuring outside, carrying a great fortune, yet his parents had been scraping by at home, stinting on food and enduring hardship day after day. In that instant, all his sorrow over parting, all his exhaustion, and all the toughness he had forged away from home shattered completely at the sight.

Standing in the cramped, dim room, Shiheng felt an unbearable sting in his nose. It took him a long while to barely steady his emotions. He had eaten this porridge throughout his childhood and knew all too well that it only appeared on the table when the family was desperately poor. It was so watery that it had no substance at all; a bowl would not keep hunger away for even an hour. Even so, his mother's first thought had still been to make him another bowl.

Yet on his back he carried a fortune great enough to leave all of Yanhe Village, and even all of Hess City, dumbfounded.

"Father, Mother..." His voice trembled slightly, but every word was clear. "I didn't desert."

His father's brow remained tightly furrowed, his expression not relaxing in the slightest. His tone grew even sterner. "Military service lasts five years. You absolutely cannot come home before your term is up. Do you think this is a game? If you really deserted, our whole family will suffer along with you!"

Shiheng took a deep breath, suppressing the ache and agitation surging in his heart, and slowly shook his head. "I didn't run away without permission. I went out on a mission with my unit, killed magical beasts, and earned military merit. Not only did I receive a generous reward, but the court also conferred the title of baron on me."

He offered no further explanation. Reaching back, he took off his bundle and set it down heavily beside the table. The muffled clinking of gold coins echoed through the quiet little house. Inside the bundle, a Baron's Token engraved with a noble crest and symbolizing his rank stood out among the coins, exuding an unquestionable authority.

His parents were utterly stunned, their eyes filled with disbelief.

Shiheng slowly untied the bundle and opened a narrow gap-golden light instantly spilled through it, illuminating the dim, shabby little house and his parents' astonished faces.

His mother's hand shook with fright, and the porridge bowl she held nearly fell to the floor. Her voice trembled. "Shitou, you, where... where did you get so much money?"

"This is the reward I earned by risking my life on this mission," Shiheng said softly, every word striking heavily against his own heart. "I killed magical beasts and ventured into dangerous places with my unit. I went through life and death to earn this. I didn't steal it or rob anyone, and I certainly didn't get it by deserting out of fear for my life."

He took out a few heavy gold coins and gently placed them on the battered wooden table. Their dazzling golden light shone on his parents' stunned, shocked faces. They had toiled in the village all their lives, and the most money they had ever seen was copper and silver coins. When had they ever seen so many gleaming gold coins, let alone a baron's title-that lofty noble status they had never even dared to imagine in their lives?

His father's stern, taut face slowly froze, his eyes full of shock and bewilderment. His lips moved again and again, but for a long while, he could not utter a word. His mother clapped a hand over her mouth, tears instantly spilling from her eyes. There was lingering fear, heartache, and irrepressible joy. "Child... just how much have you suffered out there...?"

Looking at these two loved ones who had toiled for him all their lives and scrimped on everything, Shiheng's heart softened.

When he left home, he had still been a boy who needed his parents' protection and relied on his family for everything. Now that he had returned, he had become someone his parents could depend on to hold their heads high and live in peace.

"Father, Mother." Shiheng spoke each word steadily and firmly, with unquestionable certainty. "From now on, you won't have to drink watery porridge, chew through meager greens, or live these hard days anymore."

"From today onward, our family will never be poor again."

He paused, his gaze resolute as he looked at his astonished parents, and slowly spoke with a fervent solemnity in his voice:

"We're nobility now, too."