On the backside of Mount Qingcheng where is sparsely populated, a real estate company built some detached villas along the mountain.
The price of the villas on Mount Qingcheng stands for the class of the owners. Speaking of this, Lin Luoran read about the villas on a real estate magazine a year ago. The price is over 40 million yuan.
Though people in the State of Huaxia are getting richer, few men of wealth can afford to buy a resort villa with 40 or 50 million yuan. Therefore, according to the magazine, the villas are mostly for rent. Even so, Lin Luoran, who was barely a white-collar worker, never thought of renting one of the villas because the price was so high.
Where would she be if she didn’t step on the path of cultivation?
Getting off the taxi, Lin Luoran is stunned by the grand gate of the villa cluster. One year ago, she couldn’t even think of owning a house like this — she didn’t cultivate herself for money. However, no one would say no to money which could offer better living conditions for their family when it didn’t affect his or her cultivation.
Lin Luoran is almost kept out when she tries to enter the resort. The guard has never seen any owner coming here in a taxi. If she were not pretty enough, he would just ignore her. Luckily, the villa is under Lin Luoran’s name. After showing her ID card, Lin goes in smoothly.
The roads inside the resort are all built around the mountain. Mr. and Mrs. Lin now live in the most secluded villa. There is a stone dock outside of the detached villa which is separated with other villas by a large lake.
It’s almost ten o’clock at night, but the lights in the villa are off.
Have they all gone to sleep? Baojia doesn’t seem like a person who goes to bed early…
Lin Luoran is astonished. She walks quietly inside since the door is unlocked.
There is no sound of breathing in the house. Thus, Lin believes that the house is really empty.
Where are her parents, Baojia and Luodong? Lin Luoran suspects that maybe they have returned to their family house in R City, but she denies this idea immediately.
No matter how good the security of the resort is, her parents will not leave without locking the door… Lin Luoran withholds her fear and pushes the door open and checks on the rooms quickly.
Thank god the rooms are organized. It doesn’t look like something bad has happened. Her family should be fine.
Perhaps they have gone out for a walk?
It is possible. Lin Luoran is relieved and starts checking on the villa. This is the first time she ever steps in her second property.
Unlike her family house at downtown, this villa is in European style. It has three floors and the third floor has large French windows which are hidden in the shade of trees. People can enjoy the view of the mountain on the third floor and the rooms will not be so hot in summer since the trees can shield the sunlight.
The villa at least covers an area of 700m2. With all the three floors, the rooms will be enough for all her distant relatives to live in.
Iron bars surround the yard which has a large outdoor swimming pool. The yard is covered by grass and some Chinese roses are planted at the corner. The roses are blooming. A swing is built under the flower vines. The villa is not so different from all the other villas around, yet the details here make the villa elegant and special.
Wait. What is that round thing at the corner? Lin Luoran takes a closer look and bursts into laugh. On a bamboo rack, some cowpeas and eggplants are flourishing. These round eggplants and long cowpeas don’t fit in this European-styled villa — the plants must be her mom’s work. Her dad only loves cooking, and he doesn’t care about where to get the ingredients!
While thinking about whether she should give some refined seeds to her mom, Lin Luoran hears the laugh of a woman. The sound comes from afar, and Lin pays all her attention to listen.
The longer she listens, the brighter the smile on her face becomes. In the end, Lin Luoran almost is happy like a fool.
********
Under the dim lamplight, Baojia laughs and reminds Mrs. Lin to mind her steps and slows down to wait for Mr. Lin. Luodong is sleeping in Baojia’s arms.
“Young master An really makes good vegetarian dishes, and he is so patient with Luodong. Baojia, do you think we should invite him to our house for dinner next time?” Mrs. Lin, who usually goes to the Taoist Temple at the back of the mountain to have dinner, is completely amazed by An’s culinary skills. She is quite embarrassed for going there to have dinner so often.
The vegetarian dishes are as good as the vegetables Lin Luoran used to take home. However, the eggplants Mrs. Lin herself plants in the yard taste way worse!
Baojia is awkward. The young master An that Mrs. Lin talks about is the elder apprentice of the Qingcheng School who is the favorite of the Superior. Every time An cooks, Baojia knows that he will be scolded by his Superior — his master is so annoyed that An, a cultivator, loves to stay in the kitchen all day!
Baojia has moved to this Qingcheng villa with Mr. and Mrs. Lin for three months. First, her purpose was to take care of her best friend’s parents. All this time, Mrs. Lin has been so kind. Though Mr. Lin talks less, he always catches wild fish for Baojia to eat because he knows that she loves fish the most… Sometimes, Baojia thinks that if her parents were alive, she would be able to live a happy life with them just like this.
These are the best three months in Baojia’s life — she would be happier if Luoran were here!
Thinking of the message she got from the capital that Lin Luoran has been missing for over two months, Baojia hides the worries in her eyes and starts joking with Mrs. Lin again.
She hasn’t told Mr. and Mrs. Lin about this. She made up an excuse for Lin’s missing that Lin had to work for the country and she couldn’t make contacts with the outside world. Baojia really has no idea how she can keep lying if Lin Luoran doesn’t return soon.
As soon as Baojia thinks about this, Mrs. Lin starts nagging again,
“Baojia, what do you think? There are so many people in the State of Huaxia, and they happen to drag my daughter to do the freaking task. Luoran didn’t come back to celebrate the Spring Festival with us. It’s almost summer now, and she never gave us a phone call…”
Mrs. Lin always can’t stop talking in front of her acquaintances.
Mrs. Lin lives an easy life now and she has become much more cheerful. She is no longer the earlier one who was unconfident because she was the outsider of the Li’s village.
Mr. Lin can’t help arguing, “No matter how capable she is, she is a member of our country. It makes perfect sense that she goes to serve our country. What does an old lady like you understand?”
Mrs. Lin is angry, “Do I look old?”
Mr. Lin looks at his wife. Mrs. Lin’s appearance has changed a lot. Her hair is black and her eyes are shiny. Except for the fine wrinkles around her eyes, she doesn’t look old at all. Thus, Mr. Lin shuts up and lets Mrs. Lin scold him — in fact, Mr. Lin’s appearance has changed more than Mrs. Lin’s.
Mr. Lin looks younger too. Not only does he look like a man in his thirties, but also his temperament becomes elegant, which Mrs. Lin is really jealous of… As a matter of fact, Mrs. Lin somehow worries that her husband may despise her for not being good-looking enough.
People say that daughters always look like their fathers. Lin Luoran got most of the beautiful parts of her face from Mr. Lin. After becoming younger and putting on decent clothes, Mr. Lin no longer looks like an old farmer. He is quite handsome.
Baojia’s head aches when Mr. and Mrs. Lin start to argue about the “contradiction” of oldness. All women have the love of beauty. Unless Mrs. Lin finally becomes better looking than Mr. Lin, this argument will never stop.
Baojia walks pass the stone dock and pushes the door of the villa open with Luodong in her arms.
Under the lamplight from the outside, Baojia sees a figure standing in the yard. She takes a closer look and almost bursts into tears.
Standing on the grass, it is her best friend who has been missing for over two months — Lin Luoran also has tears on her face, but she seems to be prettier!
“Why do you stop?” Mrs. Lin is surprised that Baojia stops at the door. Mrs. Lin walks closer and sees her daughter standing under the lamp. She screams and rushes at Lin Luoran and holds her in her arms.
“Luoran, you finally come back!” Mrs. Lin has been worried sick that her daughter went to do a secret mission and didn’t contact them for three months. Now, seeing that Lin Luoran is perfectly fine, Mrs. Lin refuses to let go of her daughter.
Lin Luoran comforts her mom and greets her dad. Mr. Lin secretly wipes tears off of his face and says, “Everything is fine now you are back safely.”
“Baojia, thank you so much for the last three months.” Lin Luoran says sincerely, looking at Baojia. Lin wants to thank Baojia for taking care of her parents, as well as for helping her hide the truth of “being missing”. Lin knows that her parents have no idea that she used to be “lost”.
Baojia holds back her tears and hits Lin Luoran gently,
“Don’t say ‘thank you’ to me! There is no need.”
Luodong is waked by all the noise. He opens his eyes in a daze and sees Lin Luoran. He believes that this is a dream so he murmurs to himself and goes back to sleep.
Luodong’s cuteness blows everybody’s sadness away. Even Mr. Lin starts smiling.
They go inside. Walking in the back, Lin Luoran looks at her parents who seem much younger and Baojia who is lively as usual. Her heart is warm — it is so nice being home.
***********
Meanwhile, in a log cabin at the Qingcheng Taoist Temple which is several miles away, an old master opens his eyes from his meditation,
“She is back… I told Old Mu that he didn’t need to worry. This girl is so deeply blessed and she will not be defeated so easily.”
Young Master An’s little face comes inside the door.
“Master, who is deeply blessed?”
Smelling the fragrance of Pan-seared Tofu on his apprentice, the old master is angry. He has been cultivating himself for so many years, and why did he take such a young man as his apprentice before?
The consequences of the old master being angry are serious.
“Ouch!” Young master An jumps up and down because of the pain in his forehead. The old master just answered his question with a piece of amber paperweight!
