In the morning of the next day, grandma Gu saw Luo Jianqing in the yard. She was shocked, “Jianqing, why did you wake up this early? It’s cold outside. Come in. You can’t bear the coldness with these clothes.”
Smiling, Luo Jianqing took over the shoulder pole from grandma Gu, “may I help you with cooking?”
The bright smile of the young man dazzled grandma Gu. She came to her senses after a while, and nodded, “sure!”
That day, Luo Jianqing helped grandma Gu with preparing breakfast. After the meal, grandpa Gu was leaving for laboring in the field. Luo Jianqing asked, “Can I join you?”
Grandpa wasn’t expecting him to say that, but still, he responded in joy, “of course!”
With no spiritual power or enchantment, Luo Jianqing held the delicate rice seedling in his hands and carefully put it in the muddy ground. Grandpa Gu laughed, and pointed out his mistakes, then taught him how to fix the angle of the seedling.
After a whole day of laboring, Luo Jianqing’s beautiful face was distained with mud.
Days like this passed by uneventfully.
There was nothing more special compared to a stranger coming to the Gu Village, especially when the stranger was very gorgeous. Luo Jianqing charmed a lot of girls from the village. Even the most beautiful one couldn’t help herself giving Luo Jianqing a red flower as a gift and then ran away with blushing cheeks.
Luo Jianqing held the shoulder poke in one hand, looking at the red flower in his hand.
Just like the visage of the girl, the flower was so delicate, composing by youth and ages.
Luo Jianqing refused all the proposals, and shook his head to every villagers who wanted to introduce a girl to him. He lived with grandpa and grandma Gu, helping them with cooking, laundry, laboring, and cleaning like he became a part of the family. He never treated a task with carelessness. Although he was wearing shabby clothes, he was elegant like an immortal.
In the winter, heavy rain swept the Gu Village which led to a flood.
That night, Luo Jianqing and grandpa Gu went to the field to check the plants. Grandpa Gu slipped.
Luo Jianqing tried to catch him.
He failed.
He forgot he was a cultivator who could use the spiritual power. He tried to catch grandpa Gu with a mortal body and didn’t make it.
Grandpa Gu was ill because of the accident and couldn’t get out of bed. Grandma Gu and Luo Jianqing took care of him day after day, night after night. The villagers brought gifts to the family. The pretty girl who gave Luo Jianqing a flower brought a quilt. When she was about to leave, she said in a soft voice, “that day, I saw you floating on the river as well, but I was too frightened to shout out.”
Avoided eye contact, Luo Jianqing didn’t respond.
Ten days later, grandpa Gu’s illness was more acute. The three years in the Liu Yan Valley left Luo Jianqing an empty Interspatial Ring. He wanted to use his own spiritual power to prolong grandpa Gu’s life. However, right before he was about to do this, grandma Gu was wiping grandpa Gu’s body and mumbling, “the immortal told us that his disciple will come to us to break the bond. There aren’t many days left for my husband. Why is it that he hasn’t show up……”?
Luo Jianqing lost his words.
Three days after, grandpa’s condition became worse and lost his eyesight. He should have been dead three years ago but he managed to live till now due to the herbs.
Before his death, grandpa got a momentary recovery of consciousness and said a lot to grandma Gu. He talked about their encounter, their early marriage days, their days without a child, their memory about abandoning their son into the Luo River.
Luo Jianqing was listening quietly and sat beside grandpa Gu when the patient beckoned him.
With a kind smile on his face, Grandpa Gu gently held Luo Jianqing’s hands. He stared at the young man carefully, didn’t say a word. After a long time of silence, he said, “Jianqing, for a year of living together, I have always considered you as my son. Now it’s time for me to leave. Can you call me ‘dad’ for one sole time?”
Mouth shut tight, Luo Jianqing didn’t say anything.
This didn’t annoy him, Grandpa Gu shook his head, “this is indeed too much to ask from you”.
He beckoned to his wife, “I know that he is not a monster. He is our son. Xi, my wife, I remember the day when I proposed. I picked your favorite azalea. They looked good in your hair. The sunset was beautiful that day, but, I remember, you are even more beautiful than the magnificent light.”
Grandma Gu showed a subtle smile, “next life, I will still decorate my hair with azalea. You will know it’s me when you see the flower.”
Grandpa Gu nodded.
They embraced each other. A relieving smile emerged on the visage of grandpa Gu. His eyes were slowly closing, and that’s when he heard a voice saying “dad……”
His eyes glimmered and then closed forever.
A drop of tear slid down.
Ten days after grandpa Gu’s death, grandma Gu had gradually lost her health. Luo Jianqing started to take care of this lonely woman. He played his role as a good listener, staying by her side for her story of the younger romantic days and her poor daughter who died several years ago.
Three months later, grandma Gu couldn’t get herself out of bed anymore. That day, she held Luo Jianqing’s hand, just like grandpa Gu, suddenly found back her energy and said a lot of words.
“When I was young, believe me, I was the prettiest girl in this region so that I once had a high expectation for my future husband. That day, under the sunset, I saw him holding an enormous bouquet of azalea with a silly smile hanging on his face. I was thinking ‘wow, that man looks so funny’, and then we were married.
“I wasn’t able to give birth to a child until the twelfth year of our marriage. He didn’t mind at all, but the villagers were foul-mouthed. In the twelfth year, we had a baby who opened his eyes and smiled at the moment he was born. He had beautiful eyes which would bend like the new moon when he smiled. They were even saying that I’ve given birth to a little girl.
“But every time he smiled, there were thunders came from the firmament hovering over the Gu Village. I never knew thunder could be that terrifying. It didn’t stop for three days and three nights. At the same time, the Luo River became crystal clear…very clear. It was so clear that I could see lots of shrimp and fish beneath the surface. I lived here for dozens of years but that was the first time I knew there were so many creatures in the Luo River.
“Then, we put him inside a bucket and let him float away along the river.
“Anywhere his bucket touched, tranquil befallen. The fish and shrimp all scattered away, but the thunder followed.”
