Chapter 123 Quietly Returning to My Hometown, Still a Teenager
It's slightly cold in late autumn.
It's drizzling in the sky.
The narrow path leading to Qingyun Town has no end in sight in the mist.
The young man took off his white clothes to wash away his beauty, walked around in a green shirt, and brought wine to wash away the rain.
Occasionally, bullock carts and horse-drawn carriages would pass by, and the splashed mud would no longer stick to the boy's body.
He once quietly left the town in the rosy days.
Three years later, he returned to the small town in a late autumn fog.
Regardless of whether the roots and soul are there or not, as long as you stayed there for ten years before growing up and had a childhood, it is considered your hometown.
The old locust tree in front of the old hall gradually revealed its true appearance in the mist.
Gu Yusheng straightened the green cloth baggage on his shoulders, feeling a little timid.
After so many years, Grandma Sun in front of the old hall was still leaning on the old locust tree as always, twisting thread with her left hand and a needle with her right hand, sewing and mending against a piece of cloth.
Grandma Sun under the old locust tree seemed to sense something. She raised her head and looked at the road at the entrance of the village. Years of twisting threads in front of the lamp made her eyes covered with a layer of fog. The days of hardship and hardship made her
With a stooped figure and a hunched back, she has the best sewing job in Qingyun Town, but the patches on her clothes turned up into rags in the autumn wind.
Grandma Sun thought of that child, a young boy who had always been shy and polite, wearing mango shoes and running on the bluestone like the wind. Whenever he passed by her, he would always slow down and rub his rolled-up clean sleeves.
He bowed with clear eyes and called her crisply: "Grandma Sun."
Grandma Sun has seen many rains and snows in this town, and has also seen many people hurriedly walking past the old locust tree. The years have flowed away in the sewing holes in her hands.
People who have long since aged are just like this old locust tree with a crooked neck. The person is also sallow and the tree is old.
Ever since the child in Jiutang Alley began to learn to speak while wearing crotchless pants, the man carrying a sword and holding a book taught the child etiquette. Almost every day, she could hear the voice of Grandma Sun.
In the days that followed, Grandma Sun gradually got used to the child's voice. Occasionally, she would use the peace money she got from sewing to exchange one or two candies or one or two bunches of candied haws, trying to give the child something when he passed by.
some rewards.
But the child never accepted the candy from her, nor ate the candied haws she gave her.
Until that year, the child's father never appeared in the town again. She sat on the stone against the wall with a needle in her hand, watching the little boy sitting under the old locust tree, waiting for the peach blossoms to fall and the snowflakes to fall.
In the winter of that year, Grandma Sun not only learned to cut the boy's clothes, but also learned to use rags.
The next year when the peach blossoms were in bloom, on an ordinary day, Granny Sun watched the young man carrying a bamboo basket walk out of the alley and never came back.
now.
In the hazy autumn mist, a young man walked slowly towards me. His figure was already unusually tall, upright, and his clothes were clean.
Those clear and translucent eyes are getting clearer and clearer.
"Grandma Sun."
This sound.
The stooped old man has been waiting for three years.
She straightened up hard, raised her sallow face, and looked at the young man in front of her who rubbed his sleeves and then bent down to salute.
The embroidery needle and thread that had been used to mend thousands of pieces of cloth fell to the ground.
There is a slight sound.
"child."
Grandma Sun stretched out her old hand, but before she could touch the young man's arm, the young man grasped the cold palm with his hand and squeezed it tightly. The young man's palm was very warm, even warmer than placing it on the fire pit.
"It's me, Yu Sheng, Granny Sun, do you still remember me?"
Those eyes that had been covered by the vicissitudes of time gradually became clear, and the old woman patted the back of the young man's hand with her other hand.
"Back."
"It'll be good when you're back."
Granny Sun patted the back of Gu Yusheng's hand and refused to let go. She looked at Gu Yusheng's clothes carefully and looked down at the shoes he was wearing.
fine.
The road back is muddy.
The boy's clothes got wet from the rain, but his shoes were not dirty.
After all, he has grown up.
But the young man casually looked towards the old hall alley, and the sadness in his eyes still caught the old man's eyes.
"The autumn dew is heavy and it is easy to catch cold diseases. I will go get you a pot of charcoal fire. The house will soon be filled with the smell of smoke and fire."
Granny Sun walked past Gu Yusheng with her body hunched over. Only then did Gu Yusheng clearly see that the old man who had existed in his memory was getting older now. She was still wearing patchwork clothes and had a sallow face.
The wrinkles on his forehead were very deep, and his gray hair was pulled behind his lowered head. His steps were staggering in the wind and rain.
Gu Yusheng's eyes gradually became a little swollen. He raised his head slightly. The old locust tree in front of him had fallen leaves and withered leaves. Although the crown of the tree was large, its branches were covered with moss, like a weathered old man.
But Gu Yusheng never forgot that this old locust tree once protected him from wind and rain.
Gu Yusheng's hand gently touched the old bark of the old locust tree. He picked up the needle that Grandma Sun had used for many years from the ground, picked up the ball of thread and the piece of cloth, and walked step by step into the old tree.
Tang Lane.
Mottled wall shadows, blue bricks and stones.
Scenes from the past kept reappearing in Gu Yusheng's mind: when he was young, he was laughing and running in this alley. At that time, the horse-drawn carriages and ox-carts passing by outside the alley were so slow, so slow.
At that time, he didn't know the taste of longing.
One road in the alley leads to the left and the other leads to the right.
To the left is Gu Yusheng's childhood home. The old lock has been rusted for three years.
Gu Yusheng reached out and touched the rusty lock.
As long as he is willing, he can open the lock with a slight twist.
But he didn't do that. Instead, he took off the baggage on his shoulder, rummaged through it carefully, and took out a key from the parchment.
The key was twisted in Gu Yusheng's palm.
There was a click.
It was like a heart that had been sealed for three years was suddenly opened.
Push the door open.
The garden is overgrown with weeds, and the autumn wind is mixed with a bit of desolation. The courtyard paved with bluestones is no match for the tenacity of life. The weeds grow wildly and vigorously from the gaps, and then wither and turn yellow in the autumn wind. When the next spring comes,
It will sprout new shoots again.
Gu Yusheng gently touched a bunch of weeds.
In the past three years, his fate has been like this.
He took a sickle from the wall and cut the weeds in the courtyard.
The spider webs under the ridges of wooden beams and tiles were tangled bit by bit with bamboo sticks.
Grandma Sun came over carrying a burning brazier and some food.
Gu Yusheng took the brazier and placed it in the center of the main room.
This ball of fireworks.
It is considered as respecting the ancestors.
The blood in the body is still flowing, hot and warm.
When night falls.
Gu Yusheng added some charcoal to the brazier, and after having a simple meal with Granny Sun, the temperature of the home gradually returned to Gu Yusheng's body.
Gu Yusheng took off the wooden sword from his waist and hung it on the wall.
Looking at the figure reflected on the wall, Gu Yusheng said: "Grandma Sun, I am here to guard Qingyun Town."
Grandma Sun, who was a little sleepy in front of the brazier, raised her head and looked at Gu Yusheng.
"Did you learn some skills at Qingyun Sect?"
Gu Yusheng glanced at Grandma Sun's weathered eyes and suddenly felt a slight chill on his back.
He thought of the head of Qixiufang who came back from the Qingyun Sect that day. She brought the disfigured Zhuyun down the mountain, but when she came back there was no trace of damage on her face. Gu Yusheng's heart skipped a beat and he didn't dare to show off his skills anymore.
"I learned a bit. I received the clothes patched by Grandma Sun in the mountain gate. I thought I had not returned for three years and received a mission from the sect. I also wanted to see you, old man, by the way."
"Alas." Grandma Sun's eyes were no longer so sharp, "I am already old, just like that old locust tree. It is the same whether you look at it or not. If I am like this, why do I need to defend Qingyun Town?"
Gu Yusheng remained silent.
Grandma Sun stood up, put her hands behind her back, and walked out of the courtyard step by step.
"My child, it's good to miss your hometown, and there's nothing wrong with coming back to see it. The path of spiritual practice is very long. Just don't forget your soul in a foreign country."