Xu Huaigu soon left the woods and walked on the field ridge entering the village. The sun had already risen.
Dense green rice is planted on both sides of the field ridges. The sunny summer is about to pass. The rice has absorbed the essence of summer and has grown plump ears from the top of the head.
When the wind blows, the rice squawks and bends down, and the rice ears brush against Xu Huaigu's boots, as if scratching an itch.
The strong wind blew down the rice, and Xu Huaigu saw the villagers hunched over working deep in the rice fields. It is still the same as it was ten years ago, with men wearing coarse clothes, carrying hoes or baskets, sweating profusely in the fields.
The woman picked out food boxes and brought meals from home. Xu Huaigu felt an inexplicable excitement in his heart. He wanted to shout out the names of the working villagers, just like when he was a child, he called out Uncle Chen and Aunt Li without any scruples.
But his mouth seemed to be sewn shut and he couldn't say a word. Someone raised his head, with a dark, square and stocky face.
He glanced at Xu Huaigu, who immediately stopped and looked back. The edges and corners of this man's eyebrows were so familiar, Xu Huaigu thought in his heart, this must be the same generation he grew up with when he was a child.
However, he couldn't remember this person's name. The man didn't seem to recognize Xu Huaigu, and there were quite a few foreigners coming to Qingling recently. He had no interest in Xu Huaigu's arrival at all, and just looked at him as a stranger.
Without any emotion, he continued to do farm work with his head down. It was just a glance, but it seemed like ten thousand years had passed. All the expectations in Xu Huaigu's heart were suddenly dashed.
We don’t know each other anymore. We don’t know each other anymore. Where are the conversations, laughter, and feelings of fellow villagers? Children who don't recognize each other laugh and ask where the guest is from.
He stared at the man blankly for a while, frowned, and continued walking into the village without saying hello.
Xu Huaigu's heart was as cold as an ice cellar. He was very worried. What would he do if he saw Bai Xiaoyu, Li Zi, and Zhang Xiaohe again?
If that were the case, his trip to Qingling would probably disappoint him. While he was thinking wildly, he had already passed through the rice fields and entered the residential area in the center of the village.
All his memories came alive, and every road here was something he had walked countless times before. As if he had an innate ability, he remembered the direction of his home and walked towards it along the familiar road.
An adobe bungalow gradually appeared in front of him. The courtyard door of this bungalow was locked. It was covered with a thick layer of dust. The lock was covered with patina and was already rusty. It seemed that it would crack on its own with the slightest touch, but no one touched it. So it's a good thing that it's still here.
My parents probably haven't come back since they left Qingling. Everything in the house is still the same as before. But Xu Huaigu discovered that there were some changes elsewhere in the village. For example, a new small wooden building was built next to his house at some time. There were many small goods placed at the door of the wooden building.
Xu Huaigu glanced over there. They were filled with oil-paper umbrellas, candles, various kinds of needlework and other household items. It looked like a grocery store.
He didn't pay much attention to the grocery store, but wanted to go inside first, but the lock on the door held him back. The key is definitely gone. He didn't take the key to the house with him back then. What's more, after such a long time, even if he brought the key, he would probably have lost it.
In fact, after so many years, the lock was already dilapidated. Xu Huaigu could tear it open with just a pull, but he was unwilling to destroy it.
I still remember that when I was a child, my family had a good relationship with the Chen family. I would always leave the keys to my house in the Chen family, so that I would not lose them one day and have a backup place.
But when Mo Long escaped, the Chen family was wiped out and no one was left, so the key could not be found.
So Xu Huaigu had no choice but to climb over the fence and jump into the yard. There are several large ceramic water tanks in the yard, which were used by the family to store water for cooking and daily drinking.
I still remember that at that time, his mother Qin Qi did not allow him to touch the water in the water tank, but the more strict she was, the more Xu Huaigu liked playing with the water in the water tank, even more than the water in the Lingjiang River.
For this reason, he also suffered a lot of beatings. But now, there was only a shallow layer of murky rainwater left inside.
Xu Huaigu looked towards the main house and saw that everything inside and outside the house was covered with spider webs. Xu Huaigu brushed aside the fine mesh on the door handle with his hand and pushed the door open.
The furnishings in the room were still the same, unchanged at all, except that everything was covered with a thick layer of dust.
There is a small colorful ceramic jar behind the door. Xu Huaigu remembers it clearly. It was used to store the beautiful stones he found in Lingjiang when he was a child.
It's just that when I left, I took all the stones with me, and now the jar is empty.
Xu Huaigu smiled slightly, picked up the jar, wiped the dust off, and put it into his robe. Go further inside and open the door on the left, and you will find your own room.
The quilt was still a mess on the bed, and it seemed that it had never been tidied up. It seemed that we really left in a hurry that day, and my mother didn't even have time to fold the quilt.
Xu Huaigu put the sword on the table aside and walked to the edge of the bed to fold the quilt. He picked up the quilt and saw something coming out of the quilt
"Pap" fell onto the bed. Xu Huaigu picked up the thing curiously and found out that it was his favorite martial arts when he was a child. He couldn't help but smile knowingly.
It seems that that night, I also read miscellaneous books in bed for a long time under the lamp, but I never remember it.
These are all my own memories. Xu Huaigu also put the martial arts away and folded the quilt. He frowned as he looked at the dust and cobwebs all over the house, thinking that he had to give the house a thorough cleaning, otherwise it would be uninhabitable.
But thinking about it, after being away from home for so long, it’s time to give the house a good cleaning. He couldn't do it with Reiki, he had to do it with his own hands.
He walked around the house again. There were a lot of rags, but he didn't see a broom. He had to buy one.
He thought of the newly opened grocery store next to his home, which should sell them. ...In that newly opened grocery store, there was a young man in his twenties sitting behind the counter, eating melon seeds to relieve his boredom. The melon seed shells on the counter had piled up into a small mountain.
He was distracted, looking here and there, with eyes as restless as a monkey's. Sometimes he stared blankly at one place, and sometimes he looked outside the shop, as if he was looking for something, but he was too lazy to move away.
After looking outside the shop for a long time and seeing nothing, the young man became a little impatient and went behind the door next to the counter and said: "Sister, he has been coming to Qingling for a long time, why hasn't he come to our shop yet? ?" A calm female voice came from behind the reading room: "Just wait, we've been here for so long anyway, it won't be long until this moment and a half." The young man was unhappy, and the movement of eating melon seeds in his hand became faster again. .
He complained: "I really don't understand, senior sister, why are you so interested in him? You even came to this damn place specially. Didn't you see that old immortal swordsman looked at the two of us, as if he wanted to kill us?" It's like being eaten alive. Let me tell you, I haven't slept well these past few nights. I'm afraid that as soon as I close my eyes, the old swordsman's sword will be put on my neck. Tell me, senior sister. Isn’t this day too much?” The door next to the counter
It opened from the inside with a bang, and a woman in white came out, rolled her eyes at the young man, took away his melon seeds, and said angrily: "Then don't go through with it. I know how to eat melon seeds every day." , the money this shop makes is not enough for you to eat melon seeds, you are a prodigal!" But the young man did not lose his temper, and took out another handful of melon seeds from his pocket, and said with a shameless smile: "Senior sister is teaching me a lesson, I am teaching you a lesson. . Anyway, senior sister, everything in this shop was made by you. I am just a storekeeper. How can I dare to disobey you? I will just complain a few times. Senior sister, please don’t take it to heart." The woman in white seems to be used to it. This man was so shameless that he ignored him and continued to close the door and enter the house.
"Senior sister, wait a minute!" the young man hurriedly called her,
"Senior sister, what are you doing now? Let me have a look, it will relieve your boredom." The woman in white said lightly: "Rouge." Upon hearing this, the man raised his eyebrows in surprise, with a strange expression on his face. Said: "Senior Sister, you are so beautiful, do you still need to wear rouge? Is that rouge worthy?" The woman in white frowned slightly, squinting and threatening: "Jiang, please be quiet, be careful. I will go back and tell you to the master." It's like that." The man was immediately discouraged, lowered his head and said nothing.
The woman in white clothes said to herself: "Take spring peach blossom petals, grind them finely, slowly grind them into a slurry, and filter them through fine gauze. Then take white silk, press it into a round cake shape according to the size of the rouge vat, soak it in peach blossom pulp, and mix it into five pieces. Take it out after six days and expose it to the sun for two or three days, and it will become a fine peach blossom rouge." The man muttered: "It's really troublesome. Senior sister, if you have the intention to do this, you don't know how much money you can make. Buy it. How much rouge." The woman in white shook her head and said: "The ones you make yourself are always different from those you buy. There is a huge difference. I won't say more, I will continue to go back and think about it. Although I followed the steps, I always feel that something is missing. What do you order? The effect is not very good." The man was expressionless, nodded like a wooden fish, and continued to eat melon seeds.
The two chatted for a few words as usual, and the day went on as usual. The man thought angrily in his heart that if he had such great talent as his senior sister and was so valued by his master, he would definitely devote all his attention to cultivation, but he was not that lucky.
But this isn't jealousy, it's just his random thoughts. In fact, he still respects his senior sister very much. Even though the two of them usually bicker and quarrel when chatting, in fact they have been together for too long and are used to each other.
He also knew that he still had a high status in the heart of his senior sister. He was in a good mood, crossed his legs and hummed a little tune.
This grocery store didn't have a single customer, but it still had to open in order to wait for one person and settle a matter.
He was just thinking about what kind of ecstasy soup his senior sister had given to the inexperienced old swordsman to prevent him from killing them both, but something strange happened over there. It turned out that there was a Guests are coming.
The young man glanced at the guest, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he stopped cracking melon seeds. He secretly thought that these hard days were finally over.
As soon as the customer walked in, he asked, "Do you have any brooms for sale?"
