Chapter 67 - 58: Brother Xiao, Let It Go...

"My father passed away three years ago, and my mother passed away two months ago."

Wang Ying stood beside Xiao Mo and spoke slowly.

The little girl who had once shared a steamed bun with Xiao Mo was now a grown woman, married to a family in Qingshan City.

In fact, Wang Ying’s daughter was already seven or eight years old.

"I never thought the village chief’s and Aunt Chen’s graves would be next to each other," Xiao Mo said with a smile. "I remember how Aunt Chen was always complaining to me that she’d married the wrong man, and that when she died, she was going to be buried far away from that old coot of hers."

Wang Ying smiled as well. "Yes, that was Mother for you. But when Father passed, she was the one who cried the hardest. Before she left us, she specifically told me to place her grave right beside his..."

Xiao Mo crouched down and placed a jar of wine before the gravestone. "Perhaps this is what it means to be husband and wife..."

Wang Ying’s daughter—Zhang Qianqian—wanted to go forward and tug on Xiao Mo’s cyan robe, but her mother pulled her back.

Wang Ying placed a hand on her daughter’s shoulder, keeping her from fidgeting. "Brother Xiao, before my parents passed, they had some words they wanted me to pass on to you."

"Mm," Xiao Mo nodded.

"When Father was passing, he said the greatest blessing of his life was having taught an Imperial Scholar like you, Brother Xiao. He just regretted that his own knowledge was limited and there wasn’t more he could teach."

"That’s not true. The village chief taught me a great many things. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have even passed the preliminary exams." Xiao Mo shook his head. "Did the village chief say anything else?"

"Father also said that he was, at best, a mere Scholar his whole life, nothing compared to you, Brother Xiao. But he did say that having lived several decades longer than you, he saw some things more clearly.

He told me to tell you, Brother Xiao, that when you face difficulties, you shouldn’t be too unyielding.

In the Imperial Court, the most important thing is to protect yourself. Don’t worry about short-term gains or losses.

Being able to retreat in one piece, safe and sound—that’s what’s best."

"The village chief was a man of great wisdom," Xiao Mo said in admiration.

Wang Ying glanced at Xiao Mo’s profile, biting her lip. She looked hesitant, but she spoke up anyway:

"When my mother was passing, she asked me to tell you, Brother Xiao, not to keep clinging to someone who has already left. Mortals and immortals walk different paths. Once someone is gone, they’re gone. She said you should find a wife, Brother Xiao, and have a child. Otherwise, it will be very painful to grow old alone, with no one to look after you."

"Hehehe..." Xiao Mo chuckled. "That certainly sounds like something Aunt Chen would say."

"Brother Xiao..." Wang Ying started, but then hesitated. "I also think..."

"It’s all right," Xiao Mo interrupted her.

Xiao Mo stood up and gently patted Zhang Qianqian’s head, smiling. "When Qianqian grows up, she can look after Uncle Xiao in his old age, how about that?"

"Okay, okay!" the little girl nodded.

"See?" Xiao Mo said to the little girl’s mother with a smile. "Looks like I have someone to care for me in my old age after all."

Wang Ying: "..."

"All right, Xiao Ying, I’m heading up the mountain. You two should hurry back to Qingshan City as well, or it’ll be dark by the time you arrive."

Xiao Mo adjusted his sleeves and walked step by step toward She Mountain, gradually disappearing at the end of the mountain path.

"Mom, why is Uncle Xiao so old but still hasn’t married?"

The little girl looked up, gazing curiously at her mother.

"Because..." Wang Ying watched his receding figure. "There’s no room for anyone else in Uncle Xiao’s heart."

...

After paying his respects to the village chief, Xiao Mo went up She Mountain and arrived before the giant boulder blocking the cave entrance.

The open ground in front of the cave was already in full bloom with Purple Sun Grass and Cyan Dragon Flowers.

Not far from the cave was a small cabin, which Xiao Qing had built herself.

For all these years, Xiao Qing had lived there, watching over her older sister.

As for Xiao Mo’s old courtyard, Xiao Qing would go and clean it every two or three days.

Standing at the mouth of the cave, Xiao Mo gazed silently at the massive boulder blocking his path.

Although he was nearly fifty, his posture was as upright as ever, like an old pine in a courtyard, as if no wind, no matter how strong, could ever bend his back.

"Ruxue, I’ve come back to see you."

Facing the cave, Xiao Mo spoke slowly.

It was as if he were speaking to the woman inside the cave, and also to himself.

"I haven’t been to see you all these years. Please don’t blame me. The political reforms just took up too much time. And in the end, after all that work, it still failed."

"But it won’t be long before I have to take up a new post."

"I’m leaving the capital to serve as the Governor of North Sea State. It’s a place by the sea."

"You’ve probably never seen the sea, have you?"

"It’s all right. When you come out, I’ll take you to see it."

"Speaking of which, twenty-seven years have passed in the blink of an eye," Xiao Mo said with a small laugh. "Look at me. My hair has already turned white."

"Brother Xiao..."

Just as Xiao Mo was speaking to Bai Ruxue, Xiao Qing’s voice came from behind him.

Xiao Mo turned around and smiled. "Xiao Qing, it’s been a long time."

"Brother Xiao... you..."

Looking at the silver in Xiao Mo’s temples and his increasingly aged appearance, Xiao Qing felt an inexplicable sadness.

’It had only been six or seven years since she last saw Brother Xiao, but he had aged so, so much...’

"Oh, are you talking about my white hair? Or the wrinkles on my face? It’s normal. It happens when you get old," Xiao Mo said nonchalantly. "But you, Xiao Qing, are still the same as ever. You haven’t changed a bit. That’s good."

"..."

Xiao Qing was silent. She walked forward to stand beside Xiao Mo, and together they looked at the giant boulder before them.

"I haven’t been back all these years. Has anything happened with your sister?" Xiao Mo asked Xiao Qing.

"Nothing has happened with my sister. A few years ago, some Loose Cultivators showed up, but I drove them off, and they never came back. But the village chief and Aunt Chen, and a few others like Aunt Wang... they’ve all passed on..."

Xiao Qing told Xiao Mo, word by word, about what had happened in the village over the years: who in Shiqiao Village had passed away, whose grandchildren had been born, who had passed the exams to become a Scholar, and so on.

Xiao Mo listened intently, nodding from time to time in response.

"Brother Xiao..." As she finished, Xiao Qing turned her head, her small hands clenched tightly. "Brother Xiao, you really don’t have to wait any longer."

"It’s all right," Xiao Mo shook his head.

"But Brother Xiao, you’ve already waited for twenty-seven years... You’re past fifty now. That’s truly long enough." Xiao Qing had lost count of how many times she had tried to persuade him. "Brother Xiao... let her go..."

As the young woman’s words fell, a spring breeze swept through the mountain forest, gently rustling the man’s white hair and stroking his cyan robe, which had yellowed with age and been mended countless times.

"Xiao Qing..."

Xiao Mo looked at the stone before him, his voice drifting leisurely through the mountain forest.

"In the past... she was always the one waiting for me.

Now.

It’s my turn to wait for her."