The shadows of the trees fell and swayed on the ground, and the chirping of cicadas returned.
"Who is this person?"
The old woman under the eaves raised her gray hair slightly, glanced over there, and called her husband inside to come out with her side face.
"Lao Shi, come out quickly, there is an old man with a white beard outside."
Lu Laoshi, who was burning a fire on the stove, heard his wife calling him. He threw the wood in his hand, dusted himself off, stood up, walked to his wife's side, and followed her gaze to see the hunched old man in front of the stone steps of the mountain gate. He sighed, turned back, and muttered, "What's there to see in an old man?"
"But I think he looks familiar... very familiar."
The woman did not leave. She just stood under the eaves, staring at the man, and pulled her husband back who was turning to leave. Lu Laoshi sighed. His eyesight was a little poor. He walked into the sunlight outside the eaves, looked at him carefully for a few times, then hurriedly stepped back and pointed over there.
"Then...then..."
"What did you find out?" Li Jinhua asked quickly, pulling his arm.
After stuttering for a while, Lu Laoshi finally shouted out one word fluently: "Donkey!"
"I asked you to watch over people, but you watched over donkeys?"
The old woman frowned and stretched out her hand to pinch her husband's ear. The husband stamped his feet anxiously and said vigorously: "It's Liangsheng's old donkey. I recognize it!"
“Really?”
"Of course I know every detail of it!"
The couple looked at each other, ignored the food on the stove, and walked out of the eaves quickly to ask a few questions. After all, the man was really too old, and felt older than the village's Lu Taigong. But there was Liangsheng's old donkey beside him, and there was also a bookshelf. Their son didn't know about it? How could he just throw away the books casually
"Could it be that Liangsheng had an accident and asked someone to bring the things back?"
The preconceived idea made the old couple's hearts skip a beat. Li Jinhua held her husband's hand tightly, and as she moved closer, she tried her best to suppress the uneasiness in her heart, forced a smile, and pointed to the bald old donkey next to Lu Liangsheng without any politeness.
"Old man, how come you have my Liangsheng's donkey?"
Seeing his father and mother approaching, with gray hair in their buns, Lu Liangsheng felt unspeakable emotion in his heart. He forgot to answer for a moment and just stared at them blankly. It was the old donkey at the side who trotted forward, used his mouth and nose to nudge the old woman's sleeve, stuck out his tongue, and turned to Lu Laoshi at the side and snorted heavily.
"I said it was my Liangsheng's donkey, and sure enough, it recognized me."
Lu Laoshi happily stroked its head and mane, and after a moment he looked at the old man in front of him, and continued his wife's words and asked, "Old sir, please give me an accurate answer, where is my Liangsheng?"
He was of a gentle nature and could not say anything else. His wife beside him interrupted him, her face covered with tears and her voice choked with sobs.
"… We only have this one son, and I haven't seen him for many years. Can… can you tell us if he is still alive?"
Hearing his mother's choking voice, Lu Liangsheng came back to his senses, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. He was about to raise his hand to speak, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw wrinkles on the back of his hand and some spots of old age marks. The words that were about to come out of his mouth were swallowed back into his stomach.
The old donkey was carrying a swaying bookshelf on his back. The Toad Taoist hugged his webbed feet and looked at his apprentice through the gap. He muttered, "I want to see him but I don't dare to recognize him. Alas, I have to step in to break this nerd's hesitation!"
With a creaking sound, the small door was pushed open. The old couple outside heard the sound and turned their head to see a big toad wearing a short coat with a rope tied around its waist, standing up, hugging its flippers and walking out.
"This toad is also a good one..."
The moment Li Jinhua hesitated, Taoist Toad nodded and said, "Yes, I am Liangsheng..." Before he could finish his words, the happy old donkey who was pestering Lu Laoshi had his head pushed away. His body shook, and the bookshelf shook with it. The short black shadow standing by the small door moved and stepped out.
“?!”
The toad's eyelids twitched, and his webbed feet stepped on empty air and he fell down instantly. The rope around his waist was stretched straight, and the Toad Taoist was hanging under the bookshelf with his webbed feet wrapped around his body. He had a depressed expression and was swaying on the swing.
"It is indeed Liangsheng's toad!" Lu Laoshi said affirmatively.
Li Jinhua, who was standing by, nodded with tears in her eyes, agreeing with her husband's words. At this moment, a faint scent of sandalwood wafted from the scrolls on the bookshelf. A figure slowly descended like light smoke floating in the air, gradually condensing into the appearance of a graceful sixteen-year-old girl. Looking at the old couple opposite, she had dimples on her cheeks and bowed gracefully.
"Uncle, aunt, the old man in front of you is actually the young master."
"Hong Lian..."
The old couple naturally recognized the girl in front of them whose appearance never changed. Then they looked at the 'old man' next to them. Li Jinhua's eyes became even more moist and red, and her body trembled slightly. She took a half step forward, "Liangsheng?"
Lu Liangsheng was still a little hesitant at first, but when he heard his mother's choked cry, it was like a string was plucked in his heart, and he spoke subconsciously.
"Mom, it's me."
The woman looked at her son's old face and white hair and beard, and she covered her mouth and cried silently. Lu Liangsheng pursed his lips, took a deep breath, and went over to hold his mother in his arms.
"Liang Sheng!!"
Being embraced by her son, Li Jinhua finally burst into tears, hitting Lu Liangsheng's shoulders with her hands, crying loudly.
"Where have you been all these years? Do you know how much I miss you?"
"Mom misses you so much..."
"Liangsheng... Mom is afraid of losing you..."
"Why did you take so long to walk? I'm afraid my son will never come back."
Lu Laoshi stood by with his hands clenched, listening to his wife crying. His throat ached and he wiped his eyes quietly with his rough hands, fearing that his son and old wife would see it.
The sound of loud crying spread, and a group of children who were waiting for dinner in the wooden building over there ran out. A woman with a bun holding a chubby child also ran out. She saw her mother being held by an old man and her father watching from the side, and she screamed in fear.
"Yingxian, come out quickly, there's an old man holding my mother!!"
The next moment, the children standing at the door separated to both sides, and a wretched man wearing a Taoist robe with yin and yang patterns came out with eight burly men.
"Who is so brave that he dares to do this in broad daylight..."
As soon as he kicked off the hem of his robe and landed on the ground, the expression on his face, which had opened its mouth to curse, suddenly froze. Feeling the familiar cultivation power coming from her, Sun Yingxian froze there, and was still indifferent to the pushing and shoving of his wife beside him.
"Old Lu..."
"What?" Lu Xiaoxian instinctively stopped and looked in the direction the Taoist was looking. The crying mother separated from the old man. The latter seemed to notice her gaze and turned to look over here with a smile on his face.
It seemed as if something was crawling up from her back to her groin. Lu Xiaoxian pushed the child in her arms to the Taoist priest, tears streaming down her eyes, falling onto her clothes.
"Brother..." He whispered softly, and then shouted loudly: "Brother!!!"
She rushed out of the eaves with her skirt lifted up, ran over there, and threw herself into Lu Liangsheng's arms. The setting sun sank behind the city wall, and lights lit up in the attics. Joyful laughter and happy sobs filled the ordinary night that had just fallen.
Lu Liangsheng was surrounded by his relatives, and there were wet marks at the corners of his eyes.
Being able to become a family is a fate.