Chapter 31 The Lotus Seed's Aftermath, Blooming Forever...
The golden lotus appeared for a fleeting moment, causing ripples in the air.
Shengjing, the Demon-Suppressing Pavilion.
The man held a book in his hand, gazing gently into the distance through the window, but after a moment, he looked away.
In the far north, I saw a snow-covered city.
The young man drew his sword and wielded it with frost. The snowflakes of the northern city, which never melted, fell onto his sword. He smiled and gently blew away the snowflakes.
I imagine that lotus flower is just as beautiful as these snowflakes.
Taishan Fengdu, Zuoyin Inn.
The woman took a large spatula and stirred the pot a few more times, then clicked her tongue a few times before nimbly jumping off the stool used to increase her height.
She yawned and muttered to herself, "Work will come when it's light. Mount Tai is not a mountain, King Yama is not a king, and the life of a migrant worker is not a life."
Ugh, another day of dying and dying.
...
Lianzi Town.
"Gougouga!!!"
A loud rooster crowed from inside the carriage, breaking the tranquility of the town's boys.
Qingyu took a few steps back, trembling, but steadied herself just as Wen Chuan was about to come up and help her.
She looked up at Wen Chuan and smiled, "I'm not that weak."
Wen Chuan sighed helplessly and very obviously in front of Qing Yu. Qing Yu smiled as she supported herself, and they walked down the platform together.
Zhang Xuan put away his knife, and Lin Fanxiang sprinkled some hemostatic powder on his left palm.
Qin Tianshu waved his fan, and the scholar shook his head as he looked at the mountain of corpses and sea of blood on the ground. "What should we do with these corpses? There are still many children in the ancestral hall, most of them under five years old."
Qingyu: "There is an old woman in the ancestral hall. I didn't kill her."
How ridiculous that the mayor of this wicked town was the first victim back then, and is now the only elderly person left in the town.
She won't die. Lotus didn't let her die, so Qingyu naturally won't let her die either.
Qin Tianshu nodded, "A pile of corpses, an old man, and a group of children."
It's good. I came to this small town and didn't get a hot meal, but these things instead. That's good too.
Wen Chuan: "...Send the child to the nearest orphanage in the city. As for the elderly, it's up to her to decide."
As Zhang Xuan listened to their conversation, he blew on the medicinal powder on his hands and said, "What should we do with these corpses? Leaving them like this will only make them stink too much."
Lin Fanxiang paused for a moment, "Burn it all down?"
“Good idea,” Qingyu replied, “Let’s burn the whole town down.”
Qin Tianshu: "Alright, there's some kerosene in the carriage," the scholar said, pulling Zhang Xuan aside.
"Let's go get the kerosene."
"Hey hey hey—" Zhang Xuan was caught off guard by Qin Tianshu's tug, and in the blink of an eye, the two of them were heading towards the carriage.
Qingyu raised an eyebrow. She was exhausted, hungry, and yet fully alert. Her voice was languid, the last syllable drawn out.
"Why do we always work in the middle of the night...?"
Wen Chuan frowned, unsure how to answer, but Lin Fanxiang stood beside Qing Yu and smiled faintly, "Perhaps, the atmosphere is better at night."
Qingyu nodded, the two smiled at each other, and walked together toward the ancestral hall.
Wen Chuan, who was left behind: "?"
...
They quickly and clearly divided the tasks: Wen Chuan, Qing Yu, and Lin Fanxiang put the unconscious elderly and children onto the carriage, while Zhang Xuan and Qin Tianshu poured kerosene to set up a firebreak, preparing to clean up the mess.
Finally, everything was ready. Zhang Xuan picked up a tinderbox and lit a piece of white paper. The boy was silent for a moment, then threw the lit paper into the sea of corpses and blood.
Fueled by the oil and corpse oil, the fire raged fiercely, with wind and fire dancing together, and sparks flying everywhere, devouring all evil.
The lotus platform is the core of the formation, the lotus seeds are the veins, and the entire town is a giant formation.
But at this moment, corpses, houses, stalls, ancestral halls, shrines—everything was burning.
Mars fell in all directions.
The boys watched as the town gradually disappeared into the flames, then retreated step by step, before turning around and leading the children into the real tomorrow.
"Smack—"
The scholar finally closed his fan at this moment.
A dream that only stops at death is no longer a dream; it is a beautiful dream.
A beautiful dream of going home.
...
They traveled all the way to Zhongxiang City in Jingzhou, where they sent more than a dozen children to an orphanage and left behind enough silver.
It's worth mentioning that the old man stayed at the orphanage.
Qingyu spent some time alone with her at that time.
Strangely enough, this old woman was the only person in town who did not eat the lotus seeds.
She knew about the town's evils, but was powerless to change them.
She was once a proud woman, but after falling on hard times, she tried every trick in the book to make her life better. But when she saw a new girl in Ershan Town who had suffered the same fate as her, she knew that the town was doomed.
That was the first time she had thoughts of dying. But before that girl took her own life, she told her that if she could, she wanted to live. She hoped she could live.
And so she did live on, humbly, timidly, and ordinarily. She lived for a long time, until she personally saw off her son and "husband," becoming the last old woman in the town, and even eventually holding the title of town mayor.
How wonderful! She has finally escaped from that mud, even though she is now all white-haired.
Qingyu: "You are free."
The old woman smiled and shook her head. "I haven't cared about these things for a long time."
Qingyu was a little confused. The old woman, with her back hunched, smiled at the young and straightforward girl. She was old and didn't really care about anything anymore, but sometimes she was still very afraid of ghosts and death. She was afraid that the wronged souls of those women would cry to her, and she was afraid that she would die in that town after living half her life in vain.
Fortunately, she finally made it down the mountain, and from that moment on, she had nothing to fear anymore.
Qingyu, "So... what do you want to do in the future?"
The old woman's face was already aged, and her eyes were cloudy, but at that moment, Qingyu still saw the tears in her eyes.
"The one who brought Lotus Girl up the mountain was my foolish son."
“When he was young, he was a smart and kind child, but his father, grandfather, and everyone in the town influenced him through their actions and words.”
“I watched helplessly as my child became the villain of the town.”
“They never gave me a chance to teach him.”
“I have always hated those people, from beginning to end.”
"And now, I have many children."
The old woman looked up at Qingyu, and Qingyu instantly understood her feelings. The dozen or so children left in the town could be provided with basic food, clothing, and shelter in the orphanage, but many things still required human intervention. The young children lacked an elder, an elder who would give them love and be willing to teach them right from wrong.
The old woman wanted to be that person.
She lived a painful life for most of her life, even turning herself into this timid and cowardly person in the end, but in the last days of her life, she wanted to teach these children, to teach them as much as possible, so that they would never become like their fathers.
Qingyu was enlightened and looked at the old woman in front of her.
She has always been a beautiful flower, but now, her power is finally being seen.
As the midday sun shone down, a little boy suddenly ran over as the two were saying goodbye.
Qingyu exclaimed "Wow!" and picked up the still somewhat flustered Xiaoshitou.
"Who is this? Isn't this Little Stone, the older brother of my younger siblings?"
Little Stone shyly tugged at his fingers. The town mayor and the fairy maiden looked at him gently, which immediately lessened his unease about the unfamiliar place.
Little Stone: "Big sister, grandma, where is this?"
Qingyu paused for a moment, gently put him down, and then patted Little Stone's head.
"Little Stone said that children are not cursed, so the older brothers and sisters brought all the children out. This will be your new home from now on."
She knelt down and gently said to the little boy, "Little Stone is five years old now, he's a little adult. From now on, you'll help Grandma take care of your younger siblings. Listen to Grandma, okay?"
Sunlight filters through the swaying leaves, and as the light and shadow shift, the fairy's expression becomes incredibly gentle.
Little Stone nodded blankly. For a moment, the obscure memories of the past in his mind suddenly became somewhat blurry, as if that town really was just an ordinary place that was unfortunately cursed.
The fairy sister and her friends saved them.
Is that really the case?
He thought... never mind.
At this moment, whatever the fairy sister says is right.
...
Zhongxiang City, First Restaurant private room.
A large table was laden with food: steamed mutton, Dongpo pork, braised fish, sweet and sour pork ribs, braised water bamboo shoots, mallow soup, stir-fried chrysanthemum greens, water shield and perch soup, white fungus and lotus seed soup...
After finishing a bunch of things, the five of them went to the largest restaurant in Zhongxiang City and started ordering food, basically ordering everything they could.
Qingyu was both sleepy and hungry, and planned to go back to the car to catch up on sleep after eating. The others were in the same boat, except for... Zhang Xuan, who was particularly hungry.
"I've been counting the days, and it's almost Mid-Autumn Festival and I still haven't gone home. I'm really something."
After finishing two bowls of rice, Zhang Xuan sighed and said.
Qingyu stared blankly as she watched Zhang Xuan devour so much food with the speed and dexterity of a whirlwind. The girl sighed, "Wow, it turns out we really do need your food all the time."
Wen Chuan ate quietly, but couldn't help but smile. Qin Tianshu, standing beside him, suppressed a laugh and said, "Being able to eat is a blessing. One bowl is good, three bowls are enough."
Lin Fanxiang gently comforted Zhang Xuan, saying, "The medicine I prescribed has a cleansing effect on the stomach and intestines, so it's normal for him to be hungry."
Zhang Xuan, who was being teased, didn't mind. He admitted that he was young; he was only sixteen, even younger than Qing Yu. He was at an age where he was still growing, and as a sword cultivator, he practiced with his sword all day long. If he wasn't hungry, who would be?
Zhang Xuan: "It's August now... It's a pity we're not in Shengjing, otherwise we could eat crabs. There's a restaurant in Shengjing that has particularly delicious crabs."
Qingyu became interested upon hearing this, "I also like to eat crabs, and the crabs in my hometown are delicious too."
Upon hearing this, Wen Chuan turned his head and gave Qing Yu a deep look. The young man's tone was indifferent.
"Yes, I did it for you last year too."
They even had a huge fight over this, a fight that kept him up for two or three days.
Qingyu: "..." She forgot, she's finished.
Clearly, she remembered now. Qingyu blinked and smiled to make amends, "Yes, yes...aren't we going to Shengjing soon? Let's eat crabs when we get there."
Wen Chuan remained silent, and for a moment no one noticed anything amiss.
...
After finishing their meal, the group decided to continue their journey. They had indeed wasted a lot of time, and if they wanted to reach Shengjing before the fifteenth of August, they would have to travel day and night.
Zhang Xuan, having eaten a lot, felt energetic and was pushed into the driver's seat.
Apart from Zhang Xuan, everyone else was exhausted after a day or two of work.
Wen Chuan, Qin Tianshu, and Lin Fanxiang all went to their respective rooms deep inside the space to catch up on sleep.
Qingyu, who had been saying she was sleepy from the beginning, lay sprawled on the long couch, unable to look up at the ceiling. She wondered how she could have forgotten about that damned crab.
She was upset, and just then Zhang Xuan opened the car door. Hearing her sigh, the young man rarely saw her like this, so he asked her a few questions.
Qingyu: "Just drive, stop talking."
Zhang Xuan: "Everyone was asleep. Who was driving so hard? It was me, the talkative one."
Qingyu sat up on the couch. "Are you sleepy?"
Everyone was asleep, and she didn't want to drive, so Zhang Xuan couldn't afford to be sleepy now.
Zhang Xuan: "Okay, a little."
He seems to have eaten too much; he wasn't sleepy before, but now he's getting sleepier for some reason.
Qingyu: "Be careful, watch where you're going."
Zhang Xuan: "Stop talking... the more you talk, the sleepier I get."
Qingyu: "Zhang Xuan."
Zhang Xuan: "...Huh?"
Qingyu: "I am a demon."
Zhang Xuan: "...Oh...Ah?!?"
-----------------------
A note from the author:
Xiao Zhang is in good health, but he suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning.
There are countless roads, but safety is the most important. Provocative words can instantly sober up a driver.
Also: The Golden Lotus chapter contains some sentimental messages about abducted girls and boys. I wrote it because I watched too much social news, and it didn't mean anything else. Logically, it's hard to analyze.
(I have a lot to say in my author's notes, but I always feel that it will affect the reading experience (although I feel that not many people read it, hahaha). But whatever, if I really have something to say about each plot, I will put it in the author's notes of the next chapter after the main plot ends. But most of them are our "train broadcasts".)
——
The train announcement was something I found really interesting. It basically said that if any readers find it uninteresting and want to drop it, or want to read other chapters—for passengers getting off/transferring—we wish them a safe journey! [Sprinkling flowers] Thank you so much for reading; my characters and I are incredibly grateful that you've accompanied this story for a while. [Heart emoji]
If any of you find this story interesting and have read up to a certain stop (like passengers who haven't arrived yet), or clicked on the latest chapter (like passengers who just boarded), then get ready, let's embark on a new journey together! [hugs]
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