“That Zhu Silang is such a scoundrel. He was about to die and he still managed to stab you. If I hadn’t used my last bit of spiritual energy to block his stab in your heart, you would have died long ago. I saved your life again. How are you going to thank me?” Ranmo kept muttering behind me.
"Then how come you've returned to human form? And where did your spiritual energy come from?" I changed the subject and asked him in return.
Ranmo shamelessly said, "It's all because after Zhu Silang died, Immortal Lingyan successfully underwent tribulation to become a god and regained his immortal body. He came to check on your injuries as soon as possible. What's even more amazing is that he could also sense my presence. How could I let him go? So this spiritual energy is naturally what I'm demanding compensation from him for!"
“Ling Yan?” I asked.
"Yes, he originally wanted to heal your wounds, but the medicine merchant happened to find you unconscious, so he didn't interfere with your fate in the mortal world."
"He also told me to deliver an apology to you, because the final stab wasn't his doing. It was all because of Wen Heng's soul, which used the spiritual energy gathered in Ling Yan's body after successfully undergoing his mortal tribulation, to stab you!" Ranmo said angrily.
Upon hearing the name Wen Heng, my heart skipped a beat and began to race, but I forced a nonchalant smile and said, "Is that so? Very well."
"Okay? He wanted to kill you, how could you like someone like that?"
If it were his will, stabbing me would at least ease the guilt in my heart.
"Then his soul must have gone to the dream world by now, right?" I pressed.
"Your ghost messenger friend has already taken him away as you asked and sent him to the dream world."
I gave a nonchalant "Oh".
But deep down, there was a kind of pain, like unraveling a mystery.
I clutched my chest and calmed myself for a while.
Oh well... so what? I'll never see him again.
I snapped back to reality and wandered around the courtyard for a bit, only to discover that it was actually Mr. Yuan's "Longevity Pharmacy" courtyard.
It's just that it's been renovated and is now much newer and more spacious.
But the plum tree in the courtyard had already grown into a sturdy and robust old tree.
I never imagined that I would end up back here after all this time.
In the center of the pharmacy's lobby hung three old portraits: Mr. Yuan, the shop assistant, and a portrait of me.
I am very familiar with these three portraits; they are Zhou Yu's calligraphy.
That was a casual sketch that Zhou Lang made for the three of us when he had nothing else to do.
Surprisingly, it has been preserved to this day.
The middle-aged man at the pharmacy counter saw me standing in front of those three portraits for a long time…
He then enthusiastically introduced me, saying, "The young man is his grandfather, Mr. Yuan is their ancestor, and my portrait is the treasure of this pharmacy, known as the Medicine Fairy."
"My grandfather told me that this Medicine Fairy has a miraculous medicine that can bring people back to life. She saved the people of this city back then. Young lady, could you be the reincarnation of this Medicine Fairy? You two look exactly alike!" A middle-aged man called the waiter "grandfather."
They call me the Medicine Fairy? I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
It's hard to believe that the young man from back then is now a grandfather in the mortal realm.
All I could do was politely chuckle and exchange a few pleasantries.
Looking at the date on the portrait, I asked again, "What era is it now?"
I asked and learned that 150 years have passed since then, 150 years...
I murmured to myself.
It's only been 150 years.
But I feel like a very, very long time has passed...
I finally understand why mortals only live for a hundred years.
Having experienced a century of human vicissitudes in the mortal world, toiling away for a living, and watching familiar people leave one by one.
These things alone are enough to make one feel mentally exhausted and weary of a life filled with toil and pain.
Otherwise, the greatest calamity for these immortals and gods would be to descend to the mortal realm and become human.
They envy those humans who, after a hundred years, go to the underworld, drink a bowl of Meng Po soup, forget their past lives, jump into the well of reincarnation, and are reborn as heroes eighteen years later.
But I can only bear eight hundred years of joys and sorrows, and die alone in the human world.
I lit incense for Mr. Yuan and the young man's portraits to pay my respects to them.
The owner and his wife of Changsheng Pharmacy are very welcoming to me and have even asked me to stay at Changsheng Pharmacy to recuperate.
I feel like I don't have anything worth giving back to others.
In the end, I could only cut my own finger and give them three bottles of my blood-nourishing medicine as a way of repaying them.
After leaving a letter for the two kind people at Changsheng Pharmacy, Ranmo and I took advantage of the night to leave without saying goodbye and departed from this place...
Ranmo, however, was still thinking of lounging around here for a few more days. After I rolled my eyes at him, he sullenly slipped into my chest and kept quiet.
When I left the city, it was already broad daylight. By sheer coincidence, I ended up in the small courtyard of the Zhou Prince's Mansion, which belonged to Prince Shi Ci.
Now, only the outlines and ruins of a few collapsed, dilapidated, and overgrown houses remain.
I stood before the ruins, and images of what had happened in this small courtyard flashed through my mind.
Looking at the ruins before me, I finally understood what it meant to have everything changed and all was lost; before I could speak, tears streamed down my face.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey... Mr. Hua, can we stop being so sentimental and crying? Can we think about what we should do next?" Ranmo's words drifted out of my heart and circled around my ears.
I then looked up and swallowed back the tears welling up in my eyes and the emotions choking me.
I adjusted my pack: "The sea is wide enough for fish to leap, the sky is high enough for birds to fly! I can only continue to wander the world..."
"Shall we head west this time...?" I asked, my voice a mix of pleading and suggestion, as ink stained my surroundings.
"What? Are you going to the Western Paradise to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures?"
"That's not impossible..."
"You still want to become a monk?"
"I want to get married..."
And so, Ranmo and I once again became homeless wanderers, roaming the world without a fixed abode...
But she is no longer the naive, inexperienced girl who was passionate and earnest in dealing with everyone and everything she encountered.
If life were only as beautiful as our first meeting, why would the autumn wind bring sorrow to the painted fan?
Those people you meet for the first time are the most memorable and unforgettable, becoming the initial beauty imprinted in your bones for hundreds of years.
So much so that after experiencing countless instances of human warmth and coldness, and the fickleness of human relationships, he eventually came to understand the world.
The people and things I encountered afterward no longer evoked that same fiery passion.
Everyone else is just a fleeting figure in your mind, someone whose face you can barely remember, someone who brushes past you in life...
Spring, summer, autumn, and winter—the four seasons cycle.
I have traveled with Ranmo through mountains and rivers, seen fairylands, vast starry seas, all walks of life, the vicissitudes of human relationships, and the rise and fall of prosperity.
I have tasted all the delicacies of the world and drunk all the fine wines of the world.
I have known friends with whom I share a platonic friendship, and I have also helped people overcome poverty and wealth.
But all of that is just a passing cloud.
They seem to be living a carefree and unrestrained life.
But the person I fell in love with at first sight has made me spend a lifetime trying to forget that love.
But in the end, it became an unforgettable memory etched into one's bones, causing unrequited love and making one a sorrowful person throughout the world...
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