The rich businessman did not lie to Ke An. The natural disaster was really over, and the people who had been exiled to various places returned to this land one after another.
Unfortunately, most of these people are unfamiliar faces, and I can’t see the old friends I remember.
Ke An knew that a man is innocent unless he possesses a treasure.
He was holding a large amount of gold given by a wealthy businessman. If the villagers found out, it would definitely not be a good thing.
Therefore, he distributed the gold to every household, keeping only a small portion for himself as a reserve.
Because of his generosity in giving away money, the surrounding residents thought Ke An was very strange, but they did not mock or laugh at him. Instead, they kept their distance from him.
Ke An was not a person who liked to be in a crowd. He was already very satisfied to occasionally hear laughter and joy around him.
When the stairs reached the 182nd floor, a new family moved into the village. However, this family had a very bad reputation. The villagers looked down on them openly and gossiped about them behind their backs.
Through what he saw and heard, Ke An roughly knew the situation of that family.
The hostess of that family used to be a prostitute. She wore heavy makeup and revealing clothes. She fled here in a hurry when she got pregnant unexpectedly and gave birth to a baby girl.
The girl was very beautiful, with delicate features and fair skin. Unfortunately, she came from a poor family and was often ridiculed by the villagers, both openly and covertly.
Under the guidance of adults, other children in the village also disliked the girl very much. Not only did they not play with her, but they often used excessive means to tease her.
The girl developed a withdrawn personality since childhood. She often didn't say a word for a long time, and there was no innocent smile on her face that belonged to a child.
She always sat alone on the deserted grass, fiddling with the weeds, chasing butterflies, or lying down with her head raised, quietly watching the clouds in the sky come and go.
Ke An discovered her inadvertently. The two lonely people looked at each other quietly, one big and one small, one tall and one short, and no one knew what to say.
It was not until a series of gurgling sounds were heard that Ke An realized that the girl must be hungry. He took out a scallion pancake and stuffed it into her hand.
The two did not speak, and they didn't even know each other's names, but they sat together without any hesitation, munching on the scallion pancakes in their hands and gazing into the distance together.
From then on, there was a little girl on the stairs, who would always watch Ke An silently when he was building the stairs.
By the time the stairs reached the 374th floor, the girl had grown into a graceful young lady. The young men in the village were attracted by her and pursued her madly, but without exception, they all failed.
Although they were unwilling to admit it, they knew in their hearts that this beautiful girl already had someone in her heart.
Returning to the village again after many years, the girl ran to the steps with joy, propped up her head, and looked at Ke An quietly like she did when she was a child, with a moving light shining in her eyes.
What frustrates her is that Ke An is still concentrating on building the stairs as before and ignores her.
Only after finishing a busy day's work and walking down the stairs to eat would Ke An think of her. Like when they were little, he would stuff a big pancake into her hand and rub her head lovingly.
The girl enjoyed this simple and warm time very much. Even though there was no fluctuation in Ke An's eyes that she expected, as long as she could stay by Ke An's side, she felt happy enough.
But after growing up, she could no longer squat on the steps and watch Ke An silently every day like she used to. She still had many other things to do.
When the stairs reached the 521st floor, the girl returned to the village again.
This time she put on makeup and tied her hair up. Her eyes, rippling like autumn waves, sparkled with charming brilliance. Even Ke An, who was concentrating on the stairs, was inadvertently attracted by her.
When their eyes met, Ke An was stunned for a moment. Everything around him seemed to be passing by rapidly, and in the blink of an eye it was dusk.
Ke An walked down the stairs and came in front of the girl, lost in thought.
Whenever he saw the girl before, he would rub her head without any hesitation, but today, he was a little at a loss. He stood there in a daze, not saying a word for a long time.
The girl sensed something was wrong with Ke An, and an unconcealable joy emerged in her bright eyes.
However, she did not say what was in her heart. Instead, she took a step back, put some distance between herself and Ke An, and then took out a small wooden comb from her arms and gently handed it over.
The girl said that if he missed her, he could go to the city to find her, and she would never sit foolishly on the steps waiting for him like she did before.
Ke An stared at the girl's receding back and remained in his senses for a long time.
The wooden comb in his hand still had a lingering fragrance and was stained with a few strands of the girl's hair.
Ke Anli stood there, feeling his heart pounding. An emotion he had never experienced before gushed out and occupied his mind.
At one point, he really wanted to leave here and go to the city to find her.
However, Ke An touched his weathered face, looked at the stairs behind him that would take who knows how long to build, and his restless heart instantly calmed down.
His feet once again stepped onto the steps that overlooked the sky.
Let's go, let's go, there's still a long way to go...
When the stairs reached the 572nd floor, Ke An saw a giant bird with golden feathers flying among the clouds in the sky, preying on the dragons that were roaming among the dark clouds.
A cultivator came up with a sword and shouted at the giant bird to stop, because those dragons were the cultivator's pets.
However, the giant bird's eyes were full of disdain. With a flap of its wings, this highly skilled cultivator instantly turned into a pool of flesh, unable to even utter a scream.
Ke An, who was standing on the steps, saw this scene clearly and sighed for a moment.
Could it be that those extremely powerful monks who regard all living beings as worthless could also be so weak at times?
It seems that there is no absolutely powerful giant beast in this world that can control the life and death of all things with a flap of its wings. Perhaps in front of a certain existence, it is also a weakling like an ant.
On the 621st floor, Ke An, as usual, was sweating on the steps under the scorching sun.
It was not until dusk that he stopped, rubbed his sore arms, and walked down the steps step by step.
But when he reached the last few steps, Ke An suddenly stopped because a pair of tearful eyes appeared in front of him.
The girl is back, but she is no longer as clever and cute as before, and has become much more mature and stable.
However, no matter how mature she was, she couldn't help but feel aggrieved and her eyes became red and swollen, and she cried sadly in front of Ke An.
"Why...why don't you come to me..."
Ke An had no way to answer this question. His heart felt like it was stabbed by a knife, and it hurt so much that he could hardly breathe.
The girl's next words were like a bolt of lightning to him, as if his head had been hit hard by a heavy hammer.
"In three days, I will get married..."
Ke An stared at the girl in front of him in a daze. It took him a long time to come back to his senses. He raised his right hand tremblingly and gently wiped away the tears on her face.
The girl threw herself into Ke An's arms and cried for a long time, until she had completely no strength left, and then she reluctantly pulled herself away.
Before leaving, the girl took back the small and exquisite wooden comb from Ke An.
"If you still love me, come and take it yourself. If you no longer have any feelings for me, I will give this comb to someone else and it will never belong to you again."
"Ke'an, this time, I won't wait for you anymore."
Ke An stared at the girl's receding back, lost in thought for a long, long time.
During this short period of time, he wanted to rush over and hug the girl in his arms countless times.
But in the end, he turned around with difficulty and looked at the giant staircase pointing to the sky.
He has been walking on this lonely road since he was young, accompanied by loneliness and walking with the sun and the moon.
In this life, he is destined to die alone.
On the 774th floor, Ke An is really old. He used to work from morning to night without feeling anything, but now he is so tired that he can't straighten his back after working for two or three hours.
Every time he walked down the steps to eat, Ke An would think of the girl who was watching him silently. Sometimes a bright smile would appear on his face, and sometimes a hint of melancholy would appear on his face.
He didn't remember how long the girl had been gone, maybe a few years, maybe more than ten years, but she never came to see him again.
The girl should be married by now, and maybe even have several children.
Although he felt a little sad, Ke An felt that this was the best ending for the girl.
He was old and had no energy to build the stairs, so he could not bring happiness to the girl.
After sighing, Ke An stood up from the ground and cast his eyes towards the giant staircase that was beginning to take on a magnificent appearance.
This is the path he chose, and he has to finish it even if he has to kneel.
On the 986th floor, Ke An looked older and older, with most of his hair turning white.
Occasionally, when he felt tired, Ke An would stop, sit on the steps, look at the clouds in the sky, and let his thoughts drift back to the past.
He remembered the villagers who had called him a weirdo, the monks fighting in the air that caused explosions of thunder, and the wealthy businessman who admired his perseverance and rewarded him with a lot of gold.
In the end, he couldn't help but think of the girl who was sitting on the steps and looking at him silently.
When Ke An gets old, he always thinks of the people and things from the past.
He felt that as a mortal, his life had been wonderful enough, and he would not feel sad even if he died at any time.
However, the ladder to heaven that he had poured his life's work into was only just beginning, and was still a very long way from the heaven above the sky.
He didn't know how high he could build the staircase in the short time he had left, so he could only try his best to build the staircase higher.
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