In the blink of an eye, another two years passed.
The fortieth year of the Kingdom of Jing.
A young couple brought their child, who was over a year old, to Pinecone Village.
The roads in the village had been rebuilt over the past two years, extending smoothly to every household.
There was even a main road extending to the edges of the fields, for the villagers to haul away the grain after harvesting.
A middle-aged peddler pushing a handcart shouted as he walked.
One could use silver and copper coins, or barter goods for goods.
The young man took out a few copper coins and bought a paper windmill.
The child grasped it in his hand, and when the wind blew, the windmill began to spin whirringly, making him giggle.
The woman wearing a clean cyan silk skirt pinched the edge of her skirt sowhat nervously and asked, "Husband, quickly help see if there's anywhere else I haven't arranged properly."
The young man reached out to tease the child. Seeing her so nervous, he couldn't help but laugh, "It's not like you haven't t him before, why be so flustered. Uncle has always been unconventional, wearing anything is fine."
After taking several deep breaths, the woman cald down a bit, and asked with curiosity and anticipation, "Are the crows at Uncle's house really bigger than people?"
"That's not true." The young man thought for a mont, and gestured at his waist, "About this big."
The woman's face was full of amazent. Wouldn't that be as tall as a five or six-year-old child.
The two walked along the village road and encountered so villagers on the way.
The young man then handed the child to the woman, cupped his hands, and greeted the villagers.
The villagers were also very enthusiastic, and also carried a bit of reverence.
In an open space ahead, an old man with one leg visibly atrophied and unable to straighten was lying on a reclining chair.
His hair was white and hoary, and he was extrely thin and weak.
On the wooden stools beside him, quite a few middle-aged n with white hair were already attentively fanning him with palm-leaf fans.
The young man walked over and cupped his hands, "Grandpa Village Chief, Uncle Guangmao."
Li Guangmao hurriedly stood up from the stool, "Huan'er is here, sit for a while?"
"No, I still have to go to Uncle's house."
Li Shoutian on the reclining chair opened his sowhat cloudy eyes, his voice sowhat low.
The young man hurriedly walked over and squatted beside him, hearing Li Shoutian say, "Take the exam well next year, bring back a Number One Scholar, and these old bones of mine can rest in peace."
"What are you saying? Uncle said you can live to a hundred years old," the young man said.
Li Shoutian chuckled, the teeth in his mouth almost all fallen out, leaving only two or three lonely ones, "Ah Xun, that person... only knows how to say nice things."
Seeming to hear the child's voice, Li Shoutian turned his head.
The young man hurriedly had his wife bring the child over. Li Shoutian struggled to raise his hand, and the child very cooperatively and curiously grasped his finger.
The skin-and-bones Li Shoutian chuckled out loud again, "Good child, you will all be promising in the future."
After a mont, the family of three left.
Li Guangmao watched their retreating figures. After turning back and sitting down, he clicked his tongue and said, "Dad, if Huan'er really becos the Number One Scholar, how much face will our village have!"
Li Shoutian closed his eyes again and said, "Even if he's not the Number One Scholar, our village also has face."
Li Guangmao seed to think of sothing and laughed heartily, "Right, right, right, we've always had a lot of face!"
Not long after, the family of three arrived in front of the residence.
The house, renovated last year, had blue bricks and red tiles.
A few clusters of Boston ivy spread up along the corners of the walls. Although they hadn't covered the entire wall yet, they also left a beauty of imperfection.
The courtyard gate was half open. The young man reached out to push it open and walked in first.
The woman followed closely behind. As soon as she looked up, she saw dozens of crows squatting on the eaves.
Her eyes revealed a look of utter amazent. These crows were indeed astonishingly large.
A question popped into her mind again, "With so many crows, how can the eaves bear it without collapsing?"
Ordinary tiles shouldn't be able to bear such weight.
Moving her gaze down, she first saw the plaque hanging on the lintel, and then the figure squatting at the door of the house.
Having t him before, what left the deepest impression were those eyes.
Very bright, very spirited.
But for so reason, whenever she recalled them, she always felt that those eyes carried so indescribable sorrow.
The family of three walked forward. Only when they got close did they realize the man was looking at the "weed" at the door of the house.
Twenty leaves, erald green, forming a circle piece by piece.
Last year, one could still see a bright red flower blooming. By this year, the petals had already fallen, revealing a cyan fruit in the middle.
The size of a thumb, round and plump.
The young man smiled and said, "I've seen people raise flowers, and I've seen people raise fish, but only Uncle has such patience to raise a single plant for most of his life."
A few crows flapped their wings and jumped down from the eaves, landing beside him and cawing.
The woman was still a bit worried and subconsciously hugged the child tighter.
A gentle voice ca to her ears, "Don't be afraid, they won't hurt our own family."
The woman looked up and saw that the man who was originally squatting had now stood up.
His eyes were still as bright as in her mory, yet also contained a hint of sorrow.
It made the onlooker's heart tighten involuntarily. What kind of things would make this man, who had imnse wealth and vast connections, have such lancholy eyes.
It wasn't until the child reached out to grab the crows that Liu Yuqing snapped back to reality and hurriedly curtsied, "Yuqing greets Uncle."
"No need for excessive courtesy."
Chu Xun smiled and made a gesture of helping her up, then said to Huan'er, "Your aunt, Ermao's wife, Qiaohua, and a few children went to the temple fair together. I'm afraid they'll be back later."
"Then we'll just wait here for a while. It just so happens I haven't seen the crows for a long ti."
"So you ca to feed the crows?"
"Also to see Uncle, half and half, haha..."
Listening to the conversation between the two, Liu Yuqing's heart slowly relaxed.
With the child fussing to touch the crows, she was still a bit worried.
Huan'er took the child from her arms and put him down, "Don't worry, I've played with the crows since I was little, they are very docile."
Liu Yuqing lowered her head and watched the crows surround the child, tilting their heads to observe.
Perhaps feeling the child was too small to reach, they even bent their bodies and offered their heads over.
The child grabbed the feathers on the crows' heads, tugging and giggling.
The crows weren't angry either. They just casually turned their heads, and the feathers slipped out of the child's hands.
Under the sunlight, the pitch-black feathers showed a bit of gorgeous color, making Liu Yuqing look on with a face full of surprise.
"So crows aren't black, but multicolored?"
A rubbing sound ca from her feet. Liu Yuqing looked towards the sound.
She saw a few weasels nearly two feet long run out from sowhere, stand up, and push the stools in the courtyard over.
One for each person, pushed under the butts of the three people, and then ran over to squeeze into the flock of crows, curiously sniffing around the little doll.
"Squeak squeak" sounds ca, and seven or eight palm-sized little voles also popped their heads out from the vegetable patch in the corner of the courtyard.
Not afraid of strangers at all, they crawled over quickly and rubbed back and forth at the doll's feet.
Liu Yuqing was both scared and amazed, getting goosebumps all over her body.
How could there be so many birds and beasts in Uncle's house.
If it weren't contrary to etiquette, she would have wanted to run away.
"Sit," Chu Xun said, sitting down first.
Huan'er then followed and sat down.
"I thought you would co back after the spring tropolitan examination. A few days ago when I went to the town to buy wine, your mother even said she missed you very much. Have you been ho to see them?" Chu Xun asked.
"I went ho first, and only ca after eating with my parents," Huan'er said.
He then explained, "The spring tropolitan examination is still so days away. Teacher said to let co back for a trip, and after seeing my family, then focus my mind on preparing for the exam."
[End of Chapter]
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