Chapter 217 New Year
Fireworks exploded in the night sky, and the sudden white light illuminated Qin Ran on the barren mountain.
On this snowy night, Li Shiyin was setting off fireworks, and Qin Ran was watching the fireworks.
Li Shiyin was setting off her own fireworks, and in her backyard, she and her brother lit up the gorgeous fireworks.
And Qin Ran was watching someone else's fireworks. He was outside the city, in the mountains, in the dark, alone, soaked in the rain, watching the fireworks light up in someone else's night sky.
He was outside the city of Qingyuan, and his parents in this life were in Qingyuan City.
Qin Ran was a person with a strong sense of ritual. In this world, even if he lived alone, he would celebrate the traditional festivals of his previous life. He would pay tribute to his master on Qingming Festival; make rice dumplings on Dragon Boat Festival; burn paper money on Zhongyuan Festival; make moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival; and set off firecrackers on New Year's Eve.
He remembered the festivals of his previous life, but...he always celebrated them alone.
In fact, his relatives in this life were still there, and both his parents were alive, in Qingyuan City, very close to Daojianmen. If he wanted, he could run back and forth several times a day. It's just hard to say what kind of feelings he has for them.
He went up the mountain to practice when he was very young, and he should have been only five years old at that time. In addition, he was originally a lonely soul wandering in another world. How can he be asked to have feelings for his parents in this world?
Although he paid attention to them and pushed them secretly to make their lives better. But, he never met them again after all.
If Li Shiyin hadn't said to go home for the New Year, maybe he wouldn't have thought of running here on the New Year's Day to "go home".
"Home" is in the city, but at this moment he stood here and felt the loneliness from the whole world. This loneliness has nothing to do with cultivators and mortals, but this world and him, he and this world, are incompatible.
New Year... This world is very lively, but those lively things have nothing to do with him.
It rained all night, and Qin Ran, a water mage, was soaked by the cold rain. Until dawn, he didn't go into Qingyuan City.
When a little light appeared in the east, making the world a little brighter, he turned and left, away from Qingyuan City.
Qin Ran found the direction of Daojianmen, and walked back to Danfeng step by step, like a mortal. Perhaps... that was his home.
From Qingyuan to Daojianmen, if he used the means of a cultivator, flying or escaping, he would arrive in a blink of an eye, but if he walked like a mortal, Qin Ran walked for more than ten days.
He walked step by step, walking through muddy roads, thorny roads, rocks, tall trees, boulders, rivers, and roads without roads. His clothes were torn and his shoes were broken. He waded through mud, thorns, gravel, and rivers barefoot.
He didn't know why he had to walk like this, but he walked like this... Just like he had to overcome the tribulation during his practice; to find a home, a spiritual home, he also needed to "overcome the tribulation".
On the way, he saw hunters going into the forest alone, regardless of the New Year and the cold; he saw skinny pale old women begging on the roadside; he saw birds and animals looming in the jungle by the roadside; he saw dead people on the road; he saw corpses and bones in the jungle...
He saw all living beings in the world. It turns out that no matter which world or era, ordinary people at the bottom are the same.
All living beings suffer.
The New Year is the end of the old, the beginning of the new, the sign of a better life, the new hope of life, and... a happy thing. It should be a happy thing.
But what does such a New Year have to do with these suffering beings? What does it have to do with him, Qin Ran?
Qin Ran walked hundreds of miles in the rain, and walked back to Daojianmen like the old woman who staggered in the rain to beg.
He looked up at the mountain gate of Daojianmen and thought, what is the difference between him in the cultivation world and ordinary people in the human world? There is no difference from the wandering begging old woman.
Because of his sloppy appearance, he was also driven away by the same evil-minded villains... Beggars should stay away from Daojianmen, a place of importance for immortals.
So, there is no difference between humans and immortals.
He did not pursue the crime of the outer disciple, but took out the token, opened the formation passage and entered Daojianmen.
When he arrived at Danfeng, Qin Ran looked up at the fog formed by the mountain protection formation outside Danfeng. That was the formation he built bit by bit. Danfeng was originally his home in this alien world.
But...
When he arrived here, he realized that perhaps a person's home is not a specific place, but a person.
"Alas!"
He sighed and waved his hand to open the formation.
Then he passed through the formation passage...
and saw that person.
I don't know when it stopped raining. On the lawn in front of the cabin in Danfeng, there were two Taoist silhouettes, one red and one white, chasing and playing. The red one was Li Shiyin in red, and the white one was Zhuifeng in snow-white.
These two guys can't live in peace if they don't make a fuss for a day.
Qin Ran passed through the formation and stood in front of the lawn looking at the two of them.
"Master?" Li Shiyin was the first to notice that Qin Ran was back. She ran over and wanted to give Qin Ran a bear hug excitedly, but Qin Ran's embarrassment made her stop abruptly, "Master! How did you become like this?"
She added, "The same as Li Shiwen."
Zhuifeng ran over and sniffed around Qin Ran, shaking his big head: "Dad, have you been bullied?"
Qin Ran held down the cat head that was spinning around in Zhui Feng, looked at Li Shiyin, laughed, and asked, "When did you come back?"
"I've been back for several days!" Li Shiyin replied, "I'll be back after the Chinese New Year!"
She looked at Qin Ran, and suddenly her hands were pinching the corners of her clothes, and finally she was shy like a girl. She lowered her head and whispered, "Who knew that you, Master, were not in Danfeng."
The girl's shyness was so tempting that Qin Ran wanted to go up and hug her tightly in his arms and take good care of her, but he didn't. He held back with great perseverance.
He looked away and replied, "I walked around."
Li Shiyin looked at Qin Ran's feet and found that Qin Ran's shoes were broken and several toes were sticking out of the shoe surface.
She took out two pairs of shoes from her bag and handed them to Qin Ran, her voice getting lower and lower, saying, "Master gives you shoes."
The shoes were given to her by Yang Yanqi before she left home. Yang Yanqi told her, "This is the custom of my mother. If you like a boy, you have to give him shoes, so that he can't get out of your palm."
This is a token of love.
Qin Ran didn't know, he thought it was an ordinary gift, smiled and took it, and said, "Thank you."
Hearing the noise of Qin Ran's return, Long Qiqi came out of the shed, looked over here, saw Li Shiyin's appearance, frowned and said, "Why is Li Shiyin so effeminate today?"
The family of three walked towards the cabin. Qin Ran raised his head and found that the sky, which had been cloudy, rainy or snowy for more than a month, finally retreated with dark clouds and the sun appeared on the horizon.
New Year, the Spring Festival has arrived.