Immortal Travel of Longevity

"No one is investigating anymore," Ruyi said. "They never caught anyone, and the people in Shangjing City have been complaining bitterly, so the Local Government backed off the massive searches. It's been quiet for half a month now."

She glanced over at Dong Chiyu.

Dong Chiyu caught on quickly this time. "I can vouch for that," she spoke up.

Chen Changsheng swallowed his food and sighed. "When Sanniang saw you ride away, she couldn't eat for days."

At those words, Ruyi lost her clever, silver-tongued manner and silently lowered her head.

"It's not that I must lecture you on how to conduct yourself," Chen Changsheng said. "Naturally, I want you to be happy and carefree. But it is precisely because of that that I worry you'll end up unhappy and ill at ease in the future..."

Ruyi poked at the rice in her bowl with her chopsticks. "I know," she mumbled. "I know..."

She blinked; no one could see that her eyes had already gone red.

"Once you're full, you need to head home early, understand?" Chen Changsheng said.

"Uncle is sending me away?"

Chen Changsheng had been about to speak, but seeing Ruyi's red eyes, the words caught in his throat.

Ruyi wiped at a tear. "Why are you driving me away? I finally managed to see you!"

The more she spoke, the harder she cried, her tears falling uncontrollably.

She scrubbed at her eyes with both hands, sobbing as she spoke.

"You never came back to Qingshan City to see me! I know, I know you're closest to Sister Yun, so of course you'd come when her family had trouble. And I know my mother is upset with me, but I just wanted to see you. It's been so long since I last saw you."

"I grew up without a father. Through all the chaos and war, besides my mother, I only ever had you and Grandpa Huang. Grandpa Huang is gone. Besides my mother, there is only you. I look up to you like a father, and I just wanted to see you! Do you know how many guards in the city want to catch me? Why do you think I've been hiding and sneaking around just to stay here?"

Wiping her tears and sniffling, Ruyi cried, "I haven't even told you where I've been all these years or what I've been through! You only asked a couple of questions, and now you're trying to send me away!"

"I'm unhappy, I'm ill at ease, and nothing ever goes as I wish..."

With that, she threw herself into Chen Changsheng's arms and cried loudly.

She rarely ever cried like this.

Lihua stared in somewhat of a daze. It blinked, unable to stop itself from recalling the past.

It certainly knew what kind of girl Ruyi was.

Back when they were traveling the jianghu, she had suffered countless injuries and endured so much hardship without ever shedding a single tear. Yet now, she was sobbing like this.

Mao'er was being silly, and actually wanted to cry too.

It blinked its eyes rapidly, as if its own tears were about to fall.

Chen Changsheng reached out and stroked Ruyi's hair. "I'm not sending you away, I'm not sending you away..."

"Haven't I come?"

Through her tears, Ruyi sobbed, "You don't know anything! All these years, I've barely seen you. I just thought, you know so many people, one more of me doesn't matter, one less doesn't matter. I thought you'd forgotten all about me! No matter how much trouble I caused or how much I acted out, you never came to discipline me. Do you know how happy I was earlier when you were chasing me around the room to teach me a lesson?"

"You don't know anything."

Ruyi wiped away a tear, her voice full of accusation. "But you just see me as carefree and heartless, as easy to coax as a fool, and end up trying to dismiss me with a few simple words!"

"Sister Yun was exactly right. Where else is there such a heartless person?"

Chen Changsheng just gently patted her back, his expression drifting into a daze.

Ruyi was not a child anymore.

Chen Changsheng had often felt this way in recent years.

But it seemed he had been mistaken.

This girl had not grown up; she had simply hidden all her thoughts away. She had always been like this.

Just like back in the courtyard years ago—whenever she sulked, she would sit on the steps and refuse to say a single word.

She remembered more than just her mother; she remembered him, the uncle who came later. Sometimes, Ruyi had even treated him as a father. She had so many words she wanted to say, and had longed to see him countless times.

She was named Ruyi—As One Wishes—yet so many things in her life never went as she wished.

Ruyi sniffled and shifted her gaze. "...Why aren't you speaking?"

Chen Changsheng spoke softly, "Was I not listening to you scold me? I just wanted to hear exactly how wronged you've felt all these years, how unhappy and ill at ease you've been. I wanted to hear just how heartless This Chen is, and what a terrible person I've been."

Ruyi huffed, glaring at him with red eyes. "I knew it. You're still teasing me like a little kid. Look at you—you don't look guilty at all! Not even a little bit!"

She turned her head away.

"Ruyi is wrong about that," Chen Changsheng said. "This Chen doesn't just feel a fleeting moment of guilt. Truthfully, I think of you all quite often. I watched you and Ping'an grow up. You see me as an elder, yet I failed to do what an elder should. I often feel guilty, and I often feel regret."

Ruyi didn't speak for a long moment.

Chen Changsheng lowered his head, his gaze now carrying a great deal of uncertainty and helplessness.

Sitting off to the side, Dong Chiyu had entirely lost her appetite for the food.

She remained silent, feeling an aching pain in her heart.

She was envious. She envied that Ruyi still had such an uncle to care for her. What about her? Just because her mother came from a humble background, her family ignored her, and her elders treated her with disdain. She wanted to learn martial arts, but those self-proclaimed seniors only mocked her, as if she were destined to endure such contempt from the moment she was born.

"Anyway, you're not allowed to send me away," Ruyi muttered.

Chen Changsheng nodded and promised, "Mm, I won't send you away. I just promised you I wouldn't."

He reached out to wipe the tears from her face. "Uncle Chen was in the wrong..."

Inexplicably, Chen Changsheng pulled a piece of candied fruit from his sleeve and offered it to her.

Looking at the candied fruit resting in his palm, Ruyi suddenly broke into a smile through her tears.

"That's for kids."

Chen Changsheng smiled. "Ruyi isn't being very smart. Are you not allowed to eat candy just because you aren't a child?"

Ruyi gave a light huff and reached out to take it.

It was just like back then. A single piece of candied fruit was all it took to coax her.

She wiped away her last tear and popped the candied fruit into her mouth.

"Is it good?" Chen Changsheng asked.

Ruyi turned her head away. "It's passable, I guess..."

"Child."

"So what if I'm a child? I like it."

Ruyi hummed happily. Tasting the sweet candied fruit in her mouth, her mood slowly brightened.

She had always been like this—crying one moment and laughing the next.

She didn't take things to heart much, but if she decided to remember something, she would remember it for a very, very long time.

Maybe for a month or several months, or maybe for a year, several years, or even decades.

She was Ruyi, after all...

A girl who simply could not be reasoned with.

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