"Your grandfather has passed away. Come back quickly."
Su Xun froze on the spot. It took him a long time before he asked, "Grandfather has passed away?"
The man on the other end of the phone sounded a bit impatient. "Do you think I'm lying to you? Hurry back!" With that, he hung up the phone.
Seeing Su Xun's state, Wang Lei gently patted him on the shoulder and asked carefully, "What's wrong?"
Su Xun stared at his roommate in front of him without saying a word. His mind was filled with memories of his grandfather. He was a left-behind child. It was quite ironic that his parents said they went out to work to support him, but they never sent much money back and didn't come home often either. Once, when Su Xun went home, he saw his parents, and they had a fierce argument with his grandfather.
During their argument, Su Xun gradually understood that his parents had another son. They took the younger brother with them and wanted him to study in the city. His grandfather felt sorry for Su Xun, so he quarreled with them.
It was from that moment that Su Xun realized that perhaps his parents didn't love him.
After that day, his relationship with his parents grew more and more distant. In his parents' eyes, he was an ungrateful child. They paid more attention to his younger brother than to him. Fortunately, his grandfather promised that he would spare no effort to support Su Xun's studies.
"I'll definitely be filial to grandfather when I grow up!"
However, grandfather didn't wait until that day.
Su Xun embarked on the journey back home. Wang Lei specially took a leave of absence to accompany him. He knew very well that his friend had a tough life. Even to attend this junior college, Su Xun had to work while studying.
"I don't understand. Grandfather was always in good health. Why is it so sudden..." Su Xun murmured. He had talked to his grandfather on the phone just a few days ago, and his grandfather's voice on the phone was still full of vigor.
Wang Lei sighed and patted his shoulder but couldn't find the right words to comfort him.
They took a train, then a bus, and then a tricycle. Finally, they had to walk on a mountain path.
"I kind of understand why your parents don't come back often," Wang Lei murmured. "This path is really a test of physical strength."
Su Xun walked ahead in silence. He and his grandfather had walked this path countless times.
There was a small and shabby house beside a bend. When passing by, Su Xun stopped and bowed three times towards the house.
"What's this?" Wang Lei asked, gasping for breath in confusion.
Su Xun replied, "It's the Mountain God. Grandfather said it could protect us."
Wang Lei curled his lips. As a college student, he certainly didn't believe in this, but he didn't say anything to discourage Su Xun either.
When they entered the village, Su Xun heard a lot of noise. He walked towards the source of the sound and found that almost all the villagers had gathered at his home. His cold - hearted father was smiling and greeting the villagers at the moment. When he saw Su Xun coming back, he was stunned for a moment, and then his face turned cold.
"You finally decided to come back? You're heartless. If it weren't for supporting your studies, your grandfather wouldn't have worked so hard!"
Su Xun opened his mouth but couldn't say a word in rebuttal.
Wang Lei frowned and asked, "Who are you?"
The man looked at Wang Lei in confusion and said, "I'm his father."
Wang Lei suddenly realized and said, "Oh my! Su Xun, you have a father? I always thought you only had your grandfather."
"What did you say?" Su Xun's father reacted and was obviously annoyed.
"Stop arguing. I'll go in to see grandfather," Su Xun didn't want to argue with him. He just walked past his father and entered the mourning hall. Wang Lei followed behind, looking at Su Wenqiang disdainfully. He knew very well that Su Wenqiang had hardly paid any attention to Su Xun's growth. He really looked down on such a person.
When he saw his grandfather's black - and - white photo placed there, Su Xun couldn't hold back his tears any longer.
He directly knelt in front of the memorial photo, unable to say a word.
"Brother, you're back?" A young boy asked. Su Xun turned his head and saw his younger brother, whom he saw only once a year. Su Xun simply replied with a "hmm" and wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
Then he saw his mother holding a stack of money and talking to someone. It seemed that she was collecting the condolence money.
But all these didn't matter anymore. He stared blankly at his grandfather's memorial photo without moving. Some villagers came to offer incense and comforted him. Su Xun just mechanically returned the greetings. The villagers could only sigh.
"Old Master Su was always in good health. Why did he suddenly fall ill and pass away?"
"Please accept our condolences."
The noise around gradually faded away. According to the local custom, only the family members of the deceased should keep vigil at night. After the villagers finished their memorial services, they left.
"Xiaobai, let's go. There are a lot of fleas here. Your father and I will take you to stay in the town for one night," his mother's voice came.
"Ah? But don't we need to keep vigil?"
His mother glanced at her estranged son and said, "Isn't he here?"
She didn't even want to mention Su Xun's name.
"Let's go. We've been tired all day. We need a good rest," Su Wenqiang also said. "Your brother should keep vigil. Your grandfather's death has a lot to do with him."
"Hey? I..." Wang Lei couldn't hold it back anymore, but Su Xun reached out and pressed his hand down. Wang Lei sat down angrily.
Su Xiaobai looked around, lowered his voice and said, "Brother, I left some food for you. Remember to eat it." He pointed to a large porcelain bowl on a small wooden table, which was covered with another bowl.
Su Xun nodded. In fact, he didn't hate his younger brother, but they weren't close either, after all, they hardly saw each other.
"You keep a good vigil here. The Taoist priest we invited will come later. Just do what he says," Su Wenqiang instructed and then left.
Wang Lei spat and said, "If I were your grandfather and had a son as unfilial as your father, I'd jump out of the coffin and beat him!"
"Are you taking advantage of me?"
"No, no, no. I didn't mean that. I was just making an analogy," Wang Lei scratched his head. "Don't worry, buddy. I'll stay up all night with you today!"
Su Xun didn't say a word. It was a long time before he whispered, "Thanks."
"Come on, we're good friends. Why are you being so polite?" Wang Lei nudged him.
A tinkling sound of copper bells rang out, and someone walked in from behind.
Su Xun and Wang Lei turned around at the same time and saw a man in Taoist clothes walking in. His hair was in a mess, and his eyes were even a bit red, as if he hadn't slept all night.
The Taoist priest frowned when he saw Su Xun and Wang Lei. "Only two people are keeping vigil?"
Wang Lei puffed out his chest and said, "There's nothing we can do. There are only three people in this family, but now there are only two."
The Taoist priest didn't say anything. He impatiently threw the odds and ends in his hand on the small table, tidied them up casually and then sat down. The scene fell silent. Su Xun stared at his grandfather's memorial photo, and Wang Lei stared at the Taoist priest. The Taoist priest felt a bit uncomfortable being stared at and finally started his work.
"May the sky be clear and the earth be spiritual. May the City God and the Earth God lead the way. May the golden boys go in front and the jade maidens follow. May the guiding banner wave three times. Sprinkle a bowl of clean water to dispel the dust. May the soul of the deceased not linger..."
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
