Chapter 154 — The Old Dwelling
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 4 of 6
He Dachuan and Du Biyan had clearly noticed nothing. Talking in low voices, they walked slowly past. Du Biyan carried a wooden bucket half full of water, with a rag draped over its side, as though they were off to clean something. Watching them go on ahead, one saw them soon arrive at the door of a room. Du Biyan shrugged at He Dachuan, He Dachuan smiled, and the two went in together.
A moment later Ming Li's figure emerged from a corner beyond the corridor, his gaze complicated as he looked ahead. The room those two former senior brothers had entered was, in fact, the very room where he had lived when he was still Zhang Qingyue, the little disciple of Dazhu Peak. But should that room not have fallen into disuse these many years? Why would his two senior brothers still go in?
Ming Li drifted over without a sound.
As though suddenly plunged into a dream of the past, he stood transfixed at the doorway. This little courtyard was exactly as it had been in those days: the gravel path was still there, the green grass was still there, and even that little pine still grew where it had always grown, only it had grown considerably thicker over the years.
The sound of water came from within, and then the voices of Du Biyan and He Dachuan: "Fourth Senior Brother, tell me honestly, after all these years, why does Master still have us clean this room? Isn't this just deliberately making me suffer?"
He Dachuan cursed him with a laugh. "You brat, you're trying to slack off again, aren't you? I'm telling you, Master has been in a fury lately over Eldest Senior Brother's business. Don't go provoking the old man, or he'll flay you alive."
Du Biyan gave a dry laugh. "Senior Brother, you're teasing me again. How would I dare provoke Master? It's just that Little Junior Brother has been gone more than ten years now, and Master still tells us to keep this place exactly as it was and clean it every day. I really can't fathom what the old man is thinking."
The figure standing outside the room stood woodenly, then slowly lowered his head.
Inside, He Dachuan was silent for a moment, then sighed and said in a low voice, "Master has never once spoken of Little Junior Brother all these years, but all of us know in our hearts that he doted on Junior Brother Xiaofan most of all."
Du Biyan's voice answered, "Yes, even I can see that. To be honest, sometimes I miss Little Junior Brother a great deal too. But what good does it do? Little Junior Brother has long since become another person entirely. Would he really come back to Dazhu Peak, turn back into Zhang Qingyue, and be our seventh junior brother again?..."
Outside the window, Ming Li's expression grew ever more indifferent, his body held straight, only his two hands clenched into fists, tighter and tighter.
Can one turn back?
The steps you took through time, the roads you crossed—after many years, do you still remember to look back? Do you still think of turning back?
The sunlight fell warm upon his body, yet he might as well have been standing in an icehouse.
He Dachuan and Du Biyan fell silent too. It seemed that even they found the topic dispiriting and were left with nothing to say. They bustled about inside for a while, then came out carrying the bucket. He Dachuan gently pulled the door shut and looked at the green grass in the little courtyard and the swaying pine branches. For all the fullness of spring, there was a note of loneliness about it. As though, with the master of the house absent, even this patch of spring light had quietly lost some of its color.
He shook his head, sighed, and left with Du Biyan.
A long while later, Ming Li slowly stepped out from behind the pine tree. The familiar mountain wind blew against his face and stirred his hair. He walked to the door and raised his right hand, laying it upon the wood.