Shi Hua placed his backpack on his knees and took out a water bottle and dry rations from inside.
The water was ordinary bottled mineral water, a brand that could be seen everywhere on the streets, while the dry rations were pieces of bread packaged in a plastic bag.
Ordinary bread slices that could remain soft even after opening three days later—that was the reason Shi Hua treated them as dry rations.
Of course, there were also sauces made by fellow members of the Qingyun Sect, which were packaged in small plastic tubes similar to toothpaste tubes, with a tiny opening. A light squeeze would be enough to fill one's stomach.
Shi Hua meticulously sat on the steps and prepared his breakfast, then proceeded to slowly eat the two pieces of bread with spread sauce.
He ate as if it were not some ordinary bread with spread, but an exquisite delicacy of exorbitant price.
During this time, the young man beside him remained motionless with his head lowered.
Even after Shi Hua finished his breakfast, tidied up his belongings, and began admiring the sky, the young man remained in the same state.
Perhaps about ten minutes later, a few faint vibrations came from the phone in the man's clothing.
He took out his phone, looked at it for a few seconds, and tears began to uncontrollably stream down his eyes as he embraced the phone and started to sob softly.
The man's cries grew louder and louder, with tears seeping through the gaps between his fingers and dripping onto the ground, leaving a not-so-obvious watermark as they were absorbed by the dust.
The man cried for quite a while, eventually losing control and staggering to his feet from his original spot.
He raised his eyes and looked around, his gaze carrying a sense of bewilderment.
Those eyes that had long lost their radiance seemed to have caught sight of something, prompting him to walk towards it.
Shi Hua stood up as well and slowly followed behind him.
A little over a hundred meters ahead was an extremely spacious lake.
The two of them walked one after the other to the lakeside, with the man standing on the shore, gazing at the cold, wet lake surface, and by chance catching sight of his own reflection beside him.
Shi Hua had followed him all the way here, and he knew.
Was there anything left on him that others would covet?
The man turned his head and looked lifelessly towards Shi Hua. After a brief silence, he said, "What do you want to do?"
The man's voice sounded very weak.
"What do you want?"
Shi Hua looked at the man and revealed a gentle smile on his face. "Seeking a shortcut is not a good solution."
Upon hearing these words, the young man's expression finally changed slightly. "Are you trying to say I'm young? That the road ahead is still long?"
"Indeed! You're still young, and you can change a lot in the future. Why don't you give it another try?"
"Heh, a promising future. I've lived all these years, always striving! As a child, I worked hard at studying, thinking that making it would secure my future. After starting work, I worked hard, thinking that would help me get promotions and raises to live a better life."
"I studied day and night, scoring high enough to get into a good school, while others only needed half the score to get into even better ones. Was I not working hard enough? I worked diligently, afraid of being late and having my full attendance deducted. I would arrive half an hour early every day. The boss thought I was capable, so he gave me all the work."
"If I did well, he'd praise me a bit. If I didn't, he'd just scold me outright! After two years, my salary only went up by eight hundred a month. Meanwhile, a colleague who joined at the same time as me, just because his family had connections, could show up late and leave early every day, but the finance department would still give him full attendance. Even if he didn't know how to do the work and messed up projects, he'd still get promoted directly to a managerial position! His salary became twice mine. Is this the result of my hard work?"
"My mother worked so hard to raise me all these years, but I still hadn't been able to give her a comfortable life when she was hit by a car and sent to the hospital. Those people with power and influence wouldn't let me sell my house or borrow money to pay for her treatment because I refused to sign a release form, using my mother's life to force me."
"I went to report them, but the investigation kept getting delayed. Once they found out, they immediately set up a scheme to frame me, getting me a criminal record so I lost my job and home, and even my girlfriend left me. When I could have saved my mother, I couldn't save her. Is all of this what my hard work is supposed to earn me?"
"For people like us who have worked so hard all these years, deceiving ourselves every day that today's hardship will lead to a better tomorrow, what's the reality? Does being young matter? Does hard work matter?"
"Just because I'm a stray dog walking down the street that offended someone's eyes, does that mean they can kick me to death? Leave me with no way to live in this world? I have no home left, and my mother is gone too. I can't take revenge, I have nothing left." The young man cried out.
The gentle expression on Shi Hua's face remained unchanged as he spoke in a soothing voice, "I'll take you to a place. If you're willing, you'll be able to see a turn of events right away."
"Only, if the path in your heart changes one day, you will lose everything you've gained once again."
"Where to?" The young man's expression had improved somewhat after venting his emotions in a frenzy, perhaps because this was the first time someone was willing to patiently listen to his story.
"Walk that way from here, it'll take two hours. Can you keep up?" Shi Hua said, glancing at the young man's feet.
He wasn't wearing any shoes.
"Let's go..." the young man said.
His life had already gone to ruin like this. How much worse could it get?
Two hours wasn't too long or too short.
The young man followed behind Shi Hua, treading on the cold, hard path, his left foot sole already rubbed raw and bleeding, though the physical pain was far less than the anguish in his heart.
Midway, Shi Hua heard the young man's stomach growling and offered him some bread, but the young man refused.
"Eat your fill first, so you'll have the strength to go on."
"This is the last stretch of road I'll ever need to walk." The young man weakly refused the bread.
Shi Hua didn't insist upon seeing this.
The only thing that surprised the young man was that on their way here, all the traffic lights turned green, allowing them to proceed smoothly, as if hinting that things would get better for him in the future.
He had received such hints thousands of times before, but what use were they?
The young man mocked himself, quickly abandoning such thoughts.
The two arrived at a large square in front of a building with a long queue formed.
Many young and middle-aged people were lining up here, with even some elderly present. Even during the New Year, this place was bustling.
Perhaps because people felt there would be fewer people queuing during the New Year holidays, as well as a longing for an extraordinary life.
They were all waiting for their own opportunities, just in case they struck it rich and ascended to glory.
Wealth, honor, and eternal life—from then on, nothing could shackle their footsteps.
In the eyes of ordinary people, this was what cultivating immortality meant.
The young man looked at the long queue, somewhat puzzled, as he hadn't kept up with the news for a long time.
He didn't care about the news on TV, only about himself.
Shi Hua surveyed the rather long queue that extended all the way to the front of the building, with one entrance and one exit, but didn't see how it was moving along the way.
He was a suitable candidate and didn't need to wait in line.
Shi Hua then approached with the young man, showed his identification at the entrance of the building, and said, "I've brought someone with me."
Upon hearing this, everyone turned their gaze towards the young man behind Shi Hua, revealing exceptionally warm smiles. "Please, come in."
