WenRen He's hair was not cut off like other people's. His long, unkempt hair was tangled messily on his head, mixed with quite a few strands of white hair, showing the vicissitudes of life.
Along with his shabby, tattered clothes, he no longer had the aura of immortal grace from the past few days. No one would doubt if told he was collecting scrap.
WenRen He put down the lunch box on the cement ground next to him.
After a while, a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy slowly walked out from the side.
The boy wore an exceptionally ill-fitting oversized coat, as if he had stolen it from one of the adults in his family.
The boy's legs and feet seemed to have some problems. He walked haltingly, limping slowly out from the side. He went to the lunchbox and took one portion, silently eating it.
WenRen He also opened another lunchbox and ate alongside.
Both were eating nothing more than ordinary ham sausage egg fried rice, packed in white styrofoam boxes, with some vegetable shreds mixed in the yellow rice grains.
The boy wolfed down his food, and after finishing every last grain of rice in the lunchbox, he took out from his pants pocket a badly wrinkled mineral water bottle, and gulped it down in large mouthfuls.
After drinking it all, he held up the remaining water in the bottle and handed it to WenRen He next to him.
WenRen He accepted it, drank a mouthful, and returned it to him.
Then he went back to eating his own food, maintaining the silence between them.
After finishing the meals, WenRen He fished some money out of his pocket and placed it directly next to the boy.
"This money should be enough for your bus fare home and food and lodging along the way. Take it and don't lose it or get tricked out of it. When you get home, go find your family. This place is not suitable for you," said WenRen He.
The boy listened for a moment, with some confusion on his face. "I don't have a home anymore. My ma said my pa died, then later my ma died too. I went with them to work because I couldn't get enough to eat."
"Other than my ma, you're the only one who's been nice to me. Are you leaving?" There was a tinge of crying in the boy's voice.
Upon hearing this, WenRen He fell silent for a moment.
After a while, WenRen He spoke: "You're still young. You shouldn't live like this for your whole life, hiding under this bridge every day, going hungry and getting drenched by wind and rain."
"I think it's pretty good here. No one chases me away, and there's food to eat. After my ma died, they drove me out of the house and wouldn't let me live there anymore... Are you thinking I eat too much and can't work? Don't worry, tomorrow I'll go collect trash with you..."
The boy said stubbornly. WenRen He couldn't help but sigh.
What was he doing at this age?
He had been sent by his parents to Qingyun Sect. Relying on his exceptional talents, he easily became an inner sect disciple. He was under his master's protection, and had his parents' support behind him.
Even though his parents had passed away thousands of years ago, he had never suffered such destitution.
WenRen He was not familiar with this world, and lacking spiritual energy here, even if he wanted to impart martial arts to the boy before him, he could not.
How do ordinary people live?
After two thousand years without leaving Qingyun Sect, WenRen He was beginning to feel confused.
However, over the past few days working outside, he had overheard ordinary people's conversations. A child this age should be studying!
WenRen He said, "Do you want to go to school? I...I'll find someone to send you to school."
The boy shook his head stubbornly. "My ma sent me to school before, but the school was very far away. Living at the school cost money, and my family didn't have money for that. The teachers at the school said I was stupid and couldn't recognize words, so I couldn't sit in the classroom but had to go work in the fields. The other students there didn't like me either, so my ma told me to come back..."
WenRen He: "Listen to me. Study and work at the same time... I can find some work for you, but you have to go to school first!"
The boy looked at WenRen He, the distinct black and white of his pupils filled with some grievance and reluctance. "Are you tricking me?"
WenRen He: "I don't trick people. I'll go with you. After you finish school, come back and work with me."
"Deal!"
-
The next morning after breakfast, as the fellow disciples were cooperatively cleaning up, Song Jixing was wiping the porcelain white plates with a cloth. She directly brought up what she had seen at the amusement park yesterday.
She talked about catching sight of WenRen He at the amusement park, but didn't mention borrowing money.
Shen Feixian listened briefly and responded with a couple sounds: "I saw Elder WenRen on the street a few days ago. Elder WenRen even picked up a child."
"A child?" Song Jixing was instantly alert!
He hadn't illegally kidnapped a child, had he!
"Yes, a pitiful child."
Shen Feixian briefly recounted the story of seeing WenRen He working outside, chatting with him for a bit, then witnessing a group of people bullying a child and WenRen He going up and taking away that child.
"It seemed like when Elder WenRen saw that child, he called out someone's name. That child must be someone Elder WenRen knows!" Shen Feixian speculated.
Sitting to the side, Feng Juechen suddenly spoke up, "Junior Brother, did you hear clearly what Elder WenRen called that child?"
"He called him...Guang'er, I think? I'm not too sure." Shen Feixian himself wasn't certain.
Feng Juechen picked up the teapot next to him and poured each of them a cup of water.
"I've seen many scrolls in the Judicial Court's secret chamber. I've read through the scroll about Elder WenRen before. When Elder WenRen was young, he took a fellow female disciple as his dao companion. They had a son, WenRen Guang."
Song Jixing stopped her work, seeming to have guessed something.
Feng Juechen continued speaking, "...Elder WenRen's beloved son WenRen Guang died during a trial in a secret realm. After that, I don't know what happened, but that secret realm was permanently closed. Elder WenRen's dao companion passed away a few years later..."
"That's all I know. But I do know that Elder WenRen is the only elder in Qingyun Sect without any disciples under him. The other elders all have groups of disciples as descendants, only Elder WenRen has always been alone. Later he guarded the treasure trove, and has been in closed door cultivation ever since."
Could it be WenRen Guang?
"I didn't expect Elder WenRen to have such a past..." Yu Qing couldn't help but pick up an apple and started crunching it, chewing with relish.
"Junior Brother Feng, I heard that several of our sect's elders have some little-known love stories. Junior Brother, do the archives in the Judicial Court record a lot? Tell us some stories about those seniors now that the elders aren't around, let us open our ears!" Yu Qing took the chance to egg him on.
Song Jixing was also quite curious to hear about the stories of their seniors in the sect.
Feng Juechen smiled very gently, "Elder Sister Yu, do you know what kind of matters get recorded in the Judicial Court's archives?"
Yu Qing's apple crunching sounds immediately ceased, and she looked at Feng Juechen somewhat awkwardly.
"If Elder Sister wants to know, why not join the Judicial Court with me? I'll take you to see!"
Yu Qing hurriedly smiled awkwardly and declined, "No need, no need, Junior Brother you are too kind!"
