Chapter 1: If this is the end?

The Bamboo Grove, a place I have dreamed of a thousand times during my years of wandering, a name I have repeated a thousand times in my heart, so even if I am completely unconscious, I can still know where this is?

The faint fragrance of bamboo… the sound of the wind rustling through the bamboo leaves. It must have been a fine afternoon, with the warm, faint sunlight shining obliquely through the bamboo window and hitting my face. Everything was so quiet and beautiful.

My thoughts have not fully recovered, and my whole body is still very light. It is only the sweet taste in my mouth that reminds me that someone just fed me something. The taste is that of grapes… and the taste of grapes is so good in my memory.

Time kept flowing backwards, and I felt like I was back in the old house when I was a child. My second sister was sitting by the bed, carefully peeling the grape skins one by one and feeding me grapes… My second sister! My thoughts recovered most of their clarity in an instant. I had clearly heard my second sister’s voice just now!

How could my second sister be here? This is the Bamboo Grove Villa. How did I end up back here?

I couldn’t tell what I was feeling inside, like I was in a happy dream, but I was too happy to be aware of it. I just wanted to sit up and see if the footsteps I heard just now were really my sister’s. But as soon as I sat up, I felt a sharp pain in my chest.

At that moment, I let out a gasp of cold air… I couldn’t help but moan and fell onto the bed.

Then I heard a crash, the sound of a porcelain bowl falling to the ground. Then I saw a person with tears in his eyes, his lips trembling as he looked at me. I don’t know why, but I was a little scared, like a child who had done something wrong and was afraid to face it. I could only mumble the word “Mom” from my throat, which was still dry and aching.

Yes, it was my mother standing at the door. Over the years, I have been too busy looking for a master, and I always felt that my parents and sisters were taking care of me. In addition, due to my own fate, I was always afraid to get too close to my parents and be too intimate with them… Thinking about the memories of the years I spent with them, it was almost a blank, and I rarely even called them.

Now, when I appear before them again, it is in this seriously injured state, on the verge of death. From the faintness in my head, I know that I have been unconscious for quite some time.

How unfilial I have been, keeping my parents worried about me like this? That’s why I was afraid to face them…

After I called out “Mom,” my thoughts were so complicated. The important thing was the feeling of sadness, but my mother had already rushed over in three steps, ignoring everything and holding me in her arms.

I was already in my 30s, and I was a little embarrassed to be suddenly held in my mother’s arms, but the familiar smell from my mother somehow made me feel at ease. I was very happy that there were several selfless people in the world who loved me, and my parents were naturally two of them.

In fact, my mother was a little excited and didn’t notice that this action involved my wound, which made me a little sore, but in order not to worry her, I held back.

In this way, my mother quietly held me for a few seconds. The tears that rolled down her face fell into my neck, warm… I was sad inside, but I forced myself to smile to comfort her. I thought a smile would be the greatest comfort for her, right?

But my mother pushed me away again, put her hands on my shoulders and began to look at me carefully up and down.

In my eyes, her hair had turned completely gray, and the wrinkles on her face had deepened… these days, perhaps because of worry, she looked haggard, and her eyes were red from crying… I felt distressed, and couldn’t help but want to reach out and place my hand on her face.

But I didn’t expect that such a simple movement of raising my hand would pull on the wound, and the intense pain made me let out a “sigh” again, and I couldn’t sit still for a moment, and I fell softly on the bedside.

“Xiu Yun, what are you doing? Did you get Sanwa?” With the sound of chaotic footsteps, an excited voice came from the door, and I looked up and saw a large crowd of people. Wasn’t my father the first to come?

I looked at him quietly. Compared to my mother, he was much older. His hair was almost completely white, and his originally dark face had deep wrinkles that looked like they had been carved with a knife… He had deep bags under his eyes, and his eyes were also red.

I must have been in a coma for a long time, and he must have worried about me just as much as my mother.

Unlike women, men have deeper worries.

I looked at my father, and the tears that I had just held back finally blurred my eyes. I gritted my teeth and held back the tears. I always firmly believed that a smile could ease their worries at such times… In the blur of tears, I couldn’t see clearly who was standing behind my father.

I really wanted to explain to my father, but I was a little weak and slow to respond.

At this moment, my mother couldn’t help but touch me anxiously, afraid of hurting my wound. She was very careful with her hands and asked me over and over again, “Sanwa, did I hurt you? Where does it hurt? Don’t you know what kind of life I’ve been living for the past two weeks? If something happens to you, how will you and your father live?

As she spoke, my mother could not help but cover her face and cry softly. My father, on the other hand, looked very agitated, but he walked over with a strong face and a firm hand on his back, scolding, “You said you were getting worse with age, and you must have hurt Sanwa’s wound, that’s why he’s crying! What are you crying about? Sanwa just woke up, why are you saying these things in front of him? What are you crying about?”

My mother and father have always spoken in this way for almost their entire lives. My mother is also a strong-willed person, and she never fails to retort when my father scolds her. This time, however, she was unusually quiet and quickly wiped away her tears.

My father, however, kept on nagging, but his eyes were always on me, showing a deep concern and care. I felt that he seemed to want to cry, but he was too embarrassed to do so. He kept looking at me for a while, then turned his face to the window and took a few deep breaths.

I looked at my parents and felt an indescribable sadness. I endured the pain, grabbed my mother’s hand, and then took a deep breath and said to my father, “Dad, I tore my wound myself.”

After that, I started to pant heavily, because when all my thoughts and feelings returned, it was really painful, and I couldn’t help but feel the pain… Was it a fatal injury? I don’t know.

“Look at you, what are you yelling about? You’re just making Sanwa worry,” my mother finally couldn’t stand it anymore, grabbed my hand firmly, scolded my father, then put her hand on my face and said to me, “Don’t worry, this is how your father and I are, what’s the point of explaining to him?”

“Okay, Mom and Dad, let Sanwa rest first. Don’t fight anymore.” A voice interrupted, first helping my dad sit down, then walking up to me.

It was my eldest sister…

Then, a gentle voice also chimed in, saying, “Yes, my sister is right. Parents, don’t get so excited.” At this point, I saw my second sister walk over to me.

In my memory, the appearance of my eldest and second eldest sisters has always remained in the era when they had braids. No matter how the years change, they have become mature and elegant, and the memories of that time are also indelible.

I couldn’t say much, but I saw that both my sisters had red eyes and haggard faces, and suddenly I felt that I had spent too little time with my loved ones… I had a thousand words to say, but I didn’t know where to start, and I didn’t have the energy to say them.

“Forget it, let’s go. Chengyi needs to rest, and let them get together as a family.” Another familiar voice came from the door. It was Qin Huai. He’s here too?

“Yes, yes. Let’s go out first and wait for Sanwa and his family to get together. He’s always gone for a year or six months, leaving me to take care of my parents, and telling him to apologize to his uncles and aunts.” Oh, the crispy meat!

I was full of excitement and affection, but unfortunately I couldn’t say anything to them now. My eldest sister, second sister, and mother were sitting around my bed, and my father was sitting not far away, blocking my view and preventing me from seeing what they looked like now, and who was standing at the door.

What about Master? When my thoughts returned, my last memory was of the boat flying in the sky… I suddenly became uneasy. How come I didn’t hear Master’s voice? Where did Master go?

Maybe it was because of the previous time that he left without saying goodbye, which caused me too much psychological harm. I really feel insecure… I’m afraid that the Master will leave again.

My brows furrowed slightly, but I didn’t dare to ask, for fear of worrying the family members sitting around me. My mother’s hand was still on my face, probably thinking that I was still in pain, so she made that expression. She was still whispering, “I just spilled the liquid food I made for you. Sanwa, are you hungry? I still have fish soup, which is good for healing wounds. After all, Master Jiang gave you all medicinal soup, so your mouth must be bitter.”

Master Jiang? Give me medicine? So, Master Jiang hasn’t left… definitely! My heart immediately relaxed.

Once again, I held my mother’s hand. I had always dreamed of such a day, when my master, my lover, my family, and my friends would all be together in a beautiful place, living simply but contentedly and happily… Now, it was all coming true, just like a dream.

My heart ached a little, because I thought of Ruoxue.

But I didn’t dare to be complacent. If this was the end of my life, I should have closed my eyes with a smile.