Chapter 2 Returning to the Village
Zhang Ruoxi left!
She left with red eyes.
If Xu Yue had stayed, could they have been together?
If that were truly possible, they would have been together long ago.
She couldn't give Xu Yue a promise.
And Xu Yue didn't need her to give a promise.
Everyone is an adult; let's be rational!
Xu Yue sighed, a strange sadness in his heart.
Perhaps this was the feeling of a breakup.
People in love aren't necessarily able to be together, let alone end up married.
Before, when he saw or heard such things, he would only smile faintly.
Now...
This damn world.
The head office symbolically tried to retain him, then approved his resignation.
After packing up, Xu Yue quickly boarded a plane back to his hometown.
Zhang Ruoxi saw him off.
"Did you sell the house too?"
Zhang Ruoxi asked Xu Yue as if casually.
"I sold the car, but not the house," Xu Yue said. "The housing prices have risen so much in the past two years; it's good to keep it for appreciation."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Ruoxi's mood seemed to lighten a bit.
"Give me a hug!"
As Xu Yue was about to board the plane, Zhang Ruoxi suddenly spoke.
At this moment, her face was alluringly flushed.
Xu Yue paused, then smiled and hugged Zhang Ruoxi.
Gently, he was afraid that if he hugged her tightly, he wouldn't want to let go.
But Zhang Ruoxi hugged him tightly, burying her head in his chest.
However, she soon let go, turned, and walked out of the airport.
Waving goodbye with her back to Xu Yue, her face was already covered in tears!
Xu Yue sighed and turned to board the plane.
The plane landed in Jincheng.
Xu Yue made several transfers before returning to his hometown.
A small mountain village that seemed isolated from the world.
Poor and backward.
Now it was much better than before, with a dirt road leading into the village.
Cars with low chassis would probably get stuck.
Xu Yue rode a two-wheeled motorcycle back to the village; if he hadn't been healthy since childhood, he probably would have been shaken to pieces.
But this was already a great improvement.
It was immeasurably better than before.
"Xiao Yue!"
"Mom!"
Xu Yue smiled and looked over.
A woman in her fifties was looking at him with a face full of pleasant surprise.
Xu Yue's mother, Li Xiurong.
"You child, why didn't you say anything about coming back?"
Li Xiurong said with a hint of reproach, but the smile on her face was undeniable.
Looking at his mother's graying hair, Xu Yue just smiled.
His parents were getting old.
Seeing his mother's joyful expression, Xu Yue suddenly felt that returning wasn't so bad after all.
"Where are Dad and Grandpa?"
Li Xiurong came to help Xu Yue with his luggage, but Xu Yue refused, then asked casually.
"Your dad is leveling the rice paddies," Li Xiurong said. "Your grandpa went to Third Uncle's home. Two days ago, Third Uncle twisted his back."
"Oh!"
Xu Yue nodded.
His grandpa was an old Chinese medicine doctor; people in the surrounding villages, if they had any minor ailments, would usually go to him instead of the hospital.
He was especially skilled in treating sprains and fractures.
Xu Yue's home was one of the few brick and tile houses in the village, but it was already many years old and looked dilapidated.
That was built when Xu Yue's grandpa, Xu Chengyang, sold an old ginseng to get Xu Yue's father, Xu Jiangming, a wife.
That was almost thirty years ago.
Xu Yue had his own room, but it hadn't been lived in for a long time.
As soon as he returned, Li Xiurong bustled about, tidying up his room.
The last time he stayed there seemed to be during the Spring Festival the year before last.
He didn't come back last Spring Festival.
"Xiao Yue!"
A surprised voice, sounding aged.
"Grandpa!" Xu Yue said with a smile. "How's Third Uncle's back?"
"It's better!" Xu Chengyang said. "He doesn't even think about how old he is."
What if he was old?
With all the young people gone, how many elderly people in the village didn't work in the fields?
Now, in the village, there were only old people or left-behind children; Xu Yue's parents were considered young.
"Mom, I'll tidy up myself!" Xu Yue said. "I'm getting a bit hungry."
"Okay!" Li Xiurong said. "I'll go make you dinner right away."
Xu Yue tidied his room while chatting with his grandpa.
The room was actually mostly tidy already.
He was mostly organizing his personal belongings.
"Xiao Yue is back?"
Not long after, Xu Jiangming returned.
With him also came a large yellow dog.
A common rural mongrel, scientifically known as the Chinese Field Dog!
Xu Jiangming was naturally very happy to see Xu Yue.
The big yellow dog also wagged its tail, ran over, and jumped up, leaving two paw prints on Xu Yue's leg.
It was hard for a rural dog not to be dirty, let alone its paws.
"Go! Go!"
Xu Yue shooed the big yellow dog away, but he was also happy.
He hadn't been home for a long time, yet this old yellow dog still recognized him.
Xu Yue looked at his father: dark skin, a brilliant smile, still covered in mud, hands and feet still wet.
His hair was grayer than his mother's.
"How many days are you staying this time?"
At the dinner table, Xu Jiangming casually asked Xu Yue.
Li Xiurong and Xu Chengyang both looked at Xu Yue, seemingly very concerned.
Perhaps they hoped Xu Yue would stay for a few more days.
"I'm not leaving this time!"
Xu Yue said.
"Not leaving?"
Xu Jiangming paused, then said, his voice a bit loud, clearly very shocked by this, mixed with incomprehension and anger.
He put down his chopsticks, looked at Xu Yue, and stopped eating.
"What are you coming back for?" Li Xiurong said. "To farm? You finally managed to leave the mountains! If you come back, wouldn't all those years of effort be wasted?"
Xu Chengyang didn't say anything, just quietly ate a mouthful of rice.
How could the conditions in the mountains compare to the city?
How many people were in the village before?
How many are left now?
Anyone who had the means to leave wouldn't come back.
"You can also get rich in the mountains!" Xu Yue said. "I want to try! Try to see if I can bring change to this mountain village!"
He didn't say he was truly coming back to farm.
If he had said that, he would have 100% been kicked out by his parents.
"How can you get rich? How can you prosper?" Xu Jiangming said. "If it could change, it would have changed long ago! If farming could make you rich, how come we couldn't even scrape together your college tuition back then?"
"Others might not be able to, but your son might!" Xu Yue said. "Let me try; what if it works? If it doesn't, I'll go back to Yanjing. I didn't sell the house in Yanjing!"
Xu Jiangming fell silent, and Li Xiurong hesitated to speak.
The fact that the house in Yanjing wasn't sold made them breathe a sigh of relief.
Having a house in the city, especially in the capital, was a huge advantage for things like blind dates.
"If the child wants to try, then let him try," Xu Chengyang said. "There's nothing bad about coming back. Besides, if you go to Yanjing later, you probably won't get used to it."
Xu Yue had tried more than once or twice to bring them to Yanjing.
Unfortunately, they had always refused.
They were afraid of troubling their child and weren't used to city life.
They were accustomed to living in the countryside; they would rather their child not be by their side when they were old than have their child continue to stay in the countryside.
After dinner, Xu Yue changed his clothes, preparing to go with them to level the rice paddies, but he was refused.
They were afraid he would cause trouble.
Xu Yue gave a wry smile, then picked up a hoe and went to turn the soil.
He had done farm work when he was little, so his hands weren't unfamiliar with it, just a bit rusty.
Experience +1!
Experience +1!
Of course, any 'experience +1' was purely Xu Yue's imagination.
After all, he was a game developer.
However, as soon as he started turning the soil, the Yandi Hunyuan Fundamental Sutra began to operate on its own.
He felt a surge of Qi within his body.
It should be Primal Chaos Qi.
And this Primal Chaos Qi was the foundation for performing various Divine Abilities.
After digging all afternoon, his back didn't ache, his legs didn't hurt, his hands weren't numb; instead, he felt refreshed and energetic.
Could he Cultivate just by turning the soil?
What if he used machinery?
He could feel that the operation of the Yandi Hunyuan Fundamental Sutra wasn't related to how many times he swung the hoe, but to the area of land he dug.
While turning the soil, a stream of Qi emanated from the earth, and the Yandi Hunyuan Fundamental Sutra operated, transforming that Qi into Primal Chaos Qi, nourishing his body.
This was why he didn't feel tired.
Tomorrow, he would go to the city to buy a small tiller and try it out.