He was only away for ten years, how did he return as a married man, and even had his residency canceled?
"Let me tell you, Widow Sun has been mourning for ten years, and even the shopkeeper of the Incense and Candle Shop can be called a chaste and virtuous woman. That Boss Cheng hasn't remarried in thirty years. And let me tell you, don't even think about the women on Underground Street!"
The clerk, upon seeing Xu Qing's age and hearing the nature of his inquiries, even thought he was here to make a marriage proposal!
Just as Xu Qing was about to explain, a middle-aged man around forty years old, about his age, suddenly came forward.
"Hey! It really is Shopkeeper Xu! I couldn't even recognize you after more than ten years!"
"And you are...?"
The man in the gray robe said, "I'm Xing Sihai. Over ten years ago, I fled to the Jin Sect without any money to bury my mother. You personally took care of her posthumous affairs and arranged for the burial materials..."
Xu Qing thought carefully and seemed to have some impression, but he had handled the burials of so many people, and with so much time passed, he couldn't recall immediately.
"And what about you now?"
"I'm currently working under Shopkeeper Wang, in a business related to funerals. Sir, please look at this incense candle workshop; the best incense candles sent to Underground Street over the years come from here. Even the cheap incense for the poor is made following the Quanzhou small incense-making technique."
Xu Qing nodded and said, "I have been traveling and studying for years and just returned yesterday. The changes in the Jin Sect are indeed immense. Steward Xing, I've come here wanting to see your master..."
"No problem! I'll take you to find the master right away!"
After Xu Qing left, the clerk immediately turned around and, along with other clerks and craftsmen, started chattering away.
This is just the atmosphere of the Jin Sect, full of stories about abandoning wives and children, returning home in glory, coming back from hardship. Xu Qing's ten-year cultivation journey in the Yin River wasn't nearly as exciting as the stories these people told.
In the workshop study, a youthful and vibrant 23-year-old Wang Family's Little Sister was dipping a brush in ink, writing and drawing on newly made paper.
The Wang Family's Little Sister was wearing a dark green silk dress, her every move exuded the elegance and poise of a noble lady.
When Xu Qing first entered the study, he didn't recognize the graceful, mature woman as the little yellow-haired girl from the Incense and Candle Shop years ago.
The saying that girls change a lot over the years isn't wrong.
Xu Qing exchanged a meaningful look with Steward Xing, and the two of them just stood at the entrance of the study, waiting until the person inside finished writing the calligraphy model.
At a certain moment, as Wang Yue'e was writing, she seemed to sense something. She looked up to see a familiar person standing not far away amidst the incense smoke.
The two were separated by the incense smoke from the incense burner, clearly only a few steps away, but Wang Yue'e inexplicably felt the other person was standing thousands of miles away, the layers of swirling smoke forming mountains and lakes, making it daunting.
At a moment when the smoke seemed to thin, Wang Yue'e looked at the face of the now mature middle-aged man and felt a bit dazed.
Although his appearance was no longer young, that familiar expression and eyes hadn't changed at all.
Wang Yue'e even felt for a moment that he hadn't aged at all.
"May I ask if the young lady is the master of this place?"
Xu Qing chuckled, pretending not to recognize her, cupping his hands in inquiry.
Wang Yue'e, her eyes twinkling, smiled and said, "It's only been a few years, and Master Xu can't even recognize me?"
Putting down her brush, Wang Yue'e walked up gracefully, her smile as soft as spring water, "Maybe you're like my older brother Yue'e, who has already forgotten about me?"
Wang Yue'e spoke lightly, but Xu Qing still noticed the disappointment in the Wang Family's Little Sister's eyes.
Wang Liang had followed Zhu Huai'an to the northern border and had been gone for more than ten years. Just as the world was beginning to settle, General Wang Liang of Dayan, acting under the emperor's order, went to the Southwest for a campaign. Even if he passed through the Jin Sect along the way, this General Wang hadn't lingered for even half a day.
No one knew of Wang Yue'e's grievances, and the only person who had pulled her from the abyss, Xu Qing, had also been away for ten years.
In these ten years, she became more reserved, her emotions bunched together like a tangled ball of yarn, pushed to a corner of her heart, not wanting to sort them out.
Now, Xu Qing's appearance was like a heart-strengthening tonic, making the one accustomed to facing everything alone inevitably long for dependence once more.
Xu Qing looked at the young woman who had grown up, and sighed lightly: "When your family encountered misfortune years ago, you fled from Wanshou County, and your brother Wang Liang, even going there, couldn't find any trace of you or your grandmother."
"With the chaos of the past years, you've grown up and changed, and even if he wanted to find you, it wouldn't be easy. And now, with the world newly settled, the Imperial Court is in need of talent, and he probably finds it hard to come."
Xu Qing paused here and suddenly asked: "The current emperor rose from humble beginnings, your brother Wang Liang followed the emperor ten years ago, helped him to unify the world, that's a meritorious service of joining the dragon, wouldn't it be well-documented?"
"In the past two years, haven't you heard of any news about your brother and taken the initiative to contact him?"
The Wang Family's Little Sister bit her lip, her expression complex: "He left me and grandmother ten years ago. If he still cares, he should have come to find me on his own."
"If he's not even willing to use this bit of mind, then he's not my brother anymore."
"..."
The thoughts of a young woman are indeed not something this undead could guess.
Xu Qing shook his head, deciding not to persuade anymore, and instead asked: "The cultivation technique I gave you before I left, have you practiced it?"
Wang Yue'e's expression darkened as she replied, "I don't have the aptitude Master Xu mentioned; even after sitting for a long time, I can't enter meditation. Later, Master Yizhen from the Coffin Shop personally guided me, and I was able to calm down, but after years I made no progress and can't feel the energy you mentioned."
Xu Qing indicated for Wang Yue'e to raise her wrist, sensing the pulse, finding that her constitution was like most ordinary people, neither a good Immortal Body nor so bad as to prevent cultivation.
The reason why she made no progress was due to too many distractions and accumulated frustration, meaning the Wang Family's Little Sister could mostly cultivate life techniques but couldn't cultivate spiritual techniques.
After checking, Xu Qing also found this young lady's pulse to be deep, fine, and weak, clearly a result of long-term overwork and depletion of energy and blood.
Moreover, excessive thinking had made her pulse weak, and the lack of proper energy had resulted in liver depression, exhaustion, and energy blockade.
Xu Qing helplessly said, "Why put yourself through this?"
Wang Yue'e pursed her lips and said nothing.
Xu Qing took out two Yellow Bud Pills, a bottle of cooling powder, and some heart-calming and mind-focusing pills from his pocket, and said, "Take these medicines as I instructed, and don't worry about your brother anymore."
"In ancient times, King Yu passed his home three times and never entered. Your brother Wang Liang is also a man of loyalty and righteousness, only he takes loyalty too seriously. If the emperor has him guard the nation's gates, he would hold it as a maxim...."
Initially, Xu Qing had felt a sense of disappointment with Wang Liang, a person who obviously had good aptitude and could focus on cultivation, yet had his heart set elsewhere.
But over the years, Xu Qing had come to terms with it.
Everyone walks their own path; everyone has their own cultivation. Without Wang Liang, didn't he still have Tiezhu as his Named Disciple?
In the end, someone could still learn from the martial heritage he possessed.
"Now that it's been two years since the Dayan established its rule, the borders are mostly stable, and your brother's loyalty is almost fulfilled. Next, it will be filial…"
"From what I see, it won't be long before he comes back to find you."
Wang Yue'e raised her eyes to look at Xu Qing, with an ambiguous meaning: "Is Master a person of deep affection?"
Xu Qing was taken aback.
Is he a person of deep affection?
He pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I don't know, maybe yes, maybe no. But there's always a scale in one's heart, sometimes light, sometimes heavy, who can say for sure?"
Wang Yue'e lowered her eyelids, feeling somewhat dejected.
How could she not see that, in the eyes of the master, she was no different from her godmother Cheng Caiyun, perhaps a friend, but without any surplus affection.
In the next moment, Wang Yue'e suddenly lifted her head, her smile blooming like a flower: "Would Master like to tour my workshop?"