After the spiritual energy was restored: Goddess girlfriends came knocking.

A few days later, three streaks of light landed outside Qinghe Town.

Jiang Yan stood at the entrance of the town, gazing at the bluestone-paved streets and the shops lining the streets, feeling somewhat dazed.

The Qinghe Village that I remember as having only a few dozen households has now become a town.

There were teahouses, cloth shops, and pharmacies on the street, and peddlers carrying loads of goods hawked their wares along the way.

"So much has changed."

Cang Yao stood beside him without saying a word, but simply took his arm.

Little Xiao followed behind, peeking around curiously.

The three walked along the main street, their distinguished attire attracting the attention of many passersby.

An old woman squatting by the door shelling beans glanced up at them, then lowered her head to continue shelling, muttering, "Another outsider seeking immortality."

Jiang Yan didn't care about those gazes.

As I walked towards the end of the village, my pace unconsciously slowed down.

The deeper you go, the narrower the streets become, the fewer the shops there are, and the scenery on both sides gradually changes from unfamiliar to familiar.

Then he stopped.

The small courtyard at the end of the village is still there.

The fence has been replaced with a new one, but the shape it forms is exactly the same as it was back then.

The blue tiles under the eaves are also old, with several clumps of moss growing in the cracks, indicating that someone takes care of them regularly.

The courtyard gate was half-closed.

"Every time I come here, I have someone maintain it," Cang Yao's voice came from the side, carrying a hint of smugness and lightness. "We've also bought the land behind it, so no outsiders will be allowed in."

Jiang Yan reached out and pushed open the courtyard gate.

With a creak.

The locust tree in the yard was several times larger than I remembered, its canopy almost completely blocking out the sky.

The stone table and bench under the tree are still there.

In a daze, I saw myself sitting there holding a book, with Cang Yao sitting on a swing next to me.

Those years have passed page by page, eight hundred years have gone by, yet it seems as if nothing has changed.

Jiang Yan walked to the tree and reached out to touch the rough bark.

Cang Yao stood behind him, watching him quietly.

"Let's go in and take a look," Jiang Yan said.

The furnishings inside were pretty much the same as I remembered; the positions of the tables, chairs, and benches were unchanged, as was the direction of the stove. However, all the wooden furniture had clearly been replaced.

The scent of new wood mingled with a faint pine oil aroma, and the window paper was also newly pasted, gleaming with a soft, off-white hue.

Cang Yao leaned against the door frame, watching him stand in the center of the room looking at the furniture, and couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth into a smile.

"The bedside table was made exactly as it was originally; the original one had long since rotted away."

Jiang Yan turned around, walked up to her, and reached out to tuck her wind-blown hair behind her ear.

"Thanks a lot."

Cang Yao shook her head and placed her hand on the back of his hand: "It's very quiet here. Whenever I miss you, I come here to stay for a while. After a while, I have someone rebuild the walls that are about to collapse and replace the collapsed roof. Later, I don't know when it started, it became a habit."

Jiang Yan didn't say anything, but simply pulled her into his arms.

"Sometimes I feel like you're right outside the door," Cang Yao said softly, leaning on his shoulder. "Like when you used to come back from fishing by the stream and open the door to call my name."

"I'm back now." Jiang Yan rested his chin on the top of her head, his voice a little hoarse.

"Mmm." Cang Yao buried her face in his chest and tightened her arms around him.

She lifted her head from his embrace, her peach blossom eyes glistening with tears, but the corners of her mouth were upturned.

Jiang Yan lowered his head, his forehead touching hers, their noses only a finger's width apart.

Xiao Xiao gently wiped the corner of her eye with her sleeve at the gate of the courtyard.

After a long while, Cang Yao finally lifted her head from his embrace, wiped the corner of her eye with the back of her hand, took a deep breath, and smiled again.

"Let's go see the gentleman."

The changes in the back mountain are much smaller than those in the town.

Apart from having more trees, the mountain path's orientation was largely the same as I remembered.

Jiang Yan followed the direction in her memory, climbed over a small slope, and stopped under an old pine tree.

Mr. Chen's grave is still there.

Some grass grew on the grave, but it was clear that someone came to pull it up regularly.

The tombstone was also clean, and the inscription was still clear.

Jiang Yan squatted down, lit the incense and candles he had brought, and poured a cup of wine, placing it in front of the monument.

Cang Yao knelt before the tombstone and bowed three times, then pulled out the weeds from the grave mound.

Xiao Xiao carefully arranged the offerings in the basket one by one, her movements very practiced.

"Sir," Jiang Yan said softly, "Lin Chu has come to see you."

The wind blew through the pine forest, and the candlelight flickered.

"The students traveled to many places and met many people."

"It was my teacher who taught me many things and gave me the confidence to do what I wanted to do."

"Qinghe will always be the students' home, and you will always be their teacher."

Cang Yao squatted in front of the tomb and pulled out the few weeds.

Xiao Xiao watched from the side and sniffed.

Jiang Yan was about to get up when she suddenly frowned slightly.

Cang Yao sensed it too.

The two exchanged a glance and simultaneously sent their divine senses through the ground in perfect unison.

Mr. Chen's coffin was empty.

It was empty; there were no bones, not even a fragment of clothing.

Jiang Yan withdrew her divine sense, her brows furrowing even more deeply.

He was certain that Mr. Chen was indeed an ordinary person, without any cultivation or spiritual roots.

He had not come into contact with any practitioners.

But how could there be residual spiritual energy in the coffin of an ordinary person? And the bones couldn't just disappear for no reason.

"Perhaps the gentleman is not as simple as we think," Cang Yao said softly.

Jiang Yan remained silent for a moment, keeping this point of doubt in mind.

There are no clues at the moment, and thinking about it won't lead to anything.

"No matter what," he stood up and bowed deeply to the tombstone again, "a teacher will always be a teacher to his students."

It was already dark when we came down the mountain.

Cang Xiaoxiao was starting a fire, while Cang Yao was busy at the stove.

Jiang Yan sat on the threshold watching the two of them, the warm light from the stove fire shining through the door frame onto his face.

The scene before my eyes slowly merged with my past life.

The meal was served: osmanthus cake, braised pork knuckle, braised fish, and chicken soup.

The three of them sat down at the stone table.

Xiao Xiao picked up a piece of osmanthus cake and stuffed it into her mouth, her cheeks puffed out.

Halfway through her meal, Cang Yao suddenly put down her chopsticks and began to recount what had happened after Lin Chu left.

Her voice was calm, but her grip on his fingers tightened unconsciously.

"Back then, because of the incident involving the river, many dynasties and cultivation sects in the Haoran Domain held the Great Zhou accountable. Although the emperor at the time and the people of the entire Great Zhou were on your side, the pressure was too great, and in the end, all the merits you had made during your lifetime were erased."

She paused.

"The signature of 'A Brief Account of Governance in Yunzhou' has been erased, as has the signature of 'Essential Techniques for Water Management in Jingzhou'. Most of those shrines have been demolished."

Jiang Yan did not speak.

"In the first few years, many people spoke out for you, which led Yu Qian to resign from his official post and leave Haoran Domain for Shangqing Domain."

"For decades, people in Qinghe would still come to visit your former residence, but gradually, fewer and fewer people came. Two or three hundred years from now, practically no one will know about you."

As Cang Yao spoke, her gaze remained fixed on his profile.

Jiang Yan picked up her wine glass, took a sip, and leaned back in her chair.

"As expected."

"When I did those things, I didn't think about making a name for myself in history. I just felt that I should do them, so I did them."

Xiao Xiao put down her chopsticks and suddenly said very seriously, "No one will not know. I remember, I remember. The descendants of those people you saved back then may not remember your name, but you gave them their lives. As long as we are here, they are still here."

Jiang Yan smiled at Xiao Xiao and reached out to pat her head.

"I've grown up."

She gave a soft hum, but her face quietly turned red.

Cang Yao didn't say anything more, but picked up her chopsticks again and put a piece of braised fish in his bowl.

That night, the three of them stayed in the old house.

Jiang Yan lay in her old room, moonlight streaming in through the window, casting a pale silver glow on the bedside table.

It seemed the same as every night in Qinghe Village in my previous life, yet it was different.