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

For decades, Mr. Chen's life has been like the stream in front of the village.

It flows quietly, without ripples or sound.

Later, Lin Chu was picked up, and a stone appeared in the stream, making a sound.

Then there's Cang Yao—that always smiling little girl who can do everything.

Then there's Xiaoxiao—his chattering granddaughter who always chases after him wanting to hear stories.

In his life, he went from being all alone to having a grandson, then a granddaughter-in-law, and now a granddaughter.

Mr. Chen drank the wine in his glass in one gulp.

The liquor was strong, burning his throat, but he found the burning sensation comforting.

He thought, this is enough for me in this lifetime.

Even if he were to close his eyes now, he would leave with a smile.

After reciting the first section of the Thousand Character Classic, Xiaoxiao pulled Cangyao and insisted that she continue with the next section.

Cang Yao smiled and replied to a few words, then stopped—not because she was sleepy, but because she turned her head and found Lin Chu looking at her with a look in his eyes that she couldn't quite understand.

This is the third time he has looked at her like this today.

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The first two times, when she was putting up Spring Festival couplets, she turned around to get the paste and found him staring at her.

Another time was when we were eating fish. She picked up a piece of fish belly meat and put it in his bowl, and noticed that he was looking at her too.

Cang Yao reached up and touched her face: "Is there something on my face?"

"no."

"Then why are you staring at me?"

Lin Chu's lips twitched slightly: "Beautiful."

Cang Yao's face flushed red.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end she just lowered her head, picked up a piece of rice cake with her chopsticks and stuffed it into her mouth. She chewed it several times before remembering that she hadn't dipped it in sugar.

Xiao Xiao made a face next to her: "Shame on you!" Cang Yao reached out to pinch her cheek, but Xiao Xiao nimbly dodged and ran behind Mr. Chen to hide, peeking out half her head to continue making faces.

Lin Chu watched them fooling around, picked up her wine glass and took a sip. The smile in her eyes was faint, but the worry hidden deep inside had not disappeared.

We've finished our New Year's Eve dinner.

Xiao Xiao received a large piece of osmanthus cake hidden in Mr. Chen's sleeve and happily spun around in the yard several times.

Cang Yao was washing dishes in the kitchen, while Lin Chu was wiping the dishes beside her.

The two of them did their own thing, occasionally their shoulders would touch, and then they would each move to the side.

The next morning.

The sky was not yet fully bright, and the courtyard was quiet.

We stayed up too late last night, and Xiaoxiao and Cangyao are still asleep.

Lin Chu pushed open the courtyard gate and walked out alone.

The air was cold and acrid, carrying the lingering smell of gunpowder.

There were few people on the village road, except for a few early-rising sparrows pecking at the debris on the ground.

He followed the dirt road he had walked countless times and arrived at the stream.

Lin Chu stood by the stream for a while, then took something out of his pocket.

A small sea snail.

It is about the size of a fist, and its outer shell has a faint pearly sheen.

This was left to him by Ao Tianxin before she left.

That day, after she finished her last cup of wine under the locust tree, she placed this thing on the stone table and said, "If you need to find me, go to the stream and blow this, and I will appear."

Lin Chu brought the conch shell to her lips and blew on it gently.

The conch shell lit up, and a ripple spread from its opening, passing through streams, forests, and heading towards the East China Sea.

He put the conch shell back in his pocket and sat on the rock to wait.

It's the stone that Cang Yao brought over.

Before an incense stick could burn, a breeze arose on the stream.

After the wind stopped, there was one more person by the stream.

Ao Tianxin wasn't wearing that dark blue robe today; she had changed into a plain white dress, and her hair was still casually tied up with a jade hairpin.

She stood under the willow tree, looked at Lin Chu, then at the rock he was sitting on, her gaze lingering on the rock for a moment.

"She moved it?"

Lin Chu stood up and nodded.

Ao Tianxin did not respond.

She walked to the stream, looked down at the water, stretched out her hand, spread her fingers slightly, and pinched a few times.

Then she sighed.

"The tides of heaven and earth are approaching, and her bloodline is responding to that power. She needs to go into seclusion and hibernate to get through it."

Lin Chu remained silent.

"You've probably seen her recent condition—drowsiness, lethargy, and lack of energy. That's not an illness; it's her body automatically conserving energy. It's normal for her to get increasingly tired; it's not something she can resist."

"What would happen if I didn't go into seclusion?"

Ao Tianxin turned to look at him: "If she resists forcefully, it will damage her foundation. The power of the True Dragon's essence blood is not something her current body can withstand indefinitely. If she keeps forcing herself not to go into hibernation—at best, her foundation will be damaged and her cultivation will regress; at worst, she may suffer a backlash."

The air by the stream was cold, but Lin Chu felt even colder in her chest.

"What if we go into seclusion?"

Ao Tianxin was silent for a moment.

She turned around to face Lin Chu. The morning breeze lifted a corner of her plain white robe as she looked at him, hesitant to speak.

Lin Chu straightened his clothes, clasped his hands in front of him, bowed, and performed a proper bow.

He didn't speak, he just bent over and remained in that position.

Ao Tianxin looked at the young man in front of her, at the curve of his bent back, and at the strand of black hair on his head that was ruffled by the morning breeze.

"If she goes into seclusion—it won't be a short time." Her voice softened, with more reluctance than before. "She must enter a complete state of hibernation, allowing the true dragon's essence blood to reforge every inch of her bones and every meridian. This process will take anywhere from ten to several decades."

Decades.

Lin Chu straightened up.

His eyes were still those calm eyes, but something seemed to be slowly spreading outwards.

"In other words," he said softly, as if afraid of waking something, "if she's in seclusion, by the time she comes out, I might already be—"

He didn't finish speaking.

Ao Tianxin didn't finish speaking for him.

The stream flowed gurglingly.

The sparrows suddenly fluttered away, the willow branches swayed twice in the wind, and then returned to stillness.

Lin Chu stood beside the stone that Cang Yao had brought over, her eyes lowered.

At this moment, for the first time, he felt so deeply the insurmountable chasm between cultivators and mortals.

He recalled that day by the stream, when Cang Yao shouted at the water to vent her frustrations, her words always revolving around herself.

I remember her standing under the willow tree, extending her little finger, and saying, "Pinky promise, never to change for a hundred years."

He remembered her standing on tiptoe in front of him to compare heights, saying, "It's not fair, I eat properly every day."

He remembered that a few days ago she was washing dishes in the kitchen and was so sleepy that she almost bumped into the stove. She turned around and said to him, "Don't worry, I'll be fine after winter and spring."

When you go to the palace examination, I'll accompany you. Remember our promise.

Lin Chu's eyes reddened for the first time.

Until this moment, he had always thought he still had time.

Three years, five years, ten years.

He married her, spent many New Years with her, and ate her braised fish many times.

Unfortunately, in this world, time is not always measured in years.

A period of seclusion could last a lifetime.

He suddenly realized something.

That time he told Cang Yao, "You don't understand what true love is," but the one who didn't understand might actually be himself.

So this is what true love feels like—you think you're teaching her, but actually she's filling you up every moment.

You got used to her hovering around you every day, and you thought things would continue like this forever.

Then one day you suddenly realize that these days will come to an end.

And the end came so quickly.

It wasn't an argument, it wasn't a separation, and it certainly wasn't that anyone's feelings had changed.

Instead, she's going to walk a path she has to take, a path that's very long, so long that you won't be able to wait for her to come back.