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

Qinghe Village, the next morning.

Cang Yao woke up in the courtyard.

She sat on the rattan chair under the eaves, the same one that Mr. Chen used to sit in.

Everything seems exactly the same as it was fifty years ago.

It seems like she just took a nap.

Xiaoxiao talked to her a lot last night.

It is said that Lin Chu accomplished a great deal over the years—building roads, controlling floods, providing disaster relief, implementing reforms, and being granted titles and positions.

He said that apart from being busy with the reform movement in the last ten years or so, he would come back almost every year before and sit alone on that rock by the stream for a whole day.

Cang Yao could picture the scene just by listening to it.

Year after year, Lin Chunian sat by the stream, facing the willow tree and the water, sometimes for an entire day.

Her heart felt like it was being squeezed by someone, aching with each contraction.

Just then, she suddenly sensed something.

A familiar yet unfamiliar presence was approaching from the direction of the village entrance.

Cang Yao's heart skipped a beat, then began to pound faster.

He stood up, his fingers clenching his sleeves so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

They walked out of the courtyard gate.

……

Lin Chu returned alone.

His carriage stopped in Baisha County.

He was wearing the first garment Cang Yao had made for him, with the character "初" embroidered on the inside of the collar.

The stitches were crooked and uneven; she had practiced many times before she could embroider them.

The clothes were washed and patched again and again, and the cuffs and collar were worn raw, and the color faded from light blue to grayish white.

Lin Chu wore it for most of her life, from the age of sixteen to sixty-six.

The villagers didn't recognize him.

Several women drawing water from the well looked up at him, finding the old man somewhat unfamiliar, and guessed he was probably visiting relatives.

Several children were squatting under a tree at the village entrance, playing in the mud, without even raising their heads.

Lin Chu walked to the old locust tree at the entrance of the village and suddenly stopped.

Several middle-aged women were sitting under the tree, chatting as they sewed shoe soles.

A plump woman lowered her voice, her tone full of mystery: "Have you heard? A young woman came to Prime Minister Lin's old residence yesterday."

"I've heard about it, I've heard about it," another chimed in. "She was wearing a red dress. I caught a glimpse of her from afar when I went to the well to fetch water...tsk tsk, she looked like she stepped out of a painting."

"My neighbor saw it too. He said the girl stood in front of Mr. Chen's grave for a long time, and then went to Aunt Wang's grave to pull weeds." The third aunt rubbed the needle in her hair. "Do you think she might be the childhood sweetheart that Prime Minister Lin has been waiting for all along?"

"Most likely!" the plump woman slapped her thigh. "Besides her, who else would stay in that old house that's been empty for who knows how many years?"

"But..." the youngest hesitated for a moment, "wasn't it said that the girl went to cultivate with an immortal? She must be an immortal now, right? Can an immortal come back to find a mortal?"

"What's wrong with immortals? Can't immortals have lovers?" The fat woman rolled her eyes at her. "Let me tell you, Prime Minister Lin waited for her his whole life. If she doesn't come back, then she's the one who has no conscience."

Lin Chu stood still, listening to every word.

He stood there, his expression slightly dazed, then immediately turned around and quickened his pace.

As Cang Yao walked out of the hospital, she saw an elderly man with white hair walking towards the alley entrance, wearing the blue robe that she recognized at a glance.

Lin Chu saw her too.

Both of them stopped involuntarily.

Separated by a narrow alley, it felt as if fifty years had passed.

Cang Yao stared blankly at Lin Chu.

His hair was completely white, his face was covered with wrinkles, and the veins on the back of his hands were prominent.

Looking at the handsome and upright young man in her memory, who had become the white-haired old man before her, Cang Yao's tears silently slid down her cheeks.

I took a step forward, very slowly.

She dared not walk too fast... afraid that when she got closer, she would find it was just an illusion.

Finally, the two faced each other.

Cang Yao reached out and gently touched his cheek with her fingers.

Rough skin, real temperature.

Her fingertips slowly traced Lin Chu's brow bone, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and his graying temples, finally stopping on his white hair.

Fifty years of trials and tribulations have all been weathered by her fingertips.

Tears blurred Cang Yao's vision and silently streamed down her cheeks.

Lin Chu looked at the woman in front of her, her face covered in tears.

She still looks the same as she did back then, with peach blossom eyes and long, ink-black hair, only the childishness in her eyes and brows has faded, replaced by a more mature charm.

Lin Chu reached out and gently wiped away the tears streaming down her face with his rough thumb.

"Silly girl." Lin Chu's voice was a little hoarse, but her tone was smiling. "I'm back now, aren't I? Why are you crying?"

Cang Yao stared at him intently, the wrinkled face before her slowly overlapping with the boy in her memory who sat under the locust tree turning pages in a book.

She opened her mouth, and a trembling voice squeezed out from her throat:

"Did you pass the exam?"

Lin Chu nodded: "I passed the exam."

His voice carried a hint of pride as he raised his chin like a young man and added, "Top scholar! Impressive, right?"

"Hmm." Cang Yao sniffed, trying to suppress the tremor in her voice, her eyes red-rimmed. "But I heard that on the day the results are announced, there are often people 'catching a husband' at the bottom of the list's page... You weren't caught, were you?"

"No," Lin Chu laughed. "I can run very fast."

Cang Yao could no longer hold back.

She lunged forward, crashing into his arms, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist, burying her face in his chest, and bursting into tears.

"Fifty years—a full fifty years—" Her voice was muffled in his chest, broken and intermittent, "Why did you wait for me—who took care of you while I was gone—you always said I was stupid—but you were the stupidest one—"

Lin Chu reached out and wrapped her arms around her back.

The person in his arms was trembling, tears soaking his collar.

He gently patted her back, one pat at a time, like he was comforting a crying child.

"Okay, stop crying." Lin Chu's voice was very soft. "I promised you, this time it's my turn to wait for you."

Cang Yao cried even louder.

Her fingers gripped his shirt so tightly they turned white, and she couldn't stop crying, soaking a large patch of his shirt.

Lin Chu didn't try to persuade her anymore, but just patted her back gently.

When her sobs subsided, she finally spoke: "I'm back. I should be happy, especially since you haven't even properly welcomed me."

Cang Yao sniffed and lifted her head from his embrace.

She vigorously wiped her face with the back of her hand, then wiped the corners of her eyes with her sleeve, and took two steps back to stand still.

He took a deep breath, straightened his clothes, clasped his hands in front of him, and bowed slightly.

"My husband, welcome back."

Her voice was still hoarse and choked with sobs, but she read each word very carefully, as if she had rehearsed it countless times.

Lin Chu paused for a moment, then smiled.

The curve of his smile on that wrinkled face was exactly the same as it had been back then.

"Yes." He stepped forward and pulled her into his arms again. "I'm back."