In the forest, there’s a bamboo house, and the people from the manor believe that the old strange man who took off Fu Jian’s mask lives inside it. No one dares to approach.
Gu Youyou and her husband have already returned; they were unable to take their son with them.
Jin Xuyao has his own ideas; he won’t go anywhere until he takes off this mask.
So outside, the Prince and Princess of Ningwang Residence are still looking for their son.
Jin Xuyao returned to the bamboo house, staring at the concocted dicine in the bowl, unmoving for a long ti.
He hopes he can imdiately take off this face, yet fears that once he removes it, his appearance would be disappointing.
Fifteen years of separation from family, and what stands between them might be more than just a face.
...
Jia Ren hasn’t returned to Wutong Ridge for several decades. This place is where he lived with his master and junior apprentice sister before he set out, holding the best mories of his youth.
He was silent for a long ti, looking at the two solitary graves overgrown with wild grass.
Lun Yu, along with Yi Yan, first offered incense at the graves, laid out fruit and offerings, then kowtowed, saying: "Master Grandpa, Mom, we’ve co to see you. Look who’s here? This is Uncle Jia Ren. Do you rember him? He isn’t wearing his mask today, looks much older."
Yi Yan burned paper, kowtowed, then stood up and said to Lun Yu: "I’ll go find sothing to eat. Climbing this mountain is quite tiring."
"Mm, go ahead!"
It’s rare that all three of them are standing in front of the tombs with their true faces.
After looking at the graves for a long while, Jia Ren said: "Did your mom truly leave nothing for ?"
"Nothing!" Lun Yu shook his head and said: "I’ve asked no less than ten tis now. Is there sothing that might be with my mom?"
"Then who is your dad?" Jia Ren asked again.
"I don’t know. My mom said I was found." Lun Yu said.
Jia Ren just let out a cold laugh without saying anything.
After a while, he asked: "Do you know how she died? Did she say anything before she passed?"
Lun Yu thought for a mont and said: "The doctor said she fell ill due to overwork; simply put, she was exhausted."
"Exhausted?" Jia Ren beca agitated and asked urgently: "What? You two didn’t live well?"
Now, Lun Yu looks to be in fine clothes, accompanied by Ningwang Residence, unlikely to be unable to afford food. It’s just unknown what kind of life they lived before.
Lun Yu sighed lightly and said: "It’s not that life was bad. My mom was just a strange person."
He looked at the scruffy old man and said disdainfully: "Not only her, but you are also strange, so am I, Yi Yan too. Those who do what we do aren’t normal people."
Jia Ren: "..."
"Hey, don’t look at like that. My mom thought so too. The most frequently said thing was that people like us can’t live with normal people, and even if we have to be with normal people, we must wear masks all the ti."
Jia Ren fell into silence, and after a mont asked: "Then what happened later?"
"Later?" Lun Yu smiled and said: "What later? In my mory, I was just fostered everywhere by her. She herself, well, I don’t know where she went—anyway, she had no fixed abode and wandered around. The place I was fostered the longest was Qi Mountain. Back then, Tian Jizi from Qi Mountain was a friend of Mom’s, and she left at Qi Mountain. That’s where I t Prince Ning and Marquis Lingnan."
Jia Ren opened his mouth and said: "Why... why did she have to wander around? I rember her saying she didn’t like going places. For the years we were in Wutong Ridge, she went down the mountain only a handful of tis."
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