There was a small town.
It was simple and unadorned.
It was a small fief left behind by Ruoqiang hundreds of years ago.
The terrain here was low - lying.
The land was barren.
Few people ever set foot here. So after Loulan invaded Ruoqiang back then, they abandoned it.
Time passed.
Six hundred years had gone by.
This place was now completely different from what it was six hundred years ago.
The small town was located in a remote area, with no one coming and going on a daily basis. As time went by, weeds grew all around the town, and then the trees provided shade.
The villagers living in the town had not left the town for many years because they were afraid of wars.
As time went on,
it became a utopia.
Many years ago,
a girl came here. Seeing the hardships of the town and the lack of water, she decided to stay. She also led the villagers to discover a new water source and diverted it into the town.
Later on,
this small river became wider and wider, winding through many deep mountains and dense forests, completely isolating the town from the outside world.
They couldn't get out.
People outside only thought it was uninhabited, so no one came in.
Now,
the town had become quite spacious, with dozens of small paths criss - crossing. The villagers tilled the fields and wove cloth. Without the heavy burden of taxes, they lived a happy life.
At this time,
it was the early spring.
On both sides of the roads, weeping willows were planted.
The deeper one went,
one would find that every household in the town had a small pond. Although they were not large in size, they were enough for their daily washing and cooking.
In each small pond,
there was a lotus plant.
It was called a lotus,
but not exactly.
Because the lotus, since Miss Yun asked them to plant it more than twenty years ago, had never bloomed until today.
By the way,
Miss Yun.
She was the girl who had led the villagers to find the new water source many years ago, saving them from the brink of death.
The villagers in the town didn't know where the girl came from or why she had lived for so long but still looked the same. They just thought that Miss Yun was a fairy sent by the heavens to save them.
They always did exactly as Miss Yun said.
This lotus had been planted for so many years. It didn't produce lotus seeds and never bloomed, but every household carefully took care of their own lotus plant.
There was something even stranger.
More than twenty years ago,
Miss Yun suddenly disappeared.
She was gone for more than a month.
When she came back,
she brought back a woman.
No,
more precisely, it was a corpse.
The corpse was dressed in a scarlet dress, with extremely beautiful features.
The villagers just took a distant look and felt that the woman Miss Yun brought back didn't seem to be from the mortal world like them.
Later on,
they never saw that woman again.
Maybe,
Miss Yun buried her.
But it was really strange.
The town was cut off from the outside world. How did Miss Yun get out? And why did she bring a dead person back to the town for burial?
Thousands of doubts,
although in their hearts,
the kind - hearted villagers never asked.
They also knew that if Miss Yun wanted to talk about it, she would surely explain it clearly to them. But if Miss Yun didn't say anything, they wouldn't ask either.
It was also from that time on,
Miss Yun started to ask the villagers to plant a lotus plant in their own ponds.
Every summer,
she would go to every household in the town to check.
Basically, every time,
she would leave shaking her head.
This went on and on without interruption.
This year,
it was the warm spring again.
Early in the morning,
Old Man Liu, who lived on the edge of the village, got up and, as usual, went to the edge of his small pond to scoop up a handful of cold water to wash his face.
Half - asleep,
he caught a glimpse of a touch of pink.
He was shocked.
He looked up and rubbed his eyes desperately.
The lotus he had raised for more than twenty years had bloomed.
Miss Yun once said that this lotus was extremely spiritual. If the lotus in any family could bloom, it would surely bring good luck to that family.
Well,
Old Man Liu had been a bachelor for more than forty years and had no children. He had never thought that one day this good luck would fall on him.
He always kept Miss Yun's words in mind.
As soon as he found that the lotus in his small pond had bloomed, he immediately scrambled to Miss Yun Ruoqian's residence.
At that time,
Yun Ruoqian was in the small courtyard, planting several medicinal herbs she had dug from the deep mountains the day before in her courtyard.
The sun was gradually getting warmer.
The villagers along the way,
seeing Old Man Liu in such a panic, asked a little.
Hearing him say that the lotus in his pond had bloomed, they were all greatly surprised and followed Old Man Liu to Yun Ruoqian's small courtyard.
"Miss Yun—"
"Miss Yun—"
From a long distance away,
Yun Ruoqian heard someone calling her.
She put down the hoe in her hand.
She washed the dirt off her hands with clean water and then dried them before opening the door of the small courtyard.
"What's going on?"
Old Man Liu stammered and was too excited to speak for a long time.
There were many people following behind him.
"Miss Yun, the lotus seedlings you gave us have bloomed."
Hearing this,
Yun Ruoqian's face first showed disbelief.
Then she was overjoyed.
"Really?"
Old Man Liu nodded.
"Miss Yun, we also took good care of them, but the lotus in our pond is still the same as before, showing no sign of blooming."
Yun Ruoqian looked at Old Man Liu.
"Please take me to have a look."
"This way, Miss Yun."
Yun Ruoqian latched the wooden gate of the small courtyard and then walked towards the village entrance.
She pushed open the door of Old Man Liu's house and walked towards the backyard.
Old Man Liu's house was really shabby, but at least it was clean.
All the way to the backyard.
After pushing open the shabby wooden door,
everyone gasped at the sight in front of them.
Was this...
Was this Old Man Liu's yard?
Because Old Man Liu had been living alone for decades, the backyard was overgrown with weeds. He rarely cleaned it, let alone raised any flowers or plants in the yard.
But,
as soon as Yun Ruoqian pushed open the door,
the scene in front of them left the villagers in the town stunned.
Even Old Man Liu
rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
He looked back at the people behind him and then at the yard in front of him.
That's right.
This was his own home.
"Old Man Liu, when did you develop this hobby of raising a yard full of red flowers? But what kind of flower is this? Why have we never seen it before?"
Yun Ruoqian lowered her head.
Looking at her feet,
the red flowers that had suddenly spread all over the ground were equinox flowers.
Equinox flowers.
Blooming on the other shore.
Was it her...
coming to welcome her elder sister home?
"Miss Yun, what... What's going on? When I went out this morning, my yard was not like this."
"How did my yard suddenly become full of these strange red flowers in the blink of an eye?"
Yun Ruoqian smiled gently.
Two beautiful dimples appeared on her face.
"This flower is called Manjusaka."