Chapter 1

It was raining, it was already late autumn.

The wind wrapped around the few leaves on the dry sweet-scented osmanthus tree in front of the courtyard, and the pattern of rain wet the soil and fell into the dilapidated house.

he heard people said: If Someone is going to die, a tree will die in their yard.

Zhang Fangyuan didn’t believe in these evils at first, until he saw with his own eyes the green and tall sweet-scented osmanthus tree outside the window, the leaves withered and yellowed in the autumn wind overnight, and the trunk became light and unstable.

The sweet-scented osmanthus tree was planted when he was 20 years old, and it he was more than 50 years old now. Over the years, no matter how dry it was in summer and how thick the snow was in winter, the yard was still full of sweet-scented osmanthus fragrance in autumn.

Such a tenacious sweet-scented osmanthus tree died without warning.

Over the years, there was only one old bachelor in Zhang’s house, who lived alone for decades, and now that the tree in front of the house was dead, the only person who was going to die was Zhang Fangyuan himself.

He was lying in the cold room under the rain in the late autumn night, his body was as limp as a puddle of soft mud, hunched in the black and iron-like bedding, and even taking a breath could take half of his strength.

There was no light in the room, and the only thing guarded the bed was the cold wind blowing in before the window paper was pasted. The rain fell and the sky darkened, making the room more and more lonely.

Ever since he was bedridden, his life had been muddled. When he was more energetic, he leaned on the wall to get up and cook a few bites of food. No one would come for ten days and a half months.

The consciousness had been blurred for so many days, but today was very strange. After night fell, he felt cold, and when he heard it was raining outside, his consciousness suddenly became clear, and he was able to distinguish between cold and heat. His heart was wide open, knowing that tonight was the last hour.

After waking up, he quietly listened to the sound of rain that filled the house. The dilapidated roof couldn’t cover the rain, and it leaked straight into the house, and the nearest ones dripped on the side of his bed. Insufficient strength, he could only lie on the bed like a hay and thought about his muddled life.

The Zhang family was not deserted, and it was lively in the past. He, Zhang Fangyuan, was not an orphan. Before the age of twelve, he was always a child with a father and a mother, as well as uncles and cousins. At that time, he lived a chic life. Today he went to the fields to catch fish, and tomorrow he went to the mountains to hunt birds. He also learned the butcher’s craft from the old widower in the village. He had a good hand at everything.

Because he was the fastest jumper and had a muscular body, the children in the village embraced him as the king of childrens, calling the wind and the rain, and if he said something no one in the village dared to say anything.

How proud he was at that time, he patted his chest and told his old lady that he would become a landlord in the village, earned thousands of taels, built a house, married three or five wives and had a bunch of childrens, so that the Zhang family would continue to prosper.

His mother always laughed at him for not knowing the heights of the sky and the depths of the earth, he was not practical and prudent at all, and he just talked empty words every day.

Zhang Fangyuan made a wish and wanted to prove it to his mother. How could he think that day hadn’t yet came, when his father came back drunk and had a big fight with his mother. His mother couldn’t help but jump into the river. He wanted to bite his old man to death, but before he could bite, his father told him the next day, only then did he realize that his mother stole a man, and he couldn’t be more angry.

Zhang Fangyuan took advantage of his old mother’s funerals, life turned upside down.

Read latest Chapters at Wuxia World . Site Only

Taking the money the family had saved for him to marry a wife, eating, drinking, and having fun, and befriending some worthless rich young masters in the city, being used as swordsmen, he still happily thought that he was so capable, but in the end he gave to his most trusted master and young master. He took the blame and went to prison, and came out sick and disabled and couldn’t find a job.

He thought he had spent his whole life recklessly and freely, but in the end he didn’t even have a person to retire to the end of his life. Uncles and cousins didn’t want to see him, so he was left out of the clan long ago. The reputation in the village was also muddy, and he had always been a useless old bachelor and a bum with no business.

After being ill for a long time, the enthusiastic villagers didn’t come to pay attention to major matters, and finally ended up alone and died in bed.

It was only at the end that he realized that this was an absurd waste of his life.

His eyes were straight open, with remorse in his heart, staring at the dead osmanthus tree outside the house, maybe he didn’t know when he lost his breath.

“Zhang Fangyuan, Zhang Fangyuan! Are you on the roof?”

“Zhang Fangyuan!”

In a daze, Zhang Fangyuan seemed to hear someone calling his name, followed by others. There was a loud knock on the door. He was a little annoyed that any junior in the village could still call him by his name, no matter what, he was of the grandpa’s generation. But the sound of knocking on the door and shouting was really loud, and he jumped up from the bed.

Only at this time did he realize that something was wrong, when did his body become so strong and light. He walked out of the house in disbelief, the cold wind was blowing outside, the grass withered, the yard was empty, and the sweet-scented osmanthus tree that had been with him for decades was gone.

“You’re in the house. The water in Xu’s house is boiling and I can’t see you coming. People are so anxious! Hurry up, take your things and go, the meat seller are still here, so why tell people to wait.”

Zhang Fangyuan looked at him. Familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar young face, he remembered that this kid was the fourth child of the Chen family, a neighbor of their family, who often followed him when he was young, but this kid fell to the bottom of the cliff and died. It was decades ago, why are you still standing here?

“Why are you so shocked!”

Zhang Fangyuan said, “Why are you calling me?”

“I see that you drank too much wine in the town yesterday and you are still not sober. Today Xu’s family slaughtered the pig, and you promised them to slaughter the pig early in the morning. Now you are still dawdling in the house. What do you think I called you for?”

Chen Si saw that the person in front of him was still wandering, and he went into the house and cleaned up all the pig butcher tools for him.

Zhang Fangyuan stared blankly at the familiar and unfamiliar environment around him, as if he had returned to more than 30 years ago, when he was nineteen years old, even the yard was still empty, and the sweet-scented osmanthus tree hadn’t been planted yet.

He ran around the house, and finally stopped by the well to look at his young face and his bulging chest muscles that were stretched by his clothes.

He rubbed his face, and later even pulled his face until he gasped in pain.

A surge of joy slowly rose from the soles of his feet, so rushing that he almost lost his footing.

“What are you doing there? It’s impossible to be enchanted.”

Zhang Fangyuan ignored Chen Si’s question, happily snatched the thing from his hand, and carefully touched the old set tools he had spent a lot of money on. Man, the handle was still clear wood, the knife was not dull, everything was still like new.

Chen Si was thinking about why this person looked weird today, when he was suddenly dragged up: “You are the one who need to return to your soul, hurry up, don’t make everyone wait.”

Chen Si was carried by Zhang Fangyuan, and he looked at the person in the front whose mouth was about to crack to the ear, felt weird and creepy.

Come and read on our website wuxia worldsite. Thanks

He couldn’t get up and down in his heart, and softened his tone: “Fangyuan, you should drink less in the future, I know you are not short of the money, but you go every day, the villagers who see you come and go will talk nonsense again. I think you are acting weird today, and besides, at our age, it’s time to discuss marriage. Who would dare to come to the door if the reputation outside is bad.”

Zhang Fangyuan really didn’t remember anyone saying such pertinent words to him before, he never listened to him in the past, but after all his life, hearing such admonition now, he couldn’t help being moved, he hooked Chen Si’s neck, he agreed: “Okay. I won’t go to the town to eat and drink.”

Chen Si knew that human nature was not so easy to change, and Zhang Fangyuan was also pitiful. He used to be a good young man, but his temper had deteriorated due to a great change in his family. Now he had the virtue of drinking and playing, and he couldn’t be persuaded to come back with a few words.

If he could really listen to the words, the uncle of the Zhang family wouldn’t close the door and be cold-faced when he met Zhang Fangyuan, and the aunt on the other side of Zhang’s mother’s natal house wouldn’t sigh and avoid him.

But when Chen Si saw Zhang Fangyuan’s sincere attitude, even knowing that he didn’t take his words into his heart, he still had a smile on his face: “That’s right, half of the pigs killed by Xu’s family today are sold. There are a lot of people who buy meat. The winter solstice was coming soon, and my mother also asked me to buy meat from the Xus family. Then I can bargain the price and buy two catties of meat and go back to make a festival.

Zhang Fangyuan said happily: The winter solstice has to eat mutton, warm.”

Chen Si sighed: “That stuff is so expensive, nearly twice the price of pork, how can I afford it.”

Zhang Fangyuan smiled: “I’ll get some back tomorrow, you come to my house to eat.”

Chen Si’s eyes shined brightly: “Really? Are you calling me?”

“What are you trying to do, food tastes bad when you eat it alone, and it tastes better when you eat it will many people.”

“I’m afraid that in our village, you are the only one who can say it.”

Zhang Fangyuan smiled, he was indeed the only one in the village whose parents passed away and left some money, and he only needed to feed himself, which was naturally more free and easy than ordinary people.

Chen Si was very excited, and he talked more and more, mysteriously said: “I heard that the Xu family has invited a lot of people this time, not only to buy meat, but also matchmakers. I heard that they want to look the girl and talk about marriage.”

Zhang Fangyuan raised his eyebrows, he used to devote himself to the city and didn’t know much about the gossip in the village: “talk about marriage?”

“Are you confused? Xu Shaochun, the daughter of the Xu family, passed the age last year, but she hasn’t selected yet. I’m going to join in the fun.” Chen Si showed a man’s usual flirtatious smile : “What if I’m lucky? I was spotted by the girl.”

Zhang Fangyuan frowned, this Xu Shaochun was recognized as the village flower in their Jijiu Village, the girl was born with a juicy look, even the daughters raised by some wealthy families in the city could be compared, The matchmaker looked at it and said that she was a good child, and the men in the village were so confused that they couldn’t find her.

Now that the little girl had reached the age where she could marry, she would naturally become a favorite.

When it came to this matter , Zhang Fangyuan’s heart was also hot.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***