Qingdu bordered the northwestern Heroic Pass of Great Yong, being the metropolis of Liangzhou, naturally advantageous from ancient times, deemed a place not suitable for relatives to reside. Although not as prosperous as the fertile lands of the Central Plains, it was far from the desolate wasteland imagined by the people of Central Plains.
In the fifteenth year of Qingyuan, autumn.
After a night of torrential rain had passed, the sand and dust of Qingdu were washed away, along with the last traces of heat.
The streets of Qingque Road, usually enveloped in dust, rarely revealed their true appearance. The bluestone slabs, polished by the years, as if dipped in indigo, were perfectly reflected by the clear sky, embodying the essence of Qingdu.
Coincidentally, today was the Mid-Autumn Festival, adding a celebratory meaning to the autumn rain that rejuvenated the land.
"Almost forgot, this world celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival too..."
Lin Yue, sitting back in a lounge chair in his courtyard, gazed up at the flourishing golden elm in the yard, his eyes filled with nostalgic melancholy.
In his previous life, there was also a golden elm planted in front of his house.
Sadly, the tree was no longer the same, nor was the world.
Being a stranger in a foreign land, each festive occasion doubles the longing for family.
In the highly connected society of his previous life, he hadn't felt much for this phrase until now, when he realized he could never return to his hometown.
"It's been a year already..."
He calculated the time.
Lin Yue had been in this world for nearly a year now.
Despite the flaws of the world he lived in before, it was a million times better than this boring, ancient feudal society with a weak sense of human rights.
The only consolation was—
This wasn't merely an ancient world; it also had real Cultivators.
That was quite fascinating.
However, the existence of Cultivators also made the class structure of this world more rigid and cruel.
And he had transmigrated into a Mortal without any cultivation talents.
That was quite helpless.
"Good thing I have a cheat..."
Lin Yue murmured lazily, leaning back in his chair, "Just wait a bit longer, maybe I'll find a secret method to change my talents later."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
Then, a gentle girl's voice came from outside: "Brother Yue, are you home?"
"Xiaotong? Wait a moment, I'll open the door." Lin Yue immediately stood up and walked towards the gate.
She was obviously the younger daughter of the neighboring Wang Family, and among the few households in this alley, she was relatively familiar.
"Ah...no need, Brother Yue, don't open the door."
The girl outside seemed a bit nervous: "I just came to deliver a box of mooncakes to you, I'll talk through the door and then leave, you open it later, otherwise... Sister Ziqiu might misunderstand..."
Lin Yue was dumbstruck.
He then realized that to others, he still had a 'wife' who hadn't been brought over from her family yet.
It certainly wasn't appropriate to meet privately with other women.
Besides, he knew this girl harbored a slight infatuation for him...
It seemed she felt more 'guilty as a thief'.
"Alright." Lin Yue stopped at the door and asked through it, "Xiaotong, did you say mooncakes?"
"Yes, my mother just made them, please don't refuse."
After she had finished, the girl outside seemed to hesitate for a moment, then asked, "Brother Yue, how is Sister Ziqiu's illness? I haven't seen her for a long time."
"It's the same, she can only lie in bed and seldom wakes up," Lin Yue sighed.
There was a pause outside, followed by a soft sigh.
"Brother Yue, your relationship with Sister Ziqiu is really good, taking care of her even during such times, I envy her... Ah, I mean..."
The girl seemed to realize her slip, and her voice became slightly flustered.
"I, I should go now... Happy Mid-Autumn Festival."
Silently for a moment, then the girl's hurried footsteps gradually faded away.
Lin Yue opened the courtyard gate, and there was a bamboo woven food container at the door.
He glanced down the alley corner, chuckling to himself.
He then picked up the food container, went back into the courtyard, and sat down at the stone table under the tree.
Upon opening the food container, Lin Yue muttered, "Just as I thought, not a Guangdong Mooncake, and why does it look like a bagel... I wanted one with lotus seed paste and egg yolk..."
He tore a piece of the bread and tasted it; fresh from the oven, it had a unique flavor.
Today was indeed Mid-Autumn Festival.
Suddenly, a weak groan came from behind him in the house.
"She's awake already?" Lin Yue turned his head and a smile curved his lips.
He immediately stood up, lifted the sand-preventing curtain from the doorway, and entered the house.
A thick scent of medicine permeated throughout the room.
Her source of the scent was the young woman lying on the bed.
She lay weakly, her complexion sickly pale, her features marked by weariness. Though somewhat thin and not looking well, one could tell that she was once a beautiful woman.
Now, she still qualified as a sick beauty.
"You've only been asleep for eight hours, and you've been waking up more frequently; seems like you're developing a resistance to the medication."
Lin Yue smiled at her, sitting down by the bed.
He then lifted the blanket, and through the thin garment, he started delicately checking her skeletal joints all over her frail body.
Throughout the process, although the frail young woman did not resist, or perhaps couldn't, she kept glaring at him with hateful eyes.
The hatred in her gaze was as if she wished to devour his flesh and drink his blood.
"Don't look at me like that; I find it quite revolting too,"
Lin Yue spoke to himself while patiently pressing on various bone joints, "but we must check you to prevent any secret recovery."