荒墟牧神 - 第758章 母子緣深 - 文瀾書苑

"So alike..."

A farmer murmured, "He looks so much like Prince Zhen. Who is he?"

Shen Mu came to the village entrance. The village girls feeding silkworms looked up and sized him up with tilted heads. Their eyes were bright and luminous — each was a deity who had cultivated to the Heavenly Palace realm; even dressed in coarse cloth here in Youdu, their beauty could not be concealed.

Shen Mu smiled and said, "Sisters, my name is Shen Fengqing. I am from the Land of No Sorrow. I drifted to the Barren Wastes. I am twenty-two years old by the full count and twenty-three by the traditional count. I have come to find my mother."

The village girls were stunned. The winnowing baskets in their hands fell to the ground, scattering mulberry leaves everywhere.

In the village, the woman at the spinning wheel suddenly trembled, and turned her head.

Shen Mu saw her face — the very face he had seen aboard his father Shen Fengqing's ship, the face of the mother he had yearned for day and night, that haunted his dreams.

Aboard that treasure ship, he had seen an afterglow of history — the ordeal of his father and mother steering the treasure ship from the Land of No Sorrow to the Barren Wastes.

That was the first time he had seen his father and mother, and it let him know that he still had kin in this world.

He could not forget that scene.

The woman at the spinning wheel stood up. Looking at him, she was at a loss, not knowing what to do. Though she wore coarse cloth, her bearing was elegant and dignified — only now her heart was in turmoil, and she did not know where to put her hands.

She stumbled over, gazing at the youth at the village entrance. She knocked over a rack hung with gauze cloth, then tripped over a water vat, nearly falling.

"Fengqing? Is it Fengqing?" she asked from afar.

"Mother."

Shen Mu knelt at the village entrance and bowed deeply. "Your child has come home."

A pair of warm hands, trembling slightly, raised him up. Those gentle, brimming eyes looked at him, studied him. Her voice carried a tremor: "Is it Fengqing? I have been thinking of you all along..."

"Every time I dream, I dream of the moment I hung the jade pendant around your neck. I blame myself so. I am always startled awake by nightmares, dreaming that you died out there, died in that basket..."

"I have been thinking of you, worrying about you, afraid that you would meet with danger out there..."

...

Shen Mu smiled a heartwarming smile and gripped her hands tightly. "Mother, I have come back alive."

"You've come back." The woman choked and wept, holding his hand and refusing to let go, fearful that this was only another dream, fearful that he would suddenly vanish like waking from a dream.

Several farmers came over from the village entrance and looked at the mother and son. The village girls stepped forward and said in low voices, "Consort Zhen, the little prince's return is a happy thing. There is no need for sorrow."

"It is a great joy."

Another woman laughed. "I'll go catch some frogs, and kill a chicken too — today we feast well! Hey, Left Vice Minister, come catch frogs with me! There are a few fish in the lake as well, catch them up too!"

That Left Vice Minister said hurriedly, "The vegetables at the village entrance are ready to pick too. Hurry and prepare some!"

"There are still fruits on the mountain. I'll go pick a few plates of fruit!"

They bustled about. The mother still gazed at Shen Mu, still afraid she might be dreaming. Shen Mu, meanwhile, chattered on about his experiences in Yincan Village, about being hunted by the plumed-crested fire pheasant-dragons, about practicing his arts by the Yongjiang River.

Amusing and embarrassing tales from his childhood were dredged up, embellished and exaggerated, as he did his utmost to make his mother smile.

The woman listened quietly, then suddenly burst into laughter — yet tears fell all the same.

"Where is Ping'er?"

She asked, "Ping'er sent you back to the world of the living. Why is she not at your side?"