Cultivating Immortality, Starting from Childhood Sweethearts - Chapter 488

Huainan Commandery, Baihe County.

In a small farmhouse on the outskirts of Baihe County, an elderly man hunched over, scattering rice husks to feed the chickens.

After finishing, he brewed himself a pot of tea and sat in the courtyard, quietly gazing at the blue sky and white clouds.

On the other side of the courtyard, a woman was hanging clothes to dry.

She still looked to be in her thirties—beautiful, with a graceful figure, carrying an air of mature elegance.

Thirty years ago, Jiang Shi looked like this. Twenty years ago, she was the same. And even now, she remained unchanged.

It was as if time had left not a single trace on her face.

It was hard to imagine that a former Prime Minister, having retired, now lived in such a humble farmhouse, indistinguishable from an ordinary farmer.

At times, this former Prime Minister would even take chickens and ducks to the market to sell.

Over the years, the people of Baihe County had come to know that a once-powerful elder resided in the outskirts, and many wished to visit him.

However, every one of them had been turned away by the county magistrate.

The magistrate dared not allow this old man’s retirement to be disturbed.

Even during major festivals like the New Year, the magistrate would only bring gifts to pay his respects, exchanging a few words before quickly departing, afraid to disrupt the elder’s peaceful life.

—

No one knew how much time had passed when a man dressed in a constable’s uniform arrived at the courtyard gate. He cupped his hands and bowed toward the elderly man inside.

“May I ask if Master Fang is present?”

The former Prime Minister of the Wu Kingdom Kingdom, Fang Ling, rose to his feet and walked toward the entrance, bowing in return like an ordinary farmer.

“I am he.”

The constable quickly bowed again.

“Master Fang, I bring you a letter from Wudu. I did not dare delay and have come to deliver it immediately. Please sign for it.”

When the constable laid eyes on Fang Ling, his heart beat a little faster.

This was once the Prime Minister of Wu Kingdom—perhaps the most important figure he would ever meet in his lifetime.

Fang Ling accepted the letter and nodded.

“I appreciate it.”

“You’re too kind, Master Fang. I shall take my leave and report back.”

“Safe travels.”

The constable stole one last glance at this great figure before turning to leave.

It was clear that he had been instructed by the county magistrate—deliver the letter and leave at once.

Fang Ling carried the letter back into the courtyard, carefully opening it and reading its contents.

Jiang Shi, having finished hanging the clothes, smoothed down her sleeves and walked to her husband’s side.

She poured him a cup of tea and stood quietly by his side.

The moment she heard that the letter had come from Wudu, an unease settled in her heart—she feared that their peaceful life was about to be disrupted.

After a long while, Fang Ling put the letter down.

Only then did Jiang Shi speak.

“Husband, this letter…?”

Fang Ling smiled.

“It’s from the current Prime Minister of Wu Kingdom.”

Jiang Shi fell silent.

Fang Ling set the envelope aside.

“I must admit, Mo Chi truly is someone even the White Deer Academy’s headmaster saw potential in. So far, everything has unfolded just as he predicted.

And he has not gone back on his promise to me.

He truly wants to see this through.

Even if his path has taken a few twists and turns, he has never strayed from his original intent.”

As he spoke, Fang Ling chuckled and shook his head.

“Like a fool.”

Jiang Shi, standing beside him, clenched her fingers, pressing her lips together.

In the end, she couldn’t hold back her question.

“Husband… are you going to Wudu?”

Fang Ling nodded.

“Yes, I must go to Wudu. Since Mo Chi has made all the preparations, wasn’t this the very day I’ve been waiting for?”

Jiang Shi lowered her head, tightly clutching the hem of her dress.

She had been a wife for decades, yet at this moment, her expression was like that of a young girl.

“I do not wish for my husband to leave…”

Fang Ling turned to look at her.

Summoning her courage, Jiang Shi raised her gaze to meet his, her eyes unwavering.

Fang Ling stood up, reached out, and gently patted his wife’s head.

“How many years have we known each other?”

“Huh?” Jiang Shi hadn’t expected her husband to suddenly ask this.

“It has been thirty-five years,” she replied.

“Thirty-five years already…” Fang Ling’s voice carried a trace of nostalgia.

He smiled.

“Thirty-five years ago, I was a young scholar, and you were a beautiful young girl. Thirty-five years later, I have become an old scholar, yet you remain the same beautiful girl.”

Jiang Shi was silent.

“Tuer, I do not have many years left to live.”

Fang Ling shook his head.

His hair was completely white, yet his gaze remained as steady and unyielding as a mountain.

“I am not like you—I cannot cultivate. Instead of waiting for death to take me in my old age, I would rather use this decaying body of mine to accomplish something.

Besides, if even a young and capable man like Xiao Mo Chi does not fear death, what right do I, an old man, have to hesitate?

Would I not become a laughingstock to the younger generation?”

“Husband will not die!” Jiang Shi lifted her head, stubbornly, like a defiant young girl.

“Haha… cough, cough…”

Fang Ling laughed, but soon, his laughter turned into a fit of coughing.

Jiang Shi reached out, wanting to pat his back, but Fang Ling waved her hand away.

“I will go to the county. Once I leave, I will not return. Take good care of yourself in the days to come.”

Jiang Shi panicked.

“Then I will go with you!”

Fang Ling shook his head.

“If you go… you will not make it back alive. Be good.”

He patted Jiang Shi’s head once more before walking out of the courtyard.

He untied the old horse tethered outside.

As Jiang Shi watched her husband’s figure gradually fade into the distance, memories surfaced in her mind—memories from thirty-five years ago, in the depths of a snowy winter.

That winter…

A fox had gone out to hunt but accidentally stepped into a hunter’s trap, its leg caught in the cruel iron jaws.

As despair set in and it prepared to surrender to death in the freezing snow, a young scholar carrying a bookcase happened to pass by.

He freed the fox from the trap.

Tearing a piece from his blue robe, he wrapped its wounded leg to stop the bleeding.

Then, he carried the fox in his arms and walked step by step through the bitter winter snow.

The scholar nursed the fox back to health.

And when the fox had healed, he released it back into the wild.

That day, the fox had never wanted to take human form more than ever before.

“Husband, you say I will die…”

Watching his figure disappear into the horizon, Jiang Shi murmured softly.

“But if not for you, I would have already died in that winter long ago.”