Qingmu Village, Xu Family Ravine.
This place is cut off from the world, surrounded by mountains. For many years, hardly any outsiders visit.
Intricate curves stretch out, engulfing the village within undulating arcs. At the edge of the mountains, a vague figure emerges in the distance, gradually disappearing into the village with the undulation of the mountain path.
He is incredibly lonely, like a traveller lost in a realm away from reality. The setting sun casts its glow on him, extending his beleaguered and solitary shadow.
From time to time, under the fading glow of the sunset, the figure slowly approaches this earthly paradise. He stands under a tree by the road, gazing at the houses down below. His usually cold eyes gradually soften with warmth.
"Ten years, I've finally returned—"
Xu Shaolong gently extends his arms, as if making a hug gesture. He's emotionally moved; his inner feelings are far from the calm exterior he projects.
"Mom, how have these past ten years been? Shaolong has returned to see you —"
Xu Shaolong's eyes moisten. After a ten-year absence from home without any news-, how heartbroken and desolated must his mother be?
However, haven't he too, suffered every day unable to return home?
He was the leader of China's elite action team, Tianchen Team, undertaking all kinds of five-star dangerous missions, operating in every corner of the world. He has killed hundreds, if not thousands, of criminals, becoming the nightmare in countless minds.
He was also known as the "Wing of the Burning Angel," where he went, justice and destruction followed alike!
However, just half a month ago, an operation plan leaked and they were ambushed. The entire Tianchen Team, include him, was almost wiped out. He was the only survivor.
The always proud and arrogant Xu Shaolong was unable to face the comrades who died tragically due to his mistakes, let alone continue to act as the squad leader of Tianchen Team.
After that battle, Xu Shaolong, who had miraculously survived, decided to get away from everything. He bid farewell to all the glory he was bestowed and returned to his birthplace with his last shred of conviction.
In the past, he lived for his country, but now, he lives only for himself and for his mother, bidding farewell to everything from before and enjoying a quiet life at home.
Being by his mother's side and making up for the ten years he was away from her became Xu Shaolong's most heartfelt wish.
Soon, Xu Shaolong returned to the house where he had lived for fifteen years.
"How did this happen?"
Standing in the courtyard, Xu Shaolong furrowed his brows, looking at his completely changed home from ten years ago with disbelief on his face.
The two lion statues at the front door were all broken, and the originally brightly decorated house was now in ruins, with traces of damage everywhere, completely unlike what it looked like ten years ago.
If he hadn't lived here for a full fifteen years, he might suspect that he had come to the wrong place.
Stunned, Xu Shaolong suddenly turned around upon feeling something.
Behind him stood a middle-aged woman with a yellow face and frail body, with a vegetable basket in her hand.
Xu Shaolong stared at her in shock, forgetting to breathe, to think, his brain short-circuited, causing a blank moment.
Thud!
The vegetable basket in the hand of the middle-aged woman behind him fell to the ground. A wave of uncontrollable excitement emerged on her originally numb and worn face.
"Shaolong-"
The middle-aged woman reached out to Xu Shaolong in the courtyard with a withered and thin hand, stumbled as she ran towards Xu Shaolong, nearly falling to the ground.
"Mom!"
A dazed Xu Shaolong suddenly woke up and rushed towards the middle-aged woman. He reached out to steady her as she was about to fall, trembling as he brushed his hands over her worn, emaciated cheeks. Unconsciously, tears started to stream down his face. "Yes, Shaolong has come back, the family can finally be reunited now."
"Shaolong, my Shaolong you have finally returned!"
The middle-aged woman extended her shaking hands and softly brushed Xu Shaolong's haggard face. Unable to control her emotions, tears started sliding down her cheeks as she excitedly called out, "My Shaolong, you've grown up!"
Hearing the sobriquet 'Shaolong', Xu Shaolong's mental defenses completely collapsed, and he could no longer contain his feelings. Almost instinctively, he pulled the frail woman in front of him into his embrace tightly, sobbing, "Yes, I have returned, your child has returned..."
Seeing his mother in such a state, his heart nearly shattered. Ten years had passed.
Twenty years ago, she was known as the most beautiful woman in An City. Even ten years ago, she was still filled with charm. But now, it was nearly impossible to see traces of her past glory on her face.
She was completely worn down, her body covered in the traces of time. She looked not like someone in their late forties, but someone in their sixties.
Life had taken away her youth, stealing every beautiful aspect of her as a woman.
Xu Shaolong could not imagine what these ten years had been like for her, what kind of hardships she had endured that caused such a drastic change in her.
Every time he thought of the mother from his memories, and compared it with the woman in front of him, it felt like a thousand, ten thousand needles were piercing his heart.
Several times, he swallowed, having a myriad of words stuck in his throat. But in the end, he could not voice any of them. All he could do was use all his strength to hold her tightly, providing her comfort.
"Mom, I want to go see dad…"
After a long while, Xu Shaolong slowly pulled away, looking at her with a forced smile on his face.
"That's right, since you're back, you should pay a proper visit to your dad. He used to love drinking, why not go have a chat with him. And I'll get everything ready and join you soon."
The woman wiped away the tears at the corner of her eyes, looking at her son before her, and slowly began to smile. This smile, pure and radiant, came from the bottom of her heart, a happy smile that seemed to release all the pain accumulated over the past ten years.
"Uh-huh!"
Xu Shaolong nodded heavily and proceeded towards the small hill behind his house. Here lay his father, whose grave was simply marked by three protruding stones.
Xu Shaolong stood before the grave, momentarily lost in a trance.
His father had passed away shortly after he was born, leaving him with only a vague image of the man who had fathered him. Most of what he knew about his father came from his mother's words.
His father was a great hero.
His mother repeated this to him time and time again, and he firmly believed it for fifteen years, up till now.
"Dad, I'm back,"
Xu Shaolong knelt before the grave, a look of relief spreading across his face as he gazed at the three stones.
"Starting from today, this home is officially under my protection. I will definitely make mom live a good life, full of happiness and peace, free of worry for the rest of her days. You don't need to worry about us anymore down there. Your son is different now,"
---
"Hey sister, what are you up to? Going to meet your gun-swallowing man?”
Just as Ye Linghuan was about to take out a bottle of long-preserved old wine, some cured meat, and some fruits to take to Xu Shaolong on the back mountain, a whiny voice suddenly came from the side.
