As the year drew to a close, Qing Shui, carrying his backpack, finally arrived at the summit of the western mountains near the Qing Clan. The skies had already faded to a reddish yellow as dusk approached. As Qing Shui gazed into the far-off direction, at the entrance of the Qing Mansion, he saw an unforgettable silhouette. That graceful bearing and that charming appearance, it was as if it had been engraved onto his heart, unforgettable for all eternity.
What Qing Shui saw was the silhouette of Qing Yi. At the instant he saw her, an indescribable feeling of warmth materialized in his heart. Unknowingly, his pace got quicker and quicker and reached a terrifying speed as he sped over to Qing Yi.
"Mother!" Tears involuntarily dripped down his face as Qing Shui felt very blessed at this moment. Thinking back on his experiences for the half past year as well as the time when he almost died, but still, he eventually survived and finally returned home to see his mother.
Hearing the familiar voice, Qing Yi felt a shudder in her heart. Looking ahead, she saw Qing Shui lunging forward and she tightly embraced him.
"Ah, my child, why are you crying? Let mother take a good look at you, hmm your hair has grown longer, you have matured, and you have even grown taller!" Qing Yi gently patted Qing Shui's forehead as she started to tidy his unkempt hair.
"Ai, what happened Shui`er? Why is there suddenly a violet dot on your forehead? Strangely enough, it looks really good on you." Qing Yi asked while she curiously touched that speck of violet-colored pearl in the middle of Qing Shui's brow
"Eh, n.. nothing, I do not know what happened either, maybe an unknown bug bit me.After all, I have been travelling for half a year!" Qing Shui hurriedly found an excuse to starve off Qing Yi's question. Luckily for him, in the past 2 months, the once shiny, violet-colored speck of jade pearl had dimmed a little and was no longer as eye-catching!
"Mother dearest, why are you here, do you not need to visit Hundred Miles City before the new year?"
"Haha, who would have thought that there would be such a coincidence, I came out today in the hopes of seeing Shui`er, and Shui`er really did appear! Since Shui`er is here, this year, I will not return to Hundred Miles City." Qing Yi cheekily pinched the cheeks of Qing Shui as she smiled, happiness apparent in her eyes.
Qing Shui felt extremely emotional in his heart, he didn't know for how long Qing Yi had stood there, waiting for him to come back, but he knew that this was certainly not the first day Qing Yi waited for him outside of the entrance to the Qing Mansion.
"Mother, Shui`er has matured, in the future let me share your worries and burdens for you, alright? Do not worry and just let me handle it." Qing Shui glanced at Qing Yi, gratitude almost overwhelming him to the point that he did not know what to say. Despite this, he knew that because of the love they shared, there was no need for him to actually say anything.
"Let us go home, it is going to be a new year in a few days. Mother shall personally tailor a new clothes for you to try on." Qing Yi said as they both walked in the direction of the Qing Mansion.
Looking at the Qing Clan, Qing Shui did not feel like anything had changed, now that the year was coming to an end, he could sense the festive atmosphere everywhere. For instance, at the entrance of Qing Clan, and other families nearby, there were big red lanterns as well as some colored satin sashes hanging atop the entrances, fluttering in the wind. Looking around, he saw the kids of the various families running about as they played in the streets, while the older generations of the families would be shopping for new year goods in the bustling marketplace.
Another year was arriving!
After walking into the Qing Mansion, the only thing that made Qing Shui puzzled was that the normally cold family members actually took their own initiative to warmly greet him as he walked past. As such, Qing Shui too smiled back in response.
"Qing Shui, you are back! Did you just returned?" Qing Hai, looking as if he was about to go out, after seeing Qing Shui and Qing Yi, stopped and warmly welcomed him back even without giving Qing Shui the chance to speak.
"It is good that you are back, your mother had been standing at the entrance for every day, from dawn to dusk, for almost a month! Now that you are back, you must properly take care of your mother!" Qing Hai quickly left after speaking, as he did not want to meet Qing Yi's fiery gaze.
"Mo… mother…" Qing Shui stuttered for a moment before his voice gave up.
Qing Shui knew that he was very important in Qing Yi's heart, although previously she had agreed to let Qing Shui leave the Qing Village, he knew that she had done so very reluctantly. Despite the worries in her mind and the fear in her heart, she did not say a single word. She had always been alone, suffering in silence.
After awhile, they arrived at the courtyard which belonged to the both of them. After entering the room, Qing Shui took off his backpack and thought of the eight Energy Enhancing Fruits in it.
"Mother, somehow, I fortuitously came across these fantastic fruits during my travels." As he was talking, Qing Shui opened his backpack and took out the glistening blood-red Energy Enhancing Fruits.
"Hundred-Year Fiery Power Fruit!" Qing Yi exclaimed, shocked to her core!
Qing Shui himself was startled too. To think that the Energy Enhancing Fruits from the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal could actually be identified in the outside world as well. Well, might as well, this saves him the trouble of explaining.
"Mother, you can identify this fruit!?"Qing Shui asked, dumbstruck.
"This is the Hundred-Year Fiery Power Fruit, it only grows in the vicinity of thousand-year old volcanoes, it takes a hundred years for them to mature, and once matured, every fruit will increases a human's strength by 500 jin after consumption. And that is not all,, it can also improve one's constitution! Furthermore, this fruit only grows under exceptional circumstances as the requirements are exceedingly harsh to meet, so this fruit could be said to be incomparably valuable. If one use this fruit as a ingredient for pill concoction, the grade of the end product concocted will at least be of the Precious Grade!" Qing Yi explained.
Regarding the effects, Qing Shui already knew all of it, it was just the fruit's name that was different. Qing Shui could only sigh in his heart, when he learned that the fruit was named as Energy Enhancing Fruit, he already felt that it sounded stupid, who could have imagined that this new name, the "Hundred-Year Fiery Power Fruit" would sound even more retarded!
"What a pity!"
"What is a pity?" Qing Shui looked at Qing Yi who was staring at the fruits with emotions akin to regret.
"What a pity that each individual can only consume two of these fruits in a lifetime. If not, then these eight fruits could have enabled your strength to increase tremendously."
"Mother, I thought that these fruits were just ordinary run-of-the-mill fruits so I have already eaten two of them. After which, I could feel that my strength increased a lot and thus, decided to bring these fruits back! Mother, since these fruits can increase strength level as well as improve constitution, hurry up and eat two!"
Qing Yi initially did not eat the fruits because she wanted to save them for Qing Shui. After ascertaining that Qing Shui had already eaten two of the fruits, she no longer hesitated.
"Hurry up and eat two of these fruits, Mother! Who knows, there may be unexpected surprises. You do not have to worry about the fruits running out, I know where the growing place for the fruits is, and it is in a very well hidden place. I can guarantee that no one can find it but me!" Qing Shui lies became more and more far-fetched.
A lie leading to another lie, eventually ending up with a whole web of lies!
Giving in to Qing Shui's urgings, Qing Yi consumed two of the Energy Enhancing Fruits and gained an increase of 1000 jin of strength! This made Qing Shui scratch his head in bewilderment, he still had no clue as to why the effects differed for him when he consumed his first fruit inside the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.
After that, Qing Yi kept the remaining Energy Enhancing Fruits as she took out a few sets of satin clothings. The materials all came from Hundred Miles City, but from the intricate weavings on the set of clothings, Qing Shui could tell that each of these sets of clothes had been personally tailored by Qing Yi for himself.
From back when he was young till now, all of Qing Shui's clothes had been handmade by Qing Yi.
"Come and try to see if it fits!" Qing Yi happily called out.
Qing Yi help Qing Shui put on a purple satin robe, and it fit him to a T. No one knew better than Qing Yi, not even Qing Shui himself, about the sizes of the clothes and shoes that he wore.
My son looks so much like a charming prince!" Qing Yi said as she admired Qing Shui in his new clothes, laughingly. The smile on her face made Qing Yi look incomparably pure, as if she was radiating sunlight. At this moment, Qing Shui felt extremely blessed in his heart to have a mother like Qing Yi.
Motherly Love was boundless!