On this day, Xuanming took Luo Hua to travel to Lin'an City, and the two didn't need anyone else to follow, nor did they take a carriage or horse, but where they went, whether they were walking on the street, whether they were shuttling through various scenes with light skills, and the two came to the bridge of the canal in the city of Lin Ancheng, originally saying that they wanted to cross the stone bridge to the other side, but the two heard someone recite a few lines of poetry indistinctly.

"Dreaming of a day, like a year, like an arrow, time changes beauty. The two looked at the source of the bard, and found an old man with a white beard and white hair, dressed in a rustic manner, but not a little dirty.

But now the old man was holding a bottle of wine in his hand, leaning against the railing of the bridge, and asked some drunk, it seemed that the old man was drunk, and he looked like he was on his mind.

"Old man, what poem did you just read?" Luo Hua stepped forward to ask, and somehow, he felt that the sentence "Dream for a day, like a year, like an arrow, changes your face in time." "There is always something familiar, as if I have heard it there before, and it only makes people feel infinitely sad, and they can't help but feel that tears are about to fall.

"I'm thinking about the years, it's the time!" The old man wanted to raise the wine bottle in his hand and take another sip of wine, but he raised his head and poured it for a long time without pouring out a drop, it turned out that the wine bottle was already empty, the old man put down the wine bottle and looked at Luo Hua and Xuanming, and then sighed.

"Old man, where is your home, why are you here to get drunk alone?" Luo Hua saw that the old man was not completely drunk and unconscious, as if he was still awake, so he thought that he had already met now, and he couldn't ignore this old man, so he wanted to ask where the old man lived, and then send the old man back.

"Home, home is long gone, and there is only one place to accommodate memories. The old man heard Luo Hua asking where his home was, the old man put down the wine bottle in his hand, looked up at Luo Hua, as if he saw someone he knew, and said in a daze that his home was long gone.

"Old man, are you saying that only people are at home, is there only one left in your family?" Luo Hua heard the old man say this, and subconsciously felt that the old man said that there was no home, not that there was no place to live, but that there was only one old man left in the family.

"Yes, you little guy can see through it, I live in the west mountain of the city, and now there is indeed only the old man left. The old man nodded, slowly stood up against the railing of the bridge, and pointed in the direction of the west of the city, indicating that his family lived in that direction.

"Can the old man tell us your story?" Luo Hua felt that the old man must have many stories, his eyes were full of vicissitudes, and every strand of hair seemed to have a sense of sorrow.

"Then come with me, and the old man will also tell you about the old man's past, and talk about the place where I grew up and left, and finally went back to the old place. The old man walked towards the west of the city step by step with his hands behind his back, Luo Hua and Xuan Ming took a look, thinking that since they had all met, they would go and take a look, and then followed the old man's steps towards the west of the city.

After about half an hour, the old man took Luo Hua and Xuan Ming to a village in the west of the city, the village is located in a mountain forest in the middle of Lin'an City, this is a hunting ground, and there is a family in it that takes care of the hunting ground, which is where the old man is, and now only this old man is left.

"When I was a child, there were still several families living here, and after one hundred and eighty years of development, Lin Ancheng was no longer what it used to be, and everyone moved down the hunting ground and lived in Fang City. The old man took Luo Hua and Xuan Ming to a stone table in the village, and looked at the stone table, which seemed to have an uneven chess board carved on it.

"Old man, it seems that you are the only one here, why don't you move to live in the city?" Luo Hua looked around, except for a few bird calls between the bamboo forests, there was no other sound.

"Alas, it's easy for people to walk, but they can't take away the memories here. As he spoke, the old man led the two back to the path up the mountain.

"My mother used to tell me that one day he came to this mountain to collect medicine, but he broke his foot on the way, and she was going to move slowly down the mountain, but she met a person who lived on the mountain, and the man carried her on his back without saying a word, and sent her to the hospital at the bottom of the mountain, and the man told my mother that he lived on the mountain, and that he could go to the mountain to find him if there was something. The old man sat on a stone next to him and looked at the winding path.

"Later, could that person be your father?" Luo Hua thought that since the two were related, and the old man lived in the mountains, then the person that the old man's mother met was naturally the old man's father.

"Yes, the man my mother met was my father, and later my mother would always bring some things and food for the man when she went to the mountains to collect medicine, and sometimes she would make some clothes, and the two became husband and wife, and my father personally brought my mother to this mountain. The old man got up and walked down the path into the village, coming to a wooden gate at the entrance of the village.

"My grandparents were right at this gate to greet my mother, and there were so many people living here that I wasn't the only one left now. The old man looked up at the broken wooden door, as if he had seen the shadows of those who had passed through time.

Luo Hua and Xuan Ming listened quietly to the old man's talk about his past life, and no longer asked, they seemed to have seen the prosperity of this place in the past through the old man's words.

"Later, about half a year later, my father and mother gave birth to me, and that was probably the happiest time for my father and mother. My father was a martial artist, but he was the kind of martial artist who was not talented enough to get started, and he could only hunt in the mountains or go to the bottom of the mountains to work as a coolie on weekdays, but my parents were still very happy. The old man said and led Luo Hua and the two to a thatched hut that looked quite large, which should be where the old man lived.

"Since I was a child, my father wanted me to be a strong martial artist, but I only liked to collect herbs with my mother and study the art of medicinal stones, so my father and my mother often quarreled, and once when I went out to play, I would come outside this house and hear my father and mother arguing. The old man stood at the bottom of the stairs at the door of the house, looking at the house, as if he heard the voices of his father and mother again.

"In the future, you don't want to teach him any more medical skills, what's the use, we can't afford him to go to the hospital to learn. It was the old man's father who spoke, and there was some anger in his tone.

"But this is something that the child is willing to be interested in, what good is it for him if you have to practice martial arts, a few days ago you took him to the martial arts hall, and those people also looked at his muscles and bones, and it was clear that he did not have the talent to practice martial arts. It was the old man's mother who spoke, with a hint of stubbornness and a hint of sobbing in her tone, wanting to fight for her son, and her son's future path should not be restricted by the two of them, forcing her son to do something he was unwilling to do.

"Don't say it, martial arts practice is the foundation of his future life, and he can't be allowed to stay in this small world like us, without the ability. The old man's father said decisively, and then walked outside the house, and saw his son, whose face was still a little dirty, and couldn't help but soften.

"Child, it's not that Dad forces you, Dad doesn't want you to be like us, you don't have anything to do in your life, the world is so big, you will grow old in this place all your life, and you will be able to break into the rivers and lakes after practicing martial arts. The old man's father squatted down and touched his son's face, and then smoothed his son's hair and said.

"From then on, I began to listen to my father and began to practice martial arts day and night. The old man said and took Luo Hua and the two out of the house, and walked to a small lake on the mountain, where there was a wooden stake formation and a few wooden human piles, which seemed to be used for martial arts, presumably no one had used them for a long time, and now there are a few wooden stakes that are broken, and the wooden human stakes will immediately fall apart if someone goes to fight at this moment.

"One day my mother saw that I was too hard, so she bought me a string of sugar gourds, I was seven or eight years old at the time, it was the first time I ate sugar gourds, my mother said don't blame your father for making you work hard here, he is for my good, I didn't understand at the time, but I didn't understand my mother's words until I had a child, but when I reacted, my father and mother were long gone. The old man shook his head, as if to blame himself.

"What happened later? You don't have a good relationship with your father?" Luo Hua listened to what the old man said, and there seemed to be a lot of regret in his tone.

"Later, when I grew up, I made some friends outside, but I didn't even have a decent weapon, so I discussed with my father and said that I wanted a decent weapon, but on that day, my father gave me some money, saying that there are only so many in the family, at that time I was angry and said that you let me say this, why did you give birth to me in the first place, at that time, I left the house without letting my father say a word, and began to wander outside. As he spoke, the old man led the group to a cemetery at the back of the village, where there were several tombstones, which seemed to be the old man's father and mother, and the two tombstones were only next to each other.

"Later, I wandered on the rivers and lakes, but I didn't expect that the rivers and lakes are the places where people eat people, people's hearts are too dirty, after about ten years I returned to this place, at that time I realized that my parents are the most important people to me, but when I came back, my father had died, I knelt in front of this tombstone for three days and three nights, I wanted to say sorry to my father, but my father's heart was probably broken, and I never had a chance to make up for it. The old man wiped his father's mother's tombstone with his sleeve, and then sat down in front of the tombstone.

"It's a pity that I can't say sorry to my father anymore, because it's too late by the time I wake up. Luo Hua shook his head and sighed heavily.

"At that time, my mother saw that I was back, and she could blame me, but happily hugged me and said that it was okay to come back, and I said that it was not so good outside, and it seemed too cold compared to our home. The old man got up and took Luo Hua and the two back to the stone table, and then sat down, Luo Hua and Xuan Ming glanced at each other and did it.

"Later, I lived here, and tried my best to learn medicine again, and my mother also supported me very much, which made half of my life light up again, and I became an apprentice in the medical hall at the bottom of the mountain, and the owner of the medical hall saw that I was hard-working, so he agreed that I should study there, and my life with my mother was better. The old man turned his head to look around, and finally fixed his eyes on the chessboard on the stone table.

"Later, I also got married and had children, but I never moved down the mountain, and after having children, I realized how difficult it was for my mother and mother at that time, although my father forced me to learn martial arts, but now I don't blame my father at all, on the contrary, I am very grateful to my father. The old man tried to see his eyes red again, but because of his age, he couldn't shed a single tear.

"What about your children later? Did they all move away?" Luo Hua thought to himself, since the old man had children, why did he want to be here but the old man alone? It is very likely that the children have already moved away.

"I hesitated about my own experience at the beginning, I didn't force my children to learn what they didn't want to learn, we thought who sent them to learn what they wanted to do, and now they also have children, one is an official in Lin Ancheng, the other is married to a good family, their life is not bad, finally not like me, nothing has been achieved in this life. The old man looked at the bamboo leaves on his head that were blown off by the wind, and he didn't look like his own children doing anything at all.

"In that case, you shouldn't be very happy, old man, right?" Luo Hua heard the old man say this, and always felt that this seemed to be a little inconsistent with his identity as a child.

"I asked to live here, and I didn't want them to send someone to take care of me, this is just a place for them to grow up, but for me it is a thief called years, little by little, stealing my years and my father and mother, and stealing everything from me. The old man seemed to be half stunned, and after saying this, he never said it again, the years are the most powerful thieves in the world, stealing people's time, making people unguardable, and before they know it, they are already passing away, and the twilight years are coming.

Luo Hua and Xuan Ming glanced at each other, Luo Hua was even more destined to hold Xuan Ming's hand, the two of them looked at it like this, the thief of the years will also say that their time has been stolen, while the years are still ahead, they still have to cherish the people in front of them.