YM778.TV Chapter 260 Wei Jun
The morning light faintly filtered through the window, and as every day, the silence of his home felt oppressive.
He struggled to rise from his bed, his breath short and labored. He didn\'t need to glance at the clock to know that it was likely already nine or ten.
His daughter, now an adult, had long since left the house for work.
She had been taking care of him ever since the illness had taken everything from him, forcing him to give up his job.
Last year, everything had changed. Wei Jun could no longer do anything, not even lift the tools he worked with, nor move with the same agility as before.
Each day seemed like another step away from the life he had known, a life of hard work, sweat and toil, which gave him purpose. Find more to read at empire
Now, everything was gray and monotonous. Each morning, he would wake up, eat the food his daughter prepared, and wonder if this was his life now, a routine repeating endlessly.
The illness that afflicted him, according to the doctor, was normal for a man of his age. His bones had weakened, and his muscles no longer responded as they once did.
The strength he had once thought unshakable was gone. He could no longer work the fields, and seeing his daughter take his place pained him deeply.
His mind refused to accept that it was now her responsibility to carry on.
He had never been wealthy in his life, and the little money he had saved was nearly depleted, spent on small treatments that allowed him to remain alive.
If it had been up to him, he would have closed his eyes and embraced death with an open smile, after all, he did not fear death.
He was a man who had lived a long life full of experiences, both joyous and painful.
His only regret, and the sole reason he clung so desperately to the faint flame within his body, which every day risked being extinguished, was his desire to see his daughter happy and married, with someone good who could love her and provide for her in his absence.
Since the death of his beloved wife, Wei Ling was the only loved one he had left, and as a father, it pained him to see her take his place while he slowly withered away.
"Haa..."
Currently seated on a rocking chair outside his house, he could not help but shake his head as he thought about how, in the past, he had tried multiple times to find a suitable companion for his daughter, only for her to dismiss them each time.
Sometimes he wondered where his daughter had gotten this attitude.
He had always been a humble man, finding joy in the small things life gave him, and his beloved, now departed wife had been the same.
Thinking about how his daughter had changed over the past two years, solely to help him as the illness weakened him further, made his heart ache.
He gazed at the clear and bright sky of the day, unable to stop himself from reminiscing about his life, the happy experiences he\'d had, such as meeting his wife or purchasing a small home to build their nest and raise their little girl.
He remembered how happy he had been when she was born, and although many men believed it was better to have a son first, as they could lend a hand when they grew older, he had never thought it was a misfortune that a daughter had been born instead.
He had his fair share of troubles raising her, but upon reflection, he admitted in his heart that if he could, he would live through those troubles once more, gladly.
She was his little pride and always had been.
He then shook his head regretfully, recalling how she had changed after her mother\'s death.
While he was lost in his thoughts, his now weak ears picked up the sound of approaching footsteps, growing louder.
Assuming it was a neighbor coming by to say hello, he glanced up to see who it was.
\'Hm? Who is that man? I\'m certain I\'ve never seen him before.
Probably not from around here,\' he thought, turning his gaze away from the man wearing a conical bamboo hat.
Although it wasn\'t common to see strangers passing through, it wasn\'t too rare either.
After all, the agricultural area of the town of Oston had several paths connecting it to small villages or even other towns.
It wasn\'t unusual for someone traveling from those areas to lose their way and end up wandering into this farming region.
Thinking about wandering strangers, he couldn\'t help but recall the face of a certain young man who had stayed at his house a little over two years ago.
Remembering it, he couldn\'t help but shake his head in regret as he wondered what had happened to him.
He still remembered that while he was waking up early one morning to go to the fields, the young man had left for the city, saying he had found a merchant who was interested.
From what he\'d been told, the merchant seemed very interested in buying his produce, so that morning, Wei Jun had also woken up earlier than usual to sell the freshly harvested goods.
Who would have thought that he would never see the young man again after that morning?
In the end, he shook his head yet again as he tried to rise and go back inside to rest.
It was already afternoon, and he had been outside for nearly two hours.
Although he was used to the intense summer heat, staying outside for too long would only harm him further.
Not wanting to endure another scolding from his daughter for staying out too long, he decided to return indoors.
Mustering his strength, he rose slowly from the chair to head inside. But just as he took a step toward the door, a sudden wave of fatigue hit him, and he lost his balance.
\'No, not again,\' he thought as the sudden wave of exhaustion struck him, causing him to faint and leaving him unable to break his fall.
But just as he was about to collapse, a hand appeared beside him, catching him before he could fall and hurt himself.
Had he still been conscious, he would have realized that the hand belonged to none other than the stranger he had noticed just moments earlier.
Ethan, who had just passed by to check on old Wei, couldn\'t help but sigh as he carried the unconscious man back inside.
Nearly an hour after he had fainted, Wei Jun slowly opened his eyes as his vision focused on the familiar ceiling of his home.
"Eh? When did I come back inside?" he thought, his mind still a bit hazy.
As he mumbled to himself, he unconsciously tried to sit up in bed.
And as he was doing this, he suddenly noticed something.
"This... doesn\'t hurt anymore," he murmured, a bit astonished, as he sat up in bed.
At his age and with his illness, it had been impossible for him to make even the slightest movement without feeling pain in his bones, a pain that grew stronger depending on the intensity of the motion.
For a while, he had taken medicine to help with the pain, but those had run out long ago, and he hadn\'t bought more due to their cost.
But now, that pain had suddenly vanished. Not only that, but he also felt, for some reason, that his vision was clearer and his body a bit more energetic.
It was as though, after an exhausting day of work, he had gone to sleep and woken up feeling rejuvenated, full of energy.
What would normally be a regular sensation for others was extraordinary for him, as he hadn\'t felt such strength in his body for years.
For a moment, he thought he might have died after fainting and was now in paradise.
But then why did paradise look so much like his home?
While he was caught off guard by this sudden and unexpected cover, he failed to notice the figure of the man with long, black hair tied behind him and crystal-blue eyes, who was watching him while sitting just beside the bed.
Seeing that Old Wei had woken up and seemed lost in some thought soon after, the man offered a light smile and said,
"Old man, time passes, but you never change," he said in a calm voice.
Hearing the sudden voice coming from his side, Wei Jun, who had momentarily lost himself in happiness, couldn\'t help but be jolted out of his thoughts as he turned his gaze to the side, his expression a mixture of confusion and surprise.
\'This voice... why does it feel so familiar to me?\' he wondered as his eyes fell on the figure of a handsome and refined-looking man sitting beside him, watching him with a small smile.