By the riverside, where childhood memories once played,where small laughter used to fill the peaceful air...now, there is only silence.
Li Yuan sat alone.
The wind touched his black hair.Leaves fell and drifted along with the calm but indifferent current.
His eyes, usually resolute... now looked weary.He gazed at the water—not to see his reflection,but to understand a silence that could not be explained.
Then, light footsteps were heard behind him.
Mu Yi and Fan Tu approached slowly—not like they usually did, running and shouting.This time, they walked carefully,as if afraid to disturb the sadness hanging in the air.
"Li Yuan…"
"I… I'm sorry for your loss," Mu Yi said softly,his voice sincere, unlike his usual cheerful tone.
"We… heard from Father," added Fan Tu, a little hesitantly.
Li Yuan remained silent.The water in front of him kept flowing, like time that couldn't be stopped.His eyes were blank… but inside them, a storm of feelings swirled—hard to name.
After a moment, in a quiet voice, he asked:"Does death… mean the end of everything?"
Mu Yi and Fan Tu looked at each other.Neither of them knew the answer. They were only children.But Mu Yi finally replied in a soft voice:
"I don't know, Yuan…But I think, as long as we remember…they're still alive in our hearts."
Li Yuan nodded slowly.Then whispered:
"I want to be stronger…not to take revenge, not to fight…but so I won't lose again…so I can protect those who are left."
The evening wind grew colder.The sun sank lower, brushing the river's shimmering surface.
The three children sat together in silence—not because they didn't know what to say,but because sometimes silenceis the only language that truly understands sorrow.
The next morning, the sunlight parted the thin mist that cloaked the village.The blue sky seemed to hold back tears,giving the world space to breathe.
Li Yuan woke earlier than usual—without a word, without complaint, just quiet, steady steps.
He walked through the village paths,passing the sound of roosters and the breath of the morning breeze.But his steps didn't lead to the fields, nor to the river,but to a place almost forgotten by time—The Hidden Ancient Library.
The building lay behind shrubs and large stones,veiled by time and silence.But to Li Yuan, it was a gateway…not only to knowledge,but to understanding the meaning of life itself.
As he opened the old wooden door with a soft creak,a fine dust floated up, as if welcoming him back.
Inside, the worn wooden shelves still stood.There lay the traces of those who came before—words born from suffering, hope, downfall, and enlightenment.
Li Yuan walked through the narrow aisles between the shelves,his fingers brushing the dusty spines of books,and in his heart, a question arose:
"How did people of the past walk their paths…?Did they ever feel like this?"
He opened one book—the writing was faded, but its meaning felt close:
"We do not write to be remembered,but so our hearts' voices won't be buried with time."
Another book said:
"In every destruction, a soul still stands.In every loss, an understanding grows."
Li Yuan let out a long breath.He still didn't know much about the world,but one thing now felt clearer:
The traces left behind are not only words—but feelings.And those feelings would be his guide.
"I will read them all," Li Yuan whispered in his heart,"even if it takes a lifetime."
And among those pages…a small light began to glow within him.
It had been three years since Li Yuan first discovered the old library.
He was now nearly eleven years old.
Every week, sometimes every day, he would go there.Not just to read, but to experience.
Every piece of writing he openedseemed to carry the soul of someone within it.The bitterness of loss, the warmth of love,failure, rising again—all of it captured in scrolls and hand-written books.
"Am I reading… or living someone else's life?"
Li Yuan wondered one day, as he sat cross-legged on the dusty library floor.That feeling grew stronger each time he turned a page.
Time seemed to flow swiftly,like a river that could not be held back.
This village… Ziran.A peaceful name, in harmony with nature.Surrounded by green mountains and thick forests,it felt like a small world forgotten by the outside one.
But Li Yuan had started to sense something more.Ziran was not just a village.There was deep history behind its calm appearance.
"Maybe long ago… this village was grand, prosperous.Maybe people came from afar to read in this library.And then… something happened…"
This library was too vast, too rich,for a village as small as Ziran in this day and age.The nearly invisible paths,the once-orderly shelves now decaying.The books that once felt alive now silent—waiting for someone who could understand them.
In the quiet of the library, Li Yuan sat still.Around him, sunlight streamed through the cracks in the roof,forming circles of light on the old wooden floor.
"If I keep reading…will I discover who built this place?Or even… why it was forgotten?"
But more importantly:
"Can I carry on the understanding they left behind…?"
Li Yuan let out a breath.He was still young,but his eyes no longer looked like a child's.There was depth.There was pain.But also… a light slowly growing within him.
And that light, one day,would change everything.
In the dark corner of that ancient library,Li Yuan opened a book that had never been touched before.
Its pages were brownish,the scent of dampness mixed with old ink.Delicate yet firm handwriting was written there—a sentence that felt like a whisper from the world itself:
"The world is vast…the world is limitless."
Li Yuan narrowed his eyes,reading slowly as if afraid the meaning would slip away.
"Space is deep.Time passes…when you can no longer find the answers in books—go out."
"Seek them somewhere,in an event,behind a meeting…or a farewell."
"This world is wide.Understand its paths.The journey is long.Time will pass, little by little…without you noticing."
"Wander the world.Feel it.Live.And… understand."
The words pierced his heartlike drops of water falling into a still lake—slow, but creating ripples that reached deep into his consciousness.
Li Yuan closed the book gently.For the first time, he felt that the book was not just meant to be read…but to be lived.
In the stillness of the quiet library,Li Yuan gazed at the small window that looked out toward the forest beyond.The wind blew softly, swaying the leaves.
"Maybe… my time to leave will come soon."