Chapter 132

The Spring Girl's prayer started very early. The two of them got up before seven o'clock the next morning. When they opened the window, it was indeed a sunny day.

Jiang Zhinian sat by the window, looking out, and rubbed his eyes: "It feels like time has slowed down since I came to the ancient town."

In the past, when she was in the city, she would look up and down and it felt like she had done nothing. An hour or two would pass by in a flash, and half a day would become very meaningless.

But when I arrived at the ancient town, I felt like I had walked around for a long time, visited many places, and met many people, but only half an hour had passed. Time seemed slow and long.

Shi Ye rubbed the top of her head and said, "Hurry up and wash up, the ceremony starts early."

Because Jiang Zhinian expressed interest yesterday, they decided to participate in this prayer event.

…

After packing up, the two walked along the mountain path to the main street of the town. There were arrows hanging at each fork in the road along the way to guide tourists to the starting point of the event.

When the two arrived at the starting point, there were already a lot of people. Shi Ye was afraid that Jiang Zhinian would be squeezed, so he took her to the teahouse on the second floor next door to find a seat.

The ceremony began soon. A young girl dressed in gorgeous clothes walked out from behind the curtain and got on the sedan chair on the red carpet that had been laid out in advance. Jiang Zhinian looked at her carefully and still found it hard to believe that the girl in front of him with a red dot on her forehead was a boy.

Chunnu sat steadily in the sedan chair and began a simple kneeling ceremony, which should be a simplified version of some ancient wedding ceremony.

"Is this young man from the Shi family?"

"You can tell he's from the Shi family just by looking at his face. In the whole town, only boys from their family are this good-looking."

"This young man has been in office for three consecutive years. It's time to change him next year."

"Not necessarily. He's incredibly popular online right now. Look down there, so many fans come just to see him. If someone else were to take over, do you think he'd still attract so many visitors?"

Jiang Zhinian understood something when he heard the rare surname "Shi". The young man who played the role of Chunnu should be Shi Ye's cousin or something like that.

After the ceremony, the sedan chair was carried by eight adult men, who walked around the entire ancient town and prayed for everyone.

There are many vendors selling willow branches and water on the roadside. The prices are not expensive, and tourists basically buy some to at least participate in the event.

"Do you want to go down and take a look?"

Jiang Zhinian shook his head: "There are too many people."

She is still very conscious and vigilant as a pregnant woman.

"Then sit for a while and get off after the sedan chair has gone far away."

Jiang Zhinian was eating the snacks on the table, drinking the local new tea, and her eyes were wandering around the square below. Suddenly, her head stopped and her eyes were fixed on a man in the crowd.

The man was tall, with slightly curly blond hair. When he turned around, Jiang Zhinian seemed to see his gray eyes...

She held Shi Ye's hand and said nervously, "Shi Ye, the man downstairs..."

No, Jiang Zhinian suddenly realized that the man downstairs was too young to be Shi Ye's father.

Shi Ye glanced over and obviously saw the man, but he just turned his head nonchalantly and said to Jiang Zhinian, "I don't know him."

He had no interest in who that man was or why he was here.

He lowered his head and picked up a piece of spring cake for Jiang Zhinian: "Try it, it has a kind of local wild vegetable added in it, which is only available in spring. The taste is very special."

Jiang Zhinian picked it up and smelled it, then took another bite: "It tastes a bit like osmanthus, but a little lighter."

It smells like spring grass, only a little sweeter.

"When I came back with my mother for the first time, I went up the mountain with her to pick this wild vegetable."

But that was many years ago. As Shi Mei became busier and busier, the time they spent back home each year became shorter and shorter. It was more like completing a task than visiting relatives.

The sedan chair gradually moved away. Some tourists followed it, while others stayed and played with water on each other with willow branches.

Shi Ye bought a willow branch and some water, pulled Jiang Zhinian aside, and sprinkled some water on her while shaking the branch.

"Shouldn't we sprinkle water on the Spring Lady and pray for blessings?" Jiang Zhinian smiled and dodged Shi Ye's hand, "Why are you sprinkling water on me?"

"A Spring Girl should have been a woman."

Sprinkling water and praying for blessings to the Spring Lady also brings good wishes to the Spring Lady.

Jiang Zhinian thought for a moment, dipped his finger in the water in Shi Ye's hand, flicked it a few times from a distance, and said with a smile, "Then Chunnu also sends her blessings to you."

May your life be peaceful and smooth, without illness or disaster.

…

After lunch, the two took the B&B owner's car to the high-speed rail station. When they arrived at the parking lot outside the town, Jiang Zhinian saw Shao Ya and his daughter-in-law getting into a car.

A man was standing at the front of the car, looking at Jiang Zhinian and the others from a distance. He looked somewhat similar to the young man who played the role of Spring Girl in the morning, except that he was middle-aged and had some wrinkles on his face.

Jiang Zhinian reacted and looked at Shi Ye.

Sure enough, Shi Ye also noticed the other person and nodded slightly: "It's my uncle."

But he didn't say much and took Jiang Zhinian into the car of the B&B owner. His relationship with this ancient town and the entire Shi family was too indifferent, and it was not to the point where he would feel any melancholy when meeting his relatives.

But the man couldn't be as carefree as Shi Ye. He stared at the car Shi Ye and the others were riding in as it drove away, feeling mixed emotions.

Shao Ya obviously noticed the situation here. He walked over and patted the man on the shoulder: "You Shi family members are all more stubborn than each other, from the old man to the younger generation. Shi Ye finally came back this time, and the old man knew it, but he just didn't come to see him."

Shi Mei is the only girl in the previous generation. Although the entire ancient town has some clannish ideas and values ​​men, Shi Mei grew up in the love of her whole family. Otherwise, she would not have gone against everyone's opinion to go to Yongning to study, and finally bought a house there and settled down.

The man smiled helplessly and said, "My sister died without coming back. She didn't even leave any ashes. My father is so angry about this that he will never be able to get over it. Even if he wanted to see Shi Ye, he wouldn't tell him. But we all know that he is waiting for Shi Ye to come back on his own initiative."

Shao Ya shook his head: "Your family is all the same, always looking for trouble. When Shi Mei brought 5-year-old Shi Ye back and stayed in town for more than half a month, if your family had just given in, we wouldn't be in this situation today."

"Do you think my sister came back that time to make peace? Haha, she came to pay back the money she paid for the house."

Shao Ya didn't expect this to happen and was stunned. He really didn't expect Shi Mei to be able to do this.

But on second thought, this was indeed something Shi Mei could do.

The man looked at Shao Ya's face and said self-deprecatingly: "If anyone in our family can give in, it would not be the character of the Shi family. Forget it, let's not talk about this, let's go."