Chapter 37 Little Hero Nezha
"Nezha!!!"
Startled birds took flight, and fish darted and hid in the water.
Mu Zha angrily asked his younger brother, who was yawning on the bed, "Why am I on the floor?!"
The boy nimbly got out of bed and laughed at the disheveled Muzha, saying, "It's your own unseemly sleeping posture that's the problem, what does it have to do with anyone else?"
He chatted with Pingyu until the wee hours last night, and even though he only slept for two hours, he was still refreshed. Ignoring his brother's gritted teeth in anger, Nezha pushed open the door and walked outside.
Outside the door, a small mushroom was squatting there.
He leaned closer and saw that it was Pingyu squatting by the river, biting a willow twig.
The girl woke up sometime earlier, her gaze vacant, unaware that someone was beside her. She drifted off into a daze, her mind wandering several miles away, the willow branch still stuck in her teeth.
"Why are you up so early?"
The boy's sudden voice struck Ping Yu's ears like a stone.
She was so scared she wanted to bury herself in the ground.
Fortunately, Nezha stopped her, preventing a rice ball from hitting her forehead.
Pingyu, still shaken, mumbled with a willow twig in his mouth, "Are the Wind and Fire Wheels ready?"
"alright."
After he finished speaking, two rings of fire flew in from the sky and circled around Ping Yu.
The fire wheel seemed to burn in the girl's eyes, and she asked again, "Will we make it home in time for breakfast?"
"Your home?"
“My family,” Pingyu spat out the willow twig and counted on his fingers, “My family’s breakfast includes honey rice porridge, egg pancakes, roasted ribs, and candied cucumber blossoms…”
Nezha likes the way Pingyu refers to "home" without a subject, as if he is included in it.
As Pingyu spoke, he swallowed hard.
Her parents were skilled at cooking, and Pingyu, having transmigrated to the modern world, already knew many recipes. Even with outdated kitchen equipment, as long as they made slight changes to the cooking methods, the meals could be made much more delicious.
Ah...it tastes delicious, I want to eat it.
Although she had lived in the temple for a long time, Pingyu had never lacked money for food. The more she thought about it, the more her stomach rumbled with hunger. The next second, Nezha's shoulder was grabbed. Pingyu shook him a few times and urged, "Let's go after we wash up, okay?"
After saying that, the girl peeked her head out to the side and said, "Second Prince, come to my house too!"
"I won't."
Mu Zha was combing his hair. Upon hearing this, he shook his head and said, "My master is still waiting for me to return. I'm afraid we'll have to part ways here."
and……
The young man glanced at his younger brother and thought to himself: If I agree, I might get killed by Nezha.
After bidding farewell to Yan Erlang and Muzha, the two embarked on their journey back to Chentang Pass.
This time, the fire wheels didn't stall midway, and they returned to the checkpoint smoothly.
But just as the two landed, they heard someone shout from the side: "The Third Prince is here!"
The news spread like wildfire, and soon everyone in Chentang Pass was greeting the boy.
Aside from fear and pleas for mercy, Nezha, who hadn't heard a single kind word from Guan Min, was tense all over. Ping Yu felt a tightening on his wrist and turned around to see Nezha's urgent expression. He said warily, "It seems we've entered an illusion again."
No way...
Ping hesitated, "I mean, is it possible... that you've actually become popular?"
These are clearly seeds planted by Jinzha, now blooming everywhere. I wonder what rumors circulated during their time on Qianyuan Mountain. They completely changed Nezha's previous reputation as a demon king, elevating him to the status of a divine savior.
Ping Yu took a deep breath: Is this the power of public opinion?
Praise to the great Jinzha!
Before he finished speaking, a pair of plump hands handed over the cloth-covered basket.
Nezha and Pingyu looked up together. The newcomer was a plump aunt. She said with a smile, "Your Highness has worked hard to exorcise the demon. I humbly offer you my pig's trotter to nourish your body."
Once someone starts, others will follow suit.
The next person was a child. He didn't dare give Nezha a gift, so he stuffed the gift into Pingyu's hand.
The object in my palm was round and smooth; it turned out to be two eggs.
Hearing the child say "delicious" in a childish voice, she quickly darted back behind her mother.
From initial bewilderment at the gift to later being unable to let go of it, the overwhelming enthusiasm of the villagers was something even Ping Yu found difficult to handle.
"This can't go on!"
Nezha took the basket from Pingyu's arms, frowned and said, "We might not be able to go back later."
"It's so heavy... My house isn't far, let's go!"
Pingyu raised the hand that Nezha was holding and led him in one direction. They ran through alleys and twists and turns, leaving many people behind. Until the houses made of grass and wood gradually faded from view, a house built of stone came into view.
The blue bricks and stone tiles are quite impressive.
Ping Yu grabbed the door knocker and started smashing it wildly.
"Open the door, I'm back!" he shouted, afraid of being overtaken by the enthusiastic villagers.
A short while later, a slave opened the door.
"Who dares to be so rude!"
The woman, dressed in a light green outfit, looked quite young. She crossed her arms, her face stern: "How dare you be so insolent in front of my Lin residence!"
"The one in green is me."
Upon hearing this, she looked down the steps.
"Miss!"
Seeing that the two children were covered in heavy items, the woman in green instinctively asked, "Return home gifts... oh wait, no!"
Realizing what had happened, she immediately knelt down, banging her forehead on the ground: "I didn't know it was Miss returning home, please forgive me!"
After saying that, she raised her head slightly and turned to the boy next to Ping Yu: "And this is..."
Green Robe grew up with Ping Yu in the family temple since childhood, serving as her substitute slave. Like Ping Yu, she was often confused about many things within Chen Tang Pass, frequently mismatching names with people. Ping Yu helped her up and introduced her, "This is the third prince of General Li's family."
"So you are the little hero Nezha, the Third Prince!" The woman in green covered her mouth and bowed to Nezha again, saying, "It was my rudeness just now."
Ever since Nezha returned to Chen Tang Pass, this nickname has never stopped. He suppressed a twitching in his forehead and asked, "Who exactly gave you permission to call me that?"
"That's what everyone inside the pass calls you!" the green-clad man said matter-of-factly. "Everyone says you have great martial arts skills in subduing demons and monsters. Chen Tang Pass is very fortunate to have your protection."
Nezha was unhappy despite being praised.
He had a feeling that Li Jing's face was practically frozen from smiling so much at home.
.
After instructing the slaves to prepare breakfast, Pingyu beckoned to the woman in green and asked, "Do you know where my parents have gone?"
Her parents love her the most; they should have rushed out to greet her long ago when they knew she was coming home!
The woman in green replied, "They said that the lady's great-grandfather was going to celebrate his 80th birthday, and the master went back to his hometown with the lady to attend the birthday banquet."
When did you leave?
"yesterday."
That is, the day I lazily stayed at Yan Erlang's house.
Ping Yu felt as if he had been struck by a heavy blow, and slumped dejectedly onto the table: "Then does that mean I'll never see them again?"
Besides craving the food at home, her main reason for returning was her longing for her parents. Especially after the incident at Cihangwu, Pingyu felt even more strongly that her life was limited, and that if she didn't see some people soon enough, she might never have the chance again. That's why she urged Nezha to rush back without stopping.
Unexpectedly, the two parties' schedules were completely different, and they ended up missing each other.
The woman in green comforted her, "Miss, how many days will you stay at the manor this time? Madam and Grandpa will be back in a while."
"But we have to leave in just two days!"
Pingyu muttered, "Why didn't my parents mention this before? My mother had such a long-lived great-grandfather?"
“Even Madam had never heard of having a distant ancestor until yesterday. Speaking of which, the master and madam went there this time for Miss.” The dishes were placed on the table, and the woman in green served the two of them. As Pingyu said, the food in her family was incomparable to that of other restaurants and eateries. Just look at those sticky millet dumplings; Nezha had never eaten them before.
"For me?" The girl pointed at the pork chop. "I don't want this."
The man in green stopped and turned to the lamb ribs, continuing, "I heard that he was a distant relative of the lady. If he were just a poor relative coming to beg for money, the master would have given him some silver to send him away. But the Emperor Taizu was different. I heard from the people who came to invite him that the old man had longevity horns."
Longevity Corner?
Pingyu raised his chin, signaling the female slave to continue. She then raised her hand, pointing to the roasted mutton dumplings: "I don't want these either."
The female slave kept talking, but her eyes wandered over the remaining dishes, trying to see what else a girl could eat:
"It is like horns growing from the skin on one's forehead."
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