Chapter 31 In the eyes of the common people, "I am called Zhongli"
Morax paused, looking at Qiao Xi without saying a word.
Qiao Xi lowered her head and continued, her voice very soft: "The snowman has completely melted too."
Morax did not answer her immediately.
He stood quietly for a moment, then said in a gentle voice, "Yes, I understand."
Qiao Xi sighed, feeling she hadn't quite controlled her emotions. She said, "I'm sorry, I feel like I've been acting strange. Because you've been gone for so long, I've been very unhappy for a few days, I..."
“So I came back before the New Year,” Morax suddenly said.
Qiao Xi looked up, blinked, and wondered if she had misheard.
Morax smiled slightly. He had indeed been gone for a long time, but he still returned before the New Year.
"Let's go back, Qiao Xi." Morax didn't give Qiao Xi a chance to reply before changing the subject. He had a feeling that if they continued talking, the atmosphere would become strange.
Qiao Xi didn't have time to think it over, she nodded.
"By the way, Morax."
Qiao Xi suddenly smiled slightly, and she said to Morax very seriously, "I can hold the sword up to this position now."
As she spoke, she raised her hand and gestured, and with a loud movement, a book fell out of her clothes with a "thud".
"What's this?" Morax bent down to pick up the book, glanced at Qiao Xi's cat-like face, dusted it off, and opened it. "The Geography of Liyue?"
Qiao Xi nodded very seriously, and said, "Morax, I never imagined that such a treasure was hidden in my room." Morax didn't understand. He frowned slightly and looked at Qiao Xi.
Qiao Xi told Morax about her important idea regarding the map.
He waited for Morax's reply with a solemn expression.
Morax held the book for a moment, then put it back in Qiao Xi's hand and said to her, "This is not a secret; everyone in Liyue has a copy."
Qiao Xi: "Huh?"
Morax explained, "In the battle between demons and gods, maps are not very useful."
Qiao Xi vaguely understood that the so-called magical clash didn't care about the map or whether you knew the way; you just pushed straight through and it was game over.
"So, how did you resolve things when you were fighting?" Qiao Xi asked.
Morax replied calmly, "Just attack directly."
Qiao Xi gasped.
Morax chuckled, then looked down at Qiao Xi and asked, "How much longer do you plan to stand here?"
"Let's go, let's go!" Qiao Xi immediately looked up and smiled, subconsciously pulling Morax's sleeve as they ran towards the village.
Morax followed behind Qiao Xi, looking down at the corner of his sleeve that had been pulled up. He said nothing, letting the girl tug and pull him along.
*
The village was still brightly lit, with colorful lanterns hanging on both sides of the road. There were as many people coming and going as ever, and the aroma of fruits and snacks was much stronger than before I left.
Qiao Xi naturally loosened Morax's sleeve and took a deep breath into the air.
Morax stood behind her, silently raising his arm and slowly examining the sleeve that Qiao Xi had tugged at.
Qiao Xi suddenly turned her head, and Morax quietly lowered his arm.
Qiao Xi smiled and said, "The lantern festival isn't over yet, shall we go for a stroll some more?"
Morax nodded, noticing the little rabbit lantern Qiao Xi was carrying, and said, "The lantern is very pretty."
"This one?" Qiao Xi held up the lantern. "I just showed it to you, and you said it was very beautiful."
Morax paused, "Really? I forgot."
Qiao Xi frowned with worry as she looked at Morax.
Morax felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze: "Is something wrong?"
Qiao Xi said, "You forgot what you just said? Morax, don't lie to me, are you really not hurt?"
Morax coughed lightly. Amidst the noisy surroundings, the bright lights, and the mingling of aromas, he simply avoided Qiao Xi's question.
“Every year at the lantern festival there are rice dumplings with red bean filling. Do you want some?” He looked down at Qiao Xi.
The red bean paste rice dumplings hit Qiao Xi's sore spot. Her eyes lit up slightly, and she nodded vigorously: "I want to eat them."
Morax smiled slightly with satisfaction, thinking that the girl was ultimately controlled by food.
Morax took the rabbit lantern from her hand, stuffed a few pieces of jade into her hand, and said, "Go and exchange it for whatever you want to eat."
Qiao Xi looked at the shiny, warm stones in her hand. These jade stones were something Morax had carried with him for a long time, and now that they were in her hands, for some reason, Qiao Xi didn't want to give them away.
She carefully checked her pockets, but unfortunately, she had given all the candy to Jinlan.
She carefully tucked the jade into her pocket, said nothing, and walked into the bustling street.
Morax kept his distance from her, slowly following behind Qiao Xi. He picked up the lantern in his hand and examined it. It was a lop-eared rabbit. Morax raised the lantern to cover Qiao Xi's back, and then slowly moved the lantern away. When Qiao Xi's back gradually became clear, Morax looked at the lantern in his hand again.
He felt that the rabbit looked a bit like Qiao Xi, and thinking this, he silently gripped the lamppost tighter.
Qiao Xi walked up to a stall and saw red bean paste rice dumplings. She counted the jade stones Morax had given her; there were five in total. She didn't know how many dumplings one jade stone could be exchanged for, but no matter how many she could get, Qiao Xi planned to keep one jade stone to hide.
She took out a piece of jade, carefully handed it to the stall owner, and asked, "Can I exchange this for a dumpling?"
The stall owner took the jade, examined it under the light for a while, his wrist stiffened, and then he looked at Qiao Xi incredulously: "Miss, are you going to buy it all?"
Qiao Xi: "Huh?"
The stall owner said, "You can at least trade this for two of my stalls! Do you have anything else to trade?"
The stall owner then returned the jade to Qiao Xi.
Qiao Xi took it, rubbed it in her hands, and shook her head: "No."
"Girl, I'll just give you one to eat. We're just here to celebrate and pray for good luck, so don't worry about such things. Here, take it."
As he spoke, the stall owner wrapped a dumpling for Qiao Xi.
Qiao Xi knew that the farmers worked hard all year round, and she didn't want to take their things for free. However, if she gave them the jade, they would also feel pressured. Besides, if she were given a whole pile of dumplings, she wouldn't be able to finish them even if she could eat a lot.
Suddenly remembering something, Qiao Xi took out the geography book from her pocket and handed it to the stall owner: "Can I exchange this for it?"
The stall owner took it, flipped through it, nodded, and said, "Oh, what a coincidence! I just lost my copy. Here you go."
Holding the dumpling, Qiao Xi asked the stall owner, "Is this book really that common?"
The stall owner said, "One for each person."
Qiao Xi silently took a bite of the dumpling, feeling a little embarrassed about her previous assumptions.
She turned back to Morax and saw him selecting folding fans at a stall displaying fans.
Qiao Xi saw Morax hand over three ordinary ores and easily exchange them for a black fan with gold patterns.
Qiao Xi frowned, touched the jade in her pocket, and thought to herself, "Doesn't Morax have some cheap things? Why not give her such valuable jade? Aren't you afraid she won't be able to exchange it for anything?"
She walked over, about to call out to Morax, when Morax turned around and gently tapped her head with his newly bought folding fan.
Qiao Xi's words were interrupted, stuck in her throat, and she stared blankly at Morax.
Morax said, "Among the common people, I am called Zhongli."
"Zhongli?"
“Hmm.” Morax nodded.
Which two characters?
People come and go, bustling about. Before the lights dimmed, dazzling fireworks burst forth at midnight. The crowd stopped, looked up and prayed. The lanterns soared into the sky, each one like a gradually rising star, carrying all the expectations for the coming year.
Morax didn't speak. He lowered his head, gently took Qiao Xi's hand, and wrote the shape of the two characters "Zhong Li" in her palm on the street filled with peaceful, beautiful, lively blessings.
"Is the rice dumpling delicious?" Morax put down Qiao Xi's hand and asked her with a smile.
Qiao Xi pursed her lips, smiled and nodded, looking brightly into Morax's eyes: "Delicious!"
*
At the camp of the 99th detachment of the Thousand Rock Army, Jinlan was going crazy. The detachment member who came to inform him was not exaggerating at all. His bed really did fly away. There was a hole in the roof, and his bed landed on the roof.
Jinlan struggled to drag the bed down with her teammates, then climbed onto the roof and squatted there miserably, using a hammer and planks to repair it.
He was furious because there had been a wild boar infestation down the mountain a while ago. He led his team to drive them away, but none of the wild boars remembered him except for him, their leader.
During this period, these wild boars would come and cause trouble every now and then. Once, they even went to the wrong place and overturned the bamboo garden where Jinlan often appeared.
This time it was even more ruthless. Several wild boars came in a pack, seemingly determined to exact their final revenge on Jinlan. After sneaking up the mountain, they smashed his bed away in one fell swoop.
After Jinlan finished repairing the roof, he collapsed onto the tiles, closed his eyes, and listened to the distant sounds of fireworks from the mountains below. The sky was ablaze with brilliant light. He opened his eyes and vowed never to call anyone a pig-brain again, because pigs are just too smart.
He sat up, rubbing his lower back, thinking about going to the bamboo garden after the New Year to cut some bamboo, and then bringing Qiao Xi over to do hard labor and repair the fence.
Just as he was thinking about how to exploit Qiao Xi, he saw her appear at the camp carrying a steaming bag of food.
Jinlan's stomach rumbled, and he stood on the roof calling to Qiaoxi, "Brother's here!"
*
On the rooftop, Qiao Xi and Jin Lan sat together with a rice dumpling between them, gazing at the distant stars.
Jinlan devoured the dumplings one after another. Seeing that Qiao Xi didn't move, he asked, "Aren't you going to eat them? If you're not going to eat them, I'll eat them all?"
Qiao Xi nodded: "You eat it."
Jinlan paused, frowned, finished the dumpling in his hand, walked around to Qiao Xi, touched Qiao Xi's head, and then touched his own head.
"You don't have a fever, are you crazy? You don't even want to eat anything."
Qiao Xi said, "I'm full."
Jinlan paused, then seemed to remember something: "How did you trade the dumplings with someone?"
Qiao Xi looked at Jin Lan and said, "Morax is back. He replaced these for me and told me to take them back to eat, but I thought you probably hadn't eaten anything, so I came to find you."
Jinlan almost fell off the roof.
-----------------------
Author's note: See you tomorrow!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com