Old Master Xie originally wanted to go up the mountain, but Xie Yuhan was in a hurry and insisted on taking the cable car with her grandfather.
Seeing his granddaughter so anxious, Master Xie felt helpless.
"A daughter is like a tree that cannot be kept at home once she grows up. Keeping her here will only lead to enmity. Sigh, it seems you really despise this old man."
"Oh! Grandpa, what do you mean? I've been with you the whole time. I'll go wherever you say you want to go. I'm just hungry. I miss the food at our Taoist temple. I can't get used to the food outside."
"Heh, go ahead and make up that excuse. Just believe it yourself!"
Xie Laodao picked up his phone and started watching live streams again.
The magical and nostalgic background music, along with the female streamer's coquettish actions of raising her eyebrows and biting her lip in the video, made Xie Laodao extremely happy. He liked the video and sent her gifts at the same time.
Xie Yuhan was speechless when she saw this scene.
"Grandpa! Why are you spending money on these kinds of gifts again? Didn't I tell you? They're all scams! Even if you give her gifts, she'll never be interested in you!"
"Hmph, what do you know? I've already gotten the happiness I need. She's willing to put in the effort to please me, so she's qualified to receive my gifts. In your young people's terms, that's called emotional value."
Xie Yuhan: "...Grandpa, you're really good at arguing. She's not just doing this for you alone."
"What does it matter? Happiness is meant to be shared. If she showed it to me alone, I might not even look at it."
Xie Yuhan covered her forehead.
"I'm completely defeated by you, I don't understand a thing!"
"It's okay, you'll understand when you get to my age."
When the cable car arrived at the station, Xie Yuhan hurriedly rushed into the temple.
She was running so fast that she almost bumped into someone.
"Huh? Junior Sister, what brings you back?"
"Um... the itinerary suddenly changed. By the way, senior brother, how's the situation at the temple today?"
"What do you mean, how about it?"
Her senior brother scratched his head and asked,
"So... are there a lot of people?"
"It's pretty much the same as usual, why are you asking?"
"Oh...that's great...haha, business is good..."
"Junior sister, what exactly are you trying to say? What do you mean business is good? We're not in business..."
Old Master Xie stepped across the threshold and said irritably, "She just wants to ask you whether Chen Zhe has left or not?"
Xie Yuhan's face flushed red, and her senior brother laughed when he saw her like this.
"So that's what you wanted to ask me. But it's really unfortunate, Chen Zhe and the others just left, about 10 minutes ago."
"Huh??? Why didn't you try to stop him?"
Xie Yuhan suddenly raised her voice.
Her senior brother was a little confused; "You didn't tell me to keep him here, and you didn't say you were coming back, how was I supposed to know?"
"Then...why didn't we see him when we came up?"
How did you get up here?
"Let's take the cable car!"
Xie Laodao, who was already sitting down with his legs crossed, took a sip of tea and said...
"Haha, that's really unfortunate. When Chen Zhe came down the mountain, he said he walked down. Look, we just missed each other!"
Xie Yuhan was extremely annoyed when she heard this.
Old Master Xie added jokingly, "Look, if you had listened to me and walked up the mountain, you would have met him, wouldn't you? Give up, you two are not meant to be."
Xie Yuhan fell silent.
At this moment, her senior brother said from the side, "Junior sister, why don't you make a call? I reckon they haven't gone far."
Xie Yuhan gently shook her head.
"No need, I'll go back to my room first."
Xie Yuhan walked back to her room in a daze.
Her senior brother scratched his head; "Master, what's wrong with Junior Sister? Why did she suddenly become so unhappy?"
"Why are you asking so many questions? Go and cook! Your junior sister is hungry."
"Oh, okay."
...
Chen Zhe was halfway down the mountain when he suddenly stopped.
Zhang Kai, who was walking in front, noticed this and turned around; "Manager, what's wrong? We need to hurry down, or it will get dark."
Chen Zhe took a deep breath, looked at the setting sun in the distance, and slowly said, "Brother Zhang, I don't plan to go back tonight."
"Huh? Why?"
"No reason, I'm just a little tired and don't want to walk anymore."
"Um... but you didn't want to take the cable car earlier..."
"Hehe, I guess I just asked for trouble. Thank you for keeping me company all night, Brother Zhang. Let's turn back. I want to stay on the mountain for the night."
"Okay, you're the boss, you call the shots, haha!"
...
The Taoist temple was dimly lit.
All the tourists and believers had already gone down the mountain. Master Xie sat in the main hall of the Taoist temple, crossed his legs, sipped tea, and watched videos. He looked extremely relaxed.
He turned the video volume up very high, which sounded quite jarring in the quiet night.
"That's great! I'll send her a rocket!"
Old Master Xie tapped skillfully with his withered fingers.
"Taoist Master, you're back?"
Chen Zhe had been standing behind him without him noticing, and suddenly spoke up.
"Holy crap!!!"
Old Xie stumbled, spilling his tea on the ground. Turning around and seeing Chen Zhe, he grumbled irritably, "Didn't you go back? Why are you back again?"
"Master, we've come to ask for lodging."
Zhang Kai said with a smile.
"Get out! We have no lodgings here!" Old Xie said without any politeness.
Zhang Kai is also a person with a temper.
"Old man, we're trying to be nice to you, what kind of attitude is this?"
"What attitude should I have? You suddenly appeared in the middle of the night and scared me. I'm so old, what if something bad happened to me because of you? How can I have a good attitude towards you?"
"Aren't you a Taoist priest? Are Taoist priests afraid of ghosts?"
"I'm not afraid of ghosts, I'm afraid of thieves. Look at you two, you look like shifty-eyed rats, you're definitely not good people."
"Old man, why do you talk so rudely? What makes us seem like bad people?"
"You're nothing like any of them! Get out of here!"
"Oh dear, my temper!"
Zhang Kai rolled up his sleeves, looking ready to fight at any moment.
Chen Zhe stopped him.
He asked politely, "Master, is Yuhan here? I'd like to see her."
"Hmph, not here!"
Chen Zhe felt that Xie Laodao was talking nonsense, because since he had returned, Xie Yuhan must have returned with him.
"Master, please let me see her. I've come all this way..."
"Heh, you finally managed to come all this way? What? Are you some big shot? You think you're so special? Bah! You think you can just see me whenever you want? You think you can just leave whenever you want? What do you take my granddaughter for? No way!"
"Taoist Master..."
"Stop talking, go back, go back!"
Master Xie was about to send them away.
At that moment, Xie Yuhan finally appeared at the door; "Grandpa! What are you doing?"
Upon seeing Xie Yuhan appear, Old Master Xie knew he couldn't get rid of her, so he snorted and went back to his room.
...
Xie Yuhan had just finished taking a shower.
As soon as she came out, she heard a commotion outside. She heard Chen Zhe's voice. At that moment, her heart pounded wildly, afraid that none of this was real, afraid that it was all just her imagination.
Only after seeing Chen Zhe's face in person did she dare to believe it.
The two sat under the ginkgo tree.
The lamp in the corner kept swaying.
A gentle breeze blew, and the sound of wind chimes rang out in the courtyard. The two, who hadn't seen each other for a long time, seemed to suddenly not know what to say.
Haven't we talked about how long it's been?
It seems a bit old-fashioned.
How have you been lately?
That doesn't seem quite right either.
...
"Thank you for your message last time. You reminded me not to go to places with water."
"But you didn't hear correctly either."
"You guessed it?"
"My grandfather calculated it."
...
"I...I'm sorry, I should have let you know I was safe, but I was very busy..."
"I know, I'm sorry, I should have called you first..."
The two, who hadn't seen each other for a long time, actually became very polite to each other.
An awkward atmosphere filled the space between the two.
Compared to the relaxed and pleasant atmosphere of our first meeting, there seems to be an awkwardness now, as if we're forcing a conversation.
You really want to see the other person, and you have so much to say to them, but you just don't know how to start the conversation.
In the grass not far away.
Zhang Kai squatted there.
He muttered to himself, "It seems the manager isn't good at flirting either. I thought he was a pro because he seemed so adept at it, but it turns out he's about the same as me."
"He's a scoundrel!"
He opened his ear and slowly recalled this sentence, which startled him.
"Holy crap!!"
He was about to shout when Old Master Xie covered his mouth; "Don't make a sound!"
He opened his hands and pried them open, asking in a low voice, "Old man, people can scare each other to death!"
Old Master Xie smiled smugly; "You deserve it, you scared me like that just now too."
Open your mouth; "..."
Master Xie patted his head; "Don't make a sound, let me listen to what they're saying."
"Old man, why do you still like to eavesdrop? You're still my elder..."
His open head was hit again.
"What do you mean by eavesdropping? I'm protecting my granddaughter's safety, what do you know?"
"Old man, if you hit me again, I'll really get angry!"
Zhang Kai was very unhappy after being hit twice by Xie Laodao.
"Heh, kid, what can you do to me if you get angry?"
"I'll hit you if I get angry, then you try!"
Master Xie tightly grasped the outstretched hand.
Zhang Kai was surprised to find that no matter how much force he used, he couldn't break free.
"Old man, you..."
Old Master Xie gave him a disdainful look; "You little brat, when I was out in the game, your dad probably wasn't even born yet. You think you can mess with me? You think you're so tough?"
...
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