Summer rains are not like the long, gentle rains of spring; they come suddenly and violently, and are unpredictable.
After a midday rainstorm, the sky cleared, but then came thunder and lightning at night, illuminating the entire night sky with lightning.
The rain caused the almost dried-up pond to overflow, and the green duckweed was rippled outwards in concentric circles. Frogs and toads were driven to the side and croaked incessantly.
Only a few water hyacinths stubbornly remained rooted in the same spot, letting their purple water hyacinth flowers drift away in the rain.
It rained last night, and the temperature dropped sharply.
Zhou Chenyu closed the window and listened to the croaking of frogs outside, then slept soundly and comfortably.
The rain stopped the next day. They arranged to meet Zhou Wanqiu after breakfast at the fork in the mountain path behind the house's vegetable garden.
Zhou Chenyu and Baoyu each took a basket and went to the agreed location.
Zhou Wanqiu had been waiting there for a long time. When she saw them coming, she felt as if she had met long-lost relatives. She couldn't contain her joy and said, "Sister Chenyu, Baoyu."
Zhou Chenyu noticed that she was much more relaxed than yesterday, which he figured was probably due to the kindness shown in the scallion pancake she had given him. Sincerity truly is a killer move.
"Everyone's here, let's go."
They were standing at a fork in the road. To the east was a slope leading to the summit at an angle of nearly 70 degrees, while to the north was a gentle mountain path that also led to the summit, but involved many detours.
Baoyu habitually took the shortcut up the steep slope, saying, "I am the only man here, so I will lead the way for my two older sisters today."
Zhou Wanqiu glanced at the road to the north, hesitated, and said, "Okay, I'll do whatever you say."
"What are you listening to?" Zhou Chenyu grabbed Baoyu's arm and scolded him, "Are you in such a hurry to be reincarnated? Do you even know where there are chicken mushrooms? Listen to your sister Wanqiu."
"Oh right, I almost forgot about that. Sister Wanqiu, we're going with you today, so you have to take me and my sister back with you." Baoyu joked.
Zhou Wanqiu blinked her big, watery eyes and pointed north, "Then let's go this way."
"good."
Zhou Wanqiu led the way, and they followed behind, walking through the cold and dark forest path until they reached the light at the end.
"Hey, there's summer solstice fungus here."
Zhou Wanqiu walked ahead and saw a patch of damp ground under the grass, covered with a dense ring of grayish-white umbrella-shaped mushrooms, about twenty in number.
"Quite a lot." Zhou Chenyu unloaded the basket, but Baoyu didn't stop; he slipped away to another spot. "Where are you going?"
"Sister, these summer solstice mushrooms are like two ends of a carrying pole. If there's one here, the other one must be nearby. You guys pick them here, and I'll go look around."
Zhou Wanqiu chimed in, “Baoyu is right.”
Baoyu turned his head arrogantly, took the knife and cleared a path, walking into the depths of the bushes.
Zhou Chenyu and Zhou Wanqiu together uprooted the summer solstice mushrooms from their feet and put them into their baskets.
Good news came from Baoyu's side: "Sisters, come here! There are so many mushrooms here, we can't pick them all! Hurry!"
"Hey, Baoyu, we're almost done picking them up, wait a minute." Zhou Wanqiu replied to him and quickened her pace.
The more impatient Baoyu became, the less anxious Zhou Chenyu was. After they finished picking the mushrooms around their feet, they found new ones in the bushes just two meters away.
She said, "There are so many here that we can't possibly pick them all up. He just had to take a different route and make trouble for himself. Let's ignore him. He'll definitely come over here to meet us once he's finished picking them up."
After a while, Baoyu finished picking the mushrooms nearby and, seeing no one coming down, he slunk away.
Hearing Baoyu's footsteps, Zhou Wanqiu looked at the woman beside her with admiration and couldn't help but laugh, "Sister Chenyu, you really know how to deal with people. Not only can you handle Baoyu, but you can also beat Qian Rushan to a pulp. I wish I could be like you someday."
Is she really that bold?
Wasn't she once just like Zhou Wanqiu?
Zhou Chenyu doesn't remember how long ago it was. Her parents had just divorced that year, and she went to another city with her mother. Her mother couldn't work and take care of her at the same time, so she had to send her to a boarding school.
There, she experienced her first instance of bullying.
The past is too painful to recall. Zhou Chenyu looked at her and smiled faintly, "It's a good thing for a girl to be kind-hearted, but she should also keep a bit of sharpness so that she can protect herself when it matters."
"Self-preservation." Zhou Wanqiu murmured these two words, silently memorizing them.
They walked and chatted, laughing and talking, and before they knew it, it was noon.
Although there is no greenhouse effect, the summer temperature here is not low, especially at noon, when it feels like around 30 degrees Celsius.
Fortunately, the forest was dense, avoiding direct sunlight, and it was cool enough to rest under any towering tree.
Li Xiuju cooked some sweet potatoes for them. There was still some flour left from the last Qingming Festival, so they made scallion pancakes for lunch. In addition, Zhou Wanqiu secretly brought out some steamed buns. The three of them sat under the tree and had a hearty meal.
After resting, we continued to search deeper into the forest. The forest was sparsely populated, and the calls of various birds could be heard everywhere.
Zhou Chenyu parted the weeds covering the mushrooms and heard a rumbling sound overhead, like thunder. "Did you hear thunder?"
A fierce wind rose all around. Zhou Wanqiu looked up at the sky. Dark clouds blocked half of the blazing sun, and the forest instantly darkened. "It's going to rain."
“It’s already cold deep in the mountains. If you get wet, your body will easily suffer from hypothermia. Quickly pack your things and let’s go find shelter from the rain!” Zhou Chenyu hurriedly helped Zhou Wanqiu put the basket on her shoulder.
Baoyu got sand in his eyes. "Sister, let's go hide under the tree where we eat."
"Don't go under a tree during a thunderstorm, you're likely to get struck by lightning!" Zhou Chenyu glanced at the road. Luckily, she had taken precautions and kept an eye on the road beforehand, just in case of a downpour. "I know where there's shelter from the rain. Follow me!"
This time, Zhou Chenyu walked in front, while Zhou Wanqiu, being frail, nearly fell over by the wind several times. Baoyu silently followed behind her, watching.
The three of them walked out of the dense forest and found a small path leading down to the bottom, where a wide ravine nestled between two mountains stood. Although it was overgrown with weeds, there was a house there.
Unlike this side, which is overgrown with weeds, the opposite hillside is neatly trimmed and planted with rows and rows of fruit trees.
That house must belong to the owner of this orchard.
A few drops of water fell on Zhou Chenyu's face, and the heavy rain in the distance poured down like a basin of water. "Run!"
"Aaaaaah!" They screamed as they ran toward the house. When they reached the door, a black dog was hiding behind the crack in the door, baring its fangs and howling.
Zhou Chenyu didn't care about anything else and knocked on the door, "Is anyone inside?"
A man's voice came from inside the house, "Who's outside?"
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