Xu Bai wasn't a real child after all. Seeing Chen Yuyuan blush and lower his head in bewilderment, he quickly patted Chen Yuyuan on the shoulder and said, "Good brother, thank you."
Chen Yuyuan looked up and smiled shyly. Xu Bai looked at Chen Yuyuan's expression and said, "You can't do it like that. You have to do it like me, give me a hard pat on the shoulder and say, 'Good brother, you're welcome.'"
Looking at Xu Bai's hands and then at the seriousness on Xu Bai's face, Chen Yuyuan realized that she couldn't be as carefree and unrestrained as Xu Bai.
Seeing the predicament on Chen Yuyuan's face, Chen Zhaoci felt a pang of sadness slowly welling up from the bottom of her heart.
Chen Yuyuan has been by his side for several years now. Chen Zhaoci and everyone else have witnessed the child's hard work over the years. From a little kid to such a handsome young man, Chen Zhaoci is very proud. After all, this is the child he has watched grow up.
Chen Zhaoci gently patted Xu Bai and said, "Xu Bai, A Yuan's personality is different from yours. You can do things and say things that you can do easily, but A Yuan won't do them easily. You have to understand A Yuan's personality."
Xu Bai removed his hand from Chen Yuyuan's body, sighed, and said, "Mother, I understand."
Chen Yuyuan felt very embarrassed. He felt that his good brother had been scolded by his mother because of him, but he didn't know how to say it. His face turned even redder.
Chen Zhaoci said with a smile, "A-Yuan, it's alright. He's always been like this since he was little. There's no need to take it personally."
As the three were talking, they heard the rain outside had subsided considerably. Xu Bai lifted the curtain above the car window, looked at the rain, and said, "I think this rain should stop soon."
Thinking of the map he had seen, Chen Yuyuan said, "If we walk another twenty or so miles from here, there seems to be a small town, right?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Bai took out a map from a hidden compartment in the carriage, spread it out, and studied it carefully with Chen Yuyuan for a long time. He said, "It really is true, Yuyuan, you remember it so clearly. Look, we are here now. If we keep going forward, and walk this far, we will reach a small town. Maybe there will be an inn or restaurant in the town, and we can have a good rest."
Chen Yuyuan said, "I just want to find a place where I can write properly. I've fallen behind on a lot of the homework my teacher assigned, and if I don't have a safe place, I'll fall behind even more."
Wu Muyue didn't let the two children rest along the way. Not only did he make them recite what they needed to memorize from their books as they walked, but he also made them write their reading notes and reflections. Wu Muyue taught them according to their aptitude, and the two students had to write different articles.
Suddenly, I heard someone outside shout, "Look, there's a rainbow over there!"
Xu Bai suddenly lifted the car curtain and saw that the clouds and rain had dispersed in the distance, and the bright sunlight pierced through the clouds, hanging a beautiful rainbow in the sky.
Chen Zhaoci also climbed out of the carriage and looked into the distance. The rain was pattering down. The steward ran over from the back of the caravan and said to Chen Zhaoci, "Third Madam, the rain will stop soon. There is a town about 20 miles ahead. It's getting late, so let's hurry and get there so we can stay at an inn in the town tonight."
Chen Zhaoci nodded and said, "Thank you for your concern, housekeeper."
Xu Bai and Chen Yuyuan climbed out of the carriage, mounted their horses, and followed Chen Zhaoci's carriage, slowly moving forward with the procession.
After the rain, the road was exceptionally difficult to travel. Although the road was paved with gravel, it looked like it had been in disrepair for years, with potholes in some places. Even though the manager had sent people ahead to fill in the potholes with sand, the carriage still struggled to move forward.
Chen Zhaoci was so shaken that he couldn't take it anymore, so he got off the carriage and rode on a horse with Xu Bai.
Summer rains come in torrential downpours. After the rain, the nearby streams widened considerably due to the muddy water flowing down from the mountains. Chen Zhaoci held Xu Bai in his arms, looked at the stream in the distance, and frowned. Just one rain shower had made the stream so muddy. It seemed that the soil and rocks on the nearby mountains were not very stable. If there was a lot of rain this summer, would there be a mudslide?
It must be said that Chen Zhaoci thought a lot. Once, Chen Zhaoci went to the mountains in Southwest China with the hospital's medical team to provide medical services in rural areas. That place is known as the "Ten Thousand Mountains" because it is inconvenient to get in and out. Every year, the hospital organizes people to carry out such activities in remote and impoverished areas.
That year there was an unusually heavy rainfall. After Chen Zhaoci and his colleagues entered the mountains, they unfortunately encountered a mudslide. Fortunately, they were discovered in time, and the entire village was evacuated quickly. Although the road was blocked by rocks, the rescue was timely. After five days of living in fear in the mountains, Chen Zhaoci was rescued by the People's Liberation Army in a military truck.
It was from that time that Chen Zhaoci began to do some simple research on geological disasters. Although there was no indiscriminate logging in this era, if there was too much rain, no matter how lush the vegetation on the mountain was, it could not prevent geological disasters from occurring.
The air after the rain was fresh and pleasant. Xu Bai sat in front of Chen Zhaoci, took a deep breath, and said to Chen Zhaoci, "Mom, this air is so good. If we were in the past, coming from the city to a place like this, we might get oxygen intoxication."
Chen Zhaoci responded softly, then thought for a moment and asked, "Xu Bai, do you know if there's been a lot of rainfall here lately?"
Xu Bai said, "I really don't know. Otherwise, we can ask someone when we get to the town ahead."
Chen Zhaoci agreed, and Xu Bai asked somewhat strangely, "Mother, why are you asking this?"
Chen Zhaoci said, "I just felt that with such heavy rain, the water rushing down from the mountain was so muddy, I was worried that a mudslide might occur."
Upon hearing this, Xu Bai's attention naturally turned to the mountains and forests on both sides of the road. After looking at them, he nodded and said, "Mother, you are very observant. It's true. When we get to town, let's ask around and see what's going on."
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