Chapter 40: A Thousand Miles Hmm. She wrapped her arms around his waist.
This kiss was a bit too much, Zhao Yan's first reaction was this. It was like being kissed by iced pudding, soft and okay, but because their noses were so close, they had to exchange breaths. Yong Shaolan's strong male hormones were about to make him faint.
Zhao Yan turned her face slightly, her lips brushing against the man's cheek, and said awkwardly, "I won't kiss you yet, Brother Lan. I feel a little dizzy."
"I fainted from kissing."
Yong Shaolan: “…”
He wiped the saliva from the boy's lips with a handkerchief and said, "Well, go to sleep."
Zhao Yan lay down obediently, closing his eyes slightly. A moment later, he felt Yong Shaolan half-lying down, surrounding him, breathing softly beside his ear. Before he knew it, Zhao Yan had fallen asleep.
I feel a little relieved.
Before dawn, the sky was thick with dark clouds and a strong wind. Soon, there was a crash of rain. Zhao Yan was awakened by the thunder and the rain. As soon as he moved, Yong Shaolan's voice rang out: "Are you cold?"
"Not bad," Zhao Yan said. The space in the carriage was too limited. He climbed up and stretched his aching waist and arms. "Is it raining outside?"
"I feel like I'm asking nonsense," Zhao Yan said as he climbed to the window. As soon as he opened the curtain, raindrops as big as soybeans hit his face. "Oh my god, it's raining so hard."
"Did Wenquan open an umbrella?"
"Don't worry, Your Highness. I have a straw raincoat." Wen Quan lifted the curtain and let Zhao Yan take a look. "You guys can rest. We should reach the village in another half an hour."
After saying that, Wenquan lowered the curtain again.
Yong Shaolan took some clothes and put them on Zhao Yan, "Be careful not to catch a cold."
Zhao Yan gathered his coat and saw Yong Shaolan taking out the pot cake he had bought. He broke off a piece and handed it to him: "Eat something. When we get to the village ahead, we'll see if we can find a place to stay."
"OK."
After about half an hour of walking, the rain had subsided a lot. The muddy road was slippery after the rain, and the car slowed down a lot. Zhao Yan ate something and took an umbrella. "I'll go change Wenquan and come back."
Yong Shaolan nodded, tidied up the things in the sedan chair, and took out two pot cakes for Wen Quan, "I'll go with you."
Zhao Yan went out and Wen Quan went in to eat. Yong Shaolan stayed with the boy, holding an umbrella.
The forest looks brand new after the rain, with lush green in front of me. Weeds on both sides of the road are competing for height. The cool breeze carries the fresh smell of soil. I take a deep breath and feel like my whole lungs have been washed.
Zhao Yan drove the carriage, his eyes unable to stop admiring the scenery along the way: "The plants here are so lush, just like the wonderland in Alice in Wonderland, except for the lack of flowers."
Suddenly, a quick, sideways rain came. Yong Shaolan tilted his umbrella towards the boy and asked, "What is that?"
"Movies," Zhao Yan blurted out. Yong Shaolan couldn't discuss this with him. He looked up at the man and saw that the slanting rain had soaked most of the man's scholarly robe. "Brother Lan, the umbrella is tilted."
Yong Shaolan's eyes darkened a little, "No problem."
"whee."
"You really favor me." Zhao Yan turned his head and focused on the road. Every now and then, a big puddle would make the carriage sway. "This feels really good."
As the sun rose, the rain finally stopped. However, the mountain path was flanked by trees, and a lot of rain had accumulated on the leaves. A gust of wind would have caused a lot of rain to fall off. Yong Shaolan didn't close his umbrella, but held it sideways for the boy.
Finally, scattered figures began to appear on the winding path ahead. Young men, middle-aged men, and elderly men in ramie shirts carried hoes or backpacks, and some women carried children on their backs. They looked like they were heading up the mountain. Most of the people looked puzzled, as if a car from another province had entered a small village. Zhao Yan held the reins, occasionally smiling at the kind eyes he met.
At the end of the path are several densely populated villages.
"Where are we going?" Zhao Yan glanced at the map and found that the general direction seemed to be correct. "There are still many mountains ahead."
There were not many trees on the road in the village. Yong Shaolan put away his umbrella and put a veil on Zhao Yan: "Rest for a while, I'll hurry on."
The two exchanged places. Zhao Yan no longer needed to hold an umbrella, so he leaned against the carriage and talked to Yong Shaolan. Suddenly, behind this village, he saw broken walls and ruins in the mist. "There seems to be a ruined Taoist temple ahead!"
After Zhao Yan finished speaking, Wen Quan, who was chewing on a pot cake, also poked his head out. "Really? Then we can take a break. I'll also collect some grass for the horses."
An emperor of the previous dynasty loved to practice Taoism, which led to the construction of many Taoist temples in the local area. Perhaps in order to curry favor with their superiors, local officials used good materials. Even after many wars and collapsed walls, there were still houses to shelter from the cold.
The carriage arrived in front of the ruined Taoist temple. Zhao Yan followed Yong Shaolan out of the carriage and pulled it inside.
The walls outside the temple had collapsed, and a large section of the door inside was missing, but there was a small path made by trampling. "No one lives here, right?"
Yong Shaolan walked ahead, his eyes falling on the new grass sprouting on the path, "There shouldn't be any. I'll go check."
When I walked inside, there was indeed no one there, but there was a breath of life inside. There was a burnt-out fire, a "bed" made of hay, and even the dust on the ground in the middle was less than in the corners.
"It seems that a big brother who loves cleanliness once stayed here." Zhao Yan walked in, looked at the incomplete portrait on the wall, turned around again, and walked to a small house connected to the main room. He found that the inside was the same as the outside, it had been cleaned, and there was some hay left.
"It doesn't look like a beggar has lived here. It's very clean."
Yong Shaolan found a broom made of hay at the door and rolled up his sleeves to clean up briefly: "Junior."
"This place is the only way to Yujing. Your Majesty has opened the imperial examination system for ten years. I think these are the first batch of people who have passed the provincial examination and are going to Yujing to take the provincial examination."
"Really?" Zhao Yan felt a little guilty. After crossing through here, he just wanted to lie down and let things go. After ten years of being a lazy fish, he was out of touch with society when he returned.
Zhao Yan chatted with Yong Shaolan across the wall: "How can I remember what the imperial examination is? What, the provincial examination, the metropolitan examination, the palace examination... Well, the system has been different in each dynasty."
Zhao Yan came out of the inner room with a handful of hay, ready to clean up, but saw Yong Shaolan sweeping the floor with a broom in his hand: "Where did you get the broom?"
"Behind the door."
Zhao Yan simply pricked the hay in his hand and said, "Okay, let's just sweep it up and sleep comfortably."
"Hmm," Yong Shaolan said, covering his mouth and nose, "There's a lot of dust."
The two of them cleaned up the Taoist temple briefly. Wenquan, who had been out cutting grass, returned with a bag of things in his clothes. "Your Highness, I picked some wild fruits. The people in this village are really nice. Just now, when I went to cut grass, they asked if I was a student who had returned from Yujing and insisted on taking me out to eat."
Upon hearing this, Yong Shaolan frowned slightly but said nothing.
Zhao Yan paused, "Why do you say you're a student? Do you have exams soon?"
Wenquan entered and placed the fruit on the table where tributes were placed. "Originally, there was a provincial examination this year, but it seems it's been cancelled. I guess many students who went to Beijing to take the exam have turned back recently."
Wen Quan: "It's just right, so no one will doubt our identity."
As he spoke, Wen Quan took the largest wild apple, wiped it, and handed it to Zhao Yan: "Your Highness, let me clean it."
Zhao Yan was about to shake his head and say no, but Yong Shaolan interrupted him: "Let him come, you go eat the fruit in front of the door - you can't sweep it clean."
You are so direct.
"Okay..." Zhao Yan held the apple and looked at the place he had swept. He felt okay, but it was indeed not as clean as Yong Shaolan's, and the dust was not big. He was obedient and squatted on the doorstep to eat the apple. As a result, he took a bite and almost lost his teeth: "Oh my god,"
Wenquan: "What's wrong?"
Zhao Yan narrowed his eyes: "So... so sweet."
Yong Shaolan raised his eyes and glanced at Zhao Yan: "Don't eat it if it's too sour. It's not good for your stomach."
"You're really a worm in my stomach, Brother Lan," Zhao Yan continued chewing on the apple and smiled at Wen Quan. "Not sour, not sour. I like it. It's appetizing."
Wen Quan and Yong Shaolan quickly cleaned up the place. Zhao Yan finished chewing a sour apple and went to the carriage to get the clean bedclothes and pots and pans they had brought with them. When they returned to the Taoist temple, Wen Quan had already cleared out the remaining charcoal. "Looking at the weather, it's definitely going to rain tonight. Go get some firewood to keep us warm."
Wen Quan finished speaking and left with his umbrella. Zhao Yan came in with the bed cloth, rearranged the hay, and spread the cloth on top, making three single "beds." "Not bad, now I can sleep comfortably."
Wen Quan was right. Not long after he left, it suddenly started raining heavily again.
Zhao Yan had just made his sleeping place and looked outside. He saw the rain falling in strings: "Oh my god!"
Zhao Yan went out to take a look and found that the horse was still soaking in the rain. He turned back and asked Yong Shaolan, "Is it okay for the horse to get wet?"
"It's raining so hard."
Yong Shaolan paused for a moment and said, "I'll go get the horse."
"Wenquan took the umbrella away," Zhao Yan looked at the rain outside, "and the raincoat is still hanging on the carriage..."
"It's okay," without waiting for him to finish his words, Yong Shaolan walked straight into the rain, quickly untied the horse from the carriage, and tied it under the corridor.
When he returned, Yong Shaolan's Confucian robe was completely wet.
Zhao Yan connected the coat on his body: "I haven't even finished talking yet, I'm soaked. It won't be too late to hold hands later when Wenquan comes back."
"It's okay," Yong Shaolan held the young man's hand, signaling him not to take off his clothes. "We only have this one horse. If it gets sick, it will affect our journey. We can just light a fire and warm it up."
"Put it on."
"I'll put it on you, aren't you cold?" Zhao Yan insisted on taking off his coat and putting it on Yong Shaolan. "Come on, come on."
"It will get wet even if you put it on. It's useless and unnecessary." Yong Shaolan stuffed the clothes on Zhao Yan: "Put it on."
Zhao Yan: “…”
That's not how it's played out on TV.
Zhao Yan couldn't persuade Yong Shaolan, so he could only go along with him, "Okay then, I'll wipe your face for you."
Yong Shaolan didn't refuse this time, "Yeah."
In fact, it was something that could be done by one person, and it would be a bit redundant if two people did it. Zhao Yan took the slightly damp handkerchief and wiped it on Yong Shaolan's forehead, carefully wiping away the water droplets, trying not to look the man in the eye: "Your hair is always wet, why don't you take it off."
Yong Shaolan noticed Zhao Yan's evasive look.
The young man was serious about his work, and the ambiguity that should have existed was driven away by his seriousness. He lowered his eyes and looked at Zhao Yan's porcelain-white cheeks, her thick, long eyelashes that kept fluttering, and her plump lips.
Yong Shaolan nodded and held Zhao Yan's restless hand, "Well, I won't wipe it anymore."
His eyes licked Zhao Yan's cheek, and he said, "Tear it down for me."
Zhao Yan licked his lips and put away the handkerchief. "Okay, then sit down, or it will be difficult for me to operate."
Yong Shaolan's gaze was like a laser cannon, and Zhao Yan couldn't avoid it even if he wanted to.
I can only bite the bullet and pretend I didn't see it.
A straw mat lay before the cleaned fire. Yong Shaolan took off his soaked Confucian robe, leaving behind two layers of snow-white inner clothing, and sat down. Zhao Yan leaned over and untied Yong Shaolan's hairband, muttering, "Brother Lan, you've become Ye Hua again."
"Okay." Zhao Yan put Yong Shaolan's hairband and clothes together, ready to wait for Wen Quan to come back and light the fire to warm them up: "Are you really not cold?"
Yong Shaolan sat there calmly. Upon hearing this, he raised his eyelids and glanced at Zhao Yan. "Is everything okay? Do you want to warm me up?"
Zhao Yan sat cross-legged on the futon, supporting himself with his hands, tilting his head and looking at the serious man: "..."
Outside the Taoist temple, the rain was pouring down with no sign of stopping.
Zhao Yan raised his eyebrows and asked, "How do you keep warm?"
"Sit next to me," Yong Shaolan patted the cushion beside him.
Zhao Yan cleared his throat and thought to himself that he should have stopped asking earlier. "Okay."
The young man moved over and sat down next to Yong Shaolan, but his body couldn't help but lean to the side. Yong Shaolan reached out and grasped Zhao Yan's wrist, "What are you hiding from?"
"I didn't, I didn't hide." Zhao Yan straightened his back and moved closer to Yong Shaolan. He still sat with his legs crossed, not quite sitting still. "You're suspicious."
Yong Shaolan lowered his eyes and looked at Zhao Yan. Then he let go of his wrist and closed his eyes to rest.
"Why aren't you talking?" Zhao Yan thought Yong Shaolan was angry, so he leaned over and waved his hand in front of his eyes: "It's not that I don't want to be close to you, but if Wen Quan comes back later, it will have a bad impact."
"Um."
"Angry?"
"No."
"Then why don't you open your eyes?"
Yong Shaolan frowned, then opened his eyes as Zhao Yan instructed, his gaze falling on the young man again: "You want me to look at you?"
Zhao Yan: “…”
"Look at it if you want, you can't see any holes."
"Yeah," Yong Shaolan really looked at Zhao Yan, "I'm thinking about how you'll wrap your arms around my waist in the future."
"I'm holding your waist?"
Zhao Yan was in a lazy state. After hearing such a lewd remark out of the blue, he looked at Yong Shaolan warily: "...help me!"
"Why am I holding your waist?" Zhao Yan was a little unconvinced. "My physique is not bad after some practice, right?"
Yong Shaolan: "You have a little blue under your eyes and often look listless. You might have kidney deficiency."
“…………”
Zhao Yan broke through his defense and straightened his back immediately: "Whoever is listless has kidney deficiency!"
"I don't have kidney deficiency!"
"You haven't seen how vigorous my young master is!"
"I'll run ten meters in one second to grab food from the cafeteria!"
"...Hmm," Yong Shaolan frowned slightly, seeing Zhao Yan's unhappy look, and then reflected for a moment: "Amazing."
"Forget it, forget it. I won't be angry with you." Zhao Yan was actually very angry, but he was a little worried that Yong Shaolan was telling the truth. He seemed to be a little weak. Now he couldn't even run 800 meters. He felt dizzy when he stood up too quickly, and his buttocks made a crackling sound when he squatted down.
Damn it, he’s only eighteen years old, has he already developed kidney deficiency?
Zhao Yan was stunned, with a gloomy face, and stopped talking to Yong Shaolan. Then he found a book on the desk.
At this time, Wenquan came into the Taoist temple holding an oil-paper umbrella and carrying some dry firewood: "Oh, it's raining so hard."
As soon as the young man entered the room, he saw that the two people on the futon looked unhappy. It was Zhao Yan who stood up first. "Thank you for your hard work, Brother Wenquan. Is this firewood still burnable?"
"This was given to me by an old lady in the village," Wen Quan was just about to go up the mountain to take a look, but it started to rain heavily halfway and he couldn't see clearly at all. It happened that an old lady came down from the mountain at this time, asked him a question, and then took him home to get firewood.
Zhao Yan: "Okay, there are still many good people in the world."
Yong Shaolan moved the firewood on the ground in front of the cushion and lit the broken firewood with a fire starter. It didn't take long for the dry firewood to be ignited and the Taoist temple became warm.
The sky was so gloomy that it was impossible to tell the time. After lighting the fire, Yong Shaolan put the clothes on the hanger and took the small pot and rice he had brought with him to cook some porridge.
After dinner, Wenquan said he felt bad and went out to the village to chop firewood for his aunt.
Only Zhao Yan and Yong Shaolan were left in the Taoist temple.
The two of them cleaned up the food, and Zhao Yan worked silently without saying a word.
Yong Shaolan put away the dried clothes and took a clean set from the carriage. When he returned, Zhao Yan had already lay down.
Yong Shaolan frowned, turned back, and took a cotton coat from the carriage. As soon as he approached the young man, he saw Zhao Yan reading a book he had gotten from somewhere: "Cover yourself up."
"Oh," Zhao Yan put down the Liaozhai storybook he found next to the case and patted the seat beside him. "Since I'm bored, do you want to lie down and read the storybook together?"
"Not angry?"
"Ah...?" Zhao Yan took a moment to react before remembering what Yong Shaolan had said about his kidney deficiency. "Well, I never hold grudges."
"Well," Yong Shaolan put down the clothes, "I'll change."
"Okay," Zhao Yan said, holding the storybook and turning his back. After a while, Yong Shaolan changed his clothes and sat down next to Zhao Yan: "I'm sorry about what happened just now."
"I already said I'm not angry anymore," Zhao Yan handed the storybook to Yong Shaolan and looked at him: "Brother Lan, if you want to apologize to me, how about reading the storybook to me?"
There are too many uncommon characters and I can’t recognize them all.
Yong Shaolan took the book and sat in front of Zhao Yan, who then laid on his lap: "Hee, let me lean on you for a while."
"Um."
It was already dark when Wenquan returned to the Taoist temple. Yong Shaolan was still sitting there reading to Zhao Yan. He was stunned for a moment when he entered the door, then packed his bedding and went into the inner room.
Zhao Yan listened intently to the storybook. When he heard some gory scenes, he even voice-activated Yong Shaolan to lower his voice. Seeing Wen Quan packing up and leaving, Zhao Yan raised his head and asked, "Why did he move in here?"
Yong Shaolan put down the book in his hand: "He snores when he sleeps - it's getting late, go to bed."
Zhao Yan glanced at the dark sky outside, got up from Yong Shaolan's lap, and stretched: "Okay...but I want to go to the bathroom."
"I'll go with you." Yong Shaolan put down the book.
"No need." There was no toilet outside, and Zhao Yan felt embarrassed to pee in the open air.
I should have known not to listen to so many ghost stories. I feel a little scared suddenly. However, I was just told that I have kidney deficiency at noon. It would be even more embarrassing to be afraid of ghosts now.
Zhao Yan stood up and lit the lantern with a tinder stick: "Wait for me, I'll be back soon."
With that, Zhao Yan walked out the door.
The temple was overgrown with weeds, and it had been raining all day, making it extremely cold. Zhao Yan carried a lantern as he walked through the corridor, and every now and then a gust of wind blew the lantern back and forth.
"I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid, the headless ghost doesn't exist at all!"
"Oh my god, why is it getting more and more scary the more you talk about it?"
Zhao Yan quickly walked to a patch of weeds and unbuttoned his pants shiveringly. As a result, just as he finished solving his physiological problem, the lantern next to him was blown over by the wind.
It was at this moment that, looking from afar, several more figures appeared in the thin mist.
The ghost is coming!
"There's a ghost!" Zhao Yan grabbed the lantern and ran into the Taoist temple. As soon as he reached the door, Yong Shaolan came out to greet him. Zhao Yan threw the lantern on the ground and hugged the man's waist.
"Oh my god, Brother Lan, there's a ghost! I just saw a figure behind the carriage!"
Yong Shaolan held Zhao Yan's butt: "..."
"They're coming."
Zhao Yan: “……?”
Zhao Yan covered his eyes and looked back. Sure enough, several figures carrying bookcases were approaching them. "Ahhhh, what is that?"
Yong Shaolan: “…”
"ghost."
As Yong Shaolan finished speaking, several young men in front of the Taoist temple also noticed that there were people inside and shouted, "Brother in front, we are students returning home from Yujing. We have run out of money and have no choice but to come here to avoid the cold. We are not bad people!"
Only then did Zhao Yan realize that he had fallen in love with Yong Shaolan.
Well, wrap your arms around his waist.
This posture...tsk.
Zhao Yan quickly jumped down, stood behind the man, and looked at the person speaking in front: "They seem to be real people."
Yong Shaolan: "...That's probably a person."
He grabbed Zhao Yan's hand and said, "Don't be afraid."
Zhao Yan also clenched Yong Shaolan's hand: "I'm not afraid anymore, it's great to have you around."
Zhao Yan shouted at the top of his voice and waved over there: "Come over here, we are good people too, and we have some firewood here to dry clothes."
Someone from a distance replied, "Thank you very much, brother!"
As they spoke, several young students walked into the Taoist temple. It was too dark to see anyone, so Zhao Yan and Yong Shaolan walked in and lit the extinguished firewood again.
The main room lit up, the heat rising. Zhao Yan and Yong Shaolan sat on one side, looking at the three young men in their thirties across from them. "Your clothes are all wet. Take them off and let them dry."
After Zhao Yan finished speaking, several young men first raised their hands and bowed to them, then untied their outer Confucian robes and placed them next to the fire to dry. "Thank you very much, little brother."
The remaining two people also echoed: "Thank you, brothers."
"Thank you very much."
Zhao Yan gave the young man beside him a light punch: "You're welcome, you're welcome. We're all out here to make a living."
Seeing the man's disposition, the young man bowed again and asked, "Are you two also students returning from Yujing?"
"ah……?"
Without waiting for Zhao Yan to reply, Yong Shaolan pulled him back to his side and said calmly, "Well, we just got married not long ago, so we went out to take the exam together."
Zhao Yan: “Hmmmm…?”
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The author has something to say: Here I come [love eyes][love eyes]
Thank you for the nutrient solution ~ bow!
Good night everyone.
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