Chapter 48: Taking Shelter from the Rain in a Temple
Ever since we entered Huainan, it has been drizzling.
Everyone had gotten used to it, and with the help of local people like Mo Yan, Chu Ci and his companions avoided many detours.
However, today's rain became heavier and the road became more muddy, finally to the point where the carriage could no longer move forward.
Everyone had no choice but to get off the car and pull and push it to move forward.
In this way, we walked hard for about half an hour, and finally saw a temple on the top of a hill not far from the road.
"Let's go to the temple for shelter!" Qian Chuanzi shouted, but his words were only faintly audible over the sound of the rain. Fortunately, everyone had come to a tacit understanding along the way (no one wanted to die). At least no one was left behind.
Arriving at the temple, Chu Ci and the others found it small and somewhat old. Looking up, they could vaguely see the three large characters "Xiangji Temple" in the mist.
The temple gate was open, so Chu Ci and his companions simply pulled in two donkey carts carrying important supplies.
Then, they began to examine the temple. Looking around, they saw two large halls, one central and one slanted. The incense burners were overflowing with ash, a testament to the temple's popularity. The halls were also very clean, presumably because they were regularly maintained.
But despite the loud noise, no monk came out. The scene from A Chinese Ghost Story unconsciously emerged in Chu Ci's mind.
"Could this be a haunted temple?" Chu Ci got goosebumps all over her body. She hugged her arms involuntarily and asked tremblingly.
Everyone knew that Chu Ci's habit of daydreaming had come back again.
Qian Chuanzi was about to explain when Mo Yan said softly, "This temple was actually built by the nearby mountain people to deal with emergencies like today."
In addition, they would secretly exchange some daily necessities with the people in the city, such as salt, medicine, etc. Of course, he would not be stupid enough to say it out loud, and Chu Ci and the others just pretended not to know.
After understanding the reason why the temple was deserted, Chu Ci and his companions went to the backyard on their own. The backyard was not big, with only five rooms and a kitchen.
As for how to allocate the rooms, everyone unconsciously turned their eyes to the fifth prince.
The fifth prince looked up at the sky and finally said, "I will live with the Fan family. You can make the rest yourselves."
In the end, the escorting officers chose the room closest to the edge. The Fan family took two rooms, one for men and one for women. The Chu family had one room, and the Liu family had one room. Actually, there was also one room for men and one room for women.
There were two shelters, and everyone quickly changed out of their wet clothes. The south was extremely humid, and clothes easily stunk, so Chu Ci and the others had to bring down the small charcoal stove they had been carrying.
After changing clothes, I went to the kitchen, where there were only a few clay pots and some coarse grains, nothing else.
Fortunately, we were cooking outdoors, so while we might be short of other things, we definitely had plenty of cooking tools. So we took out three more charcoal stoves from our luggage.
First, he made a pot of thick ginger soup to drive away the cold for everyone. The Fifth Prince had suffered a great change and his body must be weak. Chu Ci didn't want to be a wise man after the event, so he secretly replaced the water for boiling the ginger soup with the space spiritual spring.
Chu Ci had just finished changing the water when Qianxue yelled, "Sister-in-law, come and see, is this star anise?"
Chu Ci looked at the branch in Qianxue's hand and said, "It is indeed star anise. It's a pity that the weather wasn't favorable. Otherwise, we could collect some seeds, plant them this winter, and then use a special method to graft them. In three to four years, we will be able to achieve star anise freedom. It will even benefit future generations."
"It's so magical. Let's go look for it after the rain stops." Qianxue and Qianyan heard this and thought, how could they miss such a good thing? They raised their hands and said.
However, Chu Ci refused without a second thought: "No, the forest after the rain is very dangerous. We can't afford to lose the big picture for the sake of the small. It will be the same the next time we come."
Qianxue was about to persuade them again, but Qianyan held her back. If she were their sister-in-law, she wouldn't allow them to take such a risk.
Chu Ci thought the matter was over, but he hadn't expected the two girls to be so bold. The next morning, before the fog in the forest had completely dissipated, they quietly set out with Caiwei, Laibao, Laixing, and Laizhao.
By the time Chu Ci and Fan Jingrui learned of this, Mo Yan had already delivered his message. You know, the forests in the south are filled with miasma in the morning, comparable to poisonous gas.
The two were extremely anxious, but they didn't dare to act rashly. Otherwise, it would not be a search, but a commotion. "When did they leave?"
"It was around the hour of Mao, and the rain outside had just stopped. I was preparing for training with everyone when Miss Qianxue and Miss Qianyan came over. They didn't let us tell anyone, but after thinking about it, I still felt that I shouldn't hide this matter." Mo Yan recounted the whole story.
It was the first quarter of the morning hour, and they had been walking for about an hour. It was impossible to catch up. "Which direction are they going? Take your men and wait there."
"Yes, sir." Mo Yan noticed the urgency of Chu Ci and Fan Jingrui and did not dare to be negligent. After responding, he hurried away with the two of them.
Until the sun was at its highest point in the sky, the scorching sun was scorching the earth, and the heat from the ground was rising, as if being in a huge steamer, but not a single person came back.
Chu Ci and Fan Jingrui couldn't wait any longer and were about to go out to look for her when Qianxue and Qianyan finally walked in dejectedly. "Brother, sister-in-law, we know we were wrong."
"It doesn't matter if you haven't found the things. It's good that you can return safely. Don't be so reckless in the future, okay?" Chu Ci felt distressed to see the two little girls so depressed, and hurriedly comforted them in a soft voice.
The two dared not speak, but quietly glanced at their eldest brother, whose face was as gloomy as ink. As expected, Fan Jingrui said, "My wife, you pamper them too much."
After saying this, without waiting for Chu Ci to react, he frowned and scolded Qianxue and Qianyan, "You keep saying that you know you're wrong, but where exactly did you go wrong?"
"We shouldn't have gone looking for star anise without everyone's permission." Qianxue and Qianyan lowered their heads, their voices as low as mosquitoes. Their hands unconsciously twisted together.
Chu Ci knew at a glance that he had protected them too well, so that they confused the forests in the south with those in the north and threw away all the previous instructions.
It seemed that today's lesson was inevitable. Chu Ci sighed inwardly, and the little girls could only pray for good luck. Then she turned and left silently, thinking that Fan Jingrui was going to teach his sister a lesson, and as a sister-in-law, it would be better for her not to get involved.
Seeing this, Qianxue and Qianyan immediately made bitter faces and lamented in their hearts: We are really finished now.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com