Seaside fishing village
The wind, carrying the dampness of the sea waves, swept towards the shore, bringing with it shallow water from near the shore, and white waves climbed onto the beach.
"Miss Yan!"
The moment Yue Lang spoke, he pulled Meng Yan to the inside, avoiding the crashing waves and saving the effort of changing clothes.
The sound of the wind and waves still lingered in his ears. Meng Yan emerged blankly from Yue Lang's embrace and saw that the spot where he had just stood was now submerged by the sea. He turned his head and silently thanked him.
"No need to thank me. We agreed to travel together, so how could I not keep an eye on you? Do whatever you want, and leave these miscellaneous little problems to me."
Meng Yan smiled slightly, turned around, and continued to clear the way ahead.
As the fishing boats grew larger in their field of vision, the red lanterns on the dock swayed high. Only then did the two realize that they hadn't seen clearly enough from the sky and had missed a few strings of small lanterns. With a gust of wind, the lanterns of all sizes swayed together, making them a good landmark at night.
An old man was standing on the dock, neither wearing a raincoat nor a straw hat, and he didn't look like he was going out to sea. Just then, the old man noticed the two people with unusual attire, waved to them, and shouted something that was hard to understand.
Oh no! I only considered that others might not understand sign language, but I didn't think that one day I might encounter a dialect I couldn't understand. This trip doesn't seem to be going very well.
Meng Yan frowned. Something was wrapped around her hands, which were a little chilly from the sea breeze. It was warm but a little rough. She turned around and saw Yue Lang.
"Don't just stand there, Uncle's calling us over!"
He waved to the old man on the dock, then took Meng Yan's hand and walked quickly towards him.
“My sect has many disciples, and we speak a variety of dialects. I’ve heard some of them, and I just happened to understand this one. Let’s go check it out first, and if we find anything wrong, we can run away. Anyway, with you and me here, ordinary people can’t do anything to us.”
After hearing the first half of the sentence, Meng Yan was still grateful for her clever decision on the spot. But when the second half came out, she suddenly felt that the two of them were like bandits who had come down from the mountains, skilled in all kinds of robbery and plunder.
"Uncle, what do you need us for?"
Yue Lang's outgoing and friendly nature played a crucial role at this moment.
The old man glanced at the two of them, said a few words in his local dialect, pointed to the brown houses behind the fishing boat, and led the way.
"My uncle said that we didn't look like locals, and once he started talking, he was even more certain that we were from out of town. The sea was rough, so he told us to go to the village to sit for a while."
Meng Yan withdrew her hand, followed the old man, and asked Yue Lang, "Did you also just happen to understand that sentence?"
She was completely baffled by the brief greeting from afar, but as she got closer, the long string of words that reached her ears not only made her realize that she was indeed not meant to be here, but was also profound and difficult to understand. Yet, someone was able to translate these long and obscure words back to her.
"There are many coincidences, plus I've always been very lucky. Miss Yan, you can praise me, don't doubt me."
Seeing his slightly innocent eyes and downturned lips, Meng Yan immediately apologized and added, "Bringing you here was the luckiest decision I've ever made."
"Don't say that, I might actually believe you!"
With a laugh that trailed off in a few high-pitched notes, Meng Yan blinked but didn't reply. She took his hand and caught up with the old man.
As the sand in the shallows was carried along, it transformed into reefs. After years of being eroded by the waves, even the hardest rocks bear the marks of time, with lines etched into the stone, creating a mottled picture.
The houses were built on these rocks. Judging from their color and material, it seems that the same stones were first used to raise the base to prevent seawater from eroding the bottom, and then mud and other stones were added on top to build the stone fortresses.
From its style to its building materials, it differs significantly from the forest villages, making one marvel at the ingenuity of nature and human hands.
Moreover, several earthenware jars were placed in front of each house, which, judging from their top and bottom, seemed to be used to collect rainwater.
Why would anyone need to specifically save rainwater? Meng Yan, who never lacks rain and is busy with dehumidification and flood prevention for three seasons of the year, doesn't quite understand.
Noticing the gaze of the person beside him and the slight arch of his eyebrows, Yue Lang cleared his throat and began to explain: "It is true that we have frequent rains and many rivers and lakes in our area, so we have been studying how not to get flooded since we were young. Water is readily available for our daily needs, and even in the deep mountains, we can make do by finding a stream."
"But this is the seaside, Miss Yan. When you were looking down from the mechanical kite, did you notice that there is no lake nearby? There is only a very narrow river further away from where we landed."
Meng Yan didn't really observe the place carefully. She only guessed that people lived nearby based on the fishing boats, and didn't think about many other things in detail.
Seeing her deep thought, Yue Lang explained step by step: "Seawater is too salty to drink directly, so coastal people obtain drinking water by storing rainwater. The book also records that some places dig wells to get water, just like us, but this is subject to many limitations, and whether it can be done depends on the local conditions."
"Why are you looking at me like that? We're here to do feng shui for people. Even if we don't need these things, we still have to keep them in mind."
After saying that, he let out a heavy, long sigh, as if he had suffered a great injustice. Meng Yan was about to comfort him when he only smiled and said, "Luckily, I listened attentively in class back then and did well in my studies, otherwise we would just be staring at each other."
I shouldn't have assumed he would be upset.
Seeing the two young men, dressed in rather unusual clothes, walking and looking around, many locals leaned out of their windows, and some even opened their doors and stood in front of them to get a better look.
They were almost all dressed in gray linen shirts, with their clothes rolled up halfway. Perhaps because of the many sunny days and long hours in the sun, their exposed skin was tanned a bit dark, making Meng Yan and Yue Lang look especially fair.
Several acquaintances greeted the old man who was leading the way, speaking to each other in words that Meng Yan couldn't understand, while Yue Lang whispered in her ear.
"Where did these beautiful girls and handsome young men come from?"
"I picked it up on the beach. I saw that the wind was strong and I was afraid it would be swept away, so I brought it back first."
"Judging from their clothes, they are from the mountains. I heard they live far from the sea, and they are young. How did they end up here?"
"I find it strange too. Even if you run away from your family, you shouldn't run away to the beach.
"..."
Meng Yan's eyebrows had been raised ever since he spoke his first sentence, and when he heard the rather abrupt pause later, they twitched even more.
It's hard to say how much of this was Yue Lang's personal interpretation, but overall, people seemed more curious about the two of them than harboring any obvious malice, which could be considered a good thing for someone new to the place.
“Young man, we don’t have many visitors here. The house is reserved. The young man from this family has gone out to sea to fish, so the house will be empty for a couple of days.” As he spoke, he raised his chin and pointed at Meng Yan. “You and your wife can stay here for now. Use these two days to find a place to go. Once you’ve settled down here, go to the beach and break some stones to build your own house.”
Yue Lang was flustered by the way he was addressed, his grip on Meng Yan's hand tightening and loosening. Feeling that familiar gaze, he turned his head nonchalantly and smiled as he responded to the old man's words.
Leaving the time and choice to them, the old man turned and left, leaving behind only a puzzled Meng Yan and Yue Lang, who were pondering how to speak.
"What did your uncle say that scared you so much? You're shaking more than if you caught a snake in the forest."
Meng Yan's casual remark caused Yue Lang to close his eyes and choke back a painful sob. Knowing that he had touched a sore spot, Meng Yan decided to go all out and pointed at his face.
A strange sensation, unlike anything he had ever experienced before, came from his cheek. Yue Lang suddenly opened his eyes and met Meng Yan's gaze, who was just inches away.
He rushed into the house carrying two bundles.
"Uncle said that we... can stay in this house for two days."
From the fragmented and extraordinary words, Meng Yan pieced together the general meaning: she should have gone out to stroll around the streets, learn about local customs and needs, and then further promote various government agencies, but considering Yue Lang's current strange behavior, she turned around and went into the house.
The bundles were neatly placed on both sides of the stone bed, with a huge Yue Lang lying flat in the middle, its eyes closed, as if it were asleep.
At this critical moment, Meng Yan rolled over, leaned down from the bundle, and pressed his hands all over the boy's forehead and neck, his expression gradually becoming serious.
"What did you find?" Yue Lang asked, seemingly coming back to life.
I was nervous because I hadn't found anything!
Although he was still able to speak, seeing his flushed and hot face and heavy, labored breathing, Meng Yan still couldn't bear to leave him alone.
"I'm fine, Miss Yan. I'm just a little unwell due to the change in environment. I'll be fine after lying down for a while." Yue Lang reached out a trembling hand and patted her arm. "You go ahead and do your work. I'll rest for a bit. We Taoists don't die so easily."
The last sentence was something he made up on the spot. In the current situation, it seemed better for him to be alone than for Meng Yan to be stuck in this small room with him.
Watching that figure leave the door, turning back every few steps, Yue Lang gasped for breath, silently reciting the scriptures he had misread countless words, secretly suspecting that he had some undiscovered ailment.
It wasn't until she stepped onto the street alone and stared at her swaying reflection on the ground that Meng Yan suddenly remembered that one of the main reasons she had brought Yue Lang was because he could understand her language. Now that she had left him inside, and since she couldn't communicate with the local residents, it seemed that this trip had no real purpose.
She stared at her shadow for a long time, then turned her back to the hut and walked forward, as if to familiarize herself with the way.
.
Sunlight spilled onto the beach, making it golden and shimmering. Waves lapped against the shore, only to recede before even touching the hem of clothing.
Meng Yan spotted a large rock and, taking advantage of the waves being distracted, leaped onto it in a few steps. Just as he was about to land, his shoe slipped, and he fell to his knees on the uneven rock surface with a thud. The sound of wood and stone colliding echoed in his mind.
In this uncomfortable position, she spent less than half a quarter of an hour checking all the mechanisms on her body. After confirming that they were all in good working order, she slowly stood up, supported by the rocks, and carefully found a flat spot to stretch her muscles and examine herself.
The waves crashed against the edge of the reef, splashing water onto her hands from time to time. If she looked down for a moment, she would also get splashed all over her face. Only then did she truly feel the saltiness of the sea.
Before she could complain, her gaze was quickly drawn to something else.
It was a school of swimming fish, each one thin and long, all white.
In fact, they were already swimming around when Meng Yan first climbed onto the reef, but at that time Meng Yan only regarded them as shimmering waves, drifting by with the wind, splashing on the shore and dispersing into water droplets that disappeared in the blink of an eye. Fortunately, one of the small fish was not one to be outdone. When it rubbed against her, it flicked its tail and leaped out, then fell back to the bottom of the water with a splash.
A group of fresh little guys, Meng Yan thought, wondering if they would also see him as a fresh human.
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