Riding the wind of rebirth

"Are there still monkeys here?" Yan Xiao asked excitedly, cupping his hands to his mouth and letting out a megaphone: "Hahahaha..."

From the darkness of the opposite mountain forest, a response of "Ooh ha ha ha ha" rang out once more.

"Hey! It really isn't a coincidence!" Yang Honghui laughed. "Salt Rat is on his way to becoming the king of the mountain."

"Alright, that's enough! Don't wake Xiao Shunzi up!" Zhou Zhi said. "And the monkeys are very mischievous. They are the real kings of the mountain. If we really attract them, it will be a problem. Look at Heilong's behavior."

Everyone looked at the black dragon and found that it had become tense, its ears trembling slightly, its body crouching on the ground, assuming a posture of waiting to attack.

The Black Dragon Guard cavalry had been moving freely under the hooves of so many large animals all the way here, but now they probably felt they had met their match.

"Black Dragon, come here!" Zhou Zhi beckoned to the Black Dragon, which nimbly jumped back to Zhou Zhi's side and lay down, its head still looking towards the dark mountains in the distance.

"Don't be nervous." Zhou Zhi stroked the black dragon's head, both to comfort it and to reassure the others. "There are two streams around here, so wild animals can't get through. We'll light a fire at the narrowest point ahead, and everyone can sleep peacefully. If anything comes, the black dragon will wake us up."

Black Dragon stuck out his tongue and stood up. He went to find his blanket and dragged it toward the camp entrance.

"What is it doing?" Yan Xiao asked.

"Get ready for the night watch," Zhou Zhi said. "Make your workstation more comfortable."

"Really? It really understood what you just said?"

"If you don't believe me, just see for yourself."

Sure enough, as everyone watched, the black dragon dragged its small blanket to the narrowest point where the two streams met in front of the camp. It dropped the blanket, looked around, then lowered its head, pulled the blanket a little further towards the warm water stream, and then walked up and lay down, putting its two front paws together. As if sensing something, it even turned its head to look at the people in the camp who were watching it.

Elbow smiled and gave it a thumbs up in appreciation.

"My god! This dog is practically a spirit!!" Yan Xiao exclaimed, rubbing his forehead. "Seeing a dog like Black Dragon makes me want to raise one myself."

"Forget it, there's not enough space for this kind of dog to roam in a big city. Dogs like Black Dragon that need a lot of exercise will be unhappy." Zhou Zhi looked at Black Dragon: "Besides, most people can't train a dog to be as intelligent as Black Dragon. Let's save our breath."

“That’s true, it would be troublesome to train someone like Tangyuan.” Yan Xiao nodded.

Zhou Zhi was speechless. It seems that Guan Tingting's glutinous rice balls have a good reputation in her circle of friends.

Everyone is a little tired today, so we can rest here. Zhouzhi opened a fire pit next to the place where the Black Dragon was stationed, lit a fire, and told everyone to rest early.

There are two three-person tents, one for Yang and his family, and another for Zhou Zhi, Mai Xiaomiao, and A Zi; the rest are two-person tents, naturally for a couple.

No one found this arrangement strange. Back then, several men and women would even squeeze onto one bed to chat, and they would fall asleep while chatting. No one had any bad intentions. On the contrary, as everyone grew older, they missed that purest kind of feeling even more.

Zhou Zhi has a special quality that makes everyone believe he is capable of "remaining unmoved even with a woman in his lap." Yan Xiao whispered to He Shiqing in the tent, "A Zi is also a beauty. Xiao Miao is really at ease. If Zhou Zi arranged for a beauty to share a tent with us, would you be happy?"

He Shiqing chuckled and said, "You're just thinking good things. I wouldn't mind if it were someone I know well, like Liang Hong and Ye Xin, who are both fine with it."

"You really know how to pick," Yan Xiao said, looking at the bright moonlight, unique to Liangshan Prefecture, streaming through the tent. "You think I can beat you at picking boyfriends, huh?"...

The next morning, when Zhou Zhi and Mai Xiaomiao crawled out of their tent, they were surprised to find someone already swimming in the water.

It was Yan Xiao.

"Good morning, Brother Yan Xiao." Mai Xiaomiao stood by the water. "What time did you get up?"

"It's been about half an hour." Yan Xiao wiped his swimming goggles on his forehead. "Xiao Miao, you should come down too. The water is hot and feels great."

"How about canceling the Tai Chi class this morning?" Zhou Zhi hadn't been to a hot spring in a long time and was thinking of going into the water.

"Huh? Aren't you going to cook breakfast first?" Xiao Miao asked. "What will we do if everyone wakes up and there's no breakfast?"

"Breakfast is very simple, just a pot of porridge with last night's leftovers will do," Yan Xiao said. "What's more important than playing?"

"You went into the water without eating anything?" Zhou Zhi asked. "Be careful not to get cramps from exhaustion."

"How could that be?" Yan Xiao said, "I got up this morning, took out the charcoal fire, grilled some meat skewers, and heated up a cup of milk tea for myself before going into the water."

"That's more like it," Zhou Zhi laughed. "We should eat something first to fill our stomachs before going into the water. People can't stand being completely hungry."

"Hurry up, hurry up!" Yan Xiao said. "I'll be waiting for you in the water, so hurry up!"

After saying that, he plunged back into the water, and when he resurfaced, he was already in the middle of the lake.

Zhou Zhi went to the earthen stove to cook a pot of porridge, and also prepared a frying pan and the teppanyaki pan used for teppanyaki yesterday, and started frying eggs and pancakes.

Frying eggs is very simple, so I won't go into details. To make pancakes, first mix eggs, flour, and water to form a batter, then add a little salt, shredded cured meat, chopped wild onions, and minced deer ear chives. Grease a griddle, pour in the batter, and you can make pancakes.

Once the pancake is cooked, roll it up and place it in a pan to keep it warm. Brush the bottom of the pan with oil as well, so that the bottom of the pancake roll will form a crispy edge like a potsticker, making it even more fragrant.

"What are you making, elbow? It smells so good first thing in the morning!" A little while later, Liang Hong and Yang Honghui opened their tents: "Don't you want people to sleep in?"

"It looks like pan-fried chive dumplings." Yang Honghui crawled out of the tent. "Right?"

"Ham and scallion pancakes. Then we added some deer ear chives. Chive boxes are too complicated to make quickly." Zhou Zhi laughed, "We're not going to do Tai Chi this morning. We'll go swimming after we finish eating. The salt rat has been playing in the water for half an hour already."

"The porridge is too hot when it's freshly cooked," Yang Honghui said with a smile. "I'll put it in cold water to cool it down first, then swim around in it for a bit, and it'll be just right when I come back."

"No need, we brought milk with us. Let's have a carton of milk first, and a biscuit to tide us over. We'll swim a few laps and then come back to eat."

"Good idea." Liang Hong also crawled out of the tent, pulled a pancake roll from the pot, and then looked back at the water: "Where's the salt rat?" (End of Chapter)