Under One Person: The Taoist Priest Descends the Mountain

Just before midnight, Xia He's phone rang.

She took it out and saw it was her father.

"Hello, Dad."

"It's late at night, time to go home," Xia Weidong's voice came through the receiver.

You can faintly hear Liu Yuping complaining beside you: "If our daughter is going out to play, she should just have fun. If something were to happen, it would have happened more than half a year ago."

Xia He blushed, glanced at Cheng Mo who seemed completely unaffected beside her, and said into her phone, "I'll be back soon."

After hanging up the phone, she turned to Cheng Mo and asked, "Is everything alright here? Are you going back to Liangyi Temple for the New Year?"

Cheng Mo looked at the dark river surface: "Since we're already out here, there's no rush to go back."

Xia He hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Don't you want to go back and spend the New Year with Duo Duo?"

Since everyone rushed over to help, Cheng Mo stopped pretending not to care: "That depends on whether you want to spend the New Year with your parents."

Xia He immediately stopped being coy and smiled brightly: "Then wait for me for two days!"

She leaned forward: "We talked about going to see the corpse-transporting ceremony last time but didn't see it. Let's take advantage of the New Year to go check it out!"

After saying that, she hugged Cheng Mo and ran away.

After running a few steps, he turned back and waved: "Go to sleep early! Wait for my call tomorrow!"

Cheng Mo stood there, lost in thought.

Looking at corpses for fun during the Lunar New Year?

How can this girl be so weird?

……

Chunfeng Residential Area.

When Xia He got home, her parents were still awake.

After changing her shoes, she called out into the living room, "I'm home."

Xia Weidong was sitting on the sofa watching TV when he heard this and looked up: "Back so late?"

Liu Yuping chimed in from the side, "What's so late? It's only midnight."

Xia Weidong glared at her.

Xia He ignored their ambiguity, said "Goodnight," and went to wash up on her own.

Xia Weidong stood up, about to say something, when his wife grabbed him, saying, "Elbow, come back inside with me."

He dragged her into the bedroom.

……

Xia He went out early the next morning.

She ran to Cheng Mo's hotel, dragged him out, and led him around Xiangfan City for a whole day.

Zhaoming Terrace, Linhan Gate, Lady City, Xiangyang Museum...

Xia He kept talking the whole way.

"Look at that, that's the oldest city gate in Xiangfan."

"I heard that Prince Zhaoming studied here back then."

"That's the moat. Our Xiangfan's moat is incredibly wide; it's one of the widest in the whole country."

Cheng Mo followed behind her, listening to her talk, occasionally nodding and occasionally asking a question.

Around noon, Xia He dragged him to eat snacks: brown sugar pancakes, fried lotus root slices, sour soup noodles, and spicy soup...

Try them one by one.

Xia He was like a little bird, constantly laughing, eating, and talking, chattering away incessantly.

She talked about her childhood visits here and her school field trips with her classmates.

As Cheng Mo listened, the corners of his mouth turned up in a smile.

In the evening, the two sat on a bench by the moat, watching the sun slowly sink in the west.

Xia He suddenly said, "Little Taoist priest, even if we don't go back to the temple, we should still send some New Year's gifts back to the temple, right?"

Looking at the sunset, Cheng Mo asked lazily, "What do you want to send?"

Xia He thought for a moment and said, "I can send a few pairs of leather shoes from my dad's factory to Master, and also send some to the village at the foot of Liangyi Temple Mountain. Duoduo will need to trouble them a lot in the future."

Cheng Mo nodded: "You've thought of everything."

Xia He proudly raised her head: "That's right."

Cheng Mo suddenly remembered: "By the way, doesn't your factory have a lot of unsold shoes? What are you planning to do with them?"

Xia He waved her hand: "The people from Na Du Tong probably felt sorry for my parents this time, so they suggested that I set up an online store, sell the goods all over the country, use their express delivery, and they gave me a 20% discount."

Cheng Mo's eyes lit up: "That's pretty good."

He remembered that online shopping only became popular in the last two years of his life. When he was in college, many of his classmates bought clothes online.

"I'll talk to my parents when I get home tonight." Xia He stood up and patted her skirt. "Let's run away tomorrow. Little Taoist, will you come with me back to my hometown to offer incense to my grandparents? Then we'll go to western Hunan, how about that?"

She was a little nervous after she finished speaking; this could be considered a small test.

It's not convenient to see living family members, but seeing deceased ones is no problem.

Cheng Mo stood up as well, smiling gently: "Sure, we have plenty of time anyway."

Xia He chuckled.

……

After dinner, the two found a bubble tea shop and sat down.

Cheng Mo took out his phone and dialed Duo Duo's number.

It rang twice before being answered.

"Senior brother!" Duoduo's voice came through the receiver, filled with joy.

Xia He leaned closer and called out into the phone, "Duo Duo~"

"Oh! Sister Xia He!" Duo Duo exclaimed with even greater surprise, "You're with your senior brother?"

Xia He nodded: "Yeah, your senior brother can eat so much. He's almost made me broke these past two days."

Cheng Mo chimed in from the side, "It's not like you eat little yourself."

Duoduo giggled on the other end of the line.

After laughing for a while, Duoduo suddenly asked, "Sister Xiahe, have you solved your problem?"

Xia He glared at Cheng Mo.

Why would you tell Duoduo something like this?

Cheng Mo looked completely innocent, utterly clueless as to what this girl was glaring at.

Xia He looked away and said into her phone, "It's solved. Your senior brother put in a lot of effort, so I'll treat him to some good food these next couple of days."

"Great! Hehe!" Duoduo clapped her hands through the receiver. "Sister, are you coming to see Duoduo?"

Xia He was speechless.

She gave Cheng Mo a push.

You tell me.

Cheng Mo cleared his throat: "Um, Duoduo, your senior brother and sister still have some things to take care of, so they'll go back in a while."

Duo Duo's voice noticeably lowered: "Okay."

Just as Cheng Mo was about to say something to comfort her, Duo Duo asked again, "Senior brother, Master asked me to ask you if you bought a gift when you went to see Sister Xia He's parents."

Before Cheng Mo could react, Xia He had already blushed deeply.

Why is Master also on the phone?

Cheng Mo remained calm: "Tell your master not to pry into the affairs of young people."

Duo Duo's voice drifted away, clearly not into the microphone: "Master, my senior brother told you not to pry into the affairs of young people."

After she finished speaking, she said into the microphone, "I told my master."

Then she asked, "Senior, are you dating Sister Xia He right now?"

Xia He blushed even more and snatched the phone away: "Oh, Duo Duo, I'll send you a gift in a few days. Remember to tell me if you like it!"

Duo Duo's attention was indeed diverted: "I'll definitely like anything my sister gives me~"

For the next few minutes, Cheng Mo's phone was completely taken over.

Xia He took her phone and walked to the side, chatting enthusiastically with Duo Duo.

They chatted about the cartoons Duoduo had been watching recently, what new things her master had taught her, and how the lynx had gone wild in the mountains for a few days before returning.

Duoduo chattered away, and Xiahe listened with a smile, occasionally chiming in.

We chatted for a very long time.

Finally, Duoduo said, "Sister, come soon, I'll miss you."

Xia He said softly, "Yes, I miss you too."

After hanging up, Xia He handed the phone back to Cheng Mo and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "I'm going back now, little Taoist. Wait for my call tomorrow."

Cheng Mo made a hand gesture: "OK".

Xia He slapped him: "Don't swear."

He turned and left.

Cheng Mo watched her retreating figure, shook his head, and headed towards the hotel as well.

……

Xia He didn't go home; she went straight to the factory.

Most of the factory workers have left, leaving only a few local veteran workers to do odd jobs.

Xia He's parents also finished their early shift today and weren't at the factory.

She went to the warehouse alone, took out two hundred pairs of leather shoes, and packed them up one by one.

Then, pulling a flatbed cart, they walked towards the warehouse next door that was accessible from all directions.

Xia He had just found out that the transit warehouse of Na Du Tong was not far from her factory.

More than half of the transportation business in this industrial zone is handled by Na Du Tong.

With the Spring Festival approaching, there are still people on night shifts at NaDuTong.

A young employee greeted her, helped her move the goods inside, and filled out the shipping label.

Xia He originally wrote down the village address, but the employee said they could only deliver it to the town: "Unless it's something like an admission notice, then we can deliver it directly to the village."

Xia He had no choice but to change the address to the town, fill in Duo Duo's name and phone number, and ask Uncle Li to help take her back later.

After securing the shipment, Xia He thanked them, returned the empty truck to the factory, and then went home.

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