Under One Person: The Taoist Priest Descends the Mountain

Instead of wandering around the mountains, the two drove straight to the nearest town.

I found a gas station, filled up the motorcycle with gas, drove to a deserted place, and put the motorcycle into the saddlebag.

Just as Xia He was about to look for a place to stay, her phone rang.

When I took it out, I saw it was Duoduo.

Xia He quickly answered the phone: "Duo Duo, Happy New Year~"

Duoduo called out from the other end of the line, "Happy New Year, sister! And senior brother too!"

Cheng Mo leaned closer to the phone: "Why did it start with my sister and then my senior brother? My senior brother is heartbroken."

Duo Duo said, "Hey, senior, stop messing around. Do you have computers there?"

Cheng Mo was taken aback: "What do you need a computer for?"

Duoduo said, "My master and I came to the county. My master borrowed a computer, so we can video chat! I haven't seen my older sister and senior brother in a long time, I want to see you all!"

Xia He quickly said, "Right away, Duo Duo, we'll find the computer right away!"

While still on the phone, she pushed Cheng Mo to find an internet cafe.

Cheng Mo was being pushed along by her: "Where would there be an internet cafe in this small town... Hey, don't rush me."

The two wandered around most of the town and actually found an internet cafe.

The storefront wasn't big, but there were about twenty machines inside, all with pretty new screens, and there weren't many people there.

Xia He urged the camera to start rolling, while Cheng Mo chatted with the boss.

The boss was a young man in his early twenties, wearing glasses, sitting behind the cashier playing games on his screen.

When Cheng Mo asked, he learned that this guy had just opened the internet cafe in October. He was a severely addicted internet user who had lied to his parents about starting a business so that he could play games more easily.

The boss stared intently at the screen, his hands clattering on the keyboard as he muttered, "Hey bro, wanna play World of Warcraft? This year... oh, I mean last year, it's a new game, super fun. A few of us friends started a guild..."

This guy can talk endlessly about games.

Cheng Mo had had enough fun in his past life and didn't want to experience it again in this one, so he quickly interrupted, "Brother, you're busy, my girlfriend is calling me."

Xia He was indeed waving at him from over there: "Come here quickly, little Taoist priest."

The boss was taken aback.

"Little Taoist priest?" What does that mean?

I haven't been in contact with people for very long, but do people nowadays like this kind of approach?

This guy wouldn't be calling that pretty little nun, would he...?

Cheng Mo walked over, and Xia He had already turned on a computer and was logging into QQ.

She applied for this when she was just starting high school, which was also her first time going to an internet cafe.

I still remember feeling a little excited back then. But nothing compares to this moment.

Duoduo said on the phone, "It's connected! It's connected! Sister, can you see me?"

Xia He watched the Qiuqiu window on the screen spinning around and was so anxious she wanted to grab Cheng Mo.

Fortunately, Cheng Mo dodged quickly and slipped away to find the boss.

The circle disappeared, and the image appeared, showing Duoduo's little face on the screen.

Xia He leaned closer to the screen and exclaimed, "I see it! Duo Duo, wow, it's been so long! Duo Duo has become even more beautiful!"

Duoduo cried out anxiously, "Oh no, I can't see my sister!"

She turned and called out, "Master, what's going on?"

Cheng Shou had no idea what this was, and besides, he didn't want to be on camera right now, so he just said from the side, "Let your senior brother take a look."

Xia He also realized what was happening: "Little Taoist priest!"

Cheng Mo returned from the cashier, holding a camera: "You didn't even connect the camera, of course there's no trace of it."

He connected the camera to her and helped her put on the headset: "That's fine now."

No sooner had she finished speaking than Duoduo screamed, "Ah! Sister, I see you~ and Senior Brother too!"

Cheng Mo waved at the camera: "Okay, you can hang up now."

Xia He felt uncomfortable wearing the headset, so she took it off and spoke into her phone instead: "Duo Duo, where are you?"

Duoduo said, "I don't know where this is either. My master brought me here."

Cheng Shou's voice came through the phone: "It's a house belonging to a lay disciple of the association. They're having an event on the mountain, so no one's staying there. I'm just borrowing it for a bit."

Cheng Mo suddenly said in a cheeky tone, "Duoduo, point your camera at Master."

Duoduo asked in confusion, "Which camera is it?"

Cheng Shou shouted from the side, "Don't listen to your senior brother's nonsense."

Xia He smiled and said, "Hello, Master. Happy New Year, Master. May you grow younger every year."

"Happy New Year~" Cheng Shou clicked his tongue twice, "Look how eloquent Miss Xia is, unlike your senior brother."

Duoduo nodded in agreement: "Yes, senior brother, learn more from your older sister."

Cheng Mo said seriously, "Duoduo, you don't understand. I'm just hiding my shortcomings to highlight your sister Xia He."

Xia He was speechless: "...Little Taoist, you've used the wrong words."

Duoduo added insult to injury: "My senior's Chinese isn't even as good as mine."

Several people were gathered around the computer, facing the webcam, talking about random things.

Let's talk about the scenery we saw in western Hunan these past few days, how many eggs the chickens, ducks and geese in the temple laid, how silly Big Yellow was chasing its tail in circles, and how clingy Big Fox is to Duoduo now.

Xia He was still thinking about corpse-driving, telling Duo Duo about the legends of corpse-driving, such as talismans, spells, and how the corpse-driver would shake a bell and the corpse would jump along with it.

Duoduo looked on with longing and said, "When can I go with my sister to watch the corpse-transporting ceremony?"

Cheng Mo chimed in from the side, "It's the Lunar New Year, can we talk about something more mundane?"

Duoduo said "Oh," then suddenly remembered something: "By the way, is there a party tonight? Yueyue said her whole family will be watching it."

Cheng Shou chimed in from the side: "The Spring Festival Gala will be broadcast on TVB."

Duoduo turned her head and asked, "Master, could you open it and take a look?"

The old Taoist priest wasn't actually interested in that thing, but it wasn't right for the two girls to keep talking about corpses, so he replied, "Wait a minute, let me find where their remote control is."

Duoduo turned back to Xiahe and said, "Sister, can you watch TV over there? Let's watch the Spring Festival Gala together."

Xia He looked at Cheng Mo: "Why don't you turn on your computer and search around?"

Cheng Mo had no choice but to go back to the boss to turn the machine on.

The boss was engrossed in the game and pointed to the main control unit next to him, telling Cheng Mo to fix it himself.

Cheng Mo was impressed by this guy. He put twenty yuan on the table, found the machine next to Xia He in the interface, and turned it on for ten hours.

I went back to my computer, turned on my browser, searched for "BrickTV," found the live broadcast program, and clicked on it.

After loading for about ten seconds, the screen appeared.

Xia He pointed the camera at the screen next to her: "Duo Duo, do you see? This is the live broadcast of the gala~"

Cheng Shou also found the remote control, turned on the TV, and sound came through.

Duoduo exclaimed, "We saw it too! Hey, sister, yours seems to be a little slower!"

Cheng Mo explained, "Network latency is normal."

Duo Duo chuckled, "Then I can know the plot before my older sister and senior brother!"

Xia He asked Cheng Mo to turn the screen towards her and point the camera at her: "Yeah, Duoduo is really amazing."

Four people, 800 kilometers apart, pretended to be together watching the Spring Festival Gala through a screen.

Nobody cared how the show was; they just used it as background noise while chatting about their own random things.

However, that rooster that lays eggs, the fighter jet among roosters, made everyone laugh.

As the host announced the new year at midnight, Xia He made sure to call Duo Duo and Cheng Shou on the other end of the phone to wish them a Happy New Year once again.

Amidst the cheers of "Happy New Year" from everyone, Duoduo yawned.

Xia He gently advised, "Duoduo, it's time to go to sleep."

Duoduo rubbed her eyes: "No, I want to see my sister and my senior brother."

Xia He didn't try to persuade her further, and just went along with Duo Duo's wishes, chatting with her.

As they chatted, Duoduo fell asleep on the table.

Cheng Mo shouted into his phone, "Master, take the child inside to sleep."

no response.

Cheng Mo called out again, "Master?"

Still no response.

Xia He whispered, "Could Master be asleep too? I didn't hear Master's voice when he announced the time."

Cheng Mo was speechless: "This old man is completely unreliable."

The computer screen suddenly went dark, and Cheng Shou's voice came from the phone: "You brat, don't think I can't hear you. You go around badmouthing your master everywhere you go."

Cheng Mo exclaimed, "This isn't my fault! Master, you didn't answer!"

Cheng Shou said, "Alright, alright, it's late, you two should go to sleep early too. Bye."

Before they could respond, the call was disconnected.