Under One Person: The Taoist Priest Descends the Mountain

Gao Erzhuang chuckled and scratched his head: "I'm pretty good at math, even the teachers praise me. And I have an exceptionally strong sense of direction!"

Cheng Mo's heart skipped a beat.

The fact that Erzhuang can develop to that level—instantly controlling all electronic devices—is definitely not solely due to innate superpowers. Without a solid foundation in mathematics and a natural sensitivity to numbers and directions, even the strongest superpowers are like a rootless duckweed.

He gave a thumbs-up again: "Our Erzhuang is truly a genius!"

"Oh, it's just so-so..." Er Zhuang twisted his hands in front of him, his toes barely touching the ground, and the corners of his mouth were already turned up to the sky. "Hey, hee hee, hahaha—" He finally couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Cheng Huihui stroked his beard, looked at Erzhuang and laughed, then laughed along with him: "Actually, the mice really like playing hide-and-seek with Erzhuang, and they get to go in there and enjoy themselves."

Xia He suddenly realized, "That's why those mice followed Er Zhuang. But why were only a few left inside in the end?"

"There's a limit to the number of people allowed into that place," Cheng Huihui said. "Besides the guides, everyone else is randomly assigned."

Xia He pointed to herself: "So, I was just lucky just now?"

Cheng Huihui shook her head: "Not entirely. The chances are higher if it's someone with the same Qi as the one who led the way."

Xia He understood now—no wonder there were only two or three mice accompanying her when she went in earlier; it wasn't that they didn't want to come in, but that they couldn't.

Cheng Mo asked, "Uncle-Master, would cultivation be faster inside?"

"It doesn't directly affect cultivation level," Cheng Huihui said. "It just makes it easier to calm down and concentrate there. Cultivation efficiency is naturally higher."

He pointed to the busy mice in the valley: "The reason why the mice here are becoming smarter than those elsewhere is because of this."

"I see..." Cheng Mo said thoughtfully.

If Erzhuang cultivates here, it might not be worse than returning to Liangyi Temple. After all, he and Xiahe won't stay in the temple every day, and they can't leave the two little ones, Duoduo and Erzhuang, to their master to take care of forever.

Cheng Huihui noticed his hesitation: "Do you have something on your mind?"

Cheng Mo felt that he should discuss this matter with his uncle, so he told him about what he had agreed on with Cheng Shou.

"I originally planned to bring my uncle and Erzhuang back to Liangyi Temple so that Master could meet you."

He paused for a moment, then said, "But it seems that Erzhuang is doing quite well cultivating here. Of course, if Uncle-Master wants to go back to see Master, we can go back first and then bring Erzhuang over later."

Cheng Huihui maintained its upright sitting posture, but its tail wagged faster and faster...

Finally, it spun around behind the chair like a propeller.

"Really... I can really go back?" His voice trembled slightly.

"Master said the restriction has loosened." Cheng Mo nodded. "We should be able to go back with you without any problem."

Gao Erzhuang raised his hand: "Senior brother, senior brother, I also want to go to Liangyi Temple!"

Cheng Mo patted her head: "We have to go back, we definitely have to go back."

Cheng Huihui's tail swayed less and less, and he said in a deliberately calm tone, "Let's... let's go back first. Cheng Shou has some clever ideas, we'll have him advise us on how to handle things here at the cave."

"Alright." Cheng Mo nodded. "Then, Uncle-Master, please arrange things at the cave dwelling. I'll take Erzhuang down the mountain later to say goodbye to her parents. We'll set off tomorrow."

"Okay, okay." Cheng Huihui responded twice, picked up the teacup, took a sip, and its tail wagged unconsciously twice.

Erzhuang rubbed her stomach: "I'm a little hungry, it's time to eat." She jumped up: "Senior brother, sister, I'll go cook, wait for me!"

Xia He stood up and said, "Let me help you."

Erzhuang pressed her back into the chair: "No need, no need, the mice can help!"

Xia He didn't think much of it, and sat down with a smile to drink tea with Cheng Huihui.

Cheng Huihui was clearly restless at this moment, picking up her teacup and putting it down repeatedly.

After taking a couple of sips, he felt it wasn't enough, so he pulled a jar of wine from under the chair: "I'm happy today, you two keep me company for a drink."

Cheng Mo and Xia He said in unison, "Okay."

The wine had just been poured, and before anyone had even taken a couple of sips, Erzhuang and a few rats came out carrying dishes.

Plates were placed on the table one by one—braised pork, steamed fish, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, cold black fungus salad, and tomato and egg drop soup.

It was steaming hot, and the aroma wafted straight into my nose.

She teased, "Erzhuang did it so quickly, could it be that he had it prepared in advance?"

Gao Erzhuang blushed and his voice trembled: "Oh, no, it's just what I made~"

"Children shouldn't lie," Xia He said with a smile.

This time, Erzhuang was much more confident, puffing out his little chest and saying, "I just did it! Hehe!"

Xia He looked at her suspiciously, then picked up a piece of braised pork and put it in her mouth.

The meat was stewed until tender, with a rich, savory sauce flavor, a perfect balance of salty and sweet, and the fatty parts melted in your mouth while the lean parts were also tender.

Her eyes lit up: "Hmm—not bad, not bad, it really is freshly made."

Cheng Mo had spoiled her; she could tell from the freshness of ingredients and how long they'd been cooked just by taking a bite. This meat had definitely been killed less than a day ago and cooked for only a few minutes.

But—

Xia He put down her chopsticks and asked with a smile, "Erzhuang, your cooking is so good, do your parents know?"

Erzhuang shook his head honestly: "Then I definitely don't know."

Xia He gave a meaningful "Oh": "So, you've only just reached this level of cooking skills in the last few days?"

Erzhuang smiled smugly: "Yes, that's right~"

Xia He clapped her hands: "Wow! Er Zhuang, you are truly a super, super, super genius!"

Erzhuang's face turned red again.

If she really did it all by herself from beginning to end, she might blush, but she would definitely stand with her hands on her hips and laugh triumphantly.

But since she had relied on external help this time, she was still a little uneasy: "It's...it's alright, I'm not a genius."

Xia He looked at her with a half-smile: "Erzhuang, you're too modest. Your sister would be very pleased if she saw this."

Erzhuang finally couldn't take it anymore, his voice growing softer and softer: "Oh, sister, stop praising me... you can do it too..."

"Hahahaha!" Cheng Mo laughed out loud.

Xia He turned to look at him, then at Cheng Huihui—the old rat was also there, suppressing a laugh, his beard twitching.

She patted Cheng Mo on the shoulder: "Little Taoist priest, do you know what's going on?"

"We'll talk about it after we finish eating." Cheng Mo picked up a piece of meat and stuffed it into his mouth. "Let's enjoy the food first."

Xia He glanced at him, but wasn't in a hurry. She ate her meal slowly and chatted about the interesting things that had happened in Harbin and Yanbian these past few days.

Erzhuang's eyes lit up as he listened, and he even forgot to touch his chopsticks. When Cheng Mo mentioned seeing a group of strange people pretending to be tourists wandering around in the church square, Erzhuang couldn't help himself, put down his chopsticks, and began to tell his own story from the past few days.

"That day, the little rat took me to dig for ginseng!" She gestured with both hands, "There was a big rat walking in front of me on that hillside. It would take two steps and then look back at me, as if it was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up."

She poked at the rice in the bowl to demonstrate: "Then it suddenly stopped, scratched at the soil with its paws, and after a couple of scratches, a whisker appeared, and it squeaked at me. I knew it had found the ginseng!"

"Climbing trees to pick fruit is even more fun!" She gripped the table legs with both hands, making a climbing motion.

"The mice climbed up the tree, bit off the fruit, and threw it to me. I caught it below. One mouse threw it too hard, and the fruit hit my head and rolled into the grass. It was so anxious up in the tree, squeaking and squeaking. It was so funny!"

The little girl was so engrossed in her storytelling that she didn't notice the dishes on the table disappearing at a visible rate.

After she finished telling the second story, she reached for some food.

"Ah!" Erzhuang screamed, "You guys are going too far! I haven't even eaten much yet!"

She grabbed her chopsticks and joined the food-grabbing frenzy. In an instant, the table erupted in a chaotic scene of fierce competition, with everyone wolfing down their food in a flurry of activity.

The battle was fierce, and corpses littered the field—of course, the "corpses" were food, and the "field" was the tabletop.

I ate more than usual and faster than usual.