Under One Person: The Taoist Priest Descends the Mountain

Chapter 333 Who's in the Capital?

Let's turn back time a bit.

Cheng Mo and Xia He led Lü Huan away from the territory of Lü Family Village. After walking for most of the day, they found a town and a place to eat.

Cheng Mo ordered the food and asked Lü Huan, "Um, Lü Huan, I'll call you Huanhuan. Is there anywhere you'd like to go?"

Lü Huan shook her head: "My mind is a mess right now."

She lowered her head, drawing circles on the table with her finger: "Brother Cheng, Sister Xia He, are you going home? Can I go with you?"

Cheng Mo thought for a moment: "That's possible. Besides, I have two little girls at home, so you two can chat. But if you come back with me, I'll have to help you enroll in school, and you'll have to go to school to study."

Lü Huan was stunned: "Huh? School?"

She thought of those memories that flashed through her mind, those images that had been unearthed from Lü Ci's mind, those things she shouldn't have known. Those images crawled around in her mind like worms, giving her a splitting headache.

She lowered her head and said in a very soft voice, "I—I might not be able to go to school."

Cheng Mo asked, puzzled, "Why? Are you not thinking straight?"

Xia He patted him: "Little Taoist! Don't talk nonsense."

Lü Huan gave a wry smile: "Sister Xia He, my mind isn't really working very well right now."

Xia He stepped forward and patted Lü Huan's head, her tone much gentler: "Huanhuan, don't talk about yourself like that. We all have our own paths to walk and our own lives to live."

Cheng Mo chimed in from the side, "That's right, don't underestimate yourself. You have to be a good girl with a strong will despite your disability."

Xia He glared: "Little Taoist priest!"

Cheng Mo looked completely innocent: "Did I use the wrong word?"

Xia He gritted her teeth: "What do you think?"

Lü Huan chuckled, and seeing Cheng Mo and Xia He bickering, her frustration dissipated considerably.

"Brother Cheng, I've decided where to go."

Cheng Mo asked, "Where?"

Lü Huan replied, "I heard that the square in Beijing is particularly magnificent, and there's even a portrait of an old man."

Cheng Mo gave a thumbs up: "Let's go."

After the three finished their meal and paid the bill, they went to the train station.

The town is small, and the train station is small too, with only two ticket windows, and there's never a queue.

Cheng Mo walked to the window: "Big sister, three sleeper berths to the capital."

The ticket seller, a woman in her forties, looked up at him, then at Xia He and Lü Huan behind him: "Where's the child's household registration booklet?"

"I didn't bring it," Cheng Mo said with a smile. "Big sister, our child is very well-behaved, please be lenient."

The ticket seller said expressionlessly, "Children can't buy tickets without a household registration booklet."

"Then buying a full-price ticket, is that alright?"

The ticket seller glanced at Lü Huan.

Lu Huan smiled at her, looking obedient and adorable.

The ticket seller glanced at Cheng Mo again.

Cheng Mo chuckled.

The ticket seller said expressionlessly, "You look like someone who's kidnapping children."

Cheng Mo:

Xia He laughed so hard her shoulders shook.

Lü Huan also pursed her lips and smiled secretly.

"Big sister, I'm innocent!" Cheng Mo leaned against the window, her voice rising a half-octave. "Do I look like a human trafficker? Look at my thick eyebrows and big eyes, I look like a successor to socialism!"

The ticket seller tapped on the notice posted on the window: "You look quite like it."

Cheng Mo took a deep breath and was about to continue speaking when Xia He reached out from behind, covered his mouth, and pulled him away from the window.

"I'll do it, you go and wait on the side."

Cheng Mo was pulled aside, his mouth still moving: "I haven't finished speaking yet—"

"They should have called security after you finished speaking." Xia He pushed him aside, stood in front of the window, and pulled Lü Huan to her side.

Xia He smiled at the ticket seller: "Sister, don't mind him, he doesn't know how to talk."

The ticket seller glanced at Xia He, then at Lü Huan, her expression softening slightly: "Who are you to her?"

"Sister," Xia He said, putting her arm around Lü Huan's shoulder, "my dear sister."

Lü Huan leaned against her cooperatively, looked up at the ticket seller, and blinked her big eyes: "Auntie, we're really not bad people."

Looking at Lü Huan's well-behaved little face, the ticket seller typed on the keyboard and issued the ticket: "A total of six hundred and thirty-seven."

Xia He took out her wallet, counted out 650 yuan, and handed it in: "Thank you, sister~"

The ticket seller printed out the ticket, gave me change, and handed it to me: "Remember to bring your household registration book next time."

"I've got it, thank you, big sister!" Xia He took the ticket, turned around, and pulled Lü Huan away.

Cheng Mo leaned closer to take a look and found that there were only two sleeper berths: "Wait, big sister, why is there also a hard seat? You can't just give me a hard seat because you don't like it."

The ticket seller glanced at him sideways through the window: "You can switch places with the young lady; I'm sure you can do it with your thick skin."

Cheng Mo opened his mouth slightly:

Xia He was trying not to laugh, and Lü Huan was also struggling to hold it in.

Cheng Mo took a deep breath, grabbed the two of them, and walked away quickly.

The ticket seller added from behind, "Take care, come again next time."

Xia He laughed out loud: "Slow down!"

Cheng Mo didn't even turn his head: "Let's go, let's get in the car!"

Once on the train, Cheng Mo found his hard-seat carriage, sat for three seconds, then stood up and walked towards the sleeper carriage.

Xia He and Lü Huan had just settled into their sleeper berths when they saw Cheng Mo push open the door and come in.

The sleeper car berths were narrow, with three people crammed into one compartment. Cheng Mo sat on the lower berth next to Xia He, their faces close as they looked out the window. Lü Huan sat on the opposite lower berth, also looking out the window.

The train slowly started moving, and the platform outside the window receded into the distance, with buildings, trees, and fields passing by in turn.

Lü Huan's gaze followed the scenery outside the window. Fields, villages, rivers, and hills flashed by frame by frame, and the sorrow in her eyes seemed to dissipate somewhat.

As the train entered the night, the scenery outside the window turned pitch black, with only the occasional distant light flashing by.

Lu Huan lay on the bed, eyes closed, her breathing gradually becoming steady.

Xia He tucked the blanket around her, then turned to Cheng Mo: "Aren't you going back to your hard seat?"

"Are you in such a hurry to get rid of me?" Cheng Mo's gaze was intense.

Xia He chuckled softly, then gasped. Their lips met, and a moment later, Cheng Mo turned and walked out of the sleeper car.

The lights in the hard-seat carriage stayed on all night. Some people were snoring, some were chatting, and some were eating instant noodles; the air was filled with various smells. Cheng Mo leaned against the window, looking at the pitch-black night outside, thinking about what was going to happen next.

The train traveled all night.

Cheng Mo spent the night in the hard-seat carriage. As dawn approached, he went to the restroom, rinsed his mouth with cold water, washed his face with water in his hands, and that was it.

As dawn broke, the train stopped at a small station, and the station name was announced over the loudspeaker.

"Little Taoist priest, Huanhuan says she wants to go down for a walk." Xia He and Lü Huan walked over from the sleeper car.

Cheng Mo waved his hand: "You guys go ahead, I won't get off the bus."

Xia He took Lü Huan's hand and got out of the car.

The platform wasn't large, and there weren't many people. Through the wall, you could see the distant fields directly; the crops were growing perfectly, a lush green expanse stretching all the way to the horizon.

Lü Huan took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes.

A loudspeaker on the platform announced: "Attention passengers, the train bound for Beijing is about to depart. Please board the train as soon as possible."

Xia He led Lü Huan onto the train and back to the sleeper car.

Cheng Mo strolled over from the hard-seat carriage, holding two bottles of water, and handed them to them.

Xia He took the water: "How was your hard seat experience?"

"It's alright, except the uncle sitting next to me snores like he's driving a tractor."

Lü Huan was amused.

Xia He rolled her eyes at him: "Go ahead and make this up."

"Really, I recorded it. Do you want to listen to it?"

"I won't listen."

After passing several more stations, the train finally arrived in the capital.

The three of them got off the train. Cheng Mo stood at the exit and stretched out his arms so wide they almost poked the person next to him in the face.

"It's so much more comfortable outside."

Xia He glanced at him sideways: "It's your own fault for not getting off the bus with us earlier."

Cheng Mo said matter-of-factly, "We haven't reached our destination yet. We have to get back on after we get off. Haven't you heard the saying? 'I could have endured the darkness, but you showed me the light, and now I can't bear it anymore.'"

Xia He said expressionlessly, "Pretentious."

Lu Huan watched the two bickering from the side, the corners of her mouth curved slightly, and the gloom in her eyes dissipated a little.