Under One Person: The Taoist Priest Descends the Mountain

Xia He was still worried and kept looking into each of the ward windows.

The children sat on their beds, holding their lunchboxes, and eating attentively with their heads down.

No one was picky about food, no one left any food uneaten, and everyone ate everything cleanly.

Xia He breathed a sigh of relief: "Thankfully, I can eat it all."

Wang Zhenqiu also breathed a sigh of relief: "Looks like my Buddha Jumps Over the Wall wasn't so bad after all."

Xia He glanced at him sideways: "That's because the kids aren't picky eaters."

Cheng Mo carried the lunchbox and walked towards the isolation ward at the end of the corridor.

Each of the four children was in a separate room, and they could all see him walking over through the glass windows.

Cheng Mo first pushed open the door to ward number one.

The little boy was sitting on the bed. When he saw him come in, his eyes moved for a moment, then turned back to where they were.

Cheng Mo placed the lunchbox on the small table by the bedside, pulled the table in front of the child, and put the spoon in the child's hand.

"It's time to eat."

The little boy glanced at Cheng Mo, then lowered his head, picked up his spoon, and began to eat.

After the child finished eating, Cheng Mo put away the lunchbox and took out a picture book from his pocket.

"Let's learn a few words today." He opened the book and pointed to the pictures and words on the first page.

"This is the sun."

The little boy did not respond.

Cheng Mo continued pointing to the round pattern and slowly said, "Sun."

The little boy stared at the pages of the book without saying a word.

Cheng Mo wasn't in a hurry and turned to the second page.

"This is the moon."

"moon--"

Turn the pages one by one, teach one word at a time.

In this way, he would spend twenty minutes in each ward, have a meal with the children, and teach them to read and recognize words.

Some children didn't react at all, so Cheng Mo just read on by himself;

Some children would occasionally move their lips but not make a sound, so Cheng Mo would slow down and repeat a word several times.

The little girl in ward number three suddenly opened her mouth and made a very soft, breathy sound when he taught her "mama" for the fifth time.

"m..."

Cheng Mo looked at her, and the little girl looked at him.

Cheng Mo smiled and patted her head.

"Yes, Mom."

The little girl pursed her lips and didn't say anything more.

Cheng Mo continued teaching the next character.

After learning about Cheng Mo's idea, Liao Zhong installed a projector in each isolation ward so that the four children could learn at the same time.

Cheng Mo would give lectures in different wards each time, so that every child could learn through the projector and also receive equal time with him.

……

In other wards, Xia He and Wang Zhenqiu were also busy.

Together with the employees of NaDuTong, they were responsible for teaching the thirty-odd children who had recovered to read and write.

Xia He held up the flashcards one by one, saying, "This is a cat."

The children stared at the pictures on the cards for several seconds before nodding slightly.

Xia He immediately smiled and held up the next card: "This is a dog."

The children nodded again.

Wang Zhenqiu, on the other hand, was teaching the children to recognize numbers.

He held up a card with the number "1" and said seriously, "This is 1, doesn't it look like a stick?"

The children stared at the cards, but didn't react.

Wang Zhenqiu then held up the number "2": "This is a 2, doesn't it look like a little swan?"

Still no response.

Wang Zhenqiu sighed, put the card aside, took out a few candies from his pocket, and put one in each person's hand.

"Never mind, let's eat some candy first, and then we'll study later."

The children held the candy, staring down at their hands.

Wang Zhenqiu rested his chin on his hand, his mind blank...

A day has passed just like that.

In the evening, the employees settled the children in and went back to their rooms to rest.

Cheng Mo and Xia He were each assigned a room, but they did not go straight back to their rooms.

They stood in the open space and began practicing the Longevity Exercise.

Under the moonlight, the two stood facing each other, their movements slow and their breathing long and even.

Amidst the ebb and flow, a special space seemed to form between the two, with pink mist gradually emerging and enveloping them.

Wang Zhenqiu was about to go back to his house when he glanced at the place casually as he passed by, and then he froze.

The pink mist grew thicker and denser until it almost completely enveloped the two of them.

He squinted and strained to see, but could only make out two blurry outlines moving slowly inside; he couldn't make out the specifics of what was happening inside at all.

"Damn it..." Wang Zhenqiu muttered to himself, "Who practices martial arts like this?"

He stood there, staring at the pink mist, countless thoughts flashing through his mind.

If I could learn this stuff...

He subconsciously took a half step forward.

Just then, the Qi mist slowly dissipated.

Cheng Mo and Xia He finished their practice at the same time.

Xia He took a deep breath, inhaling all the remaining pink mist into her body, and then slowly exhaled a faint breath of stale air.

Cheng Mo turned his head and cast a questioning look at Wang Zhenqiu.

Wang Zhenqiu immediately stood up straight, forcing a smile: "Um...you guys finished practicing? Haha, well done, well done!"

Cheng Mo looked at him.

Wang Zhenqiu waved his hand: "I'm going back to my room. You guys should get some rest too!"

After saying that, he turned and left, walking much faster than usual.

Forget it, let's not provoke this stinky Taoist priest until we can escape from him.

……

The next morning.

Cheng Mo and Xia He practiced their morning exercises as usual, starting with the Eight Pieces of Brocade and then switching to Vajra Gong after one round.

Wang Zhenqiu peered out the window a few times, yawned, and then went back to practicing his martial arts.

Wang Zhenqiu peered out the window a few times, yawned, and then went back to practicing his martial arts.

After the two finished practicing their skills and washing up, their regular daily routine began.

Cooking, delivering meals, teaching, and playing with children.

Wang Zhenqiu feels like he's about to become a kindergarten teacher.

The first two days went well; he taught the children to write and tell stories, and they found enjoyment in it.

By the third day, he began to regret it.

Why did you come along in the first place?

"I can't take it anymore," he said, leaning against the wall in the corridor, his face contorted in pain. "I've never been this tired in my entire life."

Xia He glanced at him as she passed by and said, "Tired already?"

Wang Zhenqiu wailed, "Aren't you all tired? You're constantly running around with these kids, controlling their meals, their sleep, even their bodily functions!"

Xia He thought for a moment and said, "It's alright, it's quite interesting."

Wang Zhenqiu looked at her sincere face and fell silent.

Am I the only one like this?

No, this can't go on.

He decided to run away.

First, he needed an excuse, so Wang Zhenqiu slipped away to a secluded spot and called Hao Yi.

"Hey, Lao Hao."

"What is it?" Hao Yi's voice sounded a little tired.

Wang Zhenqiu leaned against the railing, legs crossed: "Any news about that kid I asked you to investigate last time?"

Hao Yi was silent for a few seconds, then said, "We couldn't find the girl, but we found a boy. It's the one you turned over to the yamen last time. His age and physical characteristics match, but there's a problem with his gender. I was just about to ask you about it."

Wang Zhenqiu was stunned for a moment.

boy?

He thought back for a moment and realized that he seemed to have deliberately given Lao Hao the wrong gender, but he continued to deceive him without changing his expression: "Oh, then maybe I remembered the gender wrong. Why don't you take him to get a paternity test?"

Hao Yi paused for a few seconds before speaking, "You know what that boy does, right?"

Wang Zhenqiu knew, of course, that after being abducted, he was raised by the people in that village, and after growing up, he became a child trafficker, helping those people abduct other children.

"You should be punished where you deserve it," Wang Zhenqiu said. "You should tell her, you should tell her. She's been searching for her for over ten years, and now that they finally have some news, you want to keep it a secret forever?"

Hao Yi sighed: "That's not what I meant. I'm worried that she won't be able to handle the blow."

Wang Zhenqiu leaned against the railing, looking at the distant sky: "What blow could be greater than learning that your child is dead?"