Ming Dynasty: I am truly not the Emperor of Longevity

What is that?!

About two or three hundred meters away, a small patch of roof tiles appeared in Lu Chen's eyes through the trees.

Beside it, you can vaguely see a courtyard that appears to be overgrown with weeds.

Great, there's an abandoned building there!

After carefully confirming the location, Lu Chen quickly returned to the ground and took the horse's reins in his hand.

Looks like we won't be camping in this heavy rain tonight!

Two hours later...

As Lu Chen was drying his rain-soaked clothes by the campfire, the door of the dilapidated temple was pushed open again.

Two men wearing straw raincoats and bamboo hats entered.

This heavy rain affected everyone equally.

Lu Chen wasn't the only one looking for shelter in the nearby mountains to escape the rain and spend the night.

Including the two men who had just arrived, there were now four different groups of people in this dilapidated temple that was drafty everywhere and had several leaks in the roof.

When Lu Chen arrived, there were already three ragged beggars in the temple, and they were the ones who lit the bonfire.

In a leak-proof corner of the dilapidated temple, there was a large pile of dry branches.

The clothes worn by the three beggars were tattered, but clearly dry.

They didn't come here to take shelter from the rain after it started raining.

This dilapidated temple was probably their place of refuge.

Upon seeing the arrival of strangers, the three beggars' eyes were filled with wariness.

Perhaps seeing Lu Chen dressed in a satin outfit and leading a horse, they assumed he must be quite wealthy.

After a moment of silence, the youngest of the three, a little beggar who looked to be only twelve or thirteen years old, ran up to Lu Chen and reached out to ask for money.

After Lu Chen tossed a small piece of silver, weighing about two or three qian, the three beggars silently retreated to the corner where dry branches were piled up, giving Lu Chen a dry area near the campfire.

About half an hour later, two more people, a man and a woman who looked to be in their thirties, arrived.

The two appeared to be a couple, their expressions intimate.

Seeing that Lu Chen and three beggars were already in the dilapidated temple, the man seemed to want to turn around and leave, but was stopped by the woman.

The man and woman sat down opposite Lu Chen across the campfire.

In this ancient world, there is no public lighting.

It was already dark, and lanterns and torches, which were usually used for walking at night, were completely unusable in the heavy rain.

Walking along a mountain path in the pitch-black rain on such a night, the chances of falling or even plunging off a cliff are extremely high.

For ordinary people, it's basically equivalent to suicide.

Anyone who isn't stupid will naturally stay overnight in this dilapidated temple, which can provide shelter from the wind and rain.

The little beggar, just like before, ran up to the two of them and begged.

The burly man among the two remained completely unmoved, even giving the other a disgusted look before waving him away.

The same woman took out a few copper coins from her person and sent the little beggar away.

The two men simply nodded to Lu Chen, who was sitting cross-legged on the other side of the campfire, without exchanging pleasantries.

Lu Chen certainly didn't intend to have any in-depth exchanges with these strangers. In any case, he would set off for Tang County as soon as it was light.

After spending just a few more hours getting out of the Tongbai Mountains, the next stretch of road will be through hills and plains. Even if we have to go around checkpoints, it will be much faster than traveling through these mountains.

If I act quickly, I might be able to stay in one of the high-class guest rooms at the Tang County Post Station, which are specially reserved for officials, by tomorrow night.

With no one speaking, an eerie silence fell over the dilapidated temple in the mountains.

The silence was finally broken when the two men in straw raincoats arrived.

After the two took off their raincoats and straw hats, Lu Chen realized that their clothes were not wet at all.

Before setting off from Tongbai County, Lu Chen also bought an oil-paper umbrella to bring with him.

But when the heavy rain actually started, it became clear that the umbrella was not very useful at all.

Because a lot of rainwater is blown in from the side by the wind.

Even though I was holding an umbrella, it didn't take long before I was soaked through.

The couple who came in earlier, like Lu Chen, were carrying umbrellas.

Of course, it was of no use either, as both of them were soaked to the bone.

It seems that neither of these two people has much experience with long-distance travel.

The last two men to come in were the real experts.

In such heavy rain, a raincoat and straw hat are clearly much more effective than an umbrella.

After the two men took off their raincoats and straw hats, Lu Chen noticed that although they were wearing the same coarse cloth outfits that ordinary men in the county town often wore these days, they both had something very strange clipped to their lower backs.

This thing, including the handle, is about fifty or sixty centimeters long, and at first glance, it looks a bit like a short knife.

Lu Chen secretly used his telekinesis to sense it and found that it was not sharpened at all, and it was not as flat as a sword.

If he had to say what it resembled, Lu Chen felt it was more like the kind of screwdriver with a square-shaped handle that he had seen before he transmigrated.

Of course, this thing doesn't have a straight or cross-shaped blade at the top; it just has a rounded head that isn't very sharp.

Above the handle, there is a pair of forward-curving, horn-shaped branches.

What's the use of this thing?

If used in combat, it is clearly not a weapon intended to take lives.

Lu Chen felt that its function was probably more like the baton used by security personnel in later generations.

They are not ordinary people, nor are they江湖客 (jianghu ke, meaning wandering martial arts practitioners). Most likely, they are constables from the yamen (government office).

This thing is very likely the legendary standard weapon of the constables, the iron ruler!

Unlike modern law enforcement environments, ancient constables often faced opponents wielding sharp weapons.

Those extra curved branches can be used to parry and lock down swords and other sharp weapons in close combat.

Upon realizing that the other party might be a constable, Lu Chen frowned slightly.

This dilapidated temple is at least ten kilometers deep into the mountains. Why would these two constables be here in this heavy rain?

"Boss, when is this damn rain going to stop?"

After casually tossing the raincoat and bamboo hat into a corner, one of the younger constables, who looked to be only in his early twenties, asked his companion, who was around thirty years old.

"It's unlikely to stop anytime soon."

The older constable glanced at the already dim sky outside the door.

"It will be completely dark soon, and we'll have to spend the night in this dilapidated temple."

After saying that, the older constable walked straight to the campfire and sat down without any hesitation.

Lu Chen noticed that the woman sitting opposite him by the fire was showing a hint of disgust.

Her expression, of course, also caught the eye of the older constable.

"What, is it that we're here and there's not enough room?"

The older constable snorted coldly and scanned the entire dilapidated temple with his eyes.

"Why are so many people taking shelter from the rain in this dilapidated temple in the middle of nowhere?"