Section 13: Chenghuang Temple (Part 1)

  Examining his body parts, fortunately, there was no damage. The silent fire also dissipated. Rubbing his neck, he said, "Really not plotting against me?"

  "We may be cruel and heartless, but we wouldn't dare to scheme against our benefactor." Seventh Sister's face scrunched up, pinching her husband's ear, making him kneel down: "You said you were going to sweep the floor for our benefactor, how did you end up scaring them instead?"

  "There's no one at Mr. En's house, I didn't dare go in." The man looked at Shen Mo with a apologetic expression: "I just squatted at the door waiting for Mr. En to come back, and when he came back, I stood up, then Mr. En suddenly flew out..."

  "It's indeed my own fault. Shen Mo muttered to himself, "Forget it, forget it, I'm just unlucky. And... stop flattering me, I haven't done anything good, it's embarrassing to hear."

  "How could you have done such a thing?" Seventh Young Lady said with a face full of shame: "If you tell the truth to Master, we won't be able to stay here and will only end up homeless and wandering the streets."

  "Oh," Shen Mo smiled slightly and said: "I also have some fault in this matter, let's just call it even and not mention it again. How about we get along well from now on?"

  "That's great, Mr. E... Oh no, Young Master is really a good person." Seventh Girl and her husband nodded and bowed to thank him profusely. They also invited Shen Mo to stay for dinner, but Shen Mo excused himself on the grounds that his father had not returned yet.

  "Alright, it's getting late, you guys rest. " Shen Mo walked to the door and smiled: "I'm going up." Seventh Girl thanked him again and again, and she and her husband sent Shen Mo upstairs.

  "See you later." The grudges were put aside, and despite being silent, he was still happy. He also had a good expression towards the two of them.

  He silently returned to the house, searching for a faint red dot, and fumbled to find the match... It was a kind of tightly rolled paper roll made from very coarse grass paper. In the pitch-black environment, you could see that the top of this thing had a red bright spot burning quietly, but there was no flame, just like the residual fire in the ashes.

  This thing ignites and then blows it out, can maintain a long time without extinguishing. When ignition is needed, just blow it to make it reignite, which is much more convenient than flint and steel. However, wanting to blow it requires skill, needs to be sudden, short, powerful, and prolonged, Shen Mo used 7 or 8 days to achieve one successful time.

  The oil lamp on the table was lit, and the room gradually brightened up. Shen Mo was surprised to find that there was a person lying on the bed. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be his old father.

  All I saw was Shen He bowing his body, facing inward and lying down, as if he had fallen asleep.

  Silent and sharp-eyed, with one glance she saw that he had gotten into bed without even taking off his shoes, and couldn't help but slightly furrow her brow, thinking to herself what's going on here?

  He gently picked up the lamp and tiptoed to the bedside, lowering his head to look at Shen He's face, only to find him staring with wide eyes, blankly gazing at the windowsill.

  "What's going on?" Shen Mo finally asked.

  Shen He didn't respond, instead closing his eyes and curling up even more tightly.

  He asked twice, seeing that he still didn't react, and had no choice but to retreat back to the table, lying down on the long bench: "Then you can suffocate." He closed his eyes. He wasn't really thinking of sleeping, just preparing to pretend to sleep for a while. Who knew that today's ordeal would exhaust him so much that he fell asleep in no time.

  Before he knew it, dawn had broken. When Shen Mo woke up, he found that the old man was already gone, leaving behind an empty bed.

  Activity a sour numb back, silently in heart feel silk silk unrest, then messy wash a face, prepare go out to have a look.

  As soon as the door was pushed open, Qī Guāniáng was seen carrying a steaming bowl of wonton noodles upstairs. She caught sight of Shěn Mò and smiled all over her face, saying: "Young master, you haven't eaten yet, have you? I've got some wonton noodles here."

  Silently looking at that bowl of floating meat floss and scallions on the wonton egg noodles, I knew it was already a sincere effort for Seventh Sister's family.

  The seventh girl silently declined twice, but she had already made up her mind. She straightened her body and blocked the stairs completely, making it clear that she would not eat or let anyone go downstairs.

  Making more excuses would be impolite, so Shen Mo smiled and said, "In that case, I'd rather obey than show respect."

  The seventh girl nodded repeatedly and said: "Young master, eat it while it's hot."

  He silently took the big bowl of porridge and, without going back to his room, sat down on the stairs and began eating voraciously. This one bite was almost enough to bring tears to his eyes.

  Seeing his unusual expression, Seventh Girl asked nervously: "But isn't it to your taste?"

  He took a deep breath and shook his head with a smile: "No, it's just too delicious."

  "Little Master is so eloquent," Seventh Young Lady exclaimed with joy: "Actually, it's far inferior to those in the teahouse, I was just blindly doing it."

  "Indeed, it's delicious."

  It was actually just a bowl of ordinary egg noodles, but since coming to this world, Shen He had always been the one cooking for him. He could barely manage to cook raw ingredients into something edible, and his dishes were either too salty or too bland, ruining Shen Mo's taste buds. Now that he finally got to eat something with normal flavor, it was no wonder he reacted so strongly.

  "What I eat is not noodles, what I eat are memories of forgetting." Shen Mo said quietly.

  Drank all the noodles dry, patted his belly silently and smiled: "Eating is really comfortable."

  The seventh girl took over the bowl and chopsticks, smiling: "A family with only two men and no women, even if there are chicken, duck, fish, and meat, can't make a delicious dish." She said: "If the young master doesn't mind, I'll tell Mr. Shen to come down and eat together, you two masters come down together."

  Staring at Seventh Sister in stunned silence, he chuckled and said: "Seventh Sis, you..."

  The seventh girl smiled awkwardly: "Seventh sister is just so irritable, she comes up with a burst of hatred that can't bear to offend all the people in the world. But I can tell good and bad people apart, young master is a good person, good people I must treat well."

  "Alright, I've made friends with Seventh Sister," Shen Mo Ha Ha smiled and said. He pointed downstairs and continued, "I'm going out for a bit."

  The seventh girl happily made way, taking Shen Mo away. She was overjoyed and shouted towards the house: "Did you hear that? A scholar is willing to be friends with us!" In her opinion, it was a truly glorious thing.

  Leaving the small courtyard, Shen Mo quickened his pace and headed towards the back door. When he reached the entrance, he coincidentally bumped into Shen Si who was walking out from another path with a lackluster expression.

  As soon as he saw him, Shen Jing became spirited and shouted: "Shen Mo, brother, where are you going?"

  He fell silent at the sight of him, and could only force a smile and cup his hands in greeting: "So it's Fourth Master, I was just about to head out."

  But Shen Jing didn't take it to heart and walked over with a smile, saying: "As it happens, I'm also going out. Where are you headed? Let's see if our paths converge."

  "Let's take a stroll by the river."

  "That's great, I was just about to go for a stroll too." Shen Jing was overjoyed and warmly put his arm around his shoulder as they walked out: "Let us brothers take an arm-in-arm tour, and write a wonderful tale of Dragon Yang's romance, with a broken sleeve and a shared peach."

  This sweat is killing me...... It just came off with a brush.