The horse caravan made its way up the mountain, the sound of their bells echoing among the clouds and fog.

After several days of rain, just as the weather cleared, Zhou Li contacted the horse caravan at the foot of the mountain to transport building materials up.

There was only a narrow path leading to the village. Little Zheng had told him that when she was a child, her family had hired a horse caravan from the mountain to carry up building materials. Zhou Li had doubted that the horse caravans she remembered from her childhood still existed, suspecting they had vanished at least several years prior. However, after asking around at the base of the mountain, he actually found one.

The horse caravan was expensive and inefficient, but there was no other way.

If it had been a smaller amount, Zhou Li could have had the materials piled up in a secluded spot by the roadside and then had the Old monster move them at night. But with so many loose items, the Old monster would have to make dozens, if not hundreds, of trips. This would be a considerable burden for him, and there was also the risk of frightening people.

Zhou Li was still very protective of the Old monster.

Anyway, he wasn't short of money.

The mountain was steep, and the path, swollen from the rain, had become even more difficult to navigate. The horses, exhausted and panting, made the uncle leading them sigh with pity.

So Zhou Li gave him a bit of extra money.

Gradually, the pile of building materials next to Zheng Zhilan's house grew larger.

As the sun set, the horse caravan formed a long line along the path, silently waiting to unload, with a few dogs sitting quietly beside them.

This was the last batch of goods.

The uncle wiped the sweat from his forehead and said while busying himself, "You're just one family, what are you doing living on this desolate mountain? Aren't you scared at night?"

"Not scared," Zheng Zhilan shook her head gently, standing to one side watching.

"Why don't you move down?"

"I'm used to living here."

"Move down there! It's much harder living in these mountains! It's inconvenient to buy anything, and you, a young lady—even if there's a little something... it's not that serious, right? You're pretty and delicate-looking too. Marrying a good person would be much better than staying here!" The uncle spoke as he unloaded, his tone becoming emphatic whenever he exerted himself. "I saw that mudslide on the road here—tsk tsk—it really scared me. There's flooding everywhere this year, aren't you afraid it will happen again!"

"It probably won't."

Zheng Zhilan's voice grew softer and softer.

Of course, the uncle meant well; she knew that. But she rarely interacted with people and wasn't good at it.

The more others showed concern, the more lost and helpless she felt.

Just then, Brother Nan's voice sounded beside her, cheerful and seemingly optimistic, "This recent flooding has been a bit scary, yeah! I saw on the news, so many cities you can literally go boating in; the disaster must be serious!"

"The cars on the road got flooded so badly!"

"Exactly, the insurance companies will have a lot to pay out!"

She and the uncle quickly started chatting, and he no longer paid attention to Zheng Zhilan, which brought Miss Zheng a quiet sense of relief.

Officially, these building materials were for Miss Zheng's use.

The location Xing Hui and Ji Bai finally chose was next to Zheng Zhilan's house, though not immediately adjacent. Zheng Zhilan had turned the empty space between them into a vegetable garden where she planted some common seasonal vegetables and a pear tree. Behind that house was a bamboo forest, and several Chinese toon trees grew in front of it. In addition, many smaller trees had grown wild due to long neglect. With a little tidying up, it would have the secluded atmosphere Ji Bai wanted.

So, in effect, Xing Hui had accommodated Ji Bai.

The horse caravan departed again, their bells tinkling as they disappeared down the path into the sunset glow.

Brother Nan let out a long sigh and put her hands on her hips. She had been helping to unload and had been working continuously, so she was quite tired too.

Looking at the neighboring house, she said, "This house has been smashed by stones; it needs to be demolished first. The small room next to it can be left, but this main one definitely needs to be torn down and rebuilt."

"That's easy!"

Huai Xu also put his hands on his hips and turned his head to look towards the distant mountaintop. "Call that big fellow down to help; he could just sit on it and flatten it! We can go back, close the door, have dinner, and come back after the dust has settled."

Zheng Zhilan shook her head gently, speaking earnestly, "He is a Deity; we cannot command him. We can only respectfully request his assistance..."

"He's been lying there watching all day. I think he's been wanting to come down and play for a while now."

"He wants to eat the horses."

"..." Realizing that the Evil God's way of thinking was indeed different from his own, Huai Xu waved his hand. "Anyway, you call... just try asking."

"We can push it down ourselves."

"Alright, alright..." Huai Xu said resignedly. "Then let's do it. I reckon we'll get covered in dust."

"Okay."

Xing Hui and Ji Bai quickly bowed. "We've troubled you, but we can help with this too."

A minute later—BOOM!

"MEOW!"

"The house is down!"

Tuanzi, who had been watching from afar, turned tail and ran, only stopping once she reached a safe distance. Then, she looked back curiously. The area next door was now shrouded in dust. Zhou Li was pulling Zheng Zhilan out; both were covering their noses, their faces and heads coated in dust.

"HMM!"

Lord Dumpling blinked.

After sprinting out of the dust cloud, Zhou Li finally let go of Zheng Zhilan's wrist, and Brother Nan emerged from behind a tree.

Watching the two, Brother Nan grinned broadly and was about to speak, but a small white figure darted rapidly across the ground, snatching the opportunity to speak before she could, "Zhou Li is a little slob!"

"What?"

Zhou Li picked up Tuanzi. He was covered in dirt, but Tuanzi didn't seem to mind and let him hold her.

Tuanzi repeated seriously, "Zhou Li is a little slob!"

"Little slob."

"Slob."

"Mm-hmm."

"Zhou Li is a little slob."

"Yes, yes, yes."

Zhou Li wiped a handful of dust from his body, evenly smearing it on Tuanzi's face. "Now Lord Dumpling has also turned into a little slob."

Brother Nan made a face. She couldn't understand Tuanzi's words but could roughly guess their conversation, so she nudged Zhou Li repeatedly, "Stop jabbering and blocking the way! Go take a bath and change your clothes!"

"Oh."

「Half an hour later.」

Zhou Li finished his bath and put the dirty clothes on the bed.

He had accumulated a pile of dirty laundry over the past few days. He had wanted to wash them a few days ago, but it rained. Tonight, no matter what, he had to get them washed.

Downstairs, Brother Nan had cooked noodles in a large iron basin, adding eggs, wild mushrooms, and greens.

Upon seeing Zhou Li, she said, "You take forever to bathe, even longer than a girl!"

Zhou Li didn't make a sound, just glanced at the table.

The table was covered with condiment bottles and leftovers from lunch. They had already started eating. Besides Ji Bai, who was eating cold rice, everyone else was having noodles. Even Tuanzi had her head buried in a bowl of fish soup noodles, seriously tackling it, not even noticing his arrival.

The sounds of slurping noodles rose and fell around them...

It was a very simple scene.

Zhou Li also picked up a bowl and served himself some noodles. Finding the room too hot, he carried his bowl to the doorway and sat on the threshold to eat.

He remembered that when he was little, most of the adults would do this.

Night gradually fell. As Zhou Li watched the small village sink into darkness, the gradient hues on the horizon, and the stars beginning to appear overhead, he momentarily felt a sense of temporal dislocation.

The people inside finished their meal first. Tuanzi was the first to run to Zhou Li's side, rubbing against his trouser leg before sitting down obediently at his feet, bolt upright. She observed the dogs dozing in the courtyard, quiet and impeccably well-behaved.

It wasn't long before Brother Nan joined Zhou Li. She stretched out a hand; in her clean palm were several freshly washed wild jujubes, still dotted with water.

"They grow on the back mountain. Small, but delicious."

"Oh."

"I've found this place is a treasure trove; there's everything. I only ate wild jujubes on the hill opposite the weir pond when I was a child, never since then," Brother Nan said, sitting down beside Zhou Li. "Isn't this threshold too narrow? Doesn't it hurt your butt to sit on it?"

"How do you manage to find food wherever you go?"

"Are they tasty?"

"Tasty."

"HEE HEE HEE."

Brother Nan giggled foolishly, then checked her phone and sighed. "It's going to be over thirty degrees tomorrow. We'll be scorched."

Zhou Li nodded and fed a jujube to Tuanzi.

As Brother Nan continued to chat with him, in the span of just a few sentences, the sky had completely darkened. Light from the incandescent bulb inside the open door cast two long shadows on the ground, with a small figure munching on jujubes beside them.

Zhou Li held his bowl. For a moment, he felt that if he could always stay in this place, far from worldly affairs, it would be quite nice.

As long as Brother Nan was with him, he would never be bored.

"Eat the bone!"

Brother Nan suddenly tossed a jujube pit beside the dogs, expecting them to rush over at once, but her face quickly fell in disappointment—

The dogs just turned their heads to look at her, still lazily lying on the ground.

Perhaps they were also feeling the heat.

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