Chapter 142 – Mountain Time

Zhao Ren asked after hearing Cheng Ming and the others’ intentions, “Are you going to the mountains?”

“Yes, yes, we’re going to look for mountain spring water.” Cheng Li raised his hand high and shouted excitedly.

“That empty mansion in the north corner of the village belongs to a friend of my dad’s, no one’s lived there for a long time, I’m going to take care of it and use it as a secret base.”

What boy doesn’t want a secret base.

“I’ll show you the way, it just so happens that Grandpa had originally asked me to go up the hill and look at the fields.”

Zhao Ren, who had been hunched over, rarely puffed out his chest and lifted his back, and said confidently, “I’m familiar with this mountain, and I often go into the mountains with my grandfather to collect firewood and cut grass, and if the mountain spring water is there, it’s just fine to connect to the water in that pool in my house.”

In her previous life, Zhao Ren occasionally picked up the interesting stories of her childhood playing in the mountains, what wild vegetables she picked, what wild fruits she picked, where there were mountain crabs, where there were, every memory was like a treasure.

And Cheng Ming will now leave his presence in her memories.

Zhao Ren put on a straw hat, carried a bamboo basket on his back, and held a scythe in his hand, shouting more excitedly than anyone else, “Let’s get going.”

Cheng Ming squatted down and touched Zhao Ren’s instep and said, “Didn’t I buy you a pair of sneakers before? Why aren’t you wearing them? Going in sandals, your feet will get scratched by weeds or thorns again like last time.”

“That …… will get the new shoes dirty.” Jo Ren said as she scrunched her feet.

“Shoes are meant to be worn, once they’ve been worn once they’re not called new shoes, go get a new pair.”

“I’m sorry.”

“At times like this there’s no need to say you’re sorry, instead you should say ‘I know’.”

“I know.”

Zhao Ren hurried back into the house, the bamboo basket on his shoulder swaying from side to side, and almost fell when he kicked on the threshold.

“No need to rush, pay attention to your feet ah, you can put down the bamboo basket first.” Cheng Ming helplessly shook his head and smiled bitterly.

Cheng Li pounced on Cheng Ming’s back and pinched his ear, “Brother! How can you casually touch a girl’s feet.”

This touch was too natural, it looked like it hadn’t been touched much, Rei should have lifted her leg and kicked her brother hard.

“Sister Jingyi, you’re your brother’s girlfriend, so say something about him so that he’ll learn a lesson.”

“Well, before educating them, aren’t you guys getting a little too close? Maybe Kotomine is treating Rei like a sister, that’s why he can’t grasp the distance.”

“Uh-huh.” Cheng Ming responded vaguely, he couldn’t honestly answer that his inner self had non-existent thoughts.

“Hiss ……”

Cheng Li sucked in a mouthful of cool air, originally did not expect Lin Jingyi to be on her side, never thought that she would want to stab a knife.

What a despicable woman, looking dull, like a character with big breasts and at the mercy of others, but actually so scheming, this was to make her and Rei die together, reducing two competitors in an instant.

Hmph, not gonna let you get away with this.

“We’re brother and sister, so it doesn’t matter how close we get.” Cheng Li said as he rubbed Cheng Ming’s face affectionately.

“I changed my shoes.” Zhao Ren shouted as she ran out of the house, kicking her feet perkily.

“Let’s go then, go early and come back early.” Cheng Ming said urgently, lest his sister and Jing Jing make him do the choosing again.

Cheng Ming held a large stack of snakeskin pipes in his hand, laying pipes from the old mansion’s gutters.

Cheng Li and Zhao Ren were in the front, while Cheng Ming and Lin Jingyi were in the back.

Cheng Ming casually picked a dogwood and said, “Ren, let me tell you, my brother and Sister Jingyi they are in love.”

“Brother Cheng Ming and Sister Lin?”

Zhao Ren glanced back at Cheng Ming and Lin Jingyi who were walking side by side.

“Yeah, yeah, planning to get married kind of thing.”

“Marriage! Will there be lots of good food?”

“Idiot, is food the only thing in your head?” Cheng Li said as he knocked Zhao Ren’s head with a dog’s tail grass.

Cheng Ming and Lin Jingyi, who were at the back, looked at each other and laughed, not really knowing what qualifications Cheng Li had to say that others were gluttonous.

Disappointed, Zhao Ren asked, “There aren’t many good ones?”

I can’t blame Zhao Ren’s first impression of marriage is the ability to eat good food. In previous years, when someone in the village got married, Grandpa Zhao Si would take the two siblings to eat a meal, pack a small red envelope to show their appreciation, sit in the corner and eat quietly until the end, and they could also share the wedding candies and canned goods.

“Uh, delicious of course ……”

“Will I be invited to go with my brother and my grandfather?”

“This one certainly will.”

“Great!”

Zhao Ren cheerfully ran to Cheng Ming and Lin Jingyi and asked, “Brother Cheng Ming, Sister Lin, when are you getting married? Getting married this year?”

“Ahahaha …… not so fast yet la, at least seven years later, college graduation.” Lin Jingyi laughed embarrassedly.

“Seven years ah, it’s going to be a long time.” Zhao Ren counted on his fingers.

Anyway, Zhao Ren already knew that her brother had a girlfriend, so she shouldn’t have any ungrateful thoughts, right?

The girlfriend is her most beloved sister Lin.

Nip the first signs of danger in the bud, perfect.

Cheng Li wiped his forehead, it was really hard on himself, worrying about his brother.

The first part of the road into the mountain was a fairly smooth dirt road, with a clear stream flowing in a gully, and a row of very different colored water pipes lying on the side of the gully, all of which were used by the people in the village to draw water from the mountain.

“Brother, look at this broken hose and the rainbow.”

There was a hose that cracked a crack and sprayed water toward the top.

A small rainbow actually appeared in the sunlight.

“So cozy.”

Cheng Li stretched out his hands to cover the water column, his palms itching.

“Don’t play around, just go.” Cheng Ming urged.

“It’s really cozy, you guys try it too.”

As a result the crowd washed their hands before advancing.

Along the winding mountain path of earthen steps, weaving through lush woods and bamboo forests, there are still wooden signs hanging on the trunks of the trees, “Set fire to the mountain, the bottom of the prison will sit through”, the words are written in a twisted and crooked manner.

From time to time, Zhao Ren stooped down to pick up branches, cut forage grass, pick wild vegetables, and throw them in the bamboo basket, busy as ever.

When he saw the clover by the roadside, Cheng Li would run over to see if there were any with four leaves.

“Can I eat this wild fruit that looks a lot like a strawberry?” Cheng Li asked, pointing at the red fruit by his feet.

“It’s a snakeberry you can’t eat it, the snake crawled over it, it’s poisonous.”

“Eh, snakes crawling through? So disgusting.” Cheng Li said with a shiver.

While it’s nice to know that the supposed claim of snakes crawling over them is just adults terrorizing children so they don’t accidentally eat them, and that eating them is fine, the snakeberries themselves do carry a slight toxin.

Along the way, we walked and laughed and picked wild fruits to eat and wild flowers to put in our hair.

Occasionally, bugs would still fall on his body, and Cheng Li was so scared that he didn’t even dare to move, shouting, “Brother save me.”

It wasn’t Cheng Ming’s turn to make a move, Zhao Ren flicked off the bugs without changing her face.

“Saved.” Cheng Li said with tears in her eyes as she hugged Zhao Ren.

“Brother seems to have green bugs sticking to me again.” Cheng Li, who smelled the bugs, said.

“It’s ale.”

Walking halfway up the mountain to a cistern, a bamboo bamboo conduit threads its way through the dense undergrowth, channeling spring water from a rocky crevice into the cistern with a gurgling sound.

“Here is the spring water that my family drinks from, no one uses this pipe, just connect it.” Zhao Ren scooped a mouthful of water into her mouth.

The cistern was made with several outlets pre-determined, so just remove the corks and connect the hose.

Cheng Ming bought a length of water pipe, slightly larger diameter, set in some loose, tightened with steel wire before completion.

“Finally, my hands are free.” Cheng Ming twisted his wrist and said, “There’s water in the house too.”

Cheng Ming and Lin Jingyi reached out towards each other at the same time and couldn’t wait to hold hands, which could have suffocated them.

Seeing this, Cheng Li wiped the sweat from her forehead and collapsed on Cheng Ming, pouting, “So tired, brother carry me.”

“Who was it that said they wouldn’t get tired before they came climbing?”

“Can’t I overestimate my physical strength?” Cheng Li said with a straight face.

Zhao Ren suggested, “Why don’t you guys go back first, I still need to check out the fields, just follow the water pipe back to the village, you won’t get lost.”

“What are you talking about, we came together, of course we have to go back together.” Cheng Ming flicked Zhao Ren’s forehead and said.

Lin Jingyi agreed, “That’s right, how could we possibly leave Xiao Ren alone on the mountain?”

“I’ll take a break and suddenly I won’t be tired anymore, come on.” Cheng Li said as he pushed Zhao Ren’s back.

Why all of them are tearing her down, really can’t help the pig teammates, she just wants her brother to carry her ah, don’t you understand this?

The head of the mountain is basically dominated by terraced rice paddies, coiled from the foot of the mountain to the top, with layers of high and low levels.

Cheng Li opened her arms and walked on the path at the edge of the field, leaning left and right, barely maintaining her balance, Cheng Ming was afraid that she would fall headlong into the field.

Dragonflies landed on top of the rice, and every now and then a frog hopped by their feet.

There are many small tadpoles in the field, and if you dig carefully in the field, you should be able to catch good things like snails and loaches.

Rice into the middle of July after entering the period of pregnancy, at this time the water is the key factor in determining the high yield of rice, can not cut off the water, lest the high temperature and drought caused by the increase in the number of empty grain, the fruiting rate is reduced.

The rice in Zhao Ren’s family’s field is growing well and has not fallen over.

With the breeze, the rice and the reeds by the river are like green waves, the leaves of the trees and the bamboo rustle, and the whole mountain seems to be alive.

There were several sets of clothes thrown on the boulders by the Mingxi River, and at the head of the river there was a group of people frolicking and playing, all small children from the village.

“Brother, someone is actually swimming in the river.” Cheng Li pointed at the river and shouted.

“It’s normal in the middle of summer.”

Cheng Li said contemptuously, “Didn’t the school say three times that you can’t swim in the river? Don’t they want to die?”

“Kids, they don’t have anywhere to play, they don’t have parents and other people watching, and they think they’re good at water because they grew up on the river.”

In his previous life, Cheng Ming didn’t go down the river with Zhao Lei to swim and catch fish, there was nothing to qualify him to say about other people, it’s a good thing that this group of brats were just splashing and playing in the shallow water, revealing the upper half of their bodies, “My brother also often sneaks down the river to swim, I just watched from the sidelines.” Zhao Ren awkwardly scratched his cheeks and said.

Lin Jingyi looked up at the blinding sun and said, “But in this weather, the river water should be very comfortable when it’s cold.”

“Jing Jing, do you want to swim too?”

“I’ll just say it, I don’t know how to swim either, so I’d better forget it.” Lin Jingyi waved her hand and said.

“You can learn if you don’t know how, swimming is a survival skill and you can lose weight and burn more calories than running.”

“Lose weight?”

Lin Jingyi pinched the tiny flab around her waist, a little heartily.

“It’s dangerous to swim in the river, and besides, I don’t have a bathing suit.”

“No swimming can go to buy, the city also has a swimming pool, is the summer crowded, are crowded. But we can go early, seven or eight o’clock when the pool just opened, there are not many people, is the smell of disinfectant water will be heavier, to the afternoon. Especially in the evening that time, is the most crowded time.”

“I want to learn how to swim too, Ren let’s go buy cute swimsuits together, oh!” Cheng Li held Zhao Ren’s little hand and raised it high in the air, shouting excitedly.

Still want the two of you to go on a date to the pool, wear revealing bathing suits to accentuate your proud bodies, do something unseemly in the locker room while there are fewer people, or just ‘pee’ in the pool to keep you from getting away with it.

“Ohhhh!” Zhao Ren cooperated uncertainly.

Lin Jingyi glanced at Cheng Ming’s watch and asked, “Going back? It’s already eleven thirty, kind of late for lunch.”

“I’m hungry, I can’t walk, I need to be carried.” Cheng Li said with open arms.

“Let’s have some candy to pad our bellies, there’s another good place inside the mountain, come what may, let’s walk again.”

“Could it be ……”

Zhao Ren subconsciously had to say something, Cheng Ming hurriedly covered her mouth and said mysteriously, “Hush, keep it a secret.”

In fact, that place was still told to him by Zhao Ren, and after many years, the river gradually dried up, and there was only a small column of water flowing from that place.

Continuing deeper along the riverbank, the river narrowed and was strewn with rocks, the rushing water hitting the rocks and splashing them with white splashes.

It’s only when you get here that you really get a bit of a taste of the deep forests, no dirt paths reclaimed by the villagers, lush vegetation, and you have to step on the rocks and skip steps.

From afar, you can hear the rumbling sound of rushing water, peeling back the layers of obscuring greenery, small waterfalls appear in front of you, the stones divided into clear pools of varying sizes, and under the sunlight, the flow of color.

If you turn over the rock, you will see a few mountain crabs hidden inside.

The water is whistling down the cliffs, and the splashing water vapor hits your face, which is very refreshing and cools down the heat.

“Come alive.”

Cheng Li took off his hat and stood at the edge of the small waterfall, letting the water vapor linger, just like a fairy.

“It wasn’t a wasted trip, what a great place.”

Lin Jingyi sat on the rock, took off her shoes and socks, rolled up her pant legs, her jade feet were not in the water, and closed her eyes, revealing a cozy expression.

“How did Brother Cheng Ming know about this place?” Zhao Ren asked in a confused manner.

“Uh, this one was told to me by the village.”

Cheng Ming didn’t lie, the future Zhao Ren was indeed from the village.

It was too late to prepare any picnic lunches today, so Cheng Ming only bought some canned food along the way to fill his hunger.

“What do you guys want to eat?” Cheng Ming asked as he set out four cans of Milk Peanuts, Green Bean Soup, Red Bean Soup, and Eight Treasure Porridge, just one for each person.

“I’m fine with all of it, I’m not picky anyway, I’ll pick last.” Lin Jingyi tilted her head and said.

“I’m not picky either, just pick the rest for me.” Zhao Ren said knowingly.

“Don’t talk like I’m the only picky eater!” Cheng Li stomped her foot and said, “Really, wouldn’t it be better if we all ate each other together, stupid, everyone gets four flavors.”

It seems to be true that this is the truth, Cheng Ming and Jing Jing has long been directly eating each other’s saliva relationship, and there is no shortage of leftovers to eat the sister clip over, as for Zhao Ren side ……

“Then let’s all share the food together, raise your hands if you agree.” Cheng Li, the initiator, raised his hands in favor.

“I’m fine with that.”

Lin Jingyi was the second.

“Same.”

Jo Rei followed suit and raised her hands in favor.

“Unanimously approved, so it’s decided.” Cheng Li said as he pounded his palm with one hand.

“What about my opinion?” Cheng Ming asked tearfully.

“Wasn’t brother the first to agree? Come on, help me open the can.”

The aluminum lids of the cans are still quite sharp and can cut your hands if you’re not careful.

Cheng Ming opened all the cans in turn.

Cheng Li took the peanut milk one, Jing Jing was the green bean soup, Zhao Ren red bean soup, and the one left for Cheng Ming was the eight treasure congee.

Cheng Li took a bite of his own canned food first and opened his mouth to say, “Brother feed me, ah.”

Cheng Li held Cheng Ming’s plastic spoon in his mouth for a moment before spitting it out.

“Rei feeds me too.”

“Feed me!”

To Lin Jingyi, Cheng Li said in a commanding tone.

“Call me sister-in-law and I’ll feed you.” Lin Jingyi said with a smiling face.

Cheng Li made a scene and said, “Then I won’t eat it, I don’t care about your green bean soup.”

“Sorry, I’m kidding you, open your mouth, ah.”

“Hmph.”

Foolish fools, all of you eat my saliva. Even if you feed your brother, it’s still covered in my saliva, and I’m the biggest winner.