"It’s fine, I won’t freeze." Chen Yan smiled, shook his head, and said in a low voice, "You forget, I can use spells."
Lu Sisi’s eyes glistened. She nodded and smiled, "I know, I just feel sorry for you."
Gu Qingyi stood quietly by the car, watching this young couple being all lovey-dovey...
Sigh, I really don’t want to see this! Hmph... might as well find a spirit monster to kill.
·
There is a market in town.
According to the traditions in Chen Yan’s hotown, the market is set up for three days prior to New Year’s Eve, from morning till afternoon.
They bought a bunch of at, eggs, fish, vegetables, and fruits. It seed enough for three people to celebrate the New Year. Then they saw a stall selling fireworks and firecrackers. Chen Yan noticed Lu Sisi and Gu Qingyi both had their eyes on it, so he generously bought a lot.
He bought a whole box of just the viral Gatling fireworks!
Realizing the tricycle couldn’t carry it all, he discussed with the shop owner to have the items delivered to his ho. The owner saw how much Chen Yan bought and gladly agreed, collecting the money and noting down his address.
At noon, they found a noodle shop in town to have a al. The three of them then wandered around the market once more, picking up so snacks and other items.
Gu Qingyi remained indifferent when buying groceries, but she suddenly beca enthusiastic when purchasing snacks.
They bought two big bags of fried dough twists and sesa sticks.
The amount of malt sugar they bought was enough to give her diabetes.
They also bought sesa candies and crisp pastries, more than enough to make anyone overeat—Chen Yan roughly calculated that just these snacks alone were enough for Gu Qingyi to munch throughout the New Year.
After buying so New Year posters and Spring Festival couplets, the three of them headed ho.
Actually... there is also a custom here to burn ingot paper money for ancestors on New Year’s Eve.
But Chen Yan didn’t buy any... after all, the old lady is still alive.
Burning so incense would be a gesture of respect for the Venerable—considering his status in the Domain Realm, equivalent to gods and Buddhas, it seed reasonable to burn so incense.
Burning ingot paper money would really be crossing the line, wouldn’t it?
·
In the afternoon, the snow stopped, but the roads were even more slippery, and it took more than half an hour to get ho.
As they entered the village, Chen Yan suddenly saw a figure standing by the roadside.
This person’s head seed originally bald, but it appeared to have been a while since he shaved, as there was a layer of short hair growing. He wore a long cotton robe and had a single-shoulder cloth bag. His hands were not empty either, carrying bags of rice and flour.
This kind of attire looked like that of a monk, but a bit out of place, resembling a cheap imitation.
Chen Yan recognized him at a glance, slowly drove the car closer, and called out from the roadside, "Chuyi!"
The monk turned around, revealing an overly youthful face with ordinary features, slightly small eyes, and thick lips, looking about seventeen or eighteen years old, but with sowhat dull eyes.
He looked at Chen Yan, paused for a second, then slowly showed a simple smile, his tone carrying a hint of affection, "Brother Yan, you’re back."
This young monk’s na was "Chuyi."
His real na should be Wang Chuyi, but since he had left ho to beco a monk, he dropped his surna, keeping just "Chuyi" as a sort of Dharma na.
Whether he was a proper monk... Chuyi probably wasn’t considered a true monk. Because the temple he stayed at was a makeshift one—on the mountain behind the village, a wild temple.
This kind of temple, if it were in a big city, would be shut down by the authorities. It wasn’t officially registered as a temple.
But in the countryside, these things... as long as no one complains, the officials turn a blind eye.
Chen Yan rembered that Wang Chuyi should be eighteen this year, roughly the sa age as him.
This kid... had a tough life.
When he was born, his father nad him "Chuyi." Not because he was born on the first day of the lunar year. But... his father, when he was a child, only studied up to the first year of junior high—Chuyi.
Such a careless naming showed that his father wasn’t very responsible either.
When Wang Chuyi was less than a year old, one day his mother suddenly fell while working, couldn’t be saved, and passed away—to later find out it was a brain hemorrhage.
His father remarried when Chuyi was three, so he had a stepmother.
At four, his father died in a construction accident, and he was left with no family.
The construction site owner paid compensation, but at the ti, Wang Chuyi was just a four-year-old, so the money naturally fell into the hands of his stepmother. She, of course, did not treat him well.
When he was young, he had a severe illness with a high fever. His stepmother neglected him, failing to take him to the hospital in ti, which caused so developntal delay. As a result, from that fever, his mind seed to be sowhat affected, making him a bit simple-minded.
Though not completely ntally impaired or intellectually disabled—he generally looked like a normal person, but his reactions were a bit slower, and he couldn’t rember complex things.
He always appeared simplistic and a bit dull-witted.
When he was a child, other kids in the village bullied him, treating him like an idiot. But Chen Yan, taught by the old lady to be kind, never bullied him.
When Wang Chuyi was young, he always liked to follow Chen Yan around.
He was a few years younger than Chen Yan, acting as his little tail and follower for many years. With Chen Yan protecting him, he didn’t suffer much bullying.
His stepmother never planned to let him go to school.
"""
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