Chapter 223: Riverside

Chapter 223 By the River

"Hey! You woman!" Seeing Chun Xiaoman treating him like a coolie, Gou Wa cursed under his breath.

Yet he dared only murmur, fearing that speaking louder might prompt the other to raise a blade and strike him down.

By now Chun Xiaoman had arrived before Li Huowang, who sat cross-legged. "Senior Brother Li, why are we in such a hurry today?"

Li Huowang patted the ground beside him and said, "There are hidden dangers, though merely conjecture; yet to be safe, it is better to depart early."

He turned his head again to glance toward Woman Mountain; from this vantage, regardless of whether those Lion Dance Palaces were powers akin to Zhengde Temple, they likely had not noticed him.

"Should I make contact, ask about the Northern Wind of the Sitwang Dao?... No, such rash contact is too dangerous; if I wish to shed the Heart Spirit, I must begin elsewhere."

Mantou trotted over with a clip-clop, placing a stone fetched from who-knows-where in his mouth beside Li Huowang, continuing to wag his tail while gazing at him.

"Senior Brother Li, there is no need to bottle everything up alone; you are already ill, and bottling it up will truly make you sick; tell us some things, and we can find a way together."

Li Huowang patted Mantou's head with his hand, turned to look at Chun Xiaoman who spoke, and calmly recounted to her his experiences from the previous night.

"The hallucination beside you told you those lion dancers had more hands than feet? And then you recalled those lion dancers indeed had more hands than feet?"

Chun Xiaoman, feeling immense absurdity, suddenly felt that perhaps what Sun Baolu had told her just earlier was not wrong.

Li Huowang keenly sensed the other's distrust; he did not grow angry, merely exhaling a light sigh tinged with disappointment.

He gazed at the three hallucinations of varying heights before him and murmured to himself. "See, this is why I always prefer to keep things bottled in my heart, unwilling to tell others."

Some things, once spoken, do not increase others' understanding for oneself, but instead make others believe one has truly gone mad.

"Daoist, it is fine, if they do not understand it is fine, just tell me, I am on your side."

Li Huowang completely ignored him, tilting his head slightly to look at the empty sleeve beside Chun Xiaoman, "Now that one hand is broken, are you accustomed to it?"

Chun Xiaoman's expression shifted slightly, "To save everyone, losing a hand is nothing; had you not taken me in, I would be long gone."

After thinking for a moment, Li Huowang decided to explain nonetheless; he placed his hand into his left eye socket, fingers touching the shriveled eyeball that had just grown its outline.

"Actually, this ability of mine to regrow severed limbs is not meant to hold something back; it is just that method truly cannot be used by you, the process you truly cannot endure."

Chun Xiaoman nodded, "I know, if I could use it, Senior Brother Li would surely not hide it from me; you are not such a stingy person."

Having spoken, Chun Xiaoman opened her mouth as if hesitating to say something, yet ultimately did not speak, turning instead toward Bai Lingmiao gathering wild vegetables in the distance.

She arrived beside Bai Lingmiao, squatted down close to her, and used her hand to pick out some weeds from the basket.

"If you truly intend to live out your days with him, his hysteria must find a way to be cured; like this now it surely will not do, it affects ordinary life."

Bai Lingmiao was still reflecting on yesterday's events, nodding with a smile; Chun Xiaoman gently bumped her with her shoulder, "Did you hear me? I am speaking to you."

"I am listening. Sister Xiaoman, actually whether he has this illness or not, I do not care, as long as he is Senior Brother Li."

Chun Xiaoman looked at the young girl beside her with frustration akin to iron not becoming steel, "You still will not listen to advice; if it were others, I would bother managing them."

Smiling Bai Lingmiao opened her arms and lightly embraced Chun Xiaoman, "Thank you for worrying, Sister Xiaoman, I understand."

Looking at this exquisite face before her, Chun Xiaoman's heart suddenly softened. "Enough, enough, the sun is so bright, hurry and cover your eyes."

"It is fine for me to bury my head digging wild vegetables, as long as I do not look straight on."

Summer was approaching, and many wild vegetables had sprouted on the grassland.

Half were put into the rolling noodle pot, the remaining wild vegetables put into the ox cart, saved to eat tomorrow.

Wild vegetable highland barley noodles, though somewhat scratching the throat, everyone still ate with relish, after all floating on the noodle soup was lard.

After eating, many men went together to the river to bathe; the weather was gradually heating up, and sweating made one feel sticky and uncomfortable.

When the men finished washing, it was the women's turn.

Bai Lingmiao and Chun Xiaoman, supporting the big-bellied Luo Juanhua, under the cluster of women saved from the bandit den, walked toward the river.

So many women bathing with bare buttocks undoubtedly stirred the hearts of other men to restless movement.

Yet sitting there contemplating, Li Huowang acted like a stabilizing needle, making others dare not turn their heads even once.

At this moment, however, the river over there was completely another scene; the setting sun dyed the entire river water red.

The vivid red water was cupped by slender jade hands, immediately sliding down from that delicate white skin like congealed sheep's milk. Leaving behind spots of crystal-clear water droplets.

This scene made Chun Xiaoman, also a woman, slightly lose herself in trance.

Luo Juanhua beside also saw it, and couldn't help exclaiming from her mouth, "Tsk tsk tsk, such moist skin, won't your man rub the skin off you in bed?"

Bai Lingmiao's face turned red, covering her body, squatting into the not-high water. "Sister Luo, what are you saying...."

"There are no men here, why be shy; at my age, you will know, that shyness is all pretended for men to see."

Subsequently she held her belly, leaning over like holding a watermelon, eyes shining straight. "Hey, how is your man in bed? Does he work well? How long can he last?"

Seeing Bai Lingmiao almost bury her head in the water, Chun Xiaoman beside came over with helplessness to resolve the situation. "Sister Luo, the little girl has thin skin, do not make things difficult for her."

Luo Juanhua wore a face of regret, "I see she does not know about that matter, so I wanted to teach her; if she is unwilling to listen, so be it."

"Besides, this is nothing compared to where; at the pond at our village head, all the women talked dirty while washing clothes, what they said was much oilier than this. The men heard from afar, turned their heads and left."

Having said this, she held her belly, walking like a crab toward her daughter held by a woman in the distance.

Chun Xiaoman reached out to support Bai Lingmiao's lubricated arm, helping her up from the water.

"Enough, she is gone, get up, be careful not to drown yourself."

Bai Lingmiao patted her chest, heart still palpitating, "Normally never saw Sister Luo let herself go so open, scared me to death."

"At her age, all are like that." Chun Xiaoman picked up the handkerchief in hand to help Bai Lingmiao wipe her body.

"When we reach Sister Luo's age, will we become like her too? So shameful.... how can such words be spoken."

Bai Lingmiao, whose crimson face was full of bashfulness, looking at Luo Juanhua holding her daughter laughing wildly in the distance, spoke.