Chapter 29: The Sea of Clouds and Mountains

The weather is getting hotter every day after the start of the volcano.

Lu Qingjiu's grapevine is covered with bunches of purple and black grapes, hanging from the branches in a delightful manner. Lu Qingjiu was worried that the grapes might attract some birds when they were ripe, but now he has found out that he was wrong, as there are no mosquitoes or annoying birds at his house, and the grapes have all grown to maturity.

Lu Qingjiu picked some of the ripe grapes to make wine and froze some in the fridge. The frozen grapes were a great way to beat the heat, and the juice solidified into a cube that was much better to chew than eating a popsicle.

Yin Xun is not a fan of the summer sun, but as their yard is mostly covered by vines, the sun only shines through the vine leaves, leaving an inconspicuous patch of light on the ground.

Lu Qingjiu first noticed it when he saw Xiao Hei lying on her side with her pink belly out, and the fox put her chin on Xiao Hua's belly.

I didn't expect to see the little fox getting along with the animals in the house, but Lu Qingjiu smiled and said, "Aren't you hot?"

Xiao Hei said, "My belly is cool." He seems to like furry foxes too, or at least he has been friendly since the little foxes arrived.

Lu Qingjiu went over and touched Xiao Hei's belly, which was cold and refreshing, and soft to the touch, like a bag filled with ice water.

Lu Qingjiu is not very afraid of heat, he is a cooler body type and has a harder time in winter than in summer. Yin Xun is the opposite of him and would love to spend 24 hours a day in an air-conditioned room if he could. But the air-conditioned room makes him uncomfortable, so he sits in the courtyard with Xiao Hua's sister Xiao Hei in his arms and lets Xiao Hei's belly relieve him of the heat.

Xiao Hua is very upset with Yin Xun because of his actions. According to him, his sister is still an unmarried young dangkang, and Yin Xun is responsible for touching the belly of an unmarried young dangkang every day.

Of course, since Yin Xun didn't know who they were, he didn't dare to complain to their faces, but just sat by and huffed and puffed and glared at Yin Xun.

Yin Xun ignores Xiao Hua's reluctance and hugs Xiao Hei, who won't let go of her.

Yin Xun didn't understand Xiao Hua's meaning at all, and when he came into his arms, he suddenly said, "Oh, I think you're not happy, it's because you want me to hold you.

Xiao Hua :""

Lu Qingjiu sniggers lowly beside him.

The worst part is that Yin Xun is not even aware of this, and even shamelessly thinks that Xiao Hua is jealous of Xiao Hei's treatment, which is why she is so cruel to her.

"Alas, being popular is such a difficult thing." Yin Xun said to Lu Qingjiu.

Lu Qingjiu thought to himself, "Bully him while he's small, but when he becomes a big pig, you'll lose him once his tusks are in.

The July sun was very hot, hanging brightly in the sky and making it hard to work.

Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu were not affected in any way by the food they ate, but Lu Qingjiu's appetite was not good these days and he ate very little of everything.

"Why aren't you eating?" Yin Xun asked.

These dishes were all quite good, especially the chicken claws, which were cooked to perfection and so glutinous that the meat fell off as soon as you sip your teeth, and the taro, which was also soft and sweet, were very good for eating. But Lu Qingjiu didn't touch the dishes, he just drank a bowl of congee and ate some salty vegetables before putting down his chopsticks.

"Well, I'm not very hungry." Lu Qingjiu said, "You can eat by yourself, don't mind me."

"You should eat some more." Yin Xun said, "You didn't eat much at lunch either."

"I can't eat anymore." Lu Qingjiu said, "I'll have some more soup." When he said he was going to drink the soup, he was just making a show of it, and put down the bowl in his hand without taking a few sips.

Bai Yuehu paused for a moment to look at Lu Qingjiu, but didn't say anything. Lu Qingjiu was relieved to see that he really didn't want to eat, but he was afraid that Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu would try to persuade him.

Yin Xun, still a little worried about Lu Qingjiu, went out after dinner and came back with a glass jar in his hand, saying happily, "Wine, I went to ask my neighbour for some of her pickled hawthorn, you can make some water and drink it."

"Sure." The hawthorn is appetising and healthy for the spleen, Lu Qingjiu likes it, so if she has the chance to grow some herself in the future.

"You still have to eat well." Yin Xun educated, "If you can't eat, eat something else, you can't go hungry."

Lu Qingjiu smiles and nods as he listens to Yin Xun crumble, it feels good to be cared for, especially as he has always lived his life alone these past few years.

After Yin Xun left, Bai Yuehu asked Lu Qingjiu to take the fox cub to the house and lock him up, saying that he would take him to a place.

"Where are you going?" Lu Qingjiu asks.

"Go and get something to eat." Bai Yuehu said, "I thought you couldn't eat."

"What kind of food?" Bai Yuehu's status was unusual and Lu Qingjiu was curious to hear him say so, "Where do you find it?"

"Did you like the kind of fish you had last time?" Bai Yuehu asked.

"That kind of fish," Lu Qingjiu said, "you mean the manta ray."

Bai Yuehu gave an audible yes.

"Like it." Lu Qingjiu nodded his head. The Manta ray was indeed the best fish he had ever eaten, after all it was a legendary creature from the Shanhai scriptures, naturally it was much tastier than the fish he could come across in his normal life.

"Then let's go catch some fish." Bai Yuehu said suddenly.

"Where to catch fish" Lu Qingjiu said, "There is no river around here, is there?" There is a small stream at the edge of the village, which has good water quality but is so shallow that there are only tiny fry, which are not enough to eat.

"Come with me." Bai Yuehu stood up.

By now the searing sun had set, leaving only a ruddy evening sun in the sky. The evening sun haloed the sky in a glorious red, and the sky seemed to be ablaze with eye-catching flames.

Bai Yuehu leads Lu Qingjiu up the hill.

The sun may be setting but the sky is still bright and the outline of the moon is faintly visible in the sky. Bai Yuehu, who was walking ahead of him, suddenly turned around and offered him his hand.

Lu Qingjiu froze at the sight of his hand.

Bai Yuehu makes a beckoning gesture to Lu Qingjiu, indicating that he should take his hand.

Lu Qingjiu thought about it and without saying anything more, he passed his hand over and their hands were clasped together.

Bai Yuehu's hands were cold and very pleasant to hold, probably because the two men were looking so openly at each other and they didn't feel anything was wrong.

Bai Yuehu walks in front, followed by Lu Qingjiu.

The trees were getting thicker and thicker, the landscape was becoming more and more unfamiliar, and things began to appear that were not supposed to be in the forest. Lu Qingjiu even saw a stone monument on the side of the road, a tall one with the words Shuifu Village written on it in red letters. It was supposed to be a signpost for Shuifu Village, but the scent on it made Lu Qingjiu feel as if he had entered a completely unfamiliar place.

The sky had not changed much, still as bright as a blaze, but when Lu Qingjiu lifted his head to take a closer look, he noticed that there was something more moving through the clouds above him.

"The view from the top of the hill is better." Bai Yuehu said, "Come on."

Lu Qingjiu can't help but curl his eyes.

The road was rough, but the walk was not tiring, and what should have been a strange and terrifying scene was reassured by Bai Yuehu, who was holding his hand. Lu Qingjiu made his way forward and soon the landscape opened up before him. The trees thinned out and a vast platform appeared in front of Lu Qingjiu's eyes. It seemed to be a platform cut out halfway up the mountain, and the ground was a kind of greenish stone that gave off a pale glow. Lu Qingjiu said, "This is"

"This is Shuifu Village." Bai Yuehu replied.

He walked to the side, pulled two grasses from the roadside and handed them to Lu Qingjiu: "Come on, let's go fishing."

Lu Qingjiu said: "Fishing, with this?" He took the grass in Bai Yuehu's hand. The grass was a bit strange, with a cluster of fiery red stamens on the top of the head, and the rod was originally hard, but after a hard stroke it became very soft, like a rope.

"Well." Bai Yuehu said, "Come this way." With that he walked forward to the edge of the platform, then made a gesture to stop, turned his head and asked Lu Qingjiu, "Are you afraid of heights?"

"I'm not afraid of heights." Lu Qingjiu replied.

"Come over a bit more then." Bai Yuehu beckoned.

Lu Qingjiu now walks to Bai Yuehu's side, and when he looks down, he understands what Bai Yuehu means when he asks him if he is afraid of heights, only to see a bottomless sea of clouds below the platform. The sunlight that was about to set coloured the sea of clouds crimson, and within the sea of clouds, winged creatures could be seen from time to time weaving in and out. Lu Qingjiu's eyesight was good and he could see clearly what was swimming in the sea of clouds.

Bai Yuehu had cut off the wings when he brought them back, probably because he was afraid of scaring Lu Qingjiu, so it was no wonder that Lu Qingjiu found two huge wounds on the fish when he saw them.

"Come on." Bai Yuehu sat down on the edge of the platform and threw the grass in his hand into the sea of clouds.

Lu Qingjiu also followed his example and threw the grass in his hand into the sea of clouds.

Lu Qingjiu even saw some other animals, but their appearance was too strange for him to recognise them. Bai Yuehu, sitting beside him, was a picture of beauty, the gentle light on his cheeks, his long eyelashes half hanging, casting faint shadows under his eyelids, his dark eyes gazing into the abyss covered by a sea of clouds. "

"Close the line." Bai Yuehu cautions softly from the sidelines.

Lu Qingjiu said, "How do I collect it?"

"Just lift it straight up." Bai Yuehu replies.

Lu Qingjiu hurriedly reeled in his line and when he reached the end of the grass, he saw a manta ray hanging from it, its wings still fluttering, Lu Qingjiu grabbed it and said, somewhat overwhelmed, "What to put on it?"

Bai Yuehu pulled out a pocket from somewhere and said, "Put it inside."

Lu Qingjiu reaches down and stuffs the fish.

"Can this fish be made into sashimi" the chef who caught the fish this started to think about the food, "it has lived in the clouds since it was a child"

"Hmm." Bai Yuehu nodded.

"Do parasites exist in your goblin world, then?" Lu Qingjiu said.

"It doesn't exist, I guess." Bai Yuehu says, "We all eat raw meat, we haven't heard of this."

Lu Qingjiu thought, "That's great, if that's the case, let's take the fresh skate back and make sashimi, and can we eat the wings, and if we can, we can make New Orleans-style chicken wings for the kids.

Manta rays are so good, not only is the fish delicious, but there are no thorns. Lu Qingjiu smiles with satisfaction.

Fish after fish were hooked and soon the bag was full and Lu Qingjiu asked, a little curiously, "What is under this sea of clouds?"

"Want to visit" Bai Yuehu asks.

"I can go" Lu Qingjiu laughed at the seriousness of his question, "Aren't you a fox, you can still fly?"

Bai Yuehu said, "You can, it's just that the moon has been full recently and the sea of clouds is unstable, so when the moon is short, I can take you down to have a look." He said it seriously, obviously not in jest.

"Good." Lu Qingjiu said, "If you get a chance, go and see it."

Bai Yuehu nodded and said, "Let's go back, it's going to rain."

Lu Qingjiu looked at the sky and thought it was quite clear, so he didn't understand why Bai Yuehu would suddenly say it was going to rain. But since Bai Yuehu said it was going to rain, it couldn't be nonsense.

With the fish in one hand and Lu Qingjiu in the other, Bai Yuehu continued his walk back down the mountain path he had come from. At first he thought it was a dark cloud, but when he looked up, he saw a huge black beast above him.

The beast looked at first glance like a cow without horns, its skin was black, and what was special was that it had only one hoof under its feet, and it was flying in the clouds in the sky. It seemed to notice Lu Qingjiu and Bai Yuehu, who were walking along the mountain path beneath them, and let out a roar that shook the sky and the earth, a sound like thunder that made Lu Qingjiu's ears tingle.

Bai Yuehu looked up with some displeasure at the sound and said to the creature, "Shut up."

The strange bull: ""

Lu Qingjiu saw clearly that Bai Yuehu's mouth was instantly shut at those words.

"It's annoying." Bai Yuehu said, "He's the one with the loud voice."

Lu Qingjiu laughed lowly.

The strange bull headed for the top of the mountain, while Lu Qingjiu and Bai Yuehu went home, almost as soon as they entered the door, it was pouring and wet outside

Dry land outside.

In the rain, Lu Qingjiu was in a trance when he heard another thunderclap, but when he listened carefully, he realised it was just an illusion.

When they arrived home, Bai Yuehu brought the fish into the kitchen, fetched ice cubes from the fridge and sliced a plate of raw fish for Lu Qingjiu.

His knife work was as beautiful as ever, the sashimi so thin that it was almost invisible when placed on top of the ice. Lu Qingjiu sat inside the house, watching the rain pouring down outside, which washed away the unpleasant heat of the past few days and began to fill the air with a fresh, earthy aroma.

Bai Yuehu comes out of the kitchen and hands the sashimi to Lu Qingjiu.

Lu Qingjiu smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work."

Bai Yuehu shook his head, "Eat."

Lu Qingjiu took a slice with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth with a look of amazement. The fish was so delicious, without a trace of fishy taste, it was tender and tasty, with a slight sweet and sour taste, without the fatty feeling of salmon. Lu Qingjiu had little interest in sashimi, but the fish was so good that he couldn't resist eating a bit more.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Lu Qingjiu had almost finished eating when he noticed Bai Yuehu hadn't moved his chopsticks.

"No." Bai Yuehu said, "I'm tired of eating it."

Lu Qingjiu laughed, "I'm tired of eating it. How many years have you been eating it?"

Bai Yuehu propped his chin up, his gaze falling inside the crashing rain as he said, "Many, many years."

The delicacies that no one else has ever tasted in their lives have become objects of dislike in Bai Yuehu's mouth, and it is true that no matter how good something is, you will always get bored of it if you keep eating it.

Lu Qingjiu felt full after eating half a fish, the most comfortable meal he had eaten since the beginning of summer.

" Bai Yuehu, thank you." Lu Qingjiu smiled.

Bai Yuehu stared at Lu Qingjiu for a moment and then said slowly, "No, I should be the one to thank you." The words were somewhat inexplicable, but he had no intention of explaining them, and after saying them he got up and left. Lu Qingjiu looked at his back, but fell into a brief moment of contemplation.

The summer rain is always pleasant, violent, swift and washes away the heat in the air.

After Lu Qingjiu had eaten his fill, he went back to his bedroom. Before he went to bed, he flipped through the copy of the Shanhaijing that he had previously subscribed to online and soon found the giant beast that he had just seen in the night sky. The giant beast's name was Kui kui Er Sheng, it looked a bit similar to a cow, and legend has it that every time it entered the sea there was a strong light and torrential rain, and the Yellow Emperor used to make drums out of its skin, and it was said that such drums were so loud that the sound of the drums could even reach 500 metres away.

Lu Qingjiu's mind was flooded with sleep as he tossed and turned, and he fell back onto his pillow and soon fell into a deep sleep, a deep sleep that lasted until dawn.

The next day, Lu Qingjiu made pickled fish from the leftover skates and used their wings to make a pot of grilled chicken wings. Yin Xun had no idea where the wings came from, and after eating them, he complimented them on their tender texture and flavour.

Lu Qingjiu didn't explain either, and just watched with a smile as he finished most of the wings.

After eating, Lu Qingjiu briefly explained what the family would be doing after he left, especially what they would be eating for lunch every day. Since he would be gone for several days, Lu Qingjiu simply fried a large pot of crispy pork, which was made from lean meat wrapped in flour and egg white, and tasted particularly delicious.

"There's still the day after tomorrow." Yin Xun looked at Lu Qingjiu with bewildered eyes, his eyes pityingly selling misery.

Lu Qingjiu said helplessly, "I planned to come back in two days, but plans can't catch up with changes, so if I'm delayed for a day, are you both going to starve to death?"

Yin Xun: "I can't die of hunger, I can still cook."

Lu Qingjiu thought to himself, "Okay, if Yin Xun cooks, I'll get food poisoning even if I don't die of hunger.

After he had explained these things, he put the little fox cub into Yin Xun's hands and told him to take good care of it. Yin Xun promised with a pat on his chest that he would not let a single hair fall out of the fox cub.

The fox cub sat staring and listening, suddenly sneezing at Yin Xun's comment, followed by a fur-flecked mess in the house no way, all pets with fur come in summer with fur flying.

Yin Xun, choking and sneezing, grabbed a hair out of his mouth and said in pain, "Come on, just forget I said that."

Lu Qingjiu slapped him in the face with tears and laughter.

This time, Lu Qingjiu took Bai Yuehu's advice and drove the minivan, only it had changed its appearance last night to a very stylish supercar, but Lu Qingjiu didn't want to be too conspicuous, so he had the minivan changed to another model.

"Lu Qingjiu is a bit worried about this.

"No problem." Bai Yuehu said lazily, "It's all done."

"That's good." Don't go out on the road and find out it's an unlicensed car and get pulled over before you've even crossed the city, and the worst part is that Lu Qingjiu won't know how to explain it!

"I'm off, then." Putting the suitcase in the boot of the car, Lu Qingjiu got into the driver's seat and greeted Bai Yuehu and Yin Xun.

"Go early and return early," Yin Xun rushes at Lu Qingjiu with an exaggerated wave of his hand.

Bai Yuehu stood still and did not say a word, neither saying goodbye nor waving, as if Lu Qingjiu was just going to the town and would be back in two hours.

Lu Qingjiu drives on and disappears at the end of the mountain road.

Shuifu Village is very remote and it takes about ten hours by train, but if you drive yourself on the highway, it's a bit faster because there are very few cars to get here and you have to go around other cities in the meantime. But even if it is a little faster, it is still a lot harder to drive for more than 10 hours, especially when you are driving alone and have no one to talk to.

But with the minivan, there is no need to worry about these things. After all, he can just let the minivan drive itself when he is tired of driving, and as long as his hands do not leave the steering wheel, he will not be fined.

Lu Qingjiu called Zhu Miaomiao and told her he was arriving today, so he was on his way.

After a few months, Lu Qingjiu's heart was inevitably filled with emotion as he returned to the city he knew so well, but since he had made the choice to leave, he had no regrets.

What the author has to say: Bai Yuehu: I hold your hand

Lu Qingjiu: It's like leading a dog

Bai Yuehu.