My Demon Friends

Heading to the Yin Yang Temple from the direction of Mingjiu Mountain didn't necessarily require passing through Zhihong Guan; instead, the path led through the gully beneath it. Going to Zhihong Guan meant a detour and then retracing one's steps.

Last time, Zhou Li had not passed Zhihong Guan when he picked up Brother Nan, but this time he chose to visit.

The elder of the observatory was as kind as ever, his frame still sturdy. The old demon, however, seemed to have aged even more in the few days since Zhou Li had last seen him.

The elder of the observatory was very pleased to see Miss Zheng with another friend and was all smiles throughout their visit. He grew even happier after Brother Nan spent a good while chatting with him about the radishes and cauliflower in his garden, so much so that he wanted to invite the two young people to stay for dinner. Zhou Li politely declined.

They continued their journey. Zhou Li was carrying quite a load: besides the dishes Brother Nan had packed for Zheng Zhilan, which her father had made, there were also pig trotters, fishing gear, and other items bought from town. It was all rather heavy.

It was nearly dusk by the time they reached the Yin Yang Temple. As they walked along the small village path, they could hear rhythmic thudding sounds from afar.

BANG, BANG, BANG...

The sound echoed through the empty village, shattering the silence and reverberating deep within the misty mountain valleys.

Brother Nan was the first to identify the thudding. She turned to Zhou Li and asked, "Do you know what that sound is?"

"I don't know."

"Washing clothes."

"Oh~~" Zhou Li drew out the sound, suddenly remembering that as a child, he had often heard such sounds by the river or the weir pond.

"Hurry up!"

Brother Nan quickened her pace.

Zhou Li had to adjust his backpack and quickly caught up.

Zheng Zhilan was indeed washing clothes.

In front of her courtyard was a stone platform specifically for washing. A thick winter garment, now even heavier with water, lay on it, and she was pounding it vigorously with a wooden mallet. Qinghe stood by, observing, with two buckets full of clean water on either side of him.

In the high mountains, the water is icy even in summer, let alone in early January; the young girl's hands were red with cold.

"You're here?"

Zheng Zhilan looked up at them, her face suddenly flushing. "I saw you hadn't arrived, so I started washing first."

"Why don't you use the washing machine? You have one," Brother Nan asked.

"I'm afraid it'll ruin them; some clothes aren't suitable for the machine. Anyway, I had nothing else to do," Zheng Zhilan said shyly. Life on the mountain could be quite boring; one must find things to do besides cultivation.

Yet Brother Nan felt a pang of sympathy. She approached and took Zheng Zhilan's red hands, "Are you cold?"

"I'm not that sensitive to cold."

"I'll help you wash."

Saying this, Brother Nan rolled up her sleeves, revealing her fair, clean arms.

Little Zheng was suddenly at a loss. She wanted to refuse but was somehow tongue-tied. In her mind, Brother Nan was both a guest and one of her few friends; it didn't seem right to have a guest help with laundry. Besides, she didn't want Brother Nan to get cold. This water is truly freezing!

Before Little Zheng could organize her words, Brother Nan added, "It's almost dusk. If we finish washing soon, we can go fishing for an hour! I've been wanting to go fishing for a while now, but the river back home is really tough to fish in!"

Zheng Zhilan fell silent, merely nodding.

Zhou Li went inside and took the items out of his backpack one by one, asking the two girls where each should go—in the fridge or outside.

Afterward, he sat on the threshold, staring blankly.

The two girls chatted as they washed clothes. Zheng Zhilan asked why Huai Xu hadn't come, and Brother Nan explained that he was enjoying life at Zhou Li's house. Then Zheng Zhilan asked if they had visited Zhihong Guan on their way, and mentioned her own visit to the elder of the observatory a few days prior.

The afternoon sunlight was golden, and time passed leisurely.

Zhou Li rested his head against the door frame.

It wasn't that he was lazy; it was just inconvenient for him to help with the washing. Not only was it inconvenient to wash, but it was also awkward for him to even watch.

The washed clothes, now in buckets, had to be carried upstairs to dry.

In Brother Nan's eyes, Zheng Zhilan was a delicate girl (this had nothing to do with physical strength), so she insisted on carrying the buckets, one in each hand. As she passed Zhou Li, she deliberately bumped into him.

"You certainly have it easy!" she said.

After coming downstairs, they took their fishing gear and headed to the stream.

In winter, earthworms mostly burrow deep into the soil, making them hard to dig up, but Qinghe had his own unique techniques and experience.

Zhou Li had never fished before, so Brother Nan set everything up for him. Only after she had cast the bait into the pool and the float was bobbing, half-submerged, did she hand the bamboo rod to him. It was very thoughtful of her.

"There you go. When the float moves, you pull, got it?"

"Got it."

The three humans and one Demon then sat down quietly by the pool.

For a long while, the float didn't budge.

Brother Nan was usually decisive and seemed impatient, but in reality, she could exhibit more patience than the average person in many respects.

These 'many respects' could be summarized in one word: play.

She could spend hours alone building castles out of blocks without adult supervision, or a long time making toys out of bamboo or folding hundreds of paper 'tofu' blocks. Just as now, she could stare at the water's surface without uttering a word. As long as she found something fun, she could invest a lot of time and truly enjoy it.

Zhou Li, the novice, on the other hand, was growing a bit restless.

"Why haven't we got a bite yet?"

"Don't rush."

"Did Huai Xu scare them off last time?"

"Fish memories aren't that good."

"Then why is it?"

"Shh!"

"Oh."

Zhou Li quieted down again.

Soon after, Brother Nan's float started to wobble. When she pulled up the rod, a fish not even as wide as two fingers was hooked on it.

"A fish this size is best fried," she said. "Creek fish are perfect for frying."

"Right." Zheng Zhilan nodded.

"Why isn't mine getting a bite?" Zhou Li asked again.

"Shh, don't talk. The more you talk, the less likely they are to bite," Brother Nan said.

"Can they actually understand me?"

"...Can't you learn from Little Zheng and... that one?" Brother Nan glanced at Zheng Zhilan and then at the fishing rod hovering in mid-air nearby. "Neither of them is making as much noise as you."

"Actually, he is."

Zhou Li nodded seriously at Brother Nan. "Qinghe has been talking the whole time. It's just that he's a Demon, so you can't hear him. Actually, he's just like Huai Xu—very chatty."

At the edge of the group, Qinghe silently turned his head to glance at him, then silently looked away and continued to stare at the water's surface.

It was Zheng Zhilan who covered her mouth to stifle her laughter, betraying him.

Brother Nan's punch was swift.

BANG!

Zhou Li fell silent again.

Soon after, Zheng Zhilan and Qinghe also started catching fish, which made Zhou Li extremely antsy. After a good while, his float finally started to move.

"Is that a fish on mine?" Zhou Li asked Brother Nan.

"Pull! Not too fast."

"Okay."

Zhou Li quickly reeled in the line.

He really had caught a fish!

But suddenly, his ears twitched. He thought he heard an almost inaudible sound, and immediately a figure appeared beside him.

"What are you doing?" The voice came right next to his ear.

"!"

The fish slipped away again.

Zhou Li silently turned his head to look at his other self.

'Himself' blinked twice, a cutesy gesture the real Zhou Li would never use.

"You scared my fish away."

"Do you guys want fish for dinner?" Huai Xu asked, spreading his hands. Two short knives materialized, hovering about ten centimeters above his palms. "Just ask me; I can help."

"Don't!"

"Why?"

"We're just doing this for fun."

"What's fun about that?"

"Why are you here?"

"Oh," Huai Xu had almost forgotten his purpose. "Just now, Zhu Shuang and Zhu Bing came to ask me for help with a problem—a math problem, it seemed. I didn't know how to solve it, so I told them to wait a bit, that I'd think about it and give them the answer later."

"...Why would you say that?" Zhou Li was utterly baffled.

"I can ask you, right? You solve it, then explain it to me. I'll memorize it and explain it to them. Don't worry, I have a good memory."

"...Why don't you just tell them directly that you don't know how to do it?" Several dark lines appeared on Zhou Li's forehead.

"I wanted to, but you're a university student! If I said I didn't know, wouldn't that make you look incompetent? As if you got into university by sheer luck," Huai Xu spread his hands. "I was only trying to do you a favor! Besides, they're your younger brother and sister. They're working so hard to get into university. As their older brother, and one who's already made it, you should definitely lend a hand."

"..." Zhou Li thought he understood. "Do you think that just because I'm a university student, I can solve all their problems?"

"Isn't that so? You got into university!" Huai Xu's eyes widened. "How else would you have gotten in?"

"...Show me the problem."

"Here it is."

Huai Xu handed him a piece of paper and stood beside him with his legs together, bending over at a ninety-degree angle to watch him think.

The scene was quite amusing.

Two Zhou Lis.

Zheng Zhilan and Brother Nan were also watching them, both silent—one not wanting to disturb Zhou Li's thoughts, the other not wanting to scare the fish away.

Time ticked away, and Zhou Li started to feel uncomfortable.

Math had once been his best subject; he'd scored over 140 on the college entrance exam. Zhu Shuang and Zhu Bing probably scored around the same, though math might not have been their best subject. The irony was, Zhou Li thought he probably could have solved this problem six months ago. What irked him was that, no matter how hard he racked his brain now, he couldn't figure it out.

"Here." Zhou Li handed the paper back to Huai Xu and said earnestly, "Just tell them I've been in university for so long, I've already returned all that knowledge to my teachers."

"Huh? No way! But I... That would be so embarrassing for me!"

"It's I who can't solve it."

"Oh, right!" Huai Xu suddenly understood. "Then I'm off! Save some fish for me tonight!"

WHOOSH!

By nightfall, the three humans and one Demon had caught thirteen fish in total, all small, with Zhou Li contributing just one.

The small fish were simply gutted, cleaned, coated in starch, and fried in hot oil until golden brown and crispy. Even the Old Monster from Yan City popped over to eat two. Afterwards, Zheng Zhilan reheated the dishes Brother Nan had brought and made an egg soup. Cooking as darkness fell gave the evening an especially homey feel.

When they sat down to eat, night had completely fallen.

The heavy shadows cast by the incandescent light bulb made it difficult to see the food in their bowls clearly; sometimes they wouldn't even know what they were picking up.

Zheng Zhilan mentioned that she had not yet tidied up a room for them. Brother Nan quickly responded, "We're only staying for two days anyway, no need for such trouble. Just prepare one room..."

Upon hearing the first half of the sentence, Zhou Li's heart skipped a beat. He even began to consider how to tactfully refuse without offending Brother Nan.

"I'll sleep next to you," Brother Nan said to Zheng Zhilan.

"Sure."

"Ahem, I suggest you don't agree," Zhou Li said seriously. Brother Nan and Zheng Zhilan had very different routines; one could turn day into night, while the other's schedule was abnormally normal. Sleeping together wouldn't be good.

"None of your business."

"Oh."

"Don't worry, I sleep very still," Brother Nan assured Zheng Zhilan.

"How would you know if you're asleep?" Zhou Li asked again.

"Want me to show you my 'treasure'?" Brother Nan said, clenching her fist.

"..."