The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1103 - 182: Taking Care

Chapter 1103: Chapter 182: Taking Care

Manbao settled down on the mat, bringing out the pastries and chrysanthemum wine she had brought to share with everyone. The teachers sat contentedly on the mats, blowing in the autumn breeze, eating fresh fruits, complementing with tea, having some snacks—it was even more blissful than the immortals ascending to heaven.

After resting for a while, Manbao could no longer sit still, so she started strolling around the mountaintop. She wandered around and saw plenty of stones and rock walls engraved with characters but did not find the reclining Buddha.

She ran to find Mr. Zhuang, "Teacher, where is the reclining Buddha?"

Before Mr. Zhuang could speak, Mr. Jiang cheerfully said: "You’ve come to see the reclining Buddha, huh? Then you’ve run to the wrong place. Do you see that peak slightly higher than ours over there?"

Manbao turned to look; it was the highest peak nearby, and she nodded.

"The reclining Buddha is over there. You’ve come to the wrong mountaintop, hahaha..."

Manbao: ...

Mr. Zhuang cleared his throat and said, "As your teacher, it has been many years since I visited Qinghua Mountain; I have forgotten."

He said: "If you really want to see it, then go and take a look."

Manbao stood on the edge of the mountaintop, staring blankly at the opposite peak. How was she to get there?

Fly over?

Mr. Jiang gave her a suggestion, pointing out a pathway down the mountain: "Do you see that? Follow that path down, there’s a trail that leads over. Walk across and you will reach halfway up that mountain, then climb the other half to the peak."

Manbao, blessed with good eyesight, noticed that aside from a few trees, there was not much obstruction on the side facing that mountain peak. So she watched and realized something was wrong.

She looked back at the visitors who were scattered in various corners of the mountaintop, claiming their spots with mats or meditation cushions, then looked at the crowd moving across from them. She pointed and asked: "Why are there so many people over there?"

Mr. Chen laughed: "Because there is a reclining Buddha there. We only have some stone carvings here, so naturally, there are more people."

Manbao understood, casting a resentful glance at the teacher.

No wonder the teacher was not in a hurry while they were at home; surely Bai Shan went to see the reclining Buddha.

Mr. Zhuang beckoned his disciple over, smiling: "Come sit down. If you want to see the reclining Buddha, we can go when there are fewer people in the afternoon. For now, we should sit up high and enjoy the autumn scenery of the mountains."

Mr. Jiang agreed, nodding: "And to enjoy this autumn breeze."

Mr. Lu and others said: "We’re all old bones now; we don’t want to squeeze through with you youngsters."

Manbao thought it made sense. Considering there was still plenty of time today, she sat down on the mat, glanced at the mess put out by the people, and then rolled up her sleeves: "Teacher, let me brew tea for you guys."

"Sure."

Manbao asked the servants to tidy up the things already put out, so as not to clutter the mat.

She picked three plates of fruit for the mat, then started a charcoal fire. A servant brought over a water skin, proudly saying: "This is mountain spring water specially purchased for tea brewing; it’s the best."

Manbao poured the water into the pot, nodding: "It looks quite clear; later we’ll taste it to see how sweet it is."

After making tea for the teachers, everyone sat on the mat, sipping tea while looking at the scenery in the mountains. Not just the elderly teachers, but Manbao herself felt very comfortable.

It’s just that the autumn wind made one irresistibly sleepy.

Seeing Manbao squinting and starting to nod off, Mr. Zhuang lightly tapped her, smiling: "Go warm up the wine; after we’ve had a drink, we’ll go with you to see the reclining Buddha."

Manbao: "Teacher, can you still climb mountains after drinking alcohol?"

Mr. Jiang laughed: "You’re underestimating us too much. The little jar of chrysanthemum wine you brought isn’t even enough to fill the cracks between our teeth."

"I saw it, the teachers also brought two jars of wine."

Mr. Lu and the others laughed out loud, and Mr. Jiang couldn’t help but cough lightly: "That’s not much either, there are five of us, why don’t you have a couple of drinks too?"

Manbao hesitated, "The wine is a bit bitter..." even though the chrysanthemum wine smelled quite fragrant.

Manbao turned to warm the wine for them, after pouring them drinks and leaning on her chin, she asked Mr. Zhuang, "Teacher, when will we come to climb the mountain again next time?"

As soon as Mr. Zhuang heard this, he knew the child was worried about their old bones and did not plan to go see the reclining Buddha again, he immediately laughed, "Soon, it won’t be long before it’s the Empress Dowager’s thousandth birthday, by then Bai Shan and their school will also have a break, and we won’t have much to do, so let’s come then."

Mr. Jiang immediately laughed: "We should come too, it’s more lively with more people."

Mr. Zhuang laughed and agreed.

Knowing that Manbao had given up the past, the group of old teachers became even more indulgent, finishing off the three jars of wine, some became wild and recited poetry against the autumn breeze, others became sleepy and lay down to sleep.

Mr. Zhuang also leaned back on the mat, propping his head with his hand, squinting at the distance.

Manbao searched in the basket, took out a rolled-up small blanket, and draped it over Mr. Zhuang’s shoulders, without disturbing them, she turned and went off to play.

She looked at the stone carvings for a while, then, swinging her wooden stick, she headed towards a denser part of the woods below and began to dig for insects and pull up grass.

Mr. Jiang watched the child’s figure disappear, smiled, and turned back to look at Mr. Zhuang who had closed his eyes and fallen asleep.

After Mr. Chen finished reciting a poem, he took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, turned his head and saw this and laughed: "I must say, Zhuangzi has taken on a good disciple. For a child of this age to be able to sit with us old folks for half a day, those grandchildren of mine would have become impatient long ago."

Mr. Jiang nodded slightly, "The main thing is that she’s really thoughtful, she has been taking care of us throughout half the day."

Manbao was chatting with Keke, the more they talked, the more excited they became, and they ventured deeper.

In a shady, steep area, Manbao saw a blooming, pale blue orchid and exclaimed with delight, pointing at it: "Orchids!"

Keke said, "Host, you’ve already collected this."

Manbao: "But it’s not this color."

After analyzing for a moment, Keke said, "Host, the color of orchids can be cultivated. If there are existing varieties, even if you discover orchids of different colors, the reward points won’t be much. It’s not worth climbing this cliff for a few hundred points."

It said, "Most importantly, according to my data analysis, there’s a 68 percent chance you’d fall down if you tried to climb over there."

Manbao then looked down over the edge, shuddered, and took a step back, shaking her head: "Then nevermind."

Keke thought the host was particularly sensible, but having been fooled by her many times, it still felt a bit unsure, so Keke suggested, "Host, I’ve scanned the area. There are no more animals or plants nearby to be recorded. Let’s go back."

Manbao felt somewhat regretful, "Are there really none left? Actually, I could look more carefully."

And play a bit more as well.

Keke insisted: "There aren’t any."

Manbao could only turn back and return. As soon as she got back to the top of the mountain, she heard lively voices coming from behind a rock wall. Manbao turned to look and saw someone laughing and saying: "Brother Chen, is this your old classmate?"