The mountain streams gurgled, and raindrops fell into the water one after another, causing constant ripples.
After noon, the sky became overcast, and finally it started to rain.
Ye Xuan and Cui Qingfeng were sitting by the stream. There were several horses parked not far away. Fat Tiger kept circling around Ye Xuan, eagerly waiting for Ye Xuan to take out the luggage from the back of the temple protector.
In the food box, throw a whole blanched rabbit leg to it.
A rabbit leg cannot satisfy Fat Tiger's current appetite, but it will look for prey on its own in the forest. The rabbit leg given by Ye Xuan is probably only equivalent to a pre-dinner snack.
Ye Xuan opened the second layer of the food box, which contained fragrant chicken stewed with mushrooms and a layer of compacted wheat rice.
His self-raised chickens haven't grown yet, so this is a special dish made by the hens he bought.
The scent passed through the rain line and reached the nostrils of the three catchers.
‘Zhou Tiehu’’s nose twitched slightly, his face expressionless.
Cui Qingfeng was prepared, took out the dried meat and big cakes, filled a kettle with stream water, soaked the dry and hard cakes and ate them with the dried meat.
Zhao Qing looked at the two finger-long fish that had just been strung together in his hand, as well as the fire that was smoking but not burning, and immediately glared at Ye Xuan angrily.
He watched helplessly as Ye Xuan took out two pairs of chopsticks and handed one to Cui Qingfeng: "Let's eat together."
"How embarrassing..." Although Cui Qingfeng wanted to take the chopsticks, he subconsciously refused and waved his hands repeatedly.
"You can just eat it. I can't finish it all by myself." As he said that, Ye Xuan pulled out the layer of food boxes containing chicken, stewed mushrooms and rice, revealing the bottom layer.
The food box on the bottom floor was also full of chicken stewed with mushrooms and rice.
He continued: "I think this investigation may take two or three days, so I will prepare more food. You can just eat."
"Then I'd rather be respectful than obey." Seeing this, Cui Qingfeng took the chopsticks and gave some of his dried meat to Ye Xuan, and the two of them shared the food in the food box.
When Zhao Qing saw that Ye Xuan had invited Cui Qingfeng, but not himself or his immediate superior, he felt itchy with hatred. He glanced at Zhou Tiehu's face from the corner of his eye, and saw that his superior's face was also a little gloomy, so he took it into consideration and hummed: "
Qingfeng, you haven't even eaten yet, but you've eaten first?
Isn’t this not good?”
Hearing this, Cui Qingfeng stopped his chopsticks and smiled apologetically at Ye Xuan. He took out the dried meat naan cakes from his bag and handed it to Zhao Qing, saying, "I have some dried meat naan cakes here. Why don't we share them with Brother Zhao and the head catcher?"
Zhao Qing is older than him, so Cui Qingfeng has always addressed him as Brother Zhao.
The relationship between the three of them is by no means harmonious, it is just maintained on the surface.
When Zhao Qing looked at the few black dried meat sticks in Cui Qingfeng's hand, he thought to himself: If I wanted to eat dried meat, I would have asked you for it a long time ago. Why wait until now?
So he curled his lips and sneered, and nodded at the dishes in Ye Xuan's food box: "You are eating delicious food yourself, but you are giving jerky to your boss?"
"This..." Cui Qingfeng suddenly felt angry. He lowered his head and replied in a low voice, "The Taoist Master invited me to eat the food. If you don't think it is good, I will eat dried meat with you."
.”
When 'Zhou Tiehu' heard what Cui Qingfeng said, the corner of his mouth curled up, and he smiled but said nothing.
Seeing this, Zhao Qing became even more arrogant and wanted to order Cui Qingfeng to bring the food, but he heard Ye Xuandao: "Why bother arguing over a meal? I'll just give you this portion."
He directly handed the bottom layer of food boxes to Zhao Qing, who directly reached out to catch it without any hesitation, as if Ye Xuan should do this.
"Taoist Master, this..." Cui Qingfeng's face turned red. He was deeply ashamed of his colleague's rude and rude behavior, and felt guilty towards Ye Xuan. He didn't know what to say for a moment.
Ye Xuan shook his head with a smile and pointed at the food in the food box with his chopsticks: "Eat."
He took a handful of mushrooms with chopsticks and ate them. He raised his head slightly and glanced at 'Zhou Tiehu' seemingly casually. Seeing that he finally began to enjoy the delicacies in the food box under Zhao Qing's flattery, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
I am not afraid that you will eat more, but I am afraid that you will not eat!
After lunch, the sky became darker and darker, and the rain did not weaken at all. It became heavier and heavier, and gradually became a heavy rain.
Even though Ye Xuan was well prepared, he forgot to bring an umbrella and could only find leaves to barely cover his head to block some rain.
The same goes for the two detectives.
'Zhou Tiehu' was not in such a miserable condition. When the rainwater entered within three feet of his body, it separated automatically, as if it was blown elsewhere by the wind - treasures such as water-avoiding beads or water-dividing talismans all have this effect.
"Sir, it's raining too hard! Otherwise, we'd better go back first..." Zhao Qing couldn't bear the pain and kept complaining to 'Zhou Tiehu'.
The rain was pouring down, and even his voice became muffled.
‘Zhou Tiehu’ mounted his horse and said in a cold voice: “I will never turn back until I find that mountain temple today.”
Zhao Qing did not dare to disobey the order to arrest the head. He muttered a few words in a low voice and mounted his horse. Together with Ye Xuan and Cui Qingfeng, they drove the horse slowly through the mountains, looking for the location of the mountain temple in the rain.
The forests in the mountains are deep and the mountain paths are mostly obscured by vegetation and vines, making them difficult to find.
Now it was raining heavily again, making the mountains look shadowy under the rain, making it even more muddy and difficult to walk on. The group walked around for about three or four hours before they found the mountain temple.
At this time, the heavy rain began to stop and night fell.
The surroundings are all dark and steep, and there are occasional beasts roaring and hissing in the depths of the darkness, which adds a bit of eeriness to the deep mountains and old forests, making people feel that they are full of dangers.
The current mountain temple is the best place to avoid danger.
Cui Qingfeng picked up some wet firewood nearby and brought it to the temple, lighting it with a fire charm. The three of them each took off their outer clothes and baked them by the fire.
Zhao Qing looked at the door from time to time, always feeling that some strange existence might burst out of the darkness at any time. After hesitating for a long time, he stood up and lifted up the collapsed half door to block the door.
Ye Xuan glanced at 'Zhou Tiehu', who had his eyes closed to meditate, and looked at the furnishings in the mountain temple. Apart from the incense table with a broken leg and the stained portrait of the mountain god, there were only a few strands hanging from the beams that were torn into strips.
of curtains.
The temple protector stood against the wall, and the fat tiger nestled against Ye Xuan's legs. After running around in the mountains for a day, it was also very sleepy.
The water dripped from the eaves, making a clicking sound.
Occasionally, mice shuttled among the tiles, making a small scurrying noise.
In front of a tree outside the door, three horses were tied there, shaking their heads and making some noise.
"That Zhang dug up the Yang family's ancestral grave and came here. What did he dig out from the grave?" In the quiet mountain temple, Zhao Qing suddenly spoke.
He seemed to have thought of something, tightened his tight clothes, moved closer to Cui Qingfeng, and said: "Why do I always feel that there is something sinister and creepy here?"
'Zhou Tiehu' opened his eyes after hearing this.
He originally planned to take advantage of this time to gather his energy so that he could move more easily in the middle of the night.
However, a sudden heat rose up in his chest and went straight to his abdomen, burning in his stomach. It was still difficult for him to calm down and simply listen to the last words of these people before they died.