The Hand of Confession – Chapter 321

Volume 10: Days of Cultivating in the Republic of China

Grouping

The Main Point is Immovable​¹

Golden Retriever wasn’t an idiot and also understood the twists and turns inside, so he just nodded with disappointment, indicating he understood.

            

The rain fell for a whole night, but then stopped after daybreak.

The main door on the first floor leading outside was wide open. A cool breeze shot up the stairs to the second floor. Unknown little birds sang in the willow tree outside the courtyard, chirping away quite happily.

Before she even got downstairs, Shen Maomao smelled the unique earthy scent that comes after rain. After descending the spiral staircase, she got a clear view of the situation downstairs—

            

The wooden floor was gleaming, reflecting the light. Several men had their sleeves and trouser legs rolled up, holding rags and sticking out their butts​² as they wiped up water stains and cleaned up mud and sand from the floor, sweating profusely from the effort.

She jumped down the last step of the staircase and asked, “What happened here?”

Kang Yuanhuai, in the midst of his busy work, took a moment to look up and explain, “The rain was too heavy last night, and the house got flooded. But it only got into the dining room, so it’s not a big deal.”

            

Leaving aside how rainwater could have seeped into a house on higher ground, there were only bluestone slabs and reddish-brown soil in the courtyard. The mere presence of sand made his explanation seem unreasonable.

Perhaps something from the water had come by last night.

This thought circled in her mind before she pushed it away. She bent down to pick up a rag, saying at the same time, “Let us help.”

            

Kang Yuanhuai hurriedly refused her, practically flying over to snatch the rag away before she could touch it. “No, no, no, it’s fine for you two students to just wait by the side. We’re almost done cleaning up here.”

Shen Maomao slowly straightened up, squinting at him for a few seconds. Then, the corners of her mouth spread into a wide, beaming smile as she said, “How can we be okay with that? We women can also hold up half the sky​³.”

Kang Yuanhuai fell strangely silent for a second before saying, “You’re not wrong to say that, but aren’t we about to be finished? Besides, you two haven’t washed up yet. Coming over to help would just waste more time…”

            

Shen Maomao took the opening and said, “Then we’ll have to trouble you. We’ll go get some water to wash our faces first.”

With that, she walked around the puddles on the floor, took a clean copper basin, and went out the back door to the courtyard to fetch water.

Golden Retriever followed her with quick, small steps​⁴ and secretly gave her a thumbs-up. “Rabbit-jie, that expression you had just now really had the air of Xiao Lou-jie. It scared me so much I didn’t dare to speak.”

            

Shen Maomao rolled her eyes at him. “Let’s talk business. I originally thought Kang Yuanhuai was giving us women preferential treatment out of gentlemanly conduct, but now it seems that’s not the case.”

When she went to grab the rag just now, she felt that Kang Yuanhuai was very nervous, as if he was afraid she would actually start working.

Golden Retriever: “…What do you mean ‘us women’…”

            

Shen Maomao turned back and scanned him up and down a few times. “Look at you. How do you look like a man?”

Golden Retriever: “I felt myself when I was in the room, I…”

“Shut up!” Shen Maomao cut him off. “Don’t you dare insult my ears with your filth!”

            

Golden Retriever: “…”

As they spoke, the two arrived at the well. Shen Maomao had a complex about wells, so she pulled Golden Retriever along to observe the surroundings for a while. Only after confirming that no older-sister ghost lived inside did she throw the wooden bucket down to draw water. While drawing water, she said to Golden Retriever, “Look at you. Did you still think dressing up as a woman was a good thing? Great, now you’re probably about to become the Bride of He Bo​⁵.”

Golden Retriever almost cried. “Don’t curse me, Rabbit-jie…”

            

Shen Maomao smiled. “Good luck, Shishi-jiang​⁶.”

Golden Retriever wanted to say something more, but Sisi’s and Kang Yuanhuai’s voices were already coming from inside the house. It sounded like they were about to head to the backyard, which scared him into quickly shutting his mouth and giving her a resentful look.

Shen Maomao pretended not to see. She placed the basin on the washstand, bent over, and scooped up a handful of clear water, washing her face with the bar of soap​⁷ on the stand.

            

After everything was cleaned up, everyone prepared to go out and wander around. Before leaving, Kang Yuanhuai specifically reminded them to remember to bring umbrellas. As he spoke, he picked up a yellow umbrella himself and went outside the door to wait for them.

It was clear that Shen Maomao wasn’t the only one who had guessed there was something fishy about the umbrellas.

There were four yellow umbrellas and five red umbrellas. Kang Yuanhuai had taken a yellow one, so the players naturally all wanted to take the same color as him.

            

There were too many monks and not enough meat​⁸, so they could only rely on snatching them. Sisi was quick of eye and swift of hand, directly grabbing a yellow umbrella. The remaining two were split between Dahai and A’nan. Shen Maomao was a step too late and could only pick up a red umbrella.

Gauss had just entered the game, and his head was far from being as sharp as these old oil sticks​⁹. He didn’t react in time and was preempted by the others. He was afraid but didn’t dare to say it directly, so he could only remind Sisi tactfully, “I think it’s better for you to take a red umbrella.”

Sisi hooked the corner of her mouth. “On what grounds?”

            

Gauss said, “We have a total of four men and five women, which corresponds exactly to the four yellow umbrellas and five red umbrellas.”

“Do I need a newbie like you to teach me what to do?” Sisi shot him a sideways glance, her words completely merciless, immediately making Gauss unable to get off the stage​¹⁰.

Compared to the delicate and bewitching Sisi who sought out women to live with, perhaps this was her true self. Among those who could survive this long in the game, not a single one was a good crop​¹¹.

            

Dahai came out with a broad smile to mediate the round stage​¹². “Aiya, harmony begets wealth​¹³, harmony begets wealth. Everyone, hurry up and grab an umbrella and come out. Don’t let the NPC wait too long.”

Shen Maomao picked up a red umbrella and was the first to walk out.

Sisi’s expression softened, and she started harassing Golden Retriever again. “Little sister Shishi, let’s walk together.”

            

Golden Retriever looked at Shen Maomao’s back, understood that if he kept refusing, it would be easy to pull hatred​¹⁴, so he had no choice but to agree. His arm was immediately linked by hers.

What do I do when a big sister who is as passionate as fire is always touching me? It’s urgent, waiting online.

…

            

Huai Town was just an insignificant southern small town. Based on the timeline, it should be a time of raging cannon fire outside, yet this place was like a peach blossom spring outside the world​¹⁵, completely unaffected.

The town’s streets were lined with businesses, and the sounds of hawking and shouting were endless. Boats passed back and forth under the arches of bridges, and a few little boys wearing small maguas​¹⁶ with patched-up backpacks slung over their shoulders weaved through the crowd.

The group hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, so Kang Yuanhuai took them to a teahouse to sample the special breakfast of the south.

            

The sign with the character for “tea” on the teahouse swayed continuously in the wind. Shen Maomao looked at the table of exquisite dim sum and was a little silent.

Even more silent than her was Golden Retriever at her side.

The food was beautiful, but the portions were a bit small.

            

Golden Retriever picked up a soup dumpling​¹⁷ the size of a Nutrition Express bottle cap​¹⁸ from a steamer basket that wasn’t even as big as his face, not knowing what kind of expression to make.

If he were to eat fifty-some baskets of buns in a bit, would he be thrown into the sea ahead of schedule by Kang Yuanhuai?

Just as he thought of Kang Yuanhuai, Kang Yuanhuai cast a concerned gaze his way. “What’s wrong? Is it not to your taste?”

            

Golden Retriever shook his head, gave him a shy smile, and popped the xiaolongbao​¹⁹ into his mouth.

He didn’t dare to eat much, because his current image was thin and small. If he ate too much and someone saw through his disguise, it would be a real spectacle.

Compared to him, Shen Maomao had far fewer scruples. She hadn’t eaten much last night and was hungry now. The buns here weren’t filled with fish meat anyway, so she ate them one after another very happily, a sight that somewhat surprised the southerner Kang Yuanhuai.

            

Thanks to her, Golden Retriever stealthily ate two steamer baskets of buns without attracting anyone’s attention.

After being wine-full and food-sated​²⁰, it was time to get down to business. They were here to investigate folklore, not for sightseeing.

Kang Yuanhuai was a very qualified team leader, specifically demonstrated by the fact that he had already arranged the subsequent route. The players only needed to be useless followers and run around according to the plan he had made.

            

Their goal today was to visit Huai Town’s He Bo Temples, pay respects to the He Bo divine statues, and record the founding years and scale of the several temples in the vicinity.

Huai Town wasn’t large, but it had a full five He Bo Temples, which divided the entire town into five equal parts, ensuring that every resident in the town could receive He Bo’s protection.

Because the workload was quite large, the nine of them had to be divided into three different small groups to head in different directions.

            

Kang Yuanhuai said, “Please take care of lunch yourselves. At four in the afternoon, regardless of whether the tasks are completed, we will meet back here to summarize today’s findings.”

The teahouse staff cleared away the breakfast items and poured a cup of hot tea for each person. The group then began to divide the children​²¹ while holding their teacups.

Golden Retriever wanted to be with Shen Maomao, Sisi wanted to be with Golden Retriever, Gauss wanted to be with Dahai, and Mingyue wanted to stick with Anjing.

            

No matter how they were divided, one team was bound to get Kang Yuanhuai.

Being led by an NPC, it was hard to know if it was a good or bad thing. It was very vexing. Shen Maomao, who had difficulty with choices, scratched her head to pieces but still couldn’t make a decision.

In the end, it was Sisi who made the choice. “How about this, I’ll be in a group with Rabbit and little sister Shishi, and the rest of you can divide yourselves up?”

            

She directly chose not to go with the NPC and ignored the opinions of both Shen Maomao and Golden Retriever.

However, these two were useless at making choices, so they had no objections to her arrangement and were even relieved that they didn’t have to choose.

In the final division, Kang Yuanhuai was assigned to Dahai and Gauss, while A’nan went with Mingyue and Anjing.

            

The three groups each received a paper map and some money from Kang Yuanhuai, and then they parted ways at the teahouse.

Sisi held the map in her hand, looking at it as she walked down the road.

The map was drawn very abstractly. Shen Maomao only glanced at it over Sisi’s hand before choosing to give up—though it wasn’t as if Sisi had any intention of showing it to her anyway.

            

As a youth living in the 21st century, she only knew how to read GPS navigation maps. This kind of map, where you couldn’t know your own position, was too difficult for a half road-idiot​²² like her.

Sisi looked at it for a long time but couldn’t determine which road to take. So she offered the map up and turned to ask the other two, “Can either of you read a map?”

Shen Maomao shook her head.

            

Golden Retriever extended his right hand, signaling for her to give him the map.

Sisi did as requested, then watched him curiously along with Shen Maomao.

Golden Retriever only looked at it for two seconds before pointing to a spot on the map, then pointing diagonally behind them, indicating the direction they should go.

            

Sisi said in surprise, “Little sister Shishi, you’re amazing! How did you figure that out?”

Golden Retriever couldn’t speak, only smiling shyly.

Shen Maomao mused to herself that perhaps art students had some kind of map-reading buff.

            

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