Chapter 8: On the mountain, there is an Immortal Temple

Drought.

Severe drought.

A drought so severe that it drove people mad and pushed them towards despair.

Taoyuan Village had never experienced such a drought. At least, Shu Guan, who had lived here for sixteen years, had never seen anything like it.

The climate of Taoyuan Village had always been like spring in all four seasons. Just like the peach trees by the stream, in previous years, the peach blossoms could bloom from March until early May.

But this year, the peach blossoms withered in mid-April.

Since the beginning of Spring Begins, it hardly rained.

It didn't rain in Spring Begins, Waking of Insects, Qingming, Grain Rain, and after Summer Begins, the weather became even hotter day by day, turning the whole valley into a steaming cage as if it was placed on a bonfire.

One morning, Wang Erniu, the clan leader of Taoyuan Village, stood by the stream outside the village.

At his feet lay the rotting corpse of a dead fish, lying on the parched and cracked mud that had been baked by the sun these past days.

The once bubbling and rushing stream, which at its deepest during the spring floods could even submerge the heads of adult men, now had nothing but a trickle as thin as a little finger, barely flowing amongst the exposed cobblestones.

Perhaps by tomorrow, even this last bit of stream water would disappear.

Wang Erniu was the father of Wang Dahu, Wang Erhu, Wang Sanhu, and Wang Sihu. At over fifty years old, he was solid and sturdy, standing there like a thick tree stump.

When they first came to Taoyuan Village, they were not all from one clan and surname. However, the most numerous were the Wang and Zhang families, accounting for about seventy percent. Therefore, the clan leaders of Taoyuan Village were mostly from these two surnames.

At this moment, Wang Erniu's thick black eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and his face was extremely serious.

"We can't go on like this."

He said this sentence in a very determined tone.

Behind Wang Erniu were quite a few people.

His four sons were all there, standing in a row behind him, like four slightly smaller tree stumps. The tallest, Wang Dahu, stood on the far right, and the shortest, Wang Sihu, stood on the far left.

From Shu Guan's point of view, it looked more like a row of signal bars.

There were also some village elders who took care of affairs in the village.

However, the sentence Wang Erniu just said was addressed to Uncle Lame.

Uncle Lame was squatting not far in front of Wang Erniu, staring at the shining white cobblestones in the stream.

"Yep, more than half the crops in the fields have withered."

"If it doesn't rain soon, there won't be enough grain in the village for the winter."

Uncle Lame sighed.

"That's why I asked Uncle Lame to come and discuss with us what we should do."

Wang Erniu looked at Uncle Lame with great respect.

In Taoyuan Village, Uncle Lame was a respected person. Although he was not well-regarded when he was young, after he grew up, gradually everyone found that they couldn't do without this blind and lame man in their village.

That was also the reason why Shu Guan could stay in Taoyuan Village.

If any other villager had picked him up that year, the others would never have agreed to let this ugly boy with an unknown origin stay in the village. It was only because Uncle Lame insisted that the people of Taoyuan Village reluctantly accepted Shu Guan.

Shu Guan knew that Uncle Lame was a very capable man, even a bug-like figure in this small mountain village, but this kind of thing should be beyond Uncle Lame's ability, right?

Shu Guan stood by, wiping his sweat constantly, thinking this thought.

It was really hot.

Even though it was still morning, it must have been over 38 degrees. At this moment, Shu Guan deeply missed the days with air conditioning.

If this weather persisted for a while, with no water in the stream and all the crops withering, the people of Taoyuan Village might not be able to survive past the winter.

Unlike other places, where people could escape to other areas during famine, the villagers of Taoyuan Village had nowhere to run.

As a member of Taoyuan Village today, Shu Guan felt worried as well.

But there was nothing he could do.

Because droughts were a meteorological problem that could not be solved even in the time he came from.

At this moment, the tallest member in the row of signal bars beside him quietly came over, and with an expectant tone, whispered in his ear:

"Will there be some fun tonight? Let's invite Yadan. The three of us together!"

Shu Guan glanced at Wang Dahu and thought that there was nothing to do in the evening, and couldn't stand staying at home in such weather, so he nodded.

Wang Dahu grinned and withdrew his head with a chuckle.

Although they often fought when they were young, the relationship between Shu Guan and Wang Dahu was now quite good.

There are two reasons for this: first, Shu Guan has been living in Taoyuan Village for sixteen years without bringing any disaster to the village... well, this drought probably won't be counted as his fault.

With the increase in age, the skills of Old Lame Uncle have been learned by Shu Guan, making him the second most capable person in Taoyuan Village besides Old Lame Uncle.

Old Lame Uncle is now very old and can't do much work. Most of the time, when people in the village need new farming tools or house repairs, or when they fall sick, these tasks are now done by Shu Guan, with Old Lame Uncle offering guidance on the side.

Shu Guan's work is no worse than Old Lame Uncle's, and the villagers gradually stop shunning the ugly pockmarked youth so much.

However, the main reason for the change in the attitude of the residents of Taoyuan Village towards Shu Guan is that he consciously wants to change it himself.

After reading the scholar's notebook, Shu Guan can only helplessly accept his fate of spending his life in this village. Since this is the case, he has to get along with the villagers peacefully.

As a transcender from modern society, if you really want to build good relationships with the mountain villagers who have always lived in a conservative environment, there are many ways to do so.

For example, the "slapping" mentioned by Wang Dahu just now is an easy way to build rapport between people.

Yes, "slapping" refers to the card game "Landlords."

Ever since Shu Guan taught this game to the village, it has become the favorite activity of Taoyuan villagers in their spare time, within just a few months.

From old women in their seventies and eighties to youngsters in their teens, everyone is obsessed with it.

Especially after dinner, when the sky is not yet completely dark, the doors of every house in Taoyuan Village are closed, and the sound of "slap, slap, slap" emanates from their homes, lingering until late night before gradually subsiding.

While Shu Guan and Wang Dahu were arranging the card game for the evening, Wang Erniu and Old Lame Uncle were still talking in front of them.

"Our village seems to have encountered such a terrible drought before."

Wang Erniu said with a frown.

"Forty-nine years ago, you were only three years old."

Old Lame Uncle nodded confidently; even though he was old, his memory never seemed to fade.

Wang Erniu's face showed a hint of reminiscence. He still had some recollection of the drought he experienced as a child, but it was not as clear as Old Lame Uncle's memory.

However, he still remembered something else.

This was also the reason he invited Old Lame Uncle to discuss the matter.

"I've heard that during the drought more than forty years ago, it was you, Uncle Lame, who went to the temple and begged for rain."

Wang Erniu asked uncertainly.

As for this matter, he had only heard it mentioned by his elders when he was a child.

"Yes."

Old Lame Uncle grinned and nodded again; his cloudy old eyes sparkled with some brilliance, seemingly lost in memories of a past time just like Wang Erniu.

Maybe it's because that moment was the most glorious time in his otherwise dull life.

"So, can you go to the temple and beg again this time, Uncle Lame?"

Wang Erniu asked cautiously.

"Fine, tomorrow I'll go up the mountain."

Old Lame Uncle agreed readily.

His demeanor was as casual and carefree as when the villagers usually called him to their homes to fix things.

Shu Guan, behind them, couldn't help but curl his lips in disdain.

You dare agree to such a thing so casually?

He naturally heard the conversation between Wang Erniu and Old Lame Uncle just now.

Shu Guan believed that there was a drought in Taoyuan Village many years ago, and he even believed that Old Lame Uncle went to beg for rain.

However, to say that the rain came because of Old Lame Uncle's entreaties, Shu Guan didn't believe it.

It must have been a coincidence.

As a modern person, this was Shu Guan's first judgment.

However, Shu Guan didn't say anything; he knew that there was no way to explain it to these people from ancient times, and the villagers of Taoyuan in particular believed in these things, after all, their ability to live here came from the pity of an Immortal.

Pity, huh?

Suddenly, an idea came to Shu Guan's mind, and he couldn't help but look up.

He looked towards the cliff at the end of the stream.

Halfway up the cliff, there was a hidden cave concealed by trees. Deep inside the cave, there was a temple.

Immortal Temple.