Chapter 296

Twenty-Five: A Little Story After the Rain

The torrential rain dotted the night sky.

Water droplets fell from the sky, hitting the blue-tiled eaves of a courtyard located on the right side of Lin'an Temple.

Four curtains of water hung down, like four beaded curtains strung together with threads.

The sound of rain from all over the world rushed toward them.

"Two donors, the monk's robes have been delivered. They are clean new clothes just sent by the tailor shop in the East Market today. Donors, please feel free to wear them.

"Donor Ouyang, as for the ingredients you wanted, the little monk only found a small half in the temple kitchen. There are no green onions, ginger, or cooking wine, only some dough, cilantro, and lard, all left over from the day."

A monk holding an umbrella hurried over through the rain, stood in the courtyard, and informed them.

From the tightly closed door of a dormitory in the courtyard, Ouyang Rong's voice rang out:

"It's fine, it's enough. Put the clothes and ingredients together on the back kitchen counter. Thank you for your hard work."

"This is as it should be."

The monk in the courtyard didn't leave immediately, saying with a somewhat happy tone:

"Donor Ouyang, that aunt of yours truly has a Bodhisattva's heart and a sincere heart toward the Buddha. She has donated a lot of incense money to our small temple. The abbot has long wanted to visit and thank Donor Ouyang and Bodhisattva Zhen properly. I didn't expect such a fate tonight..."

"Well, it really is quite a fate with your Lin'an Temple."

After a pause, from inside the main door, first came a pleasant coughing sound belonging to a woman, and then Ouyang Rong's voice continued:

"Wait, in this guest courtyard, there is only one fire stove, only in this dormitory?"

"Our small temple is poor. Each guest courtyard has only one fire stove, there are no extras."

The monk holding the umbrella in the courtyard gave a wry smile:

"How about my junior brother and I go to the neighboring courtyard and move one over?"

"Forget it, no need. It's raining so hard... You go and rest, close the courtyard gate before you leave."

"Alright, donor."

Hearing the footsteps of the monk holding the umbrella outside the door gradually disappear in the heavy rain, followed by the sound of the courtyard gate closing.

Inside the dormitory, Ouyang Rong and Xie Lingjiang looked at each other and let out a sigh of relief at the same time.

This is a temple near the river in Chaisang Ward, named Lin'an Temple. Although in the same ward, it is quite far from Huaiye Lane.

Ouyang Rong didn't know how he had wandered here either. Fortunately, his aunt Zhen Shuyuan usually liked to burn incense and pray to the Buddha for blessings for her nephew everywhere.

She had donated incense money to most of the temples in Chaisang Ward, truly a kind of sucker... no, a platinum customer. This Lin'an Temple was no exception.

Just now, he and the Xiao Shimei fled the rain here in the middle of the night. Ouyang Rong tried to report his aunt's name, and as a result, they were immediately treated respectfully by the temple monks.

He wasn't polite either, making some requests, and the temple monks all tried their best to handle them well.

At the moment, Lin'an Temple had arranged a dormitory with a spacious courtyard for Ouyang Rong and Xie Lingjiang to stay.

The two were hiding from the rain for the time being, warming by the fire and resting.

However, in the dormitory, there was only one fire stove. Ouyang Rong couldn't help but sigh, it seemed he would have to squeeze with the Xiao Shimei with difficulty.

He turned his head and suggested solemnly:

"Take off your damp outer clothes. Wearing them on your body makes it easy for cold air to enter your body. By the way, hang the clothes by the stove to dry them, it's convenient for drying."

A certain stunning young lady who was coughing by the fire stove said in a voice as thin as a mosquito's: "Mm."

Both of them had been drenched like drowned rats. They hadn't noticed much while running in the rain just now.

Coming to the dry and warm room now, they realized that the wet coat worn on the body was heavy and kept dripping water to their feet.

At this moment, sharing a room, their gazes met and then separated, and the hands that had been held together before were temporarily separated.

The atmosphere in the room fell into silence. Ouyang Rong didn't say a word, took off the damp white fox fur shawl, then took off the plain white literary shirt on the outermost layer, and hung them together by the fire stove to bake.

Xie Lingjiang's peripheral vision had been secretly paying attention to the movement on the Ru Shixiong's side. Seeing him take off his clothes and hang them as if nothing were wrong, all in one go, without any other actions.

She secretly breathed a sigh of relief, turned her body sideways, raised her hand to untie her collar, didn't think much, and slowly took off the fiery red ceremonial long dress with the skirt hem cut off that she was wearing outside.

Ouyang Rong couldn't help but turn his head to look, and immediately discovered that the close-fitting gauze garment Xie Lingjiang was wearing inside seemed a bit thin and translucent.

Before, while running in the rain, she was wearing a grand ceremonial long dress with too much material, covering her delicate body tightly, and nothing special could be seen.

But now that the wet and heavy ceremonial long dress was taken off, the true scenery was immediately revealed—inside was a close-fitting gauze garment.

The material of the close-fitting gauze garment was special. It was fine when it wasn't soaked in water, but now it was soaked and wet, immediately sticking to her body wetly, becoming more "close-fitting," faintly revealing a set of blue and pink color-blocked dudou and underpants inside.

Hua Xuanji highlighting Xie Lingjiang's graceful delicate body to be increasingly curvaceous.

Especially the scenery that was extremely "fierce" and heinous.

Being drenched like a drowned rat at the moment, this Xie family noble lady couldn't care about maintaining a lady's image. Accompanied by her cute actions of bending over, lifting her feet, and hooking her fingers to take off her shoes, the huge heaving on her chest immediately dazzled someone's eyes.

He quietly swallowed his saliva. Why did the high-end gauze garment worn by noble ladies look like it wasn't worn at all when wet? This is the upper class, right?

Hanging the taken-off ceremonial dress by the stove, Xie Lingjiang suddenly turned her head, followed Ouyang Rong's peripheral vision, and looked down at herself.

She blushed instantly.

"You... you are not allowed to look." She lowered her head in shyness.

The stunning young lady protected her chest with two lotus-root arms and stammered.

Unfortunately, her breath was insufficient, and there was only a milky-fierce visual sense.

"Oh, okay."

Ouyang Rong responded, turned his body obediently, looked around as if nothing were wrong, and began to take the lead in demonstrating, taking off his inner clothes and baring his chest.

Xie Lingjiang was so frightened that she hugged her chest and leaned back, her beautiful eyes wide: "Ru Shixiong, you, what are you doing?"

Ouyang Rong said with a stern face: "Changing clothes, how uncomfortable is it to wear wet clothes on your body?"

"Then... then why are you changing here?"

Ouyang Rong had reasons and evidence, his tone was serious: "A big man, isn't it the same everywhere? What's there for me to be embarrassed about? Xiao Shimei, don't worry about me."

"..." Xie Lingjiang bit her lip, looking at him in a daze: "Ru Shixiong really doesn't treat me as an outsider."

Ouyang Rong blinked: "Are you still an outsider now?"

"Ru Shixiong, you..."

Xie Lingjiang was instantly speechless.

Such fast progress made her heart beat a little fast.

The Xie family noble lady, who had appeared in grand attire at the birthday banquet that was the focus of everyone's attention not long ago and was as dignified as a lady, blushed and panted for a while.

Finally, she gathered her courage to look up and glared at him, "Ru Shixiong is not allowed... not allowed to be indecent."

Hua Xuanji, under Ouyang Rong's straight gaze, she lowered her head timidly and said:

"You... you go to the kitchen side to change into monk's robes, I'll go over later too. After changing, let's come back to bake by the fire and eat longevity noodles. You say... is that okay?"

The stunning young lady's voice was a bit lacking in confidence, as if she was prepared to be rejected.

"Cough cough, okay, do as Xiao Shimei says."

Ouyang Rong nodded without a sound:

"You change first, or I change first?"

Xie Lingjiang was shy: "Ru Shixiong first, you've almost finished taking them off..."

"Okay." Ouyang Rong nodded.

Xie Lingjiang heard this and immediately breathed a huge sigh of relief.

He suddenly stopped: "By the way, you take this, to cover up."

"This is..."

"That skirt hem of yours that drags on the ground is quite long, just right to cover you up."

"Thank... thank you, Ru Shixiong."

"What's there to be polite about."

Xie Lingjiang looked at the honest and serious back walking toward the kitchen, feeling warm in her heart.

Ru Shixiong is still very good to her, upright and reliable, although occasionally a bit bad and bold, but he has never forced her, respects her very much, even if he took her out tonight, she followed him in a heat of the moment to get drenched in the rain and stay in the temple overnight...

So what the aunt said, that she would be eaten to death and bullied by him in the future... hmm, that won't happen.

Xie Lingjiang's heart turned sweet.

Ouyang Rong walked to the kitchen door, suddenly turned his head, and said with a serious and solemn face:

"I won't lock the door, Xiao Shimei, help me guard the door well. Except for you, you are not allowed to let outsiders in."

The tone was quite serious.

Those who didn't know would think he was a delicate young lady.

"I, I won't go in... okay, okay, okay, you go change clothes quickly."

Xie Lingjiang waved her hand to agree, coaxing him in a helpless tone.

Ouyang Rong nodded and walked into the dim kitchen.

Closed the door.

Ouyang Rong immediately turned his head, glanced at the copper lock, reached out to test it slightly, and found that the copper lock was old and rusty, and a creaking sound was made when moved a little.

He nodded lightly, withdrew his palm, and didn't touch it for the time being.

Glancing around the kitchen, Ouyang Rong first went to check the clean monk's robes and longevity noodle ingredients on the stove, then turned around, walking lightly in the kitchen, looking around.

Didn't go to change wet clothes immediately.

"Speaking of which, we've already confessed and held hands, what's the next step?"

A certain straight man couldn't help but ponder, muttering in a low voice:

"Meeting 'frankly', shouldn't be too much, right? That Qin young lady before wasn't quite generous and bold? Although I was still a bit polite to her... cough cough, forget it, Xiao Shimei is completely different from her... hmm, this kind of thing is more complicated than the most difficult official business, really a headache."

Love is not easy, Ouyang Rong sighed:

"Still can't do it too much, although Xiao Shimei sometimes looks silly, making people want to bully her.

"But after all, she comes from a noble family, the top kind of scholar family, the family style can be imagined, should be conservative, the upbringing from childhood to adulthood is estimated to be inclined to be a chaste lady, with strong self-esteem, must not do contemptuous or frivolous acts... hmm, unless forced."

Slowly stopping his muttering, Ouyang Rong's eyes couldn't help but float with the graceful delicate body figure that was just looming and only wearing blue and pink dudou and underpants, the picture was a bit lingering.

"Speaking of which, was she intentional just now? If so, wouldn't I be silly to miss it?

"Besides, I finally took her out tonight. If I don't strike while the iron is hot and return fully loaded, could it be that I really act as a gentleman who is unmoved by beauty, send her home safely, and then return empty-handed, tossing and turning in bed at night, looking at the ocean and sighing?

"Then I guess if Liulang and the others knew, they would laugh me to death."

Walking to the vat, Ouyang Rong, who was a bit righteous, scooped water with his palm, rubbed his cheeks, and nodded to himself:

"No, this is not my gentleman's style."

After a thorough straight-man analysis, Ouyang Rong gritted his teeth secretly and immediately took action.

He walked around the kitchen silently, passing an empty rice vat.

Squeak squeak—!

Ouyang Rong suddenly heard a faint sound from the rice vat, looked over keenly, and it turned out to be a probing little mouse, looking very young.

This young mouse seemed hungry, wandering and pacing in the empty rice vat.

Ouyang Rong raised his eyebrows and went to catch the young mouse.

Afterward, he searched carefully around and found a mouse nest, but didn't see the mother mouse, who might have gone out to forage.

Ouyang Rong suddenly turned around, walked to the kitchen cabinet, and got a broken bowl.

He returned to the stove, scooped half a spoonful of lard from the ingredients brought by the monk, and poured it into the bowl.

Ouyang Rong lowered his eyes and dropped the mouse into the bowl.

He turned his head and glanced at the two monk's robes folded neatly beside him, and reached out his hand.

First, he compared them, specially picked out the largest monk's robe, and took it to change.

Left behind a relatively small monk's robe, folded it well, and returned it to the stove.

Ouyang Rong seemingly unintentionally covered the broken bowl with this small monk's robe.

"Why isn't Ru Shixiong done yet."

Xie Lingjiang's puzzled voice suddenly came from outside the kitchen.

"Coming, coming."

Ouyang Rong suppressed the corner of his mouth and responded.

He walked to one side, stripped naked, dropped the wet clothes, and changed into the large gray monk's robe.

Ouyang Rong walked to the stove, took a few ingredients, and walked out of the back kitchen without looking back.

Creak—

The kitchen door was pulled open from the inside, and the figure of the monk's robe youth walked out.

At the dormitory door, Xie Lingjiang, who was waiting nervously, breathed a sigh of relief when she saw this.

She saw Ouyang Rong walk out of the kitchen, also carrying dough and other ingredients, his face calm, his tone casual:

"Xiao Shimei, go in and change clothes. It's dark inside, be careful of your feet."

"Okay."

Xie Lingjiang looked at what he was holding: "Ru Shixiong is..."

"Isn't Xiao Shimei hungry? I won't disturb you changing clothes. I'll take the dough out, knead it, and it'll be convenient to make longevity noodles for you later."

Ouyang Rong smiled, passed by Xie Lingjiang without looking aside, walked into the dormitory, placed the cutting board and dough and other ingredients on the table, lowered his head to knead the dough, and said seriously:

"I'll guard for you, Xiao Shimei, go in with peace of mind."

Xie Lingjiang looked back, looked at the Ru Shixiong's upright, honest, and kneading long back, and nodded lightly, "Okay."

She held the dry skirt hem that had been cut off, covered her chest with wet clothes, and walked into the kitchen.

The figure of the gentleman behind her made the stunning young lady feel warm in her heart.

Heard the sound of the kitchen door closing again behind her.

Ouyang Rong turned his head instantly, listening with his ears, as if waiting for something, his face focused.

After a while, there was still no sound of the copper lock moving from the kitchen door direction.

Didn't lock the door.

Ouyang Rong couldn't help but curl up the corner of his mouth, tried hard to suppress it, and continued to lower his head to knead the dough.

He pricked up his ears and waited earnestly.

Hmm, what is Ouyang Rong's style? If dog blood doesn't come to him, he goes to dog blood.

After about a stick of incense time, no special sound came from the kitchen.

In the dormitory, at a table, Ouyang Rong frowned slightly, why is there no movement?

Is Xiao Shimei so slow at changing clothes?

But it's true that women are quite slow at changing clothes and going out...

He lowered his head and waited patiently, his palms kneading the sticky dough for the longevity noodles.

Ouyang Rong's eyes slowly floated with the picture of rain hitting banana leaves and heaving ups and downs not long ago.

His face was dazed.

A short while later, he even felt that the dough felt weirder and weirder as he kneaded it.

Ouyang Rong shook his head.

Crackle—!

"Ah!"

Just at this moment, a crisp sound of a broken bowl falling to the ground came from the kitchen behind him, followed by the Xiao Shimei's cry.

Ouyang Rong's eyes were happy.

He shouted loudly, his tone very worried: "Xiao Shimei, what's wrong with you? Hold on!"

Xie Lingjiang's voice was anxious: "Wait, don't come in!" But Ouyang Rong was faster.

Dropped the fake dough, no, real dough, rushed out of the dormitory like a whirlwind, came to the kitchen, and pushed the door to break in without a word... the door didn't move.

He was stunned, then used force.

The door still didn't move.

The kitchen door didn't know when it had been locked by someone, and there was no sound at all.

Someone was stunned for a long time, then the corners of his eyes twitched fiercely.

No way, even a gentleman is guarded against?!

(End of chapter)