My Demon Friends-Chapter 536 - 515: Small Town

"Are we near the foot of the mountain yet?" Zhou Li strained to see through the thick fog ahead, where he could vaguely make out a house with a water tank on its roof. He then sniffed, feeling as if dew had already reached his nose. "My face feels wet already."

"I don't know," replied Miss Zheng softly from horseback. "Mine too."

"It might be that you've got a runny nose," Brother Nan said, turning around with a serious expression. She had obviously heard Zhou Li sniff.

"MEOW!" Tuanzi poked its head out of her hood.

"Impossible," Zhou Li answered Brother Nan first, then carefully checked again. As they drew closer, the house ahead became clearer, so he turned back to Miss Zheng and said, "We're indeed nearly at the bottom of the mountain; it's quite a bit closer from this side."

"But it's still quite a long way to the town."

"It's not too bad."

The weeds along the narrow path had noticeably thinned, indicating frequent foot traffic, but dew still clung to the tips of the grass, signifying no one had come down the mountain this morning.

Miss Zheng's body gently bobbed up and down in rhythm with the piebald horse's gait as she spoke softly, "It used to be like this in rural areas. To go to the market down the mountain, you had to leave early in the morning. Otherwise, by the time you arrived, the market would already have dispersed. Nowadays, very few people still live this remotely."

Zhou Li listened to her, yet his gaze was fixed ahead.

He saw Big Yellow continuing along the path, but Brother Nan ventured alone onto another, even smaller path.

Big Yellow paused, turning its head to look at her.

But it soon looked away and continued forward, barely sparing her any attention.

Zhou Li didn't say anything more, quietly following Big Yellow.

Zheng Zhilan soon noticed Brother Nan heading the other way. She turned her head, her eyes following Brother Nan, and asked with puzzlement, "Why is Brother Nan taking that way?"

"It's nothing."

"Oh."

Brother Nan's path was just narrower, but it would still rejoin the original path, and the distances were roughly the same.

While walking, Zhou Li and Zheng Zhilan occasionally turned their heads to watch her. She picked up her pace a bit. When a thicket of bamboo obstructed their view, she would dash a few steps like a secret agent before slowing down as she emerged, pretending as if nothing was amiss, though it was evident to everyone.

All this was just so she could get ahead of them and then announce—

"My path is shorter!"

Zhou Li quietly played along with her act.

Looking up, the entire village came into view, yet it was all submerged in fog, with only half of the distant houses and the trees on the mountain visible.

Up ahead, Brother Nan exclaimed softly—

"So beautiful."

Zhou Li nodded, took out his phone to take a photo, and then continued onward.

The town was indeed somewhat distant. Even after reaching the village at the mountain's base, it was still over an hour's walk. Fortunately, the town market dispersed late, and they weren't too tired.

It was almost ten o'clock by the time they arrived at the town.

The midday barbecue had to be postponed until the afternoon.

Fortunately, the town's bustle did not disappoint them. Surprisingly, it remained quite primitive, with stalls selling scallion pancakes and cotton candy, a middle-aged man carrying skewers of candied hawthorn everywhere, a huge crowd around a popcorn stand, and even street performers.

Many of the elderly people were dressed in blue dacron jackets and custom-made trousers from seamstresses, carrying basket backpacks, their faces lined with deep wrinkles.

It had been many years since he'd seen acrobats.

It had been many years since he'd seen such clothing.

It had a very nostalgic feel.

Zhou Li led the horse, turning his head left and right, quietly taking in the sights before describing to Miss Zheng what he saw.

Driven by curiosity, Brother Nan couldn't help but investigate everything. Whether it was a particularly cheap vegetable stall or someone selling medicinal liquor, she'd push forward to peek, looking utterly earnest.

Tuanzi climbed up on her shoulder to look too.

Both human and cat watched intently, their expressions strikingly similar, standing there for a long time without moving an inch. Ultimately, Zhou Li had to go over and pull them away.

No sooner had he pulled them away than Huai Xu would push in. He would turn back to drag Huai Xu away, only for the others to return to their original spots. After finally managing to pull them all away, they wouldn't get far before he realized someone was missing. Turning around, after a good search, he'd spot them standing on tiptoes behind a crowd, peering inside.

Zhou Li felt like he couldn't be in two places at once.

Zheng Zhilan, watching from horseback, laughed secretly.

The scene was very harmonious.

In the end, Zhou Li had to offer them great incentives—he agreed to buy them cotton candy, scallion pancakes, baozi, and candied hawthorns, allowing them to eat as they walked. This was the only way he could persuade them to agree that watching the commotion for just a little while was enough.

Then, the group formed a long line, ambling through the streets, shopping for supplies.

The ambiance became even more harmonious.

Shopping for supplies was quite challenging, the main difficulty being bargaining.

The locals were used to haggling over prices, so the vendors' asking prices were often inaccurate. If you didn't negotiate, you'd be ripped off.

Zhou Li couldn't handle such tasks. He neither knew the prices of vegetables nor how to haggle. It was up to Miss Zheng and Brother Nan to take charge. His role was to step forward to scan the payment code when Brother Nan called him over, and then let Huai Xu put the groceries into the cloth bags hanging on the horse.

"Sigh…"

Zhou Li sighed deeply.

Miss Zheng, from behind him, immediately asked with concern, "Are you tired?"

"Not really."

Zhou Li shook his head, hesitated a bit, then spoke, "I feel like a fool."

Huai Xu stood beside him, nibbling on a skewer of candied hawthorn that smeared his lips while nodding in agreement, "You really are quite foolish."

Zhou Li silently turned his head to look at him.

Tuanzi then poked its head out of Brother Nan's hood, its tiny claws clinging to the rim as it looked at him and consoled him in a clear, bright voice, "Zhou Li, you're not foolish, you're just a bit dumber than Lord Dumpling."

Zhou Li was deeply moved.

Huai Xu continued to nibble on his candied hawthorn, asking them, "Is this about all we need to buy?"

Zhou Li turned his head to see Brother Nan bending over at a stall, inquiring about the price of eggplants. After receiving a reply, she picked through them, pointed out defects, and then seriously discussed the price with the vendor, sounding like an old pro at the market, yet the way her candied hawthorn swayed in her hand was like a little girl's.

The hair she cut at the start of the pandemic last year had grown a bit longer now, falling from her shoulders and looking extremely beautiful.

"Two yuan fifty, we're buying three, okay?" Brother Nan turned back. "One for that 'Dragon Boat Cripple' dish, and two to slice up and skewer for grilling."

"Alright," Zhou Li replied, unfazed.

"Hmm?" Brother Nan tilted her head. "You're acting weird."

"What's weird?" Zhou Li gazed at her calmly and then sniffed. "Then let's pick three."

"TSK TSK…"

Zhou Li felt a bit embarrassed, but his expression remained unchanged as he watched her pick one big and two slender eggplants to weigh. He leaned in to check the scale. The total was only a few yuan. Haggling over such a small amount... he found it somewhat difficult to comprehend.

"Are we done? Anything else to buy?"

"Seems like that's about it. Little Zheng, see if we missed anything." Brother Nan handed the eggplants to him. "We bought eggplants, cauliflower, oyster mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, and shiitake, oh and these little potatoes."

"Maybe... that's enough."

"Maybe..."

Brother Nan grinned and then said, "That should do it then. Mainly we came to buy mushrooms for that Demon of yours at home."

Tuanzi poked its head out of her hood again, "Buy auntie..."

"Don't talk."

Brother Nan playfully smacked Tuanzi, and it withdrew its head back into the hood completely.

Then, Brother Nan checked the time. "It's almost noon. I saw a place selling pot rice at the three-way intersection over there. Smells pretty good. Let's go have a bowl. After that, we can head back slowly and sort these things out. Won't that be delightful?"

No one objected.

On their way, Zhou Li stopped at a small liquor workshop and bought two jin of loose liquor, as Xing Hui and Ji Bai both loved to drink. They also passed a stall selling cold noodles and jelly, so Brother Nan ran over to buy some to eat as a side dish later. The group accompanied Huai Xu in his search for roast duck, bought suitable energy-efficient lamps, mingled with the crowds, chatted and bantered light-heartedly, and even paused to watch ants moving house. A mere few hundred meters took them over ten minutes to traverse. For once, Zhou Li savored the simple pleasure of strolling and shopping.