My Demon Friends-Chapter 539 - 518: Descend the Mountain

「Early morning.」

It snowed last night, making today particularly cold. The small mountain village was transformed into a world dressed in white, so unfamiliar that Zhou Li almost didn't recognize it.

Standing by the bed and admiring the scene for a moment, he began to tidy up the bedding.

Since he was leaving today, he had to remove the pillow inserts and comforter filling, strip the bedsheets, and also flip up and fold the mattress padding. These would be put away in the closet later. Pillowcases, bedsheets, and duvet covers had to be taken to be washed.

Zhou Li first gathered these items and placed them on the bed before turning to Huai Xu, who was still lying splayed out, head turned to stare at him. "Aren't you going to get up and pack?"

"I will."

"Then hurry up."

"Oh."

Huai Xu rolled over and clambered out of bed.

Zhou Li stood by, feeling the cold draft Huai Xu's movements created. "I should have told Little Zheng not to make your bed. It's such a hassle to make it up for just a few days. Since you don't use a quilt anyway and aren't afraid of the cold, sleeping on the wooden boards would have been fine."

"Wooden boards are hard."

"Then just the mattress padding would have sufficed."

"I could also just sleep next to you!" Huai Xu turned his head and retorted, "Too lazy to bother with a separate bed!"

That's also true... Zhou Li thought. The first time he came here, there was only one bed in this room, and back then, Zhou Li was quite reluctant to sleep next to Huai Xu. It wasn't that he didn't mind now; it was just that after sleeping together a few times, he'd grown more used to it, and his reluctance had lessened considerably. He could tolerate it for a few days if necessary.

Once Huai Xu had finished packing, the two of them and Tuanzi, the cat, walked out the door.

Sounds came from the next room, like the whooshing of wind.

Zhou Li leaned in to see; it was Brother Nan shaking out a quilt. He then casually glanced around but didn't see Miss Zheng, nor did he hear any movement downstairs.

It was rare to see Brother Nan being so diligent. The Brother Nan he remembered would just fling her quilt off when getting up, even saying, 'Folding the quilt neatly takes away the cozy feeling of home.' So he seized this rare opportunity, stopping at the doorway to watch her earnestly.

After shaking out her quilt and laying it neatly on the bed, Brother Nan picked up a scarf lying nearby. She showed no intention of wearing it; instead, she patiently rolled it into a ball, as if preparing to put it away.

Then she turned around.

And threw it at Zhou Li's face.

Accompanied by her sound effect—

"BOOM~~"

The prolonged sound seemed to carry an explosive effect.

However, Zhou Li easily caught the scarf.

Looking down, he saw it was a hand-knitted scarf of mixed black and white wool. It seemed a high school girl had knitted it for her, using high-quality, fluffy, and soft yarn. For a high school girl to be willing to buy such expensive yarn to knit a scarf for her, it must have been true love.

"Aha! You intercepted it!" Brother Nan exclaimed.

"You're so childish," Zhou Li casually tossed the scarf "grenade" back to Brother Nan. "Where did Little Zheng go?"

"Not sure," Brother Nan blinked. "I just woke up. She was already gone; her spot in bed was already cold."

That sounds so weird, Zhou Li thought.

"Don't talk nonsense! Take another hit from my Vitality Bullet!"

Brother Nan, with a perfectly straight face, threw the scarf ball again, still aiming for Zhou Li's face.

This time Zhou Li didn't dodge. He let it hit his face; it didn't hurt at all. He could even smell Brother Nan's scent. Only when the scarf ball fell did he reach out to catch it. "Isn't this the scarf that girl from the class next door knitted for you?"

"Oh? Are you jealous?" Brother Nan eyed him sideways. "Do you want to knit one for me too?"

"I don't have that skill."

"You could learn!" Brother Nan said. "Nowadays, it's not uncommon to see guys who can sew and knit. I was scrolling through TikTok the other day and came across a male class president who knitted a scarf for every girl in his class. Did you see that?"

"I didn't."

"Here it comes again!"

"Stop throwing things at me."

Zhou Li tossed the scarf back to her.

Brother Nan, however, didn't throw it back this time. Instead, she unwrapped the scarf from around her neck and said, "I decided last night, I'm not going back with you all. I'm not going on the Qingjiang tour anyway. I want to stay here and have fun for another two or three days before heading back. Leave the car for me; you can take a bus."

"You're not going back to be the store manager?"

"Being a store manager is nowhere near as fun as being a mountain king here. Besides, it's snowing, and I can play in the snow. I've already decided what kind of snowman I'm going to build."

"I see."

Zhou Li figured Brother Nan must have noticed Miss Zheng's sadness last night and decided to stay and keep her company for a couple more days.

He shook his head and started to walk outside.

Brother Nan followed him, chatting non-stop.

So Zhou Li learned the story of the bespectacled girl who had been isolated and bullied by the rest of her class. Brother Nan had helped her, and afterwards, the girl knitted several scarves, eventually giving one to Brother Nan. However, Brother Nan's retelling focused less on the touching aspects and more on the parts that highlighted her own domineering aura, which greatly dampened Zhou Li's interest.

Miss Zheng wasn't downstairs either.

Zhou Li turned his head to look at Huai Xu.

Huai Xu yawned. "She went out but she's already on her way back. You'll see her soon."

Zhou Li glanced outside. The courtyard was covered with a layer of white snow, and snowflakes were still fluttering in the air, though very lightly now. The world was a vast expanse of white. Going out in such cold weather... It seems the secluded life on the mountain isn't as good as I imagined.

"This snowy weather..."

"Qinghe is with her. Don't worry so much; she's been living here for over a decade," Huai Xu said.

"Oh."

Only then did Zhou Li feel a bit relieved. He brushed his teeth and washed his face with the hot water from last night. Finally, he saw Miss Zheng returning from outside. She was carrying a backpack basket and wearing a conical bamboo hat, intently following Qinghe. The human and the demon left a jumbled trail of footprints on the narrow path.

Zhou Li hurried over to greet them.

The backpack basket contained five or six pomelos, each one very large, like greenish-yellow lanterns.

"It's alright."

Miss Zheng walked back into the room and used a stool to help her set down the backpack basket, her breath pluming white in the cold air. "You're all leaving, so I picked a few pomelos for you. They're especially sweet."

Then she walked to one side and picked up two jars. "Also, Autumn Pear Paste. If I make more next year, I'll wait until you all are here before I do."

"There are also the pickled vegetables you like."

"Take a rack of cured ribs as well. I raised the pig myself; it's tastier than the ones sold in stores."

"..."

Zhou Li pursed his lips, his feelings quite complicated.

Deep down, he didn't want Miss Zheng to go to so much trouble, but he didn't refuse her offers either and accepted everything.

「After breakfast.」

Zhou Li, holding Tuanzi, left the house with Huai Xu. They went to say goodbye to each of the four demons in turn, usually stopping to chat for a few moments, explaining that he was leaving early to tour Qingjiang. During this process, he also received nuts from Xiao Yuan and Lao Hui, and utterly useless farewell flowers and homemade coarse tea from Xing Hui and Ji Bai. Zhou Li had tasted this tea before; it was terrible... Anyway, the pile of things he received kept growing.

Even so, they seemed quite embarrassed, feeling they hadn't given enough, and promised to give him more next year when their supplies were more plentiful.

Thankfully, Brother Nan took pity on them and allowed them to drive the car away. She only asked Huai Xu to drive it back for her later. She also specifically instructed him to park it on the other side when he returned, so she would have fewer steps to walk when she came down the mountain.

"Please, don't see us off any further."

Zhou Li turned back to look at Brother Nan and Miss Zheng, pausing for a moment. "Next year, when you make Autumn Pear Paste, remember to wait for me."

Zheng Zhilan nodded lightly in response.

Then Zhou Li and Huai Xu waved to them. Tuanzi imitated the gesture. After receiving waves in return from them and the four demons, Zhou Li finally turned and left, carefully stepping onto the path.

This part of the path was untrodden, so the snow still lay smooth and pristine.

The disadvantages were quite obvious. The path, long in disrepair, had various collapsed sections and hidden pitfalls along its edges. Covered in snow, one could easily step into a hollow if not careful, resulting in a mere tumble at best, or a fall down the cliff at worst. But just as Qinghe had scouted ahead for Miss Zheng before, Huai Xu now skipped and bounded in front, checking the path for Zhou Li.

There was an upside, though: they could leave a fresh trail of footprints, which felt quite significant. Unfortunately, Huai Xu, walking ahead, had already disturbed the snow, meaning Zhou Li was essentially treading on a "secondhand" snowy path.

As they passed Zhihong Guan, they went in to pay another visit.

Zhou Li left a pomelo and a jar of Autumn Pear Paste. Seeing the elder of the observatory wearing the cotton pants and shoes he'd bought for him, he felt inexplicably pleased.

And so, his steps became a little lighter.