Give weak women a heart of steel

Chapter 273 The money-grubbing priest

Until she arrived at Dusui Village, this woman was still unhappy.

A pitiful and lost look, like a sculpture called the Thinker.

Oh my God, someone please marry her.

"Teacher Yukino? Do you need to stop here?"

The uncle driver parked his car at the entrance of the village. There was a huge gray-white rice ear here. He thought the students would like to take pictures here.

···
Yukino Teru was still thinking and silent.

The uncle driver had no choice but to take the students to the hot spring hotel that had been reserved for them.

This is an old-fashioned typical hot spring hotel with a pure wooden structure. You can see the curved vaults and complex staggered wooden rafters.

The black-painted hanging logs are placed on the wooden structure like a balustrade, and the red beams are particularly conspicuous.

The outermost tiles still have no original color, with fallen leaves and moss decorating them.

The female general in kimono stood in front of the hotel and stared at the stopped bus.

"Are you a guest of Qicong Academy?"

The female general bent slightly.

The uncle driver who stopped the car was very embarrassed. He scratched his head and said, "Oh, I'm not Qicong's teacher. Teacher Yukino Teru is still in the car."

The female general straightened up, her gray hair neatly combed, and her wrinkled face looked serious.

"Yo, that's right."

Yukino Teru walked out of the car slowly and greeted the female general casually.

Even the students felt that Yukino Teru was a little rude now.

Not very polite.

"Teacher Xueye, welcome to Xicui Village."

Unlike Yukino Teru, the female general of Xicui Village is very old-fashioned.

"what--"

Yukino Teru scratched her hair and ignored this old-fashioned old woman.

Waved to the other waitresses: "Hey, long time no see."

"Sister Teru, long time no see."

The waitresses whispered and waved quietly.

But with a glance from the woman, these waitresses trembled like quails.

"So, is this Yukino Teru-sensei's hometown?"

Ueno Naoko asked quietly.

"Isn't that natural, idiot."

Haishiozaochi held his backpack and pouted at Ueno Naoko.

As soon as the two girls got out of the car, they started to quarrel again.

"Bring all these guests in."

The female general gave instructions to a head waitress, and a waitress wearing an orange kimono came out and said to the students: "I will take you to your accommodation."

The entire Xicui Village is a large building complex. When you walk in from the door, you need to walk through a wooden corridor and pass by a patio stacked with rockeries and landscaping before you can reach your residence.

The living place is a four-story building. The girls are on the fourth floor and the boys are on the third floor.

There are dedicated people ready to help carry your luggage.

Xia Tingfei found his luggage in the room.

Because of his strong request and his willingness to pay for extra accommodation fees, and there is plenty of space, he can live in a room alone.

However, this also made other people unhappy.

However, Xia Tingfei didn't care.

The room he was in was called Bamboo Room.

Although the name is called Bamboo Room, what you see when you open the window is a lush forest and continuous mountains.

Perhaps it should be called Between the Forests, but all the windows here can see the mountains and forests that are not surprising.

"Perhaps, it should be called Jinma."

Xia Tingfei looked at the golden touch in the mountain forest.

——There should be some kind of flower field.

"However, we still have to find this girl first."

Xia Tingfei pulled out a piece of paper from the file with the girl's photo and name on it.

——Chikmura Aoi.

A name that sounds very energetic, and the girl in the photo is also smiling happily, like a bright sunflower.

Place your backpack on the table and put the photo in your pocket.

He walked slowly down the stairs.

"Guest, do you want to go out?"

A waitress holding a large pile of items greeted her.

"Yeah." Xia Tingfei nodded.

"Tosuui Village is very beautiful. Although it is called a village, it is not small in size. It is more like a small town. The entire town is built on the mountain, and the hotel is almost at the highest location. If you go up, there is a shrine. However, it is very old."

"Most of the buildings in the town have to go downwards."

The waitress said and took out a leaflet folded in three.

Probably because Xia Tingfei looked at her strangely, the waitress smiled implicitly: "Because it is a request from the committee, and it is said that the hot spring hotel should publicize the Dusui Village to guests, saying that it will boost the economy and so on. Words that people don’t understand.”

"Thank you very much." Xia Tingfei took the flyer and asked briefly: "Did you know that there is a family called Zhucun here?"

"Zhu Cun?" The waitress tilted her head: "What a strange last name."

She thought about it carefully, then shook her head apologetically: "I've actually never heard of such a surname."

"But maybe this family has moved away from Dusui Village a long time ago."

The waitress said: "Maybe you can find out by asking the old people here."

"There is a priest living in the shrine. You can ask him."

"Priest? I understand."

When Xia Tingfei left Xicui Village with the leaflet, he saw the driver.

He was standing outside smoking. When he saw Xia Tingfei, he waved his hand to tell Xia Tingfei not to run around casually.

Xia Tingfei waved his hand and did not answer the driver.

The roads in the entire village are gray-white cement roads. The roads are not neat and have fine cracks.

The pebbles that were padded inside also jumped out for various reasons and scattered on both sides of the road.

When you step on it, you can feel the obvious tingling on your feet.

Because it was afternoon, the amount of sunlight did not make people feel hot or irritated.

At the edge of the winding road, there are calf-high curbs.

Xia Tingfei saw tourists sitting on it and resting, looking at the mountains and forests in the distance, feeling sad and sad.

The further you go up, the steeper the road becomes and the fewer people there are.

By the end of the road, there was absolutely no one in sight.

Moreover, the hard cement roads have also disappeared.

Instead, the earth surface appeared, and the surrounding trees became more and more prosperous.

The rich green shade blocked most of the direct sunlight, and the dirt roadside showed a slightly moist tan color.

Perhaps because too few people come here, there are also dense weeds on the ground.

"Are there really people here?" "I'm a little skeptical. The aging priest who lives in the dilapidated shrine seems to be listening to the story."

After walking about a few hundred meters on the dirt road, at the end even the slightly flat mountain road was no longer visible, and what appeared was a rugged mountain road.

Thick tree roots twisted into despicable traps for people to fall on. Gravel, mud puddles, rotten leaves, and moldy fruits mixed with a disgusting smell.

After walking for half an hour on the rugged and winding mountain road, Xia Tingfei finally saw the stone steps of the shrine.

Although the stone steps are old, they are clean.

There are not many dead branches and leaves left on it, and the sunken and broken ravines exude a green light.

"An old man has to sweep hundreds of steps every day, can he still hold on?"

Xia Tingfei walked up the stairs thinking about all the messy things.

There are blue stone lanterns on both sides of the stone steps.

It was about half a person's height and a hollow square shape.In the past, oil lamps or candles were probably installed inside, and there were small square eaves above to avoid water.

If you light up the stone lantern at night, it will probably be very beautiful.

——But unfortunately, most of these stone lanterns are damaged.

Some are missing the water-proof eaves above, and some are broken with half of the lantern body.

If it is put back into use, it will probably cost a lot of money.

After spending time walking to the end of the stone steps, Xia Tingfei finally saw the entire shrine.

At the end of the stone path is the vermilion shrine, which serves as a symbol to distinguish the gods from the human world.

On both sides are stone foxes holding ears of rice.

It seems to be well preserved. Although there are occasional signs of damage, it is large and intact.

The most important building in the shrine.

There is no distinction between the temple and the main hall.

There is only a small longhouse, and the bell hanging in front is still shining slightly, but the color of the hemp rope is already a bit old.

The money box sitting there also looked empty.

"Hello, is there anyone?"

Xia Tingfei shouted and looked around.

"What's the matter?"

An old man with white hair came out, holding a big broom in his hand: "I'm really sorry, I was delayed a little bit by something."

"Guest, do you need to pray for blessings? Or do you want to buy some royal guards or write ema?"

The old man pointed to the Ema frame next to the sacred tree shrine, with scattered wooden boards tied to it.

"The money-grubbing priest"

"In order to maintain the operation of the shrine, a qualified priest will not miss any opportunity to get money. If you invest three thousand yen bills, you may be able to get help from the priest."

Looking at the label on the old man's head, Xia Tingfei took out three [-]-yen bills from his wallet.

"I have some doubts and I want to pray to the gods to clear them up."

"If you are sincere, the gods will also use various forms to help you." The old man vowed.

"If it's a god who can be easily bribed with [-] yen, is his help really trustworthy?"

Although he was complaining in his heart, he still threw [-] yen into the wooden compartment of the money box.

After shaking the hemp rope and finally clapping his hands, Xia Tingfei said, "I want to find a person named Zhucun."

"When praying, it is best not to express your wishes. This is the correct understanding."

The old man reminded with a smile: "However, if you want to find a family named Zhucun, I can help."

"It seems that my prayers are really useful."

"The gods will bless you." The old man smiled kindly: "It is rare to build a village. Even in Dusui Village, there is only one family. So I remember clearly that their family does not live in the town, but some remote."

"It's very complicated to say. And there's no good way to explain it clearly."

"Do you have a map? I'll point it out to you on it."

"Can I have a leaflet?" Xia Tingfei took out a [-]% off leaflet that the waitress gave to him. It had a simple map of Dusui Village on it.

"Ah, of course this kind of thing is possible." The old man opened the flyer and read it carefully for a while.

Pointing to a location: "It's right here. Next to this hotel, there is a small road. Follow the road inward to the end, and you will see a building."

“That’s the only building, the village home.”

"Thank you for your help."

Xia Tingfei took back the flyer and looked at where the old man was pointing.

This is a shop called the Inagaki family, although the name sounds like it is some kind of food pavilion that has been passed down for a long time.

But as you can see from the photos on the flyer, this is just some kind of family restaurant.

Paired with this name, it seems inexplicable.

It's like a guy who wants to improve his style but has no good way.

Go down the stone steps, cross the mountain road, and walk on the hard cement road.

Xia Tingfei met several classmates.

"Ah, it turns out to be Xia Ting."

A girl whom Xia Tingfei didn't know was trying to retrieve Xia Tingfei.

"The tide is looking for you."

The girls giggled: "She looks super angry. You have to be careful when you go back."

Crossing their arms, the girls gestured.

"It seems that Tidalweed is really angry."

Xia Tingfei thanked the girls a few times and reminded: "There is only one old man who is greedy for money up there, but the scenery is quite good. And the sacred tree is very big."

The girls smiled and continued walking forward.

Going down the road, there are more and more people.

Xia Tingfei discovered a strange phenomenon.

——The people here seem to be very wealthy.

The clothes they wore and the arms they carried, although Xia Tingfei didn't understand these things very well, could still feel that they were expensive.

But their profession is not able to support such a large amount of expenses.

"Perhaps, people here can really find gold often."

Xia Tingfei murmured to himself, but felt that this was impossible.

After all, gold is often struck and a life of empowerment is maintained.

That requires so much luck.

Moreover, the gold mines here have long since disappeared.

After thinking for a while, he slowly walked towards Inagaki's house.

"However, I have been hearing about gold too much recently. Even my mission is about gold. It feels like it will be deeply involved with gold."

"Could it be that I will find a gold mine here?"

Thinking of this possibility, Xia Tingfei couldn't help but laugh.

"It feels like it's unlikely."

"After all, the mission reward is the Pharaoh's golden shroud. I'm not sure what it is yet. But it's probably some kind of antique mixed with gold wire. If you want to sell it, you can only sell it. The gold wire inside is taken out and sold as gold. If you sell antiques, no one will accept it."

"However, although a mountain village is a bit big, it is a bit weird to be related to the Pharaoh."

He was thinking about various things about the mission.

(End of this chapter)