Rebirth: I became rich by farming

Chapter 708: Chapter 708: Hidden Water Cave (14/25)

Mei Mengzhen looked at the child and indeed saw a shadow of Mei Mengfei in him. Moreover, judging by the reaction of the parent just now, it’s quite possible that the child was the culprit, with the parent being in the know. And from the parent’s tone, it was clear they didn’t think their child was in the wrong.

Mei Mengzhen had no interest in the unfolding drama; after all, she had similar parents and children in her own family. She could guess how it would be resolved without much thought and, thus, lost interest. She tugged at Pei Ziyu’s arm and said, "Brother Pei, let’s go back."

Pei Ziyu glanced over and, without saying much, followed her upstairs.

Once upstairs, they each went back to their own rooms. The doors to their rooms were properly closed; there would be no surprises in terms of missing belongings. However, both had left in such a hurry that neither had brought their room cards, so now they had no choice but to go back downstairs and ask someone to open their doors for them.

Mei Mengzhen felt speechless. "How could such an incident even happen on a trip?"

Pei Ziyu said, "Don’t be upset. If you’re out having fun, forget about all these messy incidents. We’re only staying for one night, and once we leave tomorrow, it’s unlikely we’ll come back here."

At these words, Mei Mengzhen laughed. After all, her impression of the hotel was really bad, and after leaving this time, she might truly never revisit this place. They were merely passersby; why bother getting annoyed?

"Yeah, I know."

There were quite a few people waiting to get their doors opened. Mei Mengzhen and Pei Ziyu stood in line for almost half an hour before their turn came. Woken up in the middle of the night and struggling to fall back asleep, Mei Mengzhen lay in her bed until dawn. As agreed the previous day, the two of them got up early to leave the hotel. The hotel did one thing right—they refunded yesterday’s room charge in full. This small gesture soothed their frustrations to some extent.

The two hopped into the car and snacked along the way. Three hours later, they arrived at a nearby tourist attraction.

This tourist attraction wasn’t a mountain but a place called Hidden Water Cave.

While it was just a cave, the scenery inside was still stunning. The temperature inside the cave was quite low, so they each put on an extra layer. At every special spot in the cave, there were workers ready to give explanations. After walking for more than two hours, they still hadn’t exited the cave, and just when both of them felt tired, they saw a small train track built by the attraction. They boarded the train, and it wasn’t long before they left the cave. Despite the simplicity, the visit to Hidden Water Cave was undoubtedly scenic.

They finally left the cave and could immediately discard the extra jackets they had just put on. "The weather is so extreme, but Brother Pei, it was really beautiful inside."

Pei Ziyu took Mei Mengzhen’s jacket and stuffed both jackets into his backpack, then also took out water and some snacks. "We didn’t have time to eat or drink in the cave; you must be hungry now."

Their journey wasn’t over after leaving the cave. They had just walked from one end to the other, and they still needed to make their way around the area to reach the spot where they had initially arrived. By the time they got back to the car, Mei Mengzhen checked the time; the whole trip took nearly 5 hours. They had arrived around 10 a.m., and now it was already past 3 p.m. Aside from feeling starved, Mei Mengzhen felt quite hungry. "It seems like the snacks from earlier didn’t do much. I’m so hungry now."

"If you’re hungry, let’s go eat."

Pei Ziyu started the car and after driving for over an hour, they found a farmhouse restaurant. The restaurant’s specialty was duck dishes, with duck soup and braised duck pot on the menu, as well as dry-fried duck—everything was focused on duck. Mei Mengzhen and Pei Ziyu had the same taste; they both enjoyed dry-fried dishes but also liked soup, so they ordered a dry-fried duck and then added a smoked duck stewed with lotus root. They skipped vegetables, seeing as they couldn’t finish them.

The meal was indeed flavorful. Mei Mengzhen commented, "Ah, wherever you go, you should enjoy the local cuisine. Even though it’s not comparable to the taste at Xiyuan, it still has its own unique local flavor."

The two spent two days this way. Over the next three days, they continued to climb mountains or more mountains; nothing particularly special, but Mei Mengzhen really enjoyed herself. On the day of their return, she felt a wave of sadness. Already on the car ride home, Mei Mengzhen asked, "Brother Pei, are you going to start working after we get back? Will you be working in Beijing?"

Pei Ziyu answered, "That case isn’t finished yet, but there’s still some time before it resumes. Right now, I’m busy with some minor cases at the company, and I’ll be staying in Jiangcheng these days."

Mei Mengzhen nodded happily, "That’s great, Brother Pei, since you’re going to be in Jiangcheng, you must find time to keep me company."

Pei Ziyu didn’t need Mei Mengzhen’s reminder. He was planning to spend time with her anyway; after all, he felt a bit indebted to her in their relationship.

After spending six days together, the two finally returned to Jiangcheng on the afternoon of the seventh day. Their first stop after getting back was Xiyuan.

It was still a day when many people gathered together. As soon as Mei Mengzhen returned to the private room, she saw many familiar faces, including Fu Rui, Fu Hao, and naturally Jin Zhan. Mei Mengzhen greeted them, "Hello everyone, long time no see."

It hadn’t been long, just a month. Jin Zhan said, "Little Zhenzhen misses me as though a day apart is like three years. Even though it’s only been a month, you feel like it’s been a very long time."

Pei Ziyu said with a cold expression, "Not at all, don’t talk nonsense."

"Indeed, but why are you here? School is starting tomorrow."

Fu Rui laughed, "So, after dinner, we’re heading out. Besides, isn’t because of your seafood? The taste of the seafood is too good; we just had to come to Xiyuan to eat."

Speaking of this, Fu Rui’s mood lifted. "Thankfully, we know people here. We took the insider route and got to eat the Dewdrop Guanyin prepared by Grandpa Pei. It was incredibly delicious. I never dreamt abalone could taste like that."

"Neither did I, but that Dewdrop Guanyin was really tasty, just took too long to make."

Fu Rui expressed her regret. They had heard from He Yiran before coming that Grandpa Pei had a new dish. But by the time they asked He Yiran to request it from Grandpa Pei, people were almost there. So after being in Jiangcheng for several days, they only got to taste Grandpa Pei’s Dewdrop Guanyin yesterday. Now, even if they wanted to eat it again, it wouldn’t be possible. Fu Rui said with a look of disappointment, "He Yiran said that we jumped the queue for this dish. If we want to eat it again, we’ll have to book it a month in advance."