Chapter 2: The Legend of Jungwon Cave

  After returning from Shengxianya, Xiao Yao still had meals at Xu Mantang's house in the village, and Xu Kun, Xu Mantang's second son, was his middle school classmate.

  Chu Yu then returned to the home of Zhang Dama, a five-guarantee household. When they came to the village to arrange their accommodation, Chu Yu specifically requested to stay in a five-guarantee household, saying that this way she could be closer to the villagers.

  "Xiao Yao! This afternoon, Wang Benli's tractor is going to the forestry station in the countryside to sell wood. Why don't you hitch a ride back with him?" Xu Kun said to Xiao Yao during dinner.

  "Go back? Where am I going back to?" Xiao Yao was taken aback.

  "You said you were going home a few days ago, didn't you? I've already told Wang Benli about it." Xu Kun replied with some confusion.

  "Hmm... it's not often that I get to come here, so I'll just stay until the holiday is over before heading back." Xiao Yao quickly reacted and said with feigned anger, "How can an old classmate like you, after not seeing each other for many years, be in such a hurry to send me away?"

  "It was you who insisted on leaving! How could I not welcome you..." Xukun was wrongly accused by Xiao Yao, and he hastily defended himself.

  "Second brother! I was just going to say that, Xiao Xiao wants to stay then let her stay, who pushes guests out!" Xu Mantang walked into the courtyard with a stride.

  "No, no... Dad! It was clearly... what he said..." Xu Kun's neck turned red as the awkward young man hastily defended himself, but his words only became more and more unclear.

  "Man Tang Shu, I was just joking with Xiao Kun!" Xiao Yao couldn't bear to see his old classmate suffer because of him, so he quickly explained.

  "I told you! University students understand things clearly. You've been classmates with others for so many years, but unfortunately, you didn't learn well!"

  Xu Mantang has been the village branch secretary for several decades and enjoys extremely high prestige in the village. He has always respected scholars and is still resentful that his son did not get into college after graduating from high school.

  Xu Kun had been a soldier for several years and was considered the leader of the militia in the village, but every time he mentioned reading books, he would scold his son a few words.

  Xu Kun told his wife while having dinner that Xiao Yao was not going home and would continue to live downstairs.

  Xu Kun's wife smiled and said, "You wooden head, I think Xiao Yao brother is not as reluctant to part with you this old classmate, so he wants to stay in our home for a few more days. Eight out of ten it's because he has taken a liking to that female student who came with him."

  "What nonsense!" Xiao Yao almost choked on his food when she said that.

  "Hehe! Whether or not, you know best in your heart." Xu Kun's wife didn't want to say more in front of the whole family, and slowly said a sentence before stopping.

  He looked at Xiao Yao, who was eating with a sullen expression, and after thinking hard for half a day, a hint of understanding smile appeared in his eyes.

  Xiao Yao didn't know why he didn't plan to go home either. When he just refused Xu Kun, his first reaction was that he couldn't leave. After being reborn and returning to this time node with great difficulty, perhaps something special would happen.

  Fate is always so unpredictable, but many things seem to have been predetermined in the dark.

  In the mountains and forests, a brook babbles, in the distant scenery frame left a young girl barefoot playing water shadow.

  "Xiao Yao, what are you looking at?" After playing with the water for a while, Chu Yu saw Xiao Yao standing on the shore, holding his camera and staring blankly at her. With a mix of shyness and playfulness, she scooped up some water and splashed it at him.

  "Look at the beauty! Can't I?" Although he hadn't been splashed, Xiao Yao, who was used to speaking flowery words, couldn't help but utter a teasing remark.

  "You!…… Rogue!" Xiao Yao's reply was very straightforward, Chu Yu had no way to refute it. It seemed that after the trip to Sheng Xian Ya, Xiao Yao had completely changed into a different person and was no longer reluctantly accompanying her on photo shoots and outings. When they were together, they no longer remained silent, but instead occasionally exchanged jokes.

  Although some are annoyed by his shallowness, these words that have been seen through on the internet for over 20 years and no one would take seriously, are absolutely lethal to young women of this generation.

  If it were a different time and place, a boy as ordinary as Xiao Yao would not even be worthy of Chu Yu's notice.

  However, in the small mountain village of Qiushan Gou, the surrounding villagers were not very knowledgeable. Although Chu Yu did not look down on those villagers, she had been in Qiushan Gou for over a month and still didn't have any peers to talk to. To this small mountain village, she was still an outsider.

  Xiao Yao's appearance is not only a photographer who can take pictures for her, but also a companion with a common language to dispel loneliness.

  "Xiao Yao, did Zhongyuan really exist during the Han Dynasty?" Chu Yu asked suddenly while leaning against a huge rock at the entrance of Zhongyuan Cave.

  "In the ancient records of Guhe County, there is a record of this person, saying that he was a hermit during the Han Emperor Xuan's reign. However, this statement is not correct..." Xiao Yang said with a smile as he gazed at Chu Yu's stunned expression.

  "Oh? Why is that? Have you heard other versions of the story?" After staying in Qiushan Gorge for a while, Chu Yu was no stranger to the legend of Qiu Zhongyuan's ascension to immortality.

  "I don't think he can be called a hermit, the correct way to put it is that he's a fangshi. The 'Art and Literature' chapter of the Book of Han has said: 'Those who cultivate immortality are so in order to preserve their true nature, while those who seek it externally do so merely to calm their minds and intentions, to share the same realm as life and death, and have no fear or trepidation in their hearts.'"

  "The central idea advocated by these Fangshi is to pursue longevity, believing that taking medicine and performing rituals can make one an immortal. The Records of the Grand Historian's account of Zou Yan's transmission of Daoist techniques indeed mentions a person named Qiū Zhòng Yuán..."

  Xiao Yao, who usually likes to study history and ancient Chinese characters, found that Chu Yu was interested in this aspect and said with a bit of show-off.

  "I really didn't expect that! A science and engineering student is actually so familiar with historical documents!" Chu Yu said with a teasing tone, as if she was laughing at a bookworm.

  "Qiu Zhongyuan is the only celebrity in Qiu Shan's history, I'm a local, so naturally I know something about him when I read books. What does this have to do with my profession!" Xiao Yao was somewhat taken aback by her words.

  He said dejectedly, "Actually, when I was in middle school, my interest in liberal arts was much greater than physics. However, when choosing a major, I still chose physics, and the teacher said that studying science and engineering has more prospects than studying liberal arts."

  Seeing Xiao Yao's enthusiasm being dampened by his own teasing, Chu Yu suddenly said: "Xiao Yao, shall we go in and take a look?"

  "What?! Absolutely not!" Xiao Yao, although not a local, knew about this Zhongyuan Cave. The cave was bottomless, and in the past, there were rumors that children and livestock had entered but never came out again after mysteriously disappearing.

  He heard Xu Kun say that a few years ago, the old shepherd Yang San in the village had ventured into the cave to find sheep and almost died inside. After the old shepherd came out, he said that the Zhongyuan Cave was a cave connected to another, with caves nested within each other, extremely deep and easy to get lost.

  He didn't want Chu Yu to encounter danger again after just saving her from the cliff, and he was unwilling to go through those past events once more.

  "If you can't come in, then don't! Do you have to be so shocked?" Chu Yu was startled by Xiao Yao's sudden loud voice, and after coming back to her senses, she gave him a big white eye and muttered in annoyance.

  "Hasn't anyone in the village ever told you that Zhongyuan Cave is a bottomless cave? Xu Kun once told me, two years ago, the village's sheep got lost and the old shepherd ventured in..."

  "If it weren't for his rich experience, listening to the sound of the wind to determine the direction, according to what he said, they almost couldn't get out, and that time he was trapped inside for three whole days, almost starving to death in the cave..."

  Xiao Yao also knew that using those old rumors wouldn't fool this somewhat reckless little girl, so she used the personal experience of an old shepherd three years ago to tell her about the danger of this idea.

  "You also believe in what that old shepherd said? He even said that a few years ago, he saw an immortal flying with a sword at Mount Gantan! Haha!" Chu Yu saw Xiao Yao's serious expression and burst out laughing, running far away.