Chapter 277: Journey To Shaolin (8)

It’s almost July so it should be time for rain, but I couldn’t even imagine this. I was a bit thoughtless.

But Qing was always thoughtless except when killing people and eating, so no matter how much she reflects, it will keep happening in the future.

Qing wasn’t entirely without grievances.

A life wandering the martial arts world. Now she has a small thatched cottage to return to at the Divine Maiden Sect, but she’s still constantly wandering.

The land of the Central Plains is so vast, and not just vast but with vastly different elevations, some places with rivers, some deserts, some beaches. So the climate varies everywhere, and she has no sense of when it might rain or be hot.

As she hurriedly left the room, a boy dozing at the entrance jumped up.

He’s a boy selling umbrellas who appears quietly from somewhere when it rains and sets up by the inn entrance.

In fact, he’s probably the son or daughter of someone working at the inn, the innkeeper’s business sense trying to make extra money in bad weather.

Since it was a high-class inn, they were even equipped with umbrellas, so it seems like everyone but me knew it was going to rain.

“Hey. Give me two bamboo hats.”

“Ah. Fairy! Here!”

The boy who woke up and received Qing’s beauty held out something like a large basket without even taking money.

“How much is it?”

“Ah! Right! One tael!”

“For this? Is it woven that well?”

At this, the boy shrank.

“One tael for two…”

It was suddenly a miracle of half price, but it was still generous.

“You know my room? Bring a bunch of dried food there.”

“For the errand…”

“I’m buying two hats for five times the price when I could buy them for ten coins.”

“Yes…”

The boy retreated unable to haggle more at the unexpectedly accurate price.

Of course, even children in the Central Plains have vicious business sense, but after being enchanted by Qing’s appearance, that viciousness couldn’t be displayed.

So when she came out wearing two bamboo hats overlapped, the sound of rain hitting the hats was loud.

A bamboo hat is simply an enormous hat. You wear it on your head and it covers far in front and wraps around your back down past your buttocks, curving outwards to drain rainwater.

The disadvantages were that it’s heavy, heavier when wet, and the water flowing off the back falls like a waterfall attacking below your ankles.

But Qing’s super strong neck bones can easily withstand that weight.

So she went outside, hmm. Right. It’s really dark…

Heavy rain basically comes with very thick rain clouds, and there’s no electricity in the primitive Central Plains night.

The greatest invention in human history of boiling water to turn waterwheels hasn’t appeared yet.

First, Qing stepped out onto the street.

Qing’s superhuman vision gradually made out the outlines of the night.

Where could Miss Seol be?

Didn’t she say she’s slept outdoors a lot?

Qing hurriedly went around clop clop as a homeless (beggar) expert to places that caught her eye while looking for restaurants.

But she wasn’t there.

And then an urgent thought came.

Is her knowledge sloppy from inexperienced outdoor sleeping? She wouldn’t be crawling under a bridge trying to avoid the rain, would she?

Water rises faster than you think, and rapids are a fierce disaster much harder to stay upright in than you’d expect.

So Qing ran clop clop clop along the tributaries of the Yellow River, checking under bridges too.

But she still wasn’t there.

No, if she’s not in good sleeping spots or under bridges, where on earth is she sleeping outdoors?

Or did she just go home because of the rain?

Come to think of it, that’s something Miss Seol would be fully capable of doing.

If you’re going home you should say so. How can you leave without a word and make people worry?

I ran around alone in the middle of the night.

Still, it would be better if she went home.

Without being sure, it’s awkward to just go back in.

After wandering around looking for Seol Iri for about half a shichen like that, Qing finally caught sight of her.

They say it’s darkest under the lamp, and she was crouched under a piece of cloth that seemed to be set up by a permanent street vendor in front of the wall by the inn Qing was staying at.

In fact, since Qing had half-jokingly said she might sneak away in the night, she had taken a position where she could watch the entrance.

Qing had run around in the rain at night for nothing with her superhuman computational brain from ability score cheats but no thoughts.

But with her iron-like physique and already having reached invincibility against cold, Qing didn’t suffer too much.

If your body is good, you don’t suffer that much even if your head is bad.

“No, Miss Seol. Have you been getting rained on this whole time? Why are you foolishly getting soaked? Aren’t you cold?”

“The Northern Sea is much colder.”

Well, the Northern Sea people live on frozen lakes year-round, so the flow of summer and winter is just cold days and colder days.

“This level is a hot day in the Northern Sea.”

“Your voice is trembling right now.”

“N-no. Not at all.”

In fact, if you had to judge whether it’s cold or not right now, the correct answer is not cold at all.

Rather, it’s close to a pleasantly cool feeling.

It was weather where you could feel an exhilarating sense of liberation like throwing your umbrella high in the sky and laughing while getting soaked in pouring rain like in movies.

But it’s being hit by fierce rain for a long time, with droplets so large they feel like they’re beating your body.

This is completely separate from whether it’s cold or not.

Human body temperature is made to be regulated through the air, so a wet body helplessly keeps losing warmth as it’s continuously hit by new raindrops.

“Aish. I thought you said you’ve slept outdoors a lot? Do you sleep outdoors in the rain in the Northern Sea? I’m going to end up moving a corpse at this rate.”

“I’m fine…”

But the fact that she obediently came along and got up without much resistance shows she seemed to think this wasn’t quite right either.

When they returned to the room, sure enough, though her complexion was originally pale enough to look sickly, her lips were dyed blackish at some point between purple and blue, losing saturation.

Fortunately, the umbrella-selling boy had brought lots of dry cloth, so Qing first rubbed her face vigorously to wipe it, wrung out her hair, and struggled with her completely soaked clothes sticking tightly before rubbing off the moisture with dry cloth.

Then she laid her on the bed and put a blanket on, and feeling like this was the trouble of taking care of a child, she newly felt how great her parents’ grace was in teaching her to be true and righteous…

“No, why would you sleep outdoors in the rain?”

“Yes.”

Seol Iri’s words flowed again after having all the moisture wiped off and being buried in the bed.

“You’ll die doing that. Being cold and getting rained on are completely separate. I thought you said you’ve slept outdoors a lot?”

“It doesn’t rain in the Northern Sea.”

“Doesn’t it snow? Do you sleep outdoors there getting snowed on?”

“No.”

“No, did someone who knows better get completely soaked like that?”

“Because it was rain, not snow.”

She doesn’t lose a single word in conversation.

Qing clicked her tongue and only then finally started wiping her own wet body.

She wore a bamboo hat but the rain was so fierce and she was running around (uselessly), so only her head, shoulders and back were fine.

Seol Iri’s gaze went to Qing’s figure, then to the towel wiping her body, and finally fixed on her blackened arm swollen to twice its size, unable to move elsewhere as if nailed in place, watching endlessly.

Regardless, Qing felt like she would fall asleep soon, feeling mentally tired after causing a commotion at night (though her body was fine) and feeling relieved.

Qing who had roughly removed the moisture burrowed into the blanket.

Then Seol Iri opened her mouth.

“Um.”

“What?”

“I can’t sleep with someone else here.”

“Then don’t sleep. You wouldn’t have been able to sleep getting rained on outside anyway. Isn’t it better to not sleep in a warm comfortable bed without getting rained on?”

“……”

Seol Iri firmly closed her mouth as if upset.

“So sleep or don’t sleep, do whatever. I’m going to sleep.”

“……”

Is she unexpectedly prideful?

Since there was no answer, Qing just thought whatever. But. Why is her breathing so deep?

“Miss Seol?”

“…snore.”

Qing frowned hard.

No, didn’t she say she can’t sleep with someone else?

What’s with falling asleep right after saying such nonsense.

There’s a saying that if you suspect something, it usually turns out to be true.

And sure enough, Seol Iri caught a cold.

“No, what kind of martial artist catches a cold.”

“I’m not.”

“Your nose is completely blocked. Your nose is running right now.”

Seol Iri wiped her nose with the blanket.

“It’s not running.”

“You really are something…”

Martial artists can catch colds too.

It’s very difficult but it happens.

For example, if you get completely soaked by pouring rain without protecting your body with inner force, it’s not much different from a normal person with a strong body getting rained on.

So Seol Iri caught a head cold.

And she caught it very badly.

“You didn’t even circulate inner force while getting rained on?”

“It was hot.”

In other words, even in the Ice Palace’s summer there are about ten days when the sun shines brightly. On such days everyone says it’s refreshingly cool and comes out to enjoy the sunlight.

And even the coldest day of the year in the Central Plains was much warmer than that.

Now the muggy heat of late June feels to Seol Iri like being in a fiery hell in boiling water.

So she was diligently circulating ice arts to maintain coolness, repeating circulating qi to recover at night when the heat subsided and continuously using ice arts during the day.

“You used up all your inner force trying to stay cool so your dantian was empty at night?”

“Yes. And don’t casually speak informally.”

“Ha. It’s just funny when you try to draw a line with that nasally voice. Can you pronounce properly?”

At this, Seol Iri glared fiercely at Qing.

Qing answered:

“Want to wipe your runny nose before glaring? Honestly it’s really funny right now but I’m holding back.”

“Tsk.”

“Anyway I’ll buy you a hearty breakfast so eat and go back. No, I’ll even get a room and pay for meals so rest for a day to get over your cold.”

Martial artists catch colds but recover quickly.

A head cold will heal as if it never happened after about a day of circulating qi and resting.

“I don’t want to.”

Though she tried to pronounce clearly by enunciating, that doesn’t magically unblock a stuffed nose.

It was a pitiful attempt.

“No, what stubbornness, so you’ll keep following? It’s the rainy season now so it will keep raining? When you don’t even have money, let alone clothes to change into?”

“Yes.”

Stubbornness is stubbornness, but this is a bit tiresome.

Moreover, there’s a limit to how unprepared you can be.

Qing isn’t going to bestow infinite compassion with a mother’s heart, and there’s no reason to take care of a woman who’s drawing a line saying she’s not a companion.

If she was a bit affectionate maybe, but other than her pretty face and cute actions, there’s not really anything…

Hm? If her face is pretty and her actions are cute, do you go to the trouble of taking care of her? Isn’t that usually called a pet?

Qing shook off unnecessary thoughts.

Anyway, she’s experienced it once badly so she should know how scary rain is.

“Hmph. Then do whatever you want. I’m leaving so Miss Seol can live here.”

“That’s mean. You’re petty.”

Seol Iri has no clothes to change into.

Since it’s been pouring rain continuously until now in the morning, shaaaa refreshingly falling, there’s no way her clothes would have dried in that time.

While Seol Iri was startled and hesitantly grabbed her wet underwear as she tumbled down from the bed, Qing the wandering expert had already changed into spare clothes and finished preparing to go out.

“I’ll give you one extra bamboo hat so use it or throw it away, whatever. Well then. See you later or not.”

Qing waved her hand over her shoulder like that and strode out.

Let’s see. What should I eat for breakfast?

It’s really craving pajeon since it’s raining…

Still, the advantage of falling into the ancient primitive Central Plains instead of some Western world is that at least similar foods exist.

And there was a food similar to Korean pancakes, namely jianbing.

In Qing’s homeland jianbing refers to something like kimchi dumplings made with buckwheat skin, but the original jianbing is a general term for thin pancakes made with wheat flour or similar batter cooked on an iron plate.

And it was also a breakfast that Central Plains people liked to buy and eat easily.

“Then should I have a bottle of huangjiu too. Pajeon needs to be with makgeolli after all. Something sweet.”

While Qing was pondering for a moment, the sound of a door opening, hurried footsteps, and an “Ah” of relief as if from a nasally voice flowed in sequence.

No, she’s really following.

She’s like a leech, a sticky leech at that.

Qing sighed deeply and turned around-

They said the Central Plains was hot, but Seol Iri’s clothing was a single piece combining upper and lower garments into a robe, and a very thin kind at that.

But with the not fully dried clothes sticking to her body, there were two parts protruding prominently on her upper body, one on each side.

Qing cried out in shock:

“Aish, what is this! In that state right now…! Go back in immediately!”