Chapter 196 On the Mountain
"Let's climb the mountain and take a walk." Huo Beixi steady the motorcycle, and after getting off, he carried Hua Xiali off the motorcycle. This place is in the neighboring county, but it is quite far away from the county and it is sparsely populated. Even the locals probably don't come here. No one knows why Huo Beixi suddenly had the urge to come here.

Huo Beixi walked slowly inside, holding food and drinks in one hand and holding Hua Xiali's hand in the other. The mountains here were not very high, only a few hundred meters above sea level, but looking at the rolling mountains in front of them was also very spectacular.

After the two walked for a while, they heard a sound. Hua Xiali pricked up his ears and listened carefully, "Huo Beixi, did you hear any sound?"

"It should be the sound of an animal!" said Huo Beixi.

"Ah?" Hua Xiali couldn't help but exclaimed, "Are we in any danger?"

"Are you scared?" Huo Beixi asked with a smile.

"Of course I'm not afraid of death, I'm just afraid that I'll never meet you again." If it weren't for her rebirth, how would she have the chance to be with Huo Beixi!

In her previous life, she could only go to Huo Beixi's grave and chat with him when no one was around. After she got used to chatting with him, she didn't know if she had fallen in love with him in her previous life. In her heart, she silently treated him as her lover, chatting with him, burning paper money for him, and sweeping his grave.

So that his grave won’t be covered with weeds.

"We won't die. This is not a deep forest. There won't be any ferocious beasts. I think it must be the livestock raised by the villagers in the mountains that made the noise."

After that, the two of them walked up along the narrow path in the mountain. When they reached halfway up the mountain, they saw a group of sheep. Some were white, some were black, and they looked quite cute.

Hua Xiali smiled and said, "How about we come here during the New Year and buy two lambs to eat? I want to eat roasted whole lamb."

"Okay, then come and buy some. The sheep are still young now and there is too little meat. Let them grow for another two months." Huo Beixi said. Even if his family did not have that much money, he could still make sure his wife could eat whatever she wanted.

The two of them had just walked a few steps when they saw an old man coming over with a pole. Hua Xiali asked curiously, "Uncle, are these sheep raised by you?"

The old man nodded and said, "Yes, I raised him."

"Can you leave two for us? We'll come and buy them at the end of the year." Hua Xiali said with a smile.

"Okay." The old man agreed immediately, and then looked at them curiously, "Are you here to play in the mountains?"

"Yes!" Hua Xiali responded.

"Everyone has moved away from this mountain, and there are no houses left, but the scenery is good. If you are hungry later, you can come to my house for dinner." The old man said, pointing to a large stone house next to him.

"Okay, thank you then, sir. We'll come to your house to bother you later." Hua Xiali also agreed readily. All the people in her grandmother's mountain village had moved down the mountain, leaving the village empty. It should be the same here. After all, living in the mountains is not very convenient, especially for children's education. In order to give their children a good future, most people will move out.

Some people will occasionally go back to their old houses to take a look, while others will completely abandon their old houses. If she has children in the future, she will definitely send them to school in the city, but she will not abandon houses in other places, let alone let them collapse and become overgrown with weeds, unless she dies someday.

Hua Xiali whispered to Huo Beixi, "Let's take our things to the old man later, so we don't come empty-handed."

Huo Beixi nodded.

After that, the two of them walked up along the stone-paved path. As they walked up, they saw stone courtyards scattered everywhere. The stones were grayish white, the same color as the mountain. It was really hard to find any houses without careful observation, especially in winter when the whole mountain looked desolate and depressed. The houses were of this color, making them look even more deserted and depressed.

"The houses here are all well built. The wisdom of the ancients in architecture is truly admirable." Hua Xiali said admiringly as he looked at the houses standing safely in the mountains.

"When spring comes and everything comes back to life and the trees sprout new buds, this place should look even better." Huo Beixi said, "Are you interested in this place?"

"I really want to buy this place and turn it into a farm stay, but this is just a spur-of-the-moment idea and I haven't thought it through yet!" Twenty years later, when Qinglong Village was demolished, she could no longer grow sugarcane or vegetables. She had no business left but the store in the city.

So she could indeed consider this matter, but not now. She didn't want to keep herself too busy now because she wanted to live a good life.

But she did need to have new businesses, otherwise in twenty years, she would only have a few shops left.

Walking on the path of the ancient mountain village, looking at the large courtyards on both sides and the large rocks and stones on the courtyard walls, Hua Xiali was very impressed. "There was no cement or glue in the past. How do you think they built such a solid house?"

"The ancients had mortar and glutinous rice mortar. The glutinous rice mortar was used in the emperor's tomb. The ancients were much smarter than we imagined," said Huo Beixi.

Hua Xiali nodded thoughtfully, "Indeed."

Seeing that the time was almost up, the two men took their things and walked towards the yard where the smoke was coming out of the chimney. At the moment, the old man was the only one in the mountain, so the place where the smoke was coming out was naturally the old man's home.

When they arrived at the gate of the old man's house, although the gate was open, the two men did not go in directly. Instead, they knocked on the door politely and waited for the old man to come out before they went in.

The yard of the old man's house is also paved with stones, and it is clean, as if it had been washed by rain, but it hasn't rained recently, which means that the old man cleaned it himself.

"Uncle, we are sorry to bother you." Hua Xiali handed the things in his hand to the old man, "Uncle, this is what we brought today, I hope it can be of some use to you."

The old man took it and said, "Thank you. Please sit down and have a rest. Lunch will be ready soon."

How could two people sit there and wait for the old man to cook? Huo Beixi walked behind the stove to help the old man light the fire, and Hua Xiali waited beside him to help. "Uncle, how long have the people in this village moved out? I see that everyone's houses are well preserved, as if they haven't moved out for long!"

The old man raised his cloudy eyes and glanced upwards, as if thinking, "It's been almost ten years since we moved out! Your house is so nice and clean because I weed and tidy up whenever I have time. I can't bear to see your house being devoured by weeds."