Buddhist Hall

Qiancao glanced at Wuming as she pushed the bowl of ramen toward him. She tried hard to look away, but her constant swallowing gave her away.

"You should eat it. I'm already full," Qiancao said, pushing the bowl back.

"J-just eat it! I-I'm not hungry!" Wuming refused to eat. Lately, she had only one thought: give all the good things to Qiancao.

Seeing them push the bowl back and forth, Shiri set the ramen she had eaten a couple of bites from in front of Qiancao and said, as if teaching a child:

"Qiancao, eat this bowl."

Then she pushed Wuming's ramen back in front of her.

"Wuming, keep eating your own bowl."

Qiancao put on an innocent tone. "Aren't you hungry, Big Sister Shiri?" He still remembered that the four of them were supposed to be siblings, so he had called her that plenty of times along the way.

Being called Big Sister suddenly sent a chill through Shiri.

After spending a month together, Qiancao seemed less like a child just over ten and more like a twenty-year-old adult man, older than she was.

Being called Big Sister by him felt terribly awkward, but she couldn't make a scene in front of the other customers. She could only put on the air of a considerate big sister and say:

"You're still growing and need more nourishment. It's fine if I eat a little less."

As the group continued to insist that the others eat, Teuchi brought over four more bowls of ramen and set them on their table.

"Here you are, folks! Fresh ramen! Let me know if you need more!"

Keisuke had been watching the other three's little game of house with amusement. Seeing Teuchi arrive, he hurriedly said, "Weren't we supposed to get one bowl each? Don't break the rules for our sake!"

Before Teuchi could answer, the other customers chimed in:

"It's fine, young man. We people of Xiaogu City would never let our guests go hungry!"

"We drifters get one free bowl each, but you paid for yours, young man. You can eat as much as you want!"

The friendly locals made Keisuke feel sick, but he kept his expression composed, put on a moved look, and took the ramen, polishing it off in a few bites.

The other three were genuinely touched by the locals' kindness and soon struck up a rapport with them.

Qiancao didn't know whether Shiri had really been to the seaside, but she described their siblings' past life there so vividly that the locals, who lived in a mountain city, were amazed.

It reminded him of a famous saying: The more beautiful a woman is, the better she is at lying.

They talked until late into the night, and a few of the older men even performed several local folk songs.

Though the locals had suffered through the ravages of war, their optimism and cheerfulness moved Qiancao, and his smile grew much more genuine.

Seeing Qiancao smile, Wuming thought to herself, Qiancao... likes... peace...

As the night grew late, Teuchi prepared to pack up and head home. Keisuke hurried over to help. Once everything was put away, Teuchi asked:

"Do you have somewhere to stay tonight?"

Keisuke smiled wryly. "With the country in such turmoil, I don't know where we should stay either."

Teuchi said with some regret, "It's a shame my house was destroyed too. Otherwise, you could have stayed at my place for the night."

He sighed despite himself. Once his shift was over, Teuchi was no longer the optimistic, energetic ramen chef. Instead, he looked somewhat tired.

"All the carpenters repairing houses in Xiaogu City were taken away by Lord Takeda's army. I wonder how they're doing now."

Keisuke reassured him. "Whichever daimyo it is, they'll surely treat skilled craftsmen well. There's no need to worry about their safety."

Just then, a customer who hadn't gone home yet spoke up from nearby. "I do know a place. If you don't mind how run-down it is, you could stay there for a few days."

Keisuke hurriedly asked, "Why would we mind? We'd be happy just to have a roof over our heads."

The customer continued, "Head north from here, almost to the outskirts, and you'll find a temple called Gushan Temple."

"There used to be seven or eight monks there, but when the Imagawa army came through, they all disappeared. No one knows where they went."

"No one lives there now, so you can make do."

Keisuke put on a happy expression and thanked him. The kind customer waved a hand.

"These days, things are chaotic everywhere. Ordinary people like us have to help each other. It's no trouble at all."

Teuchi said with relief, "As long as you have somewhere to stay, I can rest easy too." With that, he shouldered the yoke he had packed up and walked off into the distance, carrying his cooking utensils.

Teuchi was living at his apprentice's house now. There was no telling when the Ichiraku Ramen Shop would be rebuilt.

After saying goodbye to everyone, the four Uchiha continued searching until they finally found the temple the customer had mentioned, beside a mountain spring.

Though it had only been abandoned for a month, the temple was already steeped in a desolate, dilapidated air. The plaque bearing the words "Gushan Temple" had fallen beside the gate, its surface covered in dirt and cobwebs.

They carefully pushed the gate open. In the dark night, a chill wind blew out, and the interior was gloomy and eerie, impossible to make out.

Shiri took out a fire striker and lit it. Only by the faint glow of the flame could they make out the temple's layout.

The temple consisted of three buildings. The Buddhist hall to the north seemed to swallow all the light like a black hole. The monks' quarters to the west had collapsed, burying all kinds of beds and tables beneath the rubble.

Of the two small buildings to the east, one was a storeroom and the other a kitchen. The refugees had long since plundered anything valuable.

The small eastern buildings couldn't fit all four of them, so they had no choice but to go into the Buddhist hall.

Fortunately, the oil in the hall's eternal lamps hadn't been taken. Shiri used the fire striker to light them one by one in the dark corners, and the lamplight revealed the entire hall.

The hall housed a statue of the Immovable Wisdom King, holding a sword in his left hand and a lasso in his right. Its face was badly damaged, adding to its eerie, terrifying appearance.

Keisuke looked around to make sure there was nothing strange in the hall, then told the other three, "You can rest here. I don't like anyone disturbing me when I sleep."

It was a rather flimsy excuse, but Shiri didn't press him. She still had things to tell Qiancao and Wuming, so she let Keisuke leave the hall.