After dinner, the sky darkened completely.
A few dim yellow oil lamps were lit in the Taoist Temple. They burned all night, though electric lights were still the main source of lighting for daily life. The mountain had no internet cables, but it did have electricity.
The light swayed gently among the old beams and pillars, making everything around them seem even quieter. Only the overlapping calls of insects and frogs filled their ears, cool and clear, all across the mountain.
It was only seven thirty in the evening, when nightlife in the city would just be getting started, yet here in this mountain temple, it somehow felt as though the night was already deep.
"It's only past seven? I thought it was really late. Taoist, what time do you usually go to bed here?"
"Around nine."
"That early!"
"It's not that early. The water in the pot is hot now, too. Who wants to bathe first?"
"Me, me!" The eager Little Cicada was the first to raise her hand.
"Then go get your change of clothes, Little Cicada. Did you bring a towel?"
"Yes. Where do we bathe?"
"Right here-"
Chen Shi'an walked into the Kitchen and pushed open a wooden door beside it. The small space partitioned off next to the Kitchen was the bathing room.
The little cubicle was about the size of the Dormitory bathroom. There was no water heater, just a hanging lamp and a row of clothes hooks on the wall.
"So we bathe using buckets of water?"
"Yes. Is one bucket enough? If not, we'll bring in two."
"Then I want two."
"All right."
Girls used more water. Chen Shi'an brought over two buckets, lifted the lid off the large pot heating water on the stove, and filled them with piping-hot water using