The next day was the last day of the holiday.
Daylight was only just breaking, and the mountain mist had yet to clear. Chen Shi'an woke at five as usual.
The three girls had made quite a racket before bed last night, but once asleep, each had slept more soundly than the last. Seeing them nestled together in sweet slumber, Chen Shi'an did not wake them. He got up quietly, gently pushed open the door, and slipped outside.
The clothes the four of them had washed last night still hung on the bamboo pole in the courtyard, swaying gently in the cool morning breeze.
Only, at some point, a freshly washed pair of underwear had joined them.
Chen Shi'an's gaze swept over it, and a flicker of awkward embarrassment crossed his face.
It was perfectly human, perfectly natural. When water filled up, it overflowed!
Besides, if they had not teased him so much last night, he would not have had to drag himself out of a strange dream in the middle of the night to secretly change and wash his underwear...
Before those three Shrimp-Head Girls could spot him and laugh at him again, Chen Shi'an hurried over, shook out all the drying clothes, and gathered them up.
He would soon be leaving the Taoist Temple and heading down the mountain again. He probably would not return until summer vacation.
There were still quite a few things to put away before he left.
First, Chen Shi'an carefully divided up the fresh tea they had made yesterday, wrapping it in oiled paper in one-jin packages;
Then he went to the kitchen to light the stove and cook porridge. He sorted and cleaned the remaining ingredients, planning to make a few small side dishes to go with it later so nothing went