Chapter 144: Teaching Support in the Mountains

This mountainside hotel was brimming with distinct ethnic minority charm.

The perimeter was lined with phoenix-tail bamboo, enclosing a large garden in the center and a row of stilt houses at the back. Nestled halfway up the mountain, these connected stilt houses were half-hidden by greenery. To the left lay a deep, secluded valley through which a clear stream trickled murmuringly, while to the right stood a school. The sign hanging at its entrance read "Wushen Mountain Elementary School," confirming that this was indeed the one and only school the driver had mentioned.

Between the school and the inn was a bustling area where local mountain produce was sold. Several middle-aged women dressed in traditional Miao attire sat behind woven bamboo baskets, handcrafted grass animals, and an assortment of wild mountain vegetables, free-range black-bone chickens, and solomon's seal.

The air carried the refreshing scent of mountain breezes, intermingled with a faint, unidentifiable fragrance of flowers.

Lin Xiaosu took a deep breath and stepped inside the inn.

The interior of the inn was no different from any modern hotel in the outside world. Lin Xiaosu walked up to the front desk to check in, pulling out his ID card directly.

Lin Xiaosu, Laotashan Village, Fengshan Town, Fengcheng County, Dongchu Province.

This very first step completely set him apart from every other Hidden Dragon operative.

When a Hidden Dragon agent went on a mission in a complex and perilous environment, they would never dream of exposing their true identity.

Yet Lin Xiaosu deliberately chose to reveal his.

He did so for one specific reason: this mission was extraordinary.

He had come under the banner of investigating the case of the Dong family being wiped out, but in truth, he had no way of pursuing that lead. The crime had occurred half a year ago, far beyond the temporal limit of his time-reversal ability.

Without the cheat code of reversing time, he, Lin Xiaosu, was fundamentally just an ordinary detective.

With the case offering no leads, there was only one way to snatch a chance of survival from the jaws of death.

That was to tailor a piece of bait specifically designed to target the nature of Chu Tiankuo.

And that bait was Lin Xiaosu himself!

Chu Tiankuo was a man of immense arrogance, and he was also someone who acted with absolute ruthlessness. Why had the Dong family been exterminated down to the last member? Simply because they had come to investigate the death of Gold Badge Number 196.

While Lin Xiaosu might not have been widely known outside of Fengcheng, to the Hidden Dragon organization and its potential adversaries, his name was an extremely sensitive trigger.

If he entered the Miao territory using his real, legal name, the news would inevitably reach Chu Tiankuo's ears. Would Chu Tiankuo really let him live?

He slaughtered Hidden Dragon Gold Badges as easily as trimming cabbages, and he had even committed the atrocity of wiping out the entire Dong family. Could he not bring himself to kill a mere Lin Xiaosu?

Checking into the inn was the first step.

What was the second step?

Recovery!

Ever since he had set foot in the Gongchunshan outpost, Lin Xiaosu had been locked in a relentless cycle—fighting mercenaries, fighting generals, fighting top-tier genetic masters—racing forward without a single moment of proper rest.

A human being, if deprived of adequate rest, was like a precision instrument starved of maintenance. Setting aside basic physical functions, the brain's cognitive agility would inevitably lose its seamless smoothness. For investigating cases, tracking down clues, and responding to sudden emergencies, this was a cardinal taboo...

He grabbed a quick meal, took a long, thorough shower, and collapsed into bed, sleeping instantly.

He slept all the way from noon until the sun dipped below the horizon.

It wasn't until night had completely fallen outside that Lin Xiaosu finally woke up. Breathing in the crisp, pure air of the great mountains, he felt his mind clear and translucent, as if it had been washed in spring water.

Pushing open the outer door, the scene before his eyes was a feast for the eyes.

He had chosen a top-floor guest room primarily because the highest vantage point made it easier to survey everything below.

Someone seemed to share his line of thinking; the room right next to his had its lights on, clearly occupied.

The light cast a warm glow against the edge of the building ahead, creating a wonderfully elegant vista.

Beside a flower bed stood a swing set. A young woman was gently swinging back and forth on it, carefree and leisurely. Next to the swing were two lounge chairs, and between them sat a small, steaming teapot accompanied by a tiny, delicate teacup crafted from green bamboo.

The woman had been swaying on the swing, but upon noticing Lin Xiaosu step out of his room, she planted the tip of her foot on the ground, bringing the swing to a halt.

"Hello!" Lin Xiaosu greeted her with a smile.

"Hello!" the woman responded, gesturing toward the lounge chairs beside her. "There are chairs over here. It's quite nice to sit and unwind after a meal."

"But I haven't had dinner yet," Lin Xiaosu said.

"Then you'd better hurry. This inn isn't like the big hotels in the city; the chef might pack up and head home any minute now..."

"Right, I'm heading down to eat!"

"Wait a second!" the woman called out. "Let me give you a tip: don't order any of the wild game meat."

Lin Xiaosu paused slightly, confused. "Why?"

"The chef's culinary skills are... well, hard to put into words. His stir-fries are actually quite decent, but don't even touch the meat dishes. He seems to know only one way to cook meat, which is boiling it to death over high heat. It's ridiculously expensive, a total waste of ingredients, and honestly, it tastes awful."

Lin Xiaosu burst into laughter. "Thanks for the warning!"

Down in the main lobby, the chef was indeed wrapping things up with plans to close for the night, but seeing Lin Xiaosu walk down, he had no choice but to delay.

The menu was handed over to Lin Xiaosu.

He glanced through it and, sure enough, found plenty of wild game meat options with prices that were quite... steep, easily costing several hundred yuan per dish.

Could meat dishes costing hundreds of yuan at an inn catering to tourists really lack any special culinary flair?

Refusing to believe it, Lin Xiaosu ordered three regular vegetable dishes, along with a single portion of wild mutton...

Half an hour later, he returned upstairs.

The woman was no longer on the swing; she was seated in a lounge chair, quietly sipping tea.

Lin Xiaosu walked over. "I owe you an apology!"

"Oh? What do you mean?" The woman turned her bright, expressive eyes toward him.

"You warned me not to eat the wild game meat, but that only piqued my curiosity. Driven by stubborn skepticism, I went ahead and ordered a plate..."

"And the result?" she asked.

"The result is that I am now convinced. He truly is a master of wasting ingredients."

She giggled...

Lin Xiaosu laughed along. "Are you here on vacation?"

The woman gently shook her head. "I'm here doing volunteer teaching. I've been here for over a year."

"A volunteer teacher staying at a hotel instead of the school? It looks like you're the child of a wealthy family slumming it to experience hardship."

"That's where you've misjudged me..."

The woman introduced herself. Her name was Hu Die.

She hailed from Xijiang Province.

She was not from a wealthy background; on the contrary, she came from the poorest of the poor.

When she was a child, her father passed away early and her mother was chronically ill. Originally, she had no hope of attending school, but she crossed paths with a wonderful teacher, Teacher Deng. Teacher Deng was a volunteer teacher who stayed in her impoverished mountain village elementary school for five full years, guiding her from the first grade to the fifth. He even paid her miscellaneous school fees out of his own pocket.

The teacher had also spent his own money to help pay for her mother's medical treatments.

When she reached the fifth grade, Teacher Deng was scheduled to leave. She cried as she chased after him for miles, and when the car finally arrived, she grabbed onto the teacher's hand and pleaded, "Teacher Deng, what do you want me to do in the future?"

Teacher Deng stroked her head and told her, "I hope that when you complete your education in the future, you will also return to become a volunteer teacher."

From that moment on, becoming a volunteer teacher became her lifelong obsession.

Upon graduating from university, she originally intended to return to her hometown and teach at the elementary school where Teacher Deng had spent five years. However, that school had been shut down due to a lack of enrolled children.

Hearing that Teacher Deng was originally from Biannan Province, she traveled to his hometown, deliberately choosing the most remote school she could find, determined to pass the torch in the exact same manner her mentor had...

She did not live at the school because there were simply no dormitories available there.

The teachers working at the school were all locals who went straight home the moment classes ended. This hotel room had been arranged for her by the mountain village. The village chief had told her that the settlement was poor and lacked the funds to provide a regular living subsidy, but they certainly couldn't allow her to pay for her own food and lodging out of pocket. They had negotiated with the inn owner, who, operating his business on their territory, felt obliged to show the village a bit of respect and agreed. Her meals and accommodation were entirely free of charge.

Lin Xiaosu let out a soft sigh. "Passing the torch of kindness and love—it's a rare and precious thing in this era."

Hu Die smiled faintly. "I suppose I was lucky enough to catch up with a better era, at least enjoying first-rate food and lodging conditions. Back in Teacher Deng's day..."

Suddenly, the door to her room clicked open softly, and a little girl darted out. The child looked to be no more than six or seven years old, wearing two braided pigtails and skipping around with charming innocence.

"Little Moonlight, have you finished your homework?"

"All done!" The little girl ran up to Hu Die, tilted her head back, and stared at Lin Xiaosu with a look of mild astonishment...

"Little Moonlight, what should you say when you see an uncle?" Hu Die prompted her.

"Hello, Uncle!" the little girl chimed brightly.

Lin Xiaosu smiled. "Your name is Little Moonlight?"

"Mhm! Teacher gave it to me. Isn't it pretty, Uncle?"

"It's very pretty!"

"Uncle, what are you doing here? Are you here to teach us how to read too?"

"Uncle is here... just to visit and have fun."

"Little Moonlight, since your homework is finished, go play for a bit!" Hu Die said.

"Teacher, can I read my picture book for a little while before going to sleep, please..."

"Alright, go ahead!"

Little Moonlight happily scampered back into the room, and Hu Die watched her go with a warm smile.

"This child is..." Lin Xiaosu probed.

Hu Die's expression took on a hint of gentle sorrow. "She's a very tragic little girl. Around this time last year, her parents, who were working away from home, both died in a factory explosion. Her grandfather couldn't handle the devastating news and passed away soon after, leaving her completely orphaned. Everyone in the mountain village is poor, and struggling to feed their own families made it impossible for them to raise her to adulthood. They contacted a family in Taichong City, planning to send her off to be adopted. But right before boarding the car, the child grabbed onto my legs, crying out 'Mommy,' and refused to get in no matter what... I only found out later that I must bear a striking resemblance to her mother."

"So you stepped in to be her mother and brought her along with you?"

"What else could I do? This little girl is terribly attached to me. For a long time, she would stand outside the bathroom door waiting whenever I went inside, terrified that I would run away..." Hu Die chuckled softly. "Later on, I came to terms with it. Just as I met Teacher Deng back then, having her meet me now is probably just the cycle of destiny and karma."

"Perhaps there truly is destiny and karma in this world, and thankfully, such karma exists..." Lin Xiaosu said.

Perhaps at that very moment, a certain resonance formed deep within both of their hearts.

They talked about a great many things...

Discussing the outside world and the landscape of this realm.

Guided by a completely natural transition in conversation, Lin Xiaosu casually brought up a topic: "I heard in Taichong that Wushen Mountain is quite mystical, and there's someone called the Saintess of Moon Spirit who is spoken of in almost miraculous terms. Do you know her?"

"What? Did you come here specifically for her?"

"How could that be?" Lin Xiaosu laughed. "I was just asking out of idle curiosity. I heard she's around our age and is also a university graduate. How on earth did she suddenly become so miraculous?"

"That's completely different! Her family background is steeped in ancient heritage; her father was the generation's Great Shaman of this land. She has been studying witchcraft and gu-poison techniques since she was a child. Counting all those years, it represents over two decades of arduous training. Besides, in certain aspects, she's even more formidable than her father. I've heard that merely by using the flute in her hand, she can command the venomous bugs and fierce beasts of the mountains."

"She can control venomous bugs and beasts with just a flute?"

"I've only heard about it; I've never witnessed it firsthand," Hu Die said. "My personal advice to you is not to take too much interest in her. People who practice witchcraft and gu arts cannot be measured by ordinary logic or common sense."