古董下山 (ENGLISH: Old Fogey Goes Down The Mountain)

Chapter 3 - I Am WeiXi

What happened to being uninhabited?! WeiDeDao lied to me!

WeiXi slowly turned around under their burning eyes, and looked towards the endless mountains and valleys behind him. The road he came on is hidden under the vast forest. By now it's hard to find any trace of it. But off to the side, stood a magnificent structure he's never encountered before, seizing his eyeballs.

[T/N: I'm sure there was a better way to translate those last 3 words but it just sounds so funny literally XD]

The thick ropes stretched out from the bottom of the mountain, and went straight into the sea of clouds, connecting them to the end of the building. On the ropes, string after string of cages were filled with people sliding backwards towards the summit. From the transparent gaps of the cages, you can also see densely packed crowds in it.

[T/N: I think this is a typo in the original text. I think that crowds of people you see through the 'transparent gaps' aka windows are on the loading building, not the cable cars.]
　　
At the moment, WeiXi is afraid to act recklessly.
　　
Someone suddenly approached from the side. He instinctively dodged before realizing that it was the woman selling rice cakes from before.
　　
Looking around far and wide, one can see lots of exposed white arms and thighs. It seems that everyone is very sloppily dressed.
　　
WeiXi's eyes screeched to a halt when they landed on the chest of the woman. Afraid to look down any further, he cautiously stared back into her eyes.

"Look at you, child." The woman wasn't angry at being avoided. "It's already high noon, aren't you hot wearing so much? Even standing in the sun, be careful not to get  heat stroke. Come rest in our tent for a bit ba."
　　
The woman poured him a cup of water and asked: "Wanna eat some rice cake?"
　　
WeiXi's body was taut with anxiety, his line of sight swept over the finished rice cakes. The steam wafting off the freshly cooked sweet rice carried a delicious aroma to their corner. The past few days he hasn't been very successful with hunting and the hunger was really hitting hard now.
　　
He remembered earlier when the other party was peddling that outside food like this must cost money. He thought about and hoarsely opened his mouth: "Ten dollars?"
　　
"Yep, ten dollars a bowl."
　　
WeiXi heard the answer, but it was the same as not hearing it. What does ten dollars mean?
　　
Yet he doesn't want to act too unnatural, so after some brief thought, slowly pulled out the silver pieces from his pocket.
　　
The rice cake seller woman: "?????"
　　
"I grabbed the wrong thing." Looks like it's not ten pieces of silver. WeiXi put the silver pieces back expressionlessly, and brought out the bank notes instead.
　　
The other side: ".................??????"
　　
First it was a piece of metal, now he brings out game money, that woman scanned WeiXi's patched robes up and down and figured this young man probably doesn't have any real money. Figured he's probably a poor college student that came out to play. Her head kinda hurts, but glancing at his handsome but helpless face, she couldn't bring herself to be angry. She helplessly waved her hand and said: "Forget it, forget it. I don't want your money. Just take it and eat ba."
　　
Such a beautiful young man isn't a common sight, his age was close to her son too. Treating him to a bit of food isn't a big deal.
　　
WeiXi took note of the other's expression when he brought out the bank notes and realized he got it wrong again. He was immediately on alert again but didn't expect that she would end up giving him the food for free.
　　
He pursed his lips, carefully surveying his actions, and still reluctant to believe her. Yet that woman was busy bringing him things while saying some incomprehensible babble, something like you shouldn't come out to play without a plan and you shouldn't be so poor when playing that you suffer. Her rambling skills could give WeiDeDao a run for his money. Her eyes looked honest and sincere and her expression was warm and kind. Even though those eyes also held a glint of shrewdness, her character wasn't stingy. All in all, her appearance was pretty ordinary, but there were several indistinct black lines crawling from the edge of her temples towards the center of her eyebrows.
　　
WeiXi finally lowered his eyes, silently accepting the paper bag that was handed to him. Looking at the soft rice cakes inside the bag, he suddenly asked: "You're not going home?"
　　
The woman immediately laughed, looking at him as if looking at thoughtless child: "How can a business go back this early? We usually stay open until 6 or 7 before packing up. Adults earning money is hard work, you'll understand once you're older."
　　
WeiXi didn't say anything but quietly stared at her for a moment. Then he pulled something out of his pocket.
　　
The proprietress originally thought he was trying to pull out money again and was prepared to decline, but saw that it was actually a grayish looking talisman. Not knowing whether to cry or laugh, she accepted it. Since her shop was set up in front of a temple surrounded by incense smoke, the occurrence of people pretending to be mystical was not rare. So she didn't pay it any mind and stuck the talisman in her pocket. "Alright alright. I told you I would treat you, you don't need to be giving me this and that. Just rest for a while ba. If you get thirsty, remember to pour yourself some water."
　　
After she finished saying that, there just so happened to be some people stopping by to ask about prices. She didn't have time to bother with WeiXi anymore and went to tend to the customers. When she was done and turned back around, the youth that was just sitting inside her shop tent had already disappeared..
　　
The proprietress was dumbfounded. She asked her husband and son but both of them were too busy managing the shop and none of them noticed when this big living breathing person left the shop. She laughed and shook her head and cast this minor incidence to the back of her mind.
　　
But pretty soon she didn't have time to think about it because two tourists suddenly started fighting in front of the YingZui cliffside. It sounded like the fight started because they were competing over photo spots while asking about each other's parents.