Chapter 166 Growing Old Together
Archie glimpsed at her coldly.
Natalia continued with a mischievous smile, “Listen, you have to follow me very closely these few days,
or else you’ll get taken away by the wolves. I could protect you if you stay with me.”
After finished, sheughed. Archie’s muscles tensed up a little.
He was slightly aggrieved. Who would have thought that the president of the McCarthy Properties
would be teased by someone like that one day?
Yet he could not utter any word.
He could only flick his finger on her forehead with grievance in the end. “Alright, hurry up and go! We
still need to go to Mount Praia.”
Both of them strode towards the manor.
Archie was preparing lunch in the kitchen at noon. Natalia took the initiative to lend him a helping hand,
washing the vegetables and the tes. They did look like a young married couple.
After finishing washing the vegetables, Natalia had nothing else to do. She carried a small wooden
stool and sat next to the kitchen watching Archie stirring the vegetables in the pan.
She realized a man with good looks would look handsome even when his hair was disheveled and he
was wearing an apron. He had a natural charisma.
He lookedposed and was deft in cooking, as if he was not holding a spat, but a samurai’s
sword.
The pot did not look like one either. It looked like a protective shield that he could use to defend himself
during a war. He was the proud and superior general whomanded the army.
A smile broke upon her lips. As she was absorbed in her infinite imagination of him colonizing the
whole world, she suddenly heard a loud bang.
Natalia was taken aback by the noise and she leapt from the stool. She saw Archie covering the pot
with the lid in a rush. The meat was sizzling with oil inside.
Natalia nced at him deeply. She saw him heaving a sigh of relief momentarily.
Alright!
She had thought too much. Archie did not cook much either. He was just biting the bullet to mix and
cook the ingredients with his powerfulmon sense and logical thinking.
He finished cooking. Although the food’s appearance was awful, the food still tasted okay. After having
lunch, they packed their luggage and headed out towards Mount Praia.
It took them one hour to go there from the manor where they stayed by car. They called a taxi nearby
and reached the foot of the hill one hourter.
Lots of tourists from many parts of the world gathered there as expected. Natalia climbed the hill with
Archie.
It was afternoon and the sun was bright. It was not too far away from the sea and the soothing sea
breeze blew across the grass.
It was already four in the afternoon when they climbed halfway up the hill. Archie had been working out
all year long and he was okay with it, yet Natalia was so exhausted that she breathed heavily.
“Could you still make it?” Archie held her and took a water bottle out from his backpack. He handed it to
her.
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Natalia took it over and gulped, nodding. “Yeah.”
She had to climb to the top. She must not give up and let anyone make fun of her.
She held her breath and tried hard to climb up. Archie followed behind her, firstly, to protect her, and
secondly, to avoid letting her see his disdainful eyes.
“Hey, what’s that over there?”
Natalia suddenly straightened her back and pointed at a huge tree tied with red ropes not far away.
Quite many tourists had headed there. Archie stopped and gazed at it, saying, “No idea. Looks like it’s
a ce for people to meditate.”
Natalia became intrigued. “Let’s have a look there.”
They walked there and discovered a small pond.
A huge banyan tree tied with tons of red wooden signs was situated behind the pond and a young
monk aged around twenty was sitting under it. He was wearing a shabby robe, sitting cross-legged
while chanting scriptures and meditating.
Natalia had no idea what that meant and she whispered, “What’s he doing?”
“Practicing,” Archie replied with a low voice.
“Practicing?” Natalia looked slightly surprised. Seeing her confusion, Archie continued exining to
her.
“They are ascetic monks. Many people are Buddhists here Buddhist culture is prosperous, unlike the
Mahayana Buddhism we know, the Buddhist culture here promotes Hinayana Buddhism and self-
cultivation. There are many monks who have been a monk since childhood. With a devout heart of
seeking Buddhism, they’ve walked all over the mothend with their feet. In both the chilly winter and
the hot summer, they would never stop and would practice painstakingly, hoping to get rid of this world
spiritually as soon as possible.”
Natalia was startled and light dawned on her.
She then continued asking, “What about those red wooden signs there?”
Archie slightly frowned. “No idea. I guess it’s the people here, who want to pray for safety and
happiness when they saw a monk there. See the soil beneath him? The surrounding soil is dry, but the
ce he sits on is a little wet, and it’s sunk quite a lot too. He must have meditated there for several
days.”
“Several days? Didn’t he need to sleep, eat or drink?”
Archie shook his head. “What I know about these is just trivial. There are still a lot of things I don’t
know.”
Natalia ttered him with a smiling face, “You still know much more than me, you’re awesome.”
Seeing her ttering look, Archie shook his head with grievance and both of them continued climbing
the hill.
They only reached the hilltop when the sky had gonepletely dark.
Natalia was so exhausted that she did not want to move a finger. Archie held her to eat something at a
small restaurant at the hilltop. She only regained some strength when she finished eating.
“Hi miss, mister. Do you want a love padlock? Do hang a love padlock outside!”
Just then, an olddy with white hair approached them. A lot of padlocks with various sizes and shapes
were hung on her. She tried to sell one to them.
Natalia asked with curiosity, “Love padlock? What’s that?”
“As long as you write your name down and hang it on the marriage bridge outside, you’ll get to grow old
together and won’t separate with each other ever.”
Natalia’s eyes gleamed.
She turned around and asked Archie, “Shall we get one?”
Archie nodded and Natalia took one from the olddy. She asked, “How much is it?”
“Twenty dors.”
Archie gave her a hundred dors and signified her not to return the change.
The olddy was delighted and grateful at once. She gave them an extra small padlock, saying it was a
descendant’s padlock. As long as they hung it on the marriage bridge, they would definitely get a lot of
children and grandchildren.
They received the gift with appreciation and after paying the money, they walked towards the marriage
bridge mentioned by the olddy.
After walking a distance of around half a mile, they finally spotted a bridge across a dry waterfall in front
of them.
The bridge had been staying there for some years. A lot of love padlocks with various sizes were hung
on it. Natalia dashed there and noticed names and even some romantic words were even written on
the padlocks.
“I didn’t know we could do this, how interesting!”
Archie pouted a little and walked there, asking, “Where do you want to hang it?”
Natalia pointed at a spot. “Maybe here! It’s not easy to be found, maybe it’ll stay longer.”
Archie then took a pen out of his pocket and wrote both of their names down on the padlock.