Chapter 18
Huh? He Yunxiao stared at Shi Xuan, dumbfounded. They were both men, why was he so fickle? He had just rejected him so ruthlessly!
Xi Xi hissed happily, extending its head to take the kids’ card and hand it to He Yunxiao, instantly recognizing its second godfather.
He Yunxiao: “Shall we go out and have some fun, or head back home?”
Shi Xuan nodded and looked at Wu Heng. “Going back?”
He Yunxiao stroked his chin, discerning a different meaning in those words. These two were definitely not just ordinary friends.
Wu Heng inwardly groaned. This young man seemed to assume he would use his well and might even think he was a spirit living in it. He would have to avoid using his well in the future.
Wu Heng nodded and, carrying the KFC takeout, followed Shi Xuan back to the Shi residence under He Yunxiao’s gossipy gaze.
The courtyard was still desolate and lifeless. Wu Heng expertly went to the well and sat by the opening to bid farewell to Shi Xuan.
Shi Xuan: “Your home is down there?”
“Sort of,” Wu Heng couldn’t explain the ancient shamanic technique of using wells as portals. “Dude, I gotta go.”
Wu Heng, carrying his things, jumped into the well. A strong, slender hand suddenly grabbed his wrist. Wu Heng looked up at the owner of the hand, momentarily mesmerized by the young man’s delicate features. Shi Xuan said softly, “Hello, my name is Shi Xuan.”
As Wu Heng stared, stunned, the young man let go, and he plunged into the cold well water.
Wu Heng emerged from the well at the eastern edge of Nan Nuo village and sat there for a while.
Shi Xuan!
His father, Wu Su, worked as a steward for the wealthy Shi family in Beijing. The entire Shi family were villains in the novel, and his father was even more of a cannon fodder character, dying before the villainous family was eliminated.
This Shi Xuan was truly strange. He couldn’t discern his karma from his face and hadn’t even realized that his father was this family’s steward.
He really couldn’t use the Shi family’s well anymore. His father worked there, if he accidentally bumped into him, he wouldn’t be able to explain how he instantly traveled from Nan Nuo village to Beijing.
The little white snake was still sniffing Xi Xi, seemingly heartbroken that this newborn female snake was taken by Wu Heng to be a child laborer.
The little white snake said sympathetically, “Xi Xi, you’ve suffered. Why don’t you live with me in the well from now on and stop running around with Wu Heng?”
Xi Xi, having just been born, could only hiss, but Da Bai, a fellow spirit snake, understood. It said, “I’m willing to work for Godfather. I ate chicken today, have you ever had it?”
Chicken was indeed on the snake menu. Da Bai occasionally managed to steal a chick from the village for a treat. “You can have chicken if you follow me too.”
Xi Xi: “I’m talking about Orleans flavor.”
The little white snake: “…”
What? What flavor?
Wu Heng shook the water from his hair and said, “Country bumpkin, stop dreaming about the city girl.”
Wu Heng turned and went back to Chengde Medical Clinic. Before entering, he gave Zhou Yi a bag of KFC takeout. As soon as he stepped inside, he saw several men kneeling and crawling around, frantically cleaning the clinic.
“Doctor Wu, you’re finally back!” Li Hao wailed, crawling towards him, the others following suit.
You Jin, who was wrapping medicinal herbs, was startled. “What? The Doctor Wu you’re talking about is Xiao Heng, not his grandfather, my master?”
You Jin thought these young men from the capital were crazy. They could only crawl on the ground, yet they insisted on grabbing brooms and cleaning. He had told them that Doctor Wu hadn’t returned from collecting herbs, but they insisted he was at KFC.
Wu Heng handed him the KFC bag, and You Jin exclaimed, “Xiao Heng, you’re so fast, you went to town to eat KFC?”
Li Hao and his friends didn’t dare to speak, knowing it was KFC from Beijing. They looked at Wu Heng expectantly.
Wang Dong then took out the video of their apology to Shi Xuan.
“We won’t dare do it again, please save our lives, Doctor Wu,” Li Hao cried, holding a feather duster. “If you’re still angry, use this to hit us.”
Wu Heng chuckled. “Since you insist.”
Wu Heng took the feather duster. It was handmade by his grandfather, using the brightest tail feathers from ninety-nine roosters, and was kept on top of the medicine cabinet to ward off evil.
Wu Heng took the feather duster and started hitting Li Hao’s legs hard, each strike landing precisely on his legs. Li Hao screamed in pain.
Holy crap, he was actually hitting him?
What was the relationship between Wu Heng and Shi Xuan? He had only said it out of courtesy, and Wu Heng was actually hitting him so hard?
Wang Dong and the others huddled together, terrified.
He had hit Li Hao, so he wouldn’t hit them again, right?
“Xiao Heng, calm down… Young Master, run, oh no, crawl! My Xiao Heng’s mind isn’t always right,” You Jin shouted, spitting out a french fry.
Li Hao trembled in pain and frantically crawled towards the clinic’s exit, crawling, crawling…running.
Li Hao suddenly stood up and bolted out, his legs moving like windmills, faster than Usain Bolt in a 100-meter dash.
Li Hao panted, sweat dripping down his face. He looked at the surrounding buildings with their southwestern minority characteristics and suddenly realized something. He looked down, his two legs standing firmly on the stone-paved road.
He, he could stand!
He touched his legs, feeling like it was all a dream.
“Holy crap! Doctor Wu Heng, please hit me, I love it when men hit me,” Wang Dong said enviously, his eyes green with envy as he rushed forward.
“Doctor Wu, hit me first. It was my stupid idea to throw the snake into the pool, I deserve to be hit first!” The friend with bleached yellow hair followed, not to be outdone.
You Jin was dumbfounded. A group of crazy young masters from the capital were surrounding Wu Heng, who was also occasionally not quite right in the head, crying and begging to be hit.
Despite being hit, these young masters, while wailing, were also smiling radiantly, trembling and shouting, “So good!”
You Jin, clutching a chicken leg, muttered, “Perverts, they’re all perverts.”
He couldn’t understand the world of young people anymore.
The group all stood up, now as tall as Wu Heng.
“I thought we would need to take medicine, or even get injections and IV drips,” Li Hao said sheepishly, rubbing his knees. “So this works too.”
Wu Heng smiled. Shamanic medicine didn’t always require medication; as long as it achieved the desired outcome, it was fine.
Li Hao and his friends immediately brought a chair for Wu Heng, eagerly serving him tea and water.
“Doctor Wu, we’ll definitely fulfill our promise to build a 5G network in the village. If there’s any corner in Nan Nuo village without 5G, I’ll give you my head!” Li Hao declared, patting his chest.
This lesson was enough; they wouldn’t dare do anything like this again.
Wu Heng nodded. “Alright. One hundred meters to the left, there’s a newly built guesthouse, it’s my second uncle’s place.”
Li Hao and his friends immediately agreed, scanning the QR code on the counter and paying 88,888 yuan each. Seeing that Wu Heng wasn’t displeased, they left happily.
You Jin was left in a daze. What was this, paying for a beating?
After washing up, Wu Heng browsed social media, remembering what he had said in the live stream. He logged into the Shark platform and sent Fan Tutu a private message with the prescription.
Fan Tu was still asleep, but Fan Xuan was online, waiting anxiously for Wu Heng’s message. He finally received the prescription.
[Chengde Medical Clinic: Decoct the medicine three times, let it cool completely, and then water the flower, three times a day.]
Fan Xuan looked at the flower on his sister’s head. Water this flower?
Fan Xuan didn’t hesitate and immediately went to the nearest Chinese medicine pharmacy, buying all the herbs, no matter how expensive Wu Heng had listed them.
Busy buying medicine, he had no time to manage the fan group or pay attention to online rumors.
Chengde Medical Clinic was once again trending on various social media platforms, the story becoming more and more exaggerated.
[Those who watched the live stream must be terrified, the roots really grew into her head.]
[But there were always people questioning if Fan Tutu had plastic surgery. Now it’s confirmed that she’s a natural beauty. Beauty’s Dimple!]
[The replay scared me to death, someone used a beautiful woman’s head as a flowerpot to grow a flower, who can guarantee that the culprit only planted one?]
[Exactly, who only plants one flower or vegetable? I would cast a wide net too. Could there be other victims? Chilling.]
[??? Why are there so many people who slipped through the cracks of nine-year compulsory education online? All talking about superstitious things.]
[You fools, those with connections probably know that there have been more and more unexplained strange illnesses these past two years, right?]
The hashtag #WellWaterChallenge trended alongside #StreamerGetsStrangeFlowerGrowingOutOfHead. The challenge was started by an attention-seeking streamer on the Shark platform, somewhat imitating the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Handsome men and beautiful women, fully made up, poured a bucket of cold well water over their heads.
As more and more people imitated it, a variation emerged: people with no makeup pouring well water on themselves, instantly transforming into fully made-up beauties with flowers on their heads. The videos received hundreds of thousands of likes.
Wu Heng: “…”
Was this how he intended for netizens to use his method?
[Actually, the person who should be filming this kind of video is Wu Heng himself, he’s the true beauty.]
[I still remember his mesmerizing dance that night, I wonder when we’ll have a chance to see it again.]
[Hopefully, we won’t have a chance to see him jumping for the gods again. Wouldn’t that mean another strange illness? I just want to know if anyone has actually grown a flower out of their head like Fan Tutu after pouring well water on themselves.]
[Haven’t seen any yet, maybe Fan Tutu is just a special case? But it’s quite interesting, many attractive streamers are participating, a feast for the eyes, yay!]
Because it was so popular, various platforms were promoting it. A renowned traditional Chinese medicine practitioner even posted a video criticizing it.
“Well water is yin and cold in nature, while the head is the meeting point of all yang energy, with countless meridians and acupoints. Pouring cold water on your head can cause vasospasm, headaches, and even intracranial hemorrhage in severe cases. This doctor is very irresponsible! Please do not imitate this.”
[This is correct, please don’t blindly follow trends. I always thought that shaman doctor was unreliable, like he was just a product of hype.]
[Everyone knows pouring cold water on your head is bad, but thinking about Fan Tutu’s situation, I’d still rather pour it once, just in case my head is being used as a flowerpot without me knowing.]
[Bad advice +1, doesn’t seem like a real doctor, he’s still a minor, right? Can we report him?]
[Who would dare report Doctor Wu Heng now? That would be signing Fan Tutu’s death warrant! I’m serious.]
Shi Xuan had a phone, but he didn’t have any social media apps like Shark Short Videos or Weibo. Besides WeChat and Alipay with few contacts, he had nothing else.
Shi Xuan hadn’t seen the viral Beauty Well Water Challenge, but he had been visiting the dilapidated courtyard more frequently.
He stood by the well, looking at the slightly rippling water, but the person didn’t appear.
He had said he lived down there, but Shi Xuan hadn’t seen Wu Heng emerge since that day. His first attempt at making a friend in eighteen years seemed to have failed.
“Young Master?” Wu Su approached with several takeout bags, keeping his distance when he saw him standing by the well. Not looking into wells was common sense.
Shi Xuan nodded and took the still-steaming McDonald’s takeout bags. He returned to his room, found some waterproof bags, wrapped the food carefully, and returned to the well, looking at the water inside.
Shi Xuan placed the McDonald’s meal in a basket and lowered it into the well.
He hoped it would reach him.
Da Bai, the little white snake, had attempted to steal a chick from the village chief’s house tonight, only to be chased and beaten by Zhou Yi’s mother. It was incredibly aggrieved. It was the (Intern) Well Dragon King, a (future) Jiao Dragon! How could it suffer such humiliation?!
Fueled by revenge, Da Bai sneaked into Zhou Yi’s study, wreaked havoc, and, without any hesitation, tore Zhou Yi’s exam practice book before wriggling back to its well.
Upon returning, it noticed something unusual. There were several bags of fast food inside, emitting the aroma of chicken.
Besides a shaman doctor like Wu Heng with ancient powers and the ability to use wells as portals, no one could accurately find this place among the countless interconnected wells and deliver something.
So, was this a gift from heaven?
Shi Xuan sat by the well, watching the takeout bags disappear, but the well remained calm and silent.
He lowered his long eyelashes, concealing his indifferent gaze, and was about to return to his room when several empty McDonald’s bags suddenly floated to the surface.
Shi Xuan immediately retrieved the light, empty bags, opened one, and found a water-damaged math practice sheet inside. Scrawled on it were the words:
“Do you have Orleans flavor?”
Thanks for the chapter 🌻✨
XD