Chapter 50 Part 1
Everyone was dumbfounded. Uh…
One was the qing of soaring high (青云直上), the other was the qing of peace and prosperity (海晏河清).
Li Hao, shamelessly speaking before He Yunxiao could, said, “They have the same pronunciation, whose fault is it? Blame Old Man Zhao’s father for not adding the three dots water radical to his name!”
Wang Dong and his lackeys immediately nodded, saying to the furious Zhao grandson, “Exactly, blame your great-grandfather for choosing the wrong character.”
Even He Yunxiao and the others only knew the pronunciation, not the specific characters. Could they blame Wu Heng? Of course not! He hadn’t even finished elementary school, learning to write on his own, wasn’t that difficult enough?
He Yunxiao then realized something wasn’t quite right. The dying professor he visited at the faculty apartment earlier seemed to have that name…
Zhao’s grandson, a junior high student, couldn’t argue with these shameless high school seniors and could only wail angrily, “You bastards! Taking the money and not doing the job! I want my grandpa! I want my grandpa to stay with me!”
The Southeast Asian practitioner hid in the shadows, this wasn’t his fault!
The wind blew the yellow paper, revealing the birth date behind the name “Zhao Qingyun” (with the three dots water radical).
“That’s not my grandpa’s birth date! You took the money and did something for someone else, you bastard!” Zhao’s grandson, seeing the live footage, as if having caught Wu Heng red-handed, shouted and jumped up and down.
Not only did he not do his job, he even used the money to do something for someone else.
Did he even know how much this drone light show cost?! Seven figures!
Zhao’s grandson, meeting Shi Xuan’s cold gaze, immediately cowered.
Wu Heng wasn’t embarrassed at being exposed at all, smiling, “So, why did the lanterns light up for someone else’s birth date, but not for Mr. Zhao’s?”
Was this… fate?
Three attempts at the Sky Lantern Ritual, the first two failing inexplicably, and this time, the Big Dipper formation, bright moon in the sky, the candlelight faint but steady.
Zhao Qingyun felt a surge of resentment and indignation. He had dedicated his life to philanthropy, and now, at the end, he wasn’t even acknowledged, some unknown person’s name shining brightly in the sky, the lanterns burning steadily. How could he accept this?!
“Return the money! You cheated our family! Return the money!” Zhao’s grandson yelled at Wu Heng angrily.
Wu Heng said, “What money? I did work. Mr. Zhao should even thank me, using his money to light sky lanterns for Professor Zhao, reducing his suffering in the afterlife, a blessing.”
That half-baked practitioner from Southeast Asia, did he even know how to perform the Sky Lantern Ritual properly? He was just greedy for the money, and if those sky lanterns caused a fire, it would only add to his sins.
“Doctor Wu, how will his suffering be reduced?” He Yunxiao asked curiously.
Matters of the underworld were mysterious, both terrifying and intriguing.
Of course, when climbing the ninety-nine levels of the Mountain of Knives barefoot, he only had to climb ninety-eight and a half.
But Wu Heng used an analogy He Yunxiao and his friends could understand. “When facing execution, instead of two bullets, it’s just one.”
He Yunxiao and the others were speechless. Holy crap…
What was the difference between two bullets and one? Both were fatal!
Wu Heng chuckled. This old man Zhao, although having cheated those poor families and fraudulently bought lifespan, had also genuinely done good deeds, otherwise, with the resources of Beijing University of Science and Technology, a drone light show wouldn’t have been a problem.
“Heaven is unfair! So unfair!” Zhao Qingyun gasped, his voice filled with grief and despair.
“Grandpa, please don’t go,” his grandson cried, throwing himself into his arms, and a glimmer of warmth appeared in Zhao Qingyun’s cloudy, dying eyes.
At least, in his final moments, he was with his beloved grandson. Perhaps this grandson had his flaws, perhaps he was spoiled, but their bond was real.
Those refund requests were probably being processed. His vision blurred as he saw two figures surrounded by black mist.
The black-robed figure behind them radiated Yin qi, its face grim.
A white figure ran swiftly ahead, wearing a patched white jacket, like Usain Bolt sprinting.
“Black… Black and White Impermanence?” Zhao Qingyun murmured.
There were many folk tales, and he knew they were colleagues.
So, even colleagues in the underworld didn’t get along. White Impermanence seemed much less successful than Black Impermanence, even his uniform was patched.
But why did White Impermanence have a shadow?
“Doctor Chen? What are you doing here?” Li Hao asked, surprised, seeing the sprinting young man.
Ignoring Li Hao, Chen Zhao scrambled to Wu Heng, clutching his clothes, panting, and crying, “I can’t do it! I can’t hold him off any longer! Doctor Wu, please help!”
Zhao Qingyun’s mind struggled to process this. So he wasn’t dead yet. One was indeed an Yin messenger, but the other was a living person!
Wu Heng, seeing the Yin messenger’s furious expression as he approached, asked, “What did you do?”
Unless they were dying, ordinary people with strong Yang qi couldn’t see Yin messengers. He Yunxiao and the others only felt a chill and instinctively rubbed their arms, then moved away from Shi Xuan, who was emanating Yin qi again.
Shi Xuan: “?”
The black-robed Yin messenger, carrying his “No Entry for the Living” lantern, thinking Wu Heng was an ordinary practitioner, glared at him, his ghostly pale face almost touching Wu Heng’s, and pointed at Chen Zhao, his voice chillingly cold,
‘He… stole my money!’
Wu Heng: “…?”
The Yin messenger was also shocked. There was actually a Taoist doctor in the human world who dared to steal from an Yin messenger!
He had a good assignment tonight, escorting the children of a meritorious person to guide Zhao Qingyun to the underworld. But Professor Zhao was still clinging to life with his strong will, and the Beijing Yin messenger wasn’t in a hurry, guiding a meritorious person was worth more than a hundred ordinary souls.
He had been waiting patiently when a trembling Taoist doctor approached him, wanting to chat.
They had been discussing underworld currency when the Taoist doctor suddenly snatched his money and ran!
The Yin messenger, stunned for a moment, then abandoned Zhao Qingyun’s children and chased after Chen Zhao, that was his hard-earned money!
‘Give me back my money!’
Wu Heng, speechless, immediately took the money from Chen Zhao and returned it to the Yin messenger.
Wu Heng: “Have you always wanted to steal from an Yin messenger? What do you even need this money for?”
Chen Zhao said awkwardly, “It wasn’t like that! I’ve never seen bills that large before! My hands were faster than my brain! He was chasing me, I had to run! Besides, this was the only way to stall him!”
What else could he talk about with an Yin messenger? The weather? Wu Heng didn’t seem straight, but he was!
The Yin messenger cursed, ‘Money down there is worse than Zimbabwean dollars! You’re inhuman!’
He Yunxiao and the others finally realized who had arrived.
Glancing at the blurry black mist and the unsettling Shi Xuan, they instinctively moved closer to Shi Xuan.
Shi Xuan: “…?”
The Yin messenger, still fuming, was about to return to Professor Zhao when his tablet in the lantern beeped ominously.
He took it out, his already grim expression turning even darker as he read the message, then looked up at the sky.
In the night sky, the drones were still performing their light show, the Big Dipper formation burning brightly.
Someone in the human world had performed the Sky Lantern Ritual to extend Zhao Qingyun’s life.
Few practitioners in the human world were capable of such a feat. He must have encountered a powerful one, his luck was truly terrible.
‘Damn it, who lit those lanterns and added to my workload? Making me run here for nothing,’ the Yin messenger cursed.
He came here excitedly to escort a meritorious person, and now his superiors were telling him to wait, and he had even been robbed by a Taoist priest, no less!
A wasted trip.
Wu Heng, feeling slightly guilty, said quickly, “Master Yin Messenger, it wasn’t a wasted trip, not at all.”
Wu Heng pointed at the dying Zhao Qingyun in bed. “Take him, he’s also ‘zhaoqingyun,’ just missing the three dots water radical.”
Zhao Qingyun’s eyes widened in shock.
They were here for him, he was leaving… even the few months of lifespan he bought were refunded, his time was up.
