Chapter 53 Part 2
Tang Xueshan uploaded the remaining chapters, one last gift for her fans, then closed her computer.
‘Doctor Wu, what’s wrong with me? Do I need any medicine?’ Tang Xueshan asked, touching her throat. She was feeling unwell, and not wanting to leave her house, she sought an online consultation.
Wu Heng explained, “You don’t know you’re dead, so your Yin qi isn’t strong, and these young men have very strong Yang qi, suppressing yours, making you feel weak and breathless.”
“Comrade Li and his friends keep sneezing, that’s from your Yin qi.”
Li Hao and his friends looked at each other, suddenly feeling quite powerful.
Weren’t female ghosts supposed to be terrifying, toying with humans like playthings? And they had actually made a ghost sick with their Yang qi!
They chuckled, “Hahaha, we’re awesome!”
Then Wu Heng’s next words made their smiles vanish –
“I’ll prepare two prescriptions. One for Li Hao and his friends to replenish their Yang qi, the other for them to burn for you and boil with Yin fire, then drink to strengthen your Yin qi. Basically, different tonics for different needs. Whether human or ghost, sufficient qi ensures a healthy body.”
Li Hao pointed at Tang Xueshan, “She… she’s not leaving? Still staying here?”
Tang Xueshan retorted, ‘This is my house!’
Then, looking at the cowering young men in their school uniforms, she realized they were just high school students, younger than her, reminding her of her own younger boyfriend, she scoffed, ‘I didn’t know I was a ghost before, I’ll leave now.’
Just as Li Hao and his friends were about to stop her, Tang Xueshan had already floated towards the door, one foot outside, when she suddenly screamed. “Ah—!”
Tang Xueshan collapsed to the ground, looking at her foot in horror as black qi oozed out, her already weak Yin qi dissipating.
She felt worse than when she connected with Wu Heng earlier, her body weak and limp.
“Hey, Miss, Author, are you okay?” Li Hao and his friends looked at the ghost on the ground, worried she might lash out.
[Author! Author, are you okay?! I’m spamming your page with gifts now, thank you for finishing the novel, it was amazing!]
[Why can’t I exit the live stream?! Our author, writing even in death! I hope she’s okay.]
[I heard Mu Yu Yi Mian was an orphan, the money we spent on her novels has no one to inherit, we should buy her joss paper if we know her real name.]
Wu Heng, looking at the gasping ghost, said, “She’s trapped here, she can’t leave.”
Seeing the netizens’ worry, Wu Heng smiled reassuringly, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of my patient. I’m going offline to prepare the medicine.”
Wu Heng ended the stream, then went to the pharmacy.
While preparing the medicine, he sent a message in the group chat.
[HengHengBaby: @Group Owner – Li Hao, the well closest to your apartment should be the one behind your school. I’ll ask Xi Xi to deliver the medicine, have someone pick it up.]
The little white snake felt utterly indignant, it was always it who did the work, even though he said he would ask Xi Xi.
Li Hao and his friends’ faces turned pale. The area behind their school wasn’t a good place. Shi Xuan used to hang out there, and they felt an ominous presence there, who knew if he was responsible?
And now, at almost 10 p.m., he wanted them to go there, to pick up medicine? Medicine for a ghost…
They could endure the sneezing, after all, they had been sniffling for days, one more night wouldn’t make a difference. But that ghost girl, Tang Xueshan, her Yin qi was weak, she probably wouldn’t last without the medicine.
Li Hao stomped his foot resolutely, “I’m a future Party member! Serving the people, even ghost citizens!”
Li Hao grabbed a flashlight, and, with Wang Dong, left, the remaining three huddled together, looking at Tang Xueshan nervously.
Ugh, scared regardless of whether they went or stayed.
Wu Heng quickly prepared the medicine, wrapped it in yellow paper, and placed it on Da Bai’s head. “Go.”
The little white snake: ‘?’
He didn’t even ask if it would help Xi Xi with the delivery, just placed it directly on its head?
Wu Heng added, “I’ll put in a good word for you with your Uncle He.”
The little white snake, hearing this, bit a leaf, balanced the medicine packets on its head, and darted off.
This was its motivation!
Li Hao and Wang Dong huddled together by the well behind the school like stray dogs, everything seeming ominous and terrifying.
“Comrade Li, Comrade, what’s that over there? Achoo—” Wang Dong asked, shining his flashlight at a dark mass in the distance, his voice trembling.
Li Hao didn’t dare look, and when he saw the little white snake, its face grim, deliver the medicine, he screamed and ran.
The little white snake, its scarlet eyes fixed on the blurry black mass: ‘?’
It quickly slithered back into the well, not daring to say anything, even as the black mass spread.
Li Hao and Wang Dong quickly returned to their apartment, rubbing their noses, looking at the ghostly figure huddled on the floor.
“Boil the medicine, boil the medicine.”
Theirs was easy, they had learned from Wu Heng at the clinic before, but they had never prepared medicine for a ghost before.
Following Wu Heng’s instructions, they put the burnt herbs in a bowl made from yellow joss paper and filled it with mineral water.
They lit the remaining half of the white candle, its black-green flame igniting the stove, then placed the paper bowl above it to boil.
Two burners, one for their medicine, the other for Tang Xueshan’s.
Steam rose from both, but the steam from the paper bowl flowed downwards.
Li Hao couldn’t resist extending a hand to test it.
His fingers, instead of encountering heat, felt a bone-chilling coldness.
No wonder Wu Heng said to boil it with Yin fire until cold, this was truly cold.
“Miss Author, here’s your medicine,” Li Hao and Wang Dong each took a bowl of their own boiling medicine, then placed the paper bowl before Tang Xueshan.
Tang Xueshan: ‘…Are you feeding a dog?!’
Tang Xueshan got up, took the bowl, and drank the entire thing, then sighed contentedly, ‘This feels good!’
Her body didn’t feel as weak, her breathing easier.
She could even see some of the changes they had made to the apartment’s decor after moving in, now that the lights were on.
Tang Xueshan stood by the door, a melancholic look on her face. ‘I’m a homebody, I don’t like going out, but there’s a difference between me not wanting to and not being allowed to.’
She hadn’t offended anyone, why torment her even after her death?
‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ she asked, noticing their expressions.
Li Hao, looking at his phone, said, “Doctor Wu said to splash the remaining medicine on the wall.”
Tang Xueshan looked at the paper bowl, a bit of liquid and herbal residue still inside, it was too bitter to finish, so, as instructed, she splashed it against the white wall by the door.
As the brown liquid dripped down, words, as if written in blood-red ink, appeared:
“Xueshan, I’ll always love you.”
Each character etched onto the wall, a final farewell.
Tang Xueshan paused, ‘That’s my boyfriend’s handwriting.’
Being an orphan, she valued this relationship. She was twenty-five when she had her first boyfriend, a university student five years younger than her, they met online, and it was unexpected that their relationship became serious.
She was introverted, even avoiding social interactions, but her boyfriend was like a little sun, warm, enthusiastic, his eyes filled with adoration, giving her positive energy.
Because she was financially well-off, she had suspected he was after her money, and after her death, he had never visited, as far as she knew.
Writing a few words on the wall, what use was that?
Actions speak louder than words!
Tang Xueshan felt a pang of sadness. ‘So you were after my money after all, you didn’t even visit… I spent so much on you, couldn’t you even burn some joss paper?’
Being a ghost was one thing, being dumped was another!
She was heartbroken, her first love, after all.
Tang Xueshan looked at the young men, who, like startled birds, huddled together in fear.
“Miss, Author, don’t… don’t look at us, even if you’re heartbroken. We’re high school students, human-ghost relationships are forbidden, please spare us,” Li Hao pleaded, remembering Guo Jiang’s misfortune, afraid that this female ghost, desperate, would force them into ghost marriages.
Tang Xueshan looked them up and down, then floated towards the master bedroom, scoffing, ‘I might be a ghost, but I’m not blind.’
