Chapter 61 Part 1
Wu Heng yawned. “Your senior gave you a lesson, did you learn anything?”
Lai Jun sneered. He used to be a bully, not one to show respect to outsiders, even seniors. ‘He knows nothing. How can you get promoted without working hard?’
A comfortable life of leisure wasn’t for him. He was determined to rise through the ranks, from a small-town Yin messenger to a true Grim Reaper.
‘A hopeless case. I’m out,’ Yin Messenger 014 picked his nose with his pinky, and as the first rays of dawn appeared, he jumped out the window and vanished.
Time to clock out and enjoy his afterlife! There seemed to be a ghost opera performance happening, might as well check it out.
Work was boring, but his afterlife was fabulous.
Nan Nuo village and Beijing weren’t in the same time zone. It was almost dawn here, but still dark there.
Lai Jun said indignantly, ‘Wu Heng, did you see his lantern code? North Beijing District 014! Such a slacker, and ranked fourteenth in the district?!’
Wu Heng replied, “Yes, such a slacker, ranked fourteenth.”
Lai Jun paused. To reach such a high rank, you had to be capable. Perhaps only then could you afford to slack off.
A sudden surge of motivation filled him. ‘I have to work harder! I’ll surpass them! I’m leaving, I’m going back to work overtime!’
Lai Jun, carrying his lantern, vanished into the morning mist.
Wu Heng: “…”
Seriously? Reverse inspiration?
Wu Heng looked at the lightening sky, no longer sleepy after being woken by Lai Jun. He prepared to open the clinic, telling Wang Dong and his friends, still huddled together in fear, “The Yin messenger is gone. You have school today, get ready. Bye.”
Wu Heng hung up abruptly, leaving them staring at each other, dark circles under their eyes.
Doctor Wu must still be half-asleep, had he forgotten about the missing ghost?
But with both Yin Messenger 014 and Tang Xueshan gone, they felt a bit braver.
Wang Dong said, “Brother Hao, I don’t think we’re cut out for studying, we just wanted to try, but no chance now…”
That ghost girl hadn’t returned with his homework. Where was she…?
‘I doubt you’ll even get into university,’ a cold voice suddenly said.
Li Hao and his friends jumped, huddling together again, looking at the floating Tang Xueshan, almost crying. “Ghost Sister, can you stop appearing out of nowhere?! You went to get my homework hours ago! It’s almost dawn!”
Tang Xueshan’s translucent head was precariously balancing Li Hao’s blank exam paper.
She handed it over, ‘Huh? Hours? I don’t remember, there was fog at your school, I got lost for a bit, but I thought it was just a few minutes.’
Tang Xueshan’s only thought now was of Yuan Song, wanting to see him one last time, so, seeing the Yin messenger waiting in the apartment, she hid.
After dawn, enduring the discomfort, she waited for him to leave before returning.
She was lucky. Some Yin messengers were more persistent.
Tang Xueshan knew that avoiding him wasn’t good. Doing it too often might result in a “fugitive” mark on her record in the underworld.
But her desire to see Yuan Song was too strong.
Li Hao took the blank exam paper, looked at the time, and almost cried. “It’s 6 a.m.! We have morning classes soon, no time to do it!”
He just wanted to serve the people! His dream was unfulfilled.
Tang Xueshan, watching them rush to get ready, said, ‘Why is your fancy school so competitive? Students studying in the classroom in the middle of the night, lights off, no flashlights, like those ancient scholars? I wasn’t this dedicated even during my senior year.’
Li Hao, Wang Dong, and the three Black Hairs, toothbrushes in their mouths: “?”
What?!
Their school wasn’t particularly competitive, just a few hardcore students. Studying in the dark in the middle of the night? Never heard of such a thing.
“Comrade Li, could it be… since we never studied, we were just unaware?” Black Hair Number Two suggested.
That was possible!
Li Hao slammed his cup on the sink. “Secretly studying behind our backs?! How dare they?!”
Their grades were already terrible, and now, discovering their classmates secretly studying? The pressure was immense.
Secretly playing games was fine, but not secretly studying, got it?
Li Hao splashed water on his face and declared, “Let’s go, let’s get some of that… medicine… and go to school.”
Tang Xueshan: ‘?’
What medicine?
She watched as they went to the kitchen and drank the Yang-qi-replenishing medicine Wu Heng gave them, then hurried out.
So, these high school boys were calling yang-qi supplements “aphrodisiacs.” Then Wu Heng was selling aphrodisiacs, wasn’t he?
Tang Xueshan scoffed inwardly and floated to the doorway, her hand gently tracing the words carved onto the wall.
‘Yuan Song, I’m still waiting for you.’
Early in the morning, Wu Heng opened Chengde Medical Clinic and swept the floor outside.
The little white snake arrived early too, practicing the water-spitting technique Wu Heng taught it, sucking water from a bucket like an elephant and spraying it on the flowerbed.
Seeing the village chief approach, it quickly hid.
Zhou Dagui asked with concern, “Xiao Heng, so early today? I’m making rounds, reminding everyone to be civilized, the tourists will be arriving soon. How’s your Nuo opera practice coming along?”
Wu Heng nodded. “Going well.”
Having performed in national-level Nuo operas before, this village festival was nothing to him.
Zhou Dagui, having heard from Grandma Lai that Wu Heng wasn’t chosen as the lead performer, said, “Should we make some changes to your costume? Make it more distinctive, so the tourists can easily recognize you?”
He wondered, if the Nuo gods really chose the performer, why not choose the most popular one, Wu Heng, to boost tourism?
Then he dismissed the thought, they believed in the Nuo gods, their choice must have a reason.
Wu Heng shook his head, “No need, I don’t want to be accused of special treatment.”
“Alright, I’ll continue my rounds then. Anyone causing trouble will face my wrath!” The village chief waved his hand and left.
Wu Heng thought for a moment, then went to Grandma Lai’s house.
“Grandma Lai, can you sell me some homespun cloth?”
Grandma Lai was tending her strange plants, with clay pots inscribed with cinnabar beneath them, the sounds of insects coming from within.
Hearing Wu Heng, she smiled, a strangely sinister smile.
She went inside and returned with a large piece of dark blue homespun cloth, stuffing it into his arms, “Sell? I’ll give it to you, Xiao Heng. Thanks for taking care of Xiao Jun.”
Nan Nuo village was still quite traditional. The women learned weaving from a young age, their festival costumes were all made from homespun cloth.
Wu Heng had helped her grandson earn so much merit, a piece of cloth was nothing.
Wu Heng thanked her and took the cloth back to the clinic. He brewed a pot of medicinal soup and soaked the cloth in it for over an hour.
Zhou Yi, wearing his headphones and listening to English practice, came downstairs, seeing the scissors and needles on the table, and asked, “Xiao Heng, making clothes?”
Wu Heng replied, “I can’t sew. I’m making a mask.”
He had been on the receiving end of Shi Xuan’s kindness, friendship should be reciprocal. He had been thinking about making him a mask.
The wind in Nan Nuo was strong. The cloth, after being soaked in the herbal soup, would dry quickly on the clothesline behind the clinic.
Zhou Yi’s eyes lit up, “Xiao Heng, can you mass-produce these masks? We can sell them to the tourists when they arrive.”
Zhou Yi, stroking his chin, continued, “Then you’ll need to buy a lot of cloth from the grandmothers in the village. They don’t have much income, this could help them.”
“And if the tourists like the masks, they might even become interested in our traditional tie-dye cloth.”
Wu Heng hadn’t thought that far ahead. Zhou Yi’s suggestion did have potential.
But a gift for a friend couldn’t be mass-produced. He clumsily picked up a needle, “Hmm… we can do that, but I’ll embroider a design on this one.”
He was good with acupuncture needles, not sewing needles.
Zhou Yi thought for a moment, “My mom is good at embroidery, I’ll ask her to teach you.”
Mother Zhou, overjoyed that her son was finally talking to her again, immediately dropped everything and came over to teach him.
Wu Heng said, “Just teach me a simple, quick design.”
Mother Zhou chuckled. “Then only triangles, diamonds, circles, and hearts are possible.”
More complex floral designs were too difficult for beginners, so Wu Heng didn’t insist and, after some practice, managed to embroider a simple pattern.
The little white snake slithered over, “Wu Heng, you embroidered an egg! A yellow egg!“
