Chapter 7
“I’ll sleep on the floor here tonight,” Zhou Yi said, taking a bamboo mat from You Jin, who had retrieved it from the wardrobe, and spreading it out next to Wu Heng’s small bed.
You Jin hesitated, glancing at the spot, clearly recalling the fishy, smelly puddle he suspected was urine next to Wu Heng’s bed that morning.
Wu Heng was speechless but urged You Jin to go home and rest. You Jin didn’t live at the clinic, he only came every morning to open and close it.
Not long after You Jin left, Wu Heng and Zhou Yi heard a familiar shout from outside the clinic. Peeking through the wooden window lattice, they saw Zhou Yi’s mother holding a stack of books, calling out below, “A-Yi, I brought your books.”
Zhou Yi’s face fell. He got up from his makeshift bed and went downstairs to retrieve his study materials. Wu Heng, seeing the approaching hunched figure, followed him down.
“It’s only nine o’clock, still early. Study more. I say you should go back home to study, what are you doing at Xiao Heng’s house?” Zhou Yi’s mother said with a frown, then, seeing Wu Heng come down, she changed her tone. “If you want to stay the night, go ahead. Just don’t forget to study. You’re a child from the mountains, if you don’t work hard…”
Zhou Yi interrupted, his head lowered. “Mom, I know, you can go back now.”
As Zhou Yi’s mother walked back, she called out, “Study hard, I’ll make your favorite pan-fried river fish in a few days.”
Wu Heng peered curiously at the books in Zhou Yi’s hands. “What time do you usually study until?”
Zhou Yi: “One past.”
Wu Heng: “One in the afternoon?”
Zhou Yi: “One in the morning.”
Wu Heng didn’t ask any further questions.
As Zhou Yi was about to go upstairs to study, he turned around and almost bumped into the old woman behind him. Grandma Lai had somehow appeared silently behind them. Zhou Yi was so startled that the books in his hands scattered on the floor. Wu Heng, however, remained calm.
Grandma Lai looked Wu Heng up and down, a glimmer appearing in her cloudy eyes, muttering something under her breath.
“What does the mister require?”
Zhou Yi was startled by the address. Grandma Lai was the only Nuo dancer in Nan Nuo village and held a high status. Even towards his grandfather, the village chief, she was indifferent. It was rare for her to address someone as “mister.”
Wu Heng smiled. “I’d like to borrow some Nuo ritual equipment from you.”
Wu Heng’s directness put Grandma Lai at ease.
Under Heaven, everything had a cause and effect. Her family had received Wu Heng’s favor and owed him a debt of gratitude. If he had a request, it was a good thing, especially since it wasn’t a difficult one.
Zhou Yi, however, whispered in confusion, “Didn’t we eat Lai boy’s funeral meal?”
Otherwise, why would he have forced himself to catch the rooster?
Wu Heng followed Grandma Lai towards her house, throwing back a sentence, “Lai boy couldn’t find his way home in the middle of the night, so I showed him the way. Go back to my room and study.”
Zhou Yi: “…”
Lai boy’s soul went to Wu Heng’s house in the middle of the night? To his bedroom?
Zhou Yi let out a series of cries and immediately chased after them, his face pale. “I’ll go with you, don’t leave me, I’m scared.”
A white snake, its eyes fixed on Wu Heng’s back, followed closely about fifteen meters behind, illuminated by the moonlight.
Lai boy had been buried, and many people had returned home. The courtyard was empty, except for some uncollected wreaths and braziers.
Wu Heng followed Grandma Lai into the house, which was filled with various ritual objects: masks, ox horns, head scarves, and rows of colorful Nuo masks. Grandma Lai told him to choose whatever he needed.
Wu Heng looked around and pointed to a complete set of paints. “Just this.”
Grandma Lai immediately gathered everything on the shelf related to the paints and stuffed them into Wu Heng’s arms.
Wu Heng was both amused and grateful, thanking her repeatedly.
Grandma Lai looked at the black and white photo of Lai boy in the room and said wistfully, “It is I who should thank you, mister, for sending him on his final journey.”
As a shaman doctor, sending people on their final journey was also one of his duties.
Wu Heng packed the tools in a cloth bag and walked out of the main hall. Zhou Yi followed closely beside him. Seeing the surroundings becoming more and more remote, not the way back to Chengde Medical Clinic, he felt slightly anxious.
Zhou Yi pointed to a moss-covered well shaft covered in dead leaves. “Isn’t this the dry well at the east end of the village?”
Zhou Yi passed by the dry well at the east end of the village every day on his way to and from school, so he was very familiar with it.
The little white snake coiled around the edge of the well, flicking its tongue at them, its scarlet eyes fixed on them, or rather, on Wu Heng.
Wu Heng: “Are you looking for me?”
Zhou Yi’s skin crawled seeing Wu Heng talking to a snake. He knew that animals had spirits, but that was limited to cats and dogs in his mind. What could a cold-blooded animal like a snake understand?
“No water.”
A boy’s voice, still unbroken, filled with grievance, suddenly appeared.
“My home, my home has no water.”
The boy’s voice grew even more aggrieved, and tears, like water, flowed from the little white snake’s round, ruby-like eyes.
The snake lay listlessly on the well, looking dejected, but its eyes remained fixed on Wu Heng.
Zhou Yi: “!!!”
The snake, the snake spoke?!
He had followed Wu Heng precisely because he was afraid of encountering these strange things, and yet, here he was.
Zhou Yi felt utterly defeated and took off his glasses. The world became a blurry, comforting haze.
A nearsighted person couldn’t distinguish between humans and animals beyond three meters.
Wu Heng said, “Lai boy drowned in the river. You pulled his soul out of the river, so he owes you a favor.”
But Lai boy still couldn’t find his way home, wandering around the village until he stumbled into Wu Heng’s bedroom.
Zhou Yi suddenly understood. No wonder the little white snake had stopped Lai boy’s burial, only leaving after he kowtowed.
The little white snake nodded. Its home had no water. It was scooping water from the river when it saw Lai boy trapped and unable to leave, so it gave him a pull.
Zhou Yi couldn’t help but say, “So this snake, a snake immortal, is quite powerful.”
Wu Heng nodded. “He’s the Well Dragon King, so he is quite powerful.”
Zhou Yi tilted his head, his blurry vision focusing on Wu Heng.
What? Well Dragon King? Wasn’t this a white snake? How did it become a dragon? Were there dragons in this world? Zhou Yi’s worldview was severely shaken.
The little white snake seemed to sense Zhou Yi’s shock and shouted indignantly, “Can’t I be an Intern Well Dragon King? I’m about to become a Jiao (a type of dragon)! Jiao and dragon, they’re, they’re pretty close!”
As it spoke, the little white snake deliberately extended its head, revealing the two small horns on its head.
Wu Heng looked at the dry well, filled with dead leaves and accumulated garbage, clearly dry for many years.
There was also the little white snake picking up half-empty mineral water bottles discarded by the villagers and pouring the remaining water into the well, to no avail.
It seemed to be struggling indeed.
“I’ll help your home produce water, and you lend me the well afterward,” Wu Heng said with a smile after a moment of thought.
The little white snake’s eyes immediately lit up. Nowadays, few people in the Nine Provinces used wells for water, and many wells dried up during the hot summer. A Well Dragon King without well water was useless.
Seeing the little white snake agree, Wu Heng took out the paints from his cloth bag, dipped his slender fingers in the red paint, and squatted down, swiftly writing a series of complex, incomprehensible runes around the well’s opening.
A shaman doctor was not only a doctor but also a shaman. Ancient shamans could communicate with Heaven and Earth, connect with gods and ghosts. Summoning water wasn’t difficult.
A coolness emanated from the well. Zhou Yi couldn’t help but put his glasses back on, shuffled closer to the well opening, and shone his phone’s flashlight inside.
A leaf from the tree overhead suddenly fell, landing on the clear water in the well, like a lone boat.
A dry well had sprung a spring!
The little white snake looked at the half-meter deep water in the dry well in disbelief. “My home, there’s water?”
Zhou Yi looked at Wu Heng in astonishment, feeling like he didn’t know his neighbor, who was still a fool yesterday.
Was he really this powerful just because his soul had returned?
The little white snake jumped into the well, excitedly swimming around in the water.
Zhou Yi thought silently, this really was a water snake.
“Xiao Heng, why do you want to borrow the well? Our village uses spring water and tap water.”
Zhou Yi instinctively wanted to stay away from these strange creatures, preferably not getting involved with the little white snake.
Wu Heng put on the backpack filled with Nuo ritual equipment. “I’m going to the capital city to treat someone.”
Zhou Yi didn’t understand the connection between going to the capital city and borrowing a well. His eyes behind his round glasses widened in shock. “Going to the capital city through the well?”
Wu Heng stared at the well, a triumphant glint in his brown eyes.
The underground water system was vast, connecting all parts of the Nine Provinces.
With permission, this was the fastest route!
Wu Heng turned to Zhou Yi, who was still reeling, his eyes full of anticipation. “What delicious food is there in the capital city?”
Zhou Yi’s mind buzzed.
“…Peking duck? Douzhi, Donkey Rolls, Lamb Spine Hot Pot.”
Wu Heng mentally noted these down, pulled the excited little white snake out, obtained its consent, took out the little paper person with He Yunxiao’s name and birth date from his pants pocket, recalled the location coordinates the He family had given him, chanted a spell, and jumped into the well.
Zhou Yi: “…”
After a long while, Zhou Yi picked up a small stone from the ground and tossed it into the well, creating a small splash.
Zhou Yi and the little white snake stared at each other. He took off his glasses again and muttered, “Am I still dreaming?”
Nowadays, most people in China used tap water, and fewer people relied on wells. The value of wells was declining, and Well Dragon Kings were gradually disappearing, leaving mostly ownerless wells.
Wu Heng, borrowing the ancient well, followed He Yunxiao’s birth date and location coordinates and was able to emerge from the ancient well closest to the He family’s home.
Even the fastest plane or high-speed rail couldn’t match the speed of this method.
Wu Heng poked his head out of the cold well water and looked up at the clear, solitary moon in the sky.
Just as he was about to climb out of the well, a tall figure suddenly entered his view. It was an extremely handsome face, with cold, unreadable eyes, dressed in a clean white shirt, the collar slightly obscuring a silver choker around his neck.
Their eyes met, and the other person’s pupils constricted sharply.
The figure abruptly retreated, disappearing from Wu Heng’s sight.
Wu Heng: “…”
He seemed to have scared someone.
Wu Heng waited for a while, but the person didn’t return, so he climbed out of the well using the well pulley.
The young man stood at a distance, staring at him, his body radiating a gloomy, deathly aura. However, Wu Heng also noticed a faint trace of living energy on him, like someone on the verge of death.
Since the person didn’t speak, Wu Heng looked around.
It was an ancient, dilapidated courtyard, overgrown with weeds, devoid of any signs of life. It should be an ancient well in the capital city that still had some spiritual energy and hadn’t dried up.
There were many ancient wells in the capital, but many had become tourist attractions, equipped with surveillance cameras everywhere, making them unsuitable for Wu Heng to use.
This well was different, located in a desolate courtyard. No one would know if he emerged from here.
His father worked as a steward for a wealthy family in the capital city, so Wu Heng figured he would have many opportunities to come here in the future.
Therefore, Wu Heng looked at the deathly handsome young man and said sincerely, “If you’re planning to jump into the well to die, could you choose another place? I need to use this well in the future.”
As a shaman doctor, he didn’t mind dead people, but why not keep things clean if possible?
The young man: “…”
The young man had deep-set eyes, his gaze unusually cold.
Shi Xuan saw Wu Heng shaking water off himself. His outer clothes and backpack were dry, only his short hair was wet, and he was shaking his head like a wet golden retriever.
After a moment of silence, Shi Xuan said, “This is my home.”
Wu Heng stopped shaking: “…”
“Oh.”
Wu Heng looked at his deathly aura, figuring this person probably only had a couple of days left to live, and didn’t feel embarrassed about his presumptuous request.
Wu Heng took out his perfectly functional phone, opened the map app, searched for the He family’s address, and found that it was only 800 meters away on foot. He followed the navigation and slipped out through the small gate.
Shi Xuan touched the choker around his neck, glanced coldly at the ancient well Wu Heng had climbed out of, and lowered his eyes.
Another abnormal person affected by him.
“Knock, knock—”
Wu Heng reappeared at the small gate.
He looked at Shi Xuan and said, “Please don’t lock the gate.”
He needed to return through here later.
Although a locked gate was useless against him.
Shi Xuan: “…Oh, okay.”
It was past eleven o’clock at night, but the He family’s house was still brightly lit. Who in the He family could sleep?
Except for the expectant father himself, He Yunxiao, who was dozing on the sofa, only to be woken up by frequent fetal movements.
Mr. He was urgently contacting acquaintances in the provincial capital of C Province, determined to arrange a car to pick up Wu Heng from where the national road to Nan Nuo village was blocked.
The He family also had a private jet, which they immediately mobilized, ensuring that as soon as Doctor Wu Heng arrived in the provincial capital of C Province, he could immediately board the private jet to the capital city.
However, they couldn’t be sure how long it would take Wu Heng to get out of Nan Nuo village.
Such a remote village in the southwest must have inconvenient transportation. If cars couldn’t get through, he could at most ride an electric scooter. How many kilometers could an electric scooter travel in a day?
Just thinking about it gave him a headache.
A while ago, the He family had been worried that He Yunxiao had a terminal illness. Now, they were afraid he would vomit out more snake grandchildren, anxious like ants on a hot pan.
Mrs. He couldn’t help but complain, “Why didn’t we ask Doctor Wu for his WeChat earlier? Adding him on WeChat would allow us to contact him in real time.”
Mr. He retorted, “Do you dare to contact him in real time?”
Mrs. He fell silent, realizing he had a point. Even though they were anxious, they didn’t dare to disturb Wu Heng constantly, afraid of irritating him and causing him to stay put in Nan Nuo village.
Just then, the doorbell rang loudly, attracting everyone’s attention.
Who would come to their house at this hour? Everyone wondered.
The He family’s butler immediately went to open the door. On the video doorbell screen, he saw a handsome young man in a white T-shirt. The young man had a straight back, carrying a cloth backpack with an exotic flair, his attire neat, his head slightly lowered as he shook off tiny water droplets from his hair.
Butler: “May I ask who you’re looking for?”
The young man: “He Yunxiao.”
That voice!
The He family in the hall was startled.
They had watched the recording of the Chengde Medical Clinic live stream repeatedly and had memorized Wu Heng’s voice.
The voice outside was remarkably similar to Doctor Wu Heng’s.
But…but, that was impossible!
An hour ago, they had spoken to Wu Heng on the phone, and he had said he was in his hometown, Nan Nuo village, deep in the mountains.
After hanging up, they had indeed looked up this village, located in the remote southwest, over three thousand kilometers away from the capital.
Even the fastest plane couldn’t have brought him here so quickly!
Moreover, they were certain that the number they dialed belonged to a C Province IP address.
Mr. He stopped his wife and went to the door with the butler, staring at the video doorbell. The young man outside looked up slightly and smiled.
It was Wu Heng!
“Quick, open the door!”
Mr. He was overjoyed and shouted urgently.
The door opened, and Wu Heng walked in, his gaze falling on He Yunxiao on the sofa.
The He family was ecstatic. They had just been discussing how to get Wu Heng here within three days, and he had arrived in the middle of the night.
“Doctor Wu, were you just in the capital city by any chance?” Mrs. He urged the butler to serve Wu Heng tea, while Mr. He inquired.
Wu Heng shook his head. “No, I just arrived from my hometown.”
From Nan Nuo village to the capital city, over three thousand kilometers!
The He family didn’t pry into the details, only concerned about their son’s condition.
“Doctor Wu Heng, it’s so good that you’re here. With you here, we feel much more at ease. Please take a look at Yunxiao’s illness. By the way, should we bring his… his snake baby over?”
Wu Heng took his time, picked a grape from the fruit plate, ate it, and asked, “Would it be convenient for you to participate in a live stream?”
The He family was taken aback. Mrs. He quickly said, “Convenient, convenient, anything is fine.”
Actually, the He family didn’t want to expose such a bizarre matter online, to avoid causing a stir, especially since the hashtag #StreamerLiveDiagnosisManVomitsLiveSnake was still trending on Weibo.
But they couldn’t afford to gamble, afraid that refusing Wu Heng’s request would anger him and make him leave. It wouldn’t be easy to find another shaman doctor then.
He Yunxiao asked, “Doctor Wu, are you here to give me an abortion or to deliver the babies?”
Wu Heng said, “It’s up to you, either is fine. Think about it yourself.”
After speaking, Wu Heng looked at the He family’s butler and borrowed a phone stand, setting up his phone properly.
Then, Wu Heng sat on the sofa and began eating, trying all the fruits and snacks served.
Seeing Wu Heng eat continuously, his cheeks bulging, Mrs. He couldn’t help but ask, “Doctor Wu, when…when will you examine Yunxiao?”
Wu Heng spat out a grape seed. “After twelve o’clock.”
Everyone in the He family subconsciously glanced at the clock on the wall. There were ten minutes left until midnight.
This was a villa area, surrounded by greenery. The nearest neighbor, the Shi family, was eight or nine hundred meters away, so it was especially quiet.
Hearing the time Wu Heng mentioned, all sorts of strange thoughts ran through their minds.
Midnight, that time!
In many horror movies, midnight was the time when yin energy was at its strongest, when all sorts of demons, ghosts, and spirits roamed freely, when their power was at its peak.
After all sorts of wild imaginings, He Yunxiao, his face pale, said, “Doctor Wu, why midnight? If there’s any danger, could my parents leave? I can handle it alone.”
Mr. He said sternly, “No way! How can we leave you alone?”
Mrs. He burst into tears, clutching He Yunxiao’s hand, and sobbed, “Silly child, you’re our only son. We’re a family, we’ll face it together, life or death.”
The family was on the verge of a group hug and crying session.
Wu Heng, who was eating green bean cake, interrupted awkwardly, “Um…I need to do this for the 100-Day Live Streaming Plan check-in.”
Thanks for the chapter 🌻✨