Chapter 79 Part 2
Wu Su went out to help, even if the Shi family didn’t have many guests, they still had to prepare the funeral banquet.
Wu Heng leaned against the counter and sent a message to the group chat.
[HengHengBaby: @Everyone, go to Shi Xuan’s funeral banquet, give this to the steward for me.]
[He Yunxiao: @SX, since when are you dead again?]
[Group Owner – Li Hao: Huh? The Shi Xuan I just saw, alive?]
[Admin – Black Hair Number Two: A feast? Sounds good! Count me in!]
[Admin – Wang Dong: Wuwuwu, Doctor Wu, my goddess Xie Zhi turned out to be a guy! I’m straight!]
[Group Owner – Li Hao: Wang Dong! Stay on topic or be prepared for a beating!]
He Yunxiao sent a video of his classmates playing in the snow during lunch break.
What a luxurious snowball fight.
The sports field was filled with laughter.
Wu Heng searched for a familiar figure but couldn’t find him. He Yunxiao and Li Hao were the most enthusiastic, Shi Xuan wasn’t there.
He probably wasn’t interested in such things. Wu Heng thought.
Wu Heng plucked two hairs from Su Da Yi, fox fur imbued with natural illusion magic, wrapped them in yellow paper, and gave them to Da Bai. “Go to your territory in Beijing.”
Su Da Yi, glancing at Da Bai, was surprised. This dumb snake really was the Well Dragon King, with territory in Beijing?! Unimaginable.
Da Bai nodded obediently. The well by Jiaming High School was its territory now, had to patrol diligently.
“Shi Xuan, what are you doing hiding here? Why not join the snowball fight?” He Yunxiao, his face flushed from exertion, asked breathlessly, running over. “Whoa, you don’t like snowball fights, but you like building snowmen?”
Shi Xuan stood under a tree, holding a skewer of candied hawthorns he had just bought from the cafeteria.
“Yes,” he said, placing the candied hawthorns in the snowman’s left hand.
He Yunxiao watched, bewildered, as he picked up the snowman and put it in a cardboard box. “? Are you taking this to our classroom? It’ll melt!”
As he was wondering, he noticed a path forming in the thick snow, something moving beneath.
“Uncle He, this is from Wu Heng,” Da Bai emerged, its head poking out of the snow.
He Yunxiao took the light, yellow paper package, it felt like just two strands of hair inside, and quickly pocketed it.
“He Yunxiao, where are you hiding?! Come out and die!” Li Hao’s voice boomed across the sports field.
He Yunxiao, seeing that Shi Xuan wasn’t interested in joining the fight, returned to the battlefield.
Shi Xuan looked at the almost frozen Da Bai. “I’ll buy you fried chicken in a couple of days. Take this box back.”
Da Bai, hearing this, immediately shifted into its human form, balanced the box on its head, and left through the school’s back gate.
Back in Nan Nuo, noticing the box was slightly damp, it ran towards Chengde Medical Clinic.
“Wu Heng, Wu Heng, a gift from Godfather!”
The little boy with horns, feeling tired, transformed back into a snake and curled up in his dog bed, staring at the box.
Wu Heng approached, feeling a slight chill. He opened the box, and inside was a snowman, a black cashmere scarf around its neck, a skewer of candied hawthorns in its left hand, slowly melting.
Wu Heng’s eyes widened. “A snowman?”
Da Bai’s eyes gleamed, “Candied hawthorns!” It knew it smelled something sweet!
Wu Heng took some photos with his phone, then, looking at the weather, moved the snowman to the backyard, writing a protection spell on a talisman and tucking it into its scarf.
This way, he could keep it until spring.
He had seen the snow in Beijing, a piece of it here with him now.
Wu Heng carefully removed the candied hawthorns, and, as Da Bai stared at him expectantly, took a bite. “What?”
Da Bai was tempted, could it have a lick? After all that effort delivering it.
“Not for you. I ordered you fried chicken, it’ll be here soon.”
Da Bai considered it, candied hawthorns looked delicious, but it wasn’t meat, and Wu Heng’s brain must be frozen, meat was better!
Su Da Yi, watching Wu Heng eat, its mouth watering, it was on a diet.
Wu Heng hadn’t even shared with the two snakes, there was no way it would get any.
But a spirit beast’s sense of smell was acute. Su Da Yi could clearly smell the sweetness and the stench under the consultation table, covering its nose and shouting, ‘Wu Heng, that stinks! Can’t you clean it up before eating? How can you even stand it?‘
Wu Heng glanced at the two plastic bags under the table, from Chen Zhao.
Chen Zhao, pinching his nose, said, “Doctor Wu, this is from that patient, I told him to bathe in well water last night, seemed to help a little, but not much…”
Wu Heng chuckled, “Do you know what this is?”
Chen Zhao had his suspicions. “He hasn’t showered in six months… could this be… dirt? Scraped off his body? It looks like it.”
Chen Zhao wondered, “Did he go to Northeast China for a scrubbing session?”
This was disgusting, even the filthiest person couldn’t possibly produce that much.
And those in the medical profession were usually quite particular about hygiene.
Wu Heng, without looking at the contents, finishing the last candied hawthorn, said, “To be precise, it’s… bone dust.”
Mr. Shi, taking a break from his son’s funeral, checked the trending topics on Weibo: #SoulSwap and #YangQiVaccine.
Many students in Beijing had received their shots, and some adults, after seeing the news, also got vaccinated.
[Seriously speechless. I thought these supernatural things wouldn’t happen to our family. Turns out my son’s soul was swapped. He woke up talking about tending pigs every day : )]
[That’s nothing! I dragged my husband to get vaccinated today. He fell asleep when he came back, then woke up crying, saying he was trapped in a vegetative state, hearing doctors call a different name! I slept next to an imposter for two years! Isn’t this a crime?!]
[This vaccine is amazing, but those whose souls were swapped probably won’t dare to take it, right?]
[If they don’t, consider them haunted. I thought Xie Zhi was an isolated case, but turns out she’s just one of them!]
More and more netizens came forward with their stories, their worldviews shattered, desperately seeking the vaccine.
Mr. Shi, reading the news, muttered to himself, “Things have truly changed.”
His son’s misfortune… or perhaps not a misfortune. These strange illnesses were becoming increasingly common.
Shi Xuan’s unusual behavior seemed almost normal now.
Steward Wu said, “Mr. Shi, visitors for the funeral.”
A group of young men in Jiaming High School uniforms entered, He Yunxiao and his friends, looking at Shi Xuan’s photo with amusement.
They offered incense, flowers, and money, as tradition dictated, then sat at a table laden with seventeen dishes, an odd number, customary for funerals.
Li Hao, chopsticks in hand, glanced around, his voice low. “Wow, so many tables, no one here, what a waste!”
He Yunxiao, glancing at the empty tables, said, his mouth full, “No people, but who knows about ghosts? Be quiet, eat quickly.”
Li Hao, envious of his pregnancy, his heightened senses now, cursed his inability to carry babies, snake or monkey.
Wang Dong, naturally timid, was terrified, barely able to eat, his chopsticks trembling.
The boys finished quickly, eager to leave, afraid of having to stay for the wake.
The body wasn’t there, just clothes, but the practitioners advised burying the symbolic coffin in the courtyard instead of the cemetery.
Steward Wu, after instructing the servants to clean up the untouched dishes – he knew who had eaten them – watched as the mound of earth was erected in the courtyard, the funeral over.
Clutching the item He Yunxiao slipped into his hand earlier, he turned to the forlorn Mr. Shi, “Mr. Shi, now that Young Master’s funeral is over, can I resign? I want to leave tomorrow.”
Mr. Shi, standing in the shadows, his gaze fixed on him, chuckled softly. “Why the rush? Is the Shi family treating you badly?”
Wu Su’s heart sank. Had Wu Heng been right? Was this old man planning on detaining him?
He hurried back to his room, looking at his packed suitcase anxiously, his prepaid ticket a waste if he couldn’t leave.
His phone vibrated. A message from Wu Heng.
He didn’t even have time to process how a normal message could reach this strange phone and quickly read it.
Then he opened the yellow paper packet, two soft, white fox hairs inside.
Following Wu Heng’s instructions, he rubbed one against his skin, tossed it into the air, and blew gently.
“Holy moly!” Wu Su stared in astonishment as the fox hair transformed into a figure, identical to him!
He quickly calmed down, after all these years with the Shi family, he wasn’t easily fazed.
He put the other hair into his pocket, took a deep breath, and dragged his suitcase out.
He walked carefully past the practitioners, then, seeing that they didn’t react, he even waved at them.
No response, they couldn’t see him! Such a magical thing, he wondered about the source of his son’s power.
He mouthed the words at Mr. Shi: ‘Goodbye, old bastard!’
With that, Wu Su, dragging his suitcase, slipped out the back gate.
As soon as he stepped outside, a gust of wind swept through the courtyard, and the leading practitioner suddenly pinched his fingers. “Mr. Shi, it seems your steward isn’t in the house anymore.”
Mr. Shi frowned, impossible! He had everyone watch him, how could he just vanish? What skills did he have?
But these were his trusted practitioners, never wrong before, and Wu Su knew too much, he couldn’t let him spread rumors!
He rushed to the steward’s quarters, not bothering to knock, and kicked the door open.
The middle-aged man inside was playing a video game, looking up at the noise, complaining, “Hey! Can’t you knock?!”
Mr. Shi felt his voice was a bit strange, but it was still him, playing that same stupid game, he was terrible at it.
The practitioners followed, frowning at the steward, something was off, but they couldn’t pinpoint it.
Mr. Shi, his eyes narrowing, suddenly said, “Wait a minute…”
The practitioners, startled, turned to him.
Could Mr. Shi, Shi Xuan’s father, see something they couldn’t? Perhaps influenced by his son? Or natural talent?
He stared at Wu Su, who was playing the game with his pinky raised, and said with surprise, “Steward Wu, have you gained weight?”
Shouldn’t he have lost weight after all the funeral arrangements?
