Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Huh? He Yunxiao looked at Shi Xuan in confusion, wondering why Shi Xuan was so unpredictable when they were both men. He had just been ruthlessly rejected!

Xi Xi hissed happily, poking her head out to grab the child's card and hand it to He Yunxiao, immediately recognizing a second godfather.

He Yunxiao: "Should we go out or go home now?"

Shi Xuan nodded and looked at Wu Heng, asking, "Are we going back?"

He Yunxiao rubbed his chin, suddenly sensing something unusual. These two were definitely up to something.

Wu Heng cursed under his breath, thinking this was trouble. This guy seemed to think he’d jump into their family well—maybe even that he was some kind of spirit living in it. He would have to avoid using their well in the future.

Wu Heng nodded, carrying the KFC takeout under He Yunxiao's curious gaze, and followed Shi Xuan back to the Shi family.

The courtyard was still as desolate and lifeless as ever. Wu Heng skillfully walked to the well, sat on the edge, and bid farewell to Shi Xuan.

Shi Xuan teased, "What, you live in there or something?"

"Sort of," Wu Heng couldn’t explain the ancient well-traveling technique. "Man, I gotta go now."

Wu Heng jumped down with his things, but a strong, slender hand suddenly caught his wrist. Wu Heng didn't look up in the well water but stared at the owner of the hand, whose features were as beautiful as a painting. For a moment, Wu Heng was completely spellbound. The man whispered, "Hello, my name is Shi Xuan."

Before Wu Heng could react, the young man let go, and he plunged into the icy well water.

After climbing out of the well in eastern Nan Nuo Village, Wu Heng sat by it for a while.

Shi Xuan!

His father, Wu Su, was the butler for the wealthy Shi family in the capital. The Shi family was packed with villains straight out of a storybook, and his father was just a footnote who died before the villains met their end.

Shi Xuan was indeed strange. Wu Heng couldn’t read his fate from his face and hadn’t realized his father was the Shi family’s butler.

He absolutely couldn’t use the Shi family’s well anymore. His father was the butler there, and if he accidentally ran into him, he wouldn't be able to explain how he instantly traveled from Nan Nuo Village to the capital.

The little white snake sniffed Xi Xi, looking heartbroken that this newborn had been dragged into Wu Heng’s labor force.

The little white snake said sympathetically, "Xi Xi, you've suffered. Why don't you live with me in the well and stop running around with Wu Heng?"

Xi Xi, having just been born, could only hiss, but as a fellow spirit snake, the white snake understood. She said, "I want to work for my godfather. I ate chicken today. Have you ever had it?"

Chicken was definitely on the menu. The white snake occasionally snatched chicks from the village for a snack. "You can have chicken with me too."

Xi Xi: "I’m talking about the Orleans flavor, duh."

Little white snake: "..."

What? What flavor?

Wu Heng shook the water from his hair and muttered, "Country boys like me shouldn’t even think about city girls."

Wu Heng turned back to Chengde Medical Hall. Before going in, he dropped off a bag of KFC for Zhou Yi. The moment he stepped inside, he saw a bunch of guys on their knees, crawling around like madmen, scrubbing the place clean.

"Dr. Wu, you’re back!" Li Hao wailed, twisting his body as he crawled forward, the others scrambling behind him.

You Jin, busy packing herbs, was stunned: "Wait, you mean Dr. Wu is Xiao Heng, not my master—his grandfather?"

You Jin thought these Beijing big shots had lost their minds, crawling around and hogging the brooms like their lives depended on it. He told them Dr. Wu was out gathering herbs, but they swore he was at KFC.

When Wu Heng handed over the KFC bag, You Jin exclaimed, "Xiao Heng, you’re pretty quick on your feet. Did you go to town to eat KFC?"

Li Hao and the others didn’t dare say a word, knowing it was KFC from the capital city, but they looked at Wu Heng with eager eyes.

Wang Dong then took out the video of them apologizing to Shi Xuan.

"We won’t dare to do it again, please save our lives, Dr. Wu," Li Hao cried, holding a chicken feather duster in his hands, "If Dr. Wu is still mad, use this to beat us and let off some steam."

Wu Heng smiled at this. "Since you’ve said so."

Wu Heng took the chicken feather duster, which was made by his grandfather using the most striking tail feathers of ninety-nine roosters, and had always been placed on top of the medicine cabinet to ward off evil spirits.

Wu Heng picked up the chicken feather duster and fiercely struck Li Hao’s legs, each blow landing accurately on his thighs, causing Li Hao to let out a heart-wrenching scream.

Holy crap, he’s actually hitting him?

What exactly is the relationship between Wu Heng and Shi Xuan? He was just being polite, and Wu Heng went all out?

Wang Dong and the others huddled together, terrified.

If Li Hao was beaten, they couldn’t be beaten next.

"Xiao Heng, calm down... this Beijing big shot, run, no, crawl away! My Xiao Heng isn’t always right in the head," You Jin shouted, spitting out the fries in his mouth.

Li Hao, writhing in pain, scrambled towards the clinic door, crawling, crawling... running.

Li Hao shot up from the ground, his legs spinning like wheels as he dashed out, like he was running the hundred-meter dash.

Li Hao, panting heavily and dripping with sweat, looked around at the buildings full of southwestern ethnic characteristics, and suddenly realized something as he looked down—his legs were standing upright on the stone road.

He, he stood up!!

He touched his legs, feeling like it wasn’t real.

"Holy crap! Dr. Wu Heng, hit me, I love getting hit by men!" Wang Dong, green with envy, immediately approached.

"Dr. Wu, hit me first. It was my impulsive idea to release the snake into the swimming pool, I should be the first to be hit!" Another guy with dyed hair followed right behind, not wanting to be outdone.

You Jin was completely stunned, a group of not-quite-right Beijing big shots surrounding his not-quite-right Wu Heng, crying and begging to be hit.

Even as they were being hit, these Beijing big shots howled in pain but laughed harder than ever, trembling and shouting "so good."

You Jin, clutching a chicken leg, muttered, "Freaks, total freaks."

He couldn’t understand the world of young people anymore.

The whole group scrambled to their feet, now at the same height as Wu Heng.

"I thought we’d need meds, maybe even shots or IVs," Li Hao said, rubbing his knees, somewhat embarrassed, "But this works too."

Wu Heng smiled. As a shaman, healing doesn’t always need medicine; achieving the goal of healing is enough.

Li Hao and the others quickly fetched a chair for Wu Heng, eagerly offering tea and water.

"Dr. Wu, we promised to set up a 5G network in the village, and we will definitely do it. If there’s a single spot in Nan Nuo Village without 5G, I’ll eat my hat!" Li Hao promised, patting his chest.

This was lesson enough; they wouldn’t dare pull such stunts again.

Wu Heng gave a nod. "Alright. Take a left outside, and a hundred meters down is a new guesthouse my second uncle owns."

Li Hao and the others immediately agreed, scanned the code at the counter, and each paid 88,888 yuan. Seeing that Wu Heng wasn’t upset, they left in high spirits.

You Jin was left bewildered, thinking, "What? They got beaten and still paid money?"

After washing up, Wu Heng browsed social media and recalled his final words from the live stream. He logged onto the Shark Video Platform and sent a prescription to Fan Tu via private message.

Fan Tu was still asleep, but Fan Xuan stayed online, monitoring their chat, and finally received Wu Heng's prescription.

"Chengde Medical Hall: Boil the medicine three times, let it cool, and use it to water the flowers three times a day."

Fan Xuan stared at the flower on his sister's head, muttering, "Water this thing?"

Without hesitation, Fan Xuan took the prescription to the nearest Chinese medicine pharmacy, buying every expensive herb Wu Heng had listed.

He was too busy buying the medicine to engage with fan groups or follow online gossip.

Chengde Medical Hall trended again on social media, with the stories growing wilder by the minute.

"Viewers of the live stream were terrified; the roots were actually growing inside her head."

"Some had doubted if Fan Tu had plastic surgery, but now it’s clear she’s all natural. What a stunner!"

"The replay freaked me out. Someone turned a beauty’s head into a flower pot! Who knows if they only planted flowers there?"

"Exactly, who plants just one seed? I'd scatter them everywhere. Are there other victims? It’s chilling to think about."

"??? Why are so many online folks clueless? They’re all spouting nonsense."

"You moron, anyone with half a brain knows weird diseases have been popping up like crazy lately."

The #WellWaterChallenge trended alongside #FemaleInternetCelebritySuffersFromStrangeDiseaseOfFlowersGrowingOnHead, a Shark Video Platform influencer’s traffic-grab, loosely inspired by the Ice Bucket Challenge.

One by one, attractive men and women in full makeup dumped icy well water over their heads.

As more joined in, even casual versions popped up, with people transforming into glamorous beauties post-pour, racking up hundreds of thousands of likes.

Wu Heng was speechless: "..."

He shared the method, but did he expect it to become a viral challenge?

"Honestly, Wu Heng should be the one filming these—he’s the real looker."

"I still remember his mesmerizing dance that night; I wonder when we’ll see it again."

"Let’s hope we don’t see his shaman dance again—that’d mean more weird diseases. I just want to know if anyone else sprouted flowers like Fan Tu after the challenge."

"Haven’t seen any yet; maybe Fan Tu’s unique? But it’s fascinating—so many influencers joined, and it’s a visual treat, yay!"

Its popularity led to promotions on major platforms, and a renowned TCM practitioner criticized it in a video.

"Well water is cold by nature, and the head is a vital hub of yang energy, packed with meridians and acupoints. It can trigger vascular spasms, headaches, or even brain hemorrhages. This doctor is reckless! Netizens, please stop this madness."

"This is spot-on—don’t just follow trends. I always thought that shaman seemed shady, like a fame-hungry fraud."

"Everyone knows cold water on the head is harmful, but after Fan Tu’s ordeal, I’d risk it once to avoid unknowingly becoming a flower pot."

"Bad idea +1, he doesn’t seem like a proper doctor; he’s probably still a minor and doesn’t have a license, right? Can we report him?"

"Whoever dares to report Doctor Wu Heng at this time is asking for Fan Tu’s life! I’m serious, no joke!"

*

Shi Xuan had a mobile phone, but it didn’t have social media apps like Shark Video or Weibo. Apart from a WeChat and Alipay with few contacts, there was nothing else.

Shi Xuan hadn’t seen the viral beauty well challenge online; he just started visiting the dilapidated courtyard more often.

He stood by the well, gazing at the faint ripples in the water, but the person he hoped to see never showed up.

He said he lived inside, but Shi Xuan had never seen Wu Heng come out since that day. It seemed his first attempt at making a friend in eighteen years had failed.

"Young Master?" Wu Su approached with several takeout bags, keeping her distance when she saw him by the well. It was common knowledge not to peer into the well together.

Shi Xuan nodded, grabbing the still-warm McDonald's takeout bags. He returned to his room, found some waterproof bags to wrap them completely, and went back to the well, gazing at the water inside.

Shi Xuan placed the McDonald's meal in a basket and lowered it into the well.

He hoped, against all odds, that it would actually reach him.

The little white snake failed to steal chicks from the Village Chief's house tonight and was chased and beaten by Zhou Yi's mother. It was seething with rage—after all, it was the (trainee) Dragon King of the Well, a (future) dragon! How dare it be treated with such disrespect!

Driven by a strong desire for revenge, the big white snake crawled into Zhou Yi's study, wreaked havoc, tearing up Zhou Yi's *Five-Three* workbook without a second thought, before wriggling back to its well.

Upon returning to the well, it noticed something unusual—there were several fast-food bags emitting the aroma of chicken inside.

Apart from shamans like Wu Heng, who possessed ancient powers and could navigate the myriad water systems of wells, no one could accurately find this place and deliver something.

Could this truly be a blessing from the heavens?

Shi Xuan sat by the well, watching the fast-food bags vanish, yet the ancient well stayed eerily calm and still.

He lowered his long lashes, hiding his cold gaze, and was about to get up and return to his room when the well's surface suddenly rippled, and a few empty McDonald's bags floated up.

Shi Xuan quickly scooped up the light, empty bags and opened them to find a water-soaked *Five-Three* math practice multiple-choice sheet inside, with a few scrawled words:

"Got any Orleans flavor?"