Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Wu Heng was slightly shocked. Did he ever say that he would definitely take the route by the new well dug by Li Hao and the others?

Did Li's well have a dry towel for hair, freshly baked pastries, or a convenient ladder for climbing?

None of that!

So why couldn't he use Shi Xuan's well? This new friend even offered to pick him up and drop him off, with great hospitality.

Wu Heng didn't bother replying to Li Hao's mournful WeChat voice message and quickly got up to wash up.

Today was the Ghost Festival, a traditional holiday in Nan Nuo Village second only to the Spring Festival. The Ghost Festival in Nan Nuo Village lasted three days, and the festive atmosphere had already been strong since yesterday.

Although he knew Wu Heng's mind was clear now, Eugene was still worried he might go hungry. Early in the morning, he brought over a bowl of sticky rice cakes filled with brown sugar, accompanied by a boiled egg.

Grandpa seemed to have disappeared without a trace, and even now, during the Ghost Festival, he hadn't returned.

As Wu Heng ate the rice cakes, he received a call from his father, Wu Su. "Don't worry about your grandpa; he's fine. I can't come back for the festival because of some matters with the main family. Hengheng, do you know where our Wu family's ancestral tomb is? You should go alone..."

Wu Su then grew concerned again. "Never mind, I'm afraid you might accidentally burn down our ancestral tomb. Let's skip the visit this year."

Wu Heng sipped his sweet rice soup, a special snack for the Ghost Festival in Nan Nuo Village, and replied, "Dad, I know you're worried, but don't be."

Wu Su was surprised. It seemed Wu Heng had truly returned to normal.

The Shi family was a hotbed of strangeness and chaos, with many rules even restricting their internet usage. Even their butler wasn't much better off.

Another Ghost Festival arrived. While other families were honoring their ancestors, the Shi family invited Taoist masters to perform rituals for their young master.

"Wu butler, the Taoist masters have arrived," Wu Su said, covering his phone and nodding to the servants. He then added to Wu Heng, "Be careful when you honor the ancestors. Don't lose your way. Next year, at the latest, I'll quit my job and return home."

Wu Heng hung up the phone, washed the bowl, and folded some gold paper ingots in the medical hall. He then took some raw meat from the kitchen—a whole pig's head, a whole chicken, and a duck—along with some fruit, and set out.

Nan Nuo Village was an ethnic minority village, unlike big cities where burning paper money was prohibited. Early in the morning on the Ghost Festival, paper money could be seen fluttering in the air on the stone-paved roads, and the scent of burnt paper money filled the air.

Wu Heng changed into his ancestral worship clothes—a white short-sleeved shirt and shorts—and wore a large snake-shaped silver earring on his left ear, symbolizing adulthood. In Nan Nuo Village, unlike the official national age system, 16 was considered adulthood.

Following the route he remembered, Wu Heng made his way to the foot of the back mountain to place the offerings. There, he ran into Wang Jun and a few other officers.

"Be careful not to set the mountain on fire. Starting a fire on the mountain could get you thrown in jail. Make sure the fire is out before you leave," Wang Jun shouted at the young man ahead.

When Wu Heng turned around, Wang Jun was surprised to see it was him and quickly stepped forward to thank him. "So it's Dr. Wu! My daughter hasn't had a fever these past few days."

Initially, he had tried it out of curiosity, placing the folded triangular paper money in his daughter's pajama pocket near her chest. By midnight, her fever had subsided, and by morning, she was running around the house, full of energy.

Wu Heng smiled. "Officer Wang Jun, open that triangular paper and take a look."

Wang Jun was surprised that Wu Heng knew he still had the triangular paper. He took it out of his pocket and unfolded it, only to find the coin inside had rusted, and the hundred-yuan bill had become limp.

Wang Jun clearly remembered that when he gave the money to Wu Heng, the coin was in good condition. How had it rusted so badly in just a day or two?

The surrounding officers felt a chill run down their backs.

Wu Heng continued arranging the offerings and added, "The yang energy in this 101 yuan has been exhausted. Spend the money. Don't go to the southern part of the mountain today."

Wang Jun and the others exchanged glances and nodded quickly.

Wu Heng completed the ancestral worship quickly. After the fire had completely died down, he carried the offerings back to Chengde Medical Hall. On the way, he passed by the Lai family and noticed their courtyard was bustling with activity.

You Jin took a day off today, making the clinic unusually quiet. Wu Heng figured that, unless there was an emergency, no one would come to the clinic today.

This is also a tradition in Nan Nuo Village during the Ghost Festival; unless it's an emergency, people avoid seeking medical treatment today. They’re afraid of running into wandering spirits on the road, which could scare them and speed up their death.

Wu Heng decided to go live, and soon a bunch of viewers flooded into the stream.

Seeing the viewers asking about the young girl Wang Qiang, Wu Heng said, "It’s still early, I’ll check in with that patient at sunset tonight."

"Why does the treatment have to be at dusk? Dr. Wu, are you really going to confront her parents? Isn’t that bad luck?"

"I’m mad too, but shamans are still alive—better not mess with the dead. Her parents don’t seem like the nicest folks."

"Exactly! Even after dying, they’re still haunting their own daughter, they might be fierce ghosts or evil spirits. Streamer, just cure her and stay out of it."

"Trust Heng Heng! Did you go to pay respects to your ancestors today? Your outfit has such a cool, traditional vibe!"

Amid a flood of compliments from fans obsessed with looks, Wu Heng connected with a new patient. Soon, a young man with a big smile appeared on the screen.

He looked cheerful, unlike the other patients who were all gloomy.

He Yunxiao wondered if this was a joke, but the young man cleared his throat and said, "Hello, Dr. Wu Heng, I joined your stream today to ask if you could do a health check."

Wu Heng: "..."

"My girlfriend and I are getting married today, but we're both too busy to find time for a premarital check-up at the hospital. I heard online you can diagnose people remotely, so I was wondering if you could do the check-up, hehe."

"That’s genius, using the streamer as a one-stop health check. You only need to see Wu Heng, but at the hospital, you’d have to run around to different departments."

"Getting married today, isn't today the Ghost Festival? Isn't that inauspicious?"

"Congrats on the wedding, bro! Wishing you all the best!"

The young man, beaming with joy, said, "Thank you all for your blessings. We’re modern folks—we don’t care about lucky dates. She's free to get married today, so we're doing it today."

"Nowadays, premarital check-ups aren't mandatory, and she doesn't really want to go, but I want to give my girlfriend peace of mind. I want to tell her that I'm absolutely healthy, with no hidden diseases, so she can marry me with peace of mind."

The chat was flooded with people saying they were jealous.

The young man then turned to Wu Heng and asked, "Dr. Wu, can you check?"

Wu Heng nodded: "I can. You’re in better shape than 90% of guys, you don't smoke, drink, or stay up late, your sexual health is fine, and your organs are in great shape."

The young man was thrilled to hear this, as Wu Heng was a recently very popular shaman, a miracle doctor who had cured diseases that even Tu Tu couldn't diagnose after two months of hospital visits.

Wu Heng paused and then added, "But both people should get checked before marriage. Your girlfriend probably doesn't dare to do it."

The young man was stunned and immediately anxious: "Dr. Wu, what do you mean? Is there something wrong with my girlfriend? I'm on my way to pick her up for the marriage registration, can you check her carefully then?"

Wu Heng shook his head: "Because your girlfriend isn’t human."

"??? What do you mean she's not human? Is she a spirit repaying a kindness? This is the correct way for spirits to repay kindness by marrying him, haha He Yunxiao is crying in the bathroom."

"As long as it's not a spider spirit or a rat spirit, I can accept any cat spirit or fox spirit~"

"Today is the Ghost Festival, could it be... that thing?"

"This is a bit scary, I really shouldn't watch this kind of live stream on Ghost Festival."

The young man looked angry: "Are you saying my girlfriend is a demon? It's only 5 PM, and it's still sunny here. She dares to go with me to get married at this time, what kind of demon or ghost isn't afraid of the sun?"

Wu Heng: "July is known as the Ghost Month, and the Zhongyuan Festival is the day of the year when the yang energy is at its weakest. Even stronger ghosts and demons can wander around even during the day."

The young man opened his mouth to argue but couldn't refute Wu Heng, only repeating "bullshit" and "what kind of scam artist is this," before hurriedly ending the call.

Wu Heng didn't take it to heart and even asked He Yunxiao to post the prepared product links. "The first batch of anti-mosquito balm is half price, limited to one per person, 2000 yuan each, first come first served, only 500 available."

The viewers in the live stream room were instantly captivated, and the stock sold out within two seconds.

Those who snagged one were thrilled, while those who missed out were practically tearing their hair out.

Wu Heng simply picked up the live stream camera and headed outside. The traditional village atmosphere of Nan Nuo Village attracted the attention of the viewers.

This was Village Chief Zhou Dagui's ultimate goal when he asked Wu Heng to do the live stream—to attract tourists to the village and boost the economy.

The Zhongyuan Festival atmosphere in the village was intense, and Wu Heng took the live stream camera to the Lai family, showing the viewers a lot of cool stuff along the way.

Arriving outside the courtyard, Wu Heng saw old lady Lai burning paper money for her grandson ahead of time.

Wu Heng set his phone aside and walked over to the fire.

The gray shadow that had just arrived at the corner saw Wu Heng standing next to his pile of money: "..."

Damn, trying to swipe the yin emissary's cash again?!

Old lady Lai looked at the pile of paper ashes, confused: "Strange, strange, he's usually busy with his duties at night, so why hasn't he come to collect the money yet?"

The underworld is swamped, especially on a day like the Zhongyuan Festival. Old lady Lai had wanted to send some money to her grandson ahead of time, but he hadn't come to collect it.

"Never mind, I'll burn it for him later."

The gray shadow at the corner wanted to speak but held back, desperate for cash!

Wu Heng checked the time on his phone, figuring it would soon be dark at Wang Qiang's place. He grabbed his phone and headed back to Chengde Medical Hall, connecting with Wang Qiang.

Wang Qiang and a few girls, each lugging some stuff—some with bags of paper money and gold ingots, others with offerings—headed towards Wang Qiang's parents' ancestral graves.

Wang Qiang had taken the day off, and her roommates, worried she'd be too scared to go alone, also took the day off to go with her.

Wang Qiang touched the medicinal talisman around her neck, feeling a bit more at ease.

This talisman was brought by a small gray snake that had slithered in through their dorm window, freaking everyone out.

Since wearing the talisman, Wang Qiang hadn't dreamed of her deceased parents for the past two days, nor had she felt the need to stand while peeing, and there was no more blood in her urine. It seemed like things were looking up.

She carried a large bag of paper money, including hundreds of gold ingots.

These gold ingots were delivered by a ten-year-old boy in white clothes. The boy had a stern face and carefully carried the small gray snake that had delivered the talisman on his head. Wang Qiang and her friends guessed that the boy was Wu Heng's child.

She had examined the bag of gold ingots carefully. Except for two that looked like they had been burned in advance, the rest were all the same.

"Wow, this is the true friendship among girls. It's the Zhongyuan Festival, and they know their roommate's deceased parents are causing trouble, yet they still dare to accompany her. Who says girls only know how to compete and scheme when they get together?"

"Wang Qiang must have a good character, otherwise her roommates wouldn't accompany her."

"Is this the back mountain of the village? It looks like a burial ground, so remote and scary."

The screen was filled with comments urging them to be careful, which actually made Wang Qiang and her friends feel more at ease.

"Oh, who do we have here? Wang Dayong's daughter, Qiangqiang, right?" A middle-aged woman, who seemed to have just returned from ancestral worship, carrying an empty basket, looked at Wang Qiang and her friends and laughed.

"Da Yong's family line has also ended. Can the paper money burned by a girl be of any use to them?"

The fiery-tempered dorm leader was annoyed by this. Wang Qiang gently tugged at her and shook her head, whispering, "The graduate student's mother."

Her parents had always admired the graduate student the most. In the village, Wang Qiang's mother-in-law was a big shot.

"Isn't that middle-aged woman the one who asked the streamer for a sex-selection pill the other day?"

"Really? That day, during the nationwide free consultation, I heard there were tens of thousands of people applying to connect. What a coincidence to connect with two patients from the same village during the live stream?"

"Heng Heng's smile makes me think it's no coincidence."

"Why is that old hag acting so high and mighty? Are you so arrogant that you force your daughter-in-law to take a sex-selection pill? You're out of your mind!"

Seeing the mocking expressions on the roommates' faces, Wang Qiang's mother-in-law sneered, "What if my daughter-in-law is carrying a girl? They are still young and can give me a grandson. It's just that Da Yong's family will never have a son in their lifetime."

It was hard to listen to.

Wu Heng spoke up, "Let's head to the graves first."

The group of girls, suppressing the urge to hit someone, headed towards the Wang family ancestral graves. Soon, they saw two new graves on one side, belonging to Wang Qiang's parents. The cement ground still had the ashes from the paper money Wang Qiang had burned a few days prior.

The roommates stood on the periphery with the connected phone, while Wang Qiang alone approached the grave mounds.

The girls looked at the grave mounds, hearts pounding. These were the ghost parents Wu Heng had mentioned, now resting here.

"Don't be afraid."

Wu Heng's voice was soft yet powerful, giving the girls a sense of reassurance.

Wang Qiang looked back at the phone camera, and Wu Heng said, "Draw two large circles with quicklime, spread the paper money at the bottom, and place the gold ingots counterclockwise on top of the paper money."

"Light the paper money and call out to your parents, saying 'Lai Jun, come and collect the money' in the Nan Nuo Village dialect."

Wang Qiang and the viewers didn't fully understand, only catching that it was about collecting money. The quick-learning girl repeated the phrase twice, nailing the tone.

With a lighter, the paper money ignited, and the gold ingots on top also caught fire, the ashes swirling in the gentle breeze.

Soon, two shadowy figures emerged, eagerly picking up the gold ingots within the lime circles. A pale-faced man joyfully exclaimed, "The quality is excellent. I went to the Heaven and Earth Bank yesterday and asked; the exchange rate for these ingots is the best. One ingot can buy a large villa in the afterlife."

A bloodied woman quickly found two of them, "These two are the best among them. Husband, let's each take one."

Wu Heng silently watched the couple, instantly recognizing they had died in the same car crash.

Wang Qiang could barely make out two shadowy figures, breaking into a cold sweat, "Dad, Mom? Is that you?"

"?? What? Why can't I see anything?"

"I can't see either. Today is so special, don't mess around, I'm scared."

"I'm scared but can't look away. Heng Heng, say something, I'm freaked out."

"Are the ghost parents here? Instead of beating them, we're burning paper money for them? If it were me, I'd make sure they never have money to spend down there, just as they wished!"

The ghost couple happily stuffed the gold ingots into their pockets, finally striking it rich. There were many places to spend money down there.

With this money, they could buy a large spirit house, a few acres of land, and even some servants and livestock to serve them.

Wang's father looked at his trembling daughter with some pride in his voice, "Indeed, only a son can burn such useful ingots. From now on, Qiang Qiang will be considered our son."

The two new ghosts were somewhat obsessively thinking that their daughter had burned paper money many times before, but they had never been able to exchange it for even ten yuan. Today, there were so many gold bars, surely because they had cut off something from the son of Sister-in-law Wang and made a replica for their daughter!

The female ghost also said with a sinister tone: 'Yes, in the future, we might even have a graduate student for a son.'

Ghosts are different from humans; they think in a straightforward manner, only knowing that after their daughter becomes a son, they will have money to spend down there.

Look at all this cash.

A cold wind carrying leaves blew down, making Wang Qiang and the others feel as if they had entered an ice cellar, their hearts filled with panic.

"This... this..."

Wu Heng reassured them: "Don't be afraid, a civil servant from the underworld is here."

Wang Qiang: "!!!"

"A civil servant from the underworld? Black and White Impermanence? Oh great, that's even scarier!"

"Wu Heng, you really know how to comfort people. But why is the yin emissary here?"

The two ghosts, holding the gold bars in their arms, looked bewildered at the gray shadow emerging from the cold wind. The figure was dressed in a white robe, holding a lantern that read, 'I, the yin emissary, pay up.'

Lai Yin Chai, seeing the gold bars in the ghosts' arms, was furious and rushed forward to snatch the bars into his own arms.

This money was his!

He had clearly heard the person burning the paper money call out his name in the mortal world, and among the bars, two were made from the hell notes Wu Heng had taken from him.

So, this pile of gold bars was all burned for him by Wu Heng.

'How dare you steal from the yin emissary!' Lai Yin Chai was furious. It wasn't easy for him to travel all the way from Nan Nuo Village to here, and now these two little ghosts dared to steal his things?

If it was just Wu Heng who took them, fine, but even these small ghosts dared to steal? What kind of reputation would he have?

When he was alive, he was a tyrant in the village, not some saint.

This lousy yin emissary gig was already unpleasant, and his temper had grown even worse.

The two ghosts were terrified. Although there might be hundreds of such small yin emissaries in a town, and tens of thousands in a district, all under the control of the proper Black and White Impermanence, they naturally carried a sense of fear.

The underworld is not like the mortal world with laws and regulations; it is more primitive and worships strength.

Father Wang, scared, clasped his hands together and kept bowing: 'Your honor, this is the pension money our son, oh no, our daughter burned for us old couple. You must be mistaken.'

Lai Yin Chai turned to look at Wang Qiang's ghostly form and became even angrier: 'Nonsense, that is clearly a boy.'

The wind grew stronger, even blowing the grass on the grave.

Wu Heng spoke in the underworld's language: 'Lai Wazi, I've returned your money, don't come looking for me again.'

Zhou Yi, didn't know the full story at the time, thought Lai Wazi had pushed him into the dry well and made him bleed, bullying him, but Wu Heng knew the Lai family's affairs well.

Although Lai Yin Chai was pampered by the enigmatic Lai family and acted lawlessly, everyone in the Lai family held the only Chengde Medical Hall in the village in high regard.

The livestream couldn't see Wu Heng speaking, so naturally, they couldn't hear the sound.

It was indeed Wu Heng who sent someone to return the money to him, and the rest was quietly considered as interest brought back by the yin emissary.

Lai Yin Chai let out a cold sneer, wielding the soul-catching rope and whipping it fiercely at the two ghosts. Ghosts naturally fear the soul-catching rope, and when it hits them, their souls grow faint.

The golden ingots clutched by the two ghosts tumbled to the ground, and they howled like wolves, pleading with Lai Yin Chai to let them go.

The yin emissary wasn’t a complete monster in his past life, but he was certainly no saint either.

The louder they screamed, the harder Lai Jun lashed them.

Wang Qiang caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure in an official uniform, pressing her parents to the ground and whipping them, which, oddly enough, filled her with relief.

Wang Qiang mustered her courage and shouted, "I've had enough of you! You even stuck that disgusting thing on me, but I don't want to be a man!"

While wailing, Wang's father managed to curse, "Ungrateful brat! What’s so bad about being a son? Ahhh—please spare us, great master..."

Lai Jun took a closer look and realized it wasn’t a boy after all—that thing had been slapped on. He whipped them even harder, "You had the nerve to mess with your kid’s soul’s gender? You're something else. I’ll turn you over to Lord Xie and make sure your whole family’s on the record."

Lai Jun couldn't help but glance at his phone, as if locking eyes with Wu Heng.

Thanks to Wu Heng for the assist—this might just get him a promotion and a raise.

As soon as the yin emissary spoke, the ancestral graves nearby couldn't hold back any longer.

Ghosts and spirits came pouring out from every direction, beating the couple while grinning obsequiously at the yin emissary.

"Great master yin emissary, after you’re done with these two, spare us, alright?"

Wang Qiang saw it all clearly, even noticing her grandfather kicking the hardest. The frustration of the past few days melted away, and she felt an overwhelming sense of relief. She couldn't help but shout:

"What's wrong with me being a girl? Why hasn’t our family’s grave ever produced green smoke? Have you ever stopped to think about that? All these years, and still no green smoke—have you even been serious about being ghosts?"

"If you’ve got the energy to pool all that yin energy into making me some gross thing, why not use it to make the ancestral grave emit green smoke?"

"I’m laying it out right now—if I don't get into Tsinghua or Peking University next June, you ghosts are all to blame!"

Instead of fretting over whether the paper money your daughter burns gets to you, why not focus on why your ancestral grave isn't emitting green smoke while others' are!

Wang Qiang grew angrier as she spoke. They made her a fake, and it turned out to be a cheap knockoff.

"Wait, so the kid actually saw all that?"

"I can’t see a thing. All I see is dirt tumbling off their graves like crazy. Is there an earthquake over there?"

"Looks like they’re getting the crap beaten out of them. Are they being pressed against the grave and beaten?"

"Damn, Heng Heng’s got some serious underworld connections, huh? Did he hire this yin emissary?"

"Well done, streamer!"

The couple got the living daylights beaten out of them by their ancestors and some out-of-town yin emissary, their souls scattered and weak, only able to collapse on the ground and let out pitiful ghostly wails.

"We were wrong, we were wrong! We won't dare do it again."

Wu Heng asked, "Where's that person's thing?"

"It's hidden in our grave," Wang's father cried. "We’ll send a dream to Sister Wang and give her son’s thing back, wuwu."

Wang Qiang was shocked, "Was that thing really a fake graduate student?"

Wang Qiang had never imagined that her dead parents were such experts at making counterfeit knockoffs.

The dorm leader, standing on the outskirts, was the first to burst into laughter, "Wasn't that auntie acting all smug earlier? Now she's done for."

Wu Heng looked at the barrage of "hahaha" in the live stream, along with enthusiastic netizens urging a few young girls to take the live camera to Big Sister Wang's house. They were really eager to see the middle-aged woman's expression as if her world had collapsed.

Wu Heng said, "Wang Qiang, walk forward a hundred steps, and you'll find a well. Fetch a bucket of water from it, take it back, boil it, and use it to bathe. The negative energy will dissipate on its own."

The well water tonight was extremely sinister. The ghostly powers of those two new spirits couldn't match the negative energy of the village well water, so it would naturally fall away.

Wang Qiang was thrilled. As a healthy young girl, who would want that disgusting thing on her body? Especially since it was made from the negative energy of her deceased parents.

She had been feeling extremely uncomfortable lately, and the fact that the source of her discomfort was her dead parents made it all the more unbearable.

Being able to cure her condition quickly was the best outcome.

But...

Wang Qiang hesitated slightly and asked hesitantly, "But if I'm cured now, won't Brother Wang... become sterile? He's a decent guy; he even helped me with some problems I couldn't solve before."

Wu Heng said, "Don't worry about him. Tonight, during the Ghost Festival, the negative energy is particularly strong, but it won't make him sterile."

Besides, some people in his family need to pay the price for their actions.

Only then did Wang Qiang feel reassured. She and her roommates made their way to the ancestral gravesite and went to fetch water from the well a hundred steps ahead to bathe.

Wu Heng thought for a moment, then picked up his phone and sent a WeChat message to Li Hao.

Li Hao and the others were still feeling down because Wu Heng hadn't taken the new well path back to the Li family. As soon as they received Wu Heng's message, they perked up instantly, as if injected with adrenaline.

Before long, Li Hao and the others accurately found the bridge underpass, where they saw a young man lying down. They had seen him before in the top hospital ward, the village doctor who had eaten a mouthful of spider silk.

He looked just like a homeless man.

Li Hao handed the ringing phone to Chen Zhao and whispered, "Dr. Wu has something to discuss with you."

Chen Zhao spat out a blade of grass and sneered, "You dare to act so cocky when you need a favor?"

As soon as Wu Heng answered the phone, he cut straight to the chase: "Fellow Daoist Chen, I have a minor ailment here that I need your help to treat..."

Chen Zhao sat up straight, his handsome face full of righteousness, and said calmly, "I am an official Daoist Physician of the Xuanmen sect. I never treat patients privately; that would be a violation of regulations."

Wu Heng: "Five thousand yuan."

Chen Zhao jumped to his feet, "Senior, as a healer, I have no right to pick and choose my patients! Where is the patient you mentioned? I'll head over right away!"