Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty

Zhou Yi was dumbfounded.

Love? What kind of bullshit love? Is love more important than schoolwork?

Bound and sitting on the floor, Zhou Yi shook violently in a frenzy, spitting saliva as he cursed at the little white snake, "Die, love-obsessed idiot! Everyone, just die!"

'Zhou Yi, you're as good as dead. Once Xi Xi falls asleep, I'll definitely bite you to death,' the little white snake blurted out excitedly to the small gray snake, 'Xi Xi, everyone's convinced I'm love-obsessed.'

Wu Heng: "..."

Li Hao and the others had already moved into a school district place near campus. The duplex villa covered a total of 300 square meters, and a group of casual friends lived together.

At that moment, Li Hao was lying on the largest bed in the master bedroom, laughing so hard he rolled around on the bed as he watched the live stream.

"Haha, He Yunxiao must be losing it right now? So satisfying!"

The viewers in the live stream probably couldn't hear what the two snakes were saying, but He Yunxiao, the father, could.

Laughing uncontrollably, Li Hao suddenly felt a chill and before he knew it, he tumbled off the bed, eating floor.

Rubbing his sore cheeks from laughing too much, Li Hao climbed back onto the bed and posted a WeChat message in the group, tagging He Yunxiao.

"Group Leader - Li Hao: @He Yunxiao, your future snake son-in-law made me laugh so hard I fell off the bed."

"He Yunxiao: [/smile] Get out of here."

"What's wrong with this kid? He never swears!" Zhou's mother said anxiously, looking at Zhou Yi, who was still spewing random curses on the floor, utterly panicked.

Zhou Yi had always been the obedient child in the eyes of teachers and parents. He never swore or cursed others, let alone said such things. This wasn't like him at all.

"What's with this guy? His expression is so fierce. Could he be possessed?"

"…Did anyone notice that while everyone has a shadow, he doesn't."

"Damn, this is creepy. After the ghost marriage red envelope incident, I'm out of here."

"This doesn't look right. I'm leaving too. Wishing for a speedy recovery."

Many viewers who had grabbed the ghost marriage red envelopes in the fan group knew all too well. Those who had been drinking ginger water like it was nothing, and it was said that they only fully recovered these past few days, quickly exited the live stream, causing the number of viewers to drop significantly.

The little white snake stood up, its scarlet eyes fixed on Zhou Yi. Seeing the eerie black aura emanating from him, it said, 'He's possessed by an evil spirit.'

Just as Wu Heng was about to praise the little white snake for its sharp observation, it quickly slithered down the examination table and, using its head, knocked over the feather duster in the clinic.

The little white snake shouted, 'You're finished, Zhou Yi. I'm going to settle the score for when you kicked me.'

But without hands, the feather duster fell to the ground, which was a bit awkward.

Zhou Dagui looked at Wu Heng and then at the spirited little white snake. He immediately picked up the feather duster and started hitting Zhou Yi with it.

Red welts bloomed on Zhou Yi's arms, causing him to tremble in pain. His head shook back and forth erratically, his eyes wide and tongue sticking out as he vaguely recited key content from the political curriculum for the college entrance exam:

"The core values of socialism are prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony, freedom, equality, justice..."

Even the Village Chief, a devout follower of national policy, couldn't bring himself to continue the beating.

This... this is really off!

Damn it, is it you who is possessed or us who are possessed?

The little white snake was shocked. When it came to the medical hall to steal honey, You Jin had beaten it until its soul was about to fly away. What's going on with Zhou Yi?

Misdiagnosis?

"Godfather, should we pour the medicinal liquid over his head?" Xi Xi asked Wu Heng.

The medicinal power of the herbs could force out evil spirits, which was a standard procedure Xi Xi had often seen Wu Heng use.

Wu Heng shook his head and said, "Go to his study room and bring over Zhou Yi’s revision materials."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yi’s father immediately bolted out, sprinting home to fetch several thick stacks of materials from the study room, taking only a few minutes.

Wu Heng took the topmost ultra-thick purple Five-Three review book and flipped through it. It was filled to the brim with answers, but several pages had been torn out.

Wu Heng approached the medical counter, took a white candle, and lit it with an alcohol lamp in front of everyone.

"Wu Heng, what are you doing?! These are Ah Yi’s important materials!" Zhou Yi’s mother blurted out in shock.

For a high school senior, these materials were especially important.

Realizing she was wrong, Zhou Yi’s mother corrected herself. The issue wasn’t about the materials anymore; it was about her son’s life and death.

"Is he really burning them? This must have taken ages to write. It’s such hard work."

"You folks upstairs don’t understand. I was almost crazy last year in my senior year. Seeing those materials, all I wanted to do was throw them away, burn them, tear them to pieces. Fortunately, I made it through."

"I don’t understand kids these days. What’s wrong with giving your all in the college entrance exam? In our time, we didn’t have your conditions. Your ability to handle stress is too weak."

"Old folks who have benefited from the era’s benefits saying this is really funny."

Zhou Yi, tied up, stared intently as the materials turned to ash, and cursed, "Wu Heng, you incompetent fool, don’t burn my study materials, don’t… Stop burning them! Wahhh, my materials…"

Wu Heng paid no heed and reached out to Zhou Yi’s parents. Gritting her teeth, Zhou Yi’s mother handed over another set of materials, watching as Wu Heng lit the fire and burned them.

Zhou Yi kept cursing, but his voice grew weaker and weaker. His eyes remained fixed on the burning materials, and a look of relief escaped his lips.

Wu Heng walked to the counter, picked up the medicinal pot, and poured the cold herbal water directly over Zhou Yi’s head. The icy liquid ran down his face and neck, into his collar.

Zhou Yi let out a wail, his whole body going limp on the ground, a grey shadow materializing beside him.

"He has a shadow!" Zhou Yi’s mother, without blinking, saw a shadow appear under him.

Wu Heng placed the medicinal pot on the medical counter and said, "It’s done."

"Dr. Wu is indeed amazing. He can really exorcise evil spirits."

"I really need to sleep, everyone. Goodbye. There’s an unclear grey shadow over there, and I’m scared!"

"So, was he possessed by a ghost? This ghost harmed him, right? Should it be destroyed, disintegrated?"

"What good could a demon possession be? To possess a high school senior is heinous. It should be eliminated."

"Should we go find old lady Lai? Let her deal with this demon." Zhou Yi’s father whispered with venom.

They were saying how could such an obedient son suddenly attempt to jump off a building?

This almost took Zhou Yi's life. This was attempted murder. Getting a master to deal with it would prevent it from harming other students.

‘Bullcrap, I didn’t do anything to harm your son!’ The gray figure shivered as it raised its head and cursed at the Zhou family parents.

Zhou Dagui looked at that deathly pale face, his white eyebrows furrowed together.

Zhou’s mother tightly gripped Zhou Yi’s shoulder, as he gasped, and scolded, “Nonsense, if it weren’t for you, why would our son have tried to jump off the building?”

‘Exactly, why didn’t your son die when he jumped?’ The gray figure retorted arrogantly while shivering.

This shaman’s potion had a really strong effect; other than having enough strength to curse, it couldn’t even float away.

Everyone was momentarily taken aback by the question.

Yes, reasonably speaking, falling from a height of five or six stories should have left him either dead or severely injured, so why wasn’t there even a drop of blood?

Wu Heng sat down at the consultation table and said, “It did save Zhou Yi.”

Everyone suddenly fell silent, and upon thinking carefully about his words, they broke out in cold sweat.

What did he mean by that, exactly?

Zhou Yi fumbled in his pocket for a pair of thick glasses, putting them on to see clearly. He stared at the burnt documents and finally spoke, “I… I jumped on my own.”

Everyone was stunned, and Zhou Yi’s mother threw herself on him, wailing loudly, “You foolish child, what nonsense were you thinking about? How could you be so foolish?!”

Until now, they could blame everything on the evil illness, on the gray figure’s malevolent presence, but now, Zhou Yi himself admitted that he wanted to jump.

The gray figure sneered and went on, ‘Your son wanted to jump into the river! If not for me taking over his body, he would be a bloated corpse by now!’

Just now, he jumped off the building, and if not for its abilities, Zhou Yi would have been smashed to pieces. But the gray figure also didn’t understand why Zhou Yi didn’t even scrape himself when he fell.

Zhou Yi hung his head and muttered in a trance-like state, “I couldn’t take it anymore. All I did was study. My life was only about studying! I wanted to play soccer, but no, I had to wait until after the college entrance exam; I wanted to watch a soccer match, but studying was more important, so no TV; I wanted to lie down and rest, but I had to put on headphones and practice English listening. Yes! I just didn’t want to live anymore. I wished the white funeral banquet had been for me instead of Lai Wazi!”

By the end of his outburst, tears rolled down his face and off his chin, almost hysterical in his shout.

He didn’t know how much he envied Wu Heng, who could live as he pleased.

Even after he woke up, Uncle Wu Su didn’t force him to go back to school. Of course, if Wu Heng wanted to go, Uncle Wu Su would support him. The choice had always been Wu Heng’s.

Zhou’s mother stared blankly at her hysterical son and muttered, “I… we were only doing it for your own good.”

Education was the only way out of the mountains for ordinary people like them.

Zhou Yi shouted, “I know, did I ever say I didn’t want to study?”

He had always known the importance of studying, but it was just too exhausting, he was tired.

“He was indeed pushed too hard. Watching a soccer match really wouldn’t have interfered with getting into college.”

“Pay more attention to the mental health of children; I’ve always believed that physical and mental health are the most important.”

“The tighter you push, the more likely something will go wrong. There have been several students around here who jumped off buildings or into rivers because of academic pressure.”

“So, this ghost is actually a good one, having saved a life?”

Wu Heng pondered for a moment and temporarily ended the broadcast.

The couple sat there dumbfounded, not knowing how to respond.

It was Zhou Dagui who made the final decision, “Ah Yi should rest at home for a while. I’ll go to the school and ask for leave myself.”

Zhou's mother opened her mouth but didn't say anything in response.

She really didn't want to see the scene of Zhou Yi jumping from the tall building again.

Life is more important than anything.

Zhou Dagui looked at Wu Heng again and said, "Xiao Heng, would it be possible for Yi to stay at the medical hall for a few days?"

Wu Heng certainly didn't refuse, knowing that Zhou Yi wasn't in the mood to go home and face his parents. It was better for him to stay here.

Only with a healthy body and mind can you really focus on studying.

Too many parents don't understand this simple truth.

Zhou's mother didn't dare to look at her son and, just wiping her tears, whispered, "I'll pack some clothes and toiletries for you."

The Zhou family was afraid that Zhou Yi didn't want to see them right now, so they left the medical hall instead.

"You don't understand how important studying is, and you even burned books... Hey, what's this?" The gray figure, who had been cursing, turned around and, in surprise, looked astonished at the stack of study materials next to him.

These were exactly the materials Wu Heng had burned with white candles just moments ago!

As you can see, once they become ghosts and demons, they can't actually use things from the living world.

The living world hasn't figured out which hell money works in the underworld, let alone items for the dead.

So, apart from the few days it possessed Zhou Yi's body, it had only been able to touch precious books. It could usually only envy the village children who were holding books.

Ignoring the pain in its body, the gray figure rushed over, grabbed the top Five-Three book, and almost rolled on the ground in excitement. 'I, a ghost, can actually touch this! My goodness.'

This shaman actually has this kind of skill? You should've said so earlier; I wouldn't have scolded him if I'd known beforehand.

The little white snake couldn't help but say, "Now that's what I call true love for studying."

The person delivering things to the medical hall wasn't Zhou's parents but, instead, old man Zhou Dagui, the Village Chief. The couple was afraid that their son, in his current unstable mood, wouldn't want to see them.

Zhou Dagui stared at the gray figure and blurted out, "Weren't you the high school student from the neighboring village who went mad decades ago, Yang Xing?"

When he was younger, Zhou Dagui had some recollection of that student. He had been the pride of the eighteen villages, with excellent grades. After he went mad, he disappeared and was later found to have drowned in the river.

Yang Xing immediately got upset. "I'm a university student who took the college entrance exam and passed."

Zhou Dagui said, "I heard you didn't receive your admission letter."

The surrounding yin energy intensified as the dead man's cold eyes stared chillingly at Zhou Dagui.

Zhou Dagui wasn't afraid of this younger ghost and carried some things upstairs.

The Chengde Medical Hall also has several guest rooms.

Yang Xing held the materials and muttered to himself, "I'm a university student! The postman probably just didn't deliver the letter on time."

"How could I have failed? I only got one simple multiple-choice question wrong. My estimated score was good; I'm a prospective college student... haha."

Wu Heng looked at Yang Xing sitting on the ground with a book in his hands and didn't drive him away. He just reminded him not to touch the medicinal herbs randomly.

After all, he isn't like Liu Ziyang, the little ghost who is the son of a policeman. Touching things here could harm the spirits.

Zhou Dagui entered the guest room and patted Zhou Yi on the shoulder. "Ah Yi, rest well. All your grandpa wants is a healthy and happy grandson."

After all, nothing is more important than his grandson.

Zhou Yi's eyes slightly reddened as he watched Zhou Dagui leave the guest room, his hands behind his back. Then, he saw a little white snake sneak in, its tongue flickering as it stared at him with a mischievous expression.

Zhou Yi had a bad premonition. "Xiao Bai, what do you want?"

The little white snake flew up into the air and suddenly lashed out with its tail, hitting Zhou Yi's butt and causing him to cry out in pain.

The white snake was ecstatic. "This is the Dragon King's revenge; a week is not too late!"

"I'll kick you since you kicked me."

Zhou Yi was chased around the guest room, getting his butt spanked by the white snake, and soon the upstairs was filled with sounds of commotion.

Wu Heng was still downstairs in the medical clinic. He locked the front door and noticed the clock inside had struck midnight.

There was a message on WeChat from Fan Xuan.

"Fan Xuan: Dr. Wu, could you do a follow-up consultation? My junior is begging you to see him."

He didn't go upstairs but sat in front of the consultation desk and reopened his live stream room.

"Why did Wu Wu end the stream earlier? Was there something we couldn't see?"

"Has the ghost been exorcised already? Is that why it's not being broadcast?"

"Isn't Wu Heng supposed to be in school at his age? It's so late, shouldn't he be sleeping?"

"I heard Dr. Wu didn't go to school, but with his achievements, it doesn't really matter whether he went or not."

"As someone who's been through it, I still think going to school is important."

Wu Heng saw the comments about whether he should be in school. People in this world place a lot of importance on education, which is why Zhou Yi was pressured by his family to the point of wanting to jump off a building.

His father had also casually asked whether he wanted to attend high school. Wu Heng wasn't particularly interested in attending high school, but he thought taking the college entrance exam might be worth a shot.

Wu Heng ignored the netizens. Instead, he clicked on the flashing avatar and connected with the patient for the follow-up consultation.

As soon as the camera turned on, two familiar faces appeared on the other side.

"Oh, isn't this Fan Tu Tu's younger brother, and the other guy... wasn't he the one who had a solo check-up last time?"

"Wu Wu said he's the one who's 179 cm tall, right? Why does he look like he's on the verge of tears?"

"I heard from Tu Tu that her brother is a student at Capital City Medical University."

The medical university never turned off its lights, so even past midnight, it was still brightly lit.

Aside from Fan Xuan, three of his roommates were also there, excited to see Wu Heng. They greeted him enthusiastically, "Dr. Wu."

This was a teacher from their field of study, after all!

Han Ye, upon seeing Wu Heng, could no longer hold back his tears. They flowed down his face. "Dr. Wu, please help me."

Han Ye only knew that Fan Xuan, a senior from his sophomore year, had private contact with Wu Heng. So, he swallowed his pride and got to know Fan Xuan, and now he was in the senior's dorm room.

"My height really has shrunk; half an hour ago, I was almost 177."

Han Ye was really distressed. Height was important, not just for finding a partner, but also for finding a job in the future.

Now he only reaches the ear level of senior Fan Xuan, a full half head shorter.

Han Ye pulled out a fashionable item he'd been carrying lately—a tape measure.

He measured himself again in front of the camera.

Fan Xuan leaned over to take a look: "176? Wow, how did you shrink another centimeter?"

It takes a long time to grow a centimeter, yet the speed at which he was shrinking was astonishingly fast.

Han Ye was stunned. "Really, 176 now? I was almost 177 half an hour ago."

The tape measure clearly showed 176.

"You’ve already shrunk 4cm in just a few days? No wonder you begged for a re-examination at dawn."

"If it were me, I’d immediately get on a plane to see Dr. Wu. Nowadays, parents are so worried about their kids' height."

"Luckily it's not shrinking in that area, or it would really be hopeless."

"What did the professors at the Medical University say? There must be many experts there, right?"

Han Ye had of course sought help from the professors within the university. They found his condition strange but decided to monitor him after the physical, as there were no similar cases.

Han Ye had no plans to continue being observed. If this went on, he’d be down to 160-something cm soon.

Wu Heng said, "It's past midnight, so the shrinking has happened."

Han Ye grew anxious. "Dr. Wu, how much more will I shrink?"

He paused, then asked, "My dad is 172cm tall, and my mom is 155cm tall. Since neither of them is tall, they paid a lot of attention to my height from a young age, making sure I had plenty of meat, eggs, and milk."

"My family even had me take growth hormones for a period of time."

"Could this be why I’m shrinking to my genetic height?"

Han Ye secretly guessed, wondering if he would stop shrinking once he reached the genetically normal height for him.

Wu Heng shook his head. "No."

"Your height will just keep shrinking."

At this point, all the viewers still in the live stream shuddered.

"Right now, it's just your bones shrinking, but later, the shrinking will compress your organs. When the organs are compressed to a point they can't bear it anymore, you understand."

Han Ye’s expression faltered, and he was helped to sit down trembling by a few senior students.

"If what you’re saying is true, Teacher, at this rate, I would… I would… in a month."

Wu Heng shook his head and said, "No, the shrinking will speed up later. At most, half a month."

Shit!

When he suddenly heard the news of his own death, Han Ye was completely dumbfounded.

He just wanted to get a check-up and maybe snag the first pick of partners in school.

"What do I do now? How can I fix this? I don’t want to die! And this way of dying is way too painful!" Han Ye panicked and wailed loudly.

He hadn’t done anything wrong, so why was he gonna die such a horrible death?

Fan Xuan thought of his own appearance-obsessed sister and speculated, "Do you think someone’s messing with you?"

Who knows?

Wu Heng comforted him, replying, "I'll prescribe a foot bath remedy. Make sure to follow the instructions, and try to do it before dawn."

Hearing this, Han Ye quickly replied, "Don’t worry, we can get the herbs at school. I’ll soak my feet before dawn for sure!"

He wouldn’t care even if his feet rotted from soaking.

Once Wu Heng ended the livestream, Fan Xuan put his arm around Han Ye’s shoulder and said with a smile, "You can relax now, alright? I told you, with Dr. Wu on it, there’s no need to worry. It’s just a foot soak. Just don’t go spreading the recipe around, okay?"

Wiping his tears, Han Ye forced a rare smile, until he saw a private message from Chengde Medical Hall pop up.

Wu Heng had sent a picture of a handwritten prescription. Fan Xuan and the others saw that these weren’t rare herbs and could be found at the school.

However…

Staring at his phone, Han Ye stood there, stunned, exclaiming, "This foot bath powder isn’t for me, it’s for someone else?"

Wu Heng didn’t say who it was for.

What was he supposed to do now?

"Chengde Medical Hall: Coming and going as one pleases."

Han Ye got sympathetic looks from his senior classmates, with Fan Xuan leading the way. Holding back his tears, he went to get the medicine, accompanied by his seniors.

The school was convenient, and it only took half an hour to get the medicine packets.

So Han Ye returned to his dorm, dejected, carrying several big bags of foot bath powder.

The lights in the dorm were still on. It seemed that his roommates were still awake and waiting for him.

"We just watched the livestream. They gave you some medicine, right? Don’t stress too much," one of the roommates patted Han Ye on the shoulder and comforted him.

Seeing Han Ye’s dejected state, another roommate changed his tone, "Bro, Yang said he’d buy us new shoes. He just grabbed a pair for you that will be delivered tomorrow."

Han Ye had heard about those shoes. Although they were a domestic brand, they were very expensive. His family was middle-class, and he couldn’t afford such shoes.

This new roommate, Yang Zhiyuan, seemed to come from a wealthy family and bought shoes for his roommates to build relationships.

Bro Yang, who was wearing headphones and playing a game, took off his headphones and asked, "Are you okay? I heard you shrank a bit. Is your shoe size still 44?"

Han Ye nodded absentmindedly. He had gotten shorter, but his shoe size hadn’t changed yet.

Looking at the several big bags of foot bath powder, Han Ye gritted his teeth, took a large basin of hot water, threw in a packet of foot bath powder, and squatted in front of a roommate.

The roommate stepped back in fright, "Bro, what are you doing? Even though you’ve gotten shorter, I’m straight. I don’t swing that way. Don’t scare me like this."

With a look of despair, Han Ye said, "Don’t be afraid, bro. I’m just giving you a foot bath."

The roommate looked horrified, "This is even scarier, okay?!"