Chapter 42

Chapter 42

That's 300,000 yuan a month, not including monthly bonuses, year-end bonuses, and various benefits.

Calculating this way, Wu Su could earn five to six million a year just by being a part-time slacker as a butler for the Shi family.

With this money, it would be convenient to help the old man open a medical clinic in the provincial city for his retirement. Xiao Heng has also come to his senses, and who knows how much money he will need for marriage and children in the future. Thinking about it this way, if there's an opportunity, he really should seize the chance to earn more. If he misses this chance, there won't be another.

Wu Su also felt that he didn't need to stress about getting a promotion or a raise. He saw it as compensation for the Shi family using his son's collar.

Thinking this way, Wu Su said with a smile, "Thank you, young master, for understanding my family's situation. I need to save more for my son's future dowry, so I'll continue working."

Shi Xuan: "?" Expenses for what?

Wu Su noticed Shi Xuan giving him a strange look and smiled inwardly. These high school kids were still too young to understand how hard it was to save for marriage. He had to prepare in advance.

"But I wonder if the young master will agree to give me a raise?" Butler Wu asked the crucial question.

Shi Xuan, unfazed, said, "Don't worry, if he doesn't agree, I'll cover the difference."

Wu Su looked at Shi Xuan, surprised. Where did he get so much money? And why would he be willing to pay extra just to keep him as a butler?

As far as he knew, Shi Xuan actually hated the collar around his neck.

Shi Xuan added, "I've earned a bit of money that can cover your salary."

Shi Zong had always given Shi Xuan an allowance, but it was maintained within a range that didn't allow Shi Xuan to break free from his control.

Shi Xuan didn't have much interest in spending money and had accumulated a considerable amount.

As soon as the incident with Lu Guoliang occurred, Shi Xuan keenly detected something unusual and immediately sold short his family's stocks, reaping a substantial profit from it.

In a way, it was all thanks to Wu Heng.

Shi Xuan looked at his watch and said, "Butler Wu, it's getting late. I need to head to school."

Wu Su stepped back and watched the private car leave the Shi family.

Why was the young master suddenly using polite language with him?

When Shi Xuan arrived at his class, there was a moment of silence as everyone instinctively distanced themselves from him. Shi Xuan was accustomed to sitting in the last row by the window.

Most of the students in their high school were from wealthy families. At that time, some students were showing off their newly arrived shoes.

"They're really nice and comfortable to wear."

Li Hao, sneezing non-stop, slipped over to He Yunxiao and looked at his feet, "Didn't you just brag to me last night that you got the shoes and even ordered a pair for Dr. Wu? Not wearing them today? Achoo—"

Li Hao and the others were unlucky and too slow, so they didn't manage to grab any and had to pay for a pre-order, waiting for the second batch. Now, he was still sneezing non-stop.

He Yunxiao moved away from Li Hao and said in a low voice, "Dr. Wu told me not to wear them. You guys stay away from me. Could it be the flu? Go away, don't infect me."

Although he didn't know the reason, He Yunxiao was quite obedient.

Li Hao cursed, "Nonsense, I just slept in an uncomfortable place and caught a bit of a cold."

Waking up to find himself lying on the floor, he probably caught a cold then. When he asked Wang Dong and a few others with black hair, they had also caught a cold.

The classroom was noisy, and soon the homeroom teacher arrived. They quickly sat down and prepared for morning reading.

The joy of morning reading is something Wu Heng can't experience.

All he can hear is Yang Xing's frantic yelling.

‘You fool, six times eight is forty-eight, why do you think it's fifty-four? I'm going to catch you and roast you for lunch by noon!’

‘Are you crazy? Don't you know how to do double-digit addition or subtraction by counting on your fingers? If you don't have fingers, just use snake scales, I'll pluck them all!’

‘……’

Wu Heng silently watched the scene, and as expected, even someone with a good temper would go mad tutoring elementary students, let alone a short-tempered ghost.

Yang Xing kicked the small white snake that was trying to start a fight, but didn’t kick the small gray snake. Instead, he turned to Wu Heng and asked, ‘I don't want to tutor these dim-witted creatures in math anymore. Do you want to learn? I'll teach you the material for the college entrance exam. I think your IQ is not low.’

"Wait a bit, and I'll teach you how to transform into a branch," Wu Heng gently stroked the small gray snake, checked the time, and replied, "Sure."

Since he had never attended school, enrolling Wu Heng in his senior year was tricky, but he could still try to take the college entrance exam.

Zhou Yi didn't participate but was enthusiastically making mosquito repellent. He had already called a courier to pick up the second batch but occasionally listened in on what Yang Xing was saying.

As noon neared, Wu Heng closed his study materials. Seeing this, Yang Xing had no choice but to sit on the doorstep, reading, frustrated that Wu Heng didn't value study time.

The small white snake hissed viciously, "Wu Heng, when are you going to send it to be reincarnated? Should I call Lai Wazi?"

The previous little ghost had been treated like a servant, and now a learning ghost had appeared, fierce to the point that it was hard to tell who was in charge in Nan Nuo Village.

Wu Heng said, "Souls that have remained in the mortal world for years harbor obsessions. Even if a yin emissary guides them, they can't cross the Naihe Bridge until their obsession is resolved."

The small white snake interjected, "Its obsession is getting into college. Is there even a university in the underworld?"

Xi Xi squeezed through, thought about it, and used the spirit snake to transmit her voice in a childish tone, ‘Should my grandparents and father fund the construction of a university in the underworld?’

The small white snake was speechless.

Funding a university, now that's a specialized term. The young lady from the capital city is certainly wealthy.

Even though Yang Xing was the only university student in the underworld, Wu Heng smiled and said, "Its obsession is, more precisely, the college admission notice."

Wu Heng checked the time, confirming it was lunch break, and opened the live stream room of Chengde Medical Hall.

Since it was during lunch break, many office workers and students had the chance to watch, and within just a minute or two, there were hundreds of thousands of viewers online.

"The streamer is amazing. I thought the guy with height shrinkage just had a morning height difference, but he was stepped on by his roommate like a tiny figurine. What a strange illness."

"Last night, those who watched the live interaction between San Shui Zhen Ren and Han Ye already know! Wu Heng is amazing; a basin of foot soaking water actually imprinted the cinnabar talisman from the sole of the foot."

"So, can the foot soaking water from Han Ye really make you taller? A 1.55m person was wide-eyed! Please share the prescription!"

"Speaking from personal experience, I was one of the guests who spent ten bucks to soak their feet at Han Ye's foot soaking parlor last night. This morning, I measured my height, 183cm, no change! Not even half a centimeter."

"Bro, your little scheme is written all over your face. 183cm and a student from the capital city's medical university, just say you want to attract girls. But is it really useless?"

"Useless +1, but it's great for relieving fatigue. I've had insomnia for many days, but I slept so comfortably last night."

The video of Han Ye and Yang Zhiyuan fighting each other was recorded, went viral online, and they had also interacted with San Shui Zhen Ren, making it well-known by now.

So, did Wu Heng fail? Was the prescription he gave to the patient last night useless? Or does it require persistence?

Wu Heng didn't answer the barrage's questions but noticed a stream of connection requests and accurately found Han Ye's account.

He directly changed his account name to: Han Ye (Follow-up Visit), and even bought a VIP, making it obvious.

Wu Heng connected with Han Ye, and the camera turned to show Han Ye crying buckets, his face covered in tears, sobbing uncontrollably and struggling to speak.

"Wow, getting emotional over being cured, what an emotionally expressive kid."

"Wait, how come I feel like he didn’t actually get better! Did Wu Heng really fail?"

There were indeed quite a few people waiting for Wu Heng to fail, and at this moment, everyone was watching Han Ye, waiting for his statement.

Han Ye took out a tape measure and measured his height barefoot in front of the camera, and the value displayed on the tape measure shocked all the viewers.

169cm!!

"Holy crap, he’s not even 170cm now?? It’s only been a few days, and an 180cm tall guy lost 10 centimeters? At this point, it’s not just about finding a girlfriend, even getting a job would be tough, right?"

"Yeah, even security guards in my area are required to be above 170cm. What happened, Wu Heng? Didn’t you cure him? Or is he getting worse?"

"Don’t blame everything on Dr. Wu! Even if you went to a top hospital, I don’t think any doctor could cure this condition!"

"He’s a shaman, not some quack who can cure all diseases. Can we please respect the limits of medical practice? He did his best."

Han Ye, holding his aching chest, cried and said, "Dr. Wu, please help me understand what’s happening."

"Last night, the foot soak powder you gave my idiot roommate did reveal my name and birth details on the bottom of his feet, but why am I still shrinking like crazy?"

A group of netizens who were about to celebrate with champagne over Wu Heng’s failure were instantly embarrassed.

They thought, What?

The patient knew all along that the foot soak powder was meant for his roommate and not for him, so all the rumors about growing taller were fabricated by Han Ye and had nothing to do with Wu Heng?

Han Ye was really panicking. "Could you please check me on the spot? I’ll buy a plane ticket and come to your place to find you."

He originally didn’t want to worry his parents about this, but they had seen the video online and called him early in the morning, saying they would accompany him to the capital city to see a doctor.

Wu Heng shook his head. "No need, go back to your dormitory for now."

As a first-year student at the capital city's medical university, Han Ye was still in the military training period, but because of this issue, he had applied to the school to postpone his military training until next year.

As a result, Han Ye, accompanied by senior Fan Xuan, returned to his dormitory.

As soon as he entered, he saw Yang Zhiyuan and two other roommates returning from military training and resting. The two roommates were trying on their newly delivered sneakers.

As soon as they saw Han Ye, the two roommates felt awkward and quickly explained, "Han Ye, don’t misunderstand us. The courier just delivered the package to the campus delivery center without contacting us, so we picked it up first and tried it on, but we’ll return it."

Han Ye sneered internally. A pair of brand-name sneakers could indeed buy people’s hearts.

This morning, he had directly told the courier to refuse the delivery. These two roommates had only known him for ten days, and they weren’t close. He understood that they couldn’t resist the temptation of expensive sneakers.

Seeing Han Ye not speaking, one of the roommates asked cautiously while looking at his height, "Are you feeling better?"

He looks even shorter now, right?

Yang Zhiyuan had already fallen out with Han Ye, so he didn’t greet him this time. Instead, he went to the washroom, brought back a basin of hot water, sat on a stool, and took off his smelly socks, revealing his big feet as he stretched them into the water, saying, "Half a day of military training, time to soak my feet and rest."

As soon as Han Ye saw Yang Zhiyuan, he exploded. "Tell me the truth, what the hell did you do?! I’m only 169cm now!"

Yang Zhiyuan also flared up. "Are you blind? I felt guilty and did as you asked, even soaking my feet in white vinegar for you, don’t go too far."

"You yourself have a strange disease, and you're blaming me for not being cured by those scam doctors online? I'm extremely unlucky to be involved in your mess!"

Yang Zhiyuan raised his foot, almost shoving the sole of his foot into Han Ye's face.

"Master Sanshui really has some skills, huh? He advised using white vinegar to wash your feet at 3 AM to remove the cinnabar talisman from the soles, and sure enough, the talisman was gone from Yang's feet."

"Yang probably timed his foot wash deliberately to stop Han Ye from blaming it on him, right? Poor guy."

"So was it a misdiagnosis or not? I've always felt that this has nothing to do with Yang. This trick with the name and birth details under the foot is indeed disgusting, but we live in a materialistic world now! Besides, Han Ye is still shrinking, so maybe it's another illness, and Doctor Wu Heng got it wrong."

"Materialistic world? Haven't you heard of He Yunxiao being born with a snake fetus? Or the group of aunts such as Wang Mei whose souls left their bodies to beat up Lu Guoliang?"

The netizens in the livestream looked on in confusion as they watched Yang Zhiyuan deliberately showing off the soles of his feet.

What the hell is going on here?

A large group of netizens believed that Han Ye had a strange illness, and this roommate, Yang, had the bad luck to be caught using metaphysical curses on Han Ye, but in reality, the two were unrelated.

Han Ye couldn't argue with Yang Zhiyuan and could only seek help from Doctor Wu Heng through the camera.

Because Doctor Wu Heng had told him to use the foot powder to catch Yang Zhiyuan, there must have been a reason.

Wu Heng received Yang Zhiyuan's challenging look with calm and composure. "Take a look at the midsole of your roommate's new shoes."

Running shoes have several distinct layers: the part that touches the foot is the upper, the part that touches the ground is the outsole, and the layer in between is the midsole.

All eyes turned to the two new pairs of shoes placed in the hallway, and Yang Zhiyuan's face darkened slightly.

Han Ye, driven mad by his strange illness, just wanted to know the cause. Hearing Wu Heng's words, he immediately rushed toward the shoes.

One roommate immediately said, "Don't mess them up! They cost 8,000 yuan on the official website."

Han Ye immediately replied, "I'll compensate for it if I have to."

Yang Zhiyuan, furious, said, "Han Ye, we all sympathize with you, but don't go too far. These are my family's new shoes. If you damage them, it will affect our reputation. I don't see how you'll make it right!"

His family was middle-class and couldn't afford the legal repercussions from the domestic shoe king. Han Ye hesitated.

Suddenly, he heard Wu Heng's gentle yet powerful voice: "Tear it apart."

Han Ye immediately grabbed a fruit knife and stabbed it into the shoe sole, violently tearing it apart.

"Damn, are we really doing this? I was planning to check out the review of these running shoes at noon. Now they're ruined?"

"Oh my god, this is so painful to watch. I could never afford an 8,000 yuan shoe."

"Now, even as second-hand shoes, they can't be sold."

"There must be something in the midsole of this shoe..."

Master Sanshui was also lurking in the livestream. Hearing Wu Heng's words, he had a sudden realization and clapped his hands together in surprise. "So that's it! So that's it!"

Han Ye didn't even care about the cut on his finger from the fruit knife as he violently dismantled half of the shoe, getting a glimpse of the midsole.

Fan Xuan blocked Yang Zhiyuan, who was about to leave. "Yang, where are you going?"

At that moment, Han Ye pulled out the midsole, and millions of viewers in the livestream were left stunned.

Inside the white midsole was a small red photo of Han Ye, and when pried out, the back of the photo revealed Han Ye's name and birth details!

Han Ye was stunned for a moment, then picked up the fruit knife and took apart another roommate's shoe. Sure enough, he pulled out another two-inch photo with his name and birth details written on it from inside the midsole.

“!! What the hell! Oh my god! Xiao Han’s photo and birth details are in the new shoe’s midsole?”

“The camera has been on it the whole time, so it must be real? Man, I’m really freaking out now, I just bought this pair of shoes and tried them on earlier.”

“Is this a coincidence, or does it happen with all the shoes? It’s chilling when you think about it.”

Han Ye fell to the ground, staring blankly at his two-inch photo. He could never have imagined that his information would appear in the midsole of a big brand’s shoe.

It is said that the first batch of this shoe sold 5,000 pairs, and the second batch pre-sale has already reached 30,000.

“Haha haha…”

Han Ye laughed and cried at the same time. He said he couldn’t understand why his height had been shrinking drastically today, more severely than before. It turned out it was because of this new pair of shoes!

The first batch of this new shoe was sold last night, and people have been receiving them since this morning. Naturally, those who loved shoes put them on immediately.

With so many people stepping on his photo and birth details at the same time, how could he not start shrinking drastically?

No wonder Wu Heng said he’d eventually die from his height shrinking and his organs giving out.

5,000 pairs of shoes, 5,000 people stepping on him, how could he still be alive?

Veins bulged on Han Ye’s forehead as he spat out three icy, furious words: “Yang. Zhi. Yuan!!”

Han Ye rushed forward and started fighting with Yang Zhiyuan, locked in a vicious brawl to the point that their classmates couldn’t pull them apart.

Some influencers had already seen the news and, wanting to ride the hype, immediately decided to live-stream the process of opening the new shoes. Sure enough, they found Han Ye’s two-inch photo hidden inside each pair.

At this moment, He Yunxiao and the others were eating in the cafeteria, watching Dr. Wu’s live stream while having their meal.

Li Hao, wanting to let the whole high school admire Dr. Wu’s unparalleled beauty, quietly cast the screen onto the big screen in the cafeteria.

The whole place erupted in an uproar among the high school students.

“Is there something wrong with the new shoes I just bought?” a shocked junior who was showing off his new shoes exclaimed to his friend.

Everyone’s gaze shifted down to their new shoes.

He Yunxiao secretly breathed a sigh of relief. So that’s what happened. Luckily, he’d listened to Dr. Wu and didn’t wear those shoes, otherwise…

“So what? It’s none of my business, so I don’t care,” said a rich kid diagonally across from them, nonchalantly eating with his legs crossed, showing off his new shoes.

And it wasn’t fake.

Many people had the attitude of “It’s none of my business, so I don’t care,” since it wasn’t them who were unlucky. What did they have to fear?

Some even had twisted minds, feeling a strange sense of pleasure inside. A handsome and tall 985 Medical University student was being stepped on by them?

There was a twisted sense of control over someone, and they could already imagine that senior student Han Ye would soon post a video, crying and begging them not to wear these shoes. Their warped psychology got a little satisfaction.

Li Hao and the others deliberately carried their trays and sat in front of He Yunxiao, shocked at the sight of some students in the cafeteria who were wearing the new shoes, going crazy jumping up and down, the soles of their shoes squeaking loudly against the floor.

Li Hao sneezed and, while operating his phone to cancel the pre-order for the second batch of the shoes, said, “I told you there are way crazier people out there. Look at how crazy these people are behaving.”

This is the evil of human nature.

On the big screen, Dr. Wu watched the two people fighting on the other side of the live stream, while the barrage of comments was flying across the screen.

"Hit him, Han Ye, hit your roommate hard, he's really vicious. If it were me, I'd want to stab him to death myself."

"Yang Zhiyuan is the only son of Yang Xing, the shoe tycoon. Yang Xing built his family business from the ground up from a wheelchair. How could his son do something like this?"

"Mr. Yang is such an upright entrepreneur, he definitely wouldn't do something like this. It's probably the son's own shady move; doesn't he realize this could ruin his family's business?"

"No one's going to find out, right? Who would take apart such an expensive pair of shoes?"

"This ungrateful son is a real disaster. If this were my son, I'd beat him to death. Turning a small grudge between classmates into a business feud is unforgivable."

These netizens are indeed guessing correctly.

Yang Zhiyuan asked a master to write Han Ye's information on the soles of his feet with cinnabar, and this was discovered by his father, Yang Xing.

The moment Yang Xing found out, he slapped Yang Zhiyuan hard across the face and shouted at him angrily:

"You little beast, what kind of inhumane thing have you done? How dare you treat someone so disrespectfully?"

Trembling, Yang Zhiyuan knelt on the ground, too afraid to answer.

"You beast, do you realize that by doing such underhanded things to harm someone's life, there will be retribution in the future?" The upright father scolded furiously from his wheelchair, clearly infuriated.

Yang Zhiyuan had only wanted to get back at Han Ye and didn't expect his father to react this way.

"Will the retribution fall on me? What should I do now? Can I wash it off? But the master said it can only be washed off after seven days."

Yang Xing, seeing his son scared on the ground, thought for a moment and made a decision to protect his only son.

Share the risk.

The law can't punish everyone, you know?

If one person kills someone with a knife, they are held accountable. But if 5,000 people each stab the victim once, causing their death, would all 5,000 be executed?

Now that the truth has come to light, the last thing he wanted was for others to hold a grudge against his family's shoe business.

Yang Zhiyuan, beaten to a pulp by Han Ye, was prepared to take all the blame.

However, at this moment, Wu Heng, watching the comment section, opened his mouth to warn, "Doing malicious acts will affect your own karma. Stepping on someone's birth chart to cause their death is a sin."

"'Shoes' are linked to 'evil' and have been attracting negativity since ancient times."

"Anyone who wore those shoes outside, be prepared to get sick."

Just moments ago, some students in the cafeteria were going wild. Now, they froze on the spot: "?"

What?!

We're going to get sick?

Damn, isn't this some unjust disaster?

Why should we suffer for it?!

The principal, with his hands behind his back, came to check on the cafeteria, wanting to see the students' spirits on the first day of school.

Before he even entered the cafeteria, he saw a group of well-off students holding a brand-new pair of sneakers, tiptoeing barefoot toward the exit.

And it wasn't just one person; dozens of students were doing this weird thing, their faces showing expressions of pain and fear.

Principal: "?"

Is this some kind of weird art project or what?

Immediately flying into a rage, he shouted, "You students, raised under the red flag, put those shoes back on immediately! What are you doing acting like people from Japan?!"

The students, on the verge of tears, turned their heads to look at the furious principal: "Ah?"