Chapter 129

Chapter 129

◎The Power of the "Strawberry Tower"◎

Meng Qi, Wang Boyuan, and Li Qingjiang were chatting when suddenly a voice came from the room next door: "Hey, is anyone there? Is Zhao Zheyuan here?" Meng Qi immediately stood up, took two quick steps toward the window, leaned over the desk, and craned his neck to look outside, asking, "What's wrong with him?"

"He might be feeling unwell somewhere. A chill with a fever is the most tormenting—he goes back and forth between chills and fever. When it's cold, it's like being soaked in ice water, and even three blankets can't warm him up; when it's hot, it's like being roasted on a spit, with your throat feeling like it's on fire. Headache, eye ache, nose ache... eventually, every muscle in his body aches." Li Qingjiang slapped his knees, then hoisted himself up and walked toward the door. "I'll go check on him. If necessary, I'll stick a few needles in him to block his pain nerves."

"What?" Meng Qi turned his head to ask.

Li Qingjiang tilted his head and chuckled. "Kidding. I'll only relieve his pain, not actually paralyze him. If I did, it would be malpractice, and I'd go to jail."

Realizing Li Qingjiang was indeed joking, Meng Qi said, "Oh, then go ahead, Master. If he keeps wailing like this every so often, it's kind of creepy. If it doesn't work, just needle him into silence first."

"...Good idea. Needle him into silence so he won't scream in pain at night and mess up our beauty sleep." Li Qingjiang pulled the door open and stepped out, closing it behind him.

Wang Boyuan gave Meng Qi a light kick. "Learn some real skills from your teacher. Don't just learn to talk smooth."

Meng Qi flopped back down beside Wang Boyuan, staring at the whitewashed ceiling. "Brother Boyuan, my heart keeps racing. I feel like something bad is going to happen soon."

"You're just scared after suddenly seeing Ren Suiyi. You'll be fine in a couple of days," Wang Boyuan said, flicking Meng Qi's cheek with his middle finger. Seeing Meng Qi pout and frown in pain, he rubbed the spot with the back of his hand and smiled slightly. "Even if he found you, if you don't want to leave, can he tie you up and take you away? Besides, if you calm down and think about it, I think him finding you is a good thing. That way, you won't have to keep hiding, and you can travel openly. The medical facilities here are too behind the times. I've always wanted you to move to a big city with better medical care."

"But I like it here. Living here makes me feel at ease. Brother Boyuan, don't you think this place looks like my home? My grandparents' home." Meng Qi turned toward Wang Boyuan, looking up at him.

Wang Boyuan, sitting on the bed, lowered his eyelids and thought for a moment, then shook his head. "A bit like it, but not as beautiful as your home."

Meng Qi sighed. "See, there's no place like home. The three-bedroom apartment in the capital is big and beautiful enough, right? But I still think my home is better."

"That's because they're just houses, not homes..." Wang Boyuan said wistfully.

But before he could finish expressing his own homesickness, the next room creaked open again, followed by Li Qingjiang's voice. "Sorry, Mr. Ren. It's the countryside—no toilet in the room, let alone a flush toilet."

"See that row of small cubicles in the corner? That's the toilet here. Teachers, students, and the cook—all of us go there. Now that the kids have gone home, you have some privacy. But once the kids come back tomorrow, if you want to keep your privacy, you'll have to go during their class time. It's really not convenient at all."

Meng Qi and Wang Boyuan exchanged a glance, then scrambled up from the bed and crept to the window to look out. But they quickly returned, grinning with a mischievous expression. "Mr. Big Shot is going to the toilet with a grim look on his face!"

Every setback for Ren Suiyi was a victory for Meng Qi.

Wang Boyuan couldn't help but smile. "The rural pit toilet after rain will leave a deep impression on him."

"If he goes twice more at night, he might just give up," Meng Qi thought delightedly.

Wang Boyuan's dark eyes flickered, and he immediately came up with a great idea. "Then let's have Li Qingjiang add two extra bowls of water when he brews the herbal medicine. That way, Ren Suiyi will have to go to the toilet frequently."

Meng Qi's eyes lit up, as if he wanted to agree, but he suddenly shook his head. "For any medicine that needs several bowls of water to decoct, the boiling time, and how much liquid is left—all of that is fixed. My master specifically warned me not to mess with it."

Wang Boyuan didn't know much about it and had just blurted it out. Hearing Meng Qi's explanation, he wasn't bothered at all and quickly thought of another idea. "I'll go to the kitchen and open the lids of all those thermoses. Let the water cool down to lukewarm, then take it all to him and get him to drink more water."

This time, Meng Qi raised both hands in agreement, laughing uncontrollably. "That works! We don't even need an excuse. My grandparents always said that when you're sick, you need to drink plenty of water to detox!"

Without further ado, Wang Boyuan stood up and headed to the kitchen. There was a row of over a dozen thermoses there, two for each grade, with labels on them. They contained what Elder Gu had prepared for the children: mung bean water or plain boiled water in summer and autumn, hot water in winter and spring. Since the children had left early, the remaining hot water was all for Ren Suiyi.

Meng Qi watched Wang Boyuan leave with great interest.

The rooms where the teachers slept were built in the same layout as the classrooms. When constructing the school, Meng Qi didn't bother to design separate bedrooms, so he had the builders make everything identical, including the kitchen.

Typically, classrooms need plenty of light and ventilation so students in every corner can see the blackboard clearly, so the windows are large and numerous. But for sleeping rooms, windows can be smaller and fewer—too many large windows make the room cold in winter and hot in summer, which is not ideal.

But since they hadn't redesigned, the room Meng Qi was in now had an especially large glass window.

Now Meng Qi was lying on his stomach at a window three times the size of a normal bedroom window, looking out. Outside, Ren Suiyi was slowly stepping around puddles on the ground. It took him five minutes to reach the row of cubicles in the corner.

For Meng Qi or the children, it wouldn't take even a minute.

Moreover, Ren Suiyi poked his head in and immediately pulled back. He stood there for at least three minutes of psyching himself up, then finally walked slowly into a cubicle. Less than a minute later, he came out, holding his breath and walking forward quickly.

Meng Qi pursed his lips and continued to watch secretly.

The place was too remote for running water. All the water at the school came from an old well near the kitchen. To pump water, you first had to pour a ladle of water in, then pump an iron rod up and down—it was heavy and hard to get water out. It was quite troublesome, so everyone tried to conserve water. Water used for washing vegetables and dishes was first used to water the flowers and the vegetable patch Elder Gu had planted, and only the leftover was used to flush the toilets. If some cubicles weren't flushed that day, they'd be flushed the next day in rotation.

Generally, clean water wasn't used for flushing toilets unless there was a special situation.

Under these circumstances, the pit toilets easily accumulated "strawberry towers."

Ren Suiyi had probably never seen so many "strawberry towers" ① in his life. Both the sight and the smell were unbearable for him. After running a few steps, he stopped, stood there panting, and looked up at the sky at a 45-degree angle. Every pore of his body screamed rejection and disbelief.

After a long while, he began to slowly step around the puddles on his way back.

Meng Qi found it more and more amusing, guessing what Ren Suiyi must be thinking, and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Ren Suiyi seemed to sense something. He suddenly looked up toward Meng Qi, startling Meng Qi, who ducked his head back like a scared girl. He stumbled backward several steps, almost falling...

Nothing seemed amusing anymore. The only thing he could hear was the pounding of his own heart.

"Mr. Ren, I've put two thermoses of hot water by your bedside table. Remember to drink them. When you're sick, you need to stay hydrated to detox efficiently." Wang Boyuan held up the thermoses toward Ren Suiyi and smiled at him earnestly. No one could tell he was actually playing a trick.

Ren Suiyi thanked Wang Boyuan and asked where he could wash his hands.

"There's a red plastic basin next to the well. Wash your hands first with the water in the basin, pour it out, then scoop a ladle of fresh water from the water jar for a second wash. There's water stored in the jar, so you don't need to pump it yourself." Wang Boyuan jerked his chin toward the well.

Ren Suiyi thanked him again and turned toward the well.

The well was to Meng Qi's front left. If Ren Suiyi just went to wash his hands without looking around, he wouldn't see Meng Qi. But if he looked to his rear right, there was a good chance he'd see Meng Qi through the large glass window. Thinking of this, Meng Qi began to move behind the door. As long as he hid behind the door, even if Ren Suiyi turned all the way around, he wouldn't see him.

After putting down the thermoses, Wang Boyuan stood at the door of Meng Qi's room and called out to Ren Suiyi in the distance, "Mr. Ren, I've put the water here. Make sure to drink it!"

Ren Suiyi calmly raised his voice to reply, "Okay, thank you."

"You're welcome. Let me know when you're done, and I'll bring you two fresh ones." Wang Boyuan's concern sounded heartfelt.

Meng Qi: ...

He really wanted to shout at Wang Boyuan, "Stop reminding him! You're laying it on too thick!"

After reminding Ren Suiyi, Wang Boyuan turned right without hesitation and quickly returned to his own room. He pushed the door, but it didn't open at first because Meng Qi was leaning against it. Realizing Wang Boyuan was back, Meng Qi turned and opened the door for him. But as he opened it, he slid along with the door until his back hit the wall, unable to move any further.

Once Wang Boyuan came in, Meng Qi closed the door while still hiding behind it.

Wang Boyuan: ...

"I'm not even nervous. Why are you?" Wang Boyuan asked.

Busted, Meng Qi gave an awkward laugh. "First time doing something bad, I'm not used to it."

"Well, since he hasn't left yet, you can practice a few more times. You'll get used to it." Wang Boyuan patted Meng Qi's head.

"Author's Note"

Strawberry tower① means a pile of poop. I didn't plan to explain it, but just in case future readers don't get this internet meme [thoughtfully], right?