CH 19

translator: baumkuchen  editor: ellabells 

To tell the truth, before coming here, Lu Qingjiu had never heard of this, but seeing Yin Xun’s calm expression, he was clearly accustomed to these kinds of matters.

“Aren’t there any easier solutions?” Lu Qingjiu asked.

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“At least, I don’t know of any,” Yin Xun said, “But you could go ask Bai Yuehu, he seems like he knows a lot about these kinds of matters.”

Lu Qingjiu looked at Yin Xun and nodded thoughtfully.

During dinner, Lu Qingjiu told Bai Yuehu about this matter. Dinner was tomato meatball soup made with fried meatballs by Lu Qingjiu. The fried meatballs had a crispy exterior that held in all the meat juices. When bitten into, one’s mouth would be filled with delicious juices combined with the sweet tang of tomato, it was incredibly appetising.

“Tiptoe?” Bai Yuehu said, “It should be an unstable soul.” His casual response was exactly the same as what Yin Xun said.

“Oh,” Lu Qingjiu said, “Then is there any solution?”

Bai Yuehu said, “There is.” 

Lu Qingjiu’s eyes lit up, “What is it?”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Bai Yuehu said, “Go up the mountain and collect spider webs, then weave the spiderwebs into a net. Every night, from midnight to 1am, wave the net over that person’s head.”

Listening carefully, Lu Qingjiu asked, “Just doing that is enough?”

Bai Yuehu held a hand to his chin, and said lazily, “If the soul comes back, then they can be saved, if it doesn’t…” 

Lu Qingjiu asked, “What happens then?”

Bai Yuehu said, “Then just start preparing his funeral.”

Lu Qingjiu narrowly avoided choking, he said, “Alright, I’ll tell them to try that.”

As the two of them were talking, Yin Xun sat to the side, listening without raising any opinions. Unlike with Lu Qingjiu, despite usually eating together, he and Bai Yuehu weren’t very close, or at least they rarely spoke. But thinking about it carefully, with Bai Yuehu’s cold temperament, most people wouldn’t take the initiative strike up a conversation with him under normal circumstances. 

After eating, Lu Qingjiu told Zhu Miaomiao about what the two had said. Zhu Miaomiao, hearing this, let out a string of “okay”s, saying that she would immediately tell the child’s parents. Even though they didn’t know whether this would work, they could at least try curing the dead horse as if it was alive. She also let him know that she already asked for a few days off and was preparing to bring Zhang Chuyang over in a couple of days to help recover his hair.

Lu Qingjiu agreed.

After he finished his call, he walked over to the courtyard and saw Yin Xun teasing the flock of chicks. The chicks had already lost their yellow fluff, in place gaining feathers of all colours. Even though they were still small, they were all very energetic, chirping non-stop.

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“P vbc’a xcbk,” Oe Hlcuple rjlv, “Zjsyf la kbeiv kbgx.” Coafg jii, Djl Tefte kjr j obz rqlgla, rb la kjr fzqfmafv lo tf xcfk j ofk atlcur tewjcr kbeivc’a xcbk.

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“After coming back here, have you visited your grandmother’s grave?” Yin Xun suddenly asked. 

“I did.” Not long after he came back, Lu Qingjiu visited the mountain and thoroughly tidied his grandmother’s grave. The graves up on the mountain were different from those in cemeteries in the city. They had no one guarding them, much less people to manage the weeds and wildflowers. If there were no descendants to tidy them, after about a year or two, the gravestones would be buried by weeds. Then, even if someone went to look for them, they wouldn’t be able to find them.

“Do you know what a dreamcatcher is?” Yin Xun asked.

“Dreamcatcher?” Lu Qingjiu asked, “What’s that?”

“It’s said to be something that can filter one’s dreams,” Yin Xun said, “It filters out the bad dreams and leaves behind the good dreams.” 

Lu Qingjiu just looked at Yin Xun. He had no idea why he’d suddenly brought this up.

Yin Xun said, “What Bai Yuehu said about using spiderwebs to make a net should have a similar function.”

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Lu Qingjiu asked, “You mean, it’ll leave behind the good souls, but get rid of the bad souls?”

“Right,” Yin Xun said, “It’s just that I suddenly remembered something. Actually we have another saying here.”

Lu Qingjiu asked, “En?”

Yin Xun said, “It’s that by using this kind of net, and waving it over the deceased’s grave, it seems like you can collect a part of the deceased’s deepest memory.”

Lu Qingjiu was silent for a moment, “Why did you suddenly bring this up?”

Yin Xun looked down at the little chicken in his hands, then grinned, showing his spotlessly white tiger teeth, looking both charming and cute, seeming exactly the same as usual. He said, “Nothing in particular, I just suddenly thought of it.” 

Lu Qingjiu “oh”-ed, and looked away.

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Just like this, the matter was concluded. After a few days, Zhu Miaomiao called Lu Qingjiu to let him know that Bai Yuehu’s solution had been incredibly effective. The child’s symptoms were mostly alleviated and he was finally able to place his heels back down on the ground. She also expressed the child’s family’s sincerest gratitude on their behalf, and let him know that they prepared a thick red envelope for them. When she came over she would bring it over for Lu Qingjiu.

Lu Qingjiu originally wanted to refuse, but after some thought he accepted it. It had been Bai Yuehu’s idea anyways, so it would be fine if he just used the money to buy a bit more meat for him to eat.

It was just that Lu Qingjiu hadn’t been able to forget about what Yin Xun had said that day. Even though Lu Qingjiu was a believer of science, there were still some things that science couldn’t explain. Wasn’t Bai Yuehu an example of that? 

Once spring was over, the weather started getting warmer. Lu Qingjiu found a time to take the pickup to town to buy a rocking chair for Bai Yuehu. Having driven the truck several times now, Lu Qingjiu could barely be considered familiar with its operation. This truck had a good temper, but it was slow, sometimes even driving itself without any input from Lu Qingjiu. It’s just that Yin Xun didn’t like this truck very much, the moment he got on the truck, he would say his butt itched. Lu Qingjiu asked why his butt would start itching.

“How would I know,” Yin Xun felt wronged, “It can’t be that I’m also allergic to your car, right?”

Other than making Yin Xun’s butt itch, the truck didn’t have any other problems. Since they were going through mountain roads, it wouldn’t be driving very fast anyways. After he brought the rocking chair home, Bai Yuehu, who was very satisfied with this chair that could rock, wouldn’t get back up after he sat down. Other than when he had to get up to eat, Bai Yuehu would spend the entire day stuck to the chair. The funniest thing was that he would get lazy after rocking just once, so whenever he saw Lu Qingjiu pass by the outer courtyard, he would stare at him.

When he first started inexplicably being stared at, Lu Qingjiu thought he was hungry and asked him if he wanted to eat something. 

Bai Yuehu opened his mouth, and said softly, “Rock it for me.”

Lu Qingjiu, “…”

At last, shocked by Bai Yuehu’s laziness, he could only walk up to the chair, and rocked it a few times. After this incident, Lu Qingjiu now understood what Bai Yuehu’s gaze meant. In the beginning, he still needed Bai Yuehu to give him a few looks, but after a while, it developed to the point where Lu Qingjiu didn’t need him to say anything. As long as he passed by him, he’d help rock Bai Yuehu’s chair a few times.

When the weather turned warmer, Lu Qingjiu set up some grapevines in the inner courtyard and planted a small patch of watermelons in the field. These were just for him and his friends to eat so he didn’t plant too many, thus they didn’t require too much effort. 

Even though Zhu Miaomiao had said she would be bringing the person over as soon as possible, she couldn’t get away from work. It took more than half a month before she finally told Lu Qingjiu that she’d bought train tickets and was ready to bring the man over.

Lu Qingjiu asked when they’d arrive, preparing to drive the truck over to fetch them.

“Zhang Chuyang said that if your methods really are effective, he would give you one hundred thousand in remuneration,” Zhu Miaomiao said, “I already gave him your bank number, so he’ll directly transfer it over.”

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“So much?” Lu Qingjiu was a little shocked. 

“It’s alright. You don’t know the pain of balding. If you could have a head full of thick, black hair after just one treatment, never mind one hundred thousand, I think people would even be willing to pay two hundred thousand,” said Zhu Miaomiao. People like them had it the worst, their hair was in too bad of a condition for hair transplants, it was basically hopeless. Wearing a hat, or wearing a wig was fine in the winter, but when it became summer…

“That’s too much,” Lu Qingjiu still felt it was a little too expensive.

“If you think it’s too much, then just pay a little more tribute to that sister in the well,” Zhu Miaomiao said, “To eat, drink, sleep, and even shit all cost money. How much could you possibly make from farming? Besides, this amount was suggested by Zhang Chuyang, don’t you know what kind of status he has? This is just his monthly salary.”

Lu Qingjiu said, “Fine.” 

“Also, when we get there you should act a little more mysterious,” Zhu Miaomiao said quietly, “When Zhang Chuyang’s treatment is effective, it would definitely be good for publicity…”

Lu Qingjiu thought it over and agreed.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

He didn’t come back to Shuifu village to make money, but people couldn’t live on dew. At least, with money, he could do his best to make sure that Bai Yuehu had his fill of meat for every meal and not wrong him by forcing him to eat vegetables along with him. However, since Bai Yuehu started living with him, their food expenses had risen sharply, having had to constantly use up meat and vegetables. Lu Qingjiu was even planning on buying a sheep back in the next couple of days so they could eat some mutton.

Zhu Miaomiao was going to arrive the next day but Lu Qingjiu wasn’t in a hurry to sleep. After Yin Xun left, he made a trip up the mountain to pick a few things he needed. 

When he came back, he saw the lights were still on. Bai Yuehu unexpectedly hadn’t went to sleep yet and was sitting in the house eating fruits. Seeing him enter the house, he didn’t get up to greet him and just gave him a lazy glance.

“Still haven’t slept?” Lu Qingjiu asked. He hid the black plastic bag in his hands behind his back.

“Don’t go at night,” Bai Yuehu suddenly spoke up.

Lu Qingjiu stiffened. 

“Going at night might provoke some bad things,” Bai Yuehu said, “You should go at noon.”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Lu Qingjiu knew he had guessed what he wanted to do. He let out a gentle smile, and said, “Alright, thanks for the reminder.”

Bai Yuehu nodded, then got up and left.

Lu Qingjiu’s eyes drooped. He looked at the black plastic bag in his hands. In the bag was a mass of white filaments, and if one looked closely, they would find it was a bag full of spiderwebs.