CH 44.2

After their meal, the three people sat in the courtyard to digest. Yin Xun was very interested in the sweet roasted chestnuts that Lu Qingjiu had mentioned earlier, and said that he would go off to find fine sand tomorrow.

“Where are you going to go search?” Lu Qingjiu asked him. The entire Shuifu village only had a little stream, and in it was at most rocks, there was no such fine sand. 

“I’ll be able to find some,” Yin Xun replied, unexpectedly brimming with confidence.

Bai Yuehu also chimed in, “Even if he can’t find any, I can.”

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Hearing this, Lu Qingjiu couldn’t help but smile. It seemed like he had underestimated the determination of foodies.

That night, when it was time to sleep, Lu Qingjiu opened his Taobao, planning on recording down the order numbers to be delivered. This was the last batch of goods. After he sent them out, this month’s stock of hair growth water could be considered sold out. At present, there were no buyers wanting a refund. It seemed like everyone felt like it was very effective after using it. 

But when Lu Qingjiu opened Wangwang, the incessant dings of notifications made his computer hang for a full few minutes before recovering.

Seeing how many messages there was, the skin of Lu Qingjiu’s scalp was about to explode. After he carefully opened a few, he realised they were practically all begging to buy hair growth water.

Why are there so many people all of a sudden? Lu Qingjiu was somewhat at a loss. The first batch of hair growth water had only been sent out a few days ago. Even though they already had an effect, the number of people begging to buying was a little too much, making him wonder if something had went wrong.

Lu Qingjiu couldn’t think of a reason, and too lazy to do so. After replying to a few messages, he simply turned off the computer and went to sleep. Until the next day, when Zhu Miaomiao called. 

“Hello, Miaomiao, what’s the matter? It’s so early.” Lu Qingjiu was brushing his teeth when he got the call. After spitting out the water in his mouth, he looked at the time. Currently, it was 6:20 in the morning. Although it was already time for him to wake up, Zhu Miaomiao usually didn’t get up this early.

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“Lu Qingjiu, you’ve gotten big?” Zhu Miaomiao cried.

“I’ve gotten big?” Lu Qingjiu was at a loss. “What’s gotten big?”

“Of course it’s your shop that’s gotten big,” Zhu Miaomiao said, “I just saw your shop name on the hot searches.” 

Lu Qingjiu, “Ah?”

He turned on his phone, thumbed past the dating app ad, and sure enough, really saw his shop name, “Little Village” on the hot searches. Clicking in on it, he found that below this hot search was filled with users excited Amways, and before and after pictures of hair.

“I was about to lose all my hair. Thankfully, I used this hair growth water. This hair growth water’s effectiveness is so good it’s unimaginable. I’m even wondering if they used some kind of Xuanxue power.” An OP of a thread posted, “But stock of this hair growth water is limited to only one hundred a month, whether you guys can buy it really depends on fate.”

The following comments were all incredibly excited after seeing the before and after photos. “Xuanxue? Don’t even talk about Xuanxue, if it can help me grow hair, I can go vegetarian for ten years.” The comment that had been pushed to the top was filled with such pain. “It’s all because of this hair that’s been delaying me, otherwise my children would already be three years old.” 

Of course, some comments were wondering if this Weibo was making a sponsored post. After all, 4999 yuan for a bottle of hair growth water was really not cheap, but the OP said that they didn’t need to have such worries, because the owner of the shop promised a full refund if it doesn’t work. With this kind of confidence, how could he be lying?

Lu Qingjiu skimmed through it once, then closed the app. He said, “Why is everyone’s reaction so big?’

He didn’t understand, wasn’t it just growing hair, at the most, didn’t they just get a new appearance?

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Zhu Miaomiao was angry at his lack of ambition, but had no way of forcing Lu Qingjiu to do anything. Anyways, if Lu Qingjiu really cared so much about earning money, he wouldn’t have gone back to Shuifu village to farm in the first place.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

After the hair growth water went on the market, Lu Qingjiu found that some slight changes had occurred to the well in his inner courtyard. Above the mouth of the well had appeared a white halo. At first, he thought it was just his misconception, but after asking Yin Xun, he found that Yin Xun actually could also see it. 

“What is this thing?” Lu Qingjiu reached out his hand towards the halo, but his hand passed right through the halo.

“Ss.” Yin Xun rubbed his chin. This thing was a little strange. “Don’t you think that this halo… is a little holy?”

Lu Qingjiu, “…”

Yin Xun said, “Like, that thing on top of an angel’s head?” 

Lu Qingjiu, “…”

He decided to give up on talking to Yin Xun, and went to Bai Yuehu, the encyclopedia.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Bai Yuehu sat on his chair, eating fresh boiled chestnuts. Originally, he was even too lazy to peel the chestnuts, but in the end, Lu Qingjiu couldn’t watch any longer, and peeled all of them for Bai Yuehu.

“Yuehu,” Lu Qingjiu said, “How is it that I can see a white halo on top of that well in the inner courtyard?” 

Bai Yuehu asked, “When did this happen?”

Lu Qingjiu said, “It started last month.”

Bai Yuehu said, “That female ghost is about to become a god.”

Lu Qingjiu, “…Ha?” He thought that Bai Yuehu was joking. He widened his eyes and asked again, “What did you say? The female ghost is about to become a god??” 

Bai Yuehu said, “Yep.”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Lu Qingjiu, “……”

Probably because Lu Qingjiu’s expression looked far too shaken, Bai Yuehu began to patiently explain, “You’ve sold a lot of the water from the well?”

Lu Qingjiu nodded. 

“The water in the well is the carrier of her last wish,” Bai Yuehu said, “The last unfinished thing she was least willing to give up on before her death.”

Lu Qingjiu had been brought into a stunned daze because of Bai Yuehu’s words, but he suddenly thought of Zhu Miaomiao’s upset tone when talking about her own hair. My god, the last unfinished business of the lady in the inner courtyard actually wasn’t about finding her killer, but about growing a head of beautiful black hair? Could it be that the reason she died was because she got into an argument with her boyfriend about the length of her hair? And in the end they fell out and she was murdered?

“Now more and more people have received the blessing of her last wish, and the power of their gratitude is also getting greater and greater,” Bai Yuehu said, “Gods can be created.”

Lu Qingjiu, “…So she’s about to ascend?” 

Bai Yuehu said, “Yeah, but currently, the power of gratitude is still a little weak. After a period of accumulation, she should be able to truly become a god.”

Lu Qingjiu said in a shaking voice, “Is it so easy to become a god? Aren’t gods all really powerful?”

Bai Yuehu shot Lu Qingjiu a look. “Is Yin Xun powerful?”

Lu Qingjiu, “…” He actually had no way of responding. Oh, this dear rubbish friend of his. 

Bai Yuehu said, “It’s not that you’ll become very powerful right after becoming a god. Gods are also divided into different levels. Like Yin Xun, that type of mountain god.”

Lu Qingjiu asked, “Like what?”

Bai Yuehu said, “I can eat ten at a time.”

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Lu Qingjiu, “…” 

Yin Xun, who had finished feeding the pigs and was about to return to the courtyard, just so happened to hear Bai Yuehu’s words. He instantly hid behind the door and trembled, his expression bleak. He thought, where had he done poorly to make Bai Yuehu want to eat him, could it be because he ate too much such that he’d been disdained…

Lu Qingjiu knew that his family’s fox spirit was never joking when it came to food. He waved his arms and said, “Don’t, Yin Xun doesn’t look like he wouldn’t taste very good.”

Bai Yuehu hummed, and said nothing further on it.

Lu Qingjiu changed the topic, but didn’t know that Yin Xun had already cried a few sad tears over Lu Qingjiu’s words… Wuwuwu, he just knew that Lu Qingjiu was his best friend. 

Regardless of all that, when it came to side businesses other than selling hair growth water, Lu Qingjiu actually had a bit of an idea. He found some time to ask Yin Xun if there was anyone raising honeybees in Shuifu village.

“Honeybees? No, there isn’t,” Yin Xun said, “But If you really want to raise them, it seems like you can, there’s a lot of flowers on the mountain.”

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Even though Lu Qingjiu had this idea, he knew that beekeeping wasn’t something that could be achieved in a day. Hence, he decided to consult a professional first before trying it himself. Anyways, he currently needed to prepare for the coming winter.

Shuifu village’s winters were particularly cold. Every year, there would be a few rounds of heavy snow. If one was unlucky, the heavy snow would block off the mountain path, and Shuifu village’s connection to the outside would be broken off. If they didn’t store more food at this time, this winter might be particularly hard for them. 

Lu Qingjiu didn’t actually hate winter. Winter had its own benefits. In his memories, every year when it entered winter, his grandmother would stew a pot full of fragrant mutton soup. The pea shoots she would place inside the mutton soup couldn’t be any better. The pea shoots grown by farmers were incredibly fresh, and after being boiled in the soup, they tasted very sweet. The flavour in his memories was always abnormally alluring. As Lu Qingjiu thought about such things, he even started to somewhat look forward to winter.

Of course, before it entered winter, he needed to prepare some things, in order to avoid there not being enough to eat when the time came.

Hence, Lu Qingjiu drove the pickup truck back and forth from the village to town. First, he bought a lot of pork, beef and mutton, then bought several tens of jin of cabbage.

Most of the pork, beef and mutton was used to make soy meat or bacon. When the time came, they would be hung up in the kitchen, and anyone could cut off a piece to eat whenever they wanted to. A portion of the cabbage was placed into the cellar, and another portion was used to make spicy cabbage. The cellar in his home had not been used for a long time. It located near the well in the inner courtyard. This place was generally not used when out of winter, and it was very dark. For the young Lu Qingjiu, this place was simply the setting of a horror story, 

But now, Lu Qingjiu had grown up, and no longer feared such things all that much. Besides, wasn’t there Miss Ghostie in the well, she wasn’t that scary.

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He found a sunny afternoon to ask Yin Xun to clean the cellar with him.

Because he couldn’t find the key to the cellar, Lu Qingjiu simply used a pair of pliers to break the lock. The moment he pushed open the door, a cloud of dust billowed up from behind it. The dust rose in the air and rushed at his face, making him involuntarily cover his mouth and nose.

The cellar that had not been used for more than ten years finally saw the sun again. Lu Qingjiu carefully climbed down the latter. He’d brought with him a flashlight, so he was just barely able to see the situation in the cellar. 

Because it hadn’t been used in a long time, the cellar was covered in dust. Lu Qingjiu saw that it was about as big as a bedroom, and had a table within. On the table, there were a few old objects, but other than that, there was nothing else.

“Qingjiu, what’s inside?” Yin Xun stuck in his head and asked.

“Come down and see for yourself,” Lu Qingjiu replied. He walked over to the table. As he got closer, he got a better look at what was on the table. Most of the things on the table looked to be useless trash, but there was a black wooden box that attracted Lu Qingjiu’s attraction.

The wooden box’s surface was also covered in dust. Lu Qingjiu stretched out a hand and wiped off the dust, and felt the smooth texture of the wooden box. He picked up the wooden box, and carefully observed it. The wooden box was a little heavy, and felt like there were many things rolling inside. Even though it had been left in the cellar for so many years, the wooden box hadn’t been corroded by the dust. After brushing off the layer of dust atop it, the surface looked shiny and new as ever. Even though he didn’t know what kind of wood it was, Lu Qingjiu felt that this wood should be rather special. 

“What is that?” Yin Xun had also come down. Standing behind Lu Qingjiu, he’d caught sight of the thing in Lu Qingjiu’s hands.

“I don’t know,” Lu Qingjiu said, “Maybe it’s jewelry or something.”

“Is it?” Yin Xun asked, “Open it up and take a look?”

Lu Qingjiu put down the wooden box, and began to try to open it. However, he found that on the wooden box hung a small word lock on the box. After studying it for a while, Lu QIngjiu still couldn’t guess what the password was. 

“It still needs a password to open it, huh.” Seeing the that box couldn’t be opened, Yin Xun lost interest. “How many years has it been since this cellar was last used? There’s so much dust. I’ll first use a broom to sweep it, you should put on a mask.”

Lu Qingjiu nodded, but his gaze never left the wooden box. He seemed to remember that he had seen this box somewhere before, but at the moment, he couldn’t quite remember where. But there was no need to worry, he would remember sooner or later.

After taking Yin Xun’s offered mask, Lu Qingjiu lowered his head and got to cleaning the cellar with Yin Xun.