CH 75

The next day, Lu Qingjiu started cooking another pot of chicken soup and this time, he got Yin Xun to watch over it in order to prevent the same issue of soup drying up again.

The eyeballs’ seeds planted in the backyard had sprouted seedlings overnight. At this point, they still looked no different from ordinary plants, with the supernatural element only appearing in the form of fruits being eyeball-shaped. He guessed that the eyeball-shaped fruits will only grow when they bear fruit. 

Lu Qingjiu got up in the morning, cleaned the yard first as usual, and then went to make lunch.

Recently, his Taobao store was flourishing and gaining fame.The 100 bottles of hair tonic supply was simply not enough to meet demand.. Although many suspected that this was just a marketing tactic, the effectiveness of the hair growth water was undeniable. Yesterday’s head that resembled the Mediterranean sea became a full head of hair overnight. It was impossible to not believe.

Lu Qingjiu didn’t dare to use his own messenger app anymore. As soon as he logged in, a bunch of messages would jam his computer. Some businessmen had even contacted him about ramping up the production of the hair growth water but Lu Qingjiu rejected each and everyone of them.

The end of the month meant that it was time for him to prepare the delivery of the hair growth water. Lu Qingjiu drove to the market and planned to buy more glass bottles and packaging. At the same time, he would also buy some fresh tropical fruits. 

Driving through town, Lu Qingjiu suddenly had the urge to buy a few baskets of xiaolongbao for the two people back home. However, he saw Hu Shu and Pang Ziqi sitting at the entrance with bitter faces, seemingly in deep discussion.

Lu Qingjiu also didn’t probe. He simply waved to them before ordering 200 yuan worth of xiaolongbao as takeaway. Unexpectedly, their eyes lit up once they saw him. Hu Shu looked as if he was afraid Lu Qingjiu would run off and quickly grabbed his hand. “Old Lu, Brother Lu, where are you going?”

Lu Qingjiu saw their expressions and knew things weren’t as simple as it seemed. “I’m going home. What’s wrong?”

“Hehe, hehe.” Hu Shu fake laughed. “Don’t be in such a rush to go back, your xiaolongbao needs time to be prepared. Sit down, I’ll treat you to something.”

Lu Qingjiu wanted to refuse but Hu Shu forcefully pressed him down onto his seat.

Pang Ziqi poured him a cup of hot soybean milk and even cut up a piece of fried youtiao in. “Brother Lu, eat up!”

Lu Qingjiu, “… aren’t you older than me? Why are you calling in this manner?”

Pang Ziqi, “What about Teacher Lu?” 

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“Brother Lu, I want to ask if you know any ghosts that resemble a bee?” After experiencing numerous events, Hu Shu had already viewed Lu Qingjiu as a reclusive expert in Shuifu village. When he saw Lu Qingjiu, it was as if he’d seen his saviour.

“What did you encounter this time? Ah, that’s not right. Hu Shu, aren’t you an ordinary policeman? Why are you always investigating these paranormal events?” Lu Qingjiu looked oddly at Hu Shu, feeling that he was getting further away from a normal person’s way of life. 

Hu Shu’s face turned bitter when he heard this. “I also wish to be a normal policeman. But after the incident with Pang Ziqi previously, I was transferred to this department.” He had only transferred in a few months ago, but all he had encountered were things that completely toppled his three world views to the point that he even wanted to resign.

Pang Ziqi scolded from the side, “Hu Shu, cut the crap. This wasn’t your attitude when you were seducing the fox spirit.”

Hu Shu laughed in ridicule.

Once he heard the word ‘fox spirit’, Lu Qingjiu grew interested. Although he knew that the one back home wasn’t a fox spirit, Bai Yuehu hadn’t completely shed all pretences. So at least on the surface, they still continued to maintain this facade. 

“What’s going on? Let me hear about it first.” Lu Qingjiu said, “If it’s bees, I do know a little…” He thought about the Qinyuan that Bai Yuehu had forced into honey slavery, and despite their high degree of resemblance, the honey they made was pretty tasty.

“Do you know that famous prestigious kindergarten in the city?” Hu Shu asked. “The best one known as Hua Yuan Kindergarten.”

Lu Qingjiu replied, “I’ve heard of it.” Those who attended that kindergarten were all children of aristocrats. Ordinary people with more money but no connections had no chance to attend at all. In their city, kindergarten was also a symbol of status.

“There’s been a bee infestation.” Pang Ziqi continued, “As long as the children turn up for class, their classroom would be filled with bees.” 

Lu Qingjiu’s brows pinched. “Is it due to beehives being in the classroom?”

“We have already considered all possible causes and investigated them to no avail.” Hu Shu sighed, “But the most abnormal part of this case isn’t the bees. Rather, it’s the fact that normally you wouldn’t even be able to catch a glimpse of any bees in the classroom but once a child comes for class. Within 10 minutes, the bees would swarm in from all directions, as if they were being summoned.”

This was strange indeed. Lu Qingjiu said, “What if the children go somewhere else?”

“We’ve tried.” Hu Shu said. “The management selected a different location for the children to attend class but once they arrived, the bees appeared in the classroom again.” 

Lu Qingjiu, “Such a thing happened?”

Hu Shu cried bitterly, “That’s right. This matter has been blown out of proportion. Thankfully, we were able to suppress the media but we won’t be able to much longer which is why the higher ups are very concerned. Unfortunately, no matter how much we investigate, we can’t think of anything. So, I wanted to ask you, great immortal Lu.”

Lu Qingjiu, “…” Earlier on, it was still brother Lu but now, he had become Great Immortal Lu.

Pang Ziqi was still as short-tempered as before. After lighting a cigarette, he commented unkindly that they should have just listened to him and set those bees on fire. They would just burn however many bees that appeared and just wanted to see how long these things could keep up. 

Hu Shu ignored him and looked at Lu Qingjiu, the stars in his dark eyes gave Lu Qingjiu goosebumps.

“I’ll go back and think about it.” Lu Qingjiu gave them a perfunctory answer. “But I can’t guarantee anything.”

The fact that Lu Qingjiu didn’t directly refuse them made Hu Shu elated. He quickly nodded and thanked him, saying that he would treat Lu Qingjiu to drinks in a few days.

Lu Qingjiu didn’t bother saying anything else, picked up his bags of xiaolongbao takeaway and left. 

Once he arrived home, he steamed the xiaolongbao and brought out the chicken and mushroom soup. After scattering the lush green spring onions, the chicken soup was extremely fragrant. As the chicken was raised in a free-ranged farm and the mushrooms were picked in the wild, he didn’t need to add any flavouring to make it delicious. It was fragrant enough to cause one to swallow their tongue. Although the chicken was used to make soup, its meat wasn’t dry but instead, even more tender. When eating, the meat would practically fall off the bones.

The three people ate their chicken soup and xiaolongbao. Lu Qingjiu told Bai Yuehu about Hu Shu’s matter and asked what he thought about it.

After finishing his meal, Bai Yuehu suddenly asked a strange question. “Do we have enough honey to eat?”

“Yeah I think so, although if I send some to Zhu Miao Miao, maybe it will be a little lacking.” Lu Qingjiu said, “Why do you ask?” Zhu Miao Miao consumed large quantities of honey. She said that Lu Qingjiu’s honey was different from others she had used because they had detoxification and nourishing abilities. She had even experimented with honey face masks and the next day, her skin would become soft and smooth, just like a freshly peeled egg. 

After learning that Lu Qingjiu’s honey had such beautifying effects, Zhu Miao Miao couldn’t let him off and furiously begged Lu Qingjiu to leave some for her beauty needs.

Zhu Miao Miao had helped them a great deal and frequently sent snacks and fruits over. Bai Yuehu had no objections to giving her some honey but this meant that they had less honey to eat themselves. After all, they only had one beehive and the Qinyuan stuck closely to their work schedule, being even more punctual than Lu Qingjiu when getting off work. There was absolutely no chance of them doing overtime.

“Ask them when they are next opening the kindergarten. We’ll go take a look when it’s opened.” Bai Yuehu said, “And catch some bees back.”

Lu Qingjiu replied, “Okay, but why did these bees all congregate in the first place?” 

Bai Yuehu, “We’ll find out when we get there.”

After finishing the xiaolongbao, Lu Qingjiu gave Hu Shu a call and asked him about the opening of the kindergarten. Hu Shu told him that the management had said that they would reopen next Monday. Whether or not the students showed up would be another problem since there were no parents who would be willing to let their child be stung by bees.

Lu Qingjiu replied that they’d see when the time came.

Hu Shu hurriedly thanked him and expressed that Lu Qingjiu could come to him if he ever needed help. 

There were still a few days till next week. Lu Qingjiu wasn’t in a hurry since there were too many things to do. While the weather was good, he took out all the winter jackets and washed them. Noticing that Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu didn’t have many outfits, he dragged the two to the market to buy a few sets.

Afterwards, he took Bai Yuehu to a barber to cut his hair into a short trendy style. Once he was done, it attracted many people’s gaze. Not only did women secretly steal glances, there were even some men whose head turned.

There was no need to spend money on Yin Xun. Ever since he became a mountain god, his hair and nails stopped growing. Even if he cut it short, it would return to its original appearance in a few days. So, there was no need for him to spend time on grooming as he would have the same hairstyle everyday.

Later, Lu Qingjiu brought them to a famous honey cake shop. But after trying the cake, Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu both said that it wasn’t as tasty as the one Lu Qingjiu made. Lu Qingjiu could only laugh and say that it was because their honey, milk, and cake were the best quality ingredients. 

The town seemed to have become livelier recently. Lights decorated the streets, shrouding it in a festive atmosphere.

Lu Qingjiu went to the food market and bought some new items Bai Yuehu and Yin Xun had never tried before, such as sugar cane. April’s sugar cane wasn’t exactly the freshest since most were old stock. If it wasn’t for Yin Xun’s blatant unhappiness, Lu Qingjiu wouldn’t have bought it. Apart from sugar cane, Lu Qingjiu also bought broad beans. He planned to use some as snacks while the others would be cooked in his dishes.

All in all, they had a successful shopping trip, with everyone carrying home bags and bags of shopping.

At night, everyone sat in front of the television and slowly chewed on the sugar cane. Bai Yuehu  was disgusted with this sort of fruit that required him to exert effort and only had sweetness but no flavour. Thus, he avoided it. On the other hand, Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun liked it. They crunched on the sugarcane and occasionally threw pieces at Xiao Hua and Xiao Hei who were at the side. Everyone’s mouths were filled with sweetness. 

The television was broadcasting today’s news, which was a bunch of trifling and useless information, but still made for an interesting watch. Lu Qingjiu saw some news related to Hua Yuan Kindergarten; it said that the kindergarten may open next week. This was similar to what Hu Shu had told him.

Bai Yuehu preferred the roasted broad beans that were seasoned with the five basic chinese spices. He would pry away the dried outer skin of the crunchy and savoury roasted broad beans before throwing them into his mouth. There were even peanuts mixed in with the broad beans, making it a delicious yet affordable snack combination. The only shortcoming was that eating this gave one gas…

After watching the news, they each prepared to turn in.

Monday soon arrived, the day Hu Shu said Hua Yuan Kindergarten would open.

Bai Yuehu had told Lu Qingjiu they would need to get up earlier the day before. Therefore, Lu Qingjiu woke up at the crack of dawn and went into the kitchen to prepare a luxurious sandwich before feeding the animals in his house.

Today, it was Yin Xun’s turn to watch the house while Lu Qingjiu and Bai Yuehu went to town  together.

They started driving their cute little pickup truck. A few hours later, they reached their destination – Hua Yuan Kindergarten.

By this time, it was nearly 9 am. Although the kindergarten was open, they didn’t see any children running around. The entire place was silent and even the security guard at the entrance was nowhere to be seen. 

Lu Qingjiu felt perturbed by the silence. “Should we go in?”

“En.” Bai Yuehu took the lead.

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Since he grew up with his grandmother, he had never attended kindergarten and never played with such things before. By the time he came into contact with these, he was already too old to fight with children over such things. 

Bai Yuehu saw Lu Qingjiu’s silly appearance and cocked his head. “Is it fun?”

Lu Qingjiu: “Not bad. Do you want to try?” He pointed at the swing beside him.

Bai Yuehu hesitated but didn’t speak. He silently took a seat beside Lu Qingjiu on the swing.

There were too many toys in this kindergarten, with swings being one of the basic toys. Lu Qingjiu glanced around and suspected that he could probably spend an entire day playing in here without repeating the same toy twice. This was all only in his head because soon, he heard footsteps from the doorway. 

After all, Lu Qingjiu had snuck in here. He hurriedly pulled Bai Yuehu to hide behind the bushes.

Soon, they saw a group of people walk through the door. Upon closer inspection, he realised there were a few adults holding the hands of their children. Following behind them, there were several uniformed guards.

They conversed as they walked and from their words, Lu Qingjiu learnt of their identities. These were the parents of the children who attended the kindergarten. Many of them came with suspicions after knowing that the kindergarten would be reopened. Due to the previous incident with the bees, they all had concerns on whether or not to continue sending their child to school and thus, they came down to inspect the situation.

“There doesn’t seem to be any bees. Did they remove the hive?” One of the mothers asked. “But where are the other children?” 

“They’re probably waiting to see the situation.” Someone answered. “I think it’s fine now.”

The kindergarten was clean and fresh without any trace of the bees. In fact, there wasn’t an insect to be seen.

“No. I think I’ll wait.” The woman was cautious. “My baby was stung before. It’s really scary how many bees there were.”

“En. Let’s go wait in the classroom.” Some people agreed with her. 

Evidently, the kindergarten hadn’t been completely honest with the parents in order to protect their reputation. They all believed there was a hive in the kindergarten which resulted in the bee incident. Now that they did not see the bees, they naturally assumed the hive had been cleared.

After this group left, several more parents appeared and the kindergarten grew lively. The only thing that made Lu Qingjiu feel strange was the absence of the bees Hu Shu spoke of.

“There’s no bees.” Lu Qingjiu and Bai Yuehu hid behind the bushes, like a pair of perverts here to peek on children. “Did this matter get resolved?”

Bai Yuehu shook his head silently, signalling for Lu Qingjiu to wait and see. 

Hence, Lu Qingjiu waited patiently with Bai Yuehu. As time passed, more children gathered in the kindergarten. The parents saw that there were no bees and grew relaxed, leaving after sending their children in.

By now, it was nearly 11 am. All the children who should be here had already arrived but there were no signs of the bees.

Just as Lu Qingjiu was contemplating whether to leave or not, he heard a familiar sound. Buzz Buzz Buzz – it was the buzzing sound that came from the high frequency of wings beating together. Lu Qingjiu immediately recognised it as the buzzing of  bees!

In a short span of time, a dark cloud appeared above Lu Qingjiu’s head. He looked up and realised it was, in fact, not a cloud but a large swarm of bees. They had congregated together and even covered the sky. The thunderous buzzing made people’s hairs stand on its ends. Lu Qingjiu stared at this scene in shock with his mouth wide open, watching them head towards the school like a tide of black water. 

At this time, the school was filled with children who had just arrived. It was hard to imagine the extent of damage that would occur once the bees started attacking.

“Yuehu, what should we do?!” Lu Qingjiu panicked.

Bai Yuehu looked in the direction the bees had left in and turned towards Lu Qingjiu. “Come here.” Saying so, he ran towards the school block.

Lu Qingjiu followed behind him and scaled four storeys in one breath. They stopped outside the classroom labelled ‘Class Five’. 

Bai Yuehu wasn’t panting in the slightest after climbing four stories but Lu Qingjiu was a normal human. He could barely catch his breath. “Huff…huff… Yuehu, what’s wrong?”

Bai Yuehu pointed towards the classroom.

The bees had thrown the classroom into disarray. The children ran around in a frenzy while the teacher who should have  led the children away to safety was unconscious on the ground. No one knew if they were dead or alive. The bees bypassed the windows and doors, gathering in a thick swarm in the classroom. Be it the ceiling or the children’s bodies, they were all covered in bees the size of a thumb.

“Wuu, wuu…” The children sobbed, causing Lu Qingjiu to be alarmed. 

Bai Yuehu walked into the class and looked towards a corner.

Lu Qingjiu followed his gaze and was stunned. In the corner, a little boy sat on the floor unmoving. His body was covered in a thick layer of something black. Theblack layer was moving and evidently countless live bees. The little boy seemed to be completely unable to move and Lu Qingjiu’s first instinct was to rush up to get rid of those bees. But just as he took a step, Bai Yuehu grabbed him by his shoulders.

“Don’t go.” Bai Yuehu said. “That’s not human.”

Lu Qingjiu froze. “Not human?” 

Bai Yuehu replied, “En. He’s the one who summoned the bees.”

Just as he spoke, Lu Qingjiu saw the little boy slowly getting up from  the ground and smiled. However, even his mouth was filled with bees. If it weren’t for his hair, Lu Qingjiu would even suspect that this person was made up entirely of bees.

“What are you?” The boy saw Lu Qingjiu and Bai Yuehu. His tone was filled with intense malice and a slight buzz that made others feel uncomfortable. “You dare misbehave in my territory?”

Bai Yuehu said, “I’m called Bai Yuehu.” 

The boy asked, “Bai Yuehu? Are you a fox spirit? Hahahaha. A fox spirit dares to come cause trouble for me? Scram if you don’t want to die.”

Bai Yuehu didn’t get angry from being slighted. He blinked and warmly said, “You words made me feel nostalgia.”

“Nostalgia?”

Bai Yuehu said, “Because the last person who said those words has already been dead for 500 years.” As he spoke, he took a step forward and grasped the boy by his neck. The boy was frightened by Bai Yuehu’s sudden actions and began to struggle wildly. The bees on his body began to dive towards Bai Yuehu until he was completely engulfed by them, leaving only a human shaped outline. He was covered in so many bees that Lu Qingjiu couldn’t even see Bai Yuehu’s face anymore. 

This made him panic even more. Just as Lu Qingjiu was considering if he should light a flame to chase the bees away, he saw the bees covering Bai Yuehu undergo a mysterious change. They began to drop to the ground continuously. Within seconds, all the bees that were stuck on Bai Yuehu had fallen off.

The boy also saw this scene and was stunned. He began to shriek in fear and disbelief. “Im-Impossible. You’re a fox? You’re totally not a fox!”

Bai Yuehu’s expression was still tranquil but after hearing these words, it immediately changed. He coldly said, “I am a fox. I’ll kill you if you dare say I’m not a fox.”

The boy was completely clueless as to which reverse scale of Bai Yuehu he had touched and was utterly stunned. 

As a bystander listening to the duo’s conversation, Lu Qingjiu was speechless. Was this the time to care about such things? Also, aren’t you mistaken on the main point?