Chapter 16

Chapter 16

We made it back safely to the first level of Zenlei Water Village. Those paper figures were nothing under the rain of talismans from the big-spending players-they were practically paper tigers.

We found the same stilt house from before and kicked the door open with a bang.

“Wei Wuyang!”

Wei Wuyang was crouched by the old lady’s feet, peeling sunflower seeds for her. When she saw us come in, she jumped in fright.

“Why are you back?”

The old lady lifted her eyelids a little and gave me a sideways glance.

“You even found your way back. Not bad.”

“You passed the test. I don’t treat brainless idiots.”

It finally clicked.

“So you’re Wei Wuyang?”

Lu Lingzhu shrank her neck guiltily and leaned close to my ear to whisper, “What does that mean? She doesn’t want to treat me?”

The old lady put down the teapot in her hand.

“How did you manage to offend my senior brother?”

I honestly told her everything that had happened in Jiangxi. Wei Wuyang shook her head the whole time she listened.

“That idiot. He got himself into this half-dead, half-alive state-what’s the point? At our age, how can he still not let go?”

Then she held out her hand to me.

“Give it to me.”

I started playing dumb.

“Give you what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Wei Wuyang said nothing. She just looked at me with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile and crooked a finger at me. For someone her age, the gesture looked completely natural. It was even oddly charming, and I was stunned for a moment.

“Looks like you don’t really want to be treated. Fine, suit yourself.”

Wei Wuyang snorted and sat back down in the reclining chair. I had no choice but to grit my teeth and pull a silver sheet of paper out of my pocket.

This had fallen off Second Great-Uncle when he died. I didn’t know what it was, but I had a feeling it had to be something valuable.

Sure enough, Wei Wuyang’s eyes lit up. She sprang up from the chair and snatched the paper from my hand in one swift motion, her face breaking into a grin.

“Hahahaha, at last it’s back in my hands.”

“Don’t look at me like that. This is a Ghost Book of the Shui people. It’s useless to you.”

“You two, come here and put your hands on the paper.”

Lu Lingzhu and I did as we were told, joining our hands and pressing them onto the paper. Wei Wuyang wrapped the paper up, pulled a hairpin from her hair, and tapped the paper a few times. Very soon, it burst into flames.

Holding the burning sheet, Wei Wuyang kept chanting. After about three or four minutes, she spread the paper open again.

Lu Lingzhu and I both widened our eyes.

The wounds on our arms had already healed completely, and on the paper, two quail eggs-not, wait, lizard eggs-were lying quietly.

“All right, your injuries are healed. You can go now.”

Wei Wuyang changed her face faster than flipping a page. She put away the two eggs, lay back down in the chair, and closed her eyes, not even looking at us again.

We thanked her and were about to leave when Wei Wuyang suddenly said, “He’ll come looking for you again sooner or later.”

After saying that, she rolled onto her side in the recliner and was snoring in no time.

Lu Lingzhu and I looked at each other.

Who was she talking about? Second Great-Uncle?

But wasn’t he already dead?

With heavy hearts, the two of us left Zenlei Water Village.

It wasn’t until we got out into the village outside that we realized the rain had already stopped. The sky was just beginning to brighten, and a few streaks of red dawn light were bursting forth.

I stretched and walked over to reach into Lu Lingzhu’s pocket.

“Pay up. You tore my bag to pieces!”

Whatever hardships and dangers still waited for us, it looked like today was going to be a good day.