Chapter 89
Chapter 89
The next morning, I still woke early.
As usual, I bought steamed buns, left several in the shop for Old Cao, then ate a few myself as I walked…
At the intersection before Lianghe Bridge, I met Wang Dachun, Zeng Jin, and the others waiting in their usual spot.
They waved and shouted to me from a distance, sunlight shining on their energetic young figures.
“Boss! Over here!”
People on both sides of the street smiled good-naturedly, amused by this gang of melodramatic teenagers.
The scene formed a stark contrast with the cold, dark river of the night before.
I could not help smiling.
“It’s nice to have a simple, happy school life to balance everything out. If I dealt with nothing but dark and uncanny matters every day, I’d probably turn gloomy at a young age.”
I broke into a jog, reached Wang Dachun, and patted him on the shoulder. Smiling, I said, “Come on. Let’s go to school together.”
The idiot froze and stared at me, crying out dramatically.
“Seriously, Brother Wu? Boss? Why are you suddenly treating me so well today? You don’t have a fever, do you?”
As he spoke, he reached for my forehead.
I was speechless.
Damn it!
Was he so unaccustomed to me speaking kindly to him?
I raised a leg and lightly kicked his rear. “Then get moving. Hurry up.”
“You got it!”
Wang Dachun brightened and followed at my side.
I pointed a finger at him, both exasperated and amused.
At school, before we began reading English aloud during morning study, Yao Nan asked, “Are you confident about tomorrow’s monthly exam?”
“Confident about what?”
“About placing in the top three in our class, at least.”
I rolled my eyes and said helplessly, “I have to place first in the entire grade!”
Yao Nan looked utterly speechless.
“You really are full of yourself!”
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, I spread my hands. “Come on, do you think I’m showing off? I’m miserable inside. If I don’t place first in our grade, I’m finished. Do you think I asked for this?”
Yao Nan froze.
She probably could not understand why failing to place first would spell my doom.
After a while, she pouted. “Your parents are far too strict. No wonder you’re so serious in class and don’t even eat dinner after school before starting your review. Also, I’m a month younger than you. Why are you calling me ‘big sis’?”
I immediately grinned. “Oh, got it. Should I call you little sis, then?”
“Little sis, my foot!”
Yao Nan brandished a fist and bared her teeth like a tiny, ferocious tiger cub.
For many people, attending school might be painful. Wang Dachun, for example, still did terribly despite my demands that he study…
But for me, studying in the simple, bright environment of a school was relaxing and pleasant.
The day passed quickly.
After returning to the coffin shop that evening, I did nothing but continue reviewing. The monthly exam was tomorrow, after all!
We would finish the exams on Tuesday. Teachers would grade them on Wednesday, the scores would be released Thursday, and our National Day holiday would begin after Friday.
Without realizing it, I had already completed a month of middle school.
“Study hard for the exam, Xiao Wu. Don’t disappoint Immortal Lady Qin.”
Old Cao was practically semiliterate–he could recognize written characters, but had studied almost no other subject. Yet now he clasped his hands behind his back and lectured me with a solemn, earnest air.
“I know, I know.”
I pouted impatiently and went back to chewing the end of my pen while reviewing mathematics.
Of all my subjects, math was my worst.
…
The next day was spent entirely on exams. There was little worth mentioning.
There was no evening study after the exams, so everyone packed their schoolbags and went straight home.
Wang Dachun’s parents picked him up at the school gate, sparing me from having him tag along.
I was not someone who liked to dwell on things.
The exams were over, so I stopped worrying about them.
Instead, I began considering whether I should find Li Miao tonight and ask him to try retrieving Zhou Min’s corpse.
“Wu Zhong! Wait for me.”
A clear, pleasant voice sounded behind me.
I turned.
Yao Nan was jogging toward me with a cute pink backpack on her shoulders.
She stopped in front of me, panting lightly. “Want to walk together?”
I nodded. “Sure.”
“Good. We can compare answers while we walk. Let’s start with the multiple-choice questions.”
I was speechless.
I had just decided not to think about the monthly exams anymore, and now she had caught me and wanted to compare answers!
How annoying.
Girls were all so annoying.
Except my mother and Master, of course.
“Forget it. Yao Nan is usually pretty nice. If she wants to compare answers, so be it.”
With that silent thought, I had no choice but to go through them with her.
By the time we had compared answers all the way back to the coffin shop, my head was filled with mathematical formulas, physics symbols, and chemical reactions…
I felt dizzy.
Old Cao was still working on the rosewood coffin. The wealthy client in the city had high standards, but naturally paid well. According to Old Cao, this single commission was worth at least two years of normal income.
When he saw me return, he looked up with a smile. “Finished your exams? How do you think you did?”
“I don’t know. I’ll find out when the scores come. Either way, the blade is going to fall.”
Old Cao handed me a bowl of water. “Don’t worry too much. Even if you don’t place first in the grade, the Immortal Lady won’t really expel you from her tutelage.”
Great. Now I was even more nervous.
I waved a hand. “Oh, stop talking about exams. I need to go to the river tonight. I want to find Li Miao and ask him to try retrieving Zhou Min’s corpse.”
“Do you need me to come help?”
“No. Like I said before, this is the nether covenant between Zhou Min and me. As long as I can still handle the situation, there’s no need to involve you in karmic debt that belongs to me alone.”
Once again, I declined Old Cao’s kind offer.
I could not rely on him for everything.
As for Li Miao, he was a corpse retriever. Corpse retrieval was his profession. I would be hiring him as a client today and paying for the work.
There was far less cause for concern there.
When Li Miao had sought Old Cao’s help with the child corpse Xiao Sheng, that too was effectively a commission involving yin beings–one he could not complete alone, so he invited a colleague to earn money with him.
That was entirely different from my nether covenant.
Old Cao said, “Li Miao doesn’t come cheap.”
I smiled. “Don’t worry. I tried to give my parents the money I earned carrying Boss Duan’s coffin, but they wouldn’t take it, so I’ve kept it saved. That should be enough, right? Besides, Xiao Mao paid us for our trouble last night, even though we didn’t resolve the living corpse Xiao Sheng’s condition.”
“Good.”
“All right, you keep working, Old Cao. I’m going to find Li Miao.”
“Go on. Be careful on the river. Zhou Min sought you out and asked for help, so she’ll surely cooperate. But I doubt the matter behind this is simple. If you encounter danger, run immediately. Your safety matters most.”
Old Cao nagged at me, afraid that in my youthful hot-bloodedness I would become combative and refuse to back down when trouble came.
As I headed out, I looked back and said, “You can rest assured a million times over, Old Cao! My life is precious. The moment danger appears, I’ll grease my feet and run faster than an Olympic champion. I’m slippery as an eel!”