Chapter 133 Bai Shenxian

Generally speaking, whenever Lu Ayao came in, He Yu and I had to head out. Whether he was sleeping or completely ignoring what we were talking about, his presence made it pretty much impossible for us to talk freely.

So when He Yu went out and didn’t come back after ten minutes, I started climbing down from my bunk. Once my feet hit the floor, I saw Lu Ayao lying on the bottom bunk with his eyes closed, so I tiptoed out as well.

As soon as I stepped outside and turned my head, I saw He Yu lurking flat against the wall like a creep. He scared me so much I nearly jumped out of my skin, but he quickly held me down and pulled me into the aisle of another carriage, where we found a pair of empty seats and sat down.

The moment I sat down, I said, “He really needs to go to a hospital. The conditions here are too limited, and all we did was buy some disinfectant to wipe him down. That wound is way too deep for our superficial skills to handle. What if something goes wrong later?”

“Xiao Yao, don’t I know you by now? You’re acting so tough with me right now, so why didn’t you say that directly to his face back there?” He Yu pointed at me, fuming.

Hearing that, I immediately chickened out. There was no way in hell I’d dare say that to him. I couldn’t even withstand that murderous look in his eyes, not to mention how ruthlessly he shot Lai Qi last time. Now, whenever I talked to Lu Ayao, I tried to be as gentle as possible, terrified that if he got upset, he’d pull out a gun from somewhere and shoot me too.

I could deal with almost anyone, but a lunatic? Absolutely not.

“Why would he want to go back to Kaifeng with you?”

When He Yu asked this, I gave him a complete recount of our earlier conversation. After listening, he glanced around with an odd look, as if someone were lurking nearby. Once he finished looking around, he clicked his tongue. “That gives me the creeps.”

“Hey,” he added, “have you thought about where you’re going to put him? If you clean up your rental place, it could fit another person. I’ll stay in Kaifeng for a few days, but then I’ve got to head back home.”

He Yu pulled a handful of melon seeds from his pocket, handed half to me, and held the rest in his hand to crack.

“What? You’re going back?!” I exclaimed in shock.

“Yeah, my family back home is rushing me. There are a lot of ancient calligraphy pieces and paintings waiting for me to store away. I’m not like you, just attending classes and socializing every day. I’m in charge of the He Clan’s warehouses now. If anything in there gets moldy or damaged, I’m done for. You’d better hurry up and figure out how to settle him. Leaving him home all alone while you go to class every day—how pitiful is that?”

I pictured the scene for a moment and felt a bit sad for him, but I couldn’t very well take him to class with me every day. Besides, I had realized he was only suited for places related to Feng Shui. Once you put him in modern society among skyscrapers, he seemed out of place in every imaginable way.

“I’ll go ask him again,” I said, standing up.

He Yu was still cracking melon seeds. “Fine. I’ll wait until you’ve asked everything before I head back. Honestly, day in, day out…”

I walked back to find Lu Ayao still lying in his berth, showing no sign of having moved. Just then, a child’s miserable wailing drifted over from the neighboring sleeper car, echoing down the entire corridor. Lu Ayao opened his eyes, and I slowly walked over, tapped his bunk, and gestured for him to come outside with me.

As night fell, more and more children started crying and fussing. Lu Ayao followed me through three carriages without us finding a single quiet spot, so we ended up in the dining car, sitting next to an old man eating instant noodles.

“How is your injury?” I asked.

Lu Ayao seemed a bit confused that I had dragged him out so far just for such a small matter.

Still, he replied, “It’s nothing serious. I can’t feel it anymore.”

I added, “He Yu and I talked it over, and we still think you should get checked out at a hospital. We aren’t professionals, after all. You didn’t want to go back in Yunnan, but once we get to Kaifeng, I still want to take you to a hospital for a checkup.”

“I’m not going to a hospital,” Lu Ayao said, looking at me.

As expected, the moment he spoke, he nearly drove me mad with anger. Even He Yu couldn’t stand his indifferent attitude. What was his deal? Just because he wouldn’t live past forty, he was giving up on living altogether? Giving up on treatment? This outlook on life was completely wrong, and as a successor of socialism^[1], I felt it was up to me to set him straight.

I decided to be completely unreasonable. “What you say doesn’t matter. You don’t have a single cent on you right now, so when we get to Kaifeng, you’re relying entirely on my charity. You’re eating my food and using my things, so you have to listen to me on everything. If you don’t believe me, ask He Yu. He stays at my place and does what I say, too. Don’t you people care about rules the most? Well, this is a rule.”

Lu Ayao actually seemed cowed by my logic. Uncharacteristically, he lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, hesitating before finally saying, “I still can’t go to a hospital. But I have another way to get treated. I have an acquaintance in Luoyang who can take a look at my injury.”

I thought to myself, Huh? What’s this? This guy Lu has acquaintances in Henan besides me? How come I’d never heard him mention this before? Looks like the kid is keeping plenty of secrets.

“That acquaintance of yours, does he work at a hospital?” I asked.

Lu Ayao shook his head. “He used to, but there was a medical malpractice incident. Now he runs his own business and occasionally handles emergency first aid in gray-area matters. He’s quite skilled, but he hasn’t worked in a hospital for a long time.”

I thought to myself, isn’t that just someone running an underground clinic? But if he’d caused a medical accident and people in the gray market still dared to let him treat them in emergencies, and even Lu Ayao trusted him this much, it seemed he really was a master hidden in plain sight. I would have to pay him a proper visit when the time came.

Lu Ayao didn’t say much more to me before deciding to go back to sleep. I wanted to ask a few more questions, but he insisted on turning in. I had no reason to keep him from sleeping, so I went to find He Yu to chat and see if he had any impression of the man.

To my surprise, as soon as I finished speaking, he slapped his thigh.

“Ha! Why didn’t I think of that? I know the person Old Lu is talking about. He’s a rising star, quite famous in the business these last five or six years! Years ago, any tomb raider who triggered a trap or breathed in toxic gas in a grave would go to him, no matter how serious it was.”

“That guy is really something. His illegal clinic was busted so many times he couldn’t keep it running, so he just went mobile, moving from place to place. I heard his surname is Bai and he is of the Miao people^[2]. No one knows his real name, but everyone who has been to his clinic calls him Bai Shenxian^[3]. If Old Lu is close with him, you have nothing to worry about. Just remember to bring me along when the time comes. I want to see what this legendary immortal actually looks like.”

I chuckled. “Is he really that miraculous?”

He Yu looked at me with an expression that said I was woefully uninformed.

“I told you to read more and learn a thing or two, but you’re clueless, aren’t you? Back in the nineties, when Bai Shenxian was down on his luck, he was begging his way through a village. The locals saw him acting all eccentric and wanted to humiliate him, so they brought him a lamb that had been dead for three days and told him to cure it. Who would have guessed? Bai Shenxian just stroked its fleece, rubbed its belly, and brought that lamb right back to life!”

“Man, that scene! The whole village was stunned. Just like that, this madman was transformed into an immortal. You tell me, isn’t that bizarre?”