Thriller Night Talk

Monday, April 26.

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Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan finished dealing with Mr. A’s trouble and returned to Sāntúchuān at nearly five o’clock in the morning.

As soon as Bei Quan entered the building, he summoned Tian Jia Xin, who was sleeping somewhere in the building. The two of them dashed into the kitchen to busy themselves working on something. 

On Monday morning, Wei Fuyuan had a professional class for the first period, but he tossed and turned all night and was exhausted; he didn’t have an ounce of energy to attend university.

With no other options, Young Master Wei had to rely on the convenience of having good relationships with his professors and fellow students and sent a text message to the class monitor, explaining that he couldn’t attend class due to a fever and asked him to fill out a leave of absence for him on his behalf.

After sending the message, Wei Fuyuan collapsed on the sofa, somehow feeling even more tired.

He had just lied about having a cold and fever to ask for a leave. Unexpectedly, he actually ended up foretelling the future with his white lie and really did begin to feel sick.

He had chills all over his body along with weak and painful joints, particularly in his arms, as if he had been submerged in cold water for a long period of time. He felt so numb that it was difficult for him to even bring his finger tips together.

Young Master Wei felt a little flustered. He pushed himself off from the sofa and headed to the bathroom to take a bath as an attempt to dispel the lingering cold.

However, as soon as he got up, he staggered and began to feel his body temperature dropping and his head becoming increasingly dizzier.

At this time, Bei Quan emerged from the kitchen with a boiling pot in his hands. There was a light, pleasant smell emanating from the contents within. 

“I was just going to call you.”

Bei Quan was unable to support him, so he lifted his chin and signaled, “Xiao Wei, come with me.”

Wei Fuyuan had no idea what this man was up to, but he still obediently followed him.

Bei Quan directed Wei Fuyuan into the bathroom, switched on the shower head, filled the soaking tube with water and poured everything in the pot into the soaking tube. 

The Sāntúchuān public bathroom was small and did not have enough space for a bathtub. Wei Fuyuan had been here for a week and had only been able to take showers.

Today, however, there indeed was a soaking tube big enough to accommodate a tall adult in the corner of the bathroom.

Wei Fuyuan: “…”

Bei Quan turned his head only to see Young Master Wei standing still and asked suspiciously, “What are you just standing there for?” 

He pointed to the steaming soaking tube, “Take off your clothes and get in.”

Wei Fuyuan: “!!!”

Lf kjr kfii jkjgf bo tlr rfzeji qgfofgfcmf obg wfc, jcv Dfl Hejc pera tjqqfcfv ab yf atf asqf tf ofia j ragbcu jaagjmalbc obg.

Cmmbgvlcu ab Tbecu Zjrafg Qfl’r ecvfgrajcvlcu bo atf ujs mlgmif, lo j wjc afiir jcbatfg wjc ab “ecvgfrr,” la lr jiwbra atf rjwf jr rjslcu, “P kjca ab riffq klat sbe”. 

But, Bei Quan’s tone and expression were both very calm and he was clearly not suggesting anything.

Wei Fuyuan was internally ashamed for allowing his thoughts to run crookedly for even three seconds.

“Hurry up while the water is hot, there will be more bubbles.”

Bei Quan urged him again, then opened the door and left the bathroom. 

Wei Fuyuan breathed a sigh of relief.

He quickly took his clothes off and stepped into the soaking tube.

The water temperature was very warm and had a pleasant, soothing fragrance. The heat was relaxing and the steam lulled one to a state of serenity. Young master Wei felt as if he was reborn as all the pores in his body opened and felt himself being  thoroughly cleansed.

He leaned against the wall of the soaking tube and let out a long sigh. 

“Well, this smell…”

Young Master Wei cupped his hands together and scooped up a handful of water that he brought up to his face to take a light whiff.  “This scent, it should be grapefruit, right?”

At that moment, the bathroom door suddenly opened with a “crack”, and Bei Quan walked in with a small plastic stool in one hand and a large plate in the other.

——Fuck, the door was unlocked! 

Wei Fuyuan was so surprised and felt he needed to cover up.

“You, you, why did you come in!”

He was so anxious that his voice was shaky when he spoke.

“If I don’t come in, who will rub your arm for you?” Bei Quan raised his eyebrows and asked naturally. 

Wei Fuyuan, “rub, rub what?”

Bei Quan put the stool near the edge of the soaking tube and reached for Wei Fuyuan’s arm.

“Hui Gui’s are full of resentment. Ordinary people will be affected when they come in contact with them. Symptoms range from getting a headache or diarrhea, to  extreme fatigue for ten and a half months. You’re showing symptoms now and soon you will be too exhausted to attend any of your classes. In more severe cases, a person can develop a serious illness which they won’t be able to recover from, for two or three years.”

As he explained, he held Wei Fuyuan’s bare smooth arm. 

Young Master Wei’s face turned red to the tip of his ears.

He tried to pull his arm back but couldn’t break free.

“Be obedient, don’t move!”

Bei Quan firmly held Wei Fuyuan’s arm with his left hand, patted his arm with his right hand, then picked up a handful of sticky things and smeared them on his skin. 

Wei Fuyuan suddenly didn’t dare to move.

“The most convenient way to get rid of this resentment is to take a bath with grapefruit leaves and rub your body with glutinous rice.”

As he spoke, he kneaded the steamed glutinous rice and rubbed it back and forth on Wei Fuyuan’s right arm; it looked like he was doing a Thai massage for Young Master Wei.

Bei Quan’s fingers were thin and slender, with well-defined joints and great strength. There was nothing gentle in their movement: the already-soaked reddish skin was massaged into a crimson red. 

Wei Fuyuan noticed that the steamed glutinous rice turned into a dirty, dark gray as if it had been mixed with a handful of coal ash, after being rubbed on him a few times.

Bei Quan scooped up a ladle of hot water, washed away the sticky rice grains on Young Master Wei’s left arm and smiled at him.

“Come on, lift your other arm.”

Wei Fuyuan blushed but raised his other arm obediently. 

Wei Fuyuan closed his eyes and let Bei Quan rub his right arm. After some rubbing and pressing, the soreness and numbness disappeared.

The steam in the bathroom was thick. Bei Quan had changed into his home clothes and with his sleeves over his elbows. The steam clung to his arms and cooled, forming a slight sheen on the white skin.

Wei Fuyuan averted his eyes and refused to look directly at the hands stroking his arms.

He was very fortunate that he had a good figure and his eight-pack abs were neatly coded. He looked slim but was actually well-built like a male model when stripped bare. He was confident in his looks and refused to show his nervousness at the close proximity in front of Bei Quan. 

“That’s right.”

He ignored the quickening beat of his heart and tried to start a casual conversation:

“When I was fighting with the Hui Gui, a golden light appeared on my hand… what was that?”

Wei Fuyuan remembered how he felt when he was fighting the Hui Gui and he had a sneaking suspicion about the type of spell that Bei Quan had used. 

“Oh, that.” Bei Quan replied calmly, “That is the golden light of your merit.”

Wei Fuyuan, “The merit of what?”

“The golden light of merit.”

Bei Quan repeated. 

He looked up at the little assistant who was rinsing in the soaking tube and said with a smile, “You are born with a good destiny. In your previous life, you were probably a good person who accumulated virtue and good deeds; therefore, in this life, you are destined to take advantage of the wind and have the merits of golden light to protect your body. You are destined to be disease-free, disaster-free and wealthy. ”

Wei Fuyuan, “Really?”

He touched his nose with the hand that had just been kneaded by Bei Quan, and felt that his face seemed to be hotter.

Young Master Wei was still skeptical about matters concerning past lives, the cycle of cause and effect and the karma of reincarnation; however, hearing these praises from Bei Quan, he felt extremely happy. 

His curiosity was also piqued and he asked, “So that could mean I saved the world in my previous life, so in this life, I have been given merits as protection, in light of my good deeds?”

“Well, that’s one way to look at it.”

Bei Quan nodded and smiled, “The merit of your body is golden. You were able to touch the Hui Gui with your resistance to its yin energy. I couldn’t even move at the time, so I had to rely on your help to block it.”

What Bei Quan didn’t tell Wei Fuyuan was the main reason he had accepted Wei Fuyuan as his assistant, even though he knew nothing about Bei Quan’s world, was due to how exceptional his life force was. 

Wei Fuyuan was born with a wonderfully eight words, giving him the fortune of the Fire element. This, along with the great merits brought out from his mother’s womb,  made him almost equal to those monks who have practiced for most of their lives.

Unfortunately, Bei Quan felt that even though Wei Fuyuan had a special foundation,  he might not be able to achieve great success in the future, even if he cultivated diligently from now on.

This young master was born into a very good family. Since infancy, he had been pampered with expensive clothing and delicious food, and he had developed an arrogant demeanor. He couldn’t bear to practice Taoism or Buddhism. He had been a rich and indolent guy with an excellent fortune his entire life.

——Pretty good. 

Bei Quan smiled in his heart.

——He is different from me, he was truly good.

Since he was a good person in his previous life, he deserved the best of luck in this life.

——But I do lack help right now, so I will take advantage of your merits temporarily. 

Young Master Wei’s attitude brightened inexplicably when he discovered what the golden light in his body was. He had felt as cold as a layer of thin ice on a river at the beginning of spring, but now he felt that a warm sun had melted all the ice. All of the exhaustion from that night and even the resentment he felt when he was sent out to fight strange ghosts by Bei Quan, had disappeared.

He suddenly thought of another question, “The ghost attached to Luo Yuanming’s body——what happened to it?”

“It’s been dealt with,” Bei Quan smiled and nodded, “I have sealed it in the Lost God Banner.”

It was another term that Wei Fuyuan didn’t understand, so he automatically ignored it, “Why didn’t you just kill it?” 

“Because you can’t kill it.”

Bei Quan explained, “I told you before that Hui Guis are resentful ghosts and that some of them are immortal ghosts. They cultivate by devouring the negative emotions of human beings, so they can not be allowed to run rampant in the world.”

He smiled, “However, the way of heaven is clear, everything has cause and effect. You always reap what you sow; this is true for everything that you do. Because of this, there will come a day when you and I will be repaid for our deeds. Therefore,  lonely, wild ghosts cannot be killed and even a ghost who has done malicious deeds should receive mercy. ”

Wei Fuyuan nodded, thinking of the snow-white satin that Bei Quan threw to capture the Hui G Gui. 

“So you sealed it in that…  something banner?”

“Yes.” Bei Quan continued, “The Lost God Banner was originally a magic weapon that sealed all the Hui Guis. It was only recently that there was an accident and all the Hui Guis were set free. We now have to seal them back one by one.”

He let go of Wei Fuyuan’s arm, stood up and shook the water droplets from his hand, “After rubbing all the rice off, you can rinse your arms and get out.”