A Guide to Raising the Straight Long Aotian - Chapter 8

The next day.

The sky was a murky gray, making it difficult to distinguish whether it was early morning or late evening. The rhythmic pitter-patter of rain hitting the gray tiles eventually woke Yun Qi.

Seeing that Wen Zui was still sound asleep, Yun Qi bared his fangs and sank them into the boy’s wrist, beginning his feeding for the day.

“Yun Qi, were you a mosquito in your past life?”

A complaining voice drifted from above. Yun Qi licked his lips and began urging Wen Zui to hurry and inquire about the elixir.

The entire second floor was deserted. It was not until Wen Zui descended to the first floor that he spotted the old grandmother tending the kitchen fire. Wen Zui rushed over to help and casually asked about Old Man Wu’s whereabouts.

“The old man went to the street to sell pine resin today. I reckon he will be back by noon. Just wait a bit, Little Wen. You can just call me Grandma.” Once the fire was set, Grandma Wu warmly brought out a bowl of dried watermelon seeds for Wen Zui to snack on to pass the time.

“Grandma! Look what I found!” A little girl with pigtails rushed in, waving a small mushroom. When she suddenly saw a stranger, the smile on her face froze, and she hid timidly behind Grandma Wu.

“Xiao Yue, this is a big brother just passing through. Let Grandma see what treasures you have there.” Grandma Wu held Xiao Yue’s hand and squinted for a long while, but she could not make anything out.

Her eyes were failing her in her old age, so she leaned in to smell what was in Xiao Yue’s hand instead.

“It is a King Mushroom! Xiao Yue is so clever. We will add this to the soup for dinner tonight!”

Seeing the melancholy expression on Wen Zui’s face, Yun Qi’s breath hitched. He extended his tongue and licked Wen Zui’s hand in a gesture of comfort, to which Wen Zui responded with a gentle caress.

Time slipped away, and soon it was afternoon. The rain grew heavier, as if a hole had been torn in the sky. Standing on the second floor, Wen Zui watched the yellow silt washed away by the downpour and could not help but worry about Old Man Wu.

“Grandma, I will go look for Grandpa Wu. He is old, and those slippery roads are very dangerous!”

Hearing this, Grandma Wu’s furrowed brows relaxed slightly. She hurriedly helped Wen Zui into a bamboo hat and raincoat. Leading him to the door, she gave him detailed instructions: “Watch your step! Just wait until that old man gets back; I am going to give him a real scolding!”

Wen Zui smiled and nodded. He waved goodbye to Xiao Yue, heading down the mountain only after receiving a sweet “Goodbye, Brother” in return.

He walked as if on level ground. Yun Qi had crawled from his wrist to his collarbone to breathe in the fresh mountain air.

“Head east. I sense the scent of the elixir there.”

Yun Qi pointed the way and infused a layer of spiritual energy into the soles of Wen Zui’s shoes to prevent slipping. Then, he nestled back into Wen Zui’s collarbone.

“On it!” Wen Zui glanced at the blue glow beneath his feet. He found he quite enjoyed the feeling of being guided, and his pace quickened instantly.

Before long, Wen Zui reached a gentler slope halfway down the mountain. Yun Qi had been tracking the elixir’s location when he suddenly caught a faint, flickering scent of blood. His heart sank immediately.

Sure enough, as Wen Zui moved forward, the metallic scent grew heavier. In an inconspicuous patch of grass, the man and the snake discovered Old Man Wu collapsed on the ground.

“Grandpa Wu!” Wen Zui’s eyes turned red instantly. He scrambled down the slope and gathered the old man into his arms.

“Master! He is still alive! You must save him!”

Yun Qi opened his mouth slightly, releasing a breath of pure indigo spiritual energy that instantly covered the wound on the back of the old man’s head. A second later, the bleeding stopped.

“His life is saved. Someone struck him from behind and cracked his skull. It was an attempted murder.”

“How could this be? Could it be because of that elixir?” Wen Zui’s eyes were bloodshot, and his face was a mess of rain and distress. He struggled to heave Old Man Wu onto his back and hurried back toward the house.

Thump, thump, thump!

Having spotted the two from a distance, Xiao Yue ran out at top speed. When she saw her grandfather on Wen Zui’s back, she froze in her tracks.

“Old man?” Grandma Wu followed close behind, nearly fainting from the shock.

“Grandma, Xiao Yue! Do not worry, Grandpa Wu is okay. He was just knocked unconscious!”

Wen Zui quickly supported Grandma Wu, helping her onto a stool by the door, before rushing upstairs to clean the old man and change his clothes. Xiao Yue threw herself sobbing by the bedside while Grandma Wu took trembling steps forward, asking what had happened.

Looking at Grandma’s hunched back and Xiao Yue’s tear-streaked face, Wen Zui felt a sharp pang of pain in his chest. He took a deep breath and shook his head. “I do not know what happened. Grandma, has anything strange happened at home lately?”

“Anything strange?”

Grandma Wu’s brow furrowed like layers of dried tofu. As if remembering something, she grabbed Wen Zui’s hand excitedly. “A while ago, when Boss Mei came to buy pine resin, he took a liking to our tripod. This old woman did not know its value and sold it for a thousand yuan. Who knew it was an heirloom passed down from our ancestors?”

“The old man could not let it go. He kept going back to ask for it. It must have been Boss Mei’s doing!”

The tripod. Boss Mei.

Yun Qi listened quietly as a realization struck him.

“Go find this Boss Mei. The elixir is likely inside that tripod.”

No wonder he could not pinpoint the exact location of the elixir even following the original plot; it turned out the elixir was still sealed.

“But, what about them?”

“Only by finding the elixir can we truly help the old man recover. My current power is not enough to heal him completely.”

Hearing this, Wen Zui stood up immediately. He patted Grandma Wu’s hand and said, “Grandma, do not worry. I am going to get medicine for Grandpa Wu right now. I will make sure he wakes up healthy, even more energetic than before. Just wait for me!”

Lihe Town, Pine Resin Processing Factory.

Though called a factory, it was really just a small workshop surrounded by two bungalows. About fifty or sixty workers were busy inside; mostly elderly men and women, with only five or six young adults. It was a clear case of labor exploitation.

With Yun Qi’s help, Wen Zui successfully sneaked into Boss Mei’s office. He began searching high and low but found no sign of the tripod.

Suddenly, footsteps echoed outside the door.

Wen Zui instantly rolled under the desk and held his breath.

“Old Sun! That is not very fair of you, is it?” A man pushed the door open and sprawled lazily onto the sofa.

“Do not give me that nonsense! I have seen that tripod; it is an antique from at least the Tang Dynasty, and you are only offering me 500,000? In that case, I will just find another buyer!”

The man’s tone was full of disdain. After listening to the person on the other end of the line, he finally replied with a laugh.

“Fine! Two million it is! See you at Caohe tomorrow. I will buy a few stones to try my luck at gambling while I am at it.”

“Bet against me? Fine! Just do not go back on your word when you lose, little brother.”

“Hahahaha! Deal!”

Wen Zui was certain this man was Boss Mei. He breathed a sigh of relief and shifted his numbed leg, but he accidentally knocked against the wooden desk, letting out a sharp sound.

“Who is there?” Boss Mei snapped into alertness. He vaulted off the sofa and crept toward the desk.

“Master! Master! Save me!”

“Do not keep calling for me. Figure it out yourself.”

Yun Qi teased him, acting as though he intended to remain a bystander.

“You are just going to watch me die? Do you even have a sliver of snake-humanity left!” Wen Zui hissed through gritted teeth. He swiftly yanked off his jacket and threw it over his own head to mask his face, leaving only a slit to see through, and lunged out.

Landing a punch squarely on Boss Mei’s face, Wen Zui sprinted away at a life-threatening speed.

“Dammit! Where did this little thief come from? Catch him!” Boss Mei’s enraged voice roared from behind. Wen Zui was agile, vaulting over several walls in quick succession until he vanished without a trace.

“I am actually pretty amazing!” Wen Zui looked back at the empty street and grinned triumphantly.

Silently withdrawing his spell, Yun Qi nudged Wen Zui’s collarbone with his head and said calmly, “Tomorrow, we are going stone gambling too.”