Chapter 33: The gossip surrounding the village chief’s wife and Dr Gu Shu |
By now, they had grown to rely on the big shot, even though they had only known her for two short days.
Zuo Qing felt foolish as she thought, “I was such a fool. If I had realised my idol was here, why did I waste time in a graveyard? I should have stuck to the big shot’s side all day and night, even if people called me shameless.”
After all, how often did one get to cozy up to a big shot’s leg…
They agreed that Wang Yang would watch the first half of the night, while Zhang Feng would take over the second. If they were still stuck here by tomorrow, Zuo Qing and Sun Yun would do the next night duty.
But tonight, none of them could sleep easily.
Yu Xiao and her group of five, on the other hand, slept like babies. Yu Xiao woke up to the aroma of food in the morning, feeling a tingling in her arms. Zhou Xiao Zhen had been clinging to her arm all night.
Zhao Lan was already up and sitting on the bed, thinking about something. When she saw the two stirring, Zhao Lan said, “Smiley, get up. Gu Jing Rong’s mom wants you to serve her tea.”
Yu Xiao was taken aback, totally clueless about this old custom.
“No need,” Zhao Lan said, “His mom said concubines don’t deserve to serve her tea.”
“Oh,” Zhou Xiao Zhen smiled, “Then I can snooze a bit longer.”
Zhao Lan sighed “We can’t just sit here and twiddle our thumbs. Don’t you see what’s wrong with this room?”
Zhou Xiao Zhen and Yu Xiao scanned the room together, looking for anything amiss. After a while, they came up empty. “What’s wrong?”
“Two people are gone,” Zhao Lan said, annoyed at first, but then a laugh escaped her, twisting her face. “Lu Xun and Luo Jin got dragged away this morning. Gu Jing Rong’s mother said that concubines should follow their own rules, not wait for others to serve them. Right now, one is slaving in the kitchen, and the other is scrubbing outside.”
Hearing this, Yu Xiao snorted with laughter, and Zhou Xiao Zhen chortled under the covers.
*
*
Three people sat at the dining table: Yu Xiao, Gu Jing Rong, and Gu Jing Rong’s mother.
Four people stood nearby, serving dishes. According to Gu Jing Rong’s mother, concubines didn’t deserve to sit at the table.
While eating, Yu Xiao blurted out, “How do we make Gu Jing Rong the village chief?”
Mother Gu scowled at her and said, “How dare you speak of Gu Jing Rong like that? You should call him your husband.”
“…” Yu Xiao’s mouth twitched several times, but she couldn’t force herself to say it. Luckily, Mother Gu changed the topic on her own. “It’s not easy for our Little Rong to become the village chief. His health is poor, and being a village chief brings a lot of troubles. I’m afraid for his health…”
“That’s not a problem,” Yu Xiao said, thumping her chest. “I’m here. As his wife, I’ll be a good helper. Anything that needs work or brains, just leave it to me. The main thing is that the village chief can’t serve others, or else how can our family keep a high status in the village? And how can you be the top lady in the village?”
Hearing this, Mother Gu was touched. She was the only woman in the village who didn’t have to toil. If the village chief’s position went to someone else, wouldn’t she lose her status too? Just thinking about how people always kissed up to her, the idea of needing to kiss-up to someone else made her uneasy…
Mother Gu felt a pang of envy. She couldn’t be the village chief’s wife, but being the village chief’s mother would do.
So, she said, “Fine, let’s do it this way.”
But she still had some doubts, “But even if Little Rong becomes the village chief, you may not be able to handle everything. After all, you’re only a woman, and they may not listen to you.”
Yu Xiao chuckled then, “Just relax. Just make sure… he becomes the village chief. I have a trick to make them obey me.”
After dinner, Yu Xiao left the house to find Gu Shu.
As the attending doctor, the worst thing for Gu Shu was not being able to vanish at will. He had to stick to his role, even if he hated someone, he had to stay here.
“Doctor Gu Shu.” Yu Xiao showed up at Gu Shu’s house, holding a pressure cooker. “I’m back!”
Gu Shu opened the door, staring at her with icy eyes, “What do you want?”
“Can’t I visit you if there’s nothing wrong?” Yu Xiao beamed at Gu Shu. He kept a blank face, but she didn’t care. “I have something I want to give you. I wonder if you’ll like it.”
This time, Gu Shu wasn’t interested, “I don’t want it.”
“Oh, please.” Yu Xiao ignored his frostiness. “Don’t you want to let me in for a bit? Carrying things around is exhausting.”
In the end, Gu Shu still let Yu Xiao in. He was confident in himself and didn’t think that Yu Xiao could do anything under his watchful eye.
Yu Xiao barged into the room, skipping the pleasantries. She ripped off the talisman and opened the pressure cooker, exposing the ghost inside.
She faced Gu Shu and flashed a wicked smile. “Do you like this present, Dr. Gu Shu?”
Dr. Gu Shu eyed the pathetic ghost, then coldly stared at Yu Xiao, showing no emotion.
Yu Xiao cocked her head. “Dr. Gu Shu, are you disappointed? Do you want me to scoop out its brain?”
The ghost in the pot whimpered at that.
Clearly, doctors had different tastes. Dr. Gu Shu was unmoved. He ignored the little ghost and said, “If that’s all, please go.”
“No, wait!” Yu Xiao twisted the ghost, making it scream in agony. Yu Xiao said, “Look how fresh it is.”
Dr. Gu Shu remained cold. “Go.”
“Hmph.” Yu Xiao grumbled, glaring at him. “You’ll be sorry.”
Dr. Gu Shu snorted inside, Sorry for what?
Then he saw Yu Xiao, holding the pressure cooker, pause at the door. She unbuttoned her clothes, messed up her hair, and slapped herself twice.
Dr. Gu Shu was shocked by her actions. Was she crazy?
She flung open the door, keeping up her dishevelled look. Yu Xiao ran out sobbing. At the gate, she spun around and, with a bitter voice, said, “Gu Shu, you’re a monster!”
She sprinted away, leaving him behind.
Gu Shu was alone in the house, his mind in turmoil, a surge of anger rising in him.
He knew he wasn’t human, but the villagers didn’t. Especially now, when a mob of them had gathered outside his house, as if by magic. They had all heard the dreadful screams from inside, seen Yu Xiao dash out with torn clothes, flushed cheeks, wet eyes, and heard her curse him with a bitter voice, calling him a monster.
Doctors could strike back at patients, but only if the patients attacked first.
Had Yu Xiao just done that? Gu Shu thought so, but the hospital system disagreed, so he was powerless.
Yu Xiao had said he would be sorry, and he was starting to feel a twinge of regret…
It was all part of Yu Xiao’s cunning scheme, why the villagers had shown up at that moment.
In other words, he had walked into a trap when Yu Xiao had entered his house. It didn’t matter how careful he was, it was hopeless.
Half an hour later, the gossip about Doctor Gu Shu and the former and current village chief’s wives had circulated through the village, growing more and more outrageous.
In the afternoon, Gu Jing Rong called all the villagers for a meeting and made an announcement: his health was failing, and from now on, Yu Xiao would take care of the village matters for him.
How could the villagers accept such a young woman? At first, they resisted, but when they saw Yu Xiao standing there with a lively smile, they remembered the rumours that had flown around the village today.
This woman was not only the village chief’s wife, but also the one that Doctor Gu Shu fancied…
*
*
Nine people met by the river upstream in the north of the village at night. There, a temple loomed against the mountains. The temple looked ancient; most of the carvings on it had worn away by the wind and rain, covered in moss.
Standing here, everyone felt a cold shiver. Something was inside, and maybe the answers they wanted were there too.
They stood in front of the door, feeling a mix of excitement. But there was something else that thrilled them more.
Zuo Qing had always looked at Yu Xiao with awe, but now her eyes showed something else.
“Sister Smiley,” Zuo Qing faltered, “Is it really okay for you to mess with the attending doctor?”
“I don’t know,” Yu Xiao shrugged, “Even if there is a problem, I can’t do anything about it.”
The crowd looked uneasy, thinking that she was the top dog for a reason; she even dared to mess with the attending doctor. After all, in a way, the attending doctor was more frightening than the ultimate big boss. They always steered clear of him if they could.
“I’m going in,” Yu Xiao told them, “If anything happens, call me.”
“Smiley, be careful,” Zhao Lan said anxiously.
“Smiley, you better scream if something goes wrong. It might be too late to call.” Zhou Xiao Zhen lifted a mahjong box and said, “We’ll come running as soon as we hear you!”
Yu Xiao nodded, then headed for the door. The villagers guarding the entrance swung open the temple’s huge doors, exposing a dark and deep interior. Yu Xiao stepped in, holding a torch high, and the door slammed shut behind her.
Suddenly, silence wrapped around her, and under her feet was a faint passage of unknown length, leading to a mysterious destination.
She pushed on, her torch barely lighting up the way ahead, with only the echo of her footsteps in her ears.
She walked and walked until at last, she heard something else – the sound of water.
The narrow, dark passage opened up to a wide area. Yu Xiao almost slipped on the wet ground, catching herself just in time to see the slick surface under her feet.
She moved ahead cautiously with the torch, and came across a pool of water.
The deep blue water hid everything below. As Yu Xiao looked around, she saw creepy shapes of monsters carved into the stone walls around the pool, looking especially sinister in the flickering firelight.