Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Wang Yao was in the cottage reading a scripture.

  The raindrops were hitting the window.

  San Xian was lying inside his dog house, looking far away as if he was in deep thought. Da Xia was standing on the tree and flapped his wings from time to time.

  Spring rain was as precious as oil. It didn’t last for a long time and stopped in early evening.

  Wang Yao didn’t want to go home because the path on the hill could be muddy after the rain. But he received a phone call from home asking him to go home because he had visitors.

  Wang Yao went home and saw two strangers waiting for him—a man and a woman. The woman seemed to be in her 30’s and had fantastic skin, while the man looked a bit rough. He sat straight in a rigid posture on the sofa. Wang Yao had never seen these two people before.

  “Yao, long time no see!” said the woman, who obviously knew Wang Yao.

  “Hi, you are……” asked Wang Yao.

  “This is my cousin, your auntie, and this is her husband,” said Zhang Xiuying with a smile.

  Zhang Xiuying introduced her cousin to her son.

  Wang Yao remembered his mother had mentioned her cousin and her family before. His mother told him that her cousin and all her siblings were doing well. Her cousin was the only university student in town back in her days. She had great academic achievements, and so did her two brothers. One of her brothers ended up in a senior position of a national company. The other was doing real estate business in Haiqu. They were very busy and wealthy, and had rarely met with Wang Yao’s family.

  Rich people didn’t hang out with the poor, even within the same family. The saying was not nice but often true.

  Zhang Xiuying’s cousin and her husband stayed for dinner at Wang Yao’s house. Wang Fenghua served them Mao Tai wine.

  “Wow, Mao Tai! That’s some nice wine!” Zhang Xiuying’s cousin said with a smile.

  “Yao bought it for me,” said Wang Fenghua. “Fill your uncle’s glass.”


  “Sure,” said Wang Yao.

  Wang Yao filled his uncle’s glass with wine, then his father’s.

  “Do you want to drink any wine?” asked Wang Fenghua.

  “No, thanks,” said Wang Yao who shook his head. He was not into wine.

  “Mao Tai is really nice; you don’t normally get a chance to drink it,” said Wang Yao’s uncle.

  His uncle barely talked since he had arrived at Wang Yao’s house. He seemed to be an inarticulate man.

  The couple chatted with Wang Yao’s mother for a while before they left.

  Wang Yao decided to sleep at home after the visitors had gone because it was too late to go back to Nanshan hill. He wasn’t concerned about his herbal field, as San Xian and Da Xia watched out for him on the hill. They even killed a Tibetan Mastiff a few days ago.

  Zhang Xiuying started to talk about the couple who just left.

  Her cousin was a very capable woman who could speak both English and German very well. She had worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for many years before starting her own business. Her husband held a senior position in the army, and his father was one of the army leaders—none of them were ordinary people.

  Zhang Xiuying’s cousin and her husband planned to return to the village before Chinese New year, but were delayed by issues in Beijing. They visited all the relatives after they came back.

  “How come I’ve never seen them before?” asked Wang Yao curiously. He didn’t think he had ever seen the couple before, according to his memory.

  “I don’t know. But you should appreciate their visit; it shows that they still think of us,” said Zhang Xiuying.

  “Of course,” said Wang Yao.

  But Wang Yao couldn’t be convinced by his mother. He knew they wouldn’t visit his house for no reason, and his parents had almost no communication with them in the past ten years. After all, his mother’s cousin had a much higher social status than his family. She had a much better social network, too. Wang Yao reckoned she just thought of his family by accident.

  Wang Yao got up early the next morning and went straight up to Nanshan hill after breakfast.

  It was humid because of the rain.

  He worked in the herbal field as usual, took special care of the licorice roots, and changed the water for San Xian and Da Xia. Then, he went up to the top of the hill and started his breathing exercises.

  The wind on the hill was still strong, but the direction of wind had changed, so it was no longer chilly. It got warmer on the hill after the spring rain.

  Wang Yao sat still on a rock at the top of the hill. His chest moved up and down in rhythm. The sun started to come out of the clouds, and suddenly, it was bright and sunny. Wang Yao’s body shook for one second then was back to normal. He stood up from the rock with a smile after a short while.

  The good thing was that one of his meridians became unobstructed. The Qi was moving smoothly and unobstructed inside his body. He felt much more comfortable, strong and relaxed; he was completely alert now.

  I’m Not sure if I’ve made any improvements in fitness.

  Wang Yao opened the system panel to check his status of fitness.

  Candidate attributes:

  Constitution 2.5, Strength 1.7, Spirit 2.1, Agility 1.8, Will 1.9.

  Wang Yao had made significant improvements in the attribute points. He was heading towards being someone out of this world.

  But there would be more people on the hill after the beginning of spring; it won’t be convenient to conduct certain activities, thought Wang Yao.

  Nanshan hill was only busy during the farming season when the farmers planted crops on the hills nearby. Wang Yao couldn’t let other people know of his secret system which brought him tremendous wealth. When it came to money, there were always people with evil intentions.

  The licorice roots were precious, and Wang Yao didn’t want people to eye them. He required methods to protect the licorice roots, which included tough measurements.

  Wang Yao was standing on the top of Nanshan hill and looking at his village from a distance. He thought a lot.

  He wished he could have a peaceful life on Nanshan hill the rest of his life.