Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Who are those people?

  Wang Yao stood inside his herbal field and saw two people walking uphill from a distance.

  They are not from the village.

  His vision was way more accurate than average people. Sometimes, he could even see as clearly as the eagle flying in the sky. So, it was not hard for him to spot those two strangers walking uphill and recognize that they were not from his village.

  What are these two strangers doing here? What is going on?

  The middle-aged man who walked in front suddenly stopped halfway to the top of Nanshan hill.

  “Do you feel any difference here?” the man asked his friend.

  “The direction of the wind has changed, and the temperature has changed too,” said his friend.

  “Yes, we are on the hill; it should be like this!” said the middle-aged man.

  The further they walked up, the more obvious the change was.

  “This hill is weird,” said the middle-aged man.

  They arrived just outside the herbal field but were stopped by a dog.

  “Nice dog!” said the middle-aged man.

  “Yes, with high spirits!” said his friend.

  “Hello, what are you two doing here?” asked Wang Yao as he was looking at the two strangers.

  “Hello, are you Wang Yao?” asked the middle-aged man with a smile.

  “Yes, and you are?” said Wang Yao as he sized the two strangers up. The two strangers were also sizing him up.

  “Hello, my name is Chen Boyuan, and this is Xia Su. We would like to ask a favor from you, Mr. Wang,” said Chen Boyuan.

  “What favor?” asked Wang Yao.

  “Can we talk inside?” suggested Chen Boyuan.

  “Sure, please come in,” said Wang Yao.

  Wang Yao invited the two men into his cottage. After entering the cottage, Chen Boyuan looked around before setting his eyes on the scriptures on the table.

  “Please have a cup of tea,” said Wang Yao who made each of the two men a cup of tea.

  “Thank you,” said Chen Boyuan.

  “May I ask why you are here?” asked Wang Yao.

  “We heard that you are an extraordinary doctor. So we would like you to see a patient,” said Chen Boyuan.

  What? Wang Yao was surprised.

  Two strangers came to ask him to see a patient. How did they know that he was an extraordinary doctor? Only a handful of people knew Wang Yao was able to treat diseases. Among those people, even less had the knowledge of where he lived. They would never tell anyone where he could be found. Even if they wanted to bring someone to Nanshan hill, they would have called Wang Yao first to get approval.

  “Sorry, I cannot help you,” Wang Yao declined with a smile.

  “Mr. Wang, we are happy to pay whatever amount you ask for,” said Chen Boyuan.

  “Sorry, you are talking to the wrong person,” said Wang Yao.

  Sure enough, he declined! Chen Boyuan had expected that Wang Yao would decline their request.

  “Since we are here, we don’t think you are the wrong person. Mr. Wang, could you tell us what we can do to make you treat the patient?” asked Chen Boyuan.

  Wang Yao was too young to grow herbs in such a place. He also read Taoist classics such as Nanhua Jing. Chen Boyuan could feel the unique aura around Wang Yao. If he had met Wang Yao at a different place, he would have thought Wang Yao was a student of some famous Chinese Traditional Medicine practitioner. But, he met Wang Yao here, on Nanshan hill, an isolated place. Chen Boyuan had never heard of any famous Chinese Traditional Medicine practitioners in Lianshan. Only from this, he knew Wang Yao was not an ordinary person.

  “Mr. Wang, we can guarantee that we will not bring you any trouble if you agree to see the patient,” said Chen Boyuan.

  “I’m not going to go. Please find someone else to treat your friend,” said Wang Yao with a smile.

  “Can you tell me why?” asked Chen Boyuan.

  “Because I know nothing about you, and who told you I was here?” asked Wang Yao. He was very annoyed about people disclosing his whereabouts to strangers.

  “We are happy to tell you who we are, but as for the person who told us where we could find you, I actually don’t know,” said Chen Boyuan, who was telling the truth.

  “I see, I’ll consider it after you find out who told you my whereabouts,” said Wang Yao.

  Chen Boyuan didn’t respond. He looked at the tea on the table. The tea smelled nice, but he didn’t take one sip.

  “So, Mr. Wang’s parents also live in this village, and they are no longer young?” said Chen Boyuan.

  “What do you mean?” Wang Yao’s eyes squinted.

  The atmosphere in the room suddenly changed.

  Xia Su, who had been sitting next to Chen Boyuan suddenly tensed up and looked sharply at Wang Yao. He was like an alert leopard, which just woke up and found its enemy.

  This guy is dangerous! thought Wang Yao. Who is he?!

  Wang Yao obviously felt the danger from Xia Su.

  This man is definitely not as ordinary as how he looks like!

  “Mr. Wang, please don’t misunderstand me. I mean your parents are no longer young, they can have a better lifestyle,” said Chen Boyuan.

  “I think their current lifestyle is pretty good. They are quite happy,” said Wang Yao with a smile.

  Nothing seems to work! Chen Boyuan thought.

  “It is a life and death situation, I hope you understand,” said Chen Boyuan.

  “I’m sorry,” said Wang Yao.

  Wang Yao still didn’t allow any room for negotiation.

  “Well, we are not going to bother you anymore. We are leaving now. This is my contact number, and I’m available to answer your call 24-7. Please contact me if you change your mind. Bye for now.” Chen Boyuan stood up.

  “The path on the hill is uneven; be careful on your way back,” said Wang Yao.

  He watched them walking down the hill.

  Trouble is coming, possibly big trouble! thought Wang Yao.

  “Why should we leave without achieving anything?!” asked Xia Su.

  “What do you want? Get physical? Tie him up and bring him back? Or force him to treat our Miss? If he doesn’t want to treat our Miss, have you thought about what consequences you will cause by forcing him?” asked Chen Boyuan.

  “He knows Kung Fu,” said Xia Su, “very well.”


  “Let me think about it. I don’t believe anything will change his mind. He is a young man after all!” Chen Boyuan stopped and turned around. He could see a vague figure behind those trees on the hill.

  “Who else does he have in the family?” asked Chen Boyuan.

  “He has a sister,” said Xia Su.

  “Where does she work?” asked Chen Boyuan.

  “The Agriculture Bureau,” replied Xia Su.

  “Agriculture Bureau? What a coincidence!” said Chen Boyuan with a smile.

  Wang Yao found two packages of presents when he had arrived home for dinner in the evening.

  “Mom, who brought these?” asked Wang Yao.

  “A person called Chen Boyuan. He said he is your friend and wanted to visit me and your dad. He also brought some presents for you. We didn’t want to accept his presents, but he insisted on leaving them here,” said Zhang Xiuying. “Is he really your friend?”


  They’ve already been here! So fast!

  “Mom, could you please not to let strangers come into our house? You don’t know what kind of people they are. Maybe they are bad people,” said Wang Yao.

  “Bad people? They didn’t look like bad people. They drove a luxury car!” said Zhang Xiuying.

  “So people driving luxury cars are supposed to be good?” said Wang Yao. “Anyway, I’m the person who should be blamed. I didn’t tell you about them in advance,” said Wang Yao.

  “You don’t know him?” asked Zhang Xiuying.

  “I do, but only in the morning. He came to Nanshan hill with his friend to ask me to see a patient. I didn’t know him. I don’t know how he got my address, and he even brought presents here,” said Wang Yao.

  “I see, so he just wanted you to see a patient? Nothing else?” Zhang Xiuying was worried.

  “No, don’t worry,” said Wang Yao.

  He went back to Nanshan after dinner. He called a number of people including Wang Mingbao to ask who disclosed his address. But none of those people he called knew someone called Chen Boyuan.

  Maybe Chen Boyuan is a fake name.

  He made another call to He Qisheng.

  “What? Chen Boyuan, Xia Su?” He Qisheng changed his tone on the phone.

  “Yes, do you know them?” asked Wang Yao.

  “No, but I heard of them,” said He Qisheng.

  “Heard of them? Are they from Beijing?” Wang Yao sort of guessed something.

  “Yes, they are from Beijing,” said He Qisheng.

  “Who told them I’m on Nanshan hill? Miss. Guo?” asked Wang Yao.

  “Definitely not. Someone came to ask her for help the other day. She only took that person to Haiqu, not even Lianshan. She heard you wouldn’t agree to meet that person, so she sent him back,” explained He Qisheng.

  “They went to see Miss. Guo twice for one person?” asked Wang Yao.

  “Yes,” said He Qisheng.

  “Who else knows about it?” asked Wang Yao.

  “I don’t think so,” said He Qisheng. “Wait!” He suddenly thought about something.

  Maybe it was him! I have to let Miss. Guo know about it! He Qisheng immediately called Guo Sirou after talking to Wang Yao on the phone. He told Guo Sirou about Chen Boyuan and Xia Su’s visit to Nanshan hill and his own thoughts.

  “Okay, I see. Thank you, Uncle He.” Guo Sirou hung up the phone. She looked tired.

  She picked up the phone again but put it down after thinking for a while.

  “Ugh,” she sighed.

  I hope they won’t make things worse, thought Guo Sirou.

  Chen Boyuan and Xia Su arrived at Lianshan and decided to stay overnight.

  “What should we do next?” asked Xia Su.

  “We have to wait,” said Chen Boyuan.

  “Wait? We can wait, but our Miss can’t wait!” said Xia Su anxiously.

  “What else can you do?” asked Chen Boyuan.

  “I thought you have ways to make him treat our Miss. Remember you made a promise when we left?” said Xia Su.