Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Nyoi-Bo Studio

  “Why is this place disharmonized with Qi activity?” Wang Yao wandered around the location three times but did not find any obvious problem or anything special with the geography.

  Even though his family had called him, he did not go down the hill until it was too dark to see any people.

  “Xiao Yao, have you been up to the hill?” the villagers who encountered him asked curiously. After all, very few people would be up the hill when it was so dark.

  “Yeah,” Wang Yao responded with no explanation.

  When he returned home, supper was ready.

  “Why did you come back so late?” Zhang Xiuying asked. “I supposed there were not many patients in the clinic today.” She was trying to find out if there was something wrong with her son.

  “There were not many,” Wang Yao replied. “I was tied up with something. Let’s have the meal.”


  The family of three sat by the table to eat.

  “Xiao Yao, I want to ask you something,” his mother said. “There was a Feng Shui master in the village today to choose the place for Fengbo’s grave.”


  “Ah, I know that, and I met him,” Wang Yao said.

  “You saw him?” Zhang Xiuying was surprised.

  “Yeah, what’s up?” Wang Yao asked.

  “I heard from some villagers that the Feng Shui master said the Feng Shui in our village was not good,” Zhang Xiuying said.

  “Yeah, he indeed say that,” Wang Yao said. Miao Sanding had said there were some Feng Shui problems in the village, especially in the west of the mountain.

  “What kind of the problems are they?” Zhang Xiuying asked.

  “Well, he said there were few youngsters but many elders in the village, which leads to lack of vigor and vitality but the richness of lethargy,” Wang Yao said.

  It was true that the number of youngsters in the village was few.

  “Is it possible there will be more death in the village?” Zhang Xiuying was upset. She stared at her son. After hear the village news, she was stunned and began to worry.

  “It’s nonsense,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

  There was something odd in the west of the mountain. Wang Yao thought it was too weird to believe that it would lead to more death in the village.

  “Then, that’s a relief. Do you know that some people came here today to talk about that?” Zhang Xiuying asked.

  “Came here? Why?” Wang Yao was surprised.

  “Of course, it was because of you!” Zhang Xiuying exclaimed.

  “Me?” Wang Yao didn’t understand.

  “It’s because you are familiar with Mr. Sun, and they’ve had the thought of moving out and purchasing an apartment in the town,” Zhang Xiuying said. “Hasn’t Mr. Sun engaged in the real estate in Lianshan and provided discounts to villagers?”


  “So, they came about that. How many people came today?” Wang Yao asked.

  “About seven or eight,” his mother replied.

  “That many?” Wang Yao was shocked. It was obvious that these people had already thought about moving. The arrival of the Feng Shui master was just a fuse to confirm their thoughts. “Do you have such idea?”


  “No, I’ve discussed it with your father. We don’t feel it is bad to live here,” Zhang Xiuying replied.

  The couple had lived in the village for nearly 40 years. The had become familiar with the lifestyle and habits there. If they suddenly moved to town, they would have to spend years getting used to their new life, which would feel unfamiliar.

  “I think it is good to live here,” Wang Yao said with a smile. “At least, I don’t plan to go to the town.”


  It would be no problem for Wang Yao to move to Haiqu or Jing and buy a house to settle down with his parents, let alone just in Lianshan. But, he was unwilling to leave the village.

  After supper, Wang Yao went back up Nanshan Hill alone. In the dark, there was the occasional sound barking. He turned away to look at the village behind him on the mountainous road, focusing on the glowing dots.

  “What’s wrong with living here?” Wang Yao whispered.

  Then, he raised his head to look at the west of the mountain. Is there really the death of Qi?

  Wang Yao continued up the hill, disappearing into the darkness. After a while, a light lit up on the hill.

  The next morning, the sun rose as usual. The mountainous wind was still cold. Wang Yao went to the west along Nanshan Hill and then went north. He arrived at the west side. He again came to the places where he felt weird the previous day.

  “It’s still weird,” he said.

  It was covered by withered grass. There were no lively plants in the bottomland. It was bald except for some disordered stones and the corpses of two sparrows.

  Wang Yao walked into the bottomland. The size of the bottomland was not big, only about half the length of a basketball court and no deeper than an average man’s height. It had an irregular shape, like an eggplant. He did not know when the bottomland had formed, but it indeed had existed for a long time.

  As he walked into the bottomland, the wind only dropped a little. He did not hurry to leave but instead stayed inside. He felt a bit suffocated from the disharmony of Qi activity.

  He again walked out from the bottomland, carefully looking around. He saw both high, middle, and low sides, and some dead trees. That was all. Then, he went to another bottomland, which was a little bigger. It also had an irregular shape. It was also deeper, about 6 feet. Like the other one, there was no grass, only disordered stones. There wasn’t even dead grass.

  Wang Yao again walked down to the bottomland. He felt even more suffocated. This is so strange!

  He easily jumped up and stared at the bottomland awhile. He still did not understand, so he walked on.

  There was a plain. It was no bigger than 107 square feet, even smaller than a room. He could see some stones and grasses as obviously as louses on the head of a bald person. There was another plain like this one. Was it still?

  Wang Yao turned away and was ready to go to one last place, but he suddenly stopped. He just continuously stared at the plain. What about having a try?

  He took a deep breath. The neixi in his body flowed like a river. He suddenly jumped high and dropped to the ground like a shooting star.

  With a sound of boom, like a sudden clap of thunder on the ground, the plain was struck. Wang Yao’s whole strength created a big pit. Almost the whole plain sank with the blowing dust.

  Wang Yao calmly looked to the side. Nothing was going wrong except for the gray dust was getting a little darker. “No problem?”


  He left and went to another place. There was a bulgy stone like a wolf’s fangs mace. Why not destroy it?

  Wang Yao wanted to throw a punch to destroy the mountainous stone, but he finally decided to wait and see.

  When he came down from the hill, he saw a car driving into the village. It parked at the clinic in the south of the village. Two men got out of the car. It was a man and a woman. The woman was in a down jacket, mouth-muffle, and scarf. She was wrapped tightly and toddled with the support of the man’s hand.

  “No one’s available?” He knocked on the door but got no response from inside. He tried to push the door, but it was locked.

  “We have to wait.” The woman wounded weak. She seemed to only have a little energy.

  “Go back to the car while we wait,” the main said. “It is too cold outside.”


  As they turned around, they saw Wang Yao approaching. “Professor Lu?”


  “Hello, Dr. Wang,” the professor said.

  “Hello,” Wang Yao replied.

  He took a closer look at the woman wrapped in the scarf. She had a pale face and was short of breath. Her bleary eyes showed no energy or spirit. She severely lacked life foundation.

  “Come in and we can talk about it,” Wang Yao said.

  He sent both of them into the room. The woman took off her hat and scarf.

  “It is you!” Wang Yao had seen this woman before.

  Not long after the clinic had been finished, Professor Lu took had brought this woman for treatment. Wang Yao remembered that it was a kidney disease. At that time, her complexion had been far better. She seemed to have aged 10 in only months. Her disease had gotten worse.

  “It’s me.” The woman forced herself to smile a little. It was a bitter smile.

  Her disease had continuously worsened. During her last visit to the hospital, they told her that she would not live more than a few months, even under the treatment of dialysis, if they could not find a proper kidney. She did not want to die in her 40s, which was not an old age. She wanted to go abroad to try her luck, but all of her friends, family, and classmates abroad told her there was no better treatment abroad for her disease.

  During this period, she felt no color in her life. Even the sky was gray. Now, wealth and reputation had no meaning because her life would soon seize to exist.

  She negatively waited and had begun to wonder whether a miracle would ever show up. Her disease had become so bad that her friend persuaded her to come to the clinic as a last wish.

  “But, can he manage?” She looked at the young man in front of her.

  Wang Yao was diagnosing her. It was bad, really bad.