Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Nyoi-Bo Studio

  What should I do? Wang Yao thought.

  He didn’t have any professional devices to test whether the insects carried the horrible bacteria that caused an outbreak in his village. He needed to find an alternative way to test it.

  Yes!

  He made the insects bite a little chicken. He then put the chicken in a bottle to observe. It died a moment later. Wang Yao was unsure whether the chicken already had problems or was too scared, so he grabbed another one.

  The chicken was shaking in the stone cage after being bitten by the insects. It looked pitiful.

  Woof! Woof! San Xian started to bark.

  “OK, OK, I see.” Wang Yao patted San Xian’s head with a smile.

  San Xian seemed to care about these little animals a lot.

  At night, San Xian suddenly started to bark. Wang Yao went out to see what happened. He found the chicken in the cage had died.

  Oh no! He failed again.

  Wang Yao went back to his cottage to think about what to do next. Finally, he decided to borrow external power.

  He called Professor Wu the next morning to tell him his thoughts.

  “OK, wait for me. I’ll come to your village as soon as I can,” Professor Wu said after keeping silent for a moment.

  He stopped what he was working on and headed to Lianshan with only one assistant as fast as he could.

  Wang Yao looked at Xishan Hill from the top of Nanshan Hill.

  The danger was still there. It could affect the village anytime. Wang Yao even thought about destroying Xishan hill completely. Should I just burn it?

  The quarantine was over, so it was business as usual in the village. The villagers seemed to be relieved.

  During the past few months, the villagers were threatened by death and kept in the village. They were on the edge of having a nervous breakdown. Suddenly, everything had gone back to normal. It made them realize they hadn’t had ordinary lives for a long time.

  Therefore, the majority of the villagers went away. They either went to the town or the city. It was not because they had errands to run there. They just wanted to get out of the village to enjoy their freedom.

  Sun Yusheng came to the village in the afternoon. He had lost quite a lot of weight.

  “You look more energetic after losing weight,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

  “Thanks, I’ve been really busy,” Sun Yunsheng said.

  He had a lot of tricky business to deal with and hadn’t sort it all out. He squeezed a couple of hours in to visit the village because he heard about the outbreak of the horrible contagious disease. He had called Wang Yao several days ago. Wang Yao had told him the village was no longer in quarantine.

  “Take care of yourself no matter how busy you are,” Wang Yao said.

  He could tell Sun Yunsheng hadn’t slept well lately.

  “Sure,” Sun Yunsheng said.

  “Have some tea,” Wang Yao said. He made Sun Yunsheng a nice cup of tea.

  Sun Yunsheng felt relaxed and calmed as soon as he sat down with Wang Yao. He temporarily stopped worrying about the business that gave him a big headache. He really enjoyed chatting and having a cup of tea with Wang Yao.

  “I really envy your lifestyle,” Sun Yunsheng said.

  “Our life goals are different,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

  Some people wanted a colorful life with luxurious clothes and food. Others preferred a quiet and peaceful life. Different people wanted different lifestyles, which of course led to different stress levels.

  “Let me know if there is anything I can do. I’m happy to help,” Wang Yao said.

  “OK.” Sun Yunsheng nodded. He knew any promise from Wang Yao would be kept seriously.

  He didn’t leave until late afternoon. He was reluctant to leave the village. He wanted to stay a few more days.

  “By the way, the construction of the apartments in Lianshan town center has finished,” Sun Yunsheng said before leaving.

  “I see. Thank you for telling me,” Wang Yao said.

  “I guess there won’t be too many people left after this,” Sun Yunsheng said.

  “Probably,” Wang Yao said.

  Sun Yunsheng told Wang Yao the old houses used to swap for new apartments in town were basically useless. He was happy to have Wang Yao deal with the old houses.

  Wang Yao just smiled. What could he do with the old houses? He just needed one house to live in. That was it. The value of old houses in the village wouldn’t go up, and he was not short on money.

  “Thank you. I don’t need those old houses,” Wang Yao said.

  “Aye!” Sun Yunsheng sighed.

  As soon as he got into his car to drive out of the village, Sun Yunsheng felt the stress come back. It dropped heavily on his shoulders. He had to continue to work. He didn’t have a choice.

  That evening, Zhang Xiuying asked Wang Yao about the apartments in the town center. “I heard the construction has finished.”


  “Yes, Sun Yunsheng came to visit me this morning. They’ve started to hand over keys to the residents,” Wang Yao said.

  “I heard a lot of people talking about it when I was out this morning. Some people have finished all the paperwork,” Zhang Xiuying said.

  “They simply can’t wait,” Wang Yao said.

  The villagers wouldn’t be in such a hurry to move out if there had not been a contagious disease outbreak.

  “They are,” Zhang Xiuying said.

  “It has nothing to do with us,” Wang Yao said.

  Nanshan Hill was as quiet as usual at night.

  Twitter! The little chickens were making an unsettling sound. San Xian got out of the dog house to check on them. He barked in gentle low voice. It was as if he was comforting them.

  He got out of his comfortable dog house a number of times overnight to check on the chickens.

  The temperature dropped by 10 degrees the next morning. The wind was chilly. Cold spring days were worse than winter since it didn’t gradually become cold.

  A car was driving fast on the highway.

  “Professor, would you like to take a rest? I’ll let you know when we arrive,” a man in his 30s said.

  “No, I’m fine,” Professor Wu said as he looked through the window.

  He actually was tired. He had been thinking about what Wang Yao said on the phone since yesterday. It sounded unbelievable, so he dropped everything and left for Lianshan immediately.

  The car was driving smoothly on the highway. The assistant, who sat in the front passenger seat, didn’t say much.

  Professor Wu just looked through the window.

  The trees had turn green, and the flowers were blooming.

  He had too much work to do.

  “Hmm……” He sighed.

  The car entered the village.

  “The village is no longer in quarantine?” Professor Wu asked.

  The car stopped outside the clinic.

  “You wait here,” Professor Wu said.

  “OK,” his assistant said.

  Professor Wu got out of the car with two baskets. In them were gifts he brought from Beijing.

  “Who is Professor seeing today? He even brought gifts with him,” his assistant asked.

  Wang Yao was seeing a patient. “You just need to go back and rest properly. You’ll be fine.”


  “OK. Thank you, Yao,” the patient said.

  “See you later,” Wang Yao said.

  After seeing off the elderly villager, Wang Yao saw a familiar face. “Hello, you are so quick. Please come in.”


  “I wished I had wings to fly here when I got your phone call,” Professor Wu said with a smile.

  “Have some tea,” Wang Yao said.

  “Thank you,” Professor Wu said.

  He really enjoyed the tea at Wang Yao’s clinic. The tea smelled and tasted nice. Even a coffee person like him was in love with the green tea there.

  “The tea tastes wonderful,” Professor Wu said.

  “I grew the tea leaves myself and asked an expert to fry it for me,” Wang Yao said.

  After having small chat for a bit, they began discussing the serious topic at hand.

  “Let me show you the insects,” Wang Yao said.

  He took out the jar containing the insects he found on Xishan Hill.

  “These ones?” Professor Wu took a close look.

  “Yes,” Wang Yao said.

  Professor Wu’s background was Western medicine. He studied biology at the university, but he was focused on microbiology. He had a limited knowledge of insects. However, he knew a few experts who had good knowledge of insects.

  “Can I take the bugs with me?” Professor Wu asked.

  “Of course. By the way, I’ve got something else.” Wang Yao took out another jar that contained a small mouse. The mouse was still alive, which really impressed Wang Yao.

  “The mouse is from the same place?” Professor Wu asked.

  “Yes, it was with the insects. To be honest, I was shocked when I saw it,” Wang Yao said.

  “Well, can I take another look on Xishan Hill?” Professor Wu asked.

  “Of course,” Wang Yao said.