Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Nyoi-Bo Studio

  “Please come in,” Wang Yao said. “Did you come here by yourself?”


  “No, I came with Auntie Lian. She just went to clean up the house,” Su Xiaoxue replied.

  Wang Yao’s parents were thrilled to see Su Xiaoxue. Zhang Xiuying was busy making tea and washing fruit. She asked a lot of questions. They all had a good time together.

  A little after 9 p.m., Wang Yao said, “Dad, Mom, Xiaoxue must be tired after taking the plane here. Shall we let her go back to rest? We can continue our conversation tomorrow.”


  “Yes, you should take a good rest,” Zhang Xiuying said with concern. “Is it hot in your house?”


  “It’s not hot. I’ve got air conditioning installed last time I was here,” Su Xiaoxue said.

  “Good,” Zhang Xiuying said.

  “Yao, walk Xiaoxue back,” Wang Fenghua said.

  “Sure.” Wang Yao happily agreed.

  It was very quiet at night in the village. No one was out on the street at this time of the evening. Most of the villagers had gone to sleep.

  Wang Yao and Su Xiaoxue were walking side by side. They enjoyed the wind from the hills.

  “Are you going to stay here for a few days?” Wang Yao asked.

  “Yeah,” Su Xiaoxue said.

  “Is it summer holiday now?” Wang Yao asked.

  “The course I’m doing hasn’t finished,” Su Xiaoxue replied “It will still be a few days before the school holiday.”


  She had to make up lectures due to her long sick leave. Her studies at Peking University were quite overwhelming, so she had a lot of lectures to catch up on.

  “Let me know when you are on holiday,” Wang Yao said.

  The Wang Family Village was not big. The house Su Xiaoxue stayed in was only a few blocks away from Wang Yao’s house.

  “Hello, Dr. Wang.” Chu Lian came out after she heard someone open the door.

  “Hello, Auntie Lian,” Wang Yao said.

  “Come in to have a seat,” Chu Lian said.

  Because it had rained during the past few days, the air in the house was humid. The smell in the house was not nice.

  “It’s quite humid here,” Wang Yao said.

  “Yeah, but that’s fine. The air conditioning is on. It will be fine,” Su Xiaoxue said with a smile.

  The living condition here was nowhere as nice as Su Xiaoxue’s house in Beijing. However, she didn’t care. The village had something that Beijing didn’t. Most importantly, Wang Yao was in the village.

  “Shall we decorate your house tomorrow?” Wang Yao asked.

  It suddenly occurred to him that he could do some arrangements to make the house similar to his clinic. He could set up a simple battle array to freshen the air.

  “That would be great,” Su Xiaoxue said.

  Chu Lian sat quietly next to them. She didn’t interfere.

  Wang Yao left the house after chatting with Su Xiaoxue for a short while. He didn’t go home. Instead, he went to Nanshan Hill.

  The weather suddenly changed during the night. It became very windy. A thunderstorm quickly developed. It started to rain heavily after midnight. The water level of the river in the village went up quickly.

  It was also very windy on Nanshan Hill, more than usual. The trees were making rustling sounds.

  “San Xian, I’ll take a look outside,” Wang Yao said.

  He got up and walked out of his cottage. San Xian got out of his dog house after he heard his master moving. He went toward Wang Yao.

  “You stay here,” Wang Yao said.

  It was pouring rain and windy. The wind blew the rain everywhere. However, the rain and the wind stopped one foot away from Wang Yao. He walked in the wind and rain, but he was dry all over his body.

  He was just worried about the trees he had just planted, especially since they were not on the hill or in the battle array. He went up to Dongshan Hill, where it was even more windy. Fortunately, the trees were tough enough to resist the heavy rain and wind. Wang Yao had tried his best to stabilize them in the ground. Those trees didn’t have big leaves, so they were not prone to being blown away.

  Next, he went down to the foot of Nanshan Hill. It was shielded by the hill, so it wasn’t too windy down there. The trees there were planted earlier, so they were stronger. Finally, he went to check the trees on Xishan Hill. No big problem was found. After he had his peace of mind, he went back to Nanshan Hill.

  Although his trees were fine, the crops in the field were not. A lot of them were blown down by the wind.

  He sighed. He didn’t have the power to control the weather. Farming had to rely on the weather.

  The rain didn’t stop all night. It was just not as heavy in the morning.

  Wang Yao left the hill early. He wanted to spend as much time as possible with Su Xiaoxue during her stay. He was not going to work in the clinic the next few days, so he updated Weibo to notify his patients.

  “Wow, you cooked a lot for breakfast.” He found his mother had prepared a banquet after he had arrived at home.

  “Is Xiaoxue not coming to have breakfast with us?” Zhang Xiuying asked. She had gotten up early to prepare breakfast for her future daughter-in-law.

  “No, it is still raining,” Wang Yao said.

  “That’s fine. Let’s eat,” Zhang Xiuying said.

  Wang Yao went to the house where Su Xiaoxue stayed right after breakfast.

  “Dr. Wang, are we gonna decorate the yard in the rain?” she asked.

  “We can make a plan first,” Wang Yao said .”What plants do you like?”


  “I like bamboo, orchids, and lilies……” Su Xiaoxue named a number of plants she liked.

  “I see.” Wang Yao wrote all the plants down and drew a draft of the courtyard on a piece of paper.

  He had obtained experience in decorating courtyards through the work he did at his clinic. He basically copied what he did at the clinic and made minor changes. He was just going to plant different plants for Su Xiaoxue

  “Almost done,” Wang Yao said.

  He made a simple draft with drawings and words. He then explained it to Su Xiaoxue.

  “Is this a battle array?” Su Xiaoxue curiously asked.

  “Sort of,” Wang Yao said.

  She had the courtyard covered by concrete after purchasing the house. Therefore, the concrete had to be removed for Wang Yao to plant trees and flowers. It would take some time to decorate the courtyard.

  “What do you think? Are you happy with the plan?” Wang Yao asked.

  “Of course,” Su Xiaoxue said. How could she not like Wang Yao’s plan to decorate her courtyard?

  “Great. You can give me one of the keys for the door. I’ll decorate your courtyard when I’m available,” Wang Yao said.

  “Sure.” She gave a set of keys to Wang Yao, which she had already prepared for him. “Now, can you tell me more about the evil ghost you got rid of?”


  “Sure,” Wang Yao said.

  Chu Lian made them a pot of tea.

  Wang Yao told Su Xiaoxue all the details of his trip to Hongzhou. She and Chu Lian were fascinated by the story. They really didn’t expect that ghosts actually existed. They had only heard of those weird things in movies and novels. While listening to Wang Yao’s ghost story, it all seemed unbelievable.

  “Wait, I’ve got photos,” Wang Yao said. He took out his phone and showed Su Xiaoxue and Chu Lian the evil ghost. “This is the evil ghost. It was inside the tomb to stop people from getting into the tomb. There was a dorje carved in the gate of the tomb to lock the evil ghost.”


  It was hard for anyone to imagine what Wang Yao had gone through without experiencing it oneself.

  “So, ghosts exist in the world!” Su Xiaoxue was still surprised.

  “Yes, at least I’ve seen one,” Wang Yao said.

  He also thought ghosts didn’t exist before his encounter with the evil ghost. A lot of things truly existed in this world. They were not just myths.

  “I want to see a ghost, too,” Su Xiaoxue said after Wang Yao finished his story.

  “No way,” Chu Lian immediately said. “They are dangerous. You can’t use your common sense to deal with ghosts.”


  One could fight with a villain using Kung Fu skills or a weapon, but one had no idea what could make a ghost surrender or disappear.

  “I was just kidding. Don’t be nervous, Auntie Lian,” Su Xiaoxue said. “And, I don’t think there are many evil ghosts around in real life. I probably won’t come across one the rest of my life.”


  “I hope you never come across any evil ghost the rest of your life,” Chu Lian said.

  The three chatted and drank tea. Before they knew it, it was noon.

  “It’s time for lunch,” Wang Yao said. “Would you like to have lunch in my house? Would you also like to come, Auntie Lian?”


  “No, thank you.” Chu Lian had declined Wang Yao’s invitation to have dinner at his house twice. Now, she had declined again.

  “Never mind, Auntie Lian,” Wang Yao said.

  “Off you go. I can just make something easy for myself,” Chu Lian said.

  Zhang Xiuying cooked even more dishes for lunch. She cooked 16 dishes for four people.

  “Wow, you cooked us a banquet!” Su Xiaoxue exclaimed.

  “It’s not a banquet. Come here, sit down,” Zhang Xiuying said.

  “Would you like something to drink?” Wang Yao asked.

  “Anything, I’m easy,” Su Xiaoxue said.

  “How about fruit juice?” Wang Yao asked.

  “OK,” Su Xiaoxue said.

  Zhang Xiuying kept adding dishes to Su Xiaoxue’s plate.

  “Thank you, Auntie Zhang,” Su Xiaoxue said.

  It was still raining outside. After lunch, she and Wang Yao left his house with an umbrella.

  “Dr. Wang, your clothes are wet. Move the umbrella to yourself a bit,” Su Xiaoxue said.

  “I’m fine. I don’t mind the rain,” Wang Yao replied. “Wait, I have an idea.”


  He folded the umbrella and released his Qi to surround himself and Su Xiaoxue. It was still windy and raining, but the wind and rain were blocked by his Qi.

  “This is amazing!” Su Xiaoxue was happily surprised.

  “I am just releasing my Qi. You can do this too if you keep practicing,” Wang Yao said.

  They went to Wang Yao’s clinic. They stayed there all afternoon talking. They talked about what was happening now, their future, their careers, life, news on TV, and gossip. They talked about everything they could talk about.

  “I almost forgot to ask. My mom wants me to ask you if you can see a patient,” Su Xiaoxue said.

  “Who is it?” Wang Yao asked.

  “Some spoiled brat. His name is Hou Shida,” Su Xiaoxue replied.

  “Him?!” Wang Yao was surprised. He didn’t expect Hou Shida’s family to go speak with Su Xiaoxue’s mother. “He’s a scumbag. His condition was caused by me.”


  “What?” Su Xiaoxue asked in shock.

  Wang Yao told her about what he had discovered about Hou Shida in Dao.