Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 54: Want to learn real skills?

In the end, Ran Qing failed to help Aunt Liu with the work.

Aunt Liu sat in the yard at the door and cursed for a while. After she was done cursing, she stood up and wanted to apply medicine to Ran Qing first.

She washed the oil off her hands, took Ran Qing into the house, and took out a bowl of black paste with a pungent fishy smell.

Aunt Liu said that this was a medicinal juice she made by boiling glutinous rice into a paste, then adding goat blood and herbs.

Just looking at the sticky shape and the pungent smell floating in the air, Ran Qing couldn't stand it.

But stared at by Sixth Aunt's sinister eyes, Ran Qing could only take off his shirt obediently and let Sixth Aunt apply medicine to him.

The foul-smelling black liquid stuck to his body. Although it smelled bad, Ran Qing did feel much better at the place where he was bitten. The occasional numbness, itching, and stinging pain had subsided a lot.

"Apply the rest yourself. Leave it on for half an hour. Then dry yourself with a towel. Here's the towel. I'll call you when dinner is ready."

Aunt Liu put down the medicine bowl, left a new towel, and went out to continue washing the bacon.

After applying the medicine, Ran Qing wanted to help, but was scolded.

"You claw-footed, claw-handed people, you still want to cause trouble? Get out, get out, get out!"

Aunt Liu scolded Ran Qing without any hesitation and didn't let him work.

Ran Qing returned to the empty room of his sixth aunt's daughter alone, sat in front of the tattered desk, and looked at the empty room, feeling a little uneasy.

Aunt Six obviously wanted to keep him here for dinner...

Ran Qing instinctively wanted to run away, as he was not used to eating at someone else's house.

This kindness was a bit too much for Ran Qing, who was used to being alone.

But Ran Qing also knew that if he dared to leave at this time, according to Sixth Aunt's temper...

After much thought, Ran Qing finally decided not to provoke Aunt Six.

He opened his schoolbag, took out his books, and obediently followed Aunt Liu's instructions to stay and wait for food.

While I was studying, the aroma of cooking wafted over from next door, and the sizzling sound of ingredients rolling and roasting in the iron pan was inexplicably pleasant to the ear.

This is the taste of a home-cooked meal.

Ran Qing often heard such sounds and smelled similar fragrances on his way home from school.

But this was the first time such a meal was prepared for him in all these years...

For this meal, Ran Qing ate three full bowls of rice and finished all three dishes cooked by Aunt Liu, making his stomach noticeably bulging.

Stir-fried bacon with garlic sprouts, stir-fried shredded pork with green peppers, stir-fried diced chicken with potatoes, and a bowl of vegetarian sour soup... These are all very common home-cooked dishes. Aunt Liu's cooking skills are not that good, and the bacon is a bit salty.

But Ran Qing was very satisfied with the meal.

In the next few days, Ran Qing's life suddenly returned to normal.

He got up early every day to go to school and study, ate lunch and slept in his rental house at noon, went to his sixth aunt's house after school in the afternoon to apply medicine and have a dinner cooked by his sixth aunt, then went to evening self-study and went back to the rental house to sleep.

Every day is regular and peaceful, as if nothing has happened.

Ran Qing hadn't even encountered ghosts wandering on the streets or strange things roaming in the fog for several days.

Shrouded in fog, Yuezhao City suddenly became quiet and peaceful. Even the ghost walkers, who were the most attractive to monsters, did not encounter any strange things.

Those evil monsters seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth.

Ouyang Xue, a classmate, studied and attended classes every day. During breaks, she would discuss pop stars, new albums, and stylish clothes with her female classmates. She was cheerful and youthful, with no trace of a woman who had changed. Ran Qing was still somewhat wary, but since Ouyang Xue didn't come looking for him, he felt at peace.

On Wednesday, a TV station came to the school to interview the impact of the heavy fog on the students. The person being interviewed happened to be Ouyang Xue.

When Ran Qing was leaving the school gate, he saw from afar that the TV reporters surrounded Ouyang Xue at the school gate, and he walked around the edge without making a sound.

The final exams were coming up soon, and he had no time to waste, let alone being in the spotlight.

Aunt Liu said she would need more than a week to prepare.

The action was probably taken a few days after Ran Qing finished his final exams.

It just so happened that after the final exams, Ran Qing had two days of vacation.

After getting the exact time, Ran Qing felt relieved. He dug out all the teaching materials and test papers and began his final review for the semester exam.

Li Hongye is not here this time, but he can still get the second place scholarship, right?
Don’t think about the first place, because that first place was a person who never went to school, won the first prize in the Mathematical Olympiad in his first year of high school, and was specially recruited by Peking University.

Li Hongye, who suppressed Ran Qing to the point where he had no temper at all, was far from the first place in every exam.

Ran Qing's goal is to get second place, so that he can get an additional scholarship of 500 yuan.

For the poor Ran Qing, five hundred yuan is already a huge sum of money.

Little Mianhua still sleeps in Ran Qing's rental house every night. She was left to Ran Qing by Aunt Liu.

On the third day, Aunt Liu even gave a bunch of keys to Ran Qing.

"If I'm not back when you come tomorrow, I'll open the door, apply medicine, and cook by myself." Aunt Liu seems to be very busy these days.

The fatigue on her face was almost unsuppressible, and her eyes were bloodshot.

The large urn of incense ash beneath the tablets for Heaven, Earth, Sovereign, Parents, and Teachers was half empty, and more than half of the red string figurines hanging in the main hall were gone. The red strings dangling from the ceiling were now scattered, like the sparse hair of a middle-aged man.

Ran Qing curiously asked Sixth Aunt what she needed to prepare and wanted to help, but Sixth Aunt just sneered: "Why? Do you really want to get into the business of walking ghosts?"

"I'm taking you in and helping you raise spirits because of your father's kindness. But you want to learn my real skills? Hey! The kindness your father, Ran Laosan, has given us is not enough!"

"When you have time, come and do three years of hard labor here. Let Aunt Six order you around for three to five years to hone your character. Then I'll consider teaching you my real skills."

Sixth Aunt ridiculed Ran Qing, which made Ran Qing feel very disappointed.

But when I went to Aunt Liu's house on the fourth day, Aunt Liu was already at home on time.

When I went there on the fifth day, Aunt Liu was there too.

Although she seems very busy, she comes back on time every day to help Ran Qing apply medicine and cook.

The key she threw to Ran Qing, Ran Qing had no chance to use it at all.

And in the last few days, Aunt Liu suddenly started teaching Ran Qing how to use the rice cooker and gas stove in the house. She also took Ran Qing to look at the water and electricity meters in the house, told Ran Qing how to pay the water and electricity bills, and where to change the gas tank...

Aunt Liu taught these trivial matters calmly, as if she was making very ordinary arrangements.

"Don't you want to learn real skills? That's perfect. Let's start with odd jobs," Aunt Six calmly instructed Ran Qing. "Back when I was learning skills, I worked as a maid for more than ten years, carrying shit and urine for old ladies every day. Only then did I learn a bit of real skills."

From that day on, Aunt Liu really handed over the cooking and other tasks to Ran Qing and started to order Ran Qing around.

Ran Qing had little interest in Aunt Liu's real abilities.

But he would be happy to do something for Aunt Liu within his ability.

(End of this chapter)