Chapter 529 Entering the Mountain
At the dinner table, with a clear direction, everyone in the living room felt a surge of excitement. They quickly finished their meal, packed their gear, and headed towards the mountain outside the village.
Zhou Shanshan walked beside Chen Yang, looking at him curiously. "Chen Yang, I still want to understand how you could tell there was something wrong with the fish head at a glance?"
Chen Yang was genuinely exasperated by Zhou Shanshan. He finally said, "Alright, this is my secret. I'll only tell you, but you absolutely cannot tell anyone else."
Zhou Shanshan blinked, then nodded eagerly. "I know, I know. Tell me."
Chen Yang leaned close to Zhou Shanshan's ear and whispered, "Because I have innate Yin-Yang eyes, I can see 'unclean things.' So, after the fish was served, I saw a wisp of black energy above the fish head."
Hearing this, Zhou Shanshan's eyes widened in astonishment as she looked at Chen Yang, her mind becoming even more chaotic.
She was a staunch Western medicine practitioner. After a deep and lengthy conversation with Chen Yang last night, she had been exposed to knowledge of Traditional Chinese Medicine, tales of ghosts and spirits, and Taoist talismans. It felt as if her worldview had been overturned, her horizons broadened. She was half-believing, half-doubting, not fully convinced but unable to completely dismiss it.
Now, hearing Chen Yang claim to have Yin-Yang eyes, Zhou Shanshan's beliefs, her understanding of the world, and her convictions all crumbled. She had never imagined such things could truly exist.
Zhou Shanshan swallowed and said to Chen Yang, "Is... is this true? Even if you have Yin-Yang eyes, does that mean you can really see ghosts or spirits?"
"Do ghosts and spirits really exist in this world? I've interned and worked in hospitals for so many years, seen countless corpses, but why have I never felt their presence?"
Chen Yang scanned his surroundings with a deliberate air and then said to Zhou Shanshan, "You can't see them, but they are actually all around you. For example, to your left, there's a woman with long hair and a red dress who's been following you. She says your teacher killed her."
At this, Zhou Shanshan cried out, "Ah!" and instinctively grabbed Chen Yang's arm. She truly didn't believe in such things, yet what she had seen and heard these past two days forced her to.
Seeing Zhou Shanshan's reaction, Chen Yang couldn't help but burst into laughter. He hadn't expected this renowned female doctor to have such a girlish side.
Zhou Shanshan quickly came to her senses, playfully hitting Chen Yang's shoulder a few times in annoyance. Pouting, she said, "I knew you were lying to me. I... I actually got scared by you. I'm so angry! Chen Yang, you're too wicked."
Zhou Shanshan continued to lightly hit Chen Yang a few more times. Chen Yang laughed heartily. The villagers around them saw their playful interaction and couldn't help but smile, exchanging glances and pretending not to notice.
Clearly, they interpreted Zhou Shanshan and Chen Yang's actions as a flirtatious exchange.
Meanwhile, Li Gang, walking behind them, saw this scene and was furious. He found Chen Yang, this good-for-nothing, to be incredibly shameless.
He couldn't accept this outcome. Seeing Zhou Shanshan playfully interacting with Chen Yang, like a young woman, was something he had never witnessed in her before.
He had always thought of Zhou Shanshan as a purely emotional, no-nonsense female doctor, a medical expert, a quirky woman researching mental illness. But now he realized that when his junior sister acted coy, she was far more charming and beautiful than any online celebrity or live streamer.
Li Gang gritted his teeth and strode forward, angrily saying, "Chen Yang, watch your status! Think about what you are, daring to pursue my junior sister here."
"What can a stinking security guard like you achieve to marry a female doctor? The gap between you is like heaven and earth. Can you stop being a toad lusting after swan meat?"
Chen Yang glanced at Li Gang, curled his lips, and said, "What's it to you? Between the two of us, aren't you the one with the thicker skin? Go on, go play somewhere else. Don't disturb Miss Zhou and me from our deep discussions."
Li Gang became even more enraged upon hearing this. At this moment, Qin Ming, who was walking ahead, called out, "Look, that's the stream. Our Qingshui Village is named after this mountain brook."
Everyone walked over. Chen Yang looked at the stream. Upstream, it formed a rather large brook with incredibly clear water, making one want to drink from it.
Qin Ming said, "The Eight Immortals Fish live in the deep pools upstream. Let's head up and follow the brook. We should be able to find the cause of the fish poisoning."
The group moved quickly, their steps uneven as they followed the winding brook. There was no path ahead, only rocks and trees everywhere.
The people of Qingshui Village lived by the mountains their entire lives and were intimately familiar with the terrain, so they moved with ease.
Zhou Shanshan, however, found it a bit strenuous. But she held Chen Yang's hand, and with him leading her, navigating the rocky terrain became much easier as they leaped and weaved.
Conversely, Li Gang felt the most dejected. He was already a young master with a weak constitution, and this mountain path was proving too much for him. Before long, he was left far behind the group.
Seeing Chen Yang and Zhou Shanshan holding hands as they walked ahead, Li Gang became even more infuriated. He felt like crying but had no tears, thinking to himself that he absolutely had to contact his family's bodyguards to come to Qingshui Village and give Chen Yang a good beating!
Otherwise, he couldn't let go of his resentment. He couldn't accept being snatched by a security guard and publicly humiliated by one. How could he, the proud eldest young master of the Li family, tolerate this!
Before long, the water flow ahead became calmer. Wiping the sweat from their brows, Qin Ming said, "We're almost there. Ahead is a small lake. In the middle of the lake is a large spring, which is the source of our Qingshui Village's water."
"The precious Eight Immortals Fish lives in the deepest part of the spring. The reason its flesh is so delicious is related to its constant movement and its life in the deep pool."
The group quickened their pace. After crossing a mountain ridge and pushing through a thorny forest, they arrived at a body of water.
The lake was nestled within a valley, shrouded in mist, making it difficult to discover. Chen Yang, walking in the center, immediately noticed an old man on the right side of the lake.
It was clearly Professor Wang, who had left Qin Ming's residence earlier. Although they were some distance away, Chen Yang saw Professor Wang squatting on the ground, fiddling with a box in his hands.
Inside the box was some kind of machine, and he was sitting on a rock, operating it while looking at the box.
Chen Yang suddenly understood.
Professor Wang's intentions were unknown, but he was undoubtedly very sensitive to the corpse poison within the Eight Immortals Fish. The reason he had abruptly left Qin Ming's house was that he had seen the Eight Immortals Fish in the kitchen and sensed the corpse poison emanating from the fish's head.
Therefore, he had immediately followed the river to find the source where the Eight Immortals Fish lived.
But what was Professor Wang looking for the corpse poison for?
This fellow clearly wasn't here to solve the mental illness problem of Qingshui Village. So, what was his purpose?