“Seems like you’re quite clever,” Grandpa Kong chuckled as soon as I finished speaking.
Did I guess right?
Uncertain, I looked at Grandpa Kong and asked, “What’s wrong with his eyes?”
“Nothing’s wrong with his eyes, but something’s wrong with his brain.”
“Brain?”
I didn’t quite grasp his meaning. He smiled and said, “That little fatty was hypnotized.”
“Hypnotized?”
Kong Feng nodded. “Indeed… In modern terms, all of a person’s sensory systems are controlled by the brain. Once your brain is stimulated, it affects your sensory system. To put it plainly, there’s something wrong with his brain.”
I listened, feeling confused, as if there was some logic to his words, yet I also felt he was joking with me.
With such an old rascal, I was truly at a loss.
“You said that little fatty touched the bronze mirror before, and his hand got hurt. Those corrosive toxins likely entered his body, thus affecting his brain nerves…”
I pursed my lips and asked, “How can he be cured?”
“Simple, take him hiking later.”
“Hiking?”
“That’s right. Eight hours a day, for three to four consecutive days, and he’ll be completely fine.”
I asked with half-belief, “This can cure him?”
“What? You don’t believe me, kid?”
“Grandpa Kong, is there any reason for what you’re saying?”
Kong Feng snorted, “You want to know why?”
I nodded.
He scrutinized me from head to toe. “How about you take me as your master, and I’ll tell you.”
“Huh?” I didn’t quite react.
“What? You’re unwilling?” Kong Feng raised an eyebrow. “Since you’re unwilling, then don’t ask so much. Just do as I say.”
…
After coming out, I saw Fatty squatting by the door. I called out to him, and we both got into Gai Hongkuang’s car.
After he dropped us back at the hotel, Fatty impatiently asked, “Master Xiang, did that old man say how this… this illness of mine can be cured?”
I knew that if I told Fatty the truth, he wouldn’t believe it.
Frankly, I wasn’t entirely convinced either.
However, judging from Kong Feng’s expression at the time, he wasn’t playing a trick on me.
Since that was the case, I could only try.
“I’ll take you to find the medicine tomorrow,” I said.
Fatty looked confused. “Find what medicine?”
“Herbs.”
“Where do we find them?”
“Baihua Mountain.”
“Huh? We have to go up the mountain to find them?”
“What?” I raised an eyebrow at Fatty. “You don’t want to? If you don’t want to, then forget it, I’m too lazy to go. But if you don’t get this illness cured quickly, you’ll probably only have half a month left to live…”
“Go!! I’m willing!” Fatty grabbed my hand abruptly. “Let’s go now!”
“It’s almost dark now, we won’t find anything. Go get some good sleep, we’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning.” I yawned as I lay on the bed. “Have someone bring some food over later, eat, and get some rest.”
Fatty nodded distractedly, I don’t know what he was thinking.
Seeing him like this, I felt a pang of guilt.
It wasn’t that I deliberately intended to deceive him; it was just that I had never heard of climbing mountains to cure illnesses, as Kong Feng had said.
The next day, while I was still asleep, Fatty, with dark circles under his eyes, woke me up.
I glanced at the time and realized it was only a little past five.
I asked him to let me sleep a bit longer, but Fatty refused, begging me and even promising to do chores for me from then on.
I was both annoyed and amused.
Going downstairs, I bought a few steamed buns to fill my stomach, and then we headed straight for Baihua Mountain.
It was my first time here, and I was initially captivated by the scenery. However, after climbing for a while, I became exhausted.
Fatty asked me what kind of medicine we were looking for. I told him that I would only know it when I saw it, and I couldn’t describe what it looked like.
Back at the hotel in the afternoon, I was so tired I didn’t even want to walk. Fatty went straight to his room and fell asleep.
In the evening, Bi Zhengxiang called me, asking if I had any leads on the Qin Mirror.
I told him to give me a few more days, and he didn’t say much more.
For four consecutive days, Fatty and I would wake up at a little past five in the morning and head straight to Baihua Mountain.
After climbing that day, I decided to test if Fatty’s illness had been cured.
I went to a traditional Chinese medicine shop and asked the doctor to prescribe me some medicine for weight loss.
This medicine wouldn’t harm the body, and drinking it wouldn’t cause any problems.
Besides, that fatty really needed to lose weight.
Before leaving the Chinese medicine shop, I suddenly remembered something and went back to ask the doctor for some Coptis chinensis.
Thus, I returned to the hotel with a bag of Chinese medicine mixed with honeysuckle, bupleurum, lotus leaf, and Coptis chinensis.
I found a hotel staff member and asked him to heat the Chinese medicine for me. Then, I went to a nearby handicraft store and spent twenty yuan to buy a blue and white porcelain cup.
After pouring the brewed Chinese medicine into the cup, I returned to my room.
Fatty was sitting by the window, smoking with a dejected look, appearing utterly dispirited.
When I came in, he didn’t greet me.
“Fatty, playing deep and meaningful?”
He turned to look at me, sighed deeply, with two tear tracks on his face. “My Fatty, so young, handsome, and debonair… about to leave this world like this. I… I’m not reconciled…”
“You dead fatty, you’re quite narcissistic.” I walked over and patted his big belly. “You call this handsome and debonair? Do you have a misunderstanding of these idioms?”
“Master Xiang, you’ve worked hard these past few days… I’ve decided, let’s not look for that medicine anymore.”
I was a little surprised. This fatty, who usually cherished his life, had suddenly come to terms with it?
“Tomorrow I’ll go back to my hometown to make arrangements for my funeral. You must come and send me off.”
Fatty grew more and more sad as he spoke, finally breaking into sobs.
Seeing him like this, I decided not to tease him any longer. I handed him the blue and white porcelain bottle I was holding. “Here, for you.”
Fatty took the porcelain bottle from my hand, looking confused. “What’s this?”
Before I could say anything, he continued, “Could this be Yuan blue-and-white porcelain?”
Saying that, he hugged me tightly. “Master Xiang… you’re so good to me. I’m about to die, and you’re still giving me a Yuan blue-and-white porcelain piece as a burial item… This bottle must be worth quite a lot, right?”
I pushed him away. “You wish! If this were Yuan blue-and-white porcelain, would I give it to you?”
“Then what is this…”
“Just a handicraft.”
“A handicraft?” Fatty looked disappointed.
“Although it’s a handicraft, it contains something good.”
“What is it?”
“The medicine to save your life.”