The gravely ill stretched in a line from inside the temple all the way out, blocking the hundred-some layers of bluestone steps until not even a drop of water could pass through.
When Lu Huan arrived again, he saw that the temple was even more crowded than before. Someone had set up a stand, distributing porridge to the disaster victims.
His brows furrowed slightly, a trace of surprise flickering in his eyes.
Ever since the frost calamity, countless commoners had gone hungry for a long time, yet the officials of the capital had taken no measures.
Why was someone now suddenly showing such kindness, offering porridge?
He inquired briefly.
Meanwhile, Su Xi learned a short segment of the plot. It turned out—
【The one currently showing great benevolence by giving porridge was a man named Zhong Ganping.】
【Zhong Ganping: runs businesses in silk, agricultural goods, and inns in the capital, owns tens of thousands of mu of fertile land, considered a person of some standing. Ranked tenth among the capital’s wealthy merchants.】
【He had a son very late in life and cherished his two-year-old treasure dearly. But just a few days ago, the precious child caught an incurable chill. Even after pulling strings to invite the best physician, there was no way to save him! In anguish and grief, Zhong Ganping’s hair turned white overnight. While preparing a coffin for his little son, he could not bear the pain, so he ordered the servants to go to Yong’an Temple and give porridge to the common people—hoping to accumulate virtue and pray for blessings.】
With her instinct as a gamer, Su Xi immediately felt that this Zhong Ganping must be some kind of key NPC—otherwise his name would’ve just been something like “Merchant A.”
Just as her little Zai Zai finished asking around, pondered for a moment, and went to the temple’s abbot to borrow a furnace for brewing medicine, Su Xi began to look for this man named Zhong Ganping in the scene.
Sure enough, she found him inside the temple.
He was kneeling in a quiet chamber, his expression heavy with worry. Beside him sat a middle-aged woman in a yellow brocade cloak, constantly wiping her tears as she copied scriptures by hand.
This husband and wife were transcribing sutras to pray for their long-ailing son.
Zhong Ganping, his eyes filled with tears, was saying, “Merciful Bodhisattva, I, Zhong Ganping, have lived most of my life without doing anything against my conscience. At long last, I was granted a son! If he cannot be saved, my wife and I will surely follow him in death! I beg you, please open your eyes and help my son pass safely through this Gate of Ghosts!”
When Su Xi saw his plea pop up on the screen, inspiration struck her at once.
She pressed her finger lightly against the screen and made a small movement.
Only to see, the Guanyin Bodhisattva statue before Zhong Ganping shifted slightly in position.
Zhong Ganping’s eyes widened instantly.
Had he seen wrong? Was it an illusion?
He looked again inside the quiet chamber—there were only himself and his wife here, and the doors and windows were shut. It couldn’t have been the wind.
This, this…
He wiped his eyes and looked again toward the Guanyin statue.
But what he saw—what he clearly saw—
Was that the Guanyin Bodhisattva moved again before his very eyes!
No—he hadn’t seen wrong, it wasn’t an illusion—
The Bodhisattva had truly moved!!!
Common folk who hadn’t studied were already deeply superstitious, and now, with Zhong Ganping’s son on the brink of death, he had grown so desperate for divine intervention that he was nearly possessed by his own obsession.
“The Bodhisattva has manifested?!”
Overjoyed and terrified all at once, Zhong Ganping jumped to his feet, then hastily dropped to his knees again with a loud thud, afraid of disturbing the Guanyin Bodhisattva.
The force of that kneel nearly startled Su Xi out of her wits—
The merchant had knelt with such force that blood began to seep from his knees!
He knocked his head to the floor three times in a row, each thud resounding sharply, tears streaming down his face.
“Bodhisattva, I beg you—please bless my son!”
Zhong Ganping’s wife still didn’t know what had happened.
Frightened, she looked at him, thinking he had gone mad.
Zhong Ganping quickly pulled his wife down to kneel beside him, tears and snot flowing in excitement.
“Since the Bodhisattva has already revealed a miracle, then please—please give me an instruction! Tell me, how can I save my son!”
Su Xi was just about to think about how to guide this clue toward her little Zai Zai when she suddenly noticed a commotion in the temple—messages began popping up one after another.
She didn’t have time to care about Zhong Ganping anymore and immediately switched the screen away.
On the screen, her little Zai Zai had already finished brewing the medicinal soup with the furnace he borrowed from the abbot.
The smoke from the firewood was too choking; his fair, bun-like face was now smudged with ash, a few gray streaks dirtying his cheeks. His clothes, too, had been pushed and crumpled by the crowd of sick people inside the temple.
But the patients surrounding him didn’t take the medicine.
Instead, they all looked at him with suspicion and distrust.
“This young man says his medicine works wonders for curing wind chill, but how can we know that’s true? What if it kills someone?”
“Could he be another wandering swindler from the jianghu?!”
Even the monk sweeping the floor advised, “Yes, young man, best not join in the commotion. There are many sick people here—before you catch something yourself, hurry on home.”
A middle-aged man, coughing harshly, growled, “If you’re a charlatan trying to cheat us, I’ll report you to the authorities!”
Su Xi hadn’t expected this quest to be so difficult.
Even these stick-figure villagers in the game had their own sense of caution—they wouldn’t easily drink the Zai Zai’s medicine.
She was still trying to think of a way to push the plot forward when she saw her Zai Zai’s gaze sweep over the people.
He picked up a bowl of medicine, lifted his head, and drank it all in one gulp.
Setting the bowl down, he said to them calmly, “If I drink it first, do you still think it’s poison?”
After he did that, the commoners stared in surprise.
Their attitudes shifted slightly.
However, there were already three physicians invited by Master Zhong Ganping to provide free consultations in the temple.
Though most of the severely ill had seen no improvement from their prescriptions, those three were, after all, legitimate doctors!
And this youth, dressed in a black cloak, looked only about sixteen or seventeen.
For him to suddenly claim to have a miraculous cure, who would believe that?
He was probably just some kid sneaking out to play a prank, scooping up some dark soil, soaking it in water, and tricking people into drinking it!
Those physicians, feeling their reputations tarnished, were angered. One of them ordered his assistant, “Where did this boy come from? Get him out of here, don’t make trouble!”
One of them reached out to shove Lu Huan away.
Su Xi grew angry watching this. He’s trying to save you, and you’re being ungrateful?!
She was about to make the man’s hand move away from her Zai Zai when the Zai Zai acted first.
He stepped back and, with a cold expression, twisted the man’s wrist aside.
The man hadn’t expected such strength from a young boy.
He rubbed his wrist, startled.
Lu Huan released his hand and said coolly to the crowd, “There’s still one bowl of medicine left. If anyone is willing to try it, then tomorrow you’ll see whether my words were true—whether you’ll be completely healed.”
At those words, murmurs rippled through the crowd.
Someone began to waver. Anyway, things can’t get worse—might as well treat a dead horse as a living one.
Even if this youth’s medicine was just some random concoction, could it really make them worse than their current dying state?
Finally, a pale, gaunt young man who’d been coughing incessantly stepped forward.
“May I… may I try?”
Lu Huan handed him the bowl.
The young man took it, divided it into a few sips, and drank it nervously.
At first, nothing seemed to happen.
He continued coughing violently, even spitting up blood.
Around them, half-curious, half-mocking onlookers clicked their tongues and dispersed in disappointment.
“Knew it—just a trickster kid! And someone actually believed him?!”
Lu Huan had expected this.
Beneath his black gauze hat, his face remained calm, untouched by emotion.
He had only prepared two portions of medicine anyway.
After the young man drank one, he packed up his bundle and left straightaway.
Su Xi saw him leave and immediately switched the interface to follow him back.
Before doing so, she took one last glance—Zhong Ganping was still inside the quiet chamber, madly kowtowing.
Su Xi: …Sorry, Tenth-Richest Merchant.
───♡───
That night, when Lu Huan returned home, the note was still lying quietly on the table.
He knew it simply wasn’t yet time for the person to appear, so he didn’t feel anxious.
Later that evening, he found a block of wood, leaned it against the head of the bed, and began carving.
The candlelight beneath the eaves flickered, casting a faint glow over his face through the window. He looked utterly focused.
Su Xi grew curious about what he was carving.
Until now, everything her little Zai Zai did—hauling water, farming, going to the market—had been for survival.
This was the first time she’d seen him doing something unrelated to livelihood, something that seemed almost leisurely or refined.
Though her Zai Zai wasn’t particularly skilled at needlework, his hands were nimble when it came to carving.
The small hand holding the knife moved swiftly up and down, and before long, wood shavings piled up beside the bed.
She couldn’t yet tell what he was carving, but she still watched with keen interest—so much that she couldn’t help limping to the fridge, grabbing a can of Fat Boy Cola and a bag of chips, and continuing to watch.
Before long, the game reached midnight.
Only when she saw her Zai Zai finally put down the wooden piece, extinguish the lamp, and go to sleep did Su Xi open the game’s shop to exchange for some medicine and place it on his table.
There were all kinds of medicines in the shop—
For plagues, arrow wounds, smallpox… but medicine was slightly more expensive than other items.
The remedy for wind chill cost 20 gold coins per pack—about two cents each.
Since Su Xi had started spending money in-game, her wallet had shrunk rapidly. Luckily, the recent quests had rewarded her with several hundred coins in total.
So she exchanged fifty packs of medicine and stacked them neatly on the table.
After a moment of hesitation, she also took the note away.
It would be a shame to leave it, her Zai Zai’s handwriting was so beautiful.
As usual, she buried it in the hidden base within the bamboo forest.
She did all this after her Zai Zai had fallen asleep.
By now, it was late in the real world too. Su Mother came to urge her to go to bed.
Su Xi yawned and logged off for the night.
Before sleeping, she was still thinking about cooking.
But Su Xi herself didn’t know how to cook, the longevity noodles she’d made last time were actually exchanged directly from the in-game shop.
This time, though, she planned to think carefully and make a special dish.
After all, given the nature of this game, who knew—different dishes might trigger different key storylines.
───♡───
The next day, Yong’an Temple was in an uproar!
The young man who had drunk the youth’s medicine yesterday was named Chang Gongwu.
He had come to the capital in search of work but unfortunately caught a cold and was thrown out by the innkeeper, forced to take refuge in the temple, surviving on charity.
He was penniless and too poor to see a doctor, practically waiting for death.
But who could have guessed—after one night, his illness was completely cured!
