Chapter 20.2: Human
“So I can turn back after all.”
Mu Mu floated into the room following Fu Heqing. His expression showed a hint of lingering excitement, but he wasn’t sad or disappointed—he still had that carefree, chirpy demeanor, completely untroubled.
“Mr. Painter, are you unhappy?”
Mu Mu suddenly floated right in front of Fu Heqing, blocking his path. His expression was serious as he carefully studied every emotion flickering across Fu Heqing’s eyes.
“Oh, right, I haven’t given a gift yet.”
With that, Mu Mu floated over to the kumquat tree, waving for Fu Heqing to follow him.
Mu Mu dove into the small skeleton body placed nearby, moving all the gold ingot pillows aside, revealing a box inside…
He pulled the box out, holding it high and presenting it in front of Fu Heqing.
“Surprise!”
Mu Mu said happily, “Mr. Painter, do you want to open it?”
Fu Heqing looked at the gift box before him, and his mood gradually calmed.
…It was just a return to the starting point.
But it was the starting point, not the origin—so it was fine.
“All right.”
Fu Heqing crouched down to take the gift box and picked up the small skeleton from the floor. Following his original plan, he said to Mu Mu, “I also have a gift for you.”
With that, he carried the small skeleton back into his studio. When the lights came on, Mu Mu saw the fully completed starry sky painting before him.
“Wow!” Mu Mu was amazed. “You said it would take a year to finish! How did you finish it today?”
Fu Heqing smiled. “Now it’s already the new year. Isn’t that like after a year? This painting is for you, Mu Mu. What do you think?”
“Super, super beautiful!”
“No matter how many times I see it, it’ll always leave me amazed!” Mu Mu said with absolute certainty.
Fu Heqing laughed at Mu Mu’s description.
“All right, I’ve finished looking at my gift! Shouldn’t Mr. Painter open his gift too?” Mu Mu’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Fu Heqing. “I’m super excited too.”
Then, under Mu Mu’s watchful gaze, Fu Heqing opened his gift.
The gift box felt heavy in his hands, and he could hardly guess what was inside. But the moment he opened it, he was slightly surprised.
Inside was a chibi-style little sculpture. It was a bit rough, but the facial features were strikingly similar. It was clear that the person who carved it had put a lot of care into it, and had carefully painted it with various colors.
Looking at the paint on the little sculpture, Fu Heqing immediately recognized it as the brand he often used.
So the little skeleton had really pulled one over on him right under his nose.
Fu Heqing couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Ta-da~ ta-da~ ta-da~ ta-da~”
“How is it? I carved it myself, you know! I haven’t forgotten what I learned before!” Mu Mu said proudly, hands on his hips, giggling mischievously.
“You gave me two paintings, so I wanted to give you something handmade too,” Mu Mu explained. “You discovered my attempt to plant sunflowers, and the last time I secretly tried making a small cake, you also found out.”
“If you’re found out, what kind of surprise is that?” Mu Mu’s tone sounded a little dissatisfied, as if annoyed that his attempts at surprise kept being discovered.
“So I thought about it. I had secretly practiced carving in the park before, so I can carve a little figure of Mr. Painter!”
“I think I’m pretty talented.”
Listening to Mu Mu brag about himself, Fu Heqing couldn’t help but flick Mu Mu’s head with his finger, laughing. “So you carved such a tiny one for me?”
“W-what do you mean tiny!”
Mu Mu snatched the little figure from Fu Heqing’s hands and held it up in front of him for comparison. “See? It’s only half my size! For me, I carved something this big, this big.”
Fu Heqing looked at the little skeleton standing on the table, insisting on its point, and his brows curved slightly. In a soft voice, he said, “Thank you.”
“Hee hee hee.”
Mu Mu, being thanked so seriously, felt a little awkward. He wiggled his body and changed the subject. “All right, all right. It’s getting late. The New Year’s Eve vigil is over, humans should go to sleep now.”
“All right.”
…
As Mu Mu announced the end of human activities, the moment he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes, he immediately fell asleep.
Fu Heqing rubbed his head, placed the little skeleton on the small table by the pillow, and moved his computer back over. He first pulled up two surveillance feeds—one from the bedroom, one from the studio—and synchronized their timestamps.
On the monitor, it showed that as he finished the last stroke in the studio, a flash of white suddenly appeared in the bedroom. A boy then materialized out of nowhere, landing steadily on the bed.
“So it is.”
Fu Heqing’s suspicions were confirmed. He then reopened the previous email and carefully examined all the attached ancient texts once more.
Without knowing the question, attempting to solve it using only a few keywords would be almost impossible.
But if one knew the answer, and the problem statement highlighted the key parts, the process of finding the solution was simple: like matching a carrot to its hole, you could plug everything into the formulas one by one.
Flipping quickly through the ancient texts and electronic files, Fu Heqing finally found the part he was looking for.
[“Heaven and Earth have spirits, all living things have souls. Spirits… open, to… offer to the spirit lord, spirit dissipates, spirit perishes.”]
[“Nourish with spirit, when spirit is sufficient, it transforms into a person.”]
It was a recording—something like a nursery rhyme, passed down orally in an ancient village.
It was said that the people of this village had extremely unusual beliefs. They didn’t believe in gods or ghosts, but they believed that Heaven, Earth, and all things had spirits. Even a stone or a drop of water—or a painting or a photograph—was considered alive. If the spiritual energy was sufficient, it could even take human form.
Fu Heqing couldn’t fully understand all of it, but he didn’t need to. Some things were half real, half unreal; for him, it was enough to extract only the parts he needed.
Mu Mu had clearly said before that he wasn’t a ghost, just a “floating spirit,” which meant that lately he might not even know exactly what he was.
If the “spiritual energy” in a work of art could supply Mu Mu, allowing him to take human form…
Fu Heqing thought for a moment, then opened his phone and tapped on Li Xunyang’s chat, sending a few messages.
[About that art exhibition you mentioned before, I’ve taken it on. It will be around mid-year. I will attend.]
Li Xunyang had just returned from watching fireworks when he saw the message. He was utterly shocked.
[???!!! Really? Big brother, have you thought this through? Are you really going to come out of seclusion?]
Fu Heqing didn’t reply. He simply continued giving instructions.
[Go photograph fifty pieces of artwork for me. No restrictions on era or style. Paintings must make up ten percent; the rest should cover at least ten other categories. Use my account; handle the pricing.]
Li Xunyang was taken aback. It was rare to see Fu Heqing make such arrangements, so he diligently noted everything down.
[Okay. Should I show the list to you first, Brother Fu?]
[No need. Just send them directly to the villa.]
[Got it. By the way, Brother Fu, you haven’t been taking your medicine on schedule lately. Did you stop, or… are you better? What did Dr. Chang say?]
Seeing those familiar words, which seemed to have faded from his life long ago, Fu Heqing momentarily felt dazed.
[We talked online. He gave me a desensitization treatment plan. I’ll arrange a meeting when I have time.]
After finishing his instructions, Fu Heqing went offline.
“Sis, get to work! Brother Fu has given more instructions,” Li Xunyang said, sending Fu Heqing’s requests to Li Yiyi. Li Yiyi immediately began contacting various auction houses.
—
The next morning, when Mu Mu woke up, the first thing he did upon seeing Mr. Painter was check the date.
“Mr. Painter, what day is it today? I didn’t sleep through the whole night, did I?”
Fu Heqing looked at Mu Mu and smiled. “No.”
“It’s the first day of the Lunar New Year.”
“Yay! Then happy New Year, Mr. Painter!”
Mu Mu let out a huge sigh of relief and then cheerfully rattled off a string of New Year blessings. He then reached out his skeletal paw and began wildly hinting at something in front of Fu Heqing.
Fu Heqing immediately understood. He took a large red envelope from the bedside table and placed it into Mu Mu’s hands.
Mu Mu felt the envelope—it was hard inside.
Before he could even open it, Fu Heqing put another envelope into his hands.
Mu Mu quickly tried to refuse. “One envelope per person is enough!”
“This is the envelope for yesterday, New Year’s Eve,” Fu Heqing said, firmly shoving it into the little skeleton’s arms.
Mu Mu looked puzzled. “Isn’t yesterday the tradition for yasui qian—the money given by elders to the younger ones? It’s supposed to be given after the New Year’s Eve dinner.”
“It’s not yasui qian,” Fu Heqing denied. “Yasui is to suppress evil spirits. Mu Mu, you’re a floating spirit—what if you count as part of the spirits? Wouldn’t it get suppressed?”
Mu Mu’s eyes went wide, and suddenly the red envelope in his arms felt a little too hot to handle.
Fu Heqing looked at the stiff little skeleton, whose entire body screamed fear and confusion, and couldn’t help but chuckle. He comforted him, saying, “That’s why I’m giving it to you today instead—so you won’t be suppressed.”
Mu Mu didn’t really understand human customs, but he thought Mr. Painter made a lot of sense, so he happily opened the red envelope.
“Eh? What did you put in here?” Mu Mu looked at the small card inside the envelope and lifted his head to ask.
“A card.”
Fu Heqing answered succinctly. “Cash wouldn’t fit.”
Mu Mu was stunned. “Mr. Painter… you have that much money?”
Even though Mu Mu only had a vague concept of money, he knew this meant a lot, a lot.
After all, he had secretly seen someone withdrawing money from the bank. Ten thousand yuan was just a tiny little stack—half the thickness of one of his small bones. And the money he had painstakingly earned over several months amounted to only a few thousand yuan.
Comparing the two, even as a floating spirit, Mu Mu suddenly understood the hardships of ordinary people.
Fu Heqing looked at the stunned little skeleton, and it seemed he smiled slightly. Then he reached out and tapped Mu Mu’s head, with a hint of playful exposition in his voice:
“Let’s not even talk about the rest. Just one of my paintings, if taken to auction, starts at tens of millions. Though most are donated, it still leaves a small savings to cover living expenses.”
“On top of that, I own five companies, each making hundreds of billions annually. After deducting the basic operating funds, the bulk goes to charity.”
“Finally, keeping just a little aside to support a floating spirit—this should be more than enough.”
Listening to all those thousands, millions, and billions, Mu Mu’s head was spinning. And to think, this sky-high fortune even included him, a little floating spirit.
“Mr. Painter, how did you secretly become a billionaire?!”
Suddenly, Mu Mu felt like his brain was flooded with that viral line he’d seen online:
“A rich person is right next to me?!”
Fu Heqing smiled and suddenly asked Mu Mu, “Speaking of the auction, Mu Mu… would you like to go? Or maybe go out to see an art exhibition?”
“I… I’m not too eager to go out and experience buying New Year’s goods.”
The moment Mu Mu’s ears caught the words go out, he instantly perked up. But he quickly suppressed his excitement and looked at Fu Heqing, speaking softly, “It’s okay… I don’t want to go out. We can celebrate the New Year together.”
Fu Heqing raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Aren’t you curious about going out?”
“I am,” Mu Mu nodded. Then, a second later, he looked back at the painter. “But… if I go out, Mr. Painter, you’d be alone, wouldn’t you?”
Fu Heqing felt the mixture of excitement and happiness in Mu Mu, tempered by the little worry that he’d be left behind. A faint smile touched his eyes.
“It’s fine,” Fu Heqing said, looking at Mu Mu. “I’ll go out with you.”
“You? Go out?!”
Mu Mu nearly jumped up. Without thinking, he shook his head frantically.
“No, no! Mr. Painter can’t go out, you’d get sick!”
Mu Mu quickly grabbed Fu Heqing’s finger and earnestly tried to dissuade him.
“I know you haven’t been out for a long time. But I’ve read online, there are many people like you, who haven’t been allowed to go out since childhood.”
“Some kids can’t even run or jump normally. If their emotions fluctuate too much, it could be life-threatening.”
Speaking like one would soothe a child, Mu Mu looked at Fu Heqing and said, “Let’s not go out. We can just play at home, okay?”
Fu Heqing fell silent for a moment.
He never expected that the day he wanted to try going outside, someone would actually tell him that staying inside was enough.
“No, I want to go out.”
The reclusive painter was always stubborn at heart.
…
That morning, Fu Heqing set out to take Mu Mu with him, but Mu Mu resisted with all his might. He found every excuse: first, he insisted on having the first New Year’s meal, then said they had to wait until he finished giving New Year’s greetings to his friends before going out.
Even so, it only delayed Mr. Painter’s departure by half a day.
Mu Mu’s resistance failed, and he could do nothing but let Fu Heqing sling him into a crossbody bag and carry him out the door.
But they hadn’t even reached the front gate when they ran into Li Xunyang and Li Yiyi. Behind Li Yiyi trailed a group of people, each carrying various big and small boxes.
Li Yiyi waved. “Happy New Year, Brother Fu! All fifty pieces you requested are here, I brought them over early for you!”
For the first time, Fu Heqing realized that the siblings’ efficiency could be almost overwhelming. He had intended to bypass them entirely, but suddenly he felt a small hand from the little skeleton grab his collar, pressing close to his side. In a soft but urgent voice, Mu Mu said:
“Mr. Painter… I feel like I’m going to turn into a human again…”
**TN
Yasui qian – literally means “money to suppress (or ward off) evil spirits”. It comes from a legend in ancient China. People believed that evil spirits or demons, especially on New Year’s Eve, could harm children or bring bad luck for the coming year. Giving children a special gift of money, usually in red envelopes, was thought to protect them from evil, bring blessings, and ensure safety and health.
