The police inspected Ning Qiaoqiao’s equipment and, to avoid any further complications, shut down her livestream first.

They didn’t make things difficult for the young woman. Instead, Xiang Yu pulled Ning Qiaoqiao aside and asked her a few more questions. Worried that the stream might have captured Shen Jiu dodging bullets and using his crutch to stop the van, she also specifically asked Liu Bo—who had arrived with Ning Qiaoqiao—what exactly he had seen.

“I saw how awesome you were, Boss.” Liu Bo was completely won over, looking at Xiang Yu with nothing but admiration.

“Boss, you were freaking amazing! Damn, you and Brother Shen—one using a staff, the other using a whip—you beat those traffickers senseless! Holy crap, that was incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“Oh, by the way, what’s up with Brother Shen’s leg? Does his crutch actually count as a regulated weapon?”

Xiang Yu let out two dry chuckles and turned to look at Shen Jiu. After the villagers had rushed in, he’d quietly retreated to the back. Now he stood there as if nothing had happened, casually leaning on his crutch.

The man was standing off to one side, looking as calm and elegant as a chrysanthemum, pretending to be crippled. But after seeing him alter the trajectory of bullets and force a speeding van to a stop, even his silent, low-key presence now radiated an overwhelming “B-King” aura.

So this is what a true powerhouse feels like… so dazzling.

She had countless questions for him. How exactly did his ability work? Did all Special Employees possess supernatural powers? Were there limits to using them? What kind of job had he actually come here to do?

What a ridiculous day. The new employee hadn’t even finished introducing himself before helping her fight an all-out brawl.

As if sensing her gaze, Shen Jiu turned toward Xiang Yu and slightly curled the corner of his mouth.

Although his expression barely changed—a smile made up of perhaps a single pixel—he really was smiling. Xiang Yu caught it immediately and couldn’t help smiling back.

Somehow…

…this felt like the classic case of “no acquaintance without a fight.”

The moment a fight starts, he joins without hesitation. Acts decisively. Actually listens when people talk. Yeah… this guy’s someone worth keeping around.

She was thinking exactly that while, on the other side, everyone was busy processing the crime scene. The ambulances had already arrived, but the condition of several of the criminals left even the medical staff at a loss as to where they should begin treating them.

The medical staff eventually put on thick protective suits and, pinching their noses, dug the manure back out of the unconscious traffickers’ mouths.

The water Liu Bo had brought finally came in handy. Bucket after bucket was poured over them, and before long, the fire truck he’d called in also arrived. The firefighters had rushed over with high-pressure hoses expecting to put out a fire. They found no flames—but the hoses didn’t go to waste.

Standing atop the truck, they sprayed the traffickers down one by one. Once the filth had been washed off, those with severe injuries were taken to the hospital, while those still able to walk were escorted to the police station.

Sun Quanyou had already been tortured into a delirious state. As he was about to be loaded into a police car, he caught sight of Xiang Yu and suddenly shrieked,

“It’s her! It’s her!”

Using both his hands and feet, he tried to lunge at Xiang Yu. His mind was no longer clear. Even while being restrained by two police officers, he kept baring his teeth and waving his arms at her.

“She jumped out halfway through! She’s the one who killed them! She beat all of us to death! And that man—he’s a ghost! A ghost! Aaaah!”

If that woman and that man hadn’t suddenly shown up, we would’ve gotten away!

Ji Gang was so fed up with him that he roared,

“Even if she had beaten you to death, it’d still count as a righteous act!”

He had manure splattered all over himself too. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to switch off his body camera and slap the trafficker across the face.

But instead, he had to patiently escort the ringleader of the trafficking gang, investigate the identity of the little girl found in the trunk, send the half-dead traffickers to the hospital, and later return to take statements and write reports. The entire village was in the middle of funeral arrangements—whose family, after having their child kidnapped, would be in the mood to cooperate with the investigation and follow the police back to give a statement?

Afraid Pingping’s mother might splash him with another ladle of manure, he simply turned to Ji Kailang.

“Teacher Ji, could you come with us and give a statement?”

Then he looked at Xiang Yu, his tone becoming much gentler.

“Miss, they say you were the first witness at the scene. Would you mind coming along too? It won’t take too long.”

Xiang Yu agreed. She told Liu Bo to stay behind and help clean up the aftermath before climbing into the police vehicle herself. Then she took a deep breath.

“…Can I ride in Director Ji’s electric cart instead?” she asked awkwardly. “The smell in here is… pretty intense.”

They had no idea what this hastily improvised livestream would become once the power of the internet got hold of it.

Ning Qiaoqiao wasn’t a famous streamer. She was a journalism and media student who had only recently started creating content. She was still an amateur—unsigned by any MCN agency—and at the stage where she was making up for inexperience through sheer hard work.

The night before, she’d seen a post on her university’s campus forum about a hot spring that supposedly had “a mysterious aura.” So early that morning, she headed over to film. After shooting the exterior, she moved inside. The hot spring resort turned out to be much nicer than she’d expected, and she figured this video might do reasonably well.

What she hadn’t expected was to stumble into the chance to go viral.

The moment the owner arrived, she started shouting that there was a fire and told the manager to call the police and get help.

Sensing a story, Ning Qiaoqiao followed without hesitation. The muscular store manager had initially tried to stop her, but then figured having another person to pass buckets of water would be useful. Since the livestream camera she’d been using around the hot spring was hanging from a lanyard around her neck, she never turned it off. Wearing the camera the whole time, she helped fill buckets, loaded them onto the vehicle, and charged straight to the scene.

She never imagined she’d capture so many unforgettable moments.

It started with a whip and a staff beating up human traffickers, followed by the “Lightning Five-Hit Whip,” a funeral procession stepping in to help with weapons drawn, manure literally raining down on the criminals, and firefighters blasting everyone with high-pressure hoses…

Not a single moment lacked entertainment value.

The only problem was that her livestream was far too obscure. Without the platform pushing it to more viewers, even excellent stream quality couldn’t save it. By the time she ended the broadcast, she’d only attracted one or two thousand viewers.

But then she met the person who changed everything.

Among those viewers was a content creator who specialized in making clipped videos from livestreams. They downloaded the recording and uploaded it to Xyin. Whether they were too busy to edit it or simply thought every second was entertaining, they posted the entire recording completely uncut, exactly as it had happened.

For the first hour, almost no one watched it.

Then, because it happened to include one of the platform’s promotional exposure hashtags, more and more people started clicking on it. Somehow, a major account on Weibo picked it up and drove traffic to it under the title:

“[You Won’t Believe All of This Happened in a Single Day]”

Soon, the barrage comments and comment section outnumbered the likes. As viewers began enthusiastically recommending it to one another, the recording exploded in popularity.

Still shaken after everything she’d experienced, Ning Qiaoqiao finally returned to her dormitory and opened her account.

She was greeted by 999+ notifications for mentions and likes.

Her inbox had been flooded with private messages.

Following the links people had sent her, she opened the recording on Xyin.

The moment she saw it, her vision went black. 

198,000 likes. 88,000 comments. 6.4 million views.

It had reached #1 on the local trending list and #5 on Xyin’s overall trending chart.

With trembling hands, Ning Qiaoqiao tapped on the video.

A flood of bullet comments immediately covered the screen.

[The place where it all began.]

[A timeless classic.]

[There’s no escaping this one.]

[The most righteous episode.]

[A new holy scripture has appeared.]

[Stay tuned.]

As an internet veteran, she knew exactly what comments like these meant.

They meant explosive traffic.

They meant fame and fortune.

They meant that the vast, eldritch horror that was the internet hivemind had glanced in your direction—and that single glance was enough to shower you with countless “Cullinan fragments” (enormous wealth brought by viral fame).

Ning Qiaoqiao’s hands shook so badly she could barely hold her phone.

Amid the internet’s jubilant celebration, the video began with that ordinary country road where the now-legendary incident had taken place—a road that countless netizens would later visit as if making a pilgrimage.

Her filming equipment was professional. Hanging around her neck, it had produced remarkably stable footage, and the audio quality was excellent. Although the action was distant and somewhat blurry, viewers could still clearly make out a man and a woman in the middle of the frame, fighting a crowd with exhilarating abandon.

The man’s staff moved like a black dragon bursting from the sea, sweeping through enemies with unstoppable force.

The woman’s belt danced like a soaring dragon, its long leather strap striking like a venomous serpent. Every time the heavy brass buckle came crashing down, it landed with overwhelming power—one hit, and another trafficker went silent.

Both displayed extraordinary footwork. The staff flowed with the man’s movements, seamlessly blending offense and defense. One fought with hard, direct force; the other with supple precision. Their coordination was flawless. Wherever they passed, people fell in heaps. Despite being surrounded, they cut through the crowd as effortlessly as a general deploying his troops, felling enemies one after another.

Not to mention the immensely satisfying spectacle of “lifting them up and whipping them.”

The bullet comments streamed across the screen in perfect formation:

[Chinese kung fu.]

[Human Beyblade King.]

[First strike the legs so they can’t run.]

[Second strike the mouth so they can’t beg.]

[Third strike the head so they can’t resist.]

[Power in every whip crack, precision in every kick.]

[Raise your hand with confidence, swing your whip with perfect angle.]

[Every lash has conviction; every move has style.]

The barrage of comments had practically become an organized army marching in lockstep.

The comments section below was even more entertaining.

[This combo is insane. The guy knocks one down with a staff, then the woman lashes them back onto their feet with the belt, they spin around, and then—bam!—another staff strike…]

[Is it really this smooth? Sis should consider teaching ballet. Even the Dance of the Little Swans doesn’t have this many spins.]

[Is the skinny guy in black the leader? Look at his expression. Doesn’t he look like the friend who tags along in every group fight but has never actually enjoyed any of them…?]

[Can someone who knows martial arts analyze this? Did these two come down from Wudang Mountain? They’re taking on eight people with just the two of them like it’s nothing.]

[I don’t know martial arts, but I do know physics. Watching those guys get whipped into spinning tops is making Newton’s coffin lid rattle.]

[Holy crap, how far has this spread? My Nepali roommate watched it and insisted I demonstrate the whip technique for him.]

[These two are so ridiculously strong that everyone forgot they’re fighting with a belt and a crutch.]

[The belt I get… but what’s the crutch for?]

[To beat someone lame, then let them use it to hobble home? Very honorable martial ethics.]

[These have to be stunt actors, right? The guy’s hair is so long—they must be filming something. If this is real, I’ll eat my phone.]

[I think they’re stunt actors too. They’re way too good-looking. The woman’s got to be around 175 cm tall, and the guy totally looks like an actor. Two traffickers stacked together still wouldn’t be as tall as him.]

[Who cares if they’re stunt actors? Even if they are, pulling off a fight scene like this takes real skill. Did the actors playing the traffickers get spun around on wires? This is incredible.]

[No idea. But if they’re actors, somebody tell me who they are so I can follow them. Every single person in this scene, from the leads to the extras, is amazing.]

The comments section was in complete chaos.

Some argued it had to be a staged production.

Some were fixated on the pair’s looks.

Others wanted to know where Xiang Yu had gotten the belt.

Still others couldn’t stop asking what was going on with Shen Jiu’s crutch.

Amid the lively discussion, a new wave of bullet comments suddenly began flooding the screen:

[Teacher Xiang, what happened?]

[Teacher Xiang, what happened?]

[Teacher Xiang, what happened?]

[You’re a fake Yu Ji, I’m the real Xiang Yu.]

[Introduce yourself!]

[Say the line! Say the line!]

[Here it comes—!]

In the video, Xiang Yu switched to a different whipping technique. Reusing her previous “Five Consecutive Whips” move, she cupped her fists in a martial salute toward the trafficker in front of her and said:

“I am Xiang Yu, head of the Mixed Whip Xingyi Sect. Just now, a friend asked me, ‘Teacher Xiang, what happened?’…”

Then she shouted with each strike:

“First whip! Second whip! Third whip, then fourth whip!”

“Fifth whip!”

“Followed by Flash!”

(The last line is a reference to Flash, the teleport ability from games like League of Legends, used jokingly because she suddenly darted forward.)

The Five Consecutive Whips routine was so ridiculously catchy that the bullet comments marched across the screen in perfect unison, as if in a military parade, echoing every count:

[First whip! Second whip! Third whip, then fourth whip!]

The chant appeared not only in Chinese, but also in English, Japanese, Spanish, and several other languages. Some viewers even used special bullet-comment effects to draw whip-shaped patterns across the screen. The entire thing looked as festive as Chinese New Year.

After Xiang Yu finished her Five Consecutive Whips, Liu Bo and Ning Qiaoqiao’s little three-wheeled utility vehicle finally came roaring into view. Moments later came Xiang Yu’s exasperated shout upon seeing them:

“Why did you bring the customers here?!”

The bullet comments erupted again:

[I swear, when the boss yelled, “Why did you bring the customers here?!”, her entire mental state collapsed.]

[But if they hadn’t brought the customers over, we wouldn’t have gotten to watch this masterpiece. LMAO.]

[So what was actually going on? Weren’t they supposed to be putting out a fire?]

[Obviously not. “Put out the fire” meant “go get more people.” Our video crew really did bring several buckets of water, though.]

[The young guy and the streamer may be a little dumb… but they’ve got good hearts.]

Then came the funeral procession joining the fray, swinging pickaxes like a torrential downpour, followed immediately by Pingping’s mother arriving with her ladle of manure.

The bullet comments reached their absolute peak.

After finishing the video, viewers flocked to the comment section:

[Is this in this year’s Lunar New Year movie lineup? If not, I’m not watching.]

[I’ve never seen a video with zero dull moments—it’s nonstop highlights.]

[I refuse to watch it a second time. I’m saving it to watch during the Spring Festival Gala.]

[Even if it’s scripted, I don’t care. Whoever wrote a script like this is a freaking genius.]

[If it is scripted, how did they convince the actors to let themselves get drenched in manure? They really opened their mouths and swallowed it?]

[When I first saw the ‘two-person performance’ (actually: two people fighting while a whole crowd spins around), I thought they were filming a staged video. The moment the manure ladle came out, I knew it had to be real.]

[Holy crap, I think the police officer searching the van is my cousin!]

[Seriously? Isn’t this just a skit?]

[A skit? Go ask the film crew how much they’re paying. Then you’ll have your answer to “How much would someone have to pay you to eat manure?”]

[If this is real, that’s horrifying… My God, these are actual human traffickers.]

[Near the end, when the camera shakes a few times, I think there’s still someone inside the van.]

[??? We’re all just here to have fun on the internet. Don’t scare us like that.]

[Then… that chubby little boy they carried out at the beginning was real too?]

[I was laughing when his mom knelt to thank the police and when his great-grandfather told him to kowtow to the coffin… Wait, are you telling me that was real? That’s way too dark.]

[Stop laughing… I think I spotted my uncle too. Holy crap, was this video filmed in cooperation with the police?]

No one had ever seen a video packed with so many twists.

At first, the accounts reposting clips had given them lighthearted titles such as:

“The Human Spinning-Top King”

“Chinese Kung Fu”

“Sea of Manure, Swarming Maggots”

“A Belt Dipped in Povidone-Iodine—Every Beating Is Extra Disinfected”

Since the situation had been successfully resolved, the “hostages” in the video had all been rescued, and the good guys had taken control of the scene, viewers on Xyin instinctively assumed it was just another comedy video.

Then more and more people started recognizing acquaintances in the footage.

As one of the people actually present, Ning Qiaoqiao immediately sensed the shift in public opinion.

The account that had reposted the clip was decent enough to pin a comment tagging her, and her own account quickly gained a huge amount of exposure.

Watching her numbers climb higher and higher, she suddenly tossed her phone aside, sat down at her computer, and opened a blank document.

She knew exactly what she needed to do.

Other than the people who had been taken away by the police, she was the only firsthand witness at the scene.

Every piece of information she possessed could bring her an overwhelming flood of traffic.

Whatever the internet wanted to know…

…she could answer it.

 Of course…

Of course she had to put everything she’d learned to use—and add a little emotional punch to the information she held.

Half an hour later, the person who had filmed the “Human Spinning-Top King Incident” published a long post.

Its title read:

“Please, everyone, help the hot spring owner who bravely stood up to the human traffickers. She might be facing prison.”

<< _ >>

**TN

“Teacher Xiang, what happened?” is a meme adapted from the viral “Teacher Ma, what happened?” internet clip featuring martial artist Ma Baoguo. Whenever someone displays unexpectedly impressive fighting skills, netizens often spam this phrase.

“You’re a fake Yu Ji; I’m the real Xiang Yu” riffs on Xiang Yu’s name (向榆, Xiang Yu), which is pronounced the same as the famous historical warlord Xiang Yu, while Yu Ji was his legendary consort. It’s another layer of internet wordplay built around her name.

Mixed Whip Xingyi Sect 浑扁形意门 (Hún Biǎn Xíngyì Sect) is a parody of 混元形意门 (Hunyuan Xingyi Sect), the fictionalized martial arts school associated with the internet-famous Ma Baoguo. The author replaces 元 (yuan) with 扁 (biǎn, “to whip/flatten”), turning it into a joke about Xiang Yu’s belt fighting style.

The post Scenic Area Ch.17 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

The group coming down from the mountain looked exactly like a traditional funeral procession.

Leading the way were vividly colored paper effigies, carrying a two-story Western-style house complete with a courtyard and a paper sedan. Close behind came the funeral band, the booming drums shaking the heavens while the cymbals and suonas blared louder than one another. On both sides walked the mourning sons and grandsons dressed in coarse hemp mourning clothes, while in the center seven or eight sturdy men carried a coffin on their shoulders.

Women carrying baskets of spirit money walked at the front and rear of the procession, scattering white paper coins as they went. The fluttering paper filled the road like falling snow.

Ji Kailang stood among the mourners, white mourning bands tied around her head and arms. Holding her bright-red loudspeaker, she shouted toward Xiang Yu,

“Where’s the child trafficker?!”

“On the ground!!!”

Xiang Yu shouted back. She was completely dumbfounded herself. She had asked Liu Bo to call for reinforcements, and he’d somehow summoned an entire funeral procession.

Were they here to bury the trafficker?

Then she witnessed one of China’s oldest forms of collective strength—the solidarity of a village clan.

The two burly men at the front, their heads wrapped in white mourning cloths, grabbed their carrying poles and charged forward. The old man holding the suona remained perfectly calm, switched from Hundreds of Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix to a rousing military bugle call:

“Doo↑ doo↓ doo-doo↑↑ doo-doo-doo↑↑↑!”

To the sound of the charge, the coffin bearers worked together flawlessly. With synchronized shouts of “One! Two!” they gently lowered the coffin to the ground, seized the iron shovels they’d brought for digging graves, then lowered their heads and charged like enraged bulls.

“May it land! May it take root!”

Setting a coffin on the ground during a funeral was considered inauspicious, but an energetic old man in his eighties immediately took charge of the situation. Raising his voice, he declared,

“May the departed remain attached to their homeland and bless their descendants!”

The entire funeral procession exploded into action like a disturbed hornet’s nest.

A pale-faced woman rushed out, screaming hoarsely,

“My son! My son!”

Xiang Yu was quickly squeezed out of the center of the melee. Watching several powerfully built men swarm onto the van, she opened her mouth, only to find herself speechless. She turned to Ji Kailang.

Ji Kailang rubbed her hands together and said, “The moment I saw Liu Bo’s message, I knew something had gone wrong.”

“Then… who are all these people?”

“Grandpa Liao passed away a couple of days ago. Today the whole village is helping carry him up the mountain for his funeral. He was good to everyone, so those of us stationed in the village joined the procession too. We’ve also been making sure it’s a civilized funeral—stopping people from setting off firecrackers or burning the mountain. Then Pingping’s mom called me, and Mrs. Liao said her little grandson had disappeared…”

So that was it.

All the adults in the village had been occupied with the funeral, and some blind fool of a child trafficker had taken the opportunity to kidnap their grandson.

Xiang Yu couldn’t help feeling a little impressed by the traffickers.

They had an incredible talent for picking the absolute worst possible moment.

Xiang Yu, Shen Jiu, Liu Bo, and Ning Qiaoqiao—who had only come to soak in the hot springs—couldn’t even squeeze into the encirclement.

On the outskirts, Ji Kailang was shouting herself hoarse, “Don’t beat them to death! Don’t beat them to death!”

Meanwhile, the center had descended into utter chaos.

The man with the bronze cymbals simply swung them straight at the traffickers’ foreheads, each strike producing a ringing clang powerful enough to echo through the mountains and intimidate tigers. Those with iron shovels smashed away with heavy bang! bang! blows. Others provided “support”—two women grabbed handfuls of imitation copper coins used as funeral offerings and flung them into the traffickers’ faces and eyes.

In the middle of it all, one man bellowed,

“I’m earning merit for the old man!”

He ripped off the white hemp mourning sash from his head and used it to tie up one of the traffickers as tightly as if trussing a pig for New Year’s slaughter. Then fists rained down from every direction.

Xiang Yu: “…”

Grandpa Liao was definitely going to have more merit in the afterlife than he could ever spend.

Outside the crowd, Ji Kailang was still screaming at the top of her lungs, “Don’t hit their heads! Tie them up! Stop beating them…!”

A little while later, a chubby little boy was carried out of the van.

The child’s crying instantly pushed the atmosphere to a whole new level.

For a moment, curses, the blaring of suonas, people using a trafficker’s head as a gong, and the little boy crying desperately for his mother all blended together into an intensely dramatic soundtrack for this righteous group beating.

Ji Kailang and the other village officials had completely lost control of the situation and hurried off to the side to call the police.

“Who the **** is setting off firecrackers?! Everyone calm down! Calm down!”

By the time the police arrived, this was the scene that greeted them.

…

Early that morning, Hama Valley was hit with a top-priority emergency.

First came a call from a village cadre reporting that a child had gone missing. Moments later, another call came in saying they’d found a child trafficking ring. Then yet another reported that gunshots had been heard.

The severity of the situation kept escalating.

The police officers on morning duty had still been slurping rice noodles for breakfast. They immediately holstered their pistols, tossed them onto their belts, and rushed out.

From a distance, all they could see was complete chaos. They couldn’t even tell how many people lying on the ground were traffickers and how many were villagers.

Ji Gang, the deputy police chief, a man well into his fifties, hitched up his trousers, rested one hand on his holstered pistol, and jogged toward the crowd.

Shouting loudly, he called, “Where’s the gun?! Where is it?!”

For some reason, the moment the villagers heard the police sirens, the punches started falling even faster.

Probably because they were afraid that once the police arrived, they wouldn’t be allowed to keep beating the traffickers.

Several officers pushed their way through the crowd, trying to restore order.

“Everyone, make some room! Please cooperate with the investigation! Is anyone injured…?”

“Officer!”

Mrs. Liao, clutching the chubby little boy in her arms, rushed over and dropped to her knees in front of Ji Gang, tears streaming down her face.

“Those bastards tried to kidnap my son! Officer, you have to stand up for ordinary folks like us!”

The way she addressed him—as if he were an official from another era—made Ji Gang’s legs nearly give out.

His body camera was still recording.

He hurriedly knelt halfway himself to help her up, stumbling over his words.

“Please, don’t say that! Get up, hurry and get up! That’s exactly why we’re here—to stand behind everyone! Xiao Liu! Xiao Liu! Help her over to rest. Bring the first-aid kit and bandage the little boy!”

The chubby child in her arms was bawling his eyes out, crying, “Mama! Mama!”

The terror of almost losing her son completely overwhelmed the woman. She beat her chest with all her strength and sobbed, “My son… If you’d really been taken today, how could I go on living…”

“Moooom! Waaah! Waaaaah—!”

Mother and son cried together, one high-pitched and one low, like a tragic duet.

Ji Gang’s head was buzzing.

Grabbing his radio, he shouted,

“Team Two! Team Two! Check the van! See if there are any more hostages inside! Protect the hostages!”

The police surged forward, and under the direction of Ji Kailang and the other village officials, quickly made their way into the center of the crowd.

The traffickers had already been tied up in a neat row.

Every one of them had been beaten beyond recognition. Their faces were covered in blood, marked with welts from whips, bruises from carrying poles, and all sorts of other injuries. One man’s face had been caved in, and he’d even lost control of his bowels. He lay on the ground with his mouth hanging open, making only incoherent “ah… ah…” sounds, unable to speak.

Ji Gang sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of their injuries.

“Who did this? What happened here?”

He looked around.

Men and women, young and old, tall and short, thin and heavyset—every kind of villager was present.

They all smiled with utterly honest, guileless expressions.

Then they all started talking at once, indignantly explaining that they had been in the middle of a funeral procession when a gang of child traffickers tried to steal one of their children. Worse still, they had targeted a young boy and a young girl. The old man’s coffin hadn’t even been buried yet.

That was simply more than anyone could tolerate.

“Hold on, hold on—one at a time,” Ji Gang interrupted. The villagers already spoke with a strong local accent, and all of them talking over each other was giving him a headache. “What funeral? You mean… you were holding a funeral for the traffickers?”

“No, Officer. We’re the ones who restrained them.”

The elderly man who had shouted “May it land, may it take root!” stepped forward. He straightened the white mourning cloth on his head, stood respectfully before the deputy chief, cleared his throat, and spoke solemnly.

“My elder brother, Liao Hongwen, ninety-three years old. Today was the day of his funeral. We brothers were carrying his coffin, with music and ceremony, to send him on his final journey.”

“These heartless beasts!”

“They took advantage of our family’s funeral—in broad daylight—to kidnap the little great-grandson my brother treasured most!”

“If it hadn’t been for those kind people who stopped them… if it hadn’t been for the old man watching over us from above… I’m afraid the child would have been lost.”

With that, Elder Liao pointed toward the coffin behind him, then called to the tearful woman who had nearly lost her son.

“Liao Juan! Bring the child before your grandfather’s coffin and have him kowtow to his great-grandfather!”

Then he turned back to the police, cupped his hands in a respectful salute, and bowed with dignified righteousness.

“We ask the police to uphold justice for us.”

“Elder, please, you’re giving me far more respect than I deserve.”

Ji Gang was a broad-shouldered, dark-complexioned deputy police chief, famous for being a tough-as-nails officer. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been the first to lead the team after hearing reports of gunfire.

But now, staring at the pitch-black coffin before him, he felt like his composure was falling apart.

This callout hadn’t been nearly as dangerous as he’d expected.

But it had taken years off his life in an entirely different way.

He’d weathered plenty of storms in his career, yet the heartfelt sincerity of these villagers—from the young wives to the elderly patriarchs—had unexpectedly brought him close to tears.

The villagers all chimed in at once again.

“It wasn’t just Old Master Liao’s family! Little Pingping was almost kidnapped too!”

“Oh, heaven have mercy! Poor Widow Wang… if she’d lost Pingping, how could she have lived?”

“Exactly! Her husband’s already gone. If she’d lost her daughter too, she’d have gone completely mad!”

“Those monsters… absolutely heartless…”

Ji Gang took off his cap and rubbed his forehead. Turning to Ji Kailang, who seemed a little easier to talk to, he asked, “And what happened with Pingping?”

“Oh, Officer, it’s like this…”

Before they could exchange more than a couple of sentences, Ji Kailang’s expression suddenly sharpened.

She grabbed Ji Gang and yanked him sideways.

An overpowering stench swept toward them at astonishing speed.

The next instant, someone charged into the circle like a whirlwind, rushed straight at the traffickers, and dumped two full buckets of manure from a shoulder pole directly over them!

Ji Kailang: “…”

Ji Gang: “…”

A notification sounded in Xiang Yu’s mind.

[Achievement Unlocked: “Smearing on the Fertilizer to Grow Strong”.

[Reward Obtained: Pure Lotus of Cleansing Waters.]

Xiang Yu quietly tugged Shen Jiu backward.

The two of them had been among the people beating the traffickers the hardest…

But right now, they wanted to get away from the scene more than anyone else.

The thin woman—Pingping’s mother—had somehow summoned astonishing strength.

Wielding a long-handled manure scoop, she repeatedly smashed it onto a trafficker’s head while cursing through gritted teeth,

“I’ll teach you to steal children!”

“I’ll teach you to cover my little girl’s mouth!”  

The traffickers had already been trussed up like pigs awaiting slaughter, each one howling with their mouths wide open.

Now, with manure slurry being poured straight into those open mouths, the crazed woman kept scooping fresh manure off the ground and splashing it over them. Like basting a half-cooked steak with melted butter, she made sure the yellowish-brown muck coated every inch of them—their hair, eyebrows, clothes… everything.

Even the ones who had already been beaten unconscious started writhing awake under the assault of the overpowering stench.

It was truly a scene of maggots squirming in a sea of manure.

Everyone present—dozens of villagers and even the fully armed police officers—was so stunned that not a single person stepped forward to stop her.

Xiang Yu silently gave a thumbs-up in her heart.

*A mop smeared with feces is like Lü Bu reborn.

For a slight woman like Wang Guixiang, bucket after bucket of manure was probably the smartest—and most devastating—weapon she could think of in retaliation.

“Uh… Sister Wang… Pingping’s okay, right?”

Ji Kailang awkwardly tried to greet Pingping’s mother.

“You were just… fertilizing the vegetable patch, weren’t you? Then you accidentally slipped… and, well… the manure got spilled everywhere.”

Pinching his nose shut, Ji Gang gave the seemingly reasonable young woman a long, meaningful look.

His eyes plainly told her: My body camera is still recording.

Now that someone had finally “played dirty” with the traffickers, everyone very orderly backed away from them.

The funeral procession also returned to lifting Old Master Liao’s coffin.

“We can’t delay the auspicious hour,” they said.

Then a police officer searching the van suddenly shouted.

“Chief! There’s someone hidden in the back!”

Ji Gang immediately forgot about the mountain of manure before him. Taking three quick strides, he rushed over to help open the van’s rear compartment.

It was a concealed compartment built beneath the seats.

When they opened it, they found an unconscious young woman lying inside.

Watching from the sidelines, Ning Qiaoqiao let out a scream.

She hurriedly hid her camera and phone behind her back, grabbed Xiang Yu’s arm with trembling hands, and looked ready to cry.

“Boss… this… this isn’t something we can livestream, is it?”

Xiang Yu stared at her.

“…You…”

“You’re still livestreaming?!”

<< _ >>

**TN

“A mop dipped in feces is like Lü Bu reincarnated” – This jokes about the Chinese meme, meaning that even an ordinary object becomes terrifying once coated in something so disgusting that no one wants to touch it.  

Smearing on the Fertilizer to Grow Strong (A pun on 发奋图强 (“strive to become strong”)—here written as 发粪涂强, replacing “奋” (strive) with “粪” (manure/feces) and “图” (seek) with “涂” (smear), suggesting “getting stronger by smearing on fertilizer.”)

The post Scenic Area Ch.16 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

“Just trying to make a living, big brother.”

Xiang Yu smiled faintly.

There were too many people in front of her. If they all rushed her at once, they might very well beat her to death.

But that was fine.

She had cheats.

In fact, she still had two of them.

The system’s Skill Card Roulette began spinning.

“Rip Devils Apart Bare-Handed.”

“Lightning Five-Strike Whip.”

“Spinning Top Mastery.”

“Thunder Hidden in the Crotch.”

“What’s the Point of This Iron Staff?”

…

Every single skill sounded like the kind of thing that would utterly destroy a person’s dignity the instant they used it…

But at a time like this, Xiang Yu no longer cared about pride or shame!

Even if it turned out to be Thunder Hidden in the Crotch, she’d have no choice but to pull it out and use it!

The pointer slowly came to a stop…

Lightning Five-Strike Whip.

Xiang Yu’s entire body shuddered.

Inside her mind, it was as though an invisible thunderclap exploded.

An overwhelming torrent of sounds and images poured through the crown of her head in chaotic disorder, crackling down her spine and into every limb.

Then…

An utterly unfamiliar power possessed her body.

She instinctively shifted her footing.

Her legs seemed to move with an ethereal martial art, filling her with absolute confidence that she could effortlessly dodge, kick, evade, and take on eight opponents by herself.

So this is what an empowerment feels like…

Understanding dawned on her.

Yet another question surfaced.

Why does the person demonstrating these techniques seem so familiar?

Could it be… that after transmigrating, I inherited a hidden family martial arts legacy? Was this body secretly that of an unparalleled martial arts prodigy?

No…

That familiar face…

It seemed she’d seen it years ago…

…in the “Guichu” meme section of a certain video-sharing website.

Like every fantasy novel protagonist who receives a supreme martial art through mystical initiation, Xiang Yu clutched her head in agony, desperately trying to remember which ancient internet meme this technique came from.

Unfortunately…

Time wasn’t on her side.

The gaunt man had already raised his knife.

It wasn’t an ordinary kitchen cleaver.

It was a narrow boning knife, its blade polished until it gleamed silver in the light.

At that moment, it was gripped tightly in the man’s dark, sinewy hand, thick veins bulging across the back of it.

He advanced toward Xiang Yu one step at a time.

The others closed in as well.

Surrounded from all sides, Xiang Yu stood rooted to the spot, just like Pingping had moments earlier, seemingly frozen with fear.

When the encircling group was less than half a meter away, she suddenly sank her qi into her dantian and slowly declared,

“I am Xiang Yu, head instructor of the Hunbian Xingyi School… Just now, a friend asked me, ‘Master Xiang, what happened?'”

“Well, just a moment ago… there was a man in his thirties. One weighed just over ninety jin (about 45 kilograms), the other weighed over ninety kilograms—a real powerhouse.”

Taking a deep breath, Xiang Yu shifted her gaze from the gaunt man to Sun Qiangyou, who was sprawled on the ground weighing close to two hundred jin (around 100 kilograms), her mind racing.

Every movement from the demonstration replayed itself in her head.

The secret martial art had already been imprinted into her mind.

A power that wasn’t her own coursed through her body.

Those half-familiar, half-forgotten lines poured from her mouth like water gushing from a spring.

But at this critical moment, one fatal requirement remained unmet.

Lightning Five-Strike Whip needed… a whip.

Setting aside the absurdly long wind-up, the skill’s activation requirements were ridiculously strict.

The gaunt man was already closing in.

She had no idea when reinforcements would arrive.

But somehow…

She needed to find a whip.

The skinny man was clearly experienced.

He paid no attention to her incomprehensible chanting or lengthy “casting animation.”

Knife raised, he charged straight at her.

“…The moment I said it, bang! He stood right up! So fast! He came prepared!”

Xiang Yu continued reciting the lines at machine-gun speed.

“And then… a left front kick!”

At last, the technique reached its climax.

Xiang Yu suddenly dropped her center of gravity.

With astonishingly smooth footwork, she slid backward, narrowly avoiding the knife’s edge.

Her right leg rooted itself firmly to the ground like a mountain.

All the power she’d accumulated exploded through her left leg as she drove a solid front kick directly into the junction of the man’s chest and abdomen.

His ribs are broken.

She knew exactly how much force that kick had carried.

The gaunt man had never expected her to fight back.

Caught completely off guard, he took the sudden kick squarely in the torso. His eyes bulged, and a muffled groan escaped his throat as his body instantly folded over like a cooked shrimp.

The other men froze in shock.

For a brief moment, Xiang Yu’s sheer momentum intimidated them into keeping their distance.

Then—

“Heh… heh-heh-heh-heh…”

Xiang Yu let out a villainous cackle.

Ignoring the numbness creeping into her left leg, she withdrew it and immediately whipped her right leg toward the leader’s side.

“A right roundhouse kick!”

Another fool lunged at her from the left.

Xiang Yu clenched her left hand into a fist and launched a punch straight at the man’s jaw.

“A left jab!”

The man didn’t even manage a grunt.

Blood spraying from his mouth, he turned and fled, howling in pain.

So these are the desperate criminals?

Nothing but paper tigers.

“I blocked all of that.”

Xiang Yu drew back her fist and laughed, exhilarated by the system’s sudden “divine possession.”

Standing upright with effortless swagger, she clasped one fist in her opposite palm in the traditional martial salute and bowed politely to those around her.

“According to traditional martial arts etiquette…”

“I stop when the point is made.”

“You’ve already lost.”

The battered gang of traffickers: “…”

Ridiculous as the whole thing was—and incomprehensible to any sane observer—the feeling of overwhelming power surging through her body was undeniably intoxicating.

Xiang Yu had completely synchronized with this inexplicable martial art.

At this point, she no longer cared whether she’d still get to be human in her next life.

If the system had granted her Lightning Five-Strike Whip…

There was no way she wasn’t going to use it.

She suddenly bent over—

Swish!

—and yanked the leather belt straight off Sun Qiangyou’s waist.

Then she turned and began lashing the men who had finally worked up the courage to rush her again.

“First strike! Second strike! Third strike! Fourth strike!”

“Fifth strike!”

“Followed by Flash Step!”

The Septwolves leather belt whistled through the air in Xiang Yu’s hands.

With a twist of her arm and a snap of her wrist, the belt cracked again and again, striking in rapid succession.

Its tip rained down upon the men’s necks, thighs, beer bellies, groins, and other vulnerable spots.

The blows, however, were nothing like raindrops.

Each strike tore through the air with a sharp whistle.

A lighter hit split skin and left bloody welts.

A heavier one bit deep into flesh.

Every lash was aimed squarely at ending the recipient’s hopes of ever fathering children again.

The leather belt lashed through the air like a relentless storm.

Crack after crack echoed as it struck flesh in an unbroken rhythm.

And while Xiang Yu unleashed this absurdly domineering martial art, she maintained a perfectly icy expression as she continued reciting its mandatory lines:

“Easy! Easy! Receive! Neutralize! Counter! Easy!”

She couldn’t help it.

It was the passive effect of Lightning Five-Strike Whip.

If her opponent failed to surrender during the “traditional martial arts—stop at the point” portion of the technique, she was required to recite every move’s name while completing the entire combo.

What most people didn’t know was that they actually had one opportunity to admit defeat and stop the sequence.

Of course…

Xiang Yu herself had absolutely no idea that rule existed either.

All she knew was that if these traffickers ended up beaten into the consistency of hand-pounded beef balls, then that was simply their fate.

The eight traffickers, now being driven into a panicked rout by a single woman, were nearly in tears from both the beating and her nonstop verbal assault.

Meanwhile, their leader, the tall, gaunt Sun Quanyou, had fallen into complete bewilderment.

Normally, human traffickers were greedy, not bloodthirsty.

They preferred to keep a low profile.

Today they had valuable “goods” in the van and had planned to leave as soon as possible.

While stopping near the village to rest, they’d decided they might as well abduct the little girl picking mushrooms too.

Everything had gone smoothly…

Right up until that woman came charging at them on an electric scooter like Zhao Zilong charging through enemy lines, sending Sun Qiangyou flying with one savage impact.

Sun Qiangyou was his younger brother.

Sun Quanyou had only gotten out of the van intending to scare the girl into silence with a knife.

If possible, capturing this unusually tall young woman as well would have been an even bigger profit.

But no one had warned him…

This wasn’t a mule.

No.

Calling her a mule no longer did her justice.

She was a donkey.

A horse.

A hippopotamus.

A heavy battle tank.

Like the Monkey King rampaging through Heaven itself.

She looked completely unhinged, muttering incomprehensible nonsense to herself the entire time—

Yet every punch and every kick landed with terrifying precision and brutality.

She looked exactly like the sort of person who could beat all of them to death…

…and somehow still be the one acting in lawful self-defense.

Meanwhile…

All the evidence of their crimes was still sitting inside the van.

“I got careless!”

“I didn’t dodge!”

Just as Sun Quanyou was desperately trying to figure out what to do, that devilish battle cry rang out beside his ear once more.

The belt came crashing down from above.

This time, it was the heavy brass buckle leading the way.

Without the slightest feint or hesitation, it came straight at his face.

The blow hit so hard that, for one glorious instant…

Sun Quanyou thought he saw his great-grandmother welcoming him into the afterlife.

“Boss! Boss, let’s go!”

One of the gang members crawled frantically toward the van, covered in blood and bruises, wailing as he ran.

“She’s a martial arts master! We can’t beat her!”

Someone shouted.

The traffickers, who had been beaten into utter disarray, immediately scrambled back toward the van, crying out in panic.

The middle-aged woman was already in the driver’s seat, starting the engine.

“This woman’s a freak! Don’t waste time fighting her!”

Sun Quanyou had taken the worst beating of all. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, he stumbled into the van and slammed the door shut.

“Go! Go! Drive!”

The driver floored the accelerator, steering the van toward the mountains.

Clearly, this was a retreat route they’d planned countless times before.

[Achievement Unlocked: Martial Arts Master

Reward Obtained: Shennong Jade Grain]

So defeating enemies can make equipment drop now?

The loot rate’s surprisingly generous.

Xiang Yu had only just finished her belt technique and still wasn’t satisfied.

Sun Qiangyou was still lying on the ground groaning like a pig awaiting slaughter.

Since she was still in rhythm, she canceled her recovery animation and casually gave the poor man another lash.

To her surprise, the traffickers simply abandoned him and sped away.

The moment Xiang Yu saw the direction the van was heading, her expression changed.

If they got deeper into the mountains, there would be no surveillance cameras.

Even if they abandoned the van halfway and fled on foot, the police might never find them.

There could still be victims inside!

Clenching her teeth, Xiang Yu used the second Skill Card she’d received for “Kicking a Child from Beihai Kindergarten.”

Please…

Anything that lets me fly or chase them down…

The roulette wheel spun…

…and stopped on:

Spinning Top Mastery

[Spinning Top Mastery · Tyrant of the Park

Upon activation, you automatically enter “Retired Grandpa Who Dominates the Park’s Spinning Top Circle” mode.

You gain the unhurried composure of someone with a guaranteed pension.

Your gaze becomes calm and detached.

Every whip movement flows as naturally as drifting clouds and running water, full of rhythm and artistic grace.

Special Bonus: You may choose the background music while using the skill.]

Instantly, an energetic electric guitar riff exploded inside her head.

“The boundless horizon is my love…”

(The opening line of the famous Chinese song “The Most Dazzling Folk Style.”)

I give up.

What the hell is this skill supposed to do?

We’re in the middle of a fight!

Grinding her teeth, Xiang Yu forcibly shut off the imaginary soundtrack in her head.

She watched helplessly as the van full of traffickers sped past her…

…

Wait.

Why had they stopped?

Had they not been beaten enough?

A tall figure was standing directly in front of the van.

It was the textbook pose of someone trying to stage a traffic accident.

The person was even using a cane, making him look like the perfect disabled victim.

The only unusual part was that people normally pulled this stunt in front of a Porsche Panamera or an Audi A8.

This beat-up Wuling van had probably never imagined it would receive such an honor in its entire existence.

It looked as though, at any second, the man would flop onto the ground and demand hundreds of thousands in compensation.

Then—

The roaring van suddenly stopped.

But Xiang Yu saw exactly what had happened.

It wasn’t because the heartless traffickers had suddenly grown a conscience and hit the brakes.

The man had simply raised his cane…

…and thrust it into the front of the speeding vehicle.

Then he pressed downward.

Sun Quanyou, who had been thrown headfirst into the windshield by the sudden loss of momentum, was already numb from the day’s endless stream of impossible events.

Ignoring the pain in his head, he stomped on the accelerator again.

And again.

The engine roared furiously beneath his foot.

Yet the four-wheeled machine—

which moments ago had been charging forward—

didn’t move even a single centimeter.

Then something even more unbelievable happened.

The front wheels, pinned beneath that simple wooden cane, began to flatten with soft pff… pff… sounds, as though crushed beneath an irresistible weight.

A moment later, the entire vehicle lurched violently.

With both front tires blown, the van collapsed forward into an almost kneeling position.

Shen Jiu withdrew his cane.

Then, with complete nonchalance, he flicked the engine oil from its tip, as casually as someone shaking rainwater off the end of an umbrella.

Xiang Yu: ∑(°□°)!!

“…F*ck.”

At long last…

Sun Quanyou’s mentality completely shattered.

They’d finally gotten their hands on some valuable “goods.” The plan had been simple: stop at the edge of the village, have a good meal with the boys, throw some wild mushrooms into a soup, maybe even snatch another victim before leaving.

Who could have imagined that first a lunatic on an electric scooter would appear—babbling about being a “manager,” shouting about “traditional martial arts” and “stopping when the point is made”—and then proceed to take on seven men by herself?

He’d already admitted defeat, abandoned his own younger brother, and fled.

Then, halfway through their escape…

A cripple with a cane showed up.

The guy could barely walk properly.

Yet with one casual lift of that cane…

He’d disabled the van.

Dear God…

If You want to punish me, just send me to prison.

Don’t send these supernatural freaks to torment me!

Have I finally started seeing ghosts because I’ve done too many evil things?

Consumed entirely by panic and rage, Sun Quanyou reached beneath his seat and pulled out an old hunting shotgun.

Bracing it against the open window, he fired at the man outside.

“They’ve got a gun! They have a gun!!”

Xiang Yu shouted at the top of her lungs.

But she was too late.

The barrels of the old double-barreled shotgun jerked upward with the recoil.

A puff of white smoke and sparks burst from the muzzle.

Loaded with old-fashioned black powder, it went off with a deafening BOOM, almost as though it had exploded.

Yet something miraculous happened.

The pellets did not continue toward Shen Jiu’s face according to any recognizable law of physics.

Just before they would have struck him…

They curved away.

Skimming past a few strands of his hair.

Like a slow-motion shot from a movie, the shockwave lifted the long hair draped over his shoulders.

Only after the echo of the gunshot had completely faded did those strands gently settle back into place.

Shen Jiu hadn’t even tilted his head.

He simply stood there with perfect composure…

Calmly lifting the lid off King Yama’s coffin. (As if casually inviting Death itself to come back out.)

Then—

The unruffled Shen Jiu drove one kick with his lame leg.

Bang!

The driver’s door crumpled inward.

He reached in and effortlessly seized the shotgun.

The traffickers scrambled out of the van like a flock of panicked ducks.

One man in the passenger seat stubbornly clung to the vehicle, refusing to get out.

Shen Jiu grabbed him by the collar as easily as picking up a chick.

Then he casually threw a punch.

The man’s face visibly caved inward.

Newton’s Third Law still applied.

The force of that punch was so tremendous that…

King Yama quietly slid the lid back onto his coffin.

(No need to come out after all.)

Xiang Yu: ???

The sheer violation of classical mechanics before her eyes left Xiang Yu’s pupils trembling.

This is way too violent.

She hurriedly changed what she was shouting.

“Don’t kill them! Don’t kill them!”

If anyone died, there was no telling how the case would be judged.

Besides, this gang almost certainly had accomplices and leads the police would need.

Shen Jiu paused.

He lowered his fist.

Then, instead of punching, he simply resumed using his cane.

Xiang Yu also jumped back into the fight.

A skill card was a terrible thing to waste.

Gripping Sun Qiangyou’s leather belt, she began whipping anyone within reach.

And she had to admit—

Spinning Top Mastery was absurdly effective.

One crack of the Septwolves belt, and whoever got hit would spring upright as though an engine had suddenly been bolted onto their backside, immediately spinning in circles.

The belt sliced through the air with one sharp crack after another.

The victims staggered over their own feet, turning and wobbling exactly like spinning tops.

The skill card wasn’t single-use, either.

Once Xiang Yu got into the rhythm, she even mixed in a few moves from Lightning Five-Strike Whip.

Every shout of “Ha!” and “Hah!” came with another mandatory voice line:

“Traditional martial arts—stop when the point is made!”

“Easy!”

“Easy!”

“I got careless!”

“I didn’t dodge!”

Before long, the entire vanload of traffickers had been whipped into running frantic circles, making complete fools of themselves.

She and Shen Jiu worked together with astonishing chemistry.

One knocked people down with a cane.

The other lashed them back to their feet with a belt.

A trafficker would be flattened by two strikes from Shen Jiu—

Only to be immediately spun upright again by Xiang Yu’s Spinning Top Mastery.

The two of them cooperated like adjacent stations on an assembly line.

It almost felt like they were seasoned partners fighting side by side.

By the time Xiang Yu had completely entered the zone, she no longer cared how Shen Jiu’s bad leg or mysterious cane worked.

She was fully immersed in combat.

Then—

A booming shout came from behind them, accompanied by the rumbling engine of a three-wheeled cargo bike.

“Boss!! I’m here!!!”

Liu Bo came roaring over in the three-wheeler, drenched in sweat, his face flushed bright red.

The cargo bed was packed with large barrels of water.

And wedged between them…

Sat a young woman with a camera hanging around her neck.

It was the same girl from that morning—

The one who had insisted on soaking in the hot springs as soon as they opened.

The aspiring content creator who had come at dawn to film the hot spring and review the place—

The very customer Liu Bo had welcomed when the day began.

Xiang Yu yelled,

“Liu Bo! Why did you bring a customer here?!”

Sitting in the back with her camera hugged tightly to her chest, Ning Qiaoqiao was just as stunned.

“I came to help put out the fire!”

Without pausing her top-spinning belt assault, Xiang Yu shouted back over her shoulder,

“…I meant for you to go get people! Did you call anyone?!”

If he’d shouted that there were vicious traffickers kidnapping people, not everyone would necessarily have come.

But if he yelled that there was a fire…

That would bring the whole village running.

Instead, this idiot had actually loaded up barrels of water and rushed over.

“They’re coming!!”

No sooner had Liu Bo finished speaking than another booming voice echoed down the mountain road opposite him.

It was Ji Kailang.

Her naturally thunderous voice carried all the way across the valley.

Behind her came a vast crowd of villagers.

And in the middle of the crowd…

They were carrying a coffin.

<< _ >>

**TN

Guǐchù is an internet slang for a highly popular genre of remix/parody videos.

The post Scenic Area Ch.15 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

Early the next morning, Xiang Yu was jolted awake by a phone call.

Still half asleep, she held the phone to her ear as the person on the other end—a random customer she’d never met—chattered excitedly. The gist of it was simple: Open up already, I want to soak in the hot springs.

Where did this die-hard fan come from? It’s only seven in the morning and they’re already waiting for us to open…

With a helpless sigh, Xiang Yu dragged herself out of bed and replied groggily, “We open at eight. Eight o’clock. I’m on my way.”

The caller was a young woman, sounding about the same age as the two college students from yesterday. She chirped away like an excited little bird.

“Boss? Are you the boss? Your employee’s already here, so hurry up and get out of bed.”

What the hell? What kind of young person shows up for work an hour early? Did I accidentally recruit an overachiever?

Convinced she’d misheard, Xiang Yu asked, “What employee?”

“Your shop’s employee! He’s really… well…”

The girl spoke with genuine admiration, but after struggling for several seconds, she still couldn’t find the right word. Finally, she sighed dramatically.

“He’s just… really something! I can’t even describe it. I even asked if he’d get in the hot spring with me, and he said no.”

Xiang Yu mentally reviewed the “talented bunch” working at her shop. She’d never hired based on looks—Xiao Du, Xiao Shan, Xiao Tian, and even the accountant were all perfectly ordinary-looking people. Surely it couldn’t be Liu Bo, built like Schwarzenegger, who had caught this girl’s eye.

It didn’t take long to prove her wrong.

From the background over the phone came Liu Bo’s voice as he greeted the customer.

“Welcome, welcome. Here for the hot springs? That’s quite a big camera you’ve got there.”

“Yep! I saw an online review. It’s okay to film here, right?”

“Of course, no problem. Come on in.”

“The person opening the door is here. Thanks, Boss!”

After exchanging a few more words, the young woman hung up briskly. Evidently, in her eyes, Liu Bo had earned nothing more than the title of “the guy who opens the door.”

A customer first thing in the morning—and from the sound of it, someone visiting specifically to review the place.

That had to be a good omen.

Today’s schedule was still packed. She had to head into the city to sign a promotional contract. She had already hired professionals from a media agency to create a publicity campaign, determined to make the hot spring famous before her remaining lifespan ran out. At the very least, if she was going to die, she’d spend every last cent first.

The mornings and evenings in Hama Valley were chilly. At this hour, the valley was still draped in silken white mist.

After washing up, Xiang Yu threw on a jacket and was about to ask Liu Bo what this “new employee” business was all about…

Wait.

Don’t tell me the new employee is the special employee?!

The icy spring water she’d splashed on her face cleared her mind instantly.

She hurriedly opened the staff group chat. Right then, Liu Bo had just sent a couple of messages.

Liu Bo: Boss, you’re amazing. You actually managed to find someone like this.

Liu Bo: Is he a model you hired for the boating attraction? I invited him inside to sit down, but he said he’d just wait outside.

!!!

With a slice of bread clenched between her teeth, Xiang Yu bolted out the door.

The local family’s house wasn’t far from the hot spring. Just around the corner, the bathhouse came into view.

She spotted him from a distance.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, and long-legged, dressed in nothing more than an ordinary button-up shirt and slacks. Yet somehow, what should have looked like a standard office-worker outfit fit him with the sharp, tailored elegance of a custom-made suit.

The only unusual thing about him was his rather long hair, giving him the air of a handsome young man from a historical drama.

He didn’t have three heads or six arms, nor a fearsome face with protruding fangs. As far as she could tell, he wasn’t missing any body parts either. The anxiety Xiang Yu had been carrying eased a little.

Heaven knew that all through the previous night’s dreams, she’d imagined the hot spring welcoming some aloof immortal, an unruly divine beast, or an invincible god of war. It had been a thoroughly exhausting night’s sleep.

“Hello! Excuse me… are you the, um… employee with special qualifications for Hama Valley Hot Springs? My name is Xiang Yu. I’m the manager here.”

After binge-watching too many videos about small business owners the night before, and feeling a bit nervous, calling herself “the boss” had seemed too overbearing. She’d spent half the night wondering how to address a disabled employee without sounding insensitive, but the moment she opened her mouth, the trendy title “manager” slipped out instead.

Xiang Yu suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to bury her face in embarrassment.

“My name is Shen Jiu.”

“The specially assigned disabled employee from Hama Green.”

The man bent down slightly and extended his hand, lowering himself until they were looking each other directly in the eye.

His eyes were the dark color commonly seen among East Asians—deep, ink-black, and unfathomable.

Oh… no wonder they’d made special requests for him. He really is easy on the eyes.

He was simply, undeniably handsome.

His bone structure did most of the work: prominent brow ridges, deep-set eyes, a high nose bridge, and brows that cast a slight shadow over his eyes. His jawline was sharp and clean, tapering neatly without a trace of excess softness.

Although his hair was long, it didn’t look messy. Loose strands fell casually across his forehead and shoulders, adding a relaxed, lively charm. It wasn’t the cold, intimidating “straight black hair” often seen on aloof beauties, either. Instead, it looked soft, fluffy, and surprisingly touchable.

Even if one was accustomed to seeing men with short hair, there was nothing strange about it. It suited him so naturally that it felt as though he’d been born that way.

And somehow, he looked familiar.

That vague sense of déjà vu was similar to the feeling she’d had after eating those strange mushrooms and seeing things.

She couldn’t quite remember. After all, attractive people often shared the same textbook-perfect facial proportions. There wasn’t much novelty in that.

For a moment, Xiang Yu found herself staring blankly.

Shen Jiu patiently allowed her to look.

Only after several seconds did she snap back to reality and finally take his outstretched hand.

Wait.

What had he just said?

A specially assigned disabled employee?

As their hands met, Xiang Yu’s gaze naturally followed downward and noticed that Shen Jiu was holding a cane in his other hand.

The cane was made of heavy, dark ebony, striking enough to attract attention. Yet Shen Jiu stood so straight and carried himself with such calm composure that most people’s eyes never landed on the cane at first glance.

So he really did have difficulty walking.

Xiang Yu was still trying to figure out how to continue the conversation without sounding insensitive when her phone suddenly croaked.

Then it croaked again.

And again.

And again and again and again.

The sound was the notification tone of the Hama Green App, and it sounded unusually urgent.

The corners of Xiang Yu’s mouth twitched slightly. After apologizing, she pulled out her phone.

[Emergency Humanitarian Mission Issued]

[Location: 2.3 km ahead, North Hama Village

Target Vehicle: Silver-gray van (license plate ending in 8K9)

Mission Objective: Ensure that law enforcement intervenes in time, prevent the victim from being transported away, and guarantee the victim’s safety….

Note: This event is not related to business operations. Your highest priority is ensuring your own safety. No rewards will be granted upon completion.]

!!!

The notice claimed there would be “no completion rewards” and emphasized “your own safety comes first,” yet the entire screen was surrounded by a glaring, flashing crimson border. The mission text blinked in bright yellow, while the phone speaker croaked frantically without stopping.

None of the previous missions had ever looked like this.

A van… a victim… law enforcement…

And in a remote village like Hama Valley, dozens of kilometers from the city.

North Hama Village…

That was Pingping’s home.

Could this be… a kidnapping? Human trafficking?

Xiang Yu’s eyes slowly widened.

She sucked in a sharp breath.

2.3 kilometers ahead.

She quickly looked around.

Under the large banyan tree was the electric scooter Liu Bo rode to work. It hadn’t even been locked.

Without another thought, she swung herself onto it and shouted toward Liu Bo, who was peeking out from inside the hot spring building—far more interested in gawking at the handsome newcomer.

“Liu Bo! Go get everyone! Something’s happening in North Village! Call the police! Call the police!”

There was no time to worry about whether the newcomer was some aloof celestial immortal or rebellious divine beast from the heavens. Besides, the man had an injured leg—she couldn’t drag him into danger.

She twisted the throttle.

The scooter shot forward like an arrow released from its bow.

Xiang Yu nearly lost control.

She glanced at the speedometer.

Its starting speed was already 40 km/h, and as she kept accelerating, it climbed higher…

60 km/h.

Holy crap.

A factory electric scooter is supposed to be limited to 25!

Liu Bo, you sneaky bastard—you actually modified it!

You beautiful genius!

She silently awarded Liu Bo a mental chicken drumstick.

Meanwhile, the croaking notification from the phone in her pocket grew louder and more frantic, like a death knell urging her onward.

The system hadn’t explicitly said so, but she knew the window for rescuing the victim was incredibly short.

The criminals were only stopping here briefly after leaving the city—not making a delivery. Hama Valley might be an impoverished backwater, but it still had poverty-relief officials like Ji Kailang stationed there.

Anyone reckless enough to commit something this monstrously evil here would be skinned alive by Director Ji.  

Even if they weren’t afraid of Ji Kailang—a young woman with yellow-dyed hair—she was still a legitimate government official. Did they really think they could conduct this kind of business right under the nose of a state employee in broad daylight?

Then that meant…

They weren’t here to deliver someone.

They were here to pick up new stock.

Against a single opponent, Xiang Yu wasn’t worried. Most men in southern China weren’t as tall or as strong as she was. Growing up poor had left her tough and resilient. She’d trained in Sanda (Chinese kickboxing) at a martial arts club, worked part-time in an orthopedic clinic, delivered takeout as a gig worker, hauled packages for courier companies, and she still had a skill card she could use as a trump card.

But if it was a whole van full of people, charging in alone wasn’t likely to work.

She’d have to stall for time.

If a fight broke out, she’d fight.

If she couldn’t win, she’d run.

And even in the absolute worst-case scenario…

With barely ten days of life left anyway, dying while saving someone was a far better end than getting run over by a truck because of bad luck.

Besides, with the endurance she’d built from running at least twenty kilometers a day around campus, even if the kidnappers could beat her, they definitely couldn’t outrun her.

When she was still over a hundred meters away, she spotted exactly what the app had described.

A silver-gray van.

A short, heavyset man was talking to Pingping, who was carrying a woven basket on her back.

Xiang Yu twisted the throttle all the way.

She saw the man reach for Pingping’s basket.

Pingping clung tightly to it, refusing to let go, but her tiny body was dragged toward the van along with it.

Holy fucking shit!

There was no time to brake.

Still traveling at 60 km/h, Xiang Yu aimed the electric scooter straight at the van—and the squat man standing beside it.

From a distance, Sun Qiangyou saw something barreling toward him.

He turned, his face instantly twisting with terror.

He tried to dodge sideways—

Too late.

A huge, unstoppable force slammed violently into his waist.

The rider didn’t show the slightest hint of guilt.

For a split second, as everything happened in a flash, Sun Qiangyou thought he saw a feral grin spread across the rider’s face.

The next instant, his body was airborne.

Using nothing but his body fat to absorb the full impact of a 60 km/h collision, he was sent flying. For a brief few seconds, he even experienced the surreal sensation of weightlessness…

Bang!

Xiang Yu didn’t come away unscathed either.

The moment she hit him, the scooter was flung away by the tremendous momentum, skidding a long distance across the ground.

But she’d prepared herself mentally.

As she fell, she rolled several times, using her arms to absorb the impact. After only a couple of rolls, she was already scrambling back to her feet—

Much faster than Sun Qiangyou.

The people inside the van heard the commotion.

Another tall man stuck his head out to look, while several male voices shouted from inside.

Pingping was still standing where she was.

She looked completely frozen in fear.

She wasn’t even trying to run.

Damn it.

Still stumbling and barely steady on her feet, Xiang Yu lashed out with a flying kick—straight into the basket on Pingping’s back.

The little girl was sent stumbling several meters away before tumbling to the ground. The basket burst open, scattering wild termite mushrooms all over the road.

Planting herself between Pingping and the van, Xiang Yu put her hands on her hips and exploded in anger.

“Get lost!”

“You little thief! Last time you stole my family’s radishes, and now you’ve stolen mushrooms from my mountain!”

She deliberately stood in front of Pingping, then gave the fallen basket another hard kick.

“You’re still crying? You’ve got the stolen goods right here, and you’re still trying to deny it?!”

She reached as though she were about to grab Pingping by her braids.

Only then did the little girl finally snap out of her shock.

Forgetting all about the basket, she burst into deafening sobs and ran as fast as she could back toward the village.

[Achievement Unlocked: Kicked a Child from Beihai Kindergarten]

[Reward: One Skill Card.]

It was an incredibly timely reward.

But at a moment like this…

System, please.

This is really not the time for jokes.

The moment Xiang Yu finished her furious tirade, that notification popped into her mind.

When she turned around, she met the cold, sinister gaze of the gaunt, dark-skinned man sitting in the van.

She gave him a stiff, awkward smile, nudged the scattered termite mushrooms with her foot, then bent down to help the fat man she’d just rammed flying.

The heavyset man lay on the ground groaning miserably, squealing like a hog waiting to be slaughtered.

“Brother—big brother, I’m so sorry!” Xiang Yu wiped her face and babbled nonstop as she helped Sun Qiangyou to his feet. “The moment I saw that damned little brat, I just couldn’t stop in time. I didn’t even see you standing there!”

“That little thief stole radishes from my field last time too. She’s a repeat offender! The second she gets caught, she runs! Those mushrooms in her basket are all from my mountain—I recognize them! See the dirt stuck to them? That’s my dirt!”

“Big brother, I’m really sorry. Please take these mushrooms. I’ll take you to the hospital right now. We’ll go to the hospital immediately…”

As she spoke, the people inside the van climbed out one after another.

Nine men.

One woman.

The men came in all shapes and sizes—tall, short, fat, thin. The middle-aged woman, meanwhile, was neatly dressed and wore the kind of warm, kindly smile that made her look like an ordinary, respectable auntie.

The gaunt, dark-skinned man appeared to be the leader of the group.

After watching Xiang Yu perform her little act for a while, he raised a hand to stop her.

“You’re from this village?”

He smiled faintly, spat on the ground, then reached behind his lower back and drew a knife.

“So young…”

“Why are you growing radishes in a village like this?”

<< _ >>

The post Scenic Area Ch.14 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

“That hot spring—your wife and kids will definitely love it. It’s completely natural. You can even see the spring source with your own eyes.”

“The environment is great too. You walk in on stone slabs all the way—barefoot and your feet don’t even get dirty. Soaking in it is incredibly comfortable… If I hadn’t booked a beauty appointment I wouldn’t have wanted to leave. I’m telling you, sis knows how to enjoy life—you can trust my judgment.”

“It’s definitely the level of a high-end club. The decor is tasteful, newly opened, spotless inside, and it smells really nice—not the kind of smell that gives you a headache.”

“If your wife goes, I’ll tell the girl there. After soaking, she can do a facial too. Their technique is really good, and that volcanic mud treatment is excellent. After applying it, you can immediately feel your skin tightening. After washing your face, it feels like you’ve turned back time. Honestly, I’m already this age and I look like the Eternal Youth Mistress from Mount Tianshan…”

The driver couldn’t hold it in at the mention of “Eternal Youth Mistress from Mount Tianshan.” While carrying peaches, he accidentally let out a laugh and nearly choked.

Kan Haoli didn’t mind at all. As she spoke, she even turned on her phone’s front camera and admired herself with satisfaction. “This money was spent exactly where it should be. Not wasted at all.”

“And those eggs are good too. Only people like our generation, who’ve lived through hard times, really appreciate eggs—ah, every time I eat them I think, how can something so plain, with no oil or salt, taste this good?”

Xiao Wang listened in a daze, instinctively giving a respectful smile. “There’s actually such a good place near the city? I just worry we couldn’t afford it.”

He wasn’t trying to sound pitiful on purpose—most of the places Kan Haoli usually went to had minimum spends in the tens of thousands, so this was a practical concern.

“A few dozen yuan per person,” Kan Haoli said, rolling her eyes. “Don’t make it sound like I don’t pay your salaries properly.”

“Oh, that’s great.”

Xiao Wang was startled by the price and couldn’t quite believe that President Kan would go somewhere so affordable.

“I went mainly to support that little girl’s business. I originally just planned to top up a membership card and leave,” Kan Haoli said, growing more and more convinced she had discovered a hidden gem, a little carried away with her excitement.

“I was thinking before that if the environment was really bad, I wouldn’t do the facial there. Since it’s kind of out of the way, I even asked Xiao Du if I could just go to my house instead—but once I got there, I’m telling you, it really had something going on.”

People recommending stuff are always like this: no matter whether the listener is paying attention, they still go through their entire thought process in detail, rehashing it until they’ve convinced themselves of how good it is.

President Kan, who was usually somewhat composed, spread her hands wide and gestured like she was describing a great river:

“Just that Cangjiang River—you cross it, and once you step onto the hot spring walkway, the whole atmosphere is different! You can smell the natural mineral scent of the hot springs, full of negative oxygen ions from the virgin forest!”

“The hot spring lobby has a whole wall made of rock jade. The columns are all golden silk nanmu and huanghuali wood. The grain of that wood made me practically drool—some parts were like flowing gold, shining brightly, and the non-golden grain looked like ink-wash landscape paintings. Even the reception desk had something like honey-colored yellow jade, like beeswax, right next to the computers. I don’t know which supplier they got it from, but it was seriously high-end.”

“I originally wanted to ask about the interior design, but after soaking in the hot spring I completely forgot about it. When I came out, I saw the owner was just a young girl about the same age as my daughter.”

Kan Haoli wore a confident expression of “I knew it,” “this is an undiscovered gem,” and “I’ve still got taste.” With the unmistakable authority of a successful businessperson, she delivered her final assessment:

“She’s probably the daughter of some real estate tycoon. Rich!”

She said that “rich” with real force, so much so that her mouth was getting a bit dry by the end. She took a sip from her thermos and suddenly remembered something.

“Guess who else I saw at the place?”

“You know that guy who runs that Sheraton hotel, Liu Yu? His son works at that club.” Her eyes darkened slightly. “Is he involved in it? He’s got that kind of taste?”

“Impossible—he’s busy fooling around with his mistress. Liu Bo’s own mother has been trying to push things along all day and still hasn’t gotten anywhere. Would he have spare money to open such a big club for his son?”

Those were not topics a working-class employee should be hearing about. Xiao Wang silently nodded while carrying the last box of peaches.

“Alright, leave a box for yourself later,” Kan Haoli said, walking around to the trunk and pulling out a few bottles. “Here, take these two bottles home too. You worked hard coming out so late.”

The garage was pitch dark. Xiao Wang couldn’t see clearly what he was holding—only that they were two oily-looking jars. They probably were some kind of local specialty, like the peaches.

Refusing would make him seem ungrateful, so he grinned readily. “Got it, President Kan. This really worked out for me today.”

“Everyone gets a share,” Kan Haoli said, rummaging through the trunk again and handing a few more bottles to the driver. “Come on, take the peaches and the jars home. Thanks for your hard work, both of you.”

“That’s enough, that’s enough—you only have one bottle left yourself, Sister Kan!”

“Just take it when I tell you to! I don’t like pickled stuff!”

After a bit of back-and-forth, both Xiao Wang and the driver ended up with fully loaded trunks. Xiao Wang then followed Kan Haoli back to her home to pick up the fried dough balls she wanted to send to her daughter.

Kan Haoli pulled several large boxes of frozen tangyuan from the fridge and reminded Xiao Wang to use extra insulation and choose the most expensive courier service—don’t try to save money. While looking at the oily jars in the entryway, she started complaining again:

“This matsutake mushroom oil jar is something a little girl from the village sells. She says she goes up the mountain early in the morning to pick it. And my girl, Xiao Le’er, has such good conditions but still doesn’t appreciate anything—always asking for this and that, even making me send her parcels…”

It was the usual cycle of complaining on the surface but clearly praising underneath. Xiao Wang kept smiling politely, but under the light, he suddenly froze when he looked at the jars.

“President Kan, this is matsutake mushroom oil, right? That’s expensive stuff.”

Kan Haoli gave a vague “mm.” At the time, she had only been focused on chatting with the girl and hadn’t really paid attention to what was in her hands.

She only remembered hearing that it had to be dug up in the mountains at three in the morning—and when she saw the girl’s thin face and watery big eyes, she couldn’t help herself and went all in.

Kan Haoli wasn’t from the south. When she was young, she had never eaten wild mushrooms. Now that she had money, she was afraid of dying young and took health preservation seriously, so she didn’t eat anything risky like that.

“This one’s been deep-fried properly, it won’t poison you. It’s really fragrant.” Xiao Wang’s mouth curled up as he spoke, almost drooling as his tone became animated.

“I’ve got relatives living deep in the Xihai mountains who used to get this for me. It’s unbelievably fragrant—just a little bit mixed into noodles or rice is enough to make you eat a whole big bowl. Even plain noodles can turn into a full meal.”

He swallowed hard, struggling to contain his excitement. Matsutake was already expensive, and after frying and oil-sealing, it shrank even further. Fresh ones on the market cost nearly 200 yuan per jin. Wild mountain ingredients like this were like wild honey—you couldn’t get the real thing unless you knew the right people.

And from what President Kan said, this came straight from the mountains. That alone made it feel priceless. Even better, there were still three jars left in his trunk—President Kan had said each of the three people in his household could take one.

That’s almost a thousand yuan worth!

The boss is generous.

Watching Xiao Wang leave happily, as if he had just received an early year-end bonus, Kan Haoli frowned in confusion and picked up the dark jar again to inspect it.

She had only bought it because she was helping out that little girl, Pippin. She’d bought peaches as company welfare, and as for the matsutake mushroom oil, she was worried employees might get stomach issues, so she only gave it to Xiao Wang and the driver.

She lived alone after her divorce, and her daughter was abroad, so she only kept one small jar and two peaches for herself—just a little taste of something new. The rest she had given away.

She vaguely remembered that the two little girls in the lobby said the peaches were very sweet…

She had originally planned to find a peeler, but after rubbing the soft peach skin in her hand, she decided it wasn’t necessary. She carefully bit into it instead.

The peach was so juicy it felt like it was wrapped in water. With the slightest pressure, juice burst out from the opening and rushed into her mouth.

She quickly closed her lips to contain it, and along with the juice came the soft, melt-in-the-mouth flesh of the peach.

The sweet peach pulp flowed from her tongue down her throat, filling her entire mouth with the rich, sugary flavor of fruit juice.

…To maintain her figure, Kan Haoli hadn’t eaten anything this sweet for a long time.

But when that intense, almost domineering sweetness flooded her mouth, she still couldn’t help letting out a soft sigh. Sugar—something humans had desperately pursued since ancient times—was not something so easily controlled.

Reluctantly, she pulled the shriveled peach away and took a closer look. Most of the flesh inside had already turned into nectar-like juice; only a small amount of pale yellow pulp clung to the skin, with a faint amber-colored pit visible in the center.

It felt like drinking a beverage—she had finished an entire peach in just a few bites.

Her hand unconsciously reached for the next one. The taste of peach still lingered in her mouth, but there was no sour aftertaste that usually came after overly sweet candy. Natural fruit sugar had a clean, unprocessed purity that additives could never replicate.

The peach in her hand was soft and full of moisture, covered in a fine white fuzz. Its skin was pink-white, its flesh a gentle pale yellow—the flavor was tender and sweet in the most delicate way.

At her age, she already had to control sugar intake and resist aging. It took considerable effort for Kan Haoli to put the peach down and open the matsutake mushroom oil instead, picking at it with chopsticks to taste it.

…She immediately regretted it.

She should have sent it to Xiao Le instead—didn’t her daughter always say the food abroad was terrible?

If she had known, she shouldn’t have given so much away. She should have had Xiao Wang send it all out.

Forget it. She could always go back to the hot spring place again—she could buy more next time.

The empty mansion felt lonely when she was alone. Leaning against the entryway, Kan Haoli sighed while touching her well-maintained, smooth skin.

She took out an old family photo and looked at it. She gently touched her daughter’s face, then glanced at her ex-husband on the other side—despite living comfortably at home, his face looked wrinkled like tree bark. The more she looked, the tighter her brows became.

At that moment, a WeChat notification popped up.

“—Hey Sister Kan, I heard you went out to have fun this weekend? Why didn’t you bring your little brother along? I could’ve driven for you.”

Kan Haoli, who was already thinking about when she could go soak in the hot springs and apply volcanic mud again, frowned and casually deleted the greasy message with a flick of her finger.

She toyed with her jade pendant, growing more and more regretful.

“I should’ve gotten the boss’s contact information… I wonder if they’d be willing to host company team-building events. I’ll ask Xiao Du later.”

——

Xihai University

“Still not sleeping?”

Li Qian climbed onto the upper bunk and looked at the light still glowing behind the bed curtains with some surprise.

She had just come back from the hot springs and felt completely refreshed, so she’d gone to bed early, ready to enjoy a high-quality, blissful sleep.

Among their roommates, Gu Xiaoshuang had the weakest health—an extremely delicate stomach and poor qi and blood. She was basically their “gold standard” for testing whether takeout food was safe.

It was said that a fortune teller once declared she wouldn’t live past fifteen. Her parents had raised her with extreme caution, and she had somehow made it to university under careful protection. Even skipping a little sleep could make her dizzy, breathless, or even cause chest pain. During exams, she would rather fail courses than stay up late.

Yet now, almost midnight, she was actually sitting there typing away on her computer.

“Did I disturb you?” Xiaoshuang peeked out from behind the curtains and dimmed the desk lamp slightly. “I’m writing a review for the campus wall post. I promised the boss.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Li Qian quickly waved her hand. “It’s just rare seeing you stay up late. You usually lie down before ten. Why are you working so hard just for a review?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Gu Xiaoshuang said, crossing her legs and starting to chat with her.

“My family actually used to consult a very skilled expert. I’m feeling really good today. After the hot spring, I’ve got a lot of energy. I even chatted with my friend just now.”

“What the TCM doctor told me before was that my body had cold-dampness, and I should exercise a bit to sweat it out and expel the ‘dirty stuff’ inside my body. But I can barely climb stairs. Last year I went to the gym and ended up spraining my foot and straining my back…”

“And then it turned into a vicious cycle—the less I exercise, the weaker I get; the weaker I get, the less I can exercise. Even in the hottest days of summer I break out in cold sweat, and the more I try to ‘tonify’ myself, the worse it gets.”

“A so-called master told me I should ‘connect with the earth’—some kind of natural healing energy therapy. In TCM, the ‘earth element’ corresponds to the spleen and stomach, responsible for digesting grains and nourishing the whole body. The earth has energy, and walking barefoot in rural mud can cure illness by absorbing the earth’s geopathic energy…”

“I thought about it and realized—this is basically the same thing as that hot spring. Soaking in natural pools lets you absorb and balance your body’s energy. Isn’t that the same idea?”

Li Qian, who had been raised under the red flag and in the spring breeze, had never heard such theories before, and showed a slightly stunned expression.

“Hey, don’t just dismiss it,” Xiaoshuang said. “Energy fields and magnetic fields are within the realm of science, right? Even rich foreigners believe in manifestation—it’s basically the same thing.”

Seeing that Li Qian didn’t agree, Gu Xiaoshuang huffed.

“I think it makes sense. That place’s energy field just really matches me. I’m going to post it like that.”

“Go ahead, go ahead, Your Highness,” Li Qian said, pulling her blanket up comfortably and wrapping herself in it.

“Next time we should go again. It’s actually closer than going into the city anyway. We can eat eggs, roasted marshmallows, and do face masks.”

“I think it’s the earth’s energy field that made the acne and inflammation on your face go down.”

“That’s a bit too far, isn’t it? Besides, you also used the volcanic mud the boss gave us. That’s the mud doing the work.”

“The volcanic mud is just the earth’s energy.”

“Maybe they just mixed antibiotics into the mud. Didn’t you say before that some places used to mix metformin into ‘blood sugar lowering’ herbal medicine, or even lead powder into face masks?”

Even while saying that, Li Qian still pinched her soft, smooth cheeks and felt instantly happy again.

“But come to think of it… even if they did add something, I’d still accept it. Hey, should we get an annual pass? Do they even have annual passes there?”

“Of course it’s fine!” Gu Xiaoshuang, who had been hesitant to apply the volcanic mud mask in the hot spring earlier, had now completely turned into a devoted believer of volcanic mud. Her hair almost seemed to “stand on end” in excitement.

“Don’t talk nonsense! If they really added anything, my face would’ve already swollen into a pig head by now!”

“True… and you’re such a sensitive-skin type. You used it and you’re totally fine.”

The two chatted casually back and forth. After Li Qian fell asleep, Gu Xiaoshuang organized her “grand essay” and gave it an imposing title:

“A Study on the Effects of Surface Thermal Flow Bio-Electromagnetic Storm Energy on the Human Body: A Case Study of Hama Valley Glacier Hot Springs”

She then submitted it to the Xihai University campus wall group chat:

— “Admin, admin, please post this hot spring review for classmates’ reference (^▽^)”

— “Okay~”

— “Wait a second… classmate, what exactly is this you sent? Is electromagnetic storm and hot springs the innovation point of your graduation thesis?”

<< _ >>

The post Scenic Area Ch.13 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

[Current remaining lifespan of Tianbai Snow Mountain Hama Valley Glacier Park: 19 days]

[[First Opening] quest completed. Special project collaboration staff have been dispatched. Please proceed to the Three Realms Talent Exchange System to sign the labor contract as soon as possible.]

[[Earn satisfaction from 50 customers] Gain 5 days of lifespan. Current progress: 6%]

[[Earn satisfaction from 20 employees] Gain one skill card reward. Current progress: 25%]

After seeing off the guests, the hot spring closed for the day. The employees gradually finished work as well. Lying on a small wooden bed in a villager’s home, Xiang Yu stared at the “Hama Green App,” a faint melancholy rising in her heart.

Only three customers came on opening day, yet satisfaction was 100%. Each of them left with extravagant praise. The two college students were already polishing their promotional copy while roasting marshmallows in the lobby.

The wealthy “sister” even patted her chest, saying she would promote the place within her high-society circle, and suggested that Xiang Yu should launch premium services in the tens of thousands range so it would be easier to break into the market. Rich people didn’t really want to soak in a bathhouse that cost only a few dozen yuan.

If it weren’t for the fact that she only had 19 days left to live, this rushed opening could be considered a pretty good start.

But time waited for no one. Right now, it was the classic case of “good wine fears a deep alley.”

If Liu Bo’s borderline-shady marketing actually worked, he wouldn’t even need a job—he’d just spend all day filming videos and pushing them across platforms. Unfortunately, the trend now wasn’t the Schwarzenegger type anymore; girls preferred lean, lightly muscled physiques.

Xiang Yu bought promotions on several local platforms, but the more popular ones had schedules booked months in advance. The employees were also anxious—this ragtag team somehow had a surprising sense of ambition.

Perhaps because they were all the same age, it felt less like working and more like a university club. After Liu Bo’s “edgy marketing plan,” they even took the initiative to go distribute flyers, stuffing postcards into hotel door gaps like crazy.

She didn’t dare imagine what the people who received those little flyers would think when they picked them up and saw:

Front: “Welcome to the Hospitable Hama Valley”

Back: “So close, so beautiful—spend your weekend at Hama Valley”

She still had a few local influencer accounts under negotiation. They were clearly trying to take advantage of her desperation—like they were trying to squeeze her dry while she was already down. If no customer flow came in soon, she’d have no choice but to burn money and buy traffic outright.

Her funding hadn’t been released yet. Fortunately, she had saved some money from part-time jobs during university. At this point of survival-or-death stakes, she could only grit her teeth and spend it.

Feeling the looming pressure of fate like a speeding truck, Xiang Yu forced herself into survival mode. She rummaged through the Hama Green App and clicked through every red-dot notification in her inbox.

All she had in her backpack were volcanic mud and hot spring eggs—and one skill card she hadn’t drawn yet. It didn’t look like it would be of much help.

The system had said new employees would arrive, but she had no idea whether she could even afford their wages. The boss was now so broke she was seriously considering going back to food delivery.

She took out the labor contract again to look it over.

Thankfully, these new employees weren’t part of any traditional employment relationship and didn’t follow normal human labor procedures.

The employer (Party A) did not need to pay wages, social insurance, or any labor compensation. They only needed to provide lodging and a place to operate, and allow the employee (Party B) to interact with customers within their job scope.

Any special food provided by Party A was considered charitable care and did not count as salary or employment compensation.

Employees must obey the basic rules of the premises—actively cooperate with business operations, not intentionally harm or frighten customers, and avoid endangering the safety of the site due to excessive negativity, irritability, or other adverse states (see Appendix S1). Otherwise, the contract could be terminated early and the employee returned.

Looks like the ones they were sending over… were going to be troublemakers.

Xiang Yu clicked into the appendix and read it carefully.

The entity responsible for the appendix was the Office for Resource Allocation and Wounded Personnel Resettlement after the Fourth “Myriad Paths War.”

In short, not long ago, the Three Realms had just gone through a massive, earth-shaking war. It had left countless people severely injured. Even after nearly a hundred years of recovery in the Heavenly Court, the number of wounded remained extremely high. To address this, they were now providing qualified severely injured personnel with work opportunities in specific locations in the human realm, allowing them to gather “faith value” as a form of special therapeutic resource.

Faith value—in simple terms, was exposure.

Xiang Yu began to vaguely understand what this app was for. If traffic and visibility could be converted into cultivation power or healing resources, then in an era dominated by livestreams and short videos, this system was practically made for it.

Things that in ancient times required shamans performing rituals and elaborate acts of mysticism just to secure a single temple’s worth of offerings could now be achieved through MCN-style traffic pushing and viral marketing.

This truly was a mutually beneficial project. Xiang Yu got free staff, the injured received employment placement, the Heavenly Court solved its resource shortages, and all three realms were keeping up with the times.

The system even used very modern bilingual terminology. Special employees were labeled “Differentiated Ability Users / Differently Abled,” a respectful phrasing for “disabled employees.”

Not a single word explicitly said they were injured—just that they had “different abilities” and “abilities,” all wrapped in a polished, internationally aligned tone of correctness.

No wonder employment was so competitive now. Even demons, gods, and all sorts of strange beings had to find jobs—and your competitors might not even be human.

The résumé of the first “Differentiated Ability User” had already been sent to her email.

Xiang Yu squinted at it. It was just one line:

“A cornerstone of the vast Heavenly Realm’s guardianship, an immovable monument of order—patrolling the heavens, expelling evil, sealing calamities.”

It gave off a feeling like… a mythic war god trying to ride a beat-up electric scooter.

That line of “cornerstone,” all that talk of “order,” “guardianship,” and “immovable monument”—and in the end, the guy is coming to work at a tiny private shop. It had the overwhelming vibe of the eldest son playing it safe and becoming a security guard.

The headhunter-style introduction below it was even more outrageous, describing him like this:

He is the embodiment of two great laws—“All Sources Returning to Origin” and “Sealing Calamity.” His status is transcendent; wherever his true form rests, evil retreats. His existence itself is a symbol of the Heavenly Realm’s ever-flowing wealth and unbreakable gates—he breathes the cosmos, carrying supreme majesty.

That restrained, heavy kind of “aura” was overwhelming… everything from heavenly mandate, to fundamental laws, to being above ordinary divine positions. The more Xiang Yu read, the more her phone felt like it was burning in her hand. She scrolled all the way to the end.

Job placement: attracting wealth, warding off evil, securing the household.

……

Oh no. So this was basically an application to become a door guardian stone lion?

Faced with these unfamiliar special-assignment employees, Xiang Yu proceeded with extreme caution.

These dispatched employees were not being given out as “benefits,” but rather as “problems.”

Helping the Heavenly Realm solve unemployment was the exchange condition for the assistance she received from the system.

The appendix explained that the injured personnel had highly specialized skills, mostly combat-oriented, and were severely mismatched with the human world’s ordinary job market in services, manufacturing, and administration. The cultural gap between the two sides was significant, so the employer had to carefully arrange suitable positions.

And more obviously, these employees were basically a group of “education system dropouts” in practical terms—she couldn’t expect them to handle accounting, maintenance, engineering, or other technical jobs either.

Finding work these days was really too hard. A month ago, it was just her own joblessness. Now that she had a “golden finger,” she was suddenly responsible for the employment of a whole group of people.

She had gone from criticizing Old Hao… to becoming Old Hao… and then surpassing Old Hao.

She closed the app.

No sooner had she done so than her worries deepened.

Lying back on the creaky wooden bed, she turned over and stared at the night sky through the gaps in the roof tiles.

The night in Hama Valley was very comfortable. When the city was under a heatwave warning, this place still kept temperatures that required a jacket to sleep through the night. Through a small crack in the wall, one could see seven or eight stars.

If one had the leisure to lie in the courtyard, they could see the sky stretching soft and deep like a silk curtain, and the Milky Way shimmering brightly.

That night when she had been overwhelmed by hallucinations from wild mushrooms, she had looked up at the sky and seen its light so dense it resembled fireflies. The galaxy drifted through the darkness like scattered silver fragments, flowing and rotating gently. The entire starfield was in quiet motion—truly no different from Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

Outside the window, quails and cuckoos called intermittently. Their “gugu” and “guaguaji” sounds strangely resembled frog calls, not at all annoying. What was more irritating, however, were the rustling noises under the bed—maybe mice, maybe cockroaches.

The hot spring’s starter package renovation only covered customer-facing areas. Xiang Yu was currently staying in a villager’s mud house, and when she turned over, she was facing an uneven earthen wall.

Still, it was comfortable enough to sleep. She had taken the system-provided straw mat and pine needle bedding—it was soft, thick, and carried a faint clean fragrance.

Only the indoor hot spring area was unlocked on the app’s map. All other icons—canteen, dormitory, town, glacier—were greyed out. She wanted a canteen selling mushroom dishes, and a better employee dormitory.

According to the planning map, those two areas were in the town section. But survival required traffic, unlocking the map required traffic, and new employees also required traffic…

The night was cool as water. For a moment she thought about how she absolutely needed to spend money on promotion tomorrow to break the deadlock. Then she thought the noises under the bed were too annoying and she should raise a cat. Slowly, lulled by the faint scent of pine needles, she drifted into sleep.

—

Meanwhile, in the city, nightlife had only just begun.

Kan Haoli stepped out of her Bentley and instructed her assistant to unload box after box of peaches from the trunk.

“Xiao Wang, put them in your car. Bring them to the company pantry tomorrow and let everyone have a taste. Be gentle with them.”

The assistant Xiao Wang helped the driver lift boxes, sweating profusely as he worked. While carrying them, he chatted:

“Such good peaches! Life’s good working under Ms. Kan. Where did you go for a trip that you brought back so many local specialties?”

“I went to get my face washed,” Kan Haoli said lazily, standing nearby with her arms folded, idly turning her jade bracelet as she sighed.

“Don’t even get me started. That place was really good. Didn’t I have a membership at RuiMei before? That little girl quit her job. Before leaving, she sent me a long message apologizing, saying she couldn’t wash my face anymore after she resigned, and even said sorry for wasting my money on the membership. Tell me—wasn’t she adorable?”

Xiao Wang immediately understood what she meant.

“Oh, that girl from Xihai University, right? That’s why people say university students really are more cultured.”

A competent assistant always knew his boss’s preferences. He secretly studied Kan Haoli’s face again and felt it looked brighter than before. She must’ve gone through some kind of “advanced treatment” this time.

He said sincerely, “What kind of treatment did you do this time? The effect is amazing—Ms. Kan, your skin looks like those early-twenties girls in our office building.”

“Oh my, I think so too. Students from proper universities really are different.”

No woman disliked hearing that. Kan Haoli touched her face, smiling so widely she couldn’t close her mouth. Then she stamped her high heel lightly on the ground, her fingers resting loosely on her arm as she sighed:

“That girl is about the same age as my daughter. Very diligent, very polite. Even apologized to me—so innocent. When I first entered society, I was just like that too, always careful not to upset clients. Now life’s better, I can help where I can.”

“Now that I’m older, I still feel sorry when I see young girls like that. My daughter, isn’t she at some university in California… Johns Hopkins or something? She applied herself, I don’t really understand it. Kids these days—she’s never short of money, yet she still says she doesn’t eat well. I even told her she can eat at Michelin restaurants whenever she wants. Guess what she said?”

“She said she’s getting anorexia soon, and all she wants to eat are the fried glutinous rice balls I make. Tell me, what does she even know?”

“So I’m telling you, compared to those kids who still do part-time jobs during holidays, she’s just had too easy a life. Xiao Wang, come upstairs with me later and help me pack some fried dough balls and dumplings to send to her.”

That overwhelming display of “humble-bragging” left Xiao Wang no choice but to catch the underlying message and put on a flattering smile at just the right moment.

“Our Xiao Kan is just acting spoiled with you. She even told me before that she misses her mom terribly and keeps waiting for you to visit her.”

“I’m not going,” Kan Haoli said bluntly. “I don’t understand what she says half the time, and I can’t eat properly over there. It’s way more fun here domestically—the hot springs today were really something.”

Talking about leisure again, Kan Haoli perked up. She straightened slightly and said enthusiastically:

“Your daughter is entering middle school this year, right? Are you planning to take her somewhere to travel?”

Xiao Wang froze for a moment, then gave an honest, slightly awkward smile.

“Not yet. She’s been insisting on going to the Maldives or something… kids nowadays see everything on the internet. I think traveling within China is already good enough. Plus I still have work. If we go anywhere, it’ll probably just be her and her mom.”

For an ordinary salaryman, overseas travel really wasn’t something you could decide on a whim. Especially not in front of your boss.

When the boss herself was only doing day trips within the province, talking about Singapore, Malaysia, or Thailand would feel… a bit presumptuous.

Xiao Wang very tactfully added, “Ms. Kan, you know my situation. House prices dropped these past few years and I still haven’t finished my mortgage. I’ve basically lost two or three hundred thousand yuan. Every morning my wife and I wake up and talk about money… we really don’t have spare energy for the Maldives.”

Kan Haoli clapped her hands, looking rather pleased, and said proudly:

“I’ve found a great place for you!”

<< _ >>

The post Scenic Area Ch.12 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

The aunt had also changed her clothes, now wearing the same jingling silk qipao she arrived in.

At this moment, she looked even more radiant than before entering.

Like Li Qian, she was still the same person—but her “brightness level” had been turned up by a full degree.

The aunt had always dressed elegantly and strikingly to begin with. Now, her face, along with her gold necklace, jade pendant, and large gemstone jewelry, all seemed to sparkle.

Du Zhilan truly lived up to her reputation as a senior “black worker” trained at a well-known chain beauty salon—her technique was excellent. She had shaped the aunt’s eyebrows, giving them a slightly lifted arch that made her eyes look especially sharp.

With vivid lips, a refined updo, and a piercing gaze, she stood there radiating the aura of a capable career woman. Every gesture carried a strong, mature executive presence.

She stood at Xiang Yu’s front desk and casually pulled out a black-and-gold card from her handbag.

“Top up 50,000 yuan first for bathing and facial services. Put the performance credit under Xiao Du.”

She clicked her tongue, then looked around the lobby again with some uncertainty.

“Do you have a monthly minimum spending requirement? Do you need asset verification to get a hot spring membership?”

Xiang Yu’s eyes were almost dazzled by all the jewelry. Holding the card, she laughed helplessly.

“Thank you for your trust, but we’re a scenic spot and currently don’t offer stored-value accounts. We can convert it into specific services, like volcanic mud treatments or private hot spring rooms…”

“Alright. I’ll bring my friends next time.”

The rich lady clearly thought this was a high-end club. Hearing “scenic spot,” she even laughed a little, finding it amusing.

“A scenic spot? What scenery do you even have here—just that frog stone squatting on the hill by the Cangjiang River?”

Leaning against the counter, she toyed with her sunglasses and glanced around the decor. Although she had just made fun of them, she still nodded in approval.

“Honestly, your hot spring water quality and interior design could easily compete with high-end clubs. The places I’ve been to that require membership fees and minimum spending don’t even compare to yours.”

“It’s just that the place is a bit small, and there aren’t many staff. You should really develop the outdoor hot spring area and look into investment and financing. Your boss must not be short on money to build something like this in a remote mountain valley.”

Liu Bo chuckled awkwardly beside them and pointed at Xiang Yu.

“This is the boss.”

“Oh? A young hero indeed,” the wealthy aunt gave a thumbs-up. “When I was young, I was just as bold. So, do you have any plans next?”

“Yes. We’ll eventually dig out the outdoor area too—the snow mountain scenery is also beautiful there. You’re welcome to come again then.”

Gu Xiaoshuang, who had been squatting at the front desk desperately trying to get more volcanic mud, couldn’t join this high-end conversation and quietly retreated to the corner.

Xiao Tian walked around the pools carrying snacks, but didn’t find anyone. When she came back out, Xiang Yu gave her a signal.

Liu Bo went to help prepare the volcanic mud for the girls, while Xiao Tian carried a basket of snacks—glutinous rice cakes, candied dates, chestnuts, and a small stove—and placed them in front of the two girls.

“What is this?” they asked.

“It’s ‘brewing tea around the hearth.’ You must be hungry after soaking.”

Smiling, Xiang Yu watched as Xiao Tian set up a small stove, placing glossy black walnut charcoal underneath.

On top, she placed an iron rack, and in the center, a thick red clay teapot. A brick of tea was dropped inside, and then a wooden box was brought out.

The rack itself was beautifully crafted wood, engraved on both sides with a line of poetry:

“Green ants and newly brewed wine; a small red clay stove.”

Inside the box were neatly arranged snacks—chestnuts, peanuts, red dates, rice cakes, longans, oranges, dried tofu, and small cucumbers—forming a full “nine-grid” assortment.

There were also skewers of marshmallows. Xiao Tian handed them to the girls, signaling them to place them over the stove to roast and eat.

Yes, this was the familiar cross-world version of a social experience product—“ brewing tea around the hearth”—often criticized by media for being overpriced, low in actual substance, and packaging a “return to simplicity” aesthetic into a kind of new-Chinese consumption tax.

But the fact that a pot of tea with a few simple snacks could still sell for 199 yuan and become popular meant there was clearly a reason it worked.

A few friends gathering together—rather than just drinking tea, having a stove in the middle gives them something to do. They can grab whatever they want to eat, roast whatever they feel like roasting.

Even if it’s an awkward reunion where no one knows what to say, just having a couple of “raw sweet potatoes” in front of them gives them an excuse to talk while pretending they’re just roasting food.

And the low “cost performance” is only from the consumer’s perspective. For the owner—especially someone like Xiang Yu in a remote mountain valley—the contents of that nine-grid tray were mostly free anyway. Only the marshmallows were bought from a convenience store. The peanuts, red dates, longans, and dried tofu were all in surplus supply, even collected from nearby villagers by Director Ji. The villagers were so happy they even pointed out peanut and sweet potato fields and told her to harvest freely.

Because the ferry doesn’t run all the time, she had been worried that guests might get bored waiting. So she came up with something to help them pass the time.

Liu Bo had suggested installing arcade machines, projectors, or even a PS5 lounge. But arcade machines were expensive and limited in number, which would lead to people fighting over controllers. Projectors were barely useful, and besides, who still watches movies these days? People just watch commentary videos at double speed now.

Brewing tea around the hearth, on the other hand, was perfect.

Its cost was basically just dried snacks that city people didn’t care for. After coming out of the hot spring, people were exhausted and needed to replenish energy anyway, so they wouldn’t complain about free snacks.

Waiting for the ferry also stopped feeling boring. Marshmallows had to be held carefully or they’d melt; a sweet potato could take half an hour to roast. By the time the boat arrived, guests would still feel they hadn’t finished cooking it.

Just like letting customers make their own hot spring eggs—factory-made results might be more controlled and perfect, but involving guests in the process created a sense of attachment. It also made the experience more interesting.

All of that was from a business perspective.

From the guests’ side, however, the two girls were already completely captivated. Li Qian pulled out her phone and snapped photos furiously.

“Xiaoshuang, Xiaoshuang, move your skewer away! Put your phone down! You’re blocking my shot!”

“Wow, this is so pretty!”

Gu Xiaoshuang bounced up and pulled out her phone. “I’ll help you with lighting—go ahead and take your photos first. I’m going to use this for a good review. No, wait, I’m posting this on my Moments—I need to update my social feed!”

“Remember to shoot from different angles! I need to post too!”

Beside the charcoal stove was a wooden nine-grid tray, each compartment filled with brightly colored dried fruits and snacks. It was decorated with white gauze ribbons and dried flowers—elegant to the point of excess. Even the well-traveled wealthy aunt leaned in to take a few photos.

The charcoal slowly heated up.

Small tangerines began to steam with soft puffing sounds. The deep red of the dates grew richer. A chestnut on the side suddenly cracked open with a pop, revealing its golden, fluffy interior.

The entire air filled with the aroma of nuts and caramel, mixed with a rich citrus scent like orange essential oil.

The marshmallows cooked the fastest. The parts exposed directly to the flame formed a crisp, golden-brown shell. That caramel fragrance clearly came from it. On the surface it looked harmless, but inside it had already melted into a flowing core. Once broken open, hot, sweet syrup spilled out, burning the tongue and making people jump in surprise.

Li Qian swallowed with difficulty, forcing down a marshmallow that felt like molten lava, but honestly continued roasting the next skewer. Her eyes weren’t idle either.

She noticed the carved poem on the wooden rack and let out a soft “huh.”

“‘Green ants newly brewed wine, a small red clay stove…’ That poem is about warming wine, right? And drinking. Boss, you got the reference wrong.”

The aunt clapped her hands after peeling a chestnut.

“Students really are cultured.”

“Who said there’s no wine?”

Xiang Yu smiled faintly.

“If I dared engrave a poem on it, then of course there’s good wine. Want some?”

She paused for effect, then continued:

“Homemade peach wine from the villagers—sweet peach wine made with peaches and rock sugar. We also have fresh, big, sweet peaches, the flesh as sweet as rock sugar. You can drink it with a straw. If you go out to the ferry at the village entrance, they’re selling it there.”

“Hama Valley produces a lot of peaches. Everything is sold at origin prices, no forced consumption. The peanuts and red dates in the roasting tray were all from villagers’ homes—some of them were still freshly picked this morning. They also asked me to bring the peaches and wine over for everyone to try. If you think it’s good, you can take some home, or help give a like in the agricultural livestream…”

“Oh—that livestream.”

Gu Xiaoshuang remembered. She had encountered similar work during her student union duties.

“Our school’s partner poverty-alleviation county is also Hama Valley. One year, the faculty summer gift boxes were all Hama Valley peaches, and we even organized people to join the livestream just to boost viewer numbers.”

Eating the free peanuts and dates first, and then buying some agricultural products on the way out didn’t feel offensive at all.

And if it really was farmers’ produce, people were even more willing to buy it—it would feel fresher, cheaper, and more trustworthy than what they got from middlemen. Many people in China thought this way.

The next step was the usual livestream sales segment.

Director Ji and several village cadres still had some authority among the villagers, almost like a “Qin Shi Huang-style unification of standards,” setting unified prices and sales methods for oil mushrooms, peaches, and peach wine to ensure no one overcharged tourists.

Even though today’s business was still rather quiet, the villagers had still prepared their specialties and were waiting patiently in woven baskets at the ferry and the hot spring entrance, hoping someone might stop by.

Fortunately, among today’s guests, there was a kind-hearted wealthy lady.

When Xiao Pingping—a third-grade girl wearing an apron—walked over unsteadily carrying a large peach and a basket of oil mushrooms, the rich aunt immediately stood up.

She stepped forward dramatically, took the tray from the child’s hands, and fussed over her as she sat her down, even stuffing a marshmallow skewer into the little girl’s hand.

This livestream “host” had been personally selected by Director Ji. Pingping’s father had passed away early, and in the village only her mother and her remained, making their family the most financially vulnerable. They were therefore given priority access to sell products inside the hot spring venue.

Yesterday, Director Ji Kailang had personally gone to Pingping’s home, made the little girl take a bath, brought her a set of clean clothes, and even had her mother braid her hair into twin plaits.

The child wasn’t especially beautiful, and she was somewhat thin—but her eyes were huge and bright, like the iconic “Hope Project” poster girl. When someone looked into those eyes staring straight at them, it was almost impossible to refuse anything she asked.

No opening speech was needed—the wealthy aunt immediately pulled Pingping into her arms and started asking questions.

“How old are you?”

“What grade are you in?”

“Where are your parents?”

“Oh dear, such a young child already helping the family sell peaches…”

Li Qian and Gu Xiaoshuang had tried the samples first. The peach wine and fresh peaches were shockingly good—so good it was almost unbelievable—but unfortunately, their budget for this trip had already been maxed out, so they didn’t even dare try the oil mushrooms.

Fresh peaches could also be sold individually. Fully ripened ones were cut open and served with a straw, like milk tea, priced at eight yuan each.

The pricing wasn’t benchmarked against fruit—it was benchmarked against milk tea.

The peaches were placed inside transparent square milk-tea cups, topped with rounded plastic lids. A straw hole was inserted so people could drink directly.

Xiang Yu had even custom-made cute labels for them, giving them a milk-tea-style name: “One Big Juicy Peach.”

It was cheap, and both Gu Xiaoshuang and Li Qian each bought one. After the hot spring, they lay slumped on the sofa, sipping peach pulp and roasting sweet potatoes, looking completely like carefree immortals who had forgotten the world.

The front desk suddenly rang with a jingle, and an announcement came through the speakers: the ferry was about to arrive, and departing visitors should prepare to head to the dock.

Director Ji Kailang rushed over to check today’s “operating results,” only to find the entire lobby in an eerily relaxed state.

A wealthy aunt was holding Pingping, chatting intimately with her. Meanwhile, the two young women looked as if their souls had been drained, collapsed like noodles on the sofa.

Not a single person in the hall moved when the ferry announcement sounded.

This… what exactly was going on?

Were you all not planning to leave anymore?

<< _ >>

**TN

Brewing Tea Around the Hearth:

The post Scenic Area Ch.11 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

Gu Xiaoshuang spoke cautiously. “You seem a little brighter.”

“Touch me! Go on, touch me!”

Li Qian came rushing over with excited yelps, completely forgetting about maintaining any dignity. She slid several meters across the shore on her knees, stretched her neck out as far as she could, and eagerly thrust her face forward for inspection.

“Are you asking for a beating?” Gu Xiaoshuang’s mouth twitched. Patiently setting down the egg, she leaned in for a closer look. “It does seem brighter. Did some of your acne clear up?”

“Then touch it!”

Without waiting for an answer, Li Qian grabbed Gu Xiaoshuang’s hand and pressed it against her face.

Smooth. Soft.

Her fingertips were met with a full, supple texture. A light press revealed lively elasticity that bounced right back.

Li Qian used to stay up late constantly and lived on takeout food. Her face had always been covered with acne and looked dull and sallow, making people forget that this college-aged woman was actually in the prime of her youth.

It was still the same face as before, but now it seemed almost magnetic. Gu Xiaoshuang rubbed it a couple more times, turning it left and right to examine it, increasingly reluctant to let go. The more she looked, the more horrified her expression became.

“It’s real. Your whole face looks clearer and more radiant… I’ve heard beauty salons sometimes put tone-up cream on customers so they think their skin looks better when they leave.”

“Are you an idiot?”

Li Qian was equally shocked.

“I washed my face myself just now. If I wanted tone-up cream, I’d have had to put it on myself.”

Gu Xiaoshuang sucked in a sharp breath. “Then how do you feel right now?”

Li Qian looked like she was about to cry.

“It feels amazing… seriously amazing. Have you ever watched those stress-relief videos where people extract blackheads or peel off face masks? I feel like my face used to be covered by a layer of dry, greasy film, and that mud just pulled all of it off. Now it feels like every pore on my face is breathing. Looking back, what kind of miserable life was I making them endure before…?”

“Never watched those,” Gu Xiaoshuang replied, “but I have seen Cooking Master Boy. You know those scenes where someone lifts the lid off a pot and everything starts glowing?”

“That’s exactly what you look like right now.”

Gu Xiaoshuang’s hand slid across her face like she was trying to “take advantage” of her, rubbing it over and over as she evaluated it.

“It’s like you’ve put on foundation—no, actually not. Foundation has a powdery feel and can cake. Yours just feels washed clean. Not oily, not dull, and your complexion is really healthy and full of vitality.”

“So refreshing,” Li Qian said a little dazedly. “When I was applying it, it felt really dry and tight, but after washing it off it became super moisturized. My skin feels so soft and hydrated right now, like velvet.”

It was like she was starting to fall in love with her own face…

The two of them looked at each other. Gu Xiaoshuang was the first to look away, turning her gaze to the wooden bowl that had already been scraped completely empty.

“We really got a bargain without realizing it.”

Li Qian chuckled. She suddenly remembered there was still a clump of mud on her arm and, right in front of Gu Xiaoshuang, scraped it off.

“Look at my arm.”

It was still the same arm, but she rubbed it a few times. “It feels softer. It probably has some kind of keratin-regulating effect.”

“I feel like your face is tighter too,” Gu Xiaoshuang said, unable to take her eyes off her. Her expression was full of amazement.

“Those pimples near your nose—you usually don’t dare to squeeze them, right? I feel like they’ve gone down. Even your smile lines are lighter. You’re not all wrinkly anymore. It feels like you’ve turned into…”

She slammed her fist into her palm as if remembering something. “Huba!”

Smooth, like a giant white radish.

“What are you even saying?! That’s basically changing species! Is that even scientific?!”

“This volcanic mud isn’t scientific either,” Gu Xiaoshuang said, still in disbelief, picking up the instruction sheet under the tray.

“It enhances skin elasticity and radiance, absorbs dirt and oil, cleans pores… removes aged keratin… keeps the skin hydrated and glowing?”

Wait. It actually works?

But since skincare products are usually expected to exaggerate their claims, the fact that none of this was false advertising was almost its own kind of scam.

The two girls exchanged a look, both clearly seeing the same thought in each other’s eyes:

“I need to buy a whole bucket of this.”

Gu Xiaoshuang hadn’t used any of it, and at this point she could still stubbornly insist on something:

“Maybe this is just a shady small workshop dumping heavy ingredients. Does this count as an unlicensed product?”

“Ah—hey, you’re not wrong. It could really have anti-inflammatory drugs or retinol or something mixed in,” Li Qian replied.

Since she’d already benefited from it, she didn’t argue with her friend. Instead, she bent over with her backside sticking up, helping Gu Xiaoshuang peel the egg.

“But honestly, my face right now feels just as soft and tender as this egg.”

“Is it really that good? No discomfort at all?”

“No, I don’t think so. If I had to say something, the cleansing effect might be a bit too strong. Maybe I should bring a mask and moisturizer to rehydrate afterward?”

The two of them were fully absorbed in discussing the miraculous effects of the volcanic mud.

While they talked, the hot spring egg was finally peeled. Fresh out of its shell, it was springy and jiggly, bouncing slightly like a craft object—duang duang.

Li Qian held it up toward the ceiling light and admired it.

“I think I get what opal is now. Under the light it looks like a gemstone.”

Compared to a firm hard-boiled egg, a slow-cooked hot spring egg had a faint translucence. It existed in a delicate in-between state—anyone experienced would know the yolk inside was perfectly soft and slightly runny at this level of doneness.

Finding it visually appealing, Li Qian didn’t hold back and took a bite.

Psst.

When her teeth broke through the yolk, she heard a faint sound, and a warm “spring” of liquid gently spilled out from the opening.

A rich, warm aroma slowly flowed into her mouth. The silky, sweet liquid melted on her tongue, carrying a strangely familiar sensation…

Right—it was familiarity. It was egg. Li Qian narrowed her eyes, tasting the trembling, tender egg white and the rich, full-bodied yolk, and suddenly found herself unsure how to even categorize it anymore.

Compared to the usual eggy smell, the texture was closer to dense, creamy cheese.

So what was the thing she usually ate then?

The kind of egg where, when peeling it, the egg white would get stuffed under every fingernail; the yolk would turn a greenish hue on the outer layer after being overboiled; the stubborn white film that clung to the mouth and refused to come off—

Good heavens. Was that even an egg? Or was it only what she was eating right now that deserved to be called an egg?

No, that was an overcooked egg. But Li Qian had also eaten raw eggs in Japanese restaurants—mixed into rice or poured over beef. She still remembered that thin, mucus-like texture and the lingering raw egg smell clinging to the meat.

Even though many food bloggers claimed that “uncooked eggs are sweet and fresh,” for ordinary people, anything half-raw—whether green beans or eggs—was basically a ticket straight to a bathroom ordeal.

This was the first time she realized that a soft-boiled egg truly could be sweet and fresh, with absolutely no fishy smell—only the warm, rich aroma unique to egg fat.

Eggs were a great food. Back in high school biology class, teachers had told them that eggs had a perfect biological value rating.

That meant eggs could almost fully supply all essential proteins the human body needed. And the soft-boiled “runny yolk” state—where the white is set and the yolk remains semi-liquid—was the most optimal form of consumption. At that point, protein denaturation was sufficient for enzymatic digestion, ensuring good absorption of fat-soluble vitamins.

As the teacher spoke, he even reminisced about his childhood—when food was scarce, and a single egg laid by a hen at home could bring great joy. He said it was natural that students living in better times couldn’t understand that feeling; it was simply progress over time.

The students didn’t understand. At the time, Li Qian didn’t understand either.

But if they had tasted this egg, they would understand what the greatest food in the world truly was. Their biology teacher would have been one step away from godhood if only he had used a hot spring egg as teaching material.

Reluctantly, Li Qian took out the remaining half of the egg.

It was truly a perfect soft-boiled egg: the egg white was tender yet still resilient, perfectly supporting the yolk. Inside the porcelain-white “walls” lay a pool of honey-glossy, golden liquid.

The edge of the slightly runny yolk was pale yellow, deepening in color toward the center. This layered richness, lit by the ceiling lamp, formed a glossy sheen so tempting it looked ready to drip.

Too perfect.

She felt a little light-headed again…

She had already felt that way many times today. Floating when she stepped into the hot spring, floating again after using the volcanic mud, and now even an egg had somehow been so delicious it gave her the feeling of drifting beyond the mortal world—like the next second she might ascend and become immortal…

“You ****.” Gu Xiaoshuang, hands on her hips, swore for the first time in her life in a very ungentle manner. “Didn’t you agree I get to eat all the eggs?”

—

“Why did you come out so quickly?”

Xiang Yu looked a little confused at the two girls who suddenly appeared in the lobby. She checked the clock—it had only been two and a half hours.

“Was the water too hot? Did something feel wrong?”

Their hot spring facility actually had quite a lot of offerings: artificial scenic waterfalls, geothermal pine-needle steam baths, volcanic mud masks, and even hot spring eggs. With phones in hand, people could easily spend the whole afternoon inside.

She was just about to ask Xiao Tian to bring tea and snacks in for them when the two customers had already changed clothes.

They rarely had visitors to begin with—finally getting two customers, and now they were leaving already. Her fragile little entrepreneurial heart could not handle such a horror story.

Beside her, Liu Bo—the man who had spent the entire afternoon bragging with her about building a business blueprint—also chimed in.

“Classmates, there’s no time limit for the pools. Feel free to keep enjoying yourselves.”

“It was fun, it was fun,” Li Qian said mournfully, a bump on her head.

“Xiaoshuang isn’t in great health so she can’t soak for long. Do you still have hot spring eggs? We want five more—no, ten more.”

Gu Xiaoshuang leaned against the counter, staring at them with puppy-like eyes and an almost wagging-energy expression.

“Boss, boss, can we buy the set meal separately?”

Xiang Yu immediately understood, smiling.

“Hot spring eggs can be added, but how do you mean ‘buy the set meal separately’? You can take the straw mats with you, and as for the volcanic mud…”

“Volcanic mud, please!”

The two girls spoke in unison.

“Sorry, the volcanic mud is freshly dug on-site. It can’t be taken away.”

Xiang Yu had already expected this. She gestured slightly.

“If you take it back, it’ll dry out.”

“I’ll seal it tightly in a bag—it won’t dry out! Boss, please, I didn’t even get to properly wash it off…” Gu Xiaoshuang pleaded desperately. “I’ll bring a vacuum sealer next time. If it dries, I won’t blame you!”

Xiang Yu looked apologetic.

“This is a local experience product. It isn’t sold separately.”

The volcanic mud face mask was meant to be a cultural/folk experience. If they sold it as a packaged product, it would fall under cosmetic regulations, requiring filings and certifications—just the paperwork alone would take ten or twenty days.

If she were being honest, Xiang Yu did hope to eventually have a signature product that could attract visitors. Right now, more important than making money was simply increasing visitor traffic to survive.

Just earlier, she had been discussing advertising strategies with Liu Bo. He had suggested promotional routes like bus advertisements, taxi rooftop lightboxes, and giant screens in city centers—all of which were absurdly expensive.

Money wasn’t even the biggest problem. After the renovation, she had less than twenty days of “lifespan” left; there wasn’t even enough time to finish contracts and scheduling procedures.

Although Liu Bo didn’t understand why the boss was in such a hurry, as a loyal “worker,” the most important skill was understanding the boss’s intent. Back in college, he had done fitness content creation, and these past two days he had been filming embarrassing short videos—dancing some cringe “window-cleaning” choreography.

When the lights were off, his shirtless physique was vaguely reminiscent of Schwarzenegger. When the lights came on, huge text would appear: “Welcome to Hama Valley Hot Springs”…

It was so embarrassing that Xiang Yu didn’t even want to pay for promotion.

The videos only got a few likes from people like Xiao Du and Mu Zhi in the work group, and the traffic was extremely low.

Meanwhile, upon hearing that the volcanic mud couldn’t be sold separately, Gu Xiaoshuang gritted her teeth.

“Then boss, I’ll just buy another package. The package includes volcanic mud, right? And two hot spring eggs?”

“Yeah, if you want to eat eggs, you can buy them separately for three yuan each. You’ve already bought a general admission ticket, so there’s no need.”

“But I want the volcanic mud…” o(╥﹏╥)o

“Alright,” Xiang Yu calculated for a moment.

“If you only want the volcanic mud, then post a review on your school forum or campus wall with your purchase record, and I’ll give you a bowl for free.”

That wouldn’t violate the rule of only one portion per person.

“What? You get it for writing a review?”

While they were talking, another energetic voice suddenly chimed in. The group turned around—it was the “wealthy auntie” who had just finished her skincare treatment.

Her high heels struck the ground with a crisp clack. She lifted her chin slightly with a dignified air.

“Boss, if I introduce customers for you and post it on my Moments, how many portions can I get?”

<< _ >>

The post Scenic Area Ch.10 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

In the end, the aunt didn’t even take off her jewelry. Xiao Tian said that sulfur hot springs are quite corrosive, and gold necklaces can easily break after soaking for too long.

It didn’t really affect the water quality though—the spring water was changed very frequently, so there was no strict requirement to remove jewelry.

Many hot spring resorts require guests to remove makeup before bathing or wear swim caps, but Xiang Yu wasn’t worried about that. With the system’s water purification in place, the only real concern was customers damaging their jewelry.

So this wealthy aunt just chuckled twice and casually fiddled with the thick gold chain around her neck—about a finger’s width wide.

“If it breaks, I’ll just give it to you guys. Break it? It won’t break.”

She hadn’t brought a swimsuit, clearly not planning to soak in the hot spring. So she rented one on the spot and went into the water wearing all that jingling jewelry.

Gu Xiaoshuang and Li Qian squeezed together and secretly watched her expression while she soaked.

Her face showed the exact same sequence they had all experienced: “Hmm, interesting” → “ahh—nice” → “completely blissed out.”

Then she leaned against the edge of the pool, closed her eyes, and shut out the world, drifting into her own private universe.

“Exactly the same,” Gu Xiaoshuang mouthed to Li Qian, trying hard not to laugh.

So it wasn’t that they were inexperienced—look, even a rich aunt couldn’t handle it.

“Stop staring at her like some creeps,” Li Qian said, clearly understanding what she meant and also trying not to laugh. She lowered her voice and made a shushing gesture.

She swam to the edge and looked at the tray Xiao Tian had brought earlier.

In the bamboo basket were two eggs and a bowl of something dark and muddy-looking. Under the tray was a note that patiently explained the effects of hot spring eggs and volcanic mud.

Volcanic minerals could enhance skin elasticity and radiance, help regulate moisture balance, and had strong adsorption properties that could clean out clogged pores. They also had moisturizing and anti-inflammatory effects, promoting skin self-repair…

It looked like it was copied straight from some Baidu Baike (CN Google) entry, rattling on like a rehearsed speech.

Even divine elixirs wouldn’t have effects like that—this was a pretty typical case of false advertising.

After reading the description, Li Qian pointed at the wooden tray and made an authoritative pronouncement: “This is the egg, this is the mud.”

Gu Xiaoshuang nodded seriously. “Thanks, I’m not blind.”

Li Qian picked up an egg with her fingertips and shook it.

“Why is this raw? Oh, it says here—the temperature of hot spring water is lower than boiling. Egg whites start to solidify around 60°C, and yolks need above 70°C. So in hot spring water you can get a perfectly runny soft-boiled egg—but if I eat undercooked eggs I’ll get diarrhea.”

Gu Xiaoshuang crossed her arms. “Then I’ll reluctantly help you deal with it.”

“It also says hot spring eggs symbolize geothermal energy. Eating them means consuming the energy of the hot spring itself, strengthening your body. Totally fits you.”

As Li Qian read on, she laughed out loud. “The owner is pretty good at storytelling… This egg still needs to be cooked yourself. There’s a hot spring vent near the pebble area, be careful—it’s hot.”

“Go find the spring vent over there, then just hang the basket in it.”

Even though none of them were particularly interested in eating eggs, cooking them in hot spring water was still quite fun.

Gu Xiaoshuang happily carried the bamboo basket off to find the spring vent, and sure enough she spotted a high-temperature bubbling outlet in a corner.

It was enclosed with a fence so people couldn’t get too close. The bamboo basket had a small hook so it could be hung there.

White steam billowed from the vent, with hot water splashing upward in bursts. After the eggs were lowered in, they tumbled around energetically in the spring, as if they were also taking a hot spring bath.

There was a sign indicating how many minutes to wait before retrieving them. Since many people left their phones outside while soaking, a small hourglass timer was placed beside the cooking pool, with sand flowing like a miniature waterfall.

It was extremely—fun.

Rather than eating eggs, it felt more like playing house. Gu Xiaoshuang carefully picked out an hourglass with a bit of glitter in it and carried it back with her.

By the shore, Li Qian was using a wooden-handled spoon to poke at the soft, sticky lump of black mud. When she saw Gu Xiaoshuang come over, Li Qian quickly dipped a finger into it and launched a sneak attack, smearing a glob onto her friend’s nose.

“You’re playing dirty!” Gu Xiaoshuang looked horrified as she wiped it off her nose. The cold, slimy texture gave her goosebumps.

“Can you even put this on your face? It’s like slime.”

“Of course you can. The package says it whitens the skin—natural mineral ions and everything.” Li Qian grinned and patted her own face, which was already breaking out in acne. “My face is full of pimples anyway, you use it.”

Gu Xiaoshuang shook her head and carefully slid into the water at a spot far away from the volcanic mud, then comfortably soaked in the hot spring with her eyes closed.

“I’ve got sensitive skin,” she said lazily. “You use it.”

Even though they were students with tight budgets, they still had standards when it came to quality of life. They had done plenty of research and compared options carefully—unknown substances like this weren’t something Gu Xiaoshuang would casually put on her face.

At this point, the hot spring had already “paid for itself.” For things like the complimentary hot spring eggs and volcanic mud included in the package, everyone had become so relaxed and softened by the soak that they weren’t very interested in trying new things.

“You chose the package, you use it.”

“You bought the voucher, you use it.”

“Then you go throw it away.”

“You go throw it away.”

The two of them pushed the responsibility back and forth with zero substance. Nearby, the aunt who had been resting with her eyes closed heard the commotion and raised her voice.

“What is that stuff? Volcanic mud? Let me take a look.”

The two girls hurriedly nodded. In the next moment, the aunt suddenly dove into the water, swimming a few meters underwater before popping up right in front of them.

When she emerged, besides her dazzling gold necklace and jade bracelet, she also showed off a pair of strong, toned arms.

Before entering the water, she had already put on a swim cap, goggles, and a racing swimsuit—she looked like a very energetic athletic type.

She picked up the mixing spoon and stirred it a few times. Under the wooden spoon, the volcanic mud spread out gently like a mousse cake, thick and smooth like yogurt.

Compared to Greek yogurt, it was a bit more fluid, but thicker than regular yogurt—a very delicate, silky texture.

“This actually adheres really well. Better than the stuff at beauty salons.”

The aunt felt the gentle resistance as she stirred the volcanic mud with the spoon, already able to imagine how softly it would wrap around the skin.

She scooped up a small bit and sniffed it at the tip of her nose.

“No weird smell, and no random added fragrances either.”

There was only a faint, earthy scent—simple and unrefined—along with a mild mineral note, like a scoop of dark gray ice cream.

“If you girls don’t want it, then…”

Before she could finish, Li Qian quickly jumped in, “I’ll try it! I’ll try it!”

Rather than letting it go to waste, it might as well be used on her legs or hands.

The aunt smiled in satisfaction. “That’s more like it—no wasting things. Come on, Auntie will help you apply it. This stuff turns into a crust when it dries.”

Faced with an overly enthusiastic “social auntie,” the two students, whose shyness flared up in front of strangers, quickly surrendered.

Li Qian stood there helplessly as layer after layer of volcanic mud was smeared onto her face. Gu Xiaoshuang stared wide-eyed as her friend was evenly coated like cured meat being prepared for New Year—gradually turning into something resembling a tribal face paint.

The aunt, satisfied, scraped the last bit of mud from the bottom of the bowl with the wooden spoon. Looking at Li Qian’s already fully coated face, she seemed a bit regretful. Then she turned the spoon toward Gu Xiaoshuang, who was standing there like a startled little bird.

“Little girl, you want some too?”

“No, no, I’m good.”

Gu Xiaoshuang quickly refused, her feet subtly retreating underwater by half a step, afraid she would end up the same as Li Qian.

The aunt then directed Li Qian to raise her arm and applied a thick layer to the outer side of her elbow, where there was quite a bit of dry skin.

“The owner here is pretty honest,” she said. “They give you a lot. If it works well, I’ll buy a whole bucket when I leave.”

Li Qian stood there like a scarecrow that had been shaped and set, arms raised, face covered in mud, not daring to move at all. Still, she politely kept saying, “Thank you, Auntie, thank you, Auntie…”

“What’s there to thank me for? I look at you girls like you’re my own daughters. My daughter’s also in university.”

The kind-hearted aunt, having done her good deed for the day, climbed out of the pool and went off to steam herself wrapped in a straw mat.

Only then did Gu Xiaoshuang shuffle over to Li Qian.

“How does it feel?”

At this point, Li Qian touched the mud crust on her face. “It feels like it’s drying… my skin feels so tight.”

She tried to make facial expressions—frowning, smiling—but as the volcanic mud gradually hardened, her facial muscles were becoming less responsive. The strange sensation made her burst into a loud “ga-ga-ga” laugh.

“Do I look like a terracotta warrior?”

“It’s really tight—like, physically tight.” Because the mud crust had locked her face in place, she couldn’t even laugh properly, which somehow made her want to laugh even more.

“It’s like those ads that say ‘instant lifting, instant firming.’ I don’t know if it whitens or anything, but my skin definitely feels pulled tight…”

Gu Xiaoshuang tapped her face. The outer layer had already completely hardened, sounding dull and solid.

She looked at the mist rising from the hot spring, then at Li Qian—still steaming and coated in mud—and said sincerely:

“Compared to a terracotta warrior… you look more like that beggar’s chicken.”

Halfway through their soak, the aunt had gone off to do her skincare treatment, and the three of them parted on friendly terms. After staying in the water for so long, both Gu Xiaoshuang and Li Qian also climbed out to rest.

Gu Xiaoshuang went to check on the hot spring eggs, while Li Qian washed the mud off her face.

She scooped up handfuls of water, gently scraping off the dried mud mask with her fingernails. The skin that had been sealed for so long suddenly came into contact with clean water—and in an instant, it felt like it came alive again. The refreshing, breathable sensation made her scalp tingle.

“Oh my god!! This feels amazing!”

Li Qian suddenly lifted her face out of the water, eyes closed, savoring the feeling of her skin “breathing” like it had been reborn.

“Xiaoshuang, Xiaoshuang, look at me!”

“Busy fishing the eggs, no time to deal with you…”

Li Qian buried her face back into the water, carefully washing off the remaining volcanic mud with her hands and a face towel. Layer by layer, the mud was rinsed away. Every touch of her fingertips against her cheeks felt unusually soft and smooth.

Those pimples that had been swollen and painful from being blocked suddenly calmed down for once, like they had fallen asleep and stopped causing trouble. The remaining skin felt as tender as a freshly peeled boiled egg.

And it wasn’t that fake “slippery” feeling—this was real. After oil and impurities were stripped away, what was left was clean and refreshed. Her whole face felt soft and slightly bouncy.

Li Qian couldn’t believe it. She touched it once, then again, then rushed to the sink to look in the mirror, turning her head left and right.

“Xiaoshuang! Xiaoshuang! Look at me! Look at me!”

Gu Xiaoshuang was still busy fishing the eggs. With Li Qian making noise behind her like a monkey from Mount Huaguo, she glanced back, let out a soft “huh?”, then looked back again.

<< _ >>

The post Scenic Area Ch.9 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.

“So that’s how the straw mat is supposed to be used.” Looking at the pile of pine needles arranged like a cozy little forest nest, Gu Xiaoshuang felt that there were surprisingly many activities included in this 50-yuan experience.

The kind-hearted college student couldn’t help but sigh.

“The owner is practically doing charity.”

“Well, it’s a new business. When you’re trying to attract first-time customers, you have to make a good impression.”

Even as she said that, the astonishment in Li Qian’s eyes was no less than Xiaoshuang’s.

The two eagerly held onto the edge of the pool and stepped into the water. The moment they sank into the hot spring, they simultaneously let out a long, contented sigh—

Amazing.

The kind of amazing that shoots straight to the top of your head.

Gu Xiaoshuang remembered reading somewhere that a person’s sense of security comes from their mother’s womb. Buying thick blankets, soft mattresses, or curling up in a warm nest while a storm rages outside are all attempts to recreate the warmth and comfort we felt before birth.

She had always dismissed that sort of quote. If she wanted to, she could write eight hundred similarly pretentious lines in a day.

But the moment her entire body was immersed in the hot spring, that sentence immediately came back to her.

The warm water enveloped her from every direction. It was something a blanket could never compare to. A blanket only creates a warm space around you, but water seeps into every gap, like countless invisible yet perfectly gentle hands softly caressing every inch of skin.

It was different from any other water.

When Gu Xiaoshuang was little, she once visited an older cousin in a big city. She had watched stylish urban influencers come home from work in high heels, fill a bathtub with hot water, and toss in an elegantly shaped bath bomb. Sweet fragrances would instantly fill the bathroom.

Rich, soft bubbles would swirl through the water. Then they would brew a cup of coffee and lounge in the tub, leisurely flipping through a magazine.

That was already considered quite luxurious. In China, where bathtub culture isn’t particularly common, both the space-consuming bathtub and the single-use bath bombs could be considered luxuries.

Not to mention when she was a child—even now, as a college student living in a dormitory, she still envied that lifestyle.

Yet for the first time, she found herself thinking…

Compared to a natural hot spring, water heated by a water heater is nothing!

Not only could adding essential oils to hot water not compare to this pool, even adding hot water to pure essential oils wouldn’t feel as comfortable as this spring.

Tap water delivered through pipes felt dry and light. The moment you stood up, it would stream right off your skin, sometimes carrying the sharp smell of chlorine.

Natural hot springs were completely different. Perhaps because of their rich mineral content, the water possessed a silky smooth texture with a tangible sense of weight, capable of enveloping a person entirely.

The spring water felt a little “heavier,” creating a comforting sensation of gentle pressure and containment, somewhat like a weighted blanket. Yet unlike a weighted blanket, there was no real burden pressing down on the body. In the underwater environment, gravity was actually reduced, and the water softly buoyed her up.

The perfectly designed spring dissolved and melted away her sense of vigilance. Gu Xiaoshuang relaxed and closed her eyes, leaning back slightly as she enjoyed the feeling of being tenderly embraced and protected by the water.

As tense, stiff muscles gradually loosened, her consciousness also became lighter and hazier.

Exams, internships, and all the worries waiting outside the mountains slowly drifted down to the bottom of the pool…

In a place this safe, there was no need to think. Simply existing was meaning enough.

When comfort reached this level, nobody had the energy to drink coffee or read magazines.

Beyond the psychological comfort, the spring’s perfectly balanced warmth also continuously affected the body. The pleasantly hot water gently and steadily seeped into her pores, and before long, waves of deep, tingling warmth rose from the soles of her feet.

Gu Xiaoshuang couldn’t help letting out a soft hiss.

Her face felt a little warm. She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but it seemed as though the blood in her body was flowing faster.

Squinting, she looked at the writing on the wall opposite her.

Oh.

It said that natural hot springs could promote blood circulation, boost metabolism, help with rheumatoid arthritis, improve sleep quality, make people look younger the more they soaked…

Well, now that’s just unfair.

Fine. I’ll soak. I’ll keep soaking, okay? No need to be so polite about convincing me.

“Hehehehehe…”

Turning her head, she saw that Li Qian beside her was just as flushed, her face red as though she’d drunk counterfeit liquor. She looked pleasantly dazed, already so light-headed that she seemed to have forgotten heaven, earth, and everything in between.

The scent of mugwort and pine needles drifted around their noses, mingling with the mineral-rich aroma rising from the hot spring. In a natural environment that no artificial fragrance could ever replicate, both body and mind reached a state of complete calm and emptiness. Time itself seemed to slow down.

The two best friends, who normally never ran out of things to talk about, had both fallen into a strangely comfortable silence after sinking into the pool.

Who knew how long they soaked before Gu Xiaoshuang finally came back to her senses. Sweat had begun to bead on her forehead. She glanced at her fitness band.

Her heart rate had reached 100.

“This feels way too good…” Li Qian shook her head, trying to regain some clarity. “I feel like I’m drinking water through my whole body. It’s like I’ve turned into one of those monstera plants over there.”

Every pore in her body seemed to have opened up.

“My heartbeat’s getting kind of fast.” Gu Xiaoshuang stood up from the water, cheeks flushed pink. “I need a break. If I stay in any longer, I’ll turn into mush. I need to pace myself.”

“Oh, right, you’re not very sturdy. Go sit in one of the cooler pools.”

“No way. This one is the best. The others definitely won’t feel this good.”

Xiaoshuang scrambled out of the pool. Her legs felt so weak that she had to squat on the shore for quite a while before pulling herself upright with the railing.

She staggered toward the straw mat area as if walking on cotton, then plopped down and collapsed onto the mat in one motion.

“Wow. This feels amazing too.”

The first thing she noticed when she flopped into the pile of pine needles was the dry, crisp rustling sound.

Crinkle, rustle…

The pine needles had been baked by the geothermal heat until they were crisp and crunchy, like caramel butter cookies fresh from the oven.

Unlike the sharp, cool pine scent found deep in the forest, this warmth carried the cozy fragrance of roasted nuts in autumn—rich, comforting, and pleasantly drowsy.

Xiaoshuang rolled over and pressed her stomach against the ground, wearing the blissful expression of a cat who had discovered the secrets of the universe.

“This is kind of like the heated brick bed at Ayue’s house up in Northeast China, but even better. The pine needles smell wonderful, and the heat feels so soothing and so intense…”

She paused, basking in the warmth.

“I feel like this could cure menstrual cramps.”

“With the pine needles wrapped around you and that paper mat underneath,” Li Qian teased, “you look like a steamed soup dumpling.”

“You’re making me hungry,” Gu Xiaoshuang said.

She rolled herself over again and lay there like a salted fish, staring up at the ceiling.

“The pine scent is seeping into my body. I feel like some wild person living in a primeval forest.”

Slowly, she closed her eyes.

“I think I’ve become a mountain mushroom absorbing the essence of the sun and moon…”

Just as the two were sinking into this state of blissful oblivion, the door to the hot spring room was gently knocked.

“Ladies, your hot spring eggs and volcanic mud are ready~”

It was Xiao Tian returning, and behind her came a new guest. Then another voice rang out—a rich, booming female voice.

“Oh ho, this pool isn’t bad at all. The public bath is pretty spacious, and it’s nice and clean too.”

“That’s right. Even though it’s indoors, the ceiling is high, the ventilation is great, and everything feels very open~ Would you like to take a look at the private pools too, ma’am?”

“I like spacious places. Small rooms feel stuffy. Can’t breathe in them.”

The wealthy-looking auntie let out the classic laugh of someone who had never worried about money. Lifting her chin, she removed her sunglasses and squinted at the hot spring eggs and volcanic mud Xiao Tian was carrying in.

“Hm, those eggs and that mud look pretty good too. Give me the full package.”

“Where’s Xiao Zhi? Girl, go get Auntie’s handbag for me. I always used to get facials from her. My skin only listens to her magic touch. After my soak, have Xiao Zhi work on me a bit. If everything looks good, I’ll get a membership here.”

She then glanced toward Gu Xiaoshuang and Li Qian.

“What about you two young ladies? Auntie barging in isn’t disturbing you, is it? Doesn’t seem crowded, so I figured we could share?”

The two girls looked at the thick gold necklace around the auntie’s neck and the bracelets and rings covering both her hands, then nodded enthusiastically.

The auntie started taking off her jewelry and clicked her tongue.

“Need to remove all this before getting into the hot spring, right? Oh dear… all these bits and pieces are such a hassle to deal with…”

<< _ >>

The post Scenic Area Ch.8 first appeared on A Wandering Potato.