Elixir Supplier

“My younger brother!” the man in his 40s yelled.

“Sorry, couldn’t help it,” the man in his 30s said with a grin.

“Don’t leave any traces here,” the older man said.

They didn’t find anything after searching for a while.

“You can’t find it here?” the older man asked.

“No, but there are other places we can search,” the younger man said.

They left the area and searched elsewhere using a special method. Since Xishan Hill was not big, they soon found the broken stone.

“Look, here is their home,” the older man said as he pointed at the dead bodies of the insects on the ground.

“What are these insects?” the younger man asked.

“I’ve never seen them before,” the older man said.

Both of them squatted to study the dead insects.

“What a shame! They are all dead,” the younger man said.

“Not necessarily. I believe some of them have survived,” the older man said.

He could tell from the scene that someone had set fire to the insects. Most of the insects were burnt. A small proportion of the bodies were still complete. However, the fire couldn’t kill them all. He had studied insects for over 10 years, so he knew their general nature well. These insects wouldn’t be killed so easily.

“So, where are the ones that survived?” the younger man asked.

“Calm down, we’ll find them.” the older man said.

Om! It seemed like something trembled in the air. The two men stopped after walking for short distance.

“The noise came from underground,” the older man said.

“Let me do it,” the younger man said.

He was wearing a unique tool on his finger. It was a dark iron fingernail that wrapped around his own fingernail. The tool was very sharp. Crack! The man inserted the iron fingernail into the stone and broke the stone.

Actually, Wang Yao had broken this stone earlier, but the man didn’t notice it. There was another stone behind the broken one, which was about three feet away.

The hard stone was like chips to the man. It broke into pieces and dropped. A moment later, more than half of the stone was broken. The man could see what was inside. As he expected, the stone was hollow. It contained the same insects, which looked like mole crickets but much smaller. The insects were black and looked creepy.

“I found you,” the younger man said.

Hush! Hush! The insects seemed to have smelled food. They started to move and were ready to attack.

“No need to hurry,” the older man said. He took out a black cylindrical wooden box with strange patterns on it. “Come inside here.”

He opened the lid of the box. A unique smell came out of it. The insects all went inside cooperatively.

“Good,” the older man said.

After all the insects had entered the wooden box, he sealed the box and put it back into his bag.

“Done,” the older man said.

“Where should we go next?” the younger man asked.

“Let’s go to another village,” the older man said.

The two of them left Xishan Hill and went back to the village.

Woof! Woof! A local dog barked at them.

Shh! The younger man showed his teeth to indicate that the dog should stop barking.

“Don’t cause any trouble,” the older man said.

“He barked at me first!” The younger one complained.

“Let’s go,” the older man said.

The two of them left the village in the rain and headed north. A taxi was parking at the north end of the village.

“I thought you guys were not coming back. Where are you going next?” the taxi driver asked.

“Li Family Creek,” the older man said.

“Are you visiting the hot spring resort?” the taxi driver asked.

“Yes,” the older man said.

“That resort is a nice place. I’ve been there once,” the taxi driver said. He was a middle-aged man in his 40s.

He drove the taxi toward the other side of the hills in the rain.

Wang Yao’s village remained very quiet.

…

It was also raining in Beijing.

A young woman, who looked like she was out of fairy tale, was standing next to a lake at Pecking University. She looked at the raindrops hitting the surface of the lake, causing circles.

She thought, Is it also raining where Dr. Wang is.

“What is on your mind?” her friend accompanying her asked..

“Oh, nothing special, I was just thinking about a person,” the young woman said.

“A person? Your boyfriend?” her friend asked.

“Yes,” the beautiful young woman admitted.

“Really?” her friend asked with surprise. Her friend was a cute and nice young woman.

“Yes,” Su Xiaoxue said with a smile.

To her, Wang Yao was her boyfriend because she liked him, and he had admitted that he liked her, too. The next step would be spending some time together.

“Do you know how many people will be disappointed to know you have a boyfriend? What does he do for a living? When are you going to introduce him to me?” her friend asked.

“He is a Traditional Pharmacist,” Su Xiaoxue said.

“Traditional Pharmacist? Same as a doctor?” her friend asked.

“Not really. He’s a Traditional Chinese Pharmacist,” Su Xiaoxue said.

“What does that mean?” her friend asked.

“I can’t tell you. Anyway, let’s go,” Su Xiaoxue said.

The two young women were walking in the rain and laughing like two pleasant fairies. A lot of people stopped to watch them.

“Those girls are so pretty,” a person passing by said.

There were no lectures in the evening.

“Xiaoxue, would you like to catch up with us in the evening?” her friend asked.

“Sure,” Su Xiaoxue said.

As it started to get dark, the rain continued.

The girls went to a restaurant near the university. They were all wearing nice clothes. They had booked a private room in advance.

Outside the restaurant, a car was parking in the rain. A man sat in the car and stared at the restaurant.

“What would you like to eat?” one of the girls asked.

“Whatever, I’m happy with anything,” Su Xiaoxue said.

These girls were good friends from the same class. They didn’t expect Su Xiaoxue would come since they knew her background. After all, people were very informative in Beijing. They admired Su Xiaoxue. She was easy-going and nice. She was not arrogant at all, which was not a common character of rich kids.

After the dishes had been served, the girls started to chat. The topic naturally moved to boyfriends.

Two of the girls had boyfriends. The other ones were all single. The two girls talked about their relationships and asked the others their criteria for choosing a boyfriend.

“Xiaoxue, what kind of people do you like?” one of the girls asked.

“Actually I’m in love with someone,” Su Xiaoxue said.

“Really?” the girls asked.

They always thought Su Xiaoxue used that as an excuse to turn down those men chasing after her. They didn’t expect that she was actually with someone.

“Where is he? What does he do for a living? When will you introduce him to us?” They really wanted to know what kind of man could attract such an extraordinary girl.

“He is not in Beijing,” Su Xiaoxue said.

“So, he lives overseas?” one of her friends asked.

“No, he lives in Qi province,” Su Xiaoxue said.

“Qi province?” her friend asked. “What does he do for a living?”

“He’s a pharmacist,” Su Xiaoxue said.

“Pharmacist?” her friend asked.

“Traditional Chinese Pharmacist,” another girl said.

“Yes, you know about it?” Su Xiaoxue asked.

“I heard about it. My grandfather is a Traditional Chinese Medical Practitioner. He told me the Traditional Chinese Pharmacist was able to treat all sorts of illnesses,” the girl said.

Su Xiaoxue laughed.

“Really?” one of her friends asked.

“Sort of,” Su Xiaoxue said.

“So, how old is he?” one of her friends asked. “He can’t be…”

“He is 27 years old,” Su Xiaoxue said.

“What? Only 27?” Her friends were surprised.

About an hour later, a car was running very fast under the lights in Beijing.

“Miss, did you have a nice evening?” Chu Lian asked.

“Yes,” Su Xiaoxue said with a smile.

“That’s good,” Chu Lian said.

“Thank you for looking after me, Auntie Lian,” Su Xiaoxue said.

“Don’t mention it,” Chu Lian said. She cared about Su Xiaoxue very much. She treated her as one of her own family members.

“I miss Dr. Wang,” Su Xiaoxue said.

“Oh?” Chu Lian was a little surprised.

“I want to visit him,” Su Xiaoxue said.

“Well…” Chu Lian didn’t know what to say. “Call him.”

She took out a mobile phone and immediately found Wang Yao’s number. However, she didn’t dial the number.

“Do you suppose Dr. Wang has gone to sleep?” Su Xiaoxue asked.

“Aye!” Chu Lian sighed.

Beep! Beep!

“Hello, Xiaoxue,” Wang Yao said at the other end of the phone.

“Hello, Dr. Wang,” Su Xiaoxue said.

“Are you at school?” Wang Yao asked.

“No, I’m on my way home. Where are you now? On the hill?” Su Xiaoxue asked.

“Yes, I’m on Nanshan Hill,” Wang Yao said.

“I miss you,” Su Xiaoxue said.

Wang Yao kept silent for a moment before saying, “I’ll come to Beijing.”

“Really?” Su Xiaoxue couldn’t believe it.

“I’ll come to Beijing to see you,” Wang Yao said.

“OK!” Su Xiaoxue laughed. She was ecstatic.

Wang Yao also laughed after hanging up. He didn’t know why those words just slipped out of his mouth without thinking.

“Auntie Lian, Dr. Wang is coming to Beijing to see me,” Su Xiaoxue said.

“That’s great,” Chu Lian said.

“Yeah, I need to get ready. But, there will be so many lectures,” Su Xiaoxue said.

Chu Lian looked at Su Xiaoxue through the rear vision mirror and shook her head.

After Su Xiaoxue arrived at home, she was too excited to go to sleep.

“He is coming to Beijing?” Song Ruiping asked.

“Yes, he told her on the phone. He said he would come to see Miss Su,” Chu Lian said.

“He really said that?” Song Ruiping asked.

“Yes, I overheard their conversation,” Chu Lian said.

“No wonder she’s so happy,” Song Ruiping said.

Su Xianghua didn’t arrive home until late that night.

“You are back so late tonight,” Song Ruiping said.

“I had a meeting. How come you are still awake?” Su Xianghua asked.

“I need to tell you something about your daughter,” Song Ruiping said.

“What? How is she? Is she ill?” Su Xianghua anxiously asked.

“No.” Song Ruiping told her husband about Wang Yao’s upcoming visit to Beijing.

“Oh, I see. That’s good. We’ll welcome him,” Su Xianghua said.

“Do you get me? Xiaoxue is really in love with Dr. Wang,” Song Ruiping said.

“As long as Xiaoxue likes him. I think Dr. Wang is a nice person, although I haven’t spent a lot of time with him,” Su Xianghua said.

“Yes, he has a good reputation,” Song Ruiping said.

“What? You checked on him?” Su Xianghua asked as he scowled.

“Of course. I need to know what kind of person he is. You never know what’s behind a person’s outlook. I am responsible for my daughter’s future,” Song Ruiping said.

“Yeah, you are right,” Su Xianghua said.

“He’s really an extraordinary doctor and doesn’t have any bad habits or criminal records. On the contrary, he established a charity fund to help children living in those poor villagers. He helped them build roads and schools,” Song Ruiping said.

“Really? That’s good,” Su Xianghua said.

“His parents also have good reputation in the village. Both of them are honest and nice people. His sister works in the Agriculture Bureau. She also has good reputation. She’s going to get married this year,” Song Ruiping said.

“Darling, it’s a shame if you don’t work for an organization like the CIA,” Su Xianghua said with a smile.