Chapter 2 - Good-Hearted Masses

When Fu Li found the chief labor contractor Zhao Sanxiang, he and a few other well-built men from the construction site were crowding around a small table with arms bared, drinking beer. There were several plastic bags on the table containing braised beancurd, pork, peanuts, and so on.

Seeing that he had arrived, Zhao Sanxiang put down his chopsticks and dragged out a not-very-clean plastic stool from the corner. He enthusiastically beckoned to Fu Li, “Come come come, sit and eat with us.”

The few men saw Fu Li’s fair, clean appearance and his slender physique and couldn’t help teasing him. “Zhao ge, which younger generation of yours is this? Such handsome looks.”

“Hi!” Zhao Sanxiang pulled Fu Li to the seat and told the men, “We’re from the same hometown. He came over to make a living with me.”

“Can he do our type of work?” The men burst into laughter. Clearly, they were used to joking around. They were originally even thinking of saying a few vulgar statements but for some reason, after seeing Fu Li obediently sit curled up on the plastic stool, they felt somewhat embarrassed to voice them.

“Don’t be fooled by his fair looks. His strength isn’t little,” Zhao Sanxiang patted Fu Li’s shoulder and pointed at a stone at the side. “Come, give these uncles a show.”

Fu Li looked at Zhao Sanxiang, wanting to say something yet hesitating. These few people hadn’t even lived as long as him, wasn’t it a little improper for him to be calling them uncle?

“Don’t just stare at us. Go, let them broaden their horizons,” Zhao Sanxiang placed a chicken foot at the edge of his mouth and gnawed on it, a pleased expression on his face.

“Oh,” Fu Li got up and walked over, looking at the stone on their left. It seemed to be on the small side. He turned his head and glanced at the stone to the right that was half a size larger before looking back at Zhao Sanxiang. Seeing his encouraging gaze, he stooped and grabbed the stone on the right, lifting it up from the ground.

The few men were struck dumb. Even after a long time, they still they couldn’t gather their wits. “Zhao ge, this fellow townsman of yours should be in the weightlifting team winning glory for the nation.”

Looking at the stone, it had a weight of several hundred catty!

Zhao Sanxiang was also shocked. He had merely wanted Fu Li to lift up the smaller stone at the side for fun, not break the world record! Their yao world had its rules – yao could not participate in human sports and would be hauled off to prison if they were discovered by the yao world’s management bureau.

“Haha,” Zhao Sanxiang gave a hollow laugh and changed the topic. “This child has had a lot of strength since young. He couldn’t make it in his studies, not like your kids who score in the top five every test.”

The moment they heard someone praising their children, the few men immediately broke out into conversation, using a modest tone of voice to show off.

By the time Fu Li threw away the gigantic stone and sat back down beside Zhao Sanxiang, Zhao Sanxiang was already gnawing on duck feet.

If he hadn’t seen wrongly, Zhao Sanxiang’s original form was a mallard.

Zhao Sanxiang polished off the duck’s feet both quickly and cleanly. The bones he spat out didn’t have the slightest bit of meat on it. Fu Li couldn’t help thinking that he was indeed a yao from the countryside who hadn’t seen the world. It turned out that ducks not only ate their own kind but didn’t let pigs, cows, sheep, and rabbits off either.

After everyone finished drinking and consuming all the meat, Zhao Sanxiang brought Fu Li back to his rented house, warned him a few times, and then fell asleep snoring thunderously.

Fu Li didn’t sleep very well that night. Because within the span of one night, Zhao Sanxiang went to the toilet at least five times.

When the sun rose, Fu Li stood by the window and paid his respects to the sun. Upon turning around, he saw that Zhao Sanxiang was still asleep. He couldn’t help shaking his head and sighing. Times were progressing, humanity was advancing, yet the yao was on an increasing decline. The bird yao that he knew in the past were diligent and capable, paid respects to the moon before sleeping, and welcomed the sun at dawn. But now…

Sadly, the hearts of the yao had degenerated.

A good-looking person would have an advantage no matter where one was, even if it was a construction site.

Within a short span of a week’s time, Fu Li won over quite a few people due to his good looks, diligence, and habit of hiding in the work shed even after work had ended to read. Even the plump auntie at the construction site who made their meals would specially add two more slices of meat into his bowl when he came for his meal.

“Little Hu, reading again?” Uncle Zhang who had come up to greet him was from Sichuan and would occasionally mix up ‘h’ and ‘f’ when speaking. But his character was quite good; seeing that Fu Li had given up on studying at such a young age and come out to work, he even specially got his son who was on summer vacation to bring over a few second-hand books and notes from home.

“These are my son’s notes, you can take a look and see if they’re useful,” Uncle Zhang placed the second-hand books and notebook in front of Fu Li.

Fu Li glanced through the books. Although they were a little old, they were very clean, and the handwriting inside was neat. He could tell that the owner cherished them.

“Thank you, Uncle Zhang,” Fu Li carefully placed the books and notebook aside. “I’ll return them to you when I’m done reading.”

“It’s fine, my son already completed his university entrance exams this year. He won’t need these books anymore,” Uncle Zhang’s face brimmed with happiness. “He received an admission notice from the capital’s University of Science and Technology a few days ago. Me and his mom are preparing to bring him to the capital in two days and help him settle in and familiarize himself with the environment there.”

With an admission notice to a university, one would be able to attend university and upon completion, become a civil servant.

Thinking of this, admiration filled Fu Li’s eyes. “Uncle Zhang, your son is so impressive.” Humans were truly amazing life forms. They only lived for a few short decades but could remember so much knowledge and attend university, unlike him who had wasted the past few years.

“No, no,” Uncle Zhang was greatly pleased by Fu Li’s respectful attitude and insisted on dragging him to the place he lived for a meal. Fu Li couldn’t find any way to decline and thus could only follow him.

Uncle Zhang’s family members were surnamed Wang and also worked at the construction site. The work at the construction site was both tiring and bitter, but as long as the construction company didn’t delay their wages, they could save quite a bit of money every year. The couple were often very frugal with their meals and hated that they couldn’t split a cent for separate spending. Fu Li lifted the curtain and entered, realizing that quite a few different types of dishes had been placed on the table, including a large platter of roast duck.

A bespectacled youth was arranging the bowls and chopsticks. Seeing the stranger Fu Li, he stared blankly for a moment before revealing a somewhat shy smile and turning to help Auntie Wang tidy up the kitchen counter.

The rented house was quite small. There were two beds and a simple table. The kitchen counter situated outside on the balcony was put together from several wooden planks. The gas tank at the corner was covered in putty.

“Little Hu is here. Quickly sit, quickly sit,” Auntie Wang noticed Fu Li and stooped to wipe a plastic stool before placing it in front of Fu Li. “There’s one more dish, it’ll be ready soon.”

Fu Li thanked her and sat on the stool.

The electric fan on the floor emitted ‘kacha, kacha’ sounds, thought it didn’t bring a slight chill to the rented house. They hadn’t even started eating but Uncle Zhang’s back and head was already covered in sweat. Fu Li, whose entire body was dry and clean, seemed disparate in front of them.

Realizing this point, Fu Li tried very hard to make his face flushed, adding a bit of perspiration onto his forehead along the way.

Many middle-aged men became chatterboxes after drinking; Uncle Zhang was no exception. Despite the fact that he was now living in a worn-out rental house, his heart remained strongly attached to the nation’s ground, air, and sea territories and he hated that he couldn’t abolish hegemony in the name of the Moon.

Uncle Zhang’s son didn’t seem very fond of talking; all he did was eat silently. Fu Li observed him secretly and realized that he was already on his third bowl of rice.

After the meal, Uncle Zhang and Auntie Wang went out to buy watermelon, allowing the two young people to interact.

Zhang Peng stole a few peeks at Fu Li. Seeing the other party beam at him, his face instantly turned red and he choked up for quite a while before managing to speak. “My dad said you’re self-studying to enter university?”

Fu Li nodded. “Exactly. You humans… The books now are too hard, I don’t understand a lot of it.”

“Someone who didn’t build a good foundation when young will indeed find senior high school content a bit more difficult,” Zhang Peng started to talk more when the topic shifted to studying. “Why don’t you study junior high school content first before looking at senior high school content? That would be a lot easier.”

“So, you mean that my knowledge of junior high school content is too poor?” Fu Li widened his eyes and stared fixedly at Zhang Peng.

Worried that his words had hurt Fu Li’s self-esteem, Zhang Peng looked up at his large, bright eyes and regretted it even more. “Not, not really, just that… Maybe… It’s been too long since you learnt the content, so you forgot it. I’m not saying that you’re bad at studying.”

The Zhang Peng who was this old rarely lied, so for him to have thought of a perfect excuse within the short span of a few seconds was practically a breakthrough for him.

“No, I think what you said makes a lot of sense,” Fu Li nodded with understanding. “I’ll go to the bookstore now and buy junior high school books.”

“Wait,” Zhang Peng stopped him. “The weather is so hot, and the bookstore may not have the textbooks either, why don’t you buy it online?”

“Online?” Fu Li stared blankly. “You mean internet cafes sell these things?”

Zhang Peng had thought that his knowledge of the world was already poor enough. Unexpectedly, there was someone who had seen even less of the world than him and was unaware of even online shopping. From what his father had said, this Fu Li didn’t have parents and had always lived in a remote mountain village. He wanted to study yet could only do manual labor at a construction site. His life must have been very hard.

“Don’t buy them. I’ll call my friend and get him to mail over past-year textbooks,” Zhang Peng was full of sympathy towards Fu Li. “Anyway, there isn’t much use in keeping these old books.”

“How could I accept that?” Fu Li said this but didn’t reject Zhang Peng’s good intentions.

Because. He. Didn’t. Have. Money.

Just as they were talking, Fu Li heard a groaning sound from the gas tank on the balcony. He asked Zhang Peng curiously, “What’s in that tank, why is it ringing?”

Zhang Peng’s expression changed drastically. Standing up, he grabbed Fu Li’s arm and dragged him out. “Quickly, run!”

When Uncle Zhang and Auntie Wang came back from buying watermelon, they saw a mass of people in front of their rented house. Shocked, the two people pushed through the crowd. “What happened?”

The tenants nearby were all workers from the construction site. Seeing that the husband and wife had returned, they broke into chatter.

Something about how the weather had been too hot, the gas tank exploding, and whatnot. Auntie Wang was frightened into bawling.

“Mum!” Zhang Peng’s glasses were broken, so when he walked out from the crowd, his eyes seemed somewhat spiritless. “I’m fine.”

In the instant the gas tank exploded, Fu Li had positioned himself in front of him, so he was completely fine apart from some broken skin on his knee. Zhang Peng’s eyes reddened as he recalled how the parentless young man who was passionate about studying had been brought away by an ambulance covered in blood.

He owed the other party his life.

At the yao world’s management bureau, a certain administrator received a report from a good-hearted yaoguai.

“A good-hearted yaoguai called to say that there was an explosion at a construction site in the western part of the city. There was spillage of yao qi, so there is suspicion that a yaoguai is causing trouble.”

T/N: Please read the notes on yao-related terminology because it’s important background info in understanding the setting!