After Gao Zheng took the Talisman Water I gave him, he looked at the pitch-black well water in the white porcelain bowl. It even gave off a faint smell of burned joss paper.
Then he looked up at me and asked:
"J-Jiang... Master Jiang, are you sure there won't be any problems?"
Before I could say anything, Li Feihu, his head crowned with three bumps, cut in:
"What do you mean, are you sure there won't be any problems? My senior granduncle is the foremost talent among the younger generation today, a leading figure in the Daoist world.
The Talisman Water he gave you is absolutely beyond question.
You got it for fifty thousand yuan. You made out like bandits.
And you're still doubting him?"
After hearing that, Gao Zheng waved his hands repeatedly.
"No, no, no, that's not what I meant. It's just that my child... my child's fever hasn't gone down. It's over thirty-eight degrees.
I'm afraid... I'm afraid it'll upset his stomach."
"Don't worry. He'll be fine."
I spoke again.
As a father, it was only natural for Gao Zheng to worry about his child.
Besides, the Talisman Water really was pitch-black and smelled strange.
It was normal for an ordinary person who had never encountered our line of work to harbor doubts about giving it to a seriously ill child.
Only then did Gao Zheng nod and say, "Okay."
He then turned and went into the inner room.
We did not go in, but we heard Gao Zheng say from inside:
"Give the child some! He'll be better after he drinks it."
A few minutes passed.
Then Gao Zheng and his wife suddenly cried out in panic from inside the room.
"Ah? Son, son!"
"Master, Master..."
When we heard the sudden shouts from inside, everyone outside