The aunt didn’t remove any of the jewelry she was wearing, either. Xiaotian said that sulfur hot springs were highly corrosive, and a gold necklace could easily snap if it was soaked in them.
It didn’t really affect the water quality, though. The spring water was changed frequently, and guests weren’t required to remove their jewelry. Many hot-spring resorts required visitors to remove their makeup, shower, or wear swimming caps before getting in, but Xiang Yu didn’t have to worry about that. With a purification system in place, the only thing to be concerned about was damaging the customers’ jewelry.
So this very wealthy aunt merely chuckled twice and idly fiddled with the gold chain around her neck, which was about as thick as a finger.
“If it breaks, I’ll give it to you. You think this can break? It won’t.”
The aunt hadn’t brought a swimsuit, clearly never intending to soak in the hot springs. But she rented one on the spot and got into the water with all her jingling jewelry. Gu Xiaoshuang and Li Qian huddled together, secretly watching the expression on her face as she soaked.
She wore exactly the same expression they had: “This is kind of nice”—“So refreshing”—“I’m so comfortable I’m dazed.”
Then she leaned back against the edge of the pool, closed her eyes, blocked out the world, and entered her own little universe.
“Exactly the same.”
Gu Xiaoshuang silently mouthed the words to Li Qian, barely holding back her laughter.
So it wasn’t that she had never seen the world. Look—even a wealthy aunt couldn’t withstand this.
“Stop staring at her like a couple of perverts.”
Li Qian understood perfectly what she meant and wanted to laugh too, but she lowered her voice and made a shushing gesture.
She swam to the edge with a few strokes and looked at the tray Xiaotian had brought over earlier.
The bamboo basket held two eggs and a bowl of something pitch-black. There was also a sheet of paper beneath the tray, covered with an interminable explanation of the supposed benefits of hot-spring eggs and volcanic mud.
Volcanic minerals could enhance the skin’s elasticity and radiance, help regulate its moisture balance, and, thanks to their powerful absorption properties, cleanse clogged pores. They also moisturized and reduced inflammation, promoting the skin’s natural repair process…
It was probably copied wholesale from some Baidu Baike entry, rattling on like a fast-talking street performer.
Even a miracle cure wouldn’t have all those benefits. This was a pretty typical case of false advertising.
After reading the description, Li Qian pointed at the wooden tray and delivered a lofty pronouncement:
“This is an egg, and this is mud.”
Gu Xiaoshuang nodded solemnly. “Thank you. I’m not blind.”
Li Qian picked up one of the eggs with her fingertips and gave it a shake.
“Why is it raw? Oh, it says here—the hot spring is cooler than boiling water. Egg whites start to set at around sixty degrees Celsius, while the yolk requires temperatures above seventy, so eggs cooked in the spring water become perfectly soft-boiled, with runny yolks. Too bad eating undercooked food gives me diarrhea.”
Gu Xiaoshuang folded her arms. “Then I suppose I’ll reluctantly take care of it for you.”
“It also says hot-spring eggs symbolize geothermal energy, and eating one means absorbing the energy of the hot spring, which strengthens the body. That sounds perfect for you.”
Li Qian burst out laughing as she read. “The owner is quite the storyteller… We have to cook this egg ourselves. There’s a live spring over by the pebbles, so be careful not to burn yourself.”
“You just find the spring and put the little bamboo basket in.”
Though none of them particularly cared about eating eggs, cooking one in hot-spring water was still a lot of fun.
Gu Xiaoshuang scampered off with the bamboo basket to look for the spring. Sure enough, she found a high-temperature spring bubbling away in the corner.
A railing had been built around it, keeping people from getting too close, but the basket had a small hook that could be hung over the edge.
White steam billowed from the spring. Water and hot vapor puffed and splashed upward. Once the eggs were lowered in, they cheerfully rolled around in the spring, as if they were enjoying a hot-spring bath of their own.
A sign beside it said to take them out after xx minutes. Since many people left their phones outside while soaking, there was even a small hourglass beside the egg pool for timing. The grains of sand flowed through it as it was turned over and over, like a miniature waterfall.
It was extremely fun.
More than eating the eggs, it felt like playing house. Gu Xiaoshuang carefully picked out an hourglass with tiny sequins in it and carried it back.
By the edge of the pool, Li Qian was poking the soft, sticky lump of black mud with a wooden-handled spoon. When Gu Xiaoshuang came over, Li Qian dipped her finger into the mud and swiftly launched a sneak attack, smearing a blob onto her companion’s nose.
“You have no sense of honor!” Gu Xiaoshuang cried in horror as she scraped the blob off her nose. The cool, sticky sensation raised goose bumps all over her skin. “Can this stuff really go on your face? It feels like slime.”
“Of course. The package says it whitens your skin. It’s full of natural mineral ions.” Li Qian grinned and rubbed her own face, which was currently breaking out in acne. “My face is covered in pimples. You should use it.”
Gu Xiaoshuang shook her head and cautiously eased into the water at a spot far away from the volcanic mud. She closed her eyes and soaked comfortably in the hot spring.
“I have sensitive skin. You use it.”
Students might have been short on cash, but they still had standards when it came to enjoying life. They had researched every detail and compared prices everywhere. Gu Xiaoshuang’s face was far too precious to risk on something of unknown origin.
The hot spring itself had already paid for the trip. As for the complimentary hot-spring eggs and volcanic mud, everyone had become so relaxed from soaking that they were in no hurry to try anything new.
“You picked the package. You use it.”
“You bought the group coupon. You use it.”
“Then you throw it away.”
“You throw it away.”
The two of them kept pushing the chore back and forth with utterly pointless arguments. The aunt, who had been resting beside them with her eyes closed, finally raised her voice after listening to the girls evade responsibility for ages.
“What’s that? Volcanic mud? Let your aunt have a look.”
The two girls nodded eagerly. The next moment, the aunt dove into the water, swam underwater for several meters, and shot up right in front of them.
When she emerged, she was wearing not only a gleaming gold chain and jade bangles, but also a pair of impressively healthy, muscular arms.
Before getting in, the aunt had chosen a swimming cap, goggles, and a racing swimsuit. She looked like a vigorous athlete brimming with vitality.
She picked up the mixing spoon and stirred the mud a few times. Beneath the wooden spoon, the volcanic mud parted as softly as mousse cake, with the consistency of thick yogurt.
It flowed more easily than Greek yogurt, but was thicker than ordinary yogurt—a remarkably fine and silky texture.
“This spreads nicely. Better than what they use at beauty salons.”
As the aunt felt the volcanic mud yield gently against the spoon, she could imagine how tenderly the lump would envelop someone’s skin.
She scooped up a small amount and held it beneath her nose. “No strange smell, and no weird added fragrances.”
It had a faint, earthy scent, along with the mild mineral smell of soil—like gray-black ice cream.
“If you girls don’t want it, then…”
The aunt had barely begun when Li Qian hurriedly cut in.
“I’ll try it! I’ll try it!”
Better to use it on her legs or hands than let it go to waste.
The aunt smiled in satisfaction. “That’s my good girl. We mustn’t waste things. Come here, I’ll spread it on for you. Once this stuff dries, it turns into a shell.”
Faced with an overly enthusiastic auntie from the neighborhood, the two socially anxious students both surrendered in front of a stranger.
Li Qian stood there helplessly as layer after layer of volcanic mud was smeared across her face. Gu Xiaoshuang’s eyes widened as her companion was evenly coated like cured meat being prepared for the New Year, gradually taking on the appearance of an Indigenous tribeswoman.
The auntie scraped the last bit of mud clean from the bottom of the bowl with a wooden spoon. Looking at Li Qian’s already-plastered face, she seemed a little regretful. Then she turned to Gu Xiaoshuang, who was standing beside her like a quail, and held out the spoon.
“Little miss, want some?”
“No, no, I’m good.”
Gu Xiaoshuang quickly made her position clear, stealthily retreating half a step in the water, afraid she would meet the same fate as Li Qian.
The auntie instructed Li Qian to raise her arm, then spread a thick layer of mud on the outside of the crook of her arm, where it was covered in dead skin.
“The owner’s got a good conscience, huh? They give you quite a lot. If it works well, I’ll buy a whole bucket on my way home.”
Li Qian looked like a straw scarecrow brought to life. With her arms held up and her entire face covered in mud, she didn’t dare move an inch. She still replied politely, “Thank you, Auntie. Thank you, Auntie…”
“What are you thanking me for? I look at you girls just like I look at my own daughter. My daughter’s in college too.”
Having done her good deed for the day, the kind auntie climbed ashore and wrapped herself in a straw mat to steam.
Only then did Gu Xiaoshuang inch over to Li Qian.
“How does it feel?”
Since things had already come to this, Li Qian touched the mud shell on her face. “It feels like it’s drying. It’s really tight.”
She tried to frown and grin, but as the volcanic mud gradually hardened on her face, her facial muscles became increasingly difficult to control. The novel sensation made her burst into a cackling laugh.
“Do I look like a terracotta warrior?”
“It’s tight—the physically tight kind.” Since the mud shell kept her from smiling, Li Qian only wanted to laugh more and more.
“You know how those ads say ‘instant lifting, instant firmness’? I don’t know if it’ll make me fairer, but I can definitely feel my skin being stretched tight…”
Gu Xiaoshuang tapped her cheek. The outer layer had hardened completely, and it made a solid clunk when tapped.
Looking at the steam curling up from the hot spring and Li Qian, who was radiating heat with her face encased in mud, she said with complete sincerity, “You look less like a terracotta warrior and more like a beggar’s chicken…”
About halfway through their soak, the auntie went off to have a skincare treatment. The three of them exchanged friendly goodbyes, and after spending so long in the water, Gu Xiaoshuang and Li Qian climbed ashore to take a break as well.
Gu Xiaoshuang went to retrieve the hot-spring eggs while Li Qian washed the mud off her face.
Li Qian scooped up a few handfuls of water and washed her face, gently picking away the mud mask with her fingernails. Her skin, stifled for so long, seemed to come alive the instant it touched the clear water. The fresh, breathable sensation sent tingles across her scalp.
“Oh my god! This feels amazing!”
Li Qian suddenly lifted her face from the water and closed her eyes, savoring the feeling of her skin breathing as if it had been reborn.
“Xiaoshuang, Xiaoshuang, look at me!”
“I’m scooping out the eggs! I don’t have time to deal with you…”
Li Qian buried her face in the water again, carefully washing away the remaining volcanic mud with her hands and a face cloth. Layer by layer, the mud rinsed off, and the sensation of her fingers brushing against her cheeks was exceptionally soft and smooth.
The pimples that had been suffocating her skin until it was swollen and sore had, unusually, settled down. They no longer stirred up trouble, as if they had fallen asleep. The skin that remained was as soft and tender as a freshly peeled egg.
And it wasn’t that artificial, slippery kind of smoothness. It was genuinely clean and fresh, the oily sheen and grime stripped away. Her entire face felt soft and plump to the touch.
Li Qian touched it once in disbelief, then again. She rushed over to the sink and looked in the mirror, examining herself from left to right.
“Xiaoshuang! Xiaoshuang! Look at me! Look at me!”
Gu Xiaoshuang was still busy scooping out the eggs. With Li Qian carrying on behind her like one of the monkeys from Flower Fruit Mountain, she was making an unbearable racket. Gu Xiaoshuang turned around and glanced at her, let out a surprised “Huh?” then turned back and looked again.
