Kids are like that.
They need somekind of tale tell to make them believe on something. Actually, a made up stories like this works on innocent adult as well because the mother actually asked for one strand of hair from the hand of her children.
"Now, although you guys have the token of safety, I would still suggest you to be careful when going outside. Please do put some kind of a mask that cover most of your face when going out." Lai Yuan said, playing along with what Qi Wei said but took measure in case having a strand of his hair will make them recklessly go outside and trigger death.
After the lady and the children feels more loose and the awkwardness finally melt away, Lai Yuan finally explained and the reason of them coming into their house.
Proposing an informal school on the hut nearing the lake, the place where their group was resting as they got an idea to come over this house before, inviting the children to come over every noon.
"I know that you have given us the token of safety, great shaman. But, I am not sure if it is safe enough or not for the kids to go out even under your watch." The lady said in full honesty.
"I understand," Lai Yuan said, "But, do you really wish your children to stay in your house like this forever? I know its a big risk to take but there is me and my friends here to make sure that your children will stay safe during school. Plus, it will only take around two hours and held outdoor as well. If you wish, you can watch them from nearby the hut. How about that?"
The lady took some time to think and hesitantly ask Lai Yuan to give her time to think and discuss it with her husband.
Lai Yuan agreed and then they finally bid their goodbye from the lady's house.
When they get outside of the house, they can see the other participants are already working on their plan as well. Most of them are working in groups, maybe there are some that worked individually but Qi Wei eyes did not notice it.
The other groups' idea of increasing the welfare of the villagers seems to be the same as Qi Wei's previous simple way of thinking. It can be seen that some of the groups seems to be giving free foods to the villagers. There are even some that seems to be helping the villagers fixing their roof or their crooked windows.
The village indeed looks quite lively now compared to how gloomy it was before. People are here and there, helping the villagers and the villagers are also looking quite happy to be helped by others. Plus, having so little human to human interaction for so long, they must be feel some kind of relief being able to interact to some strangers that offer them safety.
Qi Wei's group of course did not miss the opportunity to go around every houses and give them the invitation of their pop-up school in the open hut starting from tomorrow.
Convincing the kids and the parents is not an easy work. Even for Lai Yuan who have always pass the first level of doom seamlessly without any loss, this time he suffers a lot… because Qi Wei keeps on plucking his hair to fool the children of how his hair will bring safety to them.
"Do you want to make me bald?" Lai Yuan finally asked as they finally left the last house of the villagers.
Qi Wei snickered at the question. "You bet I do."
Xiao Yi and Huang Peng have first go back to their guest house. They wanted to clean up and prepare some dinner for the two guys who decided to walk around the village to see if there are some clue they can get at night time.
The other groups who were walking around the village earlier have gone back to the guest house as well. Only some people who seems to be resting around the village. It seems like the tension they have the night before have melted down a bit now as they are not too scared to linger outside of the safety of the guest house at night.
Qi Wei found a small bench near the still lake and decided to rest there.
The lake looks beautiful, it reflects the beauty of the night sky along with the twinkling stars that can be rarely seen in a big busy city where Qi Wei lived in before.
The wind is rather cold, it blew softly on Qi Wei's face and Qi Wei likes it. It feels refreshing.
On the side, Lai Yuan sat there, watching Qi Wei blissful face with a small smile, quickly forgetting his annoyance over the loss of his hair. It's fine. He is willing to be bald for this pretty man sitting next to him.
"You know, I really want to kiss you right now." Lai Yuan said out of nowhere.
Qi Wei isn't even surprised anymore hearing such nonsense coming out of his newfound comrade. He just grimaced and said 'disgusting' under his breathe.
Lai Yuan chuckled, "Why would it be disgusting? It's not like you don't like men."
Qi Wei then nodded, agreeing with his clapback, "I do like men, Yuanyuan. But I don't like you." Qi Wei fakes a 'I pity you' type of expression to mock the Yuanyuan, hoping it will offend the man but to his surprise, Yuanyuan actually find his playful moves like this super adorable.
Their friendly banter then turns into a more heavy topic after awhile of sitting there watching the stars through the water.
"You know," Qi Wei said while keeping his eyes straight forward, "It is tragic how we are all asked to make the villagers live happier when all of us are here because we don't know how to be happy with our lives. Unhappy people trying to make others feel happy. What right do we have? Do we even know how to make people happy when we can't even do that to ourselves?"
Lai Yuan does not answer quickly, he seems to carefully think about Qi Wei sentences before dishing out a reply. "Maybe this is the purpose of this game? For us to learn how capable we really are of achieving happiness."