◎Men, Disgusting◎
Under the deep blue sky, countless bright stars twinkled. A slender crescent moon spilled silver light over the earth. The university campus was filled with towering trees, and under the moonlight, their shadows swayed gracefully.
In the dorm room, Zhong Yao and Si Ning Qing were silent. Only Chen Xiang’s choked voice broke the quiet: “I had been holding onto anger for a long time because of his actions. After he said those things, we had a huge fight. I even broke up with him and blocked his WeChat and phone number.”
“When he rushed out just now, he wanted to apologize and beg for my forgiveness. I don’t know what came over him afterward… he actually… he actually…” Her sobs made her unable to finish the sentence.
She had always been proud. The thought that so many people had watched and filmed the incident made her wish she could just find a block of tofu and hit herself with it.
The angrier Zhong Yao listened, the more she regretted not being harsher that afternoon, she should have kicked that jerk properly.
Si Ning Qing also looked furious, clearly not expecting something like this to happen. “Did you call the police?”
Chen Xiang shook her head. “I don’t want to make things bigger than they already are.”
Both of them understood her reasoning. Even if they had involved the police, it would mostly be mediation, unable to fundamentally solve the problem. They couldn’t just detain Zhao Si Yuan without an actual crime having been committed.
Chen Xiang took a deep breath, trying to steady her emotions and mindset. She wiped her tears and forced a smile at the two of them. “Thank you for worrying about me for nothing. I’m okay now.”
She sniffled, grabbed her pajamas, and went to the bathroom.
Zhong Yao turned to clean up the mess from the afternoon. She had intended to throw away the ruined talisman papers, but then changed her mind, carefully gathering them to store in the cabinet as a keepsake.
“Ah Qing, you were absolutely right,” Zhong Yao muttered as her hands moved tirelessly. “Men… disgusting… get lost.”
That was the abbreviated version, the original words were more like, Men are filthy. Make them stay far away.
Si Ning Qing’s icy expression softened, a smile breaking through. “Exactly, that’s the point.”
She picked up the unfinished Records of Strange Tales and glanced at the open Introduction to Talismans beside it, her eyes full of unspoken curiosity. “Since when did you become interested in this stuff?”
Zhong Yao, wiping red cinnabar that had dripped onto the table, blinked in confusion and then, after thinking it through, replied matter-of-factly: “To save someone.”
“That little guy, Dou Dou, besides foreseeing things, can’t do much. When it encounters something dangerous, it either has me call for reinforcements or learn to draw talismans on the spot.” She rolled her eyes, both annoyed and fond of Dou Dou’s audacious methods.
Si Ning Qing flipped through the book in her hands, seemingly curious but carefully checking the contents. Satisfied that nothing was missing, she relaxed and helped Zhong Yao tidy the desk.
The moon climbed high. Zhong Yao lay in bed, her mind still restless after the evening’s incident with Chen Xiang. She wasn’t in the mood to play on her phone and was about to sleep when her phone vibrated beside her, jolting her awake.
She assumed it was a WeChat message, but the red notification badge appeared on another app, Ji De, that she had opened only once before.
Wasn’t this the app Dou Dou had her download to check her merit points? Ever since she had generously maxed out her calculus merit points, using up all her merit, she hadn’t opened it again. Why was it suddenly sending her a message today?
She opened the app in confusion and saw that, right in the middle of the homepage under Total Income, the number 21 had suddenly appeared.
Zhong Yao was completely baffled. Ever since saving Meng Yu, the next malevolent spirit she had encountered was the one involving Chen Zhu Jing, and she hadn’t even managed to intervene yet. So how had the merit points already been credited in advance?
Dou Dou suddenly popped up：【Check your own Yu Yin account, the Shao Siming account.】
At this moment, Dou Dou had clearly regained its usual spirited air. Its long eyelashes were curled and fluttery, its face pale and tender, exquisitely delicate like a porcelain doll.
Zhong Yao opened Yu Yin. She had been busy lately and hadn’t had time to scroll through videos, the account logged in was still the Shao Siming one from last time.
She tapped into the homepage and was surprised to find that the video she had uploaded just that morning had already reached a staggering tens of millions of views, with over ten thousand comments.
She recalled the scene after the last Dongchuan City prophecy, when she had been ridiculed by the masses, and still felt lingering fear.
With trepidation, Zhong Yao opened the comments, only to find that the comment section was unexpectedly harmonious.
“Holy crap, it really hailed in Ling City, Shao Siming predicted it again!”
“Let me tell you a joke. That streamer who went to Dongchuan City last time to prove Shao Siming was spreading rumors happened to be on a business trip to Ling City, so he did another livestream. Last time he got soaked like a drowned rat, this time he got a mouthful of hailstones, hahaha.”
“And that poultry farm, its owner even posted a video specially thanking Shao Siming for saving his chicks.”
“I’ve decided, Shao Siming is my god!”
The Meteorological Bureau had already issued warnings, and citizens had stayed indoors in cooperation with the government, so no one went out. That was the government’s credit, not Zhong Yao’s, so these 21 merit points were probably earned from saving dozens of little chicks.
That was Zhong Yao’s guess.
She tapped Dou Dou’s icon on the screen with her fingertip and typed, “Then I’ll put these 21 merit points into talisman-drawing ability.”
The sooner she mastered the talismans, the sooner she could save Chen Zhu Jing. If this dragged on any longer, she was genuinely afraid that one day he might even choke to death just drinking water.
Dou Dou nodded, opened Ji De, selected the “Talismans” option, added the value up to 21, and then vanished without another word.
Zhong Yao rubbed her nose. Could it be that it was still angry about what happened that afternoon?
That incident really had wronged Dou Dou. She had wanted to make it up, but realized that all Dou Dou seemed to care about was merit points. So she simply resolved to settle Chen Zhu Jing’s situation as soon as possible, earn another batch of merit, and properly coax that tsundere little spirit.
Zhong Yao put down her phone, her eyes unfocused as she stared through the bed canopy above her at the ceiling.
She replayed each stroke of the talisman in her mind. Her thoughts went from sluggish to gradually smooth, until eventually she could even draw it in one continuous flow in her head.
Just adding 21 points had produced such a noticeable effect, if she could max it out, that would be even better.
Zhong Yao yawned, and just as the thought crossed her mind, she couldn’t control it and sank into sleep.
Over the next few days, after finishing her last exam, Zhong Yao didn’t leave the dormitory at all, she stayed inside, fully immersed in drawing talismans.
The Wudu wine was delivered the next day, a huge jar filled to the brim, but because her talisman wasn’t finished, it had no use yet.
It wasn’t until an afternoon three days later that she stood at the desk, her entire focus on the turmeric-colored paper before her, holding her specially made brush. Compared to the first day, when her hand shook as if she had Parkinson’s, her wrist was now far steadier.
The talisman to restrain the Luck Rogue had already taken root in her mind. She moved the brush slowly, drawing for more than ten minutes before finally putting it down.
Picking up the talisman, her eyes sparkled as if filled with countless stars. “Finally, it’s done,” she said with a smile.
Zhong Yao turned to Chen Xiang. “When is Chen Zhu Jing’s birthday?”
“Afternoon of the 19th day of the 7th lunar month, 2004,” Chen Xiang replied, looking at the yellow paper in her hands, somewhat surprised.
Back when Zhong Yao had been secluded in the dorm drawing talismans, Chen Xiang had asked what she was doing. When told it was to restrain Chen Zhu Jing’s bad luck, she had teased Zhong Yao, saying a modern young person like her was getting into feudal superstitions.
But now, looking at that thin sheet of paper, Chen Xiang felt a shock in her heart. Those lines she couldn’t understand seemed to contain countless mysteries.
Maybe it really could restrain misfortune?
The thought flashed in her mind, but the next second she shook her head in disbelief. How could a tiny talisman possibly have any effect?
Zhong Yao had no idea what Chen Xiang was thinking. She had looked up how to calculate the “eight characters of birth time” (Eight Characters of Birth) and, after a long calculation, determined that Chen Zhu Jing’s eight characters of birth time was: “[1]“甲申” (Jiǎ Shēn) is part of the Chinese sexagenary cycle, used in traditional calendars to mark years, months, days, and hours. It combines a heavenly stem (甲, Jiǎ) with an earthly branch … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1668875_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1668875_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });Jia Shen, [2]“壬申” (Rén Shēn) is another combination in the Chinese sexagenary (60-year) cycle, just like 甲申. Here: 壬 (Rén) is the ninth of the ten heavenly stems, associated with the element … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1668875_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1668875_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });Ren Shen, [3]“乙酉” (Yǐ Yǒu) is another combination in the Chinese sexagenary (60-year) cycle: 乙 (Yǐ) is the second of the ten heavenly stems, associated with the element Wood (Yin). 酉 (Yǒu) is the … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1668875_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1668875_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });Yi You, [4]“癸未” (Guǐ Wèi) is another combination in the Chinese sexagenary (60-year) cycle: 癸 (Guǐ) is the tenth of the ten heavenly stems, associated with the element Water (Yin). 未 (Wèi) is … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1668875_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1668875_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });Gui Wei.”
Drawing lines and writing characters felt different. With trembling hands, Zhong Yao carefully wrote Chen Zhu Jing’s eight characters of birth time on the back of the talisman. She then took out a bowl she had bought but never used, poured some Wudu wine into it, and placed it on the desk.
The moment the sealed jar was opened, a fragrant aroma spread through the dormitory. It smelled like morning dew on flowers, yet also like clean summer lotus, simultaneously like blossoms high on the branches and the thick, earthy soil below.
“What’s this smell? It’s actually pretty nice,” Chen Xiang sniffed eagerly.
Zhong Yao was smelling Wudu wine for the first time too and felt pleasantly surprised. Fortunately, it wasn’t purely alcoholic, otherwise, the dorm supervisor might have called her in for a warning.
She tossed the completed talisman into the bowl, set a three-hour alarm, then leaned back in her chair, stretching her waist lazily and loosening the limbs she hadn’t moved in days.
Chen Xiang came closer. “Is that all?”
Zhong Yao wasn’t entirely sure. “I think so.”
She had expected some strange chemical reaction when the talisman hit the wine, maybe it would catch fire or something, but now it just lay quietly at the bottom of the bowl, without a hint of change.
She felt a little disappointed, staring at it for several minutes, when suddenly a wave of drowsiness washed over her.
The exhaustion she had been deliberately suppressing finally caught up. Drawing talismans required complete focus, which was extremely draining on the mind and body. After days of non-stop work, her body had already signaled fatigue and needed proper rest.
Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Clinging to the last shred of consciousness, she climbed onto her bed. Without even adjusting her position, she turned over and drifted off to sleep.
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