Chapter 56
Because of the obscene little cards, the atmosphere plunged into awkwardness. For a moment, it felt as if a flock of crows had flown overhead, their wings flapping so clearly it was almost audible.
The others stared at the passionate-cowboy card in front of them, then quietly watched Shi Ye’s expression.
Zhan Shengyao and Zheng Xing had only met Shi Ye once. Compared to the two of them, Qin Buming could almost be considered an old acquaintance of his.
Ding Qizhen and Xia Fengsheng had already been comforted. Now it was Shi Ye’s turn.
Qin Buming was a top student at Jing University. He knew the fastest way to ease someone’s embarrassment was to change the subject and stop everyone from focusing on the little advertisement.
He walked over to Shi Ye and said, in what looked like a perfectly natural tone, “It’s cold today. The weather report said the low is going to be minus five. Shi Ye, you wore too little, didn’t you? You’ve been shivering this whole time.”
Shi Ye: ……
Silent Shi Ye trembled even harder.
Qin Buming: ?
Zhan Shengyao reminded him quietly, “That’s from anger.”
Qin Buming: !
Looking at the card with his own face on it, Shi Ye decided he would sue the mastermind behind this the moment he got back.
The little ad in his hand was instantly crushed into a ball of scrap paper.
When the case went to court, they had better bring those lousy cards with them.
After that little episode, the group continued up the mountain. The path consisted of one stone stair after another. Looking up, the steps seemed endless. To reach the temple at the top would take at least two hours.
There were people coming and going on the mountain path, but Xia Fengsheng found something odd. It was not even nine in the morning yet, and there were already people descending from the towering stone steps above and heading back down.
Praying to gods and Buddha took time. If someone wanted to get one of those blessed items to carry with them, it would take even longer.
So seeing people heading down so early made Xia Fengsheng curious. What time had they even come up?
The temple opened at seven every day. Since the stream of visitors was constant, maybe these people had lined up at the gate before opening hours, afraid they would not be able to get what they came for if the crowd got too big, and rushed in the moment it opened.
The closer they got to the temple, the more returning people they saw.
When they reached the entrance, a monk standing at the gate stopped them.
A string of prayer beads hung from his raised right hand. “Are the patrons here to worship, or to seek an object?”
Xia Fengsheng answered, “Both.”
The monk asked, “On the way here, did you curse or quarrel with anyone?”
Xia Fengsheng replied, “No.”
The monk said, “To worship and seek blessings, one must be sincere and well-intentioned. If, on the way here, a patron has cursed or argued with others, it is best to return for today. Otherwise, even the things you seek will be tainted with distracting thoughts.”
So that was the reasoning.
It was Xia Fengsheng’s first time at a temple, so he did not know any of this.
No wonder so many people had already turned back along the way. He had assumed they had simply come early, so they were naturally leaving early. Now it seemed that was not the case at all.
The mountain path was steep and exhausting. After walking for long enough, some people would inevitably blurt out profanity. That was also why most of them ended up returning early.
Luckily, Xia Fengsheng had once been ruthless enough with himself to break his casual swearing habit. Otherwise, he would have been one of the people making the return trip today.
The slaps he had taken for his loose mouth in the past had not been for nothing.
Shi Ye was usually emotionally stable. Even having his profession recently rewritten into “passionate cowboy” had not affected his mood today.
He had been to temples many times before and naturally knew the rules.
He had not told Xia Fengsheng and the others because he believed in letting things take their natural course. Temple rules were not meant to be spoken aloud. Those who came to pray all had their own fate. If someone cursed or argued on the way up today, then it simply meant today was not the right day for them to worship.
Luckily, none of them had dirtied their mouths on the way.
All their swearing about work had already been done back at the studio.
Save the dirty words for the studio, save the clean ones for Buddha.
Studio Dawn: Virtuous.
So the group was allowed through. As they entered the temple, the monk gave them one final reminder:
“This temple has three prohibitions: do not quarrel, do not act rashly, and do not lie. Please keep them in mind.”
The monk’s gaze fell on Xia Fengsheng himself.
Without saying anything, Xia Fengsheng stepped inside.
Coming to a temple naturally meant offering incense and drawing lots to read one’s fortune.
This temple had its own rules for drawing lots, and the process was somewhat cumbersome. Since it was his first time making an offering, Xia Fengsheng studied the instructions on the signboard until he had memorized them, then began the lot-drawing ritual in an orderly fashion.
There were many people in line to draw lots. The New Year season was the peak time for temple visits, and everyone wanted to see what their luck for the new year would be like.
Xia Fengsheng stood in line for a long time, his legs growing numb, before it was finally his turn.
He knelt upright on the cushion, back straight and neck poised, eyes closed as he shook the bamboo lot cylinder in his hands.
Pa—
One bamboo stick fell onto the ground. Xia Fengsheng picked it up, walked over to the monk seated to one side, and handed it over.
The monk glanced at the lot, picked up a writing brush, bent over a sheet of xuan paper, wrote something, and then passed it to Xia Fengsheng.
Xia Fengsheng unfolded the paper.
Misfortune.
Xia Fengsheng: ……
After receiving the slip, one was supposed to go queue elsewhere outside, where another monk would carefully explain the meaning of the drawn lot.
Xia Fengsheng suddenly did not really want to hear the explanation.
Was the meaning not obvious enough already?
Around him, everyone else’s papers were covered in dense lines of writing. His alone was brutally straightforward.
After Xia Fengsheng got his slip, the others had finished drawing theirs as well, and they gathered together in the line for interpretation.
Shi Ye and Ding Qizhen had gone to offer incense and were not here yet.
Qin Buming came over curiously. “Sheng’er, what kind of lot did you get?”
Xia Fengsheng opened the paper in his hand for him to see.
Qin Buming: !
Misfortune!
The four members of Studio Dawn compared their slips. Aside from Xia Fengsheng’s misfortune lot, everyone else had drawn auspicious ones.
Three auspicious, one ominous.
Xia Fengsheng felt his slip stood out all the more because of it.
Zhan Shengyao comforted him. “Life rises and falls. Fortune and misfortune are both normal. And who says misfortune is necessarily bad? When misfortune comes, maybe it can be turned into fortune. Let’s go hear what the abbot has to say first.”
Misfortune lots were interpreted by the abbot personally, so there was no need to queue here.
Zheng Xing echoed, “Right!”
So the group headed together toward the abbot’s quarters.
To get there, they had to cross a small courtyard.
They had just stepped out from under a long covered corridor when a flock of birds flew overhead.
Plop—
A lump of white bird droppings landed on the sleeve of Xia Fengsheng’s coat.
Xia Fengsheng: ……
His branded down jacket had cost him eighteen thousand eight hundred.
Seeing Xia Fengsheng’s face darken as he looked ready to greet the birds’ ancestors, Qin Buming hurriedly clapped a hand over his mouth and admonished him in a panic, “Sheng’er! No quarreling!”
Whether with people or things, no quarreling.
The lot had not even been interpreted yet. He could not be sent back halfway down the mountain now.
The corners of Xia Fengsheng’s eyes twitched. The ugly look on his face instantly changed into a smile, and he clapped his hands as he said, “Hahaha, excellent aim, excellent aim.”
A kind of beautiful but eerie mental state.
Look what life had reduced the poor man to.
There were not many people queued outside the abbot’s yard. Clearly, drawing a misfortune lot was rare. Including Xia Fengsheng, there were only two people today.
Xia Fengsheng: ……
A life excessively blessed with uniqueness.
The abbot looked at the paper in his hand. Aside from the large character for misfortune, there was a small line of writing along the side.
The abbot said, “This year, patron, you are fated to encounter a tribulation. That is why you drew a misfortune lot.”
Xia Fengsheng asked, “What kind of tribulation?”
The abbot only smiled and said nothing. Obviously, it was not something that could be spoken aloud.
“A tribulation must be faced and experienced by the patron themself,” he said. “Only you can break it. No one else can resolve it for you.”
Looking at the paper in his hand, Xia Fengsheng felt no fear or timidity at all, even at the word misfortune.
One word and one sheet of paper could not bind a person’s destiny. Clearly, they could not bind his either.
“Patron,” the abbot continued slowly, “a misfortune lot is not necessarily a bad thing. If you can overcome this tribulation yourself, then from that point onward your fate will be open, bright, and smooth.”
Xia Fengsheng asked, “And if I fail to overcome it?”
The abbot answered, “Unfulfilled ambition. A lonely life to the end.”
Xia Fengsheng curled his fingers slightly. So truly, no good ending.
Still, that was not much different from the seven years he had already lived through.
He took the paper and turned to leave, but just as he stepped beneath the archway, he stopped.
A tide churned in his eyes. Clearly, he was hesitating over something.
There had always been one question that plagued him. He had heard it from his parents, from his teachers, and from strangers who had only just met him.
It was as though all the hardship and jagged misery in his life stemmed from that one thing.
Lowering his eyes, Xia Fengsheng looked at the cracked paving stones underfoot, worn by years of wind and frost.
Then he turned back and returned to the abbot.
“Abbot, could you read my face for me?”
From childhood, he had often heard people say he had a bad face: the upturned eyes and sharp corners of his mouth made him look sinister. He had heard old people in the neighborhood mutter things like lonely star, bringer of misfortune, broom star—that he did not bring prosperity to himself, let alone to anyone else, and that anyone who stayed near him too long would be unlucky.
In the past, Xia Fengsheng had never cared.
But to get to where he was today, he had paid far, far too much.
He was tired—a weariness too deep to speak aloud.
He did not believe in fate, and yet fate had followed him like a shadow. He still had the determination to shatter every disaster set before him, and yet disaster seemed always to find him anyway.
No one had ever remained by his side for long. From childhood until now, too many people around him had left—his parents, Shi Ye…
No one who stayed beside him ever ended well. Even his biological father had died badly.
People who stayed with him always seemed to suffer one hardship after another.
If not for him, perhaps Xia Zhiyuan would not have died in a car accident. If not for him, perhaps Shi Ye’s leg would never have been broken.
That was Shi Ye’s dancing leg.
That was Shi Ye’s dancing leg.
Xia Fengsheng could not understand why his life was always wrapped in pain. Time and again he fought with all his strength to break free, but the suffering never seemed to end. Perhaps, just as those old people had said, his face really was bad, his fate really was bad, and all the hardship in his life came from himself.
The abbot studied his features seriously.
Xia Fengsheng held his breath, fingers digging into his own palm, his eyes unblinking for a long moment.
At this moment, he was no longer the rising star of the finance world, the young elite who had already made a name for himself the moment he stepped into the industry.
He was the child who once used every ounce of his strength trying to make his parents stop fighting.
Or the teenager in the snowy winter night who wanted to keep Shi Ye and yet had to pull his hand back.
He had never truly stepped out from the shadow of that nightmare. He had been trapped by this so-called face, this so-called physiognomy, for half his life.
“Is it my eye shape that’s bad? I’ve heard that this kind of eye shape brings disaster. Or maybe it’s the corners of my mouth…” Xia Fengsheng forced himself to stay lucid enough to form the words.
“Can surgery change a face? Or I could just change the whole thing—eyes, nose, mouth, throw away all their original shape—I could go to a hospital, I…”
The more he spoke, the more agitated he became, as if the moment the abbot said yes, he would tear his face off right then and there.
Suddenly, a firm weight settled on his wrist.
He lowered his eyes.
The abbot had clasped his trembling wrist.
Xia Fengsheng had not even realized he was shaking. In the freezing winter air, a thin layer of sweat had formed on his forehead.
Only then did he realize how badly he had lost control. His wide, tense eyes slowly returned to normal as he forced himself to calm down. Somewhat awkwardly, he apologized, “I’m sorry.”
“Child, your face is a good one. It’s all right.”
The abbot’s words struck Xia Fengsheng directly in the ear.
He looked up.
The abbot wrapped his cold hand in both of his own. “A face is only a face. You are very beautiful. You should have more joy because of it, not less. Why do you think your face is bad? Did someone say something to you?”
Xia Fengsheng went voiceless. Nothing came from his throat.
The abbot said gently, “You’ve suffered a lot because of this, haven’t you?”
Xia Fengsheng’s eyes reddened. Stunned, he nodded.
Rumors and gossip wound the heart. Even lies can make a person begin to doubt themself.
The abbot’s soft voice encircled him. “They were all lying to you. It’s all right. The fault was never yours.”
Xia Fengsheng shut his eyes. The pain on his face could no longer be hidden.
The shadow that had hung over him for so many years finally began, at last, to lift.
The snow had weighed on him for two or three years.
And yet what had weighed on Xia Fengsheng was far more than just two or three years.
After dissolving that poisonous talk about his face, the abbot took the paper from his hand. “Patron, come with me.”
Xia Fengsheng followed him.
The two of them went south and arrived at the rear courtyard where the temple cultivated flowers and plants. Monks were there watering them.
Winter-blooming flowers flourished under their careful hands.
The abbot said, “Since you drew a misfortune lot today, you can stay here and help water the flowers.”
“These flowers and grasses grow under the protection of gods and Buddha. They are born with spiritual energy. Spending time with them will help increase your fortune.”
Whenever a guest drew a misfortune lot, the abbot would usually bring them here to water flowers and calm their mind.
“There is one other place as well.” The abbot led him to another building. Inside, there was a deity enshrined on a raised platform, and several people knelt on cushions on the floor reciting scriptures.
There were at least seven or eight people there.
The abbot explained, “This is where one prays for a peace talisman. To receive one, a person must kneel here and chant for a full shichen.”
A full shichen—that meant two hours.
Two hours was too long. Besides, Xia Fengsheng did not know the scripture well enough to read it properly, and if he prayed for a talisman without sincerity in his heart, it would be pointless anyway.
So he declined the peace talisman and chose instead to stay in the rear courtyard and water flowers.
A little novice monk came to help him. He looked no older than seven or eight, yet carried himself with practiced competence.
Carrying a bucket of water, Xia Fengsheng walked over to a patch of flowers, picked up a wooden dipper, scooped out a ladleful of water, and poured it over the plants.
Water beaded on the petals as the branches, leaves, and soil drank it in.
Watering flowers was not hard. Even a three-year-old child could do it well.
But just as Xia Fengsheng reached for a second ladleful—
Crack.
With one crisp sound, the wooden dipper split apart.
Half remained in Xia Fengsheng’s hand. The other half dropped into the bucket.
Xia Fengsheng: ……
How could someone really be this unlucky?
The little monk’s face lit with surprise when he saw the broken dipper. He had used it for so long and had never seen it split before.
Knowing Xia Fengsheng was the guest who had drawn the misfortune lot, he patted Xia Fengsheng reassuringly on the waist with his tiny hand and said:
“Don’t panic. I’ll glue it back together for you.”
“It must have had a crack from being used too long.”
Then he turned and ran off to find some glue.
Xia Fengsheng stood there holding the broken dipper. Soon the little monk came running back with a tiny bottle of superglue.
The novice instructed, “Hold the bottom. I’ll put the glue in the crack.”
Xia Fengsheng obeyed, holding the dipper while the boy applied the glue.
When he was done, the little monk said, “You can let go now. I’ll hold it while it dries.”
Xia Fengsheng released it. The novice waved the dipper in the air, trying to make the glue dry faster.
A lot of annoying things had happened today: first bird droppings, then a broken dipper. Xia Fengsheng raised both hands and pressed at his temples.
He told himself that it was fine. One day of bad luck would pass quickly.
His fingers kneaded gently at the pressure points. The brief massage eased his taut nerves a little. There was nothing Xia Fengsheng could not get through—
Except when he went to lower his hands, he discovered… his fingers would not come off.
Xia Fengsheng: ……
While holding the dipper earlier, some of the glue had seeped through the crack and gotten onto his fingers.
And now those fingers were stuck to his temples.
Ha… hahaha. Hahahahaha.
A smile he could not control appeared on Xia Fengsheng’s face. He did not even know what he was laughing at. It was simply true that when a person was too speechless, they laughed.
Seeing him remain frozen in the same pose, the little monk asked, “What’s wrong?”
Forcing out a strained smile, Xia Fengsheng ground out through clenched teeth, “I can’t take them off.”
The little monk: !
The little monk’s worldview was shaken.
How could someone be this unlucky?
First the dipper broke. Now his hands were glued to his head.
“Wait right there! I’ll get you some hot water!”
Hot water could dissolve the glue.
The novice hurried off yet again.
All around them, everyone else was watering flowers. Only Xia Fengsheng stood there doing nothing, fingers stuck to his temples, cosplaying Ikky?.
People nearby started glancing curiously in his direction.
Xia Fengsheng hurriedly shut his eyes and pretended he was doing eye exercises.
As expected of a misfortune lot. In just half a day, he had fully experienced its power.
Luckily, there was no one here who knew him. Otherwise, Xia Fengsheng could not imagine the degree of humiliation he would be suffering.
He was still inwardly thanking his lucky stars when he opened his eyes and saw Shi Ye walking into the rear courtyard.
Xia Fengsheng: ……
Shi Ye had heard that Xia Fengsheng had drawn a misfortune lot and was watering flowers here, so he had come to check on him. The first thing he saw upon entering was Xia Fengsheng standing off in the distance with both hands stuck to his temples, doing who knew what.
Shi Ye walked over to him and looked at the fingers glued to the sides of his head. His peach-blossom eyes blinked. “Headache?”
Expressionless, Xia Fengsheng said, “Superglue.”
Shi Ye: O.O
Shi Ye: OuO
Looking at him, Shi Ye tried hard not to laugh. For a moment, his sense of humor and his sense of morality were fighting for dominance.
Embarrassed enough to actually flush, Xia Fengsheng bit out, “What are you laughing at?”
Shi Ye fought to hold it back, but in the end he still doubled over laughing. “Nothing. I was just wondering how you managed to glue your hands on there.”
How did fingers that were fine one moment end up stuck with superglue?
Under the sunlight, his smile was radiant. His eyes were full of Xia Fengsheng as he lifted a hand and lightly touched the glued fingers.
“They’re really stuck. Does it hurt?”
Xia Fengsheng could not be bothered to answer him. Just then, a monk called Shi Ye away to collect incense.
After casting one last glance at Xia Fengsheng, who still looked like he was doing eye exercises, and learning that someone had already gone to fetch hot water to dissolve the glue, Shi Ye finally left.
Soon after he was gone, the little monk came running back, and under the effect of the hot water, the superglue finally dissolved. Xia Fengsheng’s middle fingers and temples were rescued.
The force of the misfortune lot was coming in hard. At this point, even if Xia Fengsheng wanted not to believe, he would have to.
So when he resumed watering the flowers, his attitude had become genuinely reverent.
That afternoon, not only did he water flowers in the back courtyard, he also followed the little monk up the back mountain to collect firewood.
Since he was spending so much time at the temple, he sent Qin Buming and the others a message telling them not to wait for him and to go back down the mountain first. He would return to the inn on his own afterward.
When a person was unlucky, they really were unlucky.
After gathering the firewood, Xia Fengsheng had thought he had absorbed enough spiritual energy by now and that the day’s misfortune should finally be over.
Who would have guessed that just as he was leaving the temple, he tripped over the threshold and sprained his foot.
Xia Fengsheng: … Hahahahaha. Whatever.
Whatever!
Grinding his teeth, Xia Fengsheng limped toward the mountain path. A sprained foot was one thing. A sprained foot going downhill was something else entirely.
After a day filled with one unlucky incident after another, Xia Fengsheng had completely flattened out emotionally. The hardship had worn him down to the point he did not even have the energy to get angry anymore.
He looked at the gradually sinking evening sun and had no idea how long it would take him to hobble down the mountain like this.
Probably until dark.
He limped slowly toward the steps. But as he reached the head of the mountain path, he saw a familiar figure.
He was the last temple guest to emerge. He had not expected anyone to still be waiting near the stairs.
Hearing footsteps behind him, Shi Ye turned around. He saw Xia Fengsheng limping toward him.
White breath drifted from Xia Fengsheng’s mouth in the cold. “Why are you here?”
Shi Ye had his hands shoved in his pockets against the cold. “Waiting for you. You hadn’t come out all this time.”
His gaze dropped to Xia Fengsheng’s uneven steps, and he strode over.
“What happened to your foot?”
Xia Fengsheng still remembered Shi Ye laughing at him that afternoon, so he said coldly, “It’s lame.”
He brushed past Shi Ye and kept stubbornly heading down the mountain.
Shi Ye grabbed him. “I’ll carry you.”
Xia Fengsheng ignored him and insisted on walking down under his own power.
But Shi Ye directly stepped in front of him, looped something around his neck, and then, without giving Xia Fengsheng a chance to refuse, bent down and hoisted him onto his back.
“You’re hobbling down the mountain like that—when exactly do you plan to get down?” he said irritably.
Why insist on being stubborn when your foot is already hurt?
The world tilted in an instant. Shi Ye’s strong arms hooked under Xia Fengsheng’s knees, and before Xia Fengsheng could react, he was already sprawled against Shi Ye’s broad back.
Brows rising sharply, Xia Fengsheng was just about to say he did not need to be carried when the flash of red before his eyes drew his attention.
His gaze followed the red cord downward. A tiny little pouch hung from it.
It was a peace talisman.
Xia Fengsheng’s pupils contracted. The bright-red charm, strung on a red cord and hanging around his neck, radiated warmth.
His voice turned hoarse. “Where did you get this?”
Shi Ye carried him down the mountain, holding him securely so he would not fall.
“I prayed for it,” he said, turning his head slightly to look at him. “Didn’t you draw a misfortune lot? I heard those are unlucky, so I got one for you.”
He said it lightly, as though praying for a talisman were no trouble at all.
To receive a peace talisman, one had to kneel in the temple for two hours. Xia Fengsheng could hardly believe it—Shi Ye had actually knelt there reciting scripture for a full two hours.
Those who knelt for peace talismans in the temple were rarely praying for themselves. Some prayed for a bedridden mother, some for a frail child, some for a lover weighed down by darkness. They sought peace for the people they loved.
And just like those others, Shi Ye had prayed for one for him.
Praying that he would be safe and smooth in life, free of calamity and misfortune.
The bright red of the talisman felt like fire searing through his skin. Xia Fengsheng held the charm in his hand and was unable to recover his senses for a long while.
Afraid that Xia Fengsheng would feel burdened, Shi Ye deliberately changed the subject. “So? I got a charm for you. Aren’t you super moved?”
Lying on Shi Ye’s back, Xia Fengsheng did not answer. It was as though he were still angry about being laughed at that afternoon. His pale cheek rested against Shi Ye’s shoulder in silence.
Shi Ye found him unbearably cute. His heart softened, and his voice did too. Turning his head slightly, he rubbed his cheek against Xia Fengsheng’s hair like a little dog and, full of affection, muttered under his breath, “Then since I prayed for a talisman for you, do you love me?”
Xia Fengsheng had originally wanted to say no.
A charm was just a charm. Nothing special.
But the moment his lips parted, they pressed back together again.
Do not lie, patron.
Resting against Shi Ye’s back, Xia Fengsheng looked up at the blue-violet sunset clouds lining the horizon.
“…I do.”
