Chen Yue Zhi Yao Vol 2 Chapter 2

“The chickens were definitely flashed to death.” – Fan Tong
“We’re the ones who’re flashed to death.” – Zhu Sha

Basically, no one cared where Yin s.h.i.+ had supposedly teleported to, and even if they did, it wouldn’t have been of any use. He maintained his apt.i.tude of completely neglecting other people’s problems. Although he excused himself by saying, “How unlucky”, it sounded more like he actually meant, “What’s past is past, so let’s just let nature take its course.”

Someone who’s always causing trouble for others shouldn’t have the right to say that he himself is out of luck.

“Hey, Yin, the extra communication charm…”

Ling s.h.i.+ looked like he wanted to finish dealing with this problem, but his call was ignored by Yin s.h.i.+ once again.

“Xiao Rou, are you there? I miss you.”

“Ah, me too, I also miss you.”

Bi Rou seemed like she couldn’t resist that sweet, gentle voice of his. The audience appeared to be pushed back by the pink aura that radiated in every direction from the couple as Bi Rou cupped her face shyly.

“Old man, make sure you protect Xiao Rou. If she’s missing even a single strand of hair, I’ll have some unfinished business with you.”

I heard humans lose a hundred strands of hair a day. You’re trying to force him to do something that’s beyond his power, Lord Yin s.h.i.+.

“Why don’t you do it yourself if you care so much? She’d prefer your company anyways.”

Ling s.h.i.+ seemed to have guessed Bi Rou’s inner thoughts exactly. Her eyes suddenly lit up.

“Ah, then you go s.n.a.t.c.h people in the Chen Yue pathway in my place.”

“No.”

“Xiao Rou, this old man’s evil. Later, when he’s killing chickens, you should give him a stab in the back.”

“……”

If he was serious, saying it now pretty much destroyed the point, so he’s probably joking then? But then why did he sound so serious?

“Yin s.h.i.+, Lord Ling s.h.i.+ came to help us out of the goodness of his heart, so don’t be like this.”

Bi Rou still had some conscience, but Yin s.h.i.+, in that manner of his, was full of objections again.

“Xiao Rou, just call him Ling s.h.i.+. Don’t call him Lord Ling s.h.i.+ anymore. I think you’re losing out like this – he’s taking advantage of you.”

I think it’s you who is losing out? Her addressing someone else using “Lord”, but not addressing you with “Lord”, means that you’re one rung short, no?

“Ah, is it like that? But it still feels strange… how about calling him Ling s.h.i.+ dàgē?”

Bi Rou blinked innocently as she answered. Intense sounds of collisions could be heard from the communication charm, and no one was quite sure as to what had happened.

“I don’t mind.”

The corners of Ling s.h.i.+’s mouth curled slightly, smiling as though he’d found something amusing.

“Never! Actually, just call him ‘Lord’… Ah, why don’t you call him old man? That’d be the best.”

That’s not the best at all – it’s extremely rude.

“Xiao Rou, don’t mind him. Come with me, I’ll take you to go kill some chickens.”

Lord Ling s.h.i.+, when did you also start calling her Xiao Rou?

“Ah! Old man, what are you doing by addressing her so intimately?!! That nickname is exclusively for my use!”

So you mean none of us can call her that either…

“Why did you want me to bring seven Fuzhou communication charms?”

So you’re still nagging about that old problem even after wasting half the day away.

“…? Seven? Did I say that? Wasn’t it five?”

Everyone present could testify that you’d wanted seven.

“……”

The smile that appeared on Ling s.h.i.+’s face contained a hint of murderous intent. It was probably due to the fury directed at Yin s.h.i.+’s brain, which no medicine could cure.

It’s not me who’s saying this, but Lord Ling s.h.i.+, when you get angry you’re still quite cla.s.sy. No wonder Mi Zhong goes crazy all over you. It’s a pity this world doesn’t have cameras and recorders. If I sneakily took a few pictures of you and recorded some of your words, I could make quite a sum of money. It could even ignite rumors about the two attendants battling over a Western beauty, giving us enough picture and audio proof to create a sensation.

“Don’t mind that idiot. Let’s go kill some chickens…”

Your murderous intent was actually revealed through your word choice…

“Uh… Lord Ling s.h.i.+, do you know how to perform healing-type Fuzhou?”

Yue Tui still hadn’t given up on rescuing Fan Tong and his injury. After all, Yin s.h.i.+ was no use saving anyone. Now that it’s the more reliable Ling s.h.i.+ here, there seemed to be some hope.

“Healing?”

Ling s.h.i.+ glanced at the people present. It was obvious that only Fan Tong was wounded.

“Was it caused by Yin s.h.i.+’s spell?”

You’re really good. That’s one discriminating eye you’ve got there.

“Yes…”

Yue Tui answered in Fang Tong’s place, following which Ling s.h.i.+ lifted his hand and drew lines of Fuzhou in the air, just like back when the New Residents’ memories were sealed. The lines of Fuzhou he drew diffused in Fan Tong’s direction like a watermark, penetrating him then immediately vanished.

And that’s why they’re called experts. The higher level their ta.s.sel, the more extreme their methods. Luo s.h.i.+ doesn’t use a brush, and Ling s.h.i.+ doesn’t even need to use charm paper. This kind of competence really makes people jealous, though Fan Tong knew that even after spending several hundred years, one still might not be able to match that skill level.

“The wound isn’t healed?”

Zhu Sha looked at Fan Tong, who didn’t look the slightest bit different, and asked.

“This is a pain-relieving charm.”

Ling s.h.i.+ explained. In other words, he didn’t even need to speak the name of the charm to unleash Fuzhou’s power.

Just a… pain-relieving charm…

Everyone didn’t know what to say.

Lord Ling s.h.i.+, so you’re the kind of person who treats the symptoms and not the root cause? Or is it that, in the field of Fuzhou, there is no such thing as a healing charm…?

Ling s.h.i.+ had said that they would go kill chickens, but he didn’t give them any time to respond and just used Fuzhou to collectively transport them to a different place. Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings, everyone felt bewildered.

“There aren’t enough chickens in Resource Area 1 and they’re a little spread out. Going to Resource Area 2 is more efficient.”

Seeing the doubt in their eyes, Ling s.h.i.+ explained himself – of course someone had to ask a question at this time.

“Then why doesn’t everyone come to Resource Area 2 instead of killing in Resource Area 1?”

“Because in Resource Area 2, aside from chickens, there are also some creatures that students with light green ta.s.sels are unable to handle. Normally, only students with blue ta.s.sels frequent this area. If students with light green or white ta.s.sels came, I’m afraid that before they got their hands on the loot, they’d already incurred debt from dying.”

Hahahahahaha. This joke isn’t funny at all…

Immediately after, Ling s.h.i.+ took out his blue-black jade accessory. Like Yin s.h.i.+, when he threw the jade accessory up, it floated up to create a huge, distinct emblem expanding in the air.

“Charm of Ling s.h.i.+, Restriction Order, boundary: Resource Area 2. Aside from the six people closest to me, everyone else must leave this area within 10 minutes. This restriction will automatically lift after I leave.”

Apparently, preparations ahead of time were very important. Like Yin s.h.i.+, Ling s.h.i.+ also “booked the entire block.” They’d asked Yin s.h.i.+ earlier but didn’t receive an answer. So now they tried Ling s.h.i.+.

“Lord Ling s.h.i.+, what is that?”

“The jade accessory all five of Eastern City’s attendants have. It’s the primary symbol of our status and is used to set Restriction Orders. Like you just saw, it can be used to set boundaries and restrictive conditions. Those who violate the rules will receive punishment. That’s pretty much it.”

To put it simply, it’s a token of the privileged cla.s.s… no, this token also has practical uses, so it’s not just a token. It should be called… a lethal weapon of the privileged cla.s.s?

Because Fan Tong had nearly died due to the same kind of object, a lethal weapon was the first thing he thought of.

However, it’s obviously an important item, but Yin s.h.i.+ still called it a toy. Could it be that he often takes it out to play? “Charm of Yin s.h.i.+, Restriction Order, boundary: the west side of Eastern City. Everyone must make weird grimacing faces. This restriction will automatically lift in one hour,” something like that? Just thinking about it already makes me uncomfortable.

“Before we start killing chickens, are there any more questions?”

Ling s.h.i.+ seemed to have a more thoughtful personality, even giving them the opportunity to ask some questions first.

“What do we have to do?”

Zhu Sha raised his hand and asked.

“Skin the chickens, pluck the feathers, follow closely, speak up if left behind, and yell for help if attacked.”

Ling s.h.i.+’s reply was extremely concise. Bi Rou also raised her hand, but when Ling s.h.i.+ looked in her direction, she first turned off the group communication function.

“That is… does Yin s.h.i.+ currently have someone he loves?”

Wasn’t it you? Actually, wait a sec, when someone says you can ask questions, he doesn’t mean that any question is okay,right? We’ve already diverged from the main subject; I’m begging you to stay on the topic of killing chickens…

“About two hundred of them.”

Ling s.h.i.+’s thoughtless reply immediately caused Bi Rou’s face to turn deathly pale, and tears quickly collected at the corners of her eyes. Seeing this kind of response, Ling s.h.i.+ immediately corrected himself.

“Just kidding. He has none.”

Two hundred versus none at all – the gap in the middle seems just a little too big.

“No lover? That’s only natural right?”

Fan Tong was still thinking that he didn’t know what the opposite of “That’s impossible” would be. He didn’t expect the reverse to come out like that.

Oh, so it was “that’s only natural”? Who cares if it’s reasonable or not – it seems like it caused me to say something bad about Lord Yin s.h.i.+…

“When normal girls try to get close to him and find out about his strange personality, their dreams dissipate on their own.”

He didn’t expect Ling s.h.i.+ to actually confirm his words, and he didn’t know when Ling s.h.i.+ had sneakily turned off group communication. That said, Bi Rou really wasn’t a normal girl…

“Even though Lord Yin s.h.i.+’s character is a little weird, his other qualifications should be enough for people to ignore this, right?”

That Zhu Sha would say this kind of thing made Fan Tong very surprised. He thought it was only natural for that kind of serious person to despise Yin s.h.i.+’s careless personality.

Personality is actually very important, something that absolutely can’t be ignored. But good looks, strength, high status and money are appealing indeed… even though we haven’t really seen very much of his strength.

“Oh.”

Ling s.h.i.+ listened to Zhu Sha’s misgivings and indifferently started explaining.

“There are lots of reasons, but basically, he’s someone who really doesn’t understand expressions of love.”

And then he began to confidently list examples.

The girls of Eastern City were mostly very shy. When expressing their feelings through words and actions, they were afraid to be too obvious, and Yin s.h.i.+ paid no attention at all to the girls’ delicate feelings. Waiting for him to find out for himself wouldn’t work for sure. If they had wanted their unrequited love to become mutual affection, they could only do a reverse chase, but Yin s.h.i.+’s inability to understand expressions of love made this very hard to accomplish.

“Lord Yin s.h.i.+, these are cookies I baked myself. I hope you can accept my feelings…”

When the girls held back their insecurity with great difficulty and flagged down Yin s.h.i.+, planning to give him the presents they made themselves, Yin s.h.i.+’s response was often not what they expected.

“Ah, but I don’t like eating snacks. Ling s.h.i.+, do you want to eat them?”

He didn’t know how to window-dress his feelings and even tried to transfer their feelings over to someone else, right in the girl’s face.

Usually, this already defeated lots of girls who weren’t as shameless. Of those who could put up with having their gifts rejected, there was a portion who wanted to get straight to the point and announce their love, so it became like this:

“Lord Yin s.h.i.+, I like you!”

The girl lowered her head with a flushed face, gathering up her courage and speaking the lines that she’d practiced for so long.

“Thank you! I also like you very much!”

Yin s.h.i.+ revealed an exceedingly brilliant smile lacking even a sliver of feeling. After replying callously, he immediately dumped the girl and left.

Directly confessing, of course, had also been verified as unsuccessful.

……

Lord Yin s.h.i.+, you’re so ruthless, that kind of reply is really not too far from “You’re a good person.” How can you expect girls to live through that?

……

In his heart, Fang Tong deeply sympathized with those girls whose gla.s.s hearts had been shattered to pieces. If any girls confessed to him, he would never be so unemotional and inconsiderate like that. Even if there really wasn’t a reason for them to get together, at least he would reply with “I’m really happy” and then say a few reasons that the other could accept…

But considering the condition of his mouth, saying “I’m really happy” would most likely become “I’m in a bad mood,” and if this hurts people’s feelings, it wasn’t something he’s willing to do.

“Hm? Eastern City girls just give up like this? Aren’t their perseverance levels too low?”

This time, the one with objections was Bi Rou. It seemed like she was advocating on Yin s.h.i.+’s behalf, thinking that, with such good qualifications, everyone shouldn’t be giving up like this.

“Actually, there are other reasons…”

Ling s.h.i.+ said this and confidingly brought up proof and examples once again.

Despite the rejections of the gifts and the failures of the confessions, there were some girls who still endured these blows and pulled themselves together once more. They felt that maybe an opportunity will arise if they tried harder, and so decided to continue pus.h.i.+ng themselves. To make Yin s.h.i.+ notice their existences, they would patiently wait for Yin s.h.i.+, even if the chance of him appearing was very low.

After all, if one flagged down Yin s.h.i.+ to talk to him, he would still pay attention. Even though his words might not be pleasant, one only had to match his method of speaking and they should be able to have a proper conversation right?

There were more than just a few girls who thought like this and then tried to carry it out, but Yin s.h.i.+’s method of thinking was really too exhausting, both physically and mentally. Also, girls occasionally ran into this kind of occurrence while talking with Yin s.h.i.+…

“Ah, when you say this, I think of…”

“Yin.”

Ling s.h.i.+ appears from the side, looks at Yin s.h.i.+, and wrinkles his brows.

“Your clothes are rumpled, didn’t you notice that? Since you’re outside, you should pay more attention to your appearance right?”

Ling s.h.i.+ would say. Due to his many years in taking care of the queen’s attire, he’d already developed certain habits. He would then promptly reach over and smoothly help Yin s.h.i.+ tidy up the rumpled hems of his clothing. Ling s.h.i.+ then loosens the collar and fixes it, moving on to adjusting the sleeves and b.u.t.tons. His natural and harmonious movement as well as the proximity of the two, made the scene as beautiful as a painting…

“Oh – ”

The girl would then act like she’d received a life-threatening blow and run out crying without looking back.

“Ah, Ling s.h.i.+, why did she run away?”

“… It’s not something you’d want to know.”

“So that’s about it for the reasons why Yin s.h.i.+ hasn’t had a lover until now.”

Ling s.h.i.+ finished it up simply, completely ignoring the few people aiming complicated gazes at him.

The biggest reason is actually you, right? The biggest reason is actually you, right — ! There are no waves without wind. No wonder everyone’s always misunderstanding that you two are together even if they know you’re a guy!

After Bi Rou finished listening, she brought her hand near her mouth and hesitated for a few seconds, then suddenly revealed a very happy expression.

“Ling s.h.i.+ Gege, I really can’t thank you enough –”

So you decided to call him Gege? And what are you thanking him for again?

“Because of you, Yin s.h.i.+ was able to stay single, so that’s why I had a chance. When I think about it this way, it makes me so happy –”

Miss Bi Rou, even though it looks like you’ve grasped the point, I still think that what you said seems pretty strange. It’s not something normal people would say…

“Sigh, is Yin s.h.i.+ really that great?”

Ling s.h.i.+’s sigh sounds a little bit helpless – no, it should be extremely helpless.

I won’t comment on whether Yin s.h.i.+ is great or not, but I think that three thousand strings is pretty nice.

“Ling s.h.i.+ Gege, do you think there’s hope for me? Does he like my type?”

Bi Rou widened her large and beautiful eyes as she asked worriedly. It looked like her self-confidence wasn’t quite enough.

Why did it become a romance consultation again? What about our chickens?

“I don’t know, but I can help you by preventing other girls from getting close to him.”

I don’t know either about whether he likes this type of girl, but I can tell that you really do…

“Ling s.h.i.+ Gege, you’re so kind!”

Bi Rou was so happy that it looked like she would fly up into the sky. However, she still remembered the differences between males and females, so she couldn’t just throw herself onto someone who wasn’t her lover.

“Shh, don’t let him know.”

Lord Ling s.h.i.+, is it really okay to forget your friends like this after finding a new love?

Compared to Yin s.h.i.+, Ling s.h.i.+ was much more realistic. He had nothing to do with inefficient methods like using a fruit knife to kill chickens. Before they started, he stated, “We’ll kill until 7, then count how many we have” and then got to work. Basically, what he did was use his slender white fingers to draw Fuzhou one after the other, killing off every organism in his sight. This included lots of things that weren’t chickens as well.

Places like Resource Area 1 and Resource Area 2 begin with “Resource Area” precisely because the organisms that grow in these places all have a certain economic value. However, different body parts held different values. Because it’s impossible to carry back the entire creature, you would have to recognize which parts are valuable in order to make collection efficient. Ling s.h.i.+ had made a huge mess when killing the organisms. And naturally, because they just came to this world, they weren’t equipped with this fundamental moneymaking knowledge. Looking at that pile of corpses of non-chickens, Fan Tong felt like he’d almost get a heart attack.

Every dead body equals money! At this point Fan Tong had already gotten rid of the uneasiness that came with ma.s.sacring animals. He wasn’t the one who’d killed them anyways. Facing such an enormous debt, he didn’t even see them as corpses, but as materials that could be sold for money. Too bad he didn’t know how to utilize them.

“You all can just pluck the chicken feathers and peel the skins. Those other animals were killed for safety considerations.”

Ling s.h.i.+ said. Looks like he had no interest in telling them which body parts were valuable. Then again, his mission was just to help them kill chickens, so he didn’t feel obligated to go beyond that.

Because the corpses piled up very quickly, everyone focused themselves into an a.s.sembly line. Their job was to find the chicken corpses from the pile, peel the skins, pluck the feathers, then rummage speedily for the next chicken corpse. The entire situation could be described as being very busy.

And then, because Yin s.h.i.+ made a fuss about Bi Rou being missing, those who turned off group communication were forced to turn it back on. As they continued working, they were also mentally attacked.

“Xiao Rou, Xiao Rou, look, tonight’s moon is so round.”

It’s sunset now, mister. And today was cloudy. So much for your moon.

“Yes, it’s so round.”

I think it’s obvious he’s just toying with you, so why are you playing along so seriously?

“Xiao Rou, I miss you so much.”

“I miss you too.”

“You’re treating everyone else like air, aren’t you…”

Ling s.h.i.+ couldn’t resist speaking up. In the midst of all the sappy talk, his hand had twitched and accidentally affected the Fuzhou’s aim, bringing disaster to the innocent trees at the side.

Your interruption was timed too perfectly, Lord Ling s.h.i.+.

“Ah, I can’t see anyone else, I can only see the figure of Xiao Rou in my heart.”

“Ah, Yin s.h.i.+ –“

Why don’t you two try being even more extreme, huh? Lord Yin s.h.i.+, you can’t even hear anyone other than Bi Rou, can you.

“Xiao Rou, when I look at the moon I think of you. The moon isn’t as pretty as you.”

What is the logical relations.h.i.+p between those two sentences? Looking at the moon and thinking of Yue Tui seems about right – at least there is the character for “moon” in his name…

“Really? I feel so embarra.s.sed –“

Someone come and drag this girl away, I’m begging you. Wait no, Fuzhou communication charms work long distance, so dragging her away won’t help…

Intoxicated by Yin s.h.i.+’s honeyed words, Bi Rou naturally couldn’t peel skins or pluck feathers efficiently. No one really bothered her about it. There wasn’t even enough time for them to take care of their own chickens, so they weren’t interested in her working speed.

Ling s.h.i.+ was the type who always did his job properly. Knowing that they’d be in danger if they were attacked here, he mostly stayed in places where he could still see them. When he’d killed everything nearby, he’d used long-range attacks to kill other creatures still within his angle of vision. To protect the others more easily, he never strayed too far.

While engaging in physical labor, Fan Tong saw his own incompetence.

Setting aside those two cute girls and Bi Rou, Zhu Sha was 1.5 times faster than him in peeling and plucking, and Yue Tui was twice as fast. Fan Tong was undoubtedly bigger in frame than the others but still lost by a large margin. He truly wasn’t slacking off, so this kind of outcome was really hard to accept.

Could he use his injury as an excuse? Although he couldn’t feel any pain at the moment. Or maybe he can comfort himself by saying everyone has things they’re not good at?

“Fan Tong, don’t slack off.”

Of course Zhu Sha would say something like that. Ahhhhhhhhhh d.a.m.n you, don’t think that it is only normal for other people to be able to handle everything you can –

So, Fan Tong decided that he might as well slow down his already slow movements. That way, he could observe how other people are peeling and plucking the chickens so quickly and neatly.

Zhu Sha peeled skins and plucked feathers in one action. His physical strength seemed to be relatively good, so after he finished taking care of one, he could immediately go forth and look for the next. There wasn’t much of a break in between – no wonder he was faster than Fan Tong.

Fan Tong couldn’t see Yue Tui peeling skins or plucking feathers at all.

That’s right, the simple movements of lifting the hand and lowering the knife were done so quickly Fan Tong couldn’t see them.

… Yue Tui, who exactly are you? Why, why can’t I see? That’s not right, I did see the afterimage, but, but… also, why is it that after you finish with one chicken, you can accurately walk over to the next one with just a quick glance, as if you’re not even searching for it? How can you sense where the chicken corpses are? Is the composition of your eyes different from ours?

Yue Tui seemed like he was concentrating on his own work. He didn’t notice Fan Tong’s horrified gaze at all – only Zhu Sha did.

“Fan Tong, hurry up and do your work.”

I know, I know. Why do you have to keep staring at me…

“Ah!”

At this time, Bi Rou suddenly cried out. The others could only see her dazedly looking at her hand, which had received a small injury. A tiny creature then fled in the opposite direction, but Ling s.h.i.+’s Fuzhou struck it down. He also hurriedly asked her a question.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine…”

“Xiao Rou? What happened?”

Yin s.h.i.+ had also heard her cry out, so he too used his Fuzhou communication charm to ask.

“Nothing, just now something small suddenly appeared and bit me, but it’s already dead.”

“Ahhhh! Ling s.h.i.+, I’m going to flay your skin! Didn’t I say that she can’t be missing even a single hair!”

What was I saying about forcing someone to do something beyond his power…

“Use your hands, use your body, it’d even be okay to use your hair to s.h.i.+eld her! How could you let Xiao Rou get hurt! Any attack is okay as long as it only harms you. You must apologize for this with seppuku! Seppuku!”

“……”

Isn’t this already a completely unreasonable request? Even Lord Ling s.h.i.+ got quiet.

“Ah, I’m almost at the Chen Yue pathway. I’ll settle things with you later…”

According to Yin s.h.i.+’s personality, he’d most likely forget by the time “later” comes. However, Bi Rou still awkwardly expressed her apologies toward Ling s.h.i.+. Getting bitten was a small matter and Yin s.h.i.+’s response was a little extreme, so she worried that Ling s.h.i.+ would be unhappy.

“No problem, even if I was unhappy, it’d be directed at that idiot.”

Ling s.h.i.+ smiled viciously, the kind of grin made people want to back away a little.

“Actually, following what he says can’t be too hard, so let’s do that.”

What? Lord Ling s.h.i.+, you also feel that any attack is okay as long as it only harms you? Shouldn’t you care more about your own body?

And also, Lord Yin s.h.i.+, you’re pretty strange, actually telling another man to use his body to s.h.i.+eld your own girl. You’re not afraid that someone else sacrificing himself like this would bring about special feelings and cause her to cease to be faithful?

“It’s only the difference between using a man’s appearance and a woman’s. It’s all the same right, so is there a need to protect her so fiercely?”

Zhu Sha unhappily stated this. He seemed quite resentful towards indulging girls or coddling them, that kind of thing.

So you actually advocate gender equality? Getting a girlfriend in the future most likely won’t be easy for you. Protecting girls also give you a sense of achievement. Could it be that you don’t think this way?

“Regarding other people’s affairs, I think you just shouldn’t mind them too much. That’s their own personal business.”

Yue Tui said. But while he was speaking, a trace of coldness pa.s.sed over his sky-blue eyes almost unnoticeably.

Coldness? Did I see it wrong? It’s Yue Tui though…?

Fan Tong rubbed his eyes, but Yue Tui had continued peeling skin using his miraculous techniques again, and Fan Tong could not look again more carefully.

Ling s.h.i.+ stopped working punctually. Once 7 o’clock arrived, he stopped killing chickens, and the other organisms of Resource Area 2 had therefore escaped from their death.

Checking the number of skins and feathers collected by each person, Fan Tong found that there were 723 portions  in total. Everyone had enough skins, but they still needed to get more feathers. It was more awkward for Fan Tong and the other white ta.s.sels because they didn’t have enough feathers, just skins, and so they couldn’t directly ascend to gra.s.s green ta.s.sels. They still had to collect enough feathers before they could proceed to rise in rank.

“Let’s finish killing the rest next time. Yin, do it when you have free time.”

Ling s.h.i.+ said this to Yin s.h.i.+ through the group chat. Truthfully, buying several pillows will take care of everything. Lord, you’re really not going to consider that?

And then Ling s.h.i.+ did something cruel – aside from the 100 skins each person needed, he took away the rest.

“Letting you all take the extra to sell is unreasonable. Just consider this my reward.”

But you obviously aren’t lacking money at all – !

Fantong’s heart ached terribly seeing the chicken skins being taken away. If he had known earlier, he wouldn’t have been so honest when reporting the amount. That way, maybe he could have been able to sneakily keep a few.

Ling s.h.i.+ used Fuzhou to send them back to their dormitories, though he didn’t go with them himself. The dormitory was s.h.i.+ning with light. Everyone was so tired that they just wanted to go in and rest, but Zhu Sha still insisted on grabbing dinner. After entrusting Zhu Sha to collect their dinners for them, Fan Tong and Yue Tue promptly walked together to room #444.

Of course, they didn’t forget to shut off group communication first to avoid being bombarded with Yin s.h.i.+ and Bi Rou’s sugary flirting.

It’s true that it had been an exhausting day. Thinking about eating those mediocre public rations really made Fan Tong sad, but after so much work, if he didn’t even eat dinner, he would have a hard time staying functional. In order to stay alive, he had no choice but to give in.

“Fan Tong, your injury…”

While walking with him back to their room, Yue Tui looked at him anxiously.

Right, how long will Lord Ling s.h.i.+’s pain-relieving charm will last?

“It hurts a lot now. It’s really bad.”

Hey, hey. I wanted to say, “It doesn’t hurt now. It’s fine,” all right? Twisting my words like this makes it seem like I’m deliberately trying to gain people’s sympathy. I don’t like this kind of feeling.

“It hurts a lot? Ah, wounds from being struck by lightning aren’t minor injuries. It’s only right for it to hurt a lot…”

After listening to him say this, Fan Tong saw the worry in Yue Tui’s eyes thickened. Fan Tong really wanted to explain that it wasn’t like that, but the words he said were still along the lines of “That’s right,” “It really hurts,” “I say, I’m almost dying from the pain,” that kind of thing. It was not helpful at all.

Fan Tong looked at Yue Tui, his expression appearing very sympathetic. He also looked a bit conscience-stricken. His furrowed brows made him seem to be hesitating over something. Yue Tui then turned around, his lips softly reciting something Fan Tong couldn’t understand. When he turned back, a ball of white light had appeared between his two hands that gave out a feeling of profound warmth.

The ball of white light quickly enveloped Fan Tong, almost melting into his body. Fan Tong didn’t realized what had happened before it was all over. He then saw Yue Tui smiling at him. That smile also made him feel very warm.

“Is it a bit better now?”

Because it originally didn’t feel painful, Fan Tong really had a hard time answering this question. But he discovered, with amazement, that all of the injuries on his body were gone. When he wiped off the blood, the skin underneath was also as good as new. The only word to describe it was unimaginable.

What do you mean, a bit better? It’s obviously completely healed!

“Wah! Yue Tui! You know how to heal? What kind of Shufa is this? Did you not learn this from cla.s.s? How come you didn’t use it earlier?”

It came out so weird again. Whatever.

“This is because… because…”

Yue Tui immediately began stuttering, seeming a little fl.u.s.tered. He tried making an excuse for it, but couldn’t squeeze out a good reason.

“Fan Tong, I’m sorry for letting you bear such an uncomfortable injury for so long… There’s a good reason for this. And also, this isn’t Shufa… don’t tell anyone, okay?”

Nn? Not Shufa? Then what is it? An ability from when he was still living? Yue Tui, what kind of world did you come from? Or is this a new ability you gained after coming here?

“No, then what do I say if other people ask me why my injury hasn’t healed yet?”

Stupid curse! Don’t mess up my words of agreement so it seems like I’m deliberately making things difficult for other people, okay?

“Oh…”

Yue Tui looked perplexed. Fan Tong felt that if he was Yue Tui, he would feel very troubled too.

“Just say, you woke up and it had healed on its own…?”

If I say that, the others will treat me like an immortal c.o.c.kroach and trample on me as much as they please. Fan Tong couldn’t resist shaking his head.

“What should we do? Why don’t we think of a reason together?”

Two people thinking together really won’t increase the chance of coming up with a good reason at all. For brainstorming ideas, two people didn’t seem quite quite enough.

“I’m back – ”

Before they could muster up an excuse, Zhu Sha had already returned with their dinner. Sure enough, he quickly noticed how Fan Tong’s injuries had completely disappeared. And naturally, he spoke up about this inexplicable phenomenon.

“How come your injuries are completely healed?”

“…Maybe Lord Ling s.h.i.+’s Fuzhou did have healing effects.”

Fan Tong forcibly made up a reason. As the curse didn’t act up, Zhu Sha seemed to have accepted it. It’s just that this can’t be used with Ling s.h.i.+. Fan Tong hoped that Ling s.h.i.+ wouldn’t have the same question the next time they met.

Yue Tui seemed to breathe a bit easier, then smiled at Fan Tong again. Fan Tong, too, returned the smile.

The warm feeling now seemed like it could make him forget about everything unpleasant.

He once again realized how great it was to have friends.

◎　Fan Tong’s Afterword
The fact that I was able to make a friend like Yue Tui must be due to the good fortune I earned in my past life.

It must be the good karma I acc.u.mulated from operating as a fortune teller. G.o.d has definitely seen my hard work and rewarded me for it. I am so moved. I’d originally thought that my skin continue looking like burnt rice until the next time I died, but thankfully I got out of this sticky situation. I sincerely cannot thank G.o.d and Yue Tui enough.

I only have to collect some chicken feathers to upgrade to a gra.s.s green ta.s.sel in one go. Then, every month I can use the fixed salary to pay off my debt, and my life in the Eastern City will have mostly stabilized, right?

It seems many unexpected things happened today. I’ve also met some people I never thought I would meet. Fate really is such a mysterious thing, just as mysterious as Lord Yin s.h.i.+ and Miss Bi Rou getting along while ignoring everyone else…

Ah! It’s over! Mi Zhong knows my ins and outs. He will definitely challenge me and become a gra.s.s green ta.s.sel by stepping over my corpse! Now isn’t the time to think about that pair of flashy lovers!

If someone challenges, can I find others to help me? I need to find an opportunity to find out more about this, or maybe I can ask Zhu Sha. If I can ask for help, then I’ll definitely glue myself to Yue Tui from now on. He’ll probably help me if he sees someone attacking me, right?

Completely relying on a friend seems kind of cowardly… maybe next time I should do some fortunetelling for Yue Tui as compensation. This seems like the only thing I can do. But I can only discern things from the past through face-reading. Will this help him?

I still have to go to school tomorrow — it’s that d.a.m.n cla.s.s from Wushu Xuan again. I should sleep properly to stay energized, so let’s not think any further.