Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Holding a cold drink in his hand, the instructor chatted briefly with Ning Xi before turning his attention to Xia Sheng.

“You’re Xia Sheng, right? I’ve been watching you all morning. Your military posture is very precise.”

Ning Xi realized the instructor’s target was Xia Sheng. She immediately stepped to the side to give them space, excited to watch the drama unfold.

Xia Sheng’s expression remained indifferent. “Thank you for the compliment.”

The instructor flashed a sunny smile and handed her the cold drink. “The sun is quite strong today, and you worked hard during training this morning. This is for you.”

Xia Sheng didn’t take it. “Don’t you have two other girls to deliver drinks to? You can save this one on my account and go find the next one.”

The smile on the instructor’s face froze, and Ning Xi was also stunned.

The instructor quickly adjusted his expression and said, “Student Xia, you’ve misunderstood. I only prepared a drink for you.”

Xia Sheng remained noncommittal, grabbed Ning Xi, and walked away.

Once they were far enough away, the instructor looked back with a sinister glare. The veins on the back of his hand bulged as he crushed the plastic cup, causing the drink to explode everywhere.

*So what if she’s a bit pretty? Who does she think she is, acting all high and mighty!*

*Among those freshmen, he could find any girl he wanted, and they’d be dying to fawn over him!*

*She wasn’t his only option!*

Ning Xi let Xia Sheng pull her along for quite a distance before whispering, “Sheng’er, weren’t we a bit rude just now? That instructor didn’t look like a bad person…”

Xia Sheng nodded. “Yeah, juggling three girls at once and having countless ex-girlfriends-he’s definitely not a ‘bad person.’ He’s just a Rotten cucumber.”

“Juggling three girls?” Ning Xi was shocked. “The military has strict discipline. Surely there wouldn’t be such a scumbag?”

“Don’t put a filter on any profession or identity. There are plenty of good men in the military, but scumbags aren’t exclusive to the entertainment industry.”

Convinced by Xia Sheng’s words, Ning Xi asked, “How could you tell he was juggling three girls?”

“Physiognomy,” Xia Sheng replied lazily. “His lips are thick and long, indicating a love for sweet talk. His Jaw is visible from behind his ears, a sign of ruthlessness and a tendency to mess around with women.”

“Furthermore, he carries the energy of three different women, all tangled and intertwined. It’s messy.”

Ning Xi: “…”

*So it’s just nonsense then?*

It seemed her dear Sheng’er had been deeply poisoned by all that metaphysical stuff.

However, by that afternoon, Ning Xi realized that Xia Sheng hadn’t been joking.

The instructor who had approached Xia Sheng at noon had been reported by someone. It was said that he had added several female students on WeChat and sent them suggestive messages. His conduct was deemed inappropriate, and he was accused of disrupting order.

During that evening’s training session, the instructor no longer appeared on the field.

Many people were speculating about who had reported him. While everyone was sitting on the grass for a group sing-along, Ning Xi leaned in and whispered to Xia Sheng, “Sheng’er, was it you who reported the instructor?”

Xia Sheng gave a short answer: “No.”

Ning Xi guessed that another harassed girl must have reported him. She didn’t dwell on it and instead asked excitedly, “Sheng’er, can you really tell fortunes?”

“Yes.”

Ning Xi adjusted her sitting position and thrust her face in front of Xia Sheng, her eyes sparkling. “Master, can you read my fortune? See when I’ll get rich?”

Xia Sheng studied her face seriously before slowly speaking: “There’s no hope for this lifetime. Try again in the next one.”

Ning Xi: “…”

She felt like she could hear the sound of her own heart shattering.

***

Shen Ze sent a WeChat message to Shen Yanchen about the instructor being dismissed. After a long wait, the reply finally came: *Your allowance for this month is doubled.*

Soon after, Shen Ze received a notification of the transfer.

Looking at the string of zeros following the ‘1’ in the text message, Shen Ze was overjoyed.

“Uncle Nine, if you ever need anything else, just let me know!”

Earlier that day, he had seen people in a small campus chat group spreading rumors about the instructor hitting on female students, and one of the photos happened to be of Xia Sheng.
That instructor had apparently been rejected by Xia Sheng. Shen Ze, treating it as a bit of fun, posted on his Moments, saying that the scumbag instructor was a toad lusting after swan meat, actually daring to dream of the Little Celestial Master.

As it turned out, not long after, his Uncle Nine sent him a private message to “talk business.”

Getting paid this much just for reporting someone on a whim was simply too profitable!

Seeing him smirking at his phone, a friend leaned over to take a look. “What are you grinning at? Looking at ‘study materials’? Is the female lead pretty?”

Shen Ze shoved his friend’s head aside with disgust. “Get lost.”

When his friend saw the string of numbers in the text message, tears of envy practically streamed from the corners of his mouth.

“Did your tycoon dad transfer money to you again? If I were as rich as you, I’d just go home and inherit the family estate. Why would I still be catching a bus across town in the middle of the night for an interview?”

A movie was currently in the casting and preparation phase. There were several supporting roles for students, and the director planned to use newcomers to present that raw, unpolished feeling as perfectly as possible.

Shen Ze and his friend had traveled halfway across the Capital City tonight specifically for this interview.

Putting his phone away, Shen Ze said, “I originally wanted to just go home and inherit the estate too, but when people who are better than me are working harder than me, I don’t want to keep drifting through life aimlessly anymore.”

Even someone as outstanding as the Little Celestial Master was working hard to improve; how could he be content being a parasite?

***

The two-week military training finally ended. Ning Xi felt like a zombie, her legs shaking uncontrollably on the way back after dismissal.

She glanced at Xia Sheng, who remained unfazed beside her, and felt heartfelt admiration.

“Sheng’er, are you Celestial Masters even human? Everyone is dog-tired today, yet you’re the only one standing firmer than those muscle-heads from the Physical Education Department.”

The most important thing was that today had been a collective long-distance march. Everyone in the school was exhausted, and even many of the boys had collapsed from fatigue.

Yet her Sheng’er hadn’t shed a single drop of sweat, nor was she red-faced or short of breath. She looked like a little fairy who didn’t eat the food of mortals throughout the whole ordeal. It was freaking ridiculous!

Seeing her legs shaking so badly, Xia Sheng stuffed a Triangular Talisman into her hand and said, “The difficulty of military training is actually alright.”

When she used to train with her Master in the mountains, it was much more grueling than this.

As soon as Ning Xi took the Talisman Paper, the aches and pains in her body vanished instantly. Her previously trembling back straightened up, and her spirit felt incredibly refreshed.

“Sheng’er, what kind of Talisman is this? It’s practically a divine artifact! No medicine is as effective as your Talisman Paper!”

After her exclamation of wonder, Ning Xi suddenly remembered something and wailed piteously, “Sheng’er, if you had such good stuff, why didn’t you bring it out earlier?”

Xia Sheng replied, “I forgot.”

Ning Xi: “…”

As they were talking, a tall, thin, fair-skinned boy was pushed forward by his friends.

The boy’s face was a bit red, and the person beside him encouraged him in a low voice, “Hurry up. We have two days off next. If you don’t seize the chance today, you’ll have to wait until next Monday.”

The boy nodded and plucked up the courage to look at Xia Sheng.

“Classmate, can I add you on WeChat?”

The boy was direct right from the start. Several people nearby noticed the situation and stopped to watch.

Xia Sheng was equally direct: “I don’t add strangers on WeChat.”

Hearing this, the boy’s face turned beet red with embarrassment.

Xia Sheng pulled a business card out of her pocket and handed it to him.

“I do part-time fortune-telling and ghost catching. If you have any troubles in that area, you can contact me through this number.”

Last time she set up her stall, that man who traded stocks had waited under the footbridge for two days before seeing her, which was a bit of a waste of time.

To prevent customers from being unable to find her, Xia Sheng had spent some money to make business cards to hand out to those in need.

The person in front of her was a member of the Supernatural Club. If nothing unexpected happened, he would likely have a use for it in a few days.

The boy froze for a moment. Thinking Xia Sheng had only said this to ease his embarrassment, he couldn’t help but smile.

He took the card and said, “Thank you.”