Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Xia Sheng waved her hand dismissively. “I charge for catching ghosts. It’s a mutually beneficial transaction, so there’s no need for thanks.”

The boy smiled again. “Student Xia, you’re really interesting.”

Their voices weren’t loud, so the surrounding crowd only saw Xia Sheng hand the boy a business card without knowing what was said. Thinking the boy had successfully hit on her, they began to hoot and cheer.

Xia Sheng and the boy ignored them and went their separate ways.

With the main players gone, the crowd that had gathered began to disperse.

Once they were clear of the throng, Ning Xi finally let out the suppressed scream she had been holding back.

“Sheng’er! That was the School Hunk from the Economics and Management Department! He’s currently the seniors’ favorite shy Little Puppy!

“He asks for your WeChat, and you actually only think about telling his fortune?! Do you have to be such a total ‘straight girl’?!”

Xia Sheng replied, “If I’m not straight, am I supposed to be crooked?”

Ning Xi: “…”

This girl was destined to be single for life.

“Lately, so many people on the Confession Wall have been calling you ‘wife.’ If they knew how oblivious you are to romance, their hearts would probably shatter.”

Xia Sheng frowned. “What ‘wife’?”

“You haven’t followed the school’s Confession Wall?” Ning Xi asked in surprise, pulling out her phone. “Here, look. There are tens of thousands of people in our school, and nearly half of them follow this account.”

During military training, the Confession Wall had launched a voting contest for the most beautiful ‘gods’ and ‘goddesses.’ Anyone could post photos they found attractive to participate, and the ones with the most likes would win.

Every year, the start of the semester wasn’t just a time for new students to arrive; it was also time for a new generation of the School Belle and School Hunk to be crowned.

The winners of this event would be compared to the previous titleholders by default. If their popularity was high enough, they would directly unseat their seniors.

Having just reached adulthood, everyone was at an age where they loved to stand out, making them extremely enthusiastic about such activities.

Over a hundred people had posted photos to enter. Xia Sheng scrolled through them one by one, noticing that everyone’s photos were professionally edited and featured full makeup.

Only her entry stood out-it consisted of a blurry candid shot taken when she was reporting to school and a bare-faced photo of her in her military training uniform taken at some unknown moment. She looked completely out of place compared to the others.

Yet, despite this, her post had the highest number of likes, and the comments were several times more numerous than those on other posts.

[Holy crap, is she really not wearing makeup? Everyone else is drenched in sweat with their hair sticking to their faces during military training, but she’s the only one who looks like she smells fresh, like she has a built-in filter. I seriously suspect this is Photoshopped! Junior, you’d better give me your dorm number so I can personally verify if you actually look like this!]

[I can hear the sound of the person above me’s abacus clicking from here. Nice try.]

[The first moment I saw this junior, I knew she was my destined wife! Wife, marry me!]

[Ahhh, I want to be close to this beauty! I want to look like this in my next life, please!!!]

[Maybe that’s what you said in your last life too.]

[The person above is savage. I’m dying laughing.]

[Breaking news!!! She’s a total player and she’s not single! She had a boyfriend in high school, so don’t even think about it. Don’t be fooled! Don’t ask how I know-I’m her boyfriend.]

[How many peanuts did the guy above eat to get that drunk?]

[Uh, I am just… well, I’m just saying, I’m a lesbian! AHHHHHHHHHHH!

What does a cat say? Meow meow.

What does a sheep say? Baa baa.

What does a cow say? Moo moo.

What does a dog say? Sister, I really like you so much, ugh, woof woof woof!]

Xia Sheng scrolled through a few more comments, silently exited the app, and handed the phone back to Ning Xi.

The mental state of these people was something she simply could not comprehend.

She followed Ning Xi back to the dormitory building. Before they parted, Ning Xi invited Xia Sheng to go out and have some fun with her roommates the next day.
Xia Sheng hadn’t set up her stall for two weeks. She planned to head down to the footbridge tomorrow, so she declined Ning Xi’s invitation.

Early the next morning, Xia Sheng took her small folding stool and went to the footbridge.

After a two-week break, she intended to perform a few more readings than usual today.

The old fortune-teller who used to sit right next to her wasn’t there today, but Xia Sheng didn’t give it much thought.

Half an hour after she sat down, however, that same old man came rushing toward her, cradling his dying grandson in his arms.

“Little Celestial Master, please, I beg you to save my grandson!”

The old man cried out as he ran to Xia Sheng, dropping to his knees right there in public.

“Little Celestial Master, I should have listened to your warning. Last time, you warned me to stop swindling people or the retribution would fall on my grandson.

“Not only did I refuse to listen, but I even performed a fake exorcism ritual for someone. I must have brought some foul thing back home with me.

“My grandson hasn’t opened his eyes for four days. Please, save him!”

Old Deng was in tears, his weathered face etched with exhaustion and agony.

The young boy in his arms looked like a mummified corpse, as if every drop of moisture had been drained from his body.

Four days ago, Old Deng had attracted a customer whose son suffered from a strange illness. The boy’s skin had shriveled like a dried-up cadaver and his bodily functions were failing, yet no cause could be found.

The hospital had already issued a critical condition notice to the family, telling them to prepare for the worst.

Driven to desperation, the boy’s father had sought him out for a fortune reading.

Old Deng had lied, telling the man that his son was possessed by an evil entity and required an exorcism for a fee of one thousand yuan.

The man believed him, paid the money immediately, and took him to the hospital.

At the time, Old Deng had put on a show, waving a peach wood sword and reciting a few lines from the I Ching.

Once the ritual was over, he had intended to claim he was powerless to help and offer a half-refund.

To his surprise, the boy on the bed had miraculously woken up.

The moment the boy regained consciousness, Old Deng felt a wave of icy, ghostly chill enter his own body.

He had a sinking feeling in his gut. When the boy’s parents offered to buy him dinner, he didn’t even stay to listen and left immediately.

When he returned home, his grandson had already cooked noodles and was sitting quietly in the house waiting for him to eat.

By then, the chill on his body had faded. Thinking the coldness he felt in the hospital ward was merely an illusion, he didn’t take it to heart.

However, when he woke up the next morning, the grandson who slept beside him never opened his eyes again. The boy’s body began to wither day by day, like a seedling ripped from the soil.

He rushed his grandson to the hospital, only to find that, just like the previous boy, the doctors couldn’t find any underlying cause.

He panicked instantly and went to the footbridge to find Xia Sheng.

But Xia Sheng hadn’t been there for several days. Just as he was about to fall into total despair, a fellow fortune-teller told him that Xia Sheng had appeared today. He immediately rushed over with his grandson in his arms, terrified that a single second’s delay would mean losing the boy forever.

Seeing that Xia Sheng was truly there, Old Deng didn’t care that they were on a busy street and knelt down in his agitation.

Old Deng had only made a few snide remarks to her in the past, and Xia Sheng wasn’t one to hold a grudge. She helped him up and gave him her folding stool to sit on.

“Don’t panic. Let me see the boy’s condition.”

Old Deng nodded, placing his five-year-old grandson on the ground while supporting him.

Xia Sheng leaned over to examine the little fellow.

Seeing Old Deng seeking medical help from a fortune-teller, a passerby kindly stepped in to warn him. “Old gentleman, if the child is sick, you’d better take him to a hospital. How can a fortune-teller treat a child?

“If you trust these folk remedies from fortune-tellers, you’ll only end up hurting yourself.”