Chapter 31: Wishing You Abundant Joy and Fertility Year After Year
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Su Xiaoqiang, the only daughter of the largest mine owner in the city, was the prettiest and most formidable girl at Shilan High School.
Everything had gone smoothly for her from childhood onward. Things others might devote their whole lives to possessing came to her with the slightest lift of a hand.
Before she turned fifteen, she had never worried about anything, nor had she believed there was anything worth worrying about.
That was, until she entered Shilan High School.
Until she met an idiot named Lu Mingfei.
Until she met an artistic young woman named Chen Wenwen.
Until she met Zhao Menghua, a fine young man blessed with both talent and good looks.
She had assumed that in high school she would remain the school beauty who outshone all other girls and brought countless boys to their knees.
But that fellow Lu Mingfei had mocked her to her face for not being pretty enough. That fellow Chen Wenwen was more popular than she was. And the boy named Zhao Menghua always had his attention fixed on Chen Wenwen.
Su Xiaoqiang refused to accept it. Resolutely, she joined the Literary Society, determined to win Zhao Menghua over right in front of Chen Wenwen.
Yet after three years of effort, she still failed. Worse, on the eve of the national college entrance examination, she suffered a complete and humiliating defeat.
She watched Zhao Menghua’s best friends clap and cheer wildly, egging him on as he boldly confessed his feelings. Everyone else joined in, urging the girl being confessed to come up onto the stage. On her face were only shyness and delight, not the slightest trace of surprise.
Only then did the Little Goddess understand: everyone had known the true purpose of tonight’s gathering. Everyone had known that Zhao Menghua would make the grandest possible confession to Chen Wenwen.
Everyone except her.
No one had told her, as though they had all silently agreed to forget her.
And yet every one of them was eating the popcorn she had bought and drinking the cola she had paid for.
Su Xiaoqiang sat blankly in her seat, watching the woman who always loved to wear white dresses.
Under the spotlights, the woman blushed and dawdled her way onto the stage.
Amid the jeering encouragement of a crowd of boys, she met the male lead’s gaze.
With the background music playing softly behind her, she murmured, “I like you too.”
At that instant, some silent corner of Su Xiaoqiang’s heart shattered, and tears fell with a soft, steady patter.
If Lu Mingfei were here, what would he do?
The Little Goddess suddenly thought of the sworn enemy she had endured for three years.
Had he known about this all along, and deliberately stayed away so she would be left alone to make a fool of herself?
How could he be so disloyal? Had all the snacks she had given him over their three years of high school meant nothing?
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The half-blood girl grew more and more aggrieved. She raised a hand to cover her face and prepared to leave this place of heartbreak.
But the moment she stood, light streamed in from behind her, scattering the darkness like Moses parting the sea. Someone shoved open the doors of the screening room.
With a resounding crash, the clamor of love was abruptly pressed onto pause. Only the film’s background music continued to play.
Everyone turned around in perfect unison, eager to see who had been so tactless as to interrupt such a happy occasion.
Su Xiaoqiang glanced back at the thin figure walking toward them against the light. Though she could not make out his face, she would have recognized him even if he had been reduced to ashes.
“Whose little stray cat is this? Your face is all smeared up. Here—have some candy.”
That familiar voice rang beside her ear. A hand extended before the Little Goddess, its palm holding an unopened packet of tissues and two loose candies from the supermarket’s change.
The half-blood girl accepted the candy and tissues in a daze, staring at the fellow who had secretly run off, yet had somehow returned to the party.
He still looked as pathetic as ever. Why, then, did he seem so different today?
While her astonishment made her forget to cry, Zhao Menghua and his friends, gathered on the stage, finally reacted. They pointed at the newcomer and began cursing.
“Lu Mingfei, what the hell are you doing?”
“We told you to come earlier and you wouldn’t. What are you trying to pull now? You’re ruining our leader’s big moment!”
“They’re a match made in heaven, a perfect couple. Who do you think you are to object, you miserable loser? Why don’t you take a good look at yourself in the mirror?”
The brothers showered him with abuse without pause. Zhao Menghua, having won the beauty, hurried out to smooth things over. Putting on an air of magnanimity, he said,
“Lu Mingfei, you arrived at exactly the right time. You’re the only one in the Literary Society who hasn’t offered Wenwen and me your congratulations. Come on, say something.
“As a council member of the Literary Society, your words ought to have more class than everyone else’s. Do it well and I’ll give you a generous red envelope!”
At that, his friends burst into applause.
“Zhao, you’re too generous!”
“Our leader has a heart big enough to let boats sail across it!”
“No wonder he won the beauty. Just look at that magnanimity!”
After flattering their patron, they turned back toward Lu Mingfei, who was strolling over while casually weighing a bottle of mineral water in his hand. They urged him to improvise a poem at once and stop spoiling their leader Zhao’s elegant mood.
Everyone knew exactly what Zhao Menghua meant. He was plainly trying to humiliate Lu Mingfei to his face. Even the heroine of tonight’s confession understood that.
But she seemed so immersed in the sweetness of love that she had lost all awareness of the outside world. Clutching Zhao Menghua’s hand, she did not spare this side a single glance.
“Improvise a poem? That’s my specialty.”
Lu Mingfei tossed the bottle of mineral water carelessly from hand to hand. In ancient times, Cao Zhi had composed a poem in seven steps. Today, Lu Mingfei would compose one in four-word lines after a single step:
“Late sunlight fades, the eastern dawn ascends;
Scarlet mists sweep wide, veiling the heavens;
In dreams I drift where crimson stones lie;
Warm fantasies bloom as music rises;
Green fires burn beside the stream;
Jade waters gleam like agate pools.”
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By the time he reached the group, he had finished reciting the four-word poem. Lu Mingfei stood where he was and smiled.
“Well? I didn’t lower the Literary Society’s standards, did I?”
Everyone present was dumbfounded.
As members of the Literary Society—even those who had joined merely to make up the numbers—they all had at least a little learning in their bellies. How could they fail to hear how filthy Lu Mingfei’s curse had been?
This was not metaphor, nor some veiled insult by implication. It was a direct attack delivered point-blank, lacking only a loudspeaker pressed to someone’s ear while he greeted their ancestors for eighteen generations.
The smug smile vanished from Zhao Menghua’s face. His expression turned terrifyingly dark, and his friends grew furious, eager to hurl abuse back at Lu Mingfei.
But before they could open their mouths, the girl in the white dress, who had been pretending to be deaf and dumb all this time, stepped forward first. Looking at Lu Mingfei, who seemed utterly unlike his former self, she frowned.
“Lu Mingfei, how can you swear at people?”
She had already been displeased that Lu Mingfei had stolen her cousin’s girlfriend. When he bought the movie tickets, she had even wanted to give him a chance to explain himself. She had not expected him to squander that chance—and then come here to cause trouble on such a joyous occasion.
“Oh, sorry. I was so busy cursing that I forgot to curse you.”
Lu Mingfei cast her a sidelong glance. Pretty girls always received preferential treatment, and Chen Wenwen was no exception.
“Then let me offer you a modest blessing: may your door open for your chosen lord tonight, may every shot ring out nine times, and may every year bring you abundant fertility.”
The curse was extremely euphemistic, yet spectacularly vulgar. He was clearly taking advantage of these young people’s inability to understand it. By the time they figured it out, several years would have passed; even if they ground their teeth and wanted to curse him back, they would have no idea where to find him.
Still, it did not matter whether they understood the details. It was enough that they knew Lu Mingfei was insulting them.
“You insulted my big brother and humiliated my sister-in-law? Lu Mingfei, have you got a death wish?”
Zhao Menghua was the star of the evening and had to maintain his image, but his friends had no such reservations. All of them charged forward angrily.
They had come along for the free food, drinks, and red envelopes. Naturally, they had to help their leader save face.
The onlookers also began criticizing Lu Mingfei, accusing him of being thoughtless and of ruining a perfectly good graduation gathering. They urged him to apologize properly to Zhao Menghua and Chen Wenwen.
Seeing that Lu Mingfei had drawn all the fire onto himself, Su Xiaoqiang wiped away her tears, clenched her teeth, and prepared to pull him away. She was a proud daughter of heaven; she did not need some miserable sworn enemy to shield her from the bullets.
But before she could reach him, Lu Mingfei sighed and tossed the bottle of mineral water into the air.
“Let me make one thing clear first: I don’t like bullying children.”
The bottle, from which he had taken only a single sip, rose into the air. Drawn back down by gravity, it became the only barrier between Lu Mingfei and Zhao Menghua’s entire orphan army.
“But I’m underage!”
As his voice fell, Lu Mingfei stepped forward and punched the bottle apart.