Chapter 38: The Little God Reads My Palm

  It was Zhang Yunhao who called, saying that the examination results were out. Huang Shu's belly was indeed a dead fetus and had been aborted. Huang Shu's body was very weak and was receiving an IV drip, estimated to return in the evening. My heart felt heavy, I reckon Huang Shi Shu and Huang Shu's hearts were even more unbearable. After eighteen years of finally conceiving, the fetus died in the womb, no matter who it was, it was unbearable. I wanted to call to comfort them, but then remembered Huang Shi Shu's face full of hostility when facing us, my passionate heart cooled down and had to give up.

  When I arrived at Zhong Ling'er's house, she looked a bit surprised to see me and asked what was wrong. I said I had some questions for her, and Zhong Ling'er told me to just say it directly. So I told her about Huang Shu's situation and shared my speculation: "Shui Shengzi must know we're after him, he'll definitely come looking for us to take revenge." As I spoke, I looked at Zhong Ling'er, but her face was expressionless, making it impossible to read her emotions. So I tried asking, "What if he comes knocking on our door, don't you really have any way to deal with him?"

  "Yes, but I'm not confident at all." Zhong Ling'er said: "That Shui Shengzi has a deep grudge and is extremely ferocious, it's not something that ordinary spirit symbols can control."

  "By the way, can you exorcise ghosts?" I asked her as if I had suddenly remembered something.

  Zhong Ling'er looked at me and shook her head.

  "What about the Soul Summoning Technique? What about the Ghost Controlling Technique?"

  Zhong Ling'er looked at me coldly and said, "You've seen too much." I said no way, look what this is, as I spoke, I took out the "Ghost Technique" and handed it to Zhong Ling'er. She glanced at the book and accepted it.

  I kept looking at her eyes and face, wanting to see what expression she would have when seeing this book, but I failed. She was expressionless, yet it was I who was deeply attracted by her. Her eyes were big, shining brightly, clear and bright; her eyelashes were long, slightly trembling, like the wings of a butterfly gently fluttering, stirring up an intoxicating fragrance. Her face was handsome, fair and white, just as the ancient poem says: "Without makeup, her complexion is like the morning dew on snow..."

  Zhong Ling'er suddenly raised her eyes and looked at me, finding that I was staring at her in a daze, with a faint blush on my cheeks. She asked softly, "Where did you get this book from?" I said it was bought from a street stall, then asked, "Are the techniques described in this book real?" Zhong Ling'er said she didn't know either, and handed the book back to me.

  I was very disappointed, first I was worried that this book is a fake book, the ghost-killing techniques on it are useless; secondly, Zhong Ling'er seems to have no interest in this book at all, which made me feel extremely disheartened.

  But then I thought, this book was found in my father's book box, and since he treasured it at the bottom of the box, it must not be a useless book. Therefore, I can also conclude that those methods to deal with ghosts are absolutely feasible, perhaps Zhong Ling'er is too inexperienced to understand them.

  I flipped through the book with a lack of enthusiasm, saying that if the techniques in it were useful, that would be great. Even if Water Saint Child came to take revenge on us, we wouldn't be afraid. Zhong Ling'er said: "Most of the techniques in this book require blood as an auxiliary, they are evil techniques and cannot be used." I looked at her and asked: "Do you understand these techniques?" Zhong Ling'er said she knew a thing or two, I was overjoyed and hastily said: "Then teach me one or two techniques, from now on if I encounter ghosts or Water Saint Child, I won't be afraid again."

  "I won't teach you." Zhong Ling'er turned around and said coldly, "These evil techniques are not something ordinary people can practice." I said practicing one move shouldn't be a problem, right? Zhong Ling'er said even one move cannot be practiced. Cultivating evil techniques is just like taking drugs - thinking that taking one puff will be fine, but once you take one puff, you'll never be able to get rid of it.

  Why is it so serious, how can this ghost-capturing technique be compared to drug addiction? For example, once I learn these techniques, I can use them to drive out ghosts and demons and bring benefits to humanity, while taking drugs is digging one's own grave. Not to mention harming others, at least it will harm oneself. I asked Zhong Ling'er if that was true or not, she didn't understand either, so she wouldn't teach me. Zhong Ling'er remained silent, apparently too disdainful to respond to me.

  I'm poor in skills, so I had to say dejectedly: "Then give me some talismans, okay? The one you gave me last time is gone, and I'm worried that the Water Saint will cause trouble for my mom. So I want to get a few more talismans to put on my mom." Zhong Ling'er said it was fine, then went inside and came out with three talismans. They were exactly the same as the one she gave me last time. After thanking her, I carefully folded up the talismans and put them in my pocket, asking how much they cost. She said they were free. I asked how that could be, since drawing talismans requires buying paper and brushes, not to mention time - shouldn't that count as labor costs? As I spoke, I handed her a Red Bull energy drink. Zhong Ling'er glanced at it briefly and said: "I said it's free, so it's free." Then she turned around and headed back inside. I quickly followed after her, and Zhong Ling'er stopped in the doorway to ask: "Do you have anything else?"

  How depressing! Are you going to drive me away?!

  I said that there are so many ghosts in this world, one talisman is not enough to use, and I don't dare to ask you for it all the time. Why don't you teach me how to draw a talisman? Zhong Ling'er looked at me and asked: "Are there really many ghosts in this world? Have you seen any?" I scratched my hair and forced a smile: "I've seen one or two." Zhong Ling'er examined me from head to toe, then suddenly asked for my birth date and time. I was taken aback, asking her why she wanted to know that. Zhong Ling'er replied indifferently: "Tell me, and I'll calculate your fate." I was both surprised and delighted, thinking of telling her the truth, but then I remembered what my father had told me before - never to reveal my true birth date to others. Most people think I was born on May 2nd, but that's not actually my birthday. My father never told me my exact time of birth, and it seems he didn't want anyone else to know either.

  What's the reason for this?

  Could it be that I was born to be an emperor, and in order to prevent others from competing with me for the throne, someone intentionally concealed my eight characters before I came of age?

  The more I think about it, the more suspicious I feel. Maybe if I tell Zhong Ling'er my birthday, she can really calculate something for me. So I told her my real birthday, of course, only saying which year, month and day.

  Zhong Ling'er's expression changed slightly after hearing this, and she stared at me again, asking: "What time were you born?" I said I didn't know. Zhong Ling'er seemed to be thinking deeply, and asked me to stretch out my left hand. She didn't need to say it, but I knew she wanted to read my palm. What made me feel strange was that normally cold and icy Zhong Ling'er suddenly took an interest in fortune-telling today - could it be because I said I had seen a ghost and she thought I was a weird person?

  I think I've made a very reasonable analysis. If I were really an extraordinary person, would Zhong Ling'er look at me with new eyes?

  Then I stretched out my hand.

  I was expecting Zhong Ling'er to grab my hand, and I also wanted to feel the temperature of her hand. Disappointingly, Zhong Ling'er didn't come to grab my hand, but instead looked at my palm with a changing expression, as if she had seen something unbelievable. A thrill suddenly rose in my heart, finally able to make Zhong Ling'er feel surprised, and it was an expression that appeared only after looking at my hand - you know, this hand of mine is full of murderous aura...

  "How's it? Is my eight characters good?" I asked tentatively.

  Zhong Ling'er withdrew her gaze, turned around, and didn't make a sound.

  I feel something is off, what does she mean? Is my fortune bad and she can't bear to tell me? Or perhaps, tonight the Water Saint will come to take revenge on me and I'll lose my life, has she seen that at 18 years old I've already reached the end of my life?

  "Your eight characters and palm lines are very special." Zhong Ling'er said: "You are a... person who is different from the crowd."

  "Is it different from others?" I was delighted and asked hastily: "Then what?"

  Zhong Ling'er suddenly turned around, and I found that her face was actually red, truly as beautiful as a peach blossom. I thought to myself, it can't be that exaggerated, just because you looked at my palm reading and your face turned red, did you see the murderous aura in this hand of mine?

  "Do you want to learn ghost magic?" Zhong Ling'er asked suddenly.

  I was taken aback for a full three seconds before I came back to myself and hastily said: "Really? You're willing to teach me?"

  Zhong Ling'er said slowly and calmly: "There are fifteen moves in that ghost technique of yours, but you can only learn one move."