Are There Any Especially Satisfying Revenge Stories?

My company went bankrupt. My parents died in a car crash. My boyfriend betrayed me.

Just as I was planning to send myself on my way, I met a Daoist priest.

He said someone had switched my fate, and that person was now enjoying the wealth and glory that should have belonged to me.

“Miss, miss, come have your fortune told! No charge if I’m wrong~”

I walked down the road in a daze. Beyond this park stood the notorious unfinished apartment complex in our city.

That was where I had bought my home.

I had just eaten my last meal and put on my most expensive clothes. I planned to climb the tallest building there and end this short, miserable life.

“Miss, miss~”

That clear, bright voice was incredibly persistent, as if its owner wouldn’t stop until I answered.

I turned and saw a very handsome, young… Daoist priest?

When he saw me turn, he grew even more excited and waved frantically.

“Come on! No charge if I’m wrong!”

I thought it over. Fine. I still had 200 yuan in my WeChat wallet. Might as well spend every last bit here.

According to the young priest, he had studied at Mount Mao and was a seventy-eighth-generation true disciple of the Maoshan school. This time, he had come down the mountain to gain experience.

I looked at the priest with his buzz cut and blue robe.

He was in his early twenties, with thick brows, large eyes, and healthy wheat-colored skin.

When he smiled, a shallow dimple appeared.

Yep. Exactly the “little wolfdog” look that was so popular these days.

Translator’s note: Younger men with a handsome, energetic, slightly fierce charm are sometimes nicknamed “little wolfdogs.”

“You should find another spot. This park is full of old men and old ladies. Set up near the university district, and you’ll definitely get more business.”

His appearance was so likable that I couldn’t help offering a suggestion.

The young priest flashed a brilliant smile, showing his white teeth.

“This humble Daoist cast a divination. The person I am fated to meet today is here. It seems that person is you, miss.

“Your forehead is full, your brows and eyes clear and lovely. One look tells me yours is an exceptionally fortunate fate.”

Me? Fortunate?

I laughed at myself. This young priest looked so bright and refined. Who would have thought his professional skills were this bad?

“Mm. Your parents are wealthy and long-lived. You’ve been pampered since childhood and never known hardship.”

“My parents died in a car crash when I was in high school.”

“What?”

The confident smile froze on his lips. Doubt crept onto his handsome face.

“A successful career and abundant wealth?”

“My company just went bankrupt this year. After paying back everyone I owed, I didn’t have so much as a needle left. As for property… there.”

I tilted my chin toward the unfinished buildings opposite.

“I sold the old house my parents left me and added my lifetime’s savings to buy a new apartment outright. It’s right across the road. Construction has been stalled for three years.”

The young priest’s composure cracked. He began to doubt himself.

“A happy love life and a harmonious marriage?”

“I got dumped just yesterday. My boyfriend of three years said he’d fallen for my best friend.”

The young priest went silent.

Face-slapping came like a tornado, catching you completely unprepared.

Looking at his embarrassed face, I began overflowing with sympathy.

I took out my phone and scanned to transfer him my last 200 yuan, then stood up to leave.

“Xiao Shifu, it was nice meeting you. Your skills still need a little work, though. Keep at it.”

Translator’s note: Shifu means “master,” a polite address for monks, priests and craftsmen (and also what you call your own teacher); xiao means “little/young.” Daozhang, used below, is a respectful title for a Daoist priest.

A strong hand caught my wrist. When the young priest stood, I realized how tall he was—nearly a head taller than me.

“I couldn’t have read it wrong. Miss, give me your birth details. I’ll calculate it carefully again.”

His youthful face was full of stubbornness and refusal to admit defeat.

The young man had been slapped in the face and couldn’t get off the stage.

I understood. If he wanted to calculate it, let him. Before setting out on the road to the Yellow Springs, chatting with someone a little longer felt rather nice.

After this, I probably wouldn’t get another chance to talk to anyone.

I quietly turned back and cooperatively recited my birth date and hour, my bazi.

Translator’s note: Bazi, the “eight characters,” are the year, month, day and hour of a person’s birth, used in fortune-telling. “Birth chart” below means the same thing.

The priest’s brows drew together tighter and tighter, enough to crush a fly between them.

“No, this can’t be wrong. All five elements are present; auspicious energy flows freely. A first-rate fate of wealth and honor.

“Miss, wait.”

His expression grew more and more serious. He took a pile of things from the box on the ground and set them on the table.

First came a yellow cloth with a large Eight Trigrams diagram drawn on it.

He spread it across the table, then took out a little antique-looking incense burner and reverently lit three sticks of incense.

Finally, he carefully drew a cloth bundle from inside his robe. Inside were three gleaming copper coins.

Once everything was ready, the young priest began casting the divination in earnest. After tossing the coins into the air six times, his face filled with disbelief. A moment later, that disbelief turned into pure fury.

Through gritted teeth, he said, “How could anyone be so utterly devoid of conscience?!”

I sat opposite him, completely baffled.

This young priest sure loved his theatrics.

“Miss, someone has stolen your fate.”

What the hell?

Fate could be stolen?

Seeing that I didn’t believe him, the young priest grew agitated.

“You were born with a superior destiny: great wealth and honor, your family all alive and well, and a happy marriage. But someone envied your fate and switched it away from you.

“According to my calculations, move your birth chart forward just one day, and it becomes an inferior destiny: parents dying young, a damaged marriage palace, and no wealth in your life. Someone switched your fate!”

This was ridiculous. I looked at him seriously.

“Xiao Daozhang, I really don’t have any money. To tell you the truth, I was planning to jump off a building today. That 200 yuan in WeChat was the last money I had.

“So if you’re trying to scam someone, find somebody else.”

The priest glared at me indignantly, his dark eyes round.

“You don’t believe me?”

Who would?

“Your birth chart has been switched, and your parents died young. There must be something wrong with your ancestral graves.

“Take me to your parents’ graves first.”

At the mention of my parents, my eyes reddened.

In the crash that year, my father had died on the spot, but my mother had still had a breath left.

By the time I reached the hospital, she was out of surgery. Despite having been given a large amount of anesthetic, somehow she could still open her eyes.

“Ningning, Baba and Mama are leaving. You have to promise Mama you’ll live well. You must live well.”

Translator’s note: Baba and Mama: Dad and Mom.

I had held on until twenty-seven. I really couldn’t keep going anymore. When I reached the underworld, my parents would surely be disappointed to see me.

It had indeed been a long time since I visited them. I ought to see them before I left.

I looked at the young priest with an expression that said, I know you’re lying, but I won’t expose you. It nearly infuriated him to death.

“My name is Lu Qingxuan. May I ask your name, miss?”

“Zhou Yaning.”

“No time to lose. Let’s go.”

My parents were buried in my hometown, a picturesque little town in Jiangnan.

I couldn’t even afford a high-speed train ticket. Lu Qingxuan paid for it.

That made me even more uneasy. Was I really setting off with a strange man so rashly? Would this end with my kidneys being harvested?

Apart from my kidneys, there wasn’t much of value left on me.

Seeing my unease, Lu Qingxuan sent me a photograph of his ID card.

“Relax. We’re going to your hometown, not mine. Everyone in your village knows you. It’s broad daylight—what are you afraid of?”

He did have a point.

Just then, a remarkably mismatched couple came through from the carriage ahead.

The woman was probably in her thirties, dark-skinned, short, and fat, with even a mustache on her face. She looked like a little black lump of coal.

Before she got close, the sour stink of sweat mixed with body odor wafted over, making my eyes sting.

The man, though, was tall and handsome, with striking features and an upright figure. Just standing there, he looked ready to pose for a fashion magazine.

Yet this woman clung tightly to his arm, looking blissfully happy.

This woman had some skills.

I couldn’t help taking another look.

Holy shit!

Gu Haoze!!!

The man was actually Gu Haoze, my high school classmate.

He was a famous rich second-generation heir back home. His family owned many businesses. I’d heard they had more than a dozen factories alone.

Gu Haoze himself had always had his eyes on top of his head. His previous girlfriends had all looked like minor celebrities: every one fair-skinned, beautiful, and long-legged.

We had been in the same high school class, but we hadn’t interacted much. We were just nodding acquaintances.

A few years apart, and his taste had changed this much?

Meeting an old classmate by chance on a train made even someone you hadn’t known well feel especially close.

“Gu Haoze! It’s me, Zhou Yaning.”

His eyes lit up when he saw me, and a sincere smile entered his bright gaze.

“Zhou Yaning, what a coincidence! It must have been eight or nine years, right?”

“A Ze, who’s this?”

The woman beside him spoke, her voice hoarse and shrill like a broken gong.

The sense of mismatch grew even stronger.

By coincidence, Gu Haoze and his girlfriend’s seats were directly opposite ours.

All the while, the woman beside him kept staring at me with cold, sinister eyes.

I felt as though a venomous snake had fixed its gaze on me. The fine hairs on my back stood up.

Lu Qingxuan looked at Gu Haoze in startled uncertainty, as if he were trying to stare a flower out of his face.

When we heard that Gu Haoze was bringing her home to meet his parents, Lu Qingxuan and I couldn’t help exchanging a look.

True love ah. Absolutely true love.

The girl’s looks might have been hard to describe, but she was certainly fortunate.

Lu Qingxuan signaled to me with his eyes.

“Let’s go buy some water.”

Then he pulled me into another carriage.

He looked around nervously to make sure Gu Haoze and the woman hadn’t followed. Only then did he lean toward my ear and whisper:

“Your classmate is under a curse. We have to save him.”

I glared at him disapprovingly.

“Xiao Daozhang Qingxuan, as a religious man, how can you judge by appearances?

“That girl really isn’t pretty, but maybe she’s a person of great inner depth?”

Lu Qingxuan slapped his forehead.

“Boundless Heavenly Venerable! When this humble Daoist says he’s been cursed, I mean an actual curse. Someone has put a peach-blossom curse on him.”

According to Lu Qingxuan, the peach-blossom curse was one of the most evil insect curses in curse sorcery.

The caster placed a curse creature inside the victim’s body. The creature used for a peach-blossom curse was translucent pink and liked to live in the brain, slowly eating away at it and taking control.

In less than a year, the victim would become a walking corpse, obeying the caster’s every command.

Once two years had passed, the victim would die because their brain had been completely eaten away.

Me, a full-time bachelor’s graduate from a 985 university, and you’re telling me this?

I rolled my eyes.

“Do I look like someone who’s under a peach-blossom curse to you?”

Lu Qingxuan looked at me anxiously.

“Curse practitioners are vicious, ruthless, and twisted. Those who cast peach-blossom curses are especially possessive of their victims.

“Your classmate smiled at you just now. That curse practitioner already holds a grudge against you. Be careful. She’ll definitely try every possible way to give you something to eat. Whatever you do, don’t take it.”

Lu Qingxuan looked so urgent, his gaze so sincere.

Looking into his dark eyes, I found myself believing him a little.

No way.

Could something this outrageous really happen in the twenty-first century?

If curses were real, did that mean having my fate switched was real, too?

Then my parents’ deaths hadn’t been an accident. Someone had caused them.

The carriage was air-conditioned and cold, yet waves of cold sweat broke out down my back.

According to Lu Qingxuan, whoever had done it had also tampered with my family’s ancestral graves. At the thought of someone targeting and harming me for more than twenty years, I clenched my fists.

Fuck!

Who the hell was it?!!

Clutching a bottle of water, I nervously followed Lu Qingxuan back into the carriage, so stiff I nearly swung the same-side arm and leg together as I walked.

According to him, the peach-blossom curse creature liked water. Its victims needed to keep drinking.

And the outer corners of their eyes would take on a pink tint, looking unusually alluring.

“I made these candies myself. Want one?”

With that hoarse, rough voice, a thick, dark hand stretched out in front of me. Several brightly colored candies lay in its palm.

Gulp.

I couldn’t help swallowing. Oh my god. Lu Qingxuan had actually called it!!!

“Our A Li is the best at making candy. Hers tastes better than anything in the shops. Try some.”

Gu Haoze looked at me eagerly. A faint rosy pink stained the slightly upturned corners of his eyes, as if he had applied the brightest blush.

“What a shame. I’m dieting. I can’t eat candy.”

“Really? That is a shame.”

The woman withdrew her hand. Her lips smiled, but her eyes were dark and gloomy, staring fixedly at my face like a vicious village dog that might lunge and bite at any moment.

Oh my god. This was terrifying.

Under the table, I couldn’t help gripping Lu Qingxuan’s hand hard.

Just as he had said, Gu Haoze kept drinking bottle after bottle of water, as though his stomach were a bottomless pit.

In less than thirty minutes, ten mineral-water bottles stood on the table.

Everything Lu Qingxuan had said was true.

The woman beside Gu Haoze had put him under a curse.

And someone had switched my fate.

Lu Qingxuan reached over with his other hand and reassuringly patted the back of mine. Somehow, my nerves eased.

“I’ve got bread here. It’s really good. Want some?”

The woman opposite refused to give up. She took out a bag of bread and offered it to me. Her fingers were thick and dark, with grime packed beneath the nails.

I forced a fake smile.

“That’s really so kind of you, but I’m dieting. I really can’t.”

She was visibly impatient now. Abruptly, she stood, seized my face, tore off a piece of bread, and roughly shoved it straight into my mouth.

It happened so suddenly that neither Lu Qingxuan nor I had time to react.

Gu Haoze jumped, too. Once he recovered, he pulled the woman back into her seat and awkwardly tried to smooth things over.

“Haha, our A Li is just too enthusiastic. Don’t mind her, Zhou Yaning.”

Lu Qingxuan stood with a cold expression and pulled me to him.

“Zhou Yaning, come here. I need to tell you something.”

He walked so fast that his grip hurt my wrist.

At the toilet in the next carriage, he shoved me inside.

“Fuck! Quick, quick, quick!”

He pulled a yellow talisman from his bag and rapidly formed several hand seals. The talisman burst into flame.

Then he gripped my face and stuffed the burning talisman into my mouth.

Before this morning, I had been thinking: with a rotten life like mine, surely things couldn’t get any worse?

So you really shouldn’t go setting flags for yourself.

Now I was hiding in a high-speed train toilet, eating burning talisman paper and trying to vomit up a curse creature.

Goddammit!

As the talisman entered my mouth, I could distinctly feel something large crawling upward through my throat.

Wet and slimy, it lodged there, blocking my breath until my eyes rolled back.

Seeing this, Lu Qingxuan slapped me on the back.

“Urgh!”

A completely blue toad dropped into the squat toilet.

It was the size of a palm, covered in red blisters. Its eyes were actually yellow. It looked vivid and bizarre.

Lu Qingxuan swiftly pulled a bag of white granules from inside his robe. The outside said “Table Salt.” Non-iodized, even.

As he poured out the whole bag, red smoke rose from the toad in the toilet. It twisted a few times and quickly shriveled into a flat blue toad skin.

With both hands pressed to my throat, I stared at it in horror.

Every belief I had held for more than twenty years collapsed in that instant. What happened to no creatures being allowed to turn into spirits after the founding of the country?

Wasn’t anyone going to do something about such serious feudal superstition?

“Did you just pour a bag of salt on it?”

Still shaken, Lu Qingxuan nodded.

“Most gu creatures are like leeches. Once you sprinkle salt on them, a concentrated salt solution forms outside their bodies. Osmosis draws all the fluid out, and they die of dehydration.”

At a time like this, he was still giving me an episode of Approaching Science?

Lu Qingxuan said starting a fight on the train might hurt innocent people. So we stood pathetically in the aisle, afraid to return to our seats.

After standing there for half an hour, the train finally arrived. We bolted out as though vicious dogs were chasing us.

“Are we just leaving it at that?”

I couldn’t stop looking back as we walked. We were moving so fast that fine beads of sweat covered my forehead.

“Of course I can’t stand by and let him die. The train was too crowded. Once I’ve prepared properly, I’ll deal with that curse practitioner.”

I felt like such a coward, and so selfish.

When my parents died in the crash during my second year of high school, the school had waived all my tuition and organized donations from my classmates.

Gu Haoze’s family company had sent over 100,000 yuan directly. After graduating and earning money, I had tried to repay it, but his parents absolutely refused. They said it had been a charitable donation from the company. Since when did anyone take a donation back?

Whatever else, I owed Gu Haoze a huge favor. Yet that curse practitioner had frightened me so badly that all I could think of was running away.

“When you’re ready, I’ll go with you. I know where he lives.”

Steeling myself, I gave Lu Qingxuan my guarantee: “I run really fast. I’ll definitely be able to help.”

Lu Qingxuan looked at me approvingly, with the loving gaze of an old father.

“This humble Daoist was right about you after all. Miss Yaning is truly a good person.”

It was already evening when we reached my parents’ graves. The last glow of sunset stained the edge of the sky red.

Lush pomegranate trees surrounded the graves. The scenery looked rather beautiful.

Lu Qingxuan was horrified.

“Why did your family plant pomegranate trees beside the graves?”

He circled the trees, stopped beneath the largest, then patted it, felt it, and leaned close to examine it.

After working at it for a while, he took a pair of pliers from his bag.

I stood to one side, completely confused. That cloth bag of his was like Doraemon’s pocket. It had everything.

After some effort, Lu Qingxuan pulled nine nails of various sizes from the trunk.

Some were long and some short. The longest was about the length of a palm, and even the shortest was half a finger long.

Holding the nails, Lu Qingxuan looked grim.

“What are those? Why are there nails in the tree?”

“Pomegranate trees have extremely vigorous root systems. As the years pass, their roots penetrate deep into the burial chamber. Once roots grow inside a grave, the deceased no longer have a peaceful place to rest. The roots will also pierce their bodies, preventing them from ever reincarnating.

“Look at this ring. Seven pomegranate trees, nails arranged in their trunks, and roots crisscrossing underground.

“This is called a Heaven-and-Earth Net Formation. It can trap the dead person’s soul inside forever, leaving them unable to reincarnate.

“And day and night, the spirit has to suffer wood piercing its body. After enough time, its soul will scatter and disappear completely from heaven and earth.”

I stood beside him, deathly pale, clenching my fists hard to keep my head clear.

“My uncle had these trees planted…”

Lu Qingxuan said that whoever had switched my fate and caused my parents’ violent deaths certainly wouldn’t dare let their souls go to the underworld to lodge a complaint.

That was why they had sealed them inside this grave, waiting for their souls to scatter and disappear completely.

No wonder my family had declined more and more over the years, while my uncle’s grew richer.

They had moved into a new house, bought a car, and opened a factory.

My cousin had even gone abroad to study.

Wait. My cousin was two years older than me. According to Lu Qingxuan, the person who had switched my fate had been born only a day apart from me.

My uncle’s family must have been accomplices.

“Lu Qingxuan, I’ll borrow a hoe from someone in the village. We’ll dig these trees out right now.”

He caught my arm and offered me a tissue.

I wiped my face haphazardly with the back of my hand. Only then did I realize it was already covered in tears.

After my parents died, my uncle and aunt had taken responsibility for looking after me.

They let me live comfortably in their home until I graduated from university and went to work in Hangzhou.

They had treated me very, very well. Better than they treated my cousin.

Whenever there was anything good to eat or drink, they always thought of me first. My cousin often sulked at me over it, saying her parents were playing favorites.

Such a good uncle and aunt. My closest family.

Yet they were accomplices in my parents’ deaths.

Who in this world could I still trust?

“Don’t beat the grass and startle the snake. We can’t cut down the trees. First, I’ll find a way to nurture your parents’ souls back to strength.”

Lu Qingxuan patted my shoulder reassuringly, took a pile of things from his bag, and began rearranging the formation.

I sat to one side with my arms around my knees. The mountain breeze was chilly, but my heart was colder.

Lu Qingxuan said that to switch my fate, they would have needed not only my birth details, hair, and fingernails, but also a treasured object I had kept close since childhood.

My cousin’s voice drifted near and far in my memories, gradually becoming clear.

“Ningning, I saw someone on TV making a bracelet out of hair yesterday. Let’s each cut off a little and make one, too.

“Ningning, let me trim your nails. You just scratched my arm.

“Ningning, can you let me play with your doll for a few days? Jiejie will trade with you.”

Translator’s note: Jiejie means “older sister,” also used for an older female cousin.

When we were little, my cousin had been very affectionate with me. It was Ningning this and Ningning that. After I turned eight or nine, she stopped liking me.

Our family’s fortunes began going downhill, too. Business grew worse and worse, and we moved from a villa into a small apartment.

My cousin’s family, by contrast, kept rising straight into the clouds.

I clenched my fists. Whoever had stolen my birth chart must have had dealings with my uncle’s family.

I had to stay calm. I couldn’t let hatred blind me. I couldn’t beat the grass and startle the snake. I couldn’t let them know I had discovered this secret.

Lu Qingxuan dug holes and buried things all around the graves. After a long while, he finally finished.

“Where do we go next?”

I glanced at his dusty Daoist robe. If he came to the house like that, it would definitely arouse suspicion.

“Let’s buy you some clothes first.”

With a completely transformed Lu Qingxuan beside me, I stood at the front door, took a deep breath, and rang the bell.

My cousin, whom I hadn’t seen in years, opened it. Her makeup was vivid, and she was dressed in designer labels from head to toe.

“Well, look who’s graced us with a rare visit.”

In the past, I would have felt terribly guilty, believing I had stolen my uncle and aunt’s love. Now, this whole family only disgusted me.

My uncle’s family had a guest: a lavishly dressed girl, tall, with exquisite makeup. Even the strands of her hair proclaimed her wealth and status.

My cousin, Zhou Yafang, raised her brows and proudly introduced the girl with the outstanding bearing.

“Let me introduce you. This is Tang Anran, the heiress of Tang Real Estate.

“This is my younger cousin, Zhou Yaning.”

Tang Anran sat there with reserved dignity, not even deigning to raise her head.

My cousin fussed attentively beside her, offering fruit and tea, busier than a maid.

Just then, my uncle and aunt came out of the kitchen. My uncle was delighted to see me. He smiled so broadly that even his wrinkles seemed to smooth out.

“Ningning, stay with us a little longer this time. Your Dabomu has someone clean your room every day. It’s spotless.

“And this is…?”

I clenched my fists so hard that my nails dug deep into my palms. Yet I gave my uncle a brilliant smile.

“This is my colleague. Just call him Xiao Lu. We’re here on a business trip together. We’ll be troubling you and Dabomu for a while, Dabo.”

Translator’s note: Dabo is your father’s older brother; Dabomu is his wife.

“Ahem. Zhou Yaning, I hear you and Gu Haoze from the Gu Group were high school classmates?”

Apparently displeased with the attention my uncle was giving me, my cousin cleared her throat and pulled everyone’s focus back.

“Let me make the introductions properly. Miss Tang Anran here is Gu Haoze’s fiancée. Come to think of it, you two aren’t exactly strangers.”

“Fiancée?”

I looked up in surprise.

“But I ran into Gu Haoze on the high-speed train this afternoon. He was bringing his girlfriend home to meet his parents.”

“What did you say?!!”

A shrill soprano rang out. Tang Anran’s expression changed dramatically. As she stood, she accidentally knocked over her teacup.

I pointed at Lu Qingxuan.

“My colleague and I both saw them. We came back on the same train. They sat right opposite us.”

Seeing Tang Anran angry, my cousin was visibly flustered. She snapped at me unhappily.

“What nonsense are you talking? Gu Haoze and Anran are about to get engaged. It’s set for next month.”

Oh-ho. Looked as though someone had been cut off at the pass.

For some reason, the sight of Tang Anran made me uncomfortable all over. I had an urge to go up, grab her hair, and fight her.

That lofty expression of hers made it seem as though she were a god and we were all ants beneath her feet.

I shook my head. What was wrong with me?

She just had a slightly sour expression. Why was I inventing so much drama?

Something felt off about me.

Tang Anran stormed out. My cousin rolled her eyes at me and hurried after her.

A while later, my cousin returned with a dark face and threw her phone heavily onto the sofa. Her expression was as foul as if I owed her several million.

“Zhou Yaning! Do you know who Tang Anran is?

“Tang Real Estate is our family’s biggest customer. Whatever slips through their fingers is enough to keep our whole family fed! And now you’ve offended her!!!”

I rolled my eyes.

“How did I offend her? Everything I said was true.”

“You really saw Gu Haoze with a woman?”

My cousin studied me suspiciously.

When I nodded firmly, she panicked.

“No, I have to look into this. If the engagement banquet falls through, who knows how big a tantrum Tang Anran will throw?”

“What did you say? Tang Anran is the person who stole my fate?”

“A suspicion. This humble Daoist only suspects it.”

In the bedroom, Lu Qingxuan pulled me back into the chair and patiently explained.

“Tang Anran’s face shows a mean nature. High cheekbones, a sunken forehead—the bone structure of someone plagued by disasters and destined to bring death to her parents.

“But outside that bone structure, there’s a faint layer of nobility. Like a beggar wearing new clothes. It’s very discordant.

“Either an expert has tampered with her birth chart, or she has done an enormous good deed and changed her fortune.

“Both are possible.

“If her birthday is only a day apart from yours, we can basically be certain it’s her.”

I squeezed my fingers together without speaking. My instincts told me it had to be her.

My cousin normally had her eyes on top of her head, yet she willingly acted as this girl’s lackey.

And there was my aunt’s cautious, eager-to-please manner toward her. This Tang Anran was definitely no ordinary person.

Lu Qingxuan sighed and scratched his head.

“There’s a big problem right now. That curse practitioner has set her sights on your classmate. Tang Anran may be in danger.”

Was this the legendary dogs biting dogs, ending up with mouths full of fur?

Lu Qingxuan saw what I was thinking and looked thoroughly disapproving.

“Miss Yaning, you shouldn’t think that way. What if Tang Anran isn’t the person who stole your fate? Wouldn’t that mean an innocent person getting hurt?”

I lay in bed tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Finally, I opened my phone and searched for “Tang Real Estate.” I really did find something.

When I was little, an old Daoist priest had come to our village to tell fortunes. He noticed me at once.

He said I had an exceptionally fortunate destiny. At home, I would bring prosperity to my parents. Once married, I would bring prosperity to my husband. Wealth and blessings in abundance.

After I was born, our family’s business had flourished. We soon moved from the countryside into the city.

The villagers had envied us and embellished the story as they talked, saying it was all because my birth chart was so good and brought my parents wealth.

Looking back, the root of the disaster had been planted then.

When I was ten, I fell seriously ill and spent a month in the hospital before recovering.

The hospital couldn’t find anything wrong, yet I had a high fever every day and remained unconscious.

Later, I inexplicably recovered on my own. But from then on, our business grew worse and worse, and my parents’ health declined, too.

Thinking about it now, my fate must have been switched when I was ten.

And Tang Real Estate had appeared out of nowhere that same year, then rapidly expanded.

I just didn’t know what year Tang Anran had been born. Tomorrow, I would confirm it with my cousin.

After finishing breakfast downstairs, I sat for quite a while before my cousin finally came down, her eyes bleary with sleep.

“Jiejie, are you visiting Tang Anran today?”

My enthusiasm was a little unusual. She glanced at me.

“Why?”

“I only found out how awesome Tang Real Estate is when I searched for it yesterday. Someone in our high school group chat said Tang Anran lives in a huge manor villa. Isn’t that outrageous? I’ve never even seen what one looks like!”

My cousin lifted her chin proudly, as though she were the one living in the villa.

“Country bumpkin. I happen to be going to Tang Anran’s place later. You can come with me.”

I pretended to nod happily.

After all these years, my cousin hadn’t changed a bit.

And just like that, Lu Qingxuan and I got into Tang Anran’s home without trouble.

To our surprise, Gu Haoze and the curse practitioner named A Li were there, too.

My cousin stared at A Li in shock, eyes wide and mouth slightly open, unable to recover for a long while.

“Even if you don’t want this marriage, you didn’t have to find a woman like this just to upset me, did you?”

Tang Anran’s chest heaved. Her face was red, and the veins at her temples throbbed. I was afraid she might burst a blood vessel on the spot.

Gu Haoze gazed lovingly at the curse practitioner.

“I won’t allow you to talk about A Li that way. To me, she’s the best girl in the world.”

“Gu Haoze! You actually found an old, ugly, dark-skinned fat hag like this to humiliate me?!!”

He had angered Tang Anran past all reason. She began saying whatever came to mind.

The curse practitioner was clearly angry now, staring viciously at Tang Anran.

Just then, a green-headed fly suddenly appeared in the bright, spotless living room and began buzzing around her.

“Liu Ayi, are you dead?! Can’t you see there’s a fly in the living room? Keeping a dog would be more useful than keeping you!”

Translator’s note: Ayi is “auntie,” a respectful address for an older woman. Dage and ge, used below, mean “older brother”; Dashi means “great master,” an honorific for an expert.

After waving at the fly a couple of times, Tang Anran vented her anger on the housekeeper standing nearby.

“Why aren’t you—urgh!”

The instant Tang Anran opened her mouth wide to roar again, the green-headed fly flew inside, and she swallowed it.

“Eww~”

Everyone present couldn’t help feeling sick. My cousin even clapped a hand over her mouth, looking ready to throw up.

That green-headed fly was enormous, a couple of sizes bigger than a normal fly. Its head gleamed a strange green, looking especially disgusting in the sunlight.

I couldn’t help rubbing my chest to settle my stomach.

If I wasn’t mistaken, that had been a curse creature released by the practitioner. Luckily, I had been relatively polite earlier. I’d eaten bread instead of a fly.

People really did need comparisons. Thinking of it that way made me feel much better.

“Ah!!!”

Tang Anran let out an earth-shattering scream. Lu Qingxuan grabbed me, and we quickly slipped away.

“Has Tang Anran been cursed, too?”

Lu Qingxuan strode ahead indignantly. His eyes were round with anger, which actually looked rather cute.

“This humble Daoist must have been blind! Tang Anran is so mean and vicious that she can’t possibly have done any great good deeds. She must be the one who stole your fate!

“The curse on her won’t do much. She’ll just get fatter, darker, shorter, grow a mustache, break out in pimples, lose her hair, and so on in a short period. It won’t threaten her life. Let’s find a way to save your classmate first. He’s in greater danger.”

“Won’t do much,” he said!

The curse practitioner really did repay every slight. Tang Anran had called her dark, fat, ugly, and old, and she immediately made Tang Anran even darker, fatter, uglier, and older.

Lu Qingxuan said switching my fate back was extremely complicated and required a lot of preparation. It couldn’t be rushed.

The most urgent thing was to save Gu Haoze. So without pausing, we charged off to his home.

His parents were both very kind and gentle people. After graduating, I visited them every year, and they always received me warmly.

I just never happened to see Gu Haoze during those visits. So although I didn’t know him well, I was familiar with his parents.

Today, though, his mother’s eyes were red. She held my hand and began crying before she could even speak.

“Yaning, have you seen the girlfriend A Ze brought home?

“We don’t ask much of his future wife. Rich or poor doesn’t matter. As long as she has good character, is intelligent and motivated, and preferably has some education. But—but that woman A Ze brought back…”

Looking at her tear-reddened eyes, I hesitated. How was I supposed to tell someone their son had been cursed?

“Ayi, do you think Gu Haoze might have been hypnotized?”

“Hypnotized?”

Her eyes lit up instantly, shining with hope.

“I know a really good hypnotist. How about I take Gu Haoze to see them tomorrow?

“It’s just that his girlfriend seems to follow him everywhere every day. That makes things a little awkward.”

His mother happily slapped the back of my hand.

“Yaning! Good girl! Why didn’t your ayi think of that?

“A Ze has been acting a little strange these past few days. He does everything his girlfriend says. They look less like lovers than a master and servant.

“I’ll keep that girlfriend busy tomorrow. You go ahead!”

With his mother’s help, our plan was already partway to success.

For all her curse sorcery, the practitioner was still a woman—and one who had come out of the mountains without seeing much of the world.

Gu Haoze’s mother took her shopping for jewelry, saying she wanted to give her a first-meeting gift. The woman was instantly enthralled.

After three rounds through the shops, Gu Haoze’s mother claimed something urgent had come up at the company and told him to go sign a document before returning. The curse practitioner hesitated, but between her man and jewelry, she chose the jewelry.

I had been waiting outside the mall in the Gu family’s chauffeur’s car for some time.

As soon as Gu Haoze got in, Lu Qingxuan reached from the back seat and slapped a yellow talisman into his mouth.

“Fuck! Who was that?”

Startled, Gu Haoze first turned and glared at Lu Qingxuan, then turned back and saw me.

“Zhou Yaning? Why is it you? Where’s our driver?”

Only after seeing Lu Qingxuan nod firmly in the rearview mirror did I let out a breath.

“Dage, don’t you know someone’s put a curse on you?”

“What kind of joke is this? I…”

Something seemed to occur to him, and Gu Haoze turned deathly pale. He bent over, clapped a hand over his mouth, and began vomiting violently.

The yellow talisman Lu Qingxuan had slapped into him could isolate him from the curse creature, briefly restoring his mind. At the same time, it confused the creature so the practitioner wouldn’t notice.

Gu Haoze really was unlucky. He had gone to Shanghai on a business trip that day. At the hotel entrance, he saw security guards chasing away the curse practitioner, who had fallen. Seeing her bulky figure, he assumed she was pregnant and went over to help her up.

The instant he did, she took a liking to him and cursed him.

Society was too complicated. Apparently, it wasn’t only elderly people you couldn’t help up.

I drove fast, soon reaching a villa on the outskirts.

Gu Haoze’s mother had arranged this villa, too. It had a huge south-facing courtyard, now bathed in bright sunshine. Lu Qingxuan pulled Gu Haoze into the middle and swiftly bound him like a rice dumpling.

Gu Haoze looked at us in complete confusion.

“It’s summer! It’s so hot! What are you doing?”

Lu Qingxuan and I sheltered under a tree, wiping away sweat. Beneath the tall tree’s shade stood two lounge chairs, with a basin of clean water between them. Whatever Lu Qingxuan had added gave it a tempting, fresh fragrance.

Fanning myself and sipping tea, I let out a comfortable breath.

“Gu Haoze, Shifu Qingxuan said the curse creature inside you fears yang energy most. It’s noon now, when that energy is strongest. After two hours baking in the sun, the creature won’t be able to stand it and will crawl out for water. Just endure it.”

In the sunshine, Gu Haoze’s fair face had reddened. Lu Qingxuan had mercilessly wound several loops of thick hemp rope around him. His muscles bulged through it, giving him a kind of ascetic allure.

With that body, no wonder the curse practitioner had taken one look and wanted him.

In the midday heat, I was drifting off in my lounge chair when Gu Haoze, kneeling in the middle of the courtyard, began making coughing sounds. Lu Qingxuan and I shot upright.

The creature was coming out.

I had never seen anything so strange and disgusting in my life.

Gu Haoze’s mouth was wide open. A pink, sea-worm-like thing was slowly crawling out.

For the first time, I found pink so revolting. Sea worms, too.

As if it had smelled the water, the pink sea worm turned its head toward us.

It actually had a gray eye. Now it stared at us uncertainly, looking as though it wanted to approach but didn’t dare.

Gu Haoze’s mouth gaped, tears filling the corners of his eyes. The sea worm looked like a tentacle extending from his mouth, dealing a tremendous blow to my fragile heart.

Perhaps Gu Haoze realized we wanted it to come closer. Veins bulged on his forehead, and pain showed in his eyes, but he still summoned his strength and stood.

Oh my god. He looked like a monster from a foreign horror movie. I shot up and hid behind the tree, leaving the front line to Lu Qingxuan.

Gu Haoze staggered quickly toward us. The sea worm was surprised, too. It clearly wanted to retreat into his belly, but it was too late.

Quick-eyed and quick-handed, Lu Qingxuan grabbed it and dragged it out by force. Good lord. It had to be at least a meter long.

I didn’t know what he sprinkled on it, but it instantly shrank to the size of a finger, curling up and writhing on the ground.

He took out a glass bottle and put it inside. Only then did he wipe the sweat from his forehead.

I peered out from behind the tree. Gu Haoze was crouched on the ground, coughing desperately with tears in his eyes. I went over, patted his shoulder, and handed him a bottle of mineral water.

“Fuck! I’m not clean anymore!”

He took the water and rinsed his mouth frantically. After a while, he grabbed my hand and looked up through his tears.

“Zhou Yaning, don’t tell anyone what happened today! It’s too humiliating!”

I looked at him sympathetically.

“You paraded that curse practitioner all over the place, telling everyone she was your girlfriend. Have you forgotten?”

“I’m finished…”

His face pale, Gu Haoze collapsed into a sitting position on the ground, looking as though life held nothing for him anymore.

But it wasn’t over yet. Lu Qingxuan had dealt with the creature, not the practitioner.

“What? I still have to go back and pretend to be that terrifying woman’s boyfriend?!!”

Poor Gu Haoze. Lu Qingxuan told him to act as if nothing had happened, then find an excuse to bring the curse practitioner here next week.

“I’ve put a drop of the creature’s essence blood on you. She won’t notice anything wrong for a while. Bring her here next week. Only after we deal with her can we end this once and for all.”

Gu Haoze left with an expression that said the human world wasn’t worth it. Lu Qingxuan and I went home, too.

Following our plan, I deliberately mentioned over dinner that the pomegranate trees beside my parents’ graves weren’t good and that I wanted to replace them with osmanthus trees.

“Absolutely not!”

My normally kind and affable uncle flew into a rage, slamming the table with a thunderous bang.

“Ningning! You’re being thoughtless. Pomegranate trees were your father’s favorites, and they’ve been there for years. How can you casually disturb things at a grave?”

“Ningning, you’re a child. You don’t understand the seriousness of this. How can you change something like that on a whim? Do you think it’s like changing clothes?”

My aunt hurriedly chimed in, her voice so shrill and sharp that it made me want to cover my ears.

I stood angrily, too.

“I decide what happens to my parents’ grave. I’m not asking for your permission! And Dabo, my father never liked pomegranate trees. You must be remembering wrong.”

Dinner broke up unhappily. I went to the front door for some air and spotted a furtive figure nearby.

“Gu Haoze?!!”

His eyes lit up when he saw me. He rushed over in a few strides and pulled me aside.

“Zhou Yaning, you finally came out!”

“Why are you looking for me instead of keeping your curse practitioner company?”

“Pah, pah, pah! What do you mean, my curse practitioner?”

He looked around.

“Where’s that Lu Dashi?”

“He’s helping me get information out of them. Don’t rush. Lu Qingxuan said these next few days aren’t a good time to act. He hasn’t finished preparing everything.”

Gu Haoze sighed and said he had taken the practitioner to buy jewelry, then used urgent company business as an excuse to slip away.

Women really had no resistance to gold and jewels. Even curse practitioners.

Gu Haoze and I reclined in his car, looking at the stars.

Not the stars in the sky. The starry ceiling of his car.

Being rich was wonderful. If my fate hadn’t been switched, I would have had a very happy life, too, wouldn’t I?

“Zhou Yaning, how did you meet Lu Qingxuan?”

I told him about my stolen fate. He sat bolt upright.

“Fuck! I know who helped Tang Anran switch your fate!”

Gu Haoze said that because their families were considering a marriage alliance, his family had investigated eighteen generations of her ancestors.

Tang Anran’s paternal grandfather had been a somewhat well-known sorcerer in their area. He had been perfectly healthy, then suddenly fell ill when Tang Anran was ten. His whole body rotted, and he died.

“Everyone said he must have used some powerful spell to defy heaven and change fate, then suffered backlash.

“I heard that by the time he died, he’d rotted beyond recognition. It’s strange, though. After he died, their family did better every day. Her parents even had a little brother for her. Their company’s quite sizable now. Otherwise, my family wouldn’t have wanted me to get engaged to her.”

“I had no idea her family was so disgusting. Don’t worry. I’ll help you get your fate back!”

Gu Haoze looked even angrier than I felt. He had been cursed; my fate had been switched. We were fellow sufferers.

After we talked for a while, his phone rang. He answered with the resolve of a man going to his death.

“All right, darling. I’ll be right back.”

Tsk. Staying alive really wasn’t easy.

“Zhou Yaning, your ge is suffering this much and still holding on. You have to stay strong, too. I’ll help you!”

He patted my hand, stepped on the gas, and sped away.

Watching him leave, I thought the human heart really was the hardest thing in the world to fathom.

Your closest family wanted to hurt you, while complete strangers wanted to save you.

There was just one thing I couldn’t understand. Why had my uncle’s family joined outsiders in harming us?

Wouldn’t our family becoming rich help them more than Tang Anran’s family becoming rich?

Back in my room, Lu Qingxuan came in, his face animated with excitement.

“I’ve thought of an excellent idea! Tang Anran has been cursed, and her body will change drastically in a few days. Then we’ll find someone to tell her it’s backlash from switching someone else’s fate, and that she has to switch it back to survive.”

What a great idea!

My approval made Lu Qingxuan even more excited.

“I’ll call my shifu right now and ask him to come help us put on a good show!”

Lu Qingxuan’s shifu was an old Daoist with a flowing beard and an immortal’s bearing. Just standing there, he looked like an accomplished expert beyond worldly affairs.

My heart settled. With that appearance, all he had to do was stand there to be convincing.

Lu Qingxuan took his shifu to Tang Anran’s house.

I stayed home, pretending to watch TV calmly, while my cousin paced anxiously nearby.

“Jiejie, what are you doing? You’re making me dizzy.”

My cousin bit her lip and looked at me, nervous and unsettled.

“Tang Anran is possessed?” I asked.

My expression carried three parts surprise, three parts doubt, and three parts shock. I was impressed by my own acting.

My cousin nodded fearfully, her voice tense and frightened.

“I went to see her this morning. In just these few days, her body has doubled in size, and she’s shrunk at least ten centimeters. My god, her face is covered in bumps, like a toad!

“She smashed every mirror in the house and everything in her room she could break. The way she looked was terrifying!”

My cousin’s lingering fear pleased me immensely. I would have two extra bowls of rice later.

“Jiejie, why would Tang Anran suddenly become possessed when she was perfectly fine before? Did she do something wicked and get her retribution?”

Clatter!

My aunt was coming out with a dish. The plate fell, and soup and sauce splashed all over the floor.

That evening, Lu Qingxuan messaged me. The plan had gone very well.

When his shifu reached Tang Anran’s house, he said he had been passing by and noticed baleful energy rising into the sky. The servants immediately ushered him inside.

After looking at Tang Anran, he said she was suffering backlash from switching someone else’s fate.

He also said that several lives must have been lost after the other person’s fate was switched. Now the wronged spirits had taken their complaint to the underworld. Unless the fates were switched back, the Tang family would soon be ruined and its members dead.

Tang Anran’s parents were doubtful. But before long, news came from the company: their most important project had developed a serious problem, and they might have to pay an enormous contractual penalty.

Then Tang Anran’s little brother was involved in a car accident on his way home from school. The car was totaled. Fortunately, he was unharmed.

Lu Qingxuan said Gu Haoze had helped arrange those last two incidents.

The succession of unexpected disasters immediately broke Tang Anran’s parents. By now, they were probably crying and begging to switch our fates back.

I put down my phone, feeling warm inside.

How unfortunate I had been.

And how fortunate.

My miserable life was about to end, and those who had harmed me would surely pay a bitter price.

The next day, I deliberately got up very late, lying in bed until nearly noon before going downstairs.

Just as I expected, my cousin, uncle, and aunt were all there.

My cousin hurried over in delight and took my hand.

“Ningning, you’re so lucky!”

I quietly withdrew my hand and pretended to know nothing.

“What luck?”

“An expert came to Tang Anran’s house. He said she really is possessed, and she needs a benefactor with a special birth chart to help suppress it. I looked at the chart, and wasn’t it exactly yours?”

I looked at her suspiciously.

“Jiejie, you even know my birth chart? I’m not very clear on it myself.”

My aunt immediately cut in.

“Oh, everyone in the village used to say Ningning’s birth chart was good. Everyone in our family remembers it.

“Ningning, you know how rich Tang Anran’s family is, right? Her parents said if you agree to help, they’ll give you a million yuan! A whole million!”

I laughed coldly inside. What you’ve taken from me is worth far more than a million.

And my parents’ two lives. Could money make up for those?

I shook my head, pretending to hesitate.

“How would I suppress it? Would it harm me? You won’t transfer those unclean things onto me, will you?”

“Oh, listen to yourself! This is a good thing. They have a great master performing the ritual. How could a great master harm anyone?”

My uncle and aunt earnestly tried to persuade me, too. They said work and life weren’t easy for me, and this money would let me live more comfortably.

They also said family wouldn’t deceive family. They guaranteed this would only benefit me, never harm me.

Besieged by all three of them, I agreed with great reluctance.

The next day, I went to Tang Anran’s home as arranged. Though I had prepared myself, her appearance still startled me.

Her once-fair skin had become dark and rough. Red bumps covered her face densely. Several particularly large ones were oozing pus.

Her formerly tall, alluring figure now resembled a round barrel. From nearly 170 centimeters, she had shrunk to 150.

Even her thick, smooth hair had fallen out until only sparse strands remained. She looked rather like Qiu Qianchi, the woman who spat jujube pits as projectiles in The Return of the Condor Heroes.

For a beautiful girl who had once been extremely proud of her looks, becoming like this was truly worse than death.

Tang Anran grew very agitated when she saw me. Coughing, wheezing sounds came from her throat. Her eyes, squeezed into slits by fat, shone with fierce light.

Following Lu Qingxuan’s shifu’s arrangements, Tang Anran and I entered a sealed room.

Eight Trigrams diagrams hung all around it. Intricate formations and symbols I couldn’t understand had been drawn on the floor.

We lay down in the center of the room and nervously waited for what came next.

At some point, I fell asleep.

In my daze, I seemed to arrive somewhere very warm.

My body had never felt so warm before. My limbs filled with strength. My palms and the soles of my feet burned hot. The blood in my body seemed to come alive, rushing freely and joyfully through me.

I knew it. My fate had returned.

I opened my eyes first. Lu Qingxuan’s shifu was smiling at me. Looking into his kindly eyes, mine suddenly reddened. I couldn’t help sitting on the floor and sobbing like a child who had suffered every grievance.

He came over and gently patted my head.

“Let it out. From now on, walk your broad, sunlit road without fear.”

Tang Anran was still deeply asleep. Lu Qingxuan’s shifu told her parents that she would sleep for three full days. After that, everything would return to how it had been.

Since they hadn’t paid us anything, her parents weren’t afraid we would run off, and the three of us swaggered out of the Tang house.

With my matter settled, next came the curse practitioner.

As arranged, Gu Haoze brought her to the villa on the outskirts. The moment she saw the courtyard full of formations and all of us there, she knew she had been tricked.

She turned to Gu Haoze with a cold smile.

“A Ze, how cruel you are. Treating your future wife this way!”

“Pah! I helped you out of kindness, and you tried to take my life. I’ve put up with you long enough!”

Seeing Gu Haoze’s changed attitude, the practitioner’s gaze turned vicious. Her mouth opened and closed as she chanted an obscure, incomprehensible spell.

As the incantation ended, the backpack Lu Qingxuan had left beneath the tree exploded. Pink liquid splattered all over the ground.

Was that… the pink sea worm?

If it had still been inside Gu Haoze, wouldn’t his brain have exploded?

The curse practitioner really was ruthless. Gu Haoze’s face went white. Clearly, he was badly frightened, too.

“Gu Haoze, run!”

Seeing him still standing there dumbly, I hurried to shout a warning.

He came to his senses and ran toward us, followed closely by snakes covering the ground.

I had no idea how the practitioner had hidden so many snakes on her body. At the same time, I deeply regretted coming with Lu Qingxuan and the others. I was just an ordinary person. Snakes and insects like these were both terrifying and disgusting.

The practitioner battled Lu Qingxuan and his shifu until heaven and earth seemed to overturn, sand flying and stones scattering.

Gu Haoze and I hid to one side, scurrying with our hands over our heads and trembling.

“Fuck! This really opened my eyes! Who knew everything in the novels was real?”

“Oh my god! Gu Haoze! There’s a huge spider by your foot!”

In the end, the practitioner was no match for Lu Qingxuan’s shifu. Before long, she lost. Lu Qingxuan kicked her unconscious onto the ground.

Every curse practitioner nurtured a life-bound curse creature inside their body. All their sorcery and secret techniques came from it.

I didn’t know what method Lu Qingxuan’s shifu used, but before long, a golden silkworm came out of the practitioner’s mouth.

Lu Qingxuan sprinkled an entire bag of salt on it. Like the toad last time, it soon became an empty skin.

Gu Haoze clicked his tongue in amazement. I stood beside him, giving him a little science lesson.

“This is called osmosis…”

Without her life-bound creature, the curse practitioner was just an ordinary person. Gu Haoze had her sent to prison for theft.

She was greedy for money. While staying at his home, she had taken quite a lot of jewelry from his mother’s room. The pieces were worth a huge sum. She wouldn’t get out to harm anyone again in this lifetime.

According to Lu Qingxuan, once the life-bound gu creature was gone, the curse inside Tang Anran should have disappeared, too.

Strangely, though, she remained unchanged, still looking terrifying, like an ugly old witch.

With her looking that way, the marriage alliance with Gu Haoze’s family naturally fell apart.

Now that my fate had been switched back, I had no further worries holding me back.

Gu Haoze hovered around me every day, saying we were friends who had shared life and death, and that my affairs were his affairs.

So first thing this morning, I took him and Lu Qingxuan to my parents’ graves, ready to do some serious work.

“Stop! Stop right now!”

The workers had barely cut down one pomegranate tree when my uncle’s family arrived, panting.

“Ningning, what are you doing?! Are you trying to disturb your parents’ spirits so they can never rest?!”

The moment my uncle opened his mouth, he slapped an enormous label of unfilial behavior on me. Villagers had already gathered all around the graves to watch.

That was how the countryside worked. At the slightest stir, the whole village wanted to run over, meddle, and watch the excitement.

I didn’t even lift my eyelids. I merely bent slightly and invited Lu Qingxuan’s shifu forward.

Still looking like an immortal beyond worldly affairs, he circled the graves and said someone had borrowed my fortune, causing my parents’ early deaths and our family’s decline.

He also said that whoever stole my fortune must have tampered with the graves to stop my parents from going to the underworld to complain after their deaths.

The whole village erupted. The country folk had never heard anything like this. Everyone immediately boiled over.

“Good heavens! Aren’t we supposed to avoid feudal superstition? Does this kind of thing still happen? It must be fake. Is this Daoist here to swindle money?”

“Not necessarily. The Zhou family’s girl had a good fate from childhood. Who in the village didn’t envy her? But ever since she got sick at ten, it’s been like a disaster star possessed her. Nobody’s been unluckier. Maybe someone really did borrow her fortune!”

“Ningning, this is nonsense!”

My great-uncle rushed over, slapping his thigh as he stood to one side. My grandfather had died young, and his younger brother was our only remaining elder in the village.

“Xiao Yeye, keep watching, and you’ll know whether it’s nonsense.”

Translator’s note: Xiao Yeye, literally “younger grandpa,” is the narrator’s grandfather’s younger brother.

I had someone stop my great-uncle and keep my uncle’s family to one side, too. Then I waved for the work to continue.

Soon, dozens of nails of different lengths had been pulled from the pomegranate trees. Jars had also been buried beneath them.

When the jars were opened, a terrible stench rose. I had them set aside.

Some bolder villagers came closer to look. The jars were packed with rat skeletons, clearly dead for many years.

The whole village fell silent. Although it was morning and the sun was strong enough to make everyone sweat, their hearts were icy, and they couldn’t stop shivering.

The gravestone was opened, exposing the joint burial chamber.

Inside, dense tangles of roots had pierced straight through the urns. A black cloth covered them, written all over with the traditional character for “suppress,” 鎮.

I held the urns and wept loudly. The villagers gathered around, and quite a few cried with me.

“They wanted these people to have no peace even in death! Animals!”

“Don’t I remember Ningning’s uncle ordering those trees planted? I think he buried the urns, too?”

Trembling, my great-uncle stepped forward and slapped my uncle across the face.

“You conscienceless beast! You actually caused your own little brother’s death! How do you have the face to go on living?!!!

“No wonder you’ve been getting new houses and cars these past few years. Was it your family that stole Ningning’s fortune?”

My uncle couldn’t bear it anymore. Crying, he confessed everything.

Back then, everyone in the village had said I had a fortunate destiny. Tang Anran’s maternal grandparents were from our village, too. When they heard, they approached my uncle’s family.

They deceived them, saying they knew a master with powerful arts who could borrow a little luck from someone with a good destiny, improving their own fortune.

Jealous of our family’s money, my uncle’s family followed their instructions and secretly took my birth details and personal belongings.

But Tang Anran’s family tricked them. They had thought they were borrowing fortune for themselves. Instead, they helped Tang Anran switch her fate with mine.

By the time they discovered it, it was too late. The Tang family gave them substantial compensation and brought them into business, making them keep the secret.

“I never meant to kill my brother! I was deceived, too! Deceived!”

My uncle clung to my great-uncle’s legs, sobbing with tears and snot running down his face.

At last, this farce came to an end. Lu Qingxuan chose an auspicious day to rebury my parents’ ashes. The night of the burial, I had a dream.

My parents looked just as they had years ago, smiling happily at me. They said my days would only get better from now on, and they were reassured.

The Tang family’s luck collapsed completely. One company project after another blew up in scandal. Tang Anran’s father was arrested for illegal fundraising. Their houses and factories were all seized, leaving them with nothing.

Tang Anran had it worst. She would have to live with that terrifying appearance for the rest of her life.

As the Tang family fell, my uncle’s family fell with them.

The Tangs had been their biggest customer, and not a cent of the outstanding payments could be recovered. To repay what they owed other customers for goods, my uncle’s family sold their city house and car and returned to the village.

But their reputation there was already rotten. People often threw dead rats and rotten vegetable leaves into their house, saying they didn’t welcome such rotten-gutted, black-hearted people back to live in the village.

“Miss Yaning, no need to see us off any farther. This humble Daoist and his shifu are going home.”

Standing at the high-speed train station entrance, I tearfully clutched the edge of Lu Qingxuan’s clothes.

“Shifu Qingxuan, I haven’t properly thanked you yet. If it weren’t for you, I’d already be dead. I—I…”

I wiped away my tears haphazardly, truly at a loss for how to express my gratitude.

Lu Qingxuan winked.

“If you keep crying, Gu Haoze will think I’m bullying you. This humble Daoist has calculated your birth charts. It’s a marriage destined by heaven. He’ll treat you very well. Miss Yaning, you have to live well ah.”

Gu Haoze?

I looked up through my tears. Lu Qingxuan was already striding away with his shifu.

“Don’t cry. If you’ll miss Shifu Qingxuan this much, how about we go visit him in a few days?”

Gu Haoze came over, patted my shoulder reassuringly, and offered me a tissue.

He was my heaven-destined match?

Looking at his careful expression, I couldn’t help smiling.

My future life would definitely be a good one.

[The End]