I dropped out of high school in my second year.
As plans can't keep up with changes, Wen Daichu had planned to just go online and do some live streams to help people with their affairs, and also think about how to strengthen her friendship with Chen Wenkang despite their age difference. Little did she know that a ritual ticket would fall from the sky like this.
It was a religious service request form from across the ocean.
Sitting on the bed, Wen Dai had been scrolling through travel guides—specifically those about visas—for over two hours. A long sigh escaped her throat, her shoulders slumped, and her arms draped loosely over the sheets. She switched back to WeChat, found Dong Ying, the client she had just added the night before, and forwarded the chat history to Chen Sizhe.
[You're probably busy, right? This girl is studying in country A, and I know how difficult it is to get a visa for that country...it's time-consuming and laborious. I don't have a visa for country A, so I'm asking if you're available. If you're also busy, I'll try to see if I can help her process it online.]
She didn't waste any time; she sent the message and immediately switched back to her chat with Dong Ying.
Let me know when you're free, and we can video chat. I'll see if I can help you with it online. Actually, I don't really like doing things online; it's risky. I don't feel comfortable doing it myself, but the distance between us is quite vast... I also asked my partner if he's free. If he can come, I'll have him help you.
Wen Dai tossed her phone back onto the bed. She raised her hand and did a set of eye exercises. Just as she got out of bed to prepare some tools, her phone, which was lying on the bed, suddenly rang.
The call was from Dong Ying.
She stretched out her arm to retrieve the phone, swiped her finger to answer, and a cheerful female voice came through the receiver, tinged with apology: "Teacher, I forgot to tell you, I can actually go back to China. I can take a few days off to go back. I'm so sorry to trouble you so much. Let me calculate the dates... Is next weekend okay, teacher?" Occasionally, a few words of foreign language were interspersed, as if Dong Ying was communicating with someone else.
"Ah... it would be best if you could come back, especially this weekend. Just let me know when you arrive. I'm in Lizhou." The problem was solved in a daze, and Wen Dai stared blankly for a moment, holding the phone that had ended the call.
Sometimes you have to admit that fate has its own arrangements.
Her dazed state was abruptly interrupted; following the call that had just ended was a message from Chen Wenkang—
"Have you eaten, Xiao Dai? Let's have a meal together sometime. I'll have the driver pick you up."
"What the hell?" Wen Dai was suspicious of this almost miraculous luck, after all, her life often threw her a sweet treat before it hit her hard. But her hand still followed her heart and typed out the word "good".
However, it wasn't long before Wen Dai's "good" was preceded by a "no".
The driver was incredibly efficient. Wen Dai had barely finished packing when she arrived downstairs, and before long, a car that was clearly expensive at first glance pulled up. Only the driver was in the car; they exchanged only a polite greeting at the beginning, and remained silent for the rest of the journey.
In Wen Dai's deduction, the driver should have taken her to a high-end restaurant in the city center, or a quiet teahouse in the suburbs, but the truth was—
The name of the residential area was carved on a large landscape stone. Inside the Porsche, the steering wheel spun in the driver's hands. Wen Dai, who had been filled with doubts along the way, turned her head in surprise to look at the driver. She straightened up from the back of the seat and suppressed her disbelief: "Hello, is this the way to Mr. Chen's house?"
The driver glanced at her quickly and said, "Yes, the master and mistress are at home; after hearing the master's introduction, the mistress is also very interested in you, Miss."
Her spine pulled her body back into the seat, and Wen Dai's gaze, which had been fixed on the car window, suddenly went blank—ah… her two worlds were about to merge.
The driver dropped her off at the door and left. Wen Dai walked in through the main entrance with the help of the maid. When she arrived at the dining room, the first thing she saw was the man sitting at the table. His hair, which had been hanging down his forehead on his day off, was now slicked back. The sunlight streaming through the window accentuated the delicate features of his profile. His suit jacket, which he had taken off, revealed his elegant and noble figure. Then, he turned his gaze away.
They both saw shock in each other's eyes.
The hour hand of the wall clock needs to be turned counterclockwise.
Two hours ago—
In the Chen family's living room, Chen Sizhe sat on the sofa, having found a quiet spot for himself. Opposite him, Chen Wenkang sipped tea. Qi Ya paced back and forth in front of the coffee table, scolding her son: "Can't you do something about this?! How many girls have I introduced him to? Before, I let him choose his own photos, but he wouldn't. Fine, I'll choose for him, but then he doesn't want them. This time, Xu Jing is my senior's daughter. She's so outstanding, she even asked him out, but he said he was busy with work! Thank God—the day she asked him out was his day off, and he even went on a trip to Hengshi! Can't you do something about this?!"
Qi Ya stopped in her tracks and glared at Chen Sizhe with exasperation, but the latter didn't even lift his eyelids, clearly refusing to receive any information.
She stared at her husband, who was calmly sipping his tea, and a wave of sorrow rose in her heart. She raised her hand to her chest and cried out, "You two—how could I have married you and given birth to such a thing! Chen Wenkang, I won't take responsibility if you die without an heir!"
Sighing, Chen Wenkang put down his teacup and looked helplessly at his wife. Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he swallowed back the words he was about to say. He raised his head and said, "I do know a special young lady here. Although she is young, she is very perceptive and has a straightforward temper. Chen Sizhe might get along with her. Do you know what she said?"
Meeting Chen Wenkang's piercing gaze, Qi Ya crossed her arms, raised her chin, and slightly furrowed her delicate brows, then asked in return, "What did you say?"
“She said, ‘No one in this world is born to suffer. I hate those who say that the suffering in this life is because of evil deeds in the previous life. That’s victim blaming.’ In short, compared to those who cling to the theory of karma from past lives, her views on misfortune are unique.” Chen Wenkang quietly omitted the profanities from Wen Dai’s original words.
Qi Ya slightly raised her eyebrows, tapping her fingers lightly with her arms crossed. After a moment of silence, she nodded and said, "Hmm... see if you can invite them over." She glanced at the wall clock. "It's almost dinnertime, let's invite them over for a meal."
At this moment, Chen Sizhe subconsciously thought of Wen Dai. These words were perfectly suited to come from her mouth; when she said them, she would inevitably furrow her brows and raise her chin, giving off an undeniable air.
Two hours later, Chen Sizhe, facing those dark, inky pupils, thought—it really was her.
Wen Dai slowly dragged her gaze, and then, with a twist, her eyes met those of Qi Ya, who was coming out of the kitchen.
The servants placed the food on the table, and the occasional clinking of the cutlery against each other created a pleasant tinkling sound.
"Oh my, it's you!" After the initial surprise, tears welled up in Xin Kuai's eyes. Qi Ya had always believed in fate. She bypassed the servants who came out and went straight to Wen Dai, reaching out to take her wrist. "I was feeling sorry before, and I was too embarrassed to message you anymore. I didn't expect that we have such a deep connection."
She held Wen Dai's arm, leaned close to Wen Dai's ear and whispered, "The peach blossom talisman you performed earlier was indeed effective, it's just a pity that my ignorant son ruined it; now, he's really single all the time, and besides me and his cousin, he can't keep any other woman around. I'm so sorry to have made you work for nothing, this is probably his retribution."
It must be said that people are multifaceted. When Wen Dai thought of the noblewoman who resembled Chen Sizhe when they first met, she found it difficult to apply her current behavior to Qi Ya. She silently shrank her neck, trying to distance herself from Qi Ya who was getting too close. "Haha... It's okay, it's okay, everything is arranged."
Chen Wenkang, who had gone to the balcony to make a phone call, hung up and turned around to see Qi Ya and Wen Dai whispering to each other. He stepped over and asked curiously, "You two know each other?"
“We know each other, we’ve known each other for a long time! Look, it’s already the beginning of winter, but when I met this girl, it was still warm.” Qi Ya naturally hooked her arm around Wen Dai’s, her tone carrying the smugness of a child comparing herself to someone else. She led Wen Dai to the dining table, glanced at Chen Sizhe, and gestured for him to come and pull out a chair.
Chen Sizhe instinctively glanced at Wen Dai, their eyes met for a moment before he looked away. His movements as he got up from his chair and pulled the chair away were not very natural. Once he had finished pulling the chair away, he returned to his seat without saying a word.
First, Qi Ya arranged for Wen Dai to sit next to Chen Sizhe. She placed her hand on the top of the chair back behind Wen Dai, patted the back of the chair twice, and sighed, "Look at him! He becomes mute whenever he sees a woman. Anyone who didn't know better would think he was born unable to speak. What a blockhead! Have you forgotten how eloquent you were in court?" Her eyes then glared at Chen Sizhe.
Wen Daimo glanced at Chen Sizhe on her left, thinking to herself: If Chen Sizhe is supposed to be mute when he sees a woman, then the Pearl Bird is born deaf and mute; his eloquent tongue in court is just as sharp in everyday life, and he can make people want to kill him with just a few words—anyway, she really wanted to.
Standing across the dining table, Chen Wenkang pulled out two dining chairs. He patted the other one, raised his chin at Qi Ya, who was scolding her son, and said, "That's enough. Xiao Dai is here to eat with us, not to listen to our opera."
Reluctantly, Qi Ya went over and sat down next to Chen Wenkang. The two, unaware of each other's relationship and past, each had their own thoughts. Chen Wenkang, holding his chopsticks, raised his wrist and said with a smile, "Don't just sit there, eat. Our chef's skills are quite good."
Qi Ya picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks and put it in her bowl, her gaze constantly drifting towards Wen Dai. She asked casually, "Hey, do you young people not want to date these days? Anyway, I can't control my son anymore. Xiao Dai, you should have a boyfriend, right? He's handsome."
Having never been pressured to get married before, Wen Dai was experiencing this for the first time. She silently withdrew her chopsticks, which she had just reached for, and licked her dry lips. "I don't have a boyfriend either..."
“Oh, that’s definitely better than my son. He’s never been in a relationship before, which is driving us crazy.”
"...I've never been in a relationship before."
Qi Ya raised her eyebrows, glancing at Wen Dai with a rare look. Her gaze lingered on Wen Dai's face before she blurted out, her tone tinged with doubt: "You've never been in a relationship? You look like a student, or have you already graduated? Someone like you shouldn't have had no suitors in college; you should have had plenty in high school. But it's good for girls to have high standards. Did you go to university in Lizhou?"
Both Chen Sizhe and Chen Wenkang were curious about Wen Dai's academic background. The former was curious why she wasn't studying normally at her age, while the latter was curious about Wen Dai's major.
“I didn’t go to university. I dropped out of high school in my second year and started helping people with their affairs when I was sixteen or seventeen.” With her chopsticks resting on the rim of her bowl, Wen Dai’s back remained ramrod straight. She made no attempt to hide her educational background, meeting the gazes of Qi Ya and Chen Wenkang with composure. Her peach blossom eyes were filled with candor.
The gaze directed at Wen Dai from the side was tinged with astonishment. Chen Sizhe's hand rested stiffly on the edge of the table, his gaze fixed on the cheek of the person beside him—those upturned eyes held no trace of sorrow, and the straight nose and defined jawline radiated an inner strength. She had always been indestructible. He truly hadn't expected Wen Dai to drop out of high school.
Chen Wenkang, who was the first to react, put several pieces of food on Qi Ya's plate. He glanced at her and said in a low voice, "Why ask so many questions? Just eat properly when you're eating."
Then, his gaze toward Wen Dai turned complicated, and a sigh escaped his lips. He asked gently, "I'm sorry, but I still want to ask why you dropped out of school; if you have any difficulties, I can offer some help."
Wen Dai was waiting for his last sentence, but she couldn't agree immediately; being too eager for quick success usually doesn't end well.
"Well... my parents passed away when I was ten years old, and I don't have any other relatives to rely on, but that doesn't really matter to me, I can survive on my own. There wasn't really any particular reason for dropping out of high school in my second year, it's just that I happened to have a spiritual connection at that time, and I got very sick, and my body couldn't support me to continue studying. Aunt Qi knows me, most orthodox practitioners would question someone like me, because I practice magic in my dreams; I'm associated with spirits, I'm a shaman; after dropping out of school, I slowly went down this path, making a little money by helping people with their affairs."
With a nonchalant attitude and a lighthearted tone, Wen Dai spoke as if she were discussing a story unrelated to herself, her dimples always visible. She was the only one at the entire table with a smile on her face.
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