Chapter 18 Chapter 18 Is his figure so good?
In the afternoon, at the beginning of the afternoon, the sun was shining brightly in the sky over Qingxi Town, and the sun was scorching hot.
Xue Yuanyin rolled up his trouser legs, barefoot, and stood in the swamp, sweating profusely. He listened to Zhang Jingxuan's instructions and searched for what he wanted in the water. His eyes were almost blinded, and he vaguely suspected that his head had been squeezed by the door.
At that time, Zhang Jingxuan said he wanted to tell her fortune. She thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so she agreed excitedly and urged him to start early.
Who knew that after lunch, when the sun was shining brightly in the afternoon, he would drag her around half the town to this remote place, under the pretext of teaching her to feel the balance of all things.
Sweat was pouring down Xue Yuanyin's forehead. She couldn't stand it anymore, so she stood up and walked towards him, wanting to smear the mud on her hands on Zhang Jingxuan who was hiding in the shade of the tree canopy, but he dodged sideways.
Xue Yuanyin held up the mud on both arms and sneered, "Zhang Jingxuan, why are you hiding?"
Zhang Jingxuan hesitated for a moment, then said gently and frankly, "Because I feel that if going into the river is bound to get you dirty, since you're already covered in mud, I won't wade in this water anymore."
Xue Yuanyin: “?”
Is he calling her dirty?
Xue Yuanyin was angry, she really couldn't stand it anymore!
"Zhang Jingxuan!"
She stood in dismay on the riverbank, staring at him, her heart filled with anger. "Is this what you call fortune-telling? You're even telling fortunes down to the ditch?! You better give me a proper explanation within a cup of tea!"
She squeezed the mud in her hand and got angry at his well-mannered appearance: "Otherwise I will smear the mud on you."
Zhang Jingxuan rubbed his forehead. Not to mention Xue Yuanyin, his eyes would be blinded. He explained:
"Divination requires tortoise shells, and they need to be large and beautifully patterned. They may not be sold in town, and even if they are, the price is beyond our reach. We can only look for them ourselves."
Xue Yuanyin narrowed his eyes, walked towards the shore, and said, "I can't hear you clearly, come closer."
Zhang Jingxuan didn't think much about it and walked to the shore, wanting to say it again. Unexpectedly, Xue Yuanyin quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him into the water.
Zhang Jingxuan was completely unprepared for her sudden action and fell straight from the shore into the water, almost falling down. By the time he steadied himself, the river water had already soaked his clothes.
Xue Yuanyin crossed her arms and watched with satisfaction as he also became wet and dirty.
After Zhang Jingxuan stood up straight, Xue Yuanyin took a glance and saw that, as expected, the noble young man's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
Meeting Zhang Jingxuan's cold gaze, Xue Yuanyin was not frightened at all, and said innocently:
"What's wrong? Am I not the same as you? Why are you angry?"
Zhang Jingxuan was too lazy to pay attention to her. He was also covered in mud, so he simply didn't go up.
He was just covered in mud, and he had just stumbled, the river water soaking his hips. He looked down, and the dirtiness wasn't the main issue. Unlike women, his pants were so tight that it was unsightly.
Seeing that he didn't speak for a long time, Xue Yuanyin followed his gaze and glanced at him. Was it just that his pants were sticking to his body that made him so uncomfortable?
But... she looked at his figure thoughtfully. There were several wet spots on Zhang Jingxuan's cloth clothes, vaguely revealing some of the outline of his body. Although it was very little, it was not difficult to see that he actually had thin muscles, and they were very smooth and beautiful.
Is he in such good shape?
Not as thin as she had imagined.
Zhang Jingxuan noticed her unobstructed gaze and calmly adjusted the hem of his shirt, loosely covering the area below his hips. Then he spoke to divert her attention and said,
"Did you find it?"
Xue Yuanyin came back to his senses, his anger rising again. He said, "So you want me to catch a turtle by the river? Are you crazy?"
Turtle shell is the shell of a turtle. If you find a turtle, do you have to peel its shell alive?
She frowned and said, "You are too cruel. You said before that a gentleman does not kill."
Zhang Jingxuan said calmly, "I'm looking for the shed shells of turtles."
Xue Yuanyin then realized that she had misunderstood and said "oh" dryly.
…
Eventually, they gave up searching by the river. Luckily, the sun was shining brightly, and their clothes dried slightly soon after they reached shore. They were a little wrinkled, but much better than being soaked.
The two went to the pharmacy to ask, and found that the pharmacy did have turtle shells, but as a medicinal ingredient, the turtle shells were not very big, at least they could not be used for fortune-telling.
Finally, Zhang Jingxuan came up with a solution and said:
"Wasn't there a fortune teller setting up a stall on the market road just now? I vaguely saw several tortoise shells in a basket behind him... Business is slow these days, so he probably doesn't use those tortoise shells very often."
…
Half an hour later, Zhang Jingxuan strolled back to the yard, holding the tortoise shell "borrowed" from the fortune teller's stall.
Soon, all the items for divination were placed on the table: tortoise shells, copper coins, wooden chips… there were not many items in total, and they looked very shabby.
He briefly explained, "Since we only have one tortoise shell, we won't use the method of engraving and observing the cracks. Instead, we'll use the most common copper coin for divination."
He demonstrated it once, the copper coins jingling and clanging, and he said in a clear voice, "Repeat six times, and the hexagram is complete. This is called the Liu Yao hexagram."
Xue Yuanyin looked at the small tortoise shell and the pile of scrap metal next to it, and said doubtfully:
"With just these, you can predict the famous hexagrams? Are you kidding me?"
Zhang Jingxuan curled his lips slightly. When it came to the field he was best at, he said in a somewhat casual manner:
"You're so stupid, even if I lied to you, you wouldn't be able to tell. Whether you believe it or not, you'll know once you try. What do you want to predict?"
Xue Yuanyin:?
How is this a personal attack?
She looked him up and down, mocking him, "With your temper, why do so many women like you? You really should let those noble ladies in the capital see your true face."
Zhang Jingxuan raised his eyes, feeling a little amused: "My face? What kind of face do I have? And you are the only one who knows it."
Xue Yuanyin slammed the table, interrupting him and said loudly:
"Let me tell you about your future marriage!"
Zhang Jingxuan shook his head and said, "A person who casts a fortune should not calculate his own fortune, otherwise it will easily consume his lifespan."
“There’s still this kind of attention to detail.”
Xue Yuanyin muttered, thought for a moment, tilted her head, and said with curved eyes, "Then please calculate my marriage and career fortune! I want to know what kind of man my future destined husband will be."
It would be better to make some preparations and see if I can match the list of many young men prepared by my father.
Zhang Jingxuan looked at her for a moment and nodded: "Okay."
He taught her first, demonstrating and doing it himself. The copper coins made a tinkling sound in the tortoise shell. Xue Yuanyin carved the yin and yang lines on wooden chips to record them, repeating it six times.
The last six wooden chips were placed on the table, lined up one by one.
It is easy to draw a hexagram but difficult to interpret it. Xue Yuanyin could only understand the dots on it, and could not understand the rest at all.
She turned her gaze towards Zhang Jingxuan and said provocatively, "Master Zhang, I beg you to give me an answer."
Zhang Jingxuan collected the tortoise shell and copper coins, picked up the six wooden chips, examined them carefully, and said, "Sui Gua."
Xue Yuanyin said, "Say something I can understand."
Zhang Jingxuan didn't think much about it and explained, "In the Sui Gua, Zhen represents thunder and Dui represents marsh. In terms of marriage, you and your partner are in love and a match made in heaven. However, when it comes to career and achievements, Zhen represents movement and Dui represents joy. Excessive indulgence in love can cause your achievements and love affairs to be unbalanced. Perhaps you and your partner will have conflicts, or you may have a competitive or opposing position. Therefore..."
He paused for a moment, then calmly took the wooden chip and said:
"This hexagram is not accurate. It is useless."
Xue Yuanyin was listening with great interest, but before she could figure out what was going on, she saw him stand up and start to tidy up the table, as if he didn't intend to continue interpreting the hexagram.
She let out two "ah" sounds and quickly grabbed his sleeve, but he dodged her effortlessly.
Xue Yuanyin was a little confused and asked, "Why don't you continue? Why are you not allowed to do that?"
Zhang Jingxuan put the wooden chips into his sleeve and put the other things away before saying, "If I can't tell you for sure, then I can tell you for sure. I'll tell you another fortune when I have the chance."
Xue Yuanyin: “…”
What the hell? Whose fortune teller suddenly turns over his money in the middle of a fortune telling?
She couldn't help but curse: "You are so weird!"
After saying this, he recalled the hexagram and muttered to himself, "Zhen represents thunder, and Dui represents a marsh? Will developing feelings for this person hinder my career? This is really strange. Isn't this really meant to harm me? Why does the hexagram say that this person is my true love?"
Could it be that the husband her father would find for her in the future had ill intentions, and clearly loved her but wanted to use her, creating a spectacular love-hate relationship?
Xue Yuanyin was completely confused and frowned, lost in thought.
Zhang Jingxuan stopped, looked at her sideways, and remained silent for a while.
Xue Yuanyin was completely clueless and even thought he made sense. She nodded and said, "It's definitely not accurate. Your divination is too strange. I told you you were lying to me, but you still refuse to admit it!"
Zhang Jingxuan rarely refuted her. He lowered his eyes in concentration, not knowing what he was thinking.
…
From that day on, Xue Yuanyin didn't know what had suddenly possessed Zhang Jingxuan, and for some unknown reason he refused to teach her fortune-telling anymore.
When asked further, he didn't answer, but just changed the subject and said he would teach something else instead.
Xue Yuanyin had heard enough of the Zhouyi in school. Listening to him talk about the strategies and human relationships contained in the Zhouyi here was like listening to a monk chanting scriptures.
That would have been fine, but Zhang Jingxuan's tone was as if he was teaching her to be generous and helpful to others, but she felt very dissatisfied and sneered:
"So you know that those in high positions should be considerate of the people. I thought you were cold-hearted and only cared about vying for power."
Zhang Jingxuan frowned at her and said, "When you're poor, you should take care of yourself; when you're rich, you should help the world. Even children know this principle, don't you understand?"
Xue Yuanyin sneered, "You talk a lot of big talk, but have you ever shown any compassion for others?"
Zhang Jingxuan's eyes were calm, almost cold, as he spoke, "You need evidence to accuse others. I may not be kind, but have I ever lacked compassion? Giving alms, serving the people, and advocating for the poor in the border areas... Which of these have I failed to do?"
Not only could Xue Yuanyin not agree with him, but she felt even angrier, even mixed with a bit of resentment and grievance that she herself couldn't explain.
Compassion? If he had ever shown even a little compassion towards her, they wouldn't have become such sworn enemies now!
Xue Yuanyin looked at his gentle yet proud face and his pair of overly calm and clear eyes, and suddenly lost all desire to refute.
Perhaps she was not worthy of him showing some kindness and compassion to his childhood sweetheart, with whom he once had a deep friendship.
She felt depressed, turned her head away and said coldly:
"Perhaps men are just like this, naturally cold-hearted, and you are the most exceptional among them. Someone like me is unworthy of standing with Master Zhang."
Zhang Jingxuan frowned slightly, not understanding why her mood suddenly changed.
She said he was heartless, but it couldn't be that she saw him treating others well but her coldly.
But has he ever been kind to anyone other than her?
It can't be that... he's jealous?
Zhang Jingxuan lowered his eyes, hiding the emotions in his eyes.
However, in Xue Yuanyin's opinion, his appearance was a manifestation of complete silence, not saying a word, and coldly refusing to communicate.
A nameless fire rose in her heart. Zhang Jingxuan was always like this, never willing to give in during conflicts, and never willing to explain. In the past, she had always taken the initiative to reconcile with him. Why?
This time she insisted that he take the initiative to come to her and reconcile!
Xue Yuanyin left with a rage, and Zhang Jingxuan then looked up, his eyes fixed on her back, his eyes somewhat dark.
He noticed a strand of her black hair on the ground, so he bent down to pick it up. After a while, he suddenly pulled the corner of his lip and gently twisted his fingertips.
That ridiculous statement from the school... He probably believed 90% of it.
Did she know, then, that he already knew?
The author has something to say:
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Zhang Qu: Pulling the hem of her clothes to cover her pussy...O_O
The next chapter will be about the copywriting!
*The content and interpretation of the hexagrams refer to the "Book of Changes" and its hexagram interpretation materials.
*“When you are poor, you will…; when you are rich, you will…” is quoted.
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