Omen of a Large Chest

Su Yuan came from a single-parent family. Her father had died in a car accident when she was very young, and for more than ten years, she and her mother, Su Caiwei, had depended on each other. To raise her, Su Caiwei had endured many hardships over the years, so Su Yuan had always been very close to her mother.

Under normal circumstances, if her mother called, they would surely chat for over half an hour. But after this sudden upheaval, Su Yuan realized that she had no idea how to face the mother she had always been so close to.

If her mother found out what had happened to her son, she would definitely suffer a tremendous blow. As Su Yuan pondered how to handle the call, the ringtone abruptly stopped. She inexplicably felt relieved, but immediately realized she was running away. As the saying went, you could hide on the first day of the month, but not on the fifteenth. Should she be more honest?

The person on the other end was her closest mother. What was there that she couldn't tell her? Yeah, these little shoulders can't bear such a huge burden. I should talk to Mom about it. The moment she made up her mind, her phone suddenly rang again. Su Yuan steeled herself and answered, only to find that she was still afraid.

Before she could speak as usual, her mother's familiar voice came through the phone. At that moment, Su Yuan nearly burst into tears.

Her mother's voice was full of concern, repeatedly reminding Su Yuan to eat properly. Though they were a single-parent family, Su Caiwei was quite capable, so the Su Family had never lived poorly, much less skimped on Su Yuan's allowance.

"Mom, stop nagging. I'll manage all that myself."

"Xiao Yuan, what's wrong with your voice?" Su Caiwei asked over the phone.

Su Yuan jumped and quickly covered her mouth. This was too bizarre. Had her voice changed? No way! She cleared her throat. "Ahem, maybe I caught a cold. It's nothing, just a sore throat."

Su Caiwei tirelessly reminded her, "If you catch a cold, take medicine right away. Don't let it turn into something serious. And remember not to leave the air conditioner on all night when you sleep. Even if you do, make sure you cover yourself with a blanket..."

Su Yuan could only listen silently. In the end, Su Caiwei repeatedly asked about her condition and only let the matter go after getting Su Yuan's firm assurance.

"Don't worry, Mom. It's only been a few days since I left. Your son is almost twenty already. I know how to take care of myself."

"Nineteen!" she corrected.

"Yes, yes, nineteen. But nineteen is already an adult!"

Su Caiwei could only smile and finally hung up.

Su Yuan felt as though a great burden had been lifted and let out a long breath, yet there was also a trace of disappointment in her heart. She stared blankly at her phone. She should have told her mother about her changes just now, but when the words reached her throat, they simply would not come out. The feeling left her so stifled that her throat seemed genuinely ill, and she coughed violently.

When she returned to the dorm, she heard the pattering sound of water from the bathroom. Someone was showering. Gao Jun sat at his computer desk, focused on writing code.

Su Yuan felt muddleheaded, as though something were lodged in her throat. She silently climbed into bed, intending to take a short nap.

Night was like a girl blinking her shadowy eyes. Fine, hairlike rain began drifting down beyond the hazy window.

Su Yuan moved her chair to the aluminum-framed glass door between the dorm room and the balcony. She straddled it backward, resting her chin on the chair back with both hands as she stared blankly into space.

Because of the sudden drizzle, the freshmen attending night drills seemed to have a chance to end their military training early for the day. But the instructors clearly had no intention of relaxing their standards so easily. Thus, rows upon rows of camouflaged "recruits" stood like logs planted in the concrete between the trees.

Watching them suffer, Su Yuan seemed to see her former self, and a powerful sense of pleasure suddenly rose in her heart.

At that moment, Ji Yehao turned around and saw Su Yuan sitting behind him. He shook his head in confusion.

He had noticed something was off with her that afternoon. She had taken a nap around four or five, and at dinner, she had barely eaten half her meal. Seeing her like this, could she have been heartbroken? Or had their prank that afternoon gone too far? Thinking of how he had actually slapped Su Yuan's butt, he figured that was probably the most unacceptable thing for a grown man. Ji Yehao suddenly felt that he had hurt Su Yuan's dignity.

Should he apologize to her?

Dragging his chair over, Ji Yehao turned around and leaned closer, asking with concern, "Su Yuan, are you okay?"

Su Yuan glanced at him with a bewildered expression. Ji Yehao scratched his head, unsure how to put it.

"Ye Hao, I'm depressed," Su Yuan suddenly said.

"Is it mild or severe?" Ji Yehao was startled. Depression was no small matter. If it wasn't handled well, something terrible could happen!

Seeing how serious he looked, Su Yuan could not help laughing. "I don't mean clinical depression. I mean I'm feeling down!"

"So that's what you meant. You scared me to death. Don't make such ambiguous jokes in the future!"

Su Yuan curled her lip. "You're the one who misunderstood. I'm not in the mood to make that kind of joke."

"You said you're feeling down. I'm really curious what could possibly make you depressed. Tell me so I can broaden my horizons."

Ji Yehao said it jokingly. In his impression, Su Yuan had always been exceptionally good at regulating her emotions. To put it harshly, she was practically heartless. No matter how bad things got, she ate when she should eat and slept when she should sleep, seemingly unaffected by anything. Yet now, something had actually made her depressed.

The small bit of warmth Su Yuan had just felt immediately vanished. She glared at him, looking as sickened as though she had swallowed a fly. "How can you be so heartless?"

"What are you guys talking about? Let me in on it too," Gao Jun said, putting down his work and dragging his chair over.

With a sigh, Su Yuan said, "Yesterday morning, when I came out of the internet café, I ran into a Taoist priest. I could tell right away that he was a fraud."

"Did he scam you out of money?"

"Not exactly. But close enough. He said my face looked haggard, my steps were unsteady, and there was a black line between my brows—that it was an inauspicious sign of the Five Decays of Heaven and Man..."

"You had just come back from pulling an all-nighter at the internet café, right?"

"Exactly. Who could be in good spirits after staying up all night?" Su Yuan continued. "Then he said I had an Omen of Great Misfortune, a Disaster of Bloodlight."

"Did it come true afterward?"

"Not really. Later, the Young Taoist Priest wanted to sell me a piece of jade. I saw that it was genuine, so I bought it. Then guess what happened? The Young Taoist Priest got hit by a car himself, leaving his head bloody."

"That's the Disaster of Bloodlight!" Ji Yehao exclaimed dramatically, then asked in confusion, "But what does that have to do with you being depressed?"

"Didn't that Young Taoist Priest also mention the Omen of Great Misfortune..."

Gao Jun glared. "You actually believe the nonsense some thieving Taoist priest made up?"

Su Yuan gave a bitter smile. Nonsense? Not entirely. Now she truly feared she had an "Omen of a Large Chest." But that was not something she could tell others.

Ji Yehao waved a hand and said earnestly, "Su Yuan, as aspiring young people of the twenty-first century, we're educated. We need our own judgment and must never fall into the whirlpool of superstition."

Su Yuan snorted. "I understand that better than you do. Do you really think I'd worry over superstition? I'm thinking about my future! I'm genuinely lost right now. After I leave campus, how am I supposed to face the life ahead of me?"

"Student Su Yuan, you're only a sophomore. You still have nearly three years to think about it. There's no need to find the answer overnight." Ji Yehao reached out and patted Su Yuan on the head.

"I have to think about it now. Otherwise, it'll be too late later." She slapped away his unruly hand and sighed faintly.

"Fine, Gao Jun. I think Su Yuan is just pretending to be profound. Let's ignore her and let her be profound by herself for a while."

Gao Jun wholeheartedly agreed, dragging his chair back to continue hammering away at his code.

Ji Yehao also began using his phone to analyze the day's stock market changes.

Su Yuan turned her neck forty-five degrees outward and tilted it slightly up, watching the rain drift down from the sky. After watching for a long time, she suddenly murmured, "Life is truly lonely as snow..." Even she found herself unbearably melodramatic.