Netherworld aura

It was the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the day the gates of the spirit world opened wide.

Early that morning, Li Yichen stood outside a shop called Good Karma Hall. After a long hesitation, he finally went inside.

The entrance was small, but the shop was packed with paper horses and vehicles, burial clothes, incense, candles, and spirit money. Instead of the musty smell he had expected, the air carried a faint scent of paper and ink.

"What would you like?" A stooped old man slowly emerged from the back room.

"Hello," Li Yichen said quickly when he saw someone come out. "I'd like two candles and three sticks of Dragon Incense."

Then, after a moment's hesitation, he added, "If possible, I'd also like three copper coins."

The old man, who had already started gathering the items, paused briefly before taking the candles and Dragon Incense Li Yichen had asked for off a shelf and setting them on the counter.

Then he opened a drawer beneath the counter, fished out three copper coins coated in green patina, and pushed them toward Li Yichen along with the other items.

"How much is all this?" Li Yichen asked with a smile once everything was ready.

"Two hundred in total." The old man's voice was quiet but clear.

"Huh?" Li Yichen's face fell. He had never expected these few items to cost so much. That was almost his entire monthly living allowance.

"If you don't want the copper coins, I can make it a hundred," the old man said calmly, seemingly noticing Li Yichen's predicament. "And if you replace the Dragon Incense with ordinary incense, fifty will be enough."

"No, that's all right. Two hundred it is." Li Yichen gritted his teeth and pulled a neatly folded stack of bills from his pocket. Looking pained, he took out a few and handed them over.

"There's an abandoned White Temple in the west of the city. It might be the place you're looking for." Just as Li Yichen was about to leave, the old man's voice sounded behind him.

"You know what I'm planning to do?" Li Yichen stopped in his tracks and asked in surprise.

The old man was silent for a moment before saying slowly, "Whatever you intend to do is your business. I only wish to forge a good karmic connection."

"Thank you!" Li Yichen bit his lip, opened the door, and stepped outside, puzzling over it. That old man definitely knows something. He just doesn't want to tell me.

"There's a faint divine radiance shining from behind that young man. He's someone blessed with great fortune. Yet there's a netherworld aura within that radiance. It seems he has ties to the underworld. Perhaps he's a descendant of some important figure there," the old man murmured, narrowing his eyes as he watched Li Yichen walk away.

Ring, ring... The bell signaling the end of the final class rang out at Jinling University.

With a sudden burst of noise, the relatively quiet classroom erupted into chatter. Every student began hurriedly packing up, and Li Yichen was no exception.

Three young men squeezed in beside him. The one in front was a full six foot three. He patted Li Yichen on the shoulder and said, "Number Four, come on. Let's grab a meal."

Warmth immediately filled Li Yichen's heart. His family wasn't well-off, and his roommates always ordered extra meat dishes, then pretended they couldn't finish them so they could share with him.

He wasn't an idiot. Of course he knew these brothers of his genuinely wanted to help him.

As they passed the south plaza, he suddenly noticed that numerous colorful canopies and sun umbrellas had appeared there.

Curious, he asked, "Huh? Is our university holding some kind of event soon?"

"Seriously, Number Four, are you messing with us?" all three asked with exaggerated disbelief. "The freshmen are arriving in a few days. They're getting ready to welcome them."

"Oh..." Li Yichen gave a noncommittal response. Aside from attending classes, he spent every day working part-time at the parcel pickup station to earn a little money. How would he have time to think about any of that?

"Number Four, you seem pretty indifferent. Aren't you even a little excited?" The three stared at him as though he were some strange creature.

"What does welcoming freshmen have to do with me? Am I supposed to be excited?" Li Yichen was puzzled. His three roommates weren't usually the sort to sit around with nothing better to do. Wouldn't they rather spend that time gaming?

"This is our yearly chance to openly flirt with the freshman girls. We've been looking forward to it forever." All three wore dreamy expressions.

Then their faces fell. "Too bad our applications to be Orientation Volunteers were rejected. Just thinking about all those cute, youthful freshman girls, and how none of them will be coming our way... Oh, heavens, strike me dead with lightning..."

Seeing their aggrieved expressions, Li Yichen couldn't resist teasing them. "Looking at your miserable faces has suddenly made me feel a lot happier."

"Number Four, you're rubbing salt in your big brother's wounds! I'm going to strip you naked and make you run around campus!" Zhang Yong, the third-oldest, immediately lunged at him in indignation.

"Stop running if you've got the guts!"

Sure enough, once they sat down to eat, the three competed to pile the best bits from their trays into Li Yichen's bowl.

"Number Four, don't just eat vegetables. You're still growing. Eat more meat."

"At my age? I'm still growing?" Li Yichen didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Just how big are you? Whip it out and let us see!" His three shameless friends all glanced at a certain part of his body.

"Get lost... You three filthy perverts."

"Hahaha..."

"Hurry up and eat. We'll go hang out at an internet café afterward. My treat," said Yang Weifeng, the eldest.

Li Yichen gave an apologetic smile. "I've got something to do tonight. I might not come back, so don't leave the door unlocked for me."

The three exchanged glances and asked curiously, "Where are you going tonight? Don't tell us you've found a girlfriend behind our backs?"

"A girlfriend, my ass," Li Yichen replied with a laughing curse. "Do I look like I can afford a girlfriend?"

"Fair point." Sun Kai, the second-oldest, looked insufferably pleased with himself. "Even someone as handsome and dashing as me doesn't have a girlfriend yet. If you got one first, there'd be no justice in the world."

"Oh, get over yourself. Handsome and dashing? Isn't that supposed to describe me?" The other three all gave him scornful looks.

After dinner, Li Yichen got on his bicycle, which had been left behind by a senior from who knew which graduating class. He rattled across campus and stopped at a Courier Station tucked into a corner of the grounds.

"Hey, sis, I'm here," Li Yichen said with a smile.

"You're here, little brother." A woman in her thirties looked up while deftly scanning parcels with a handheld scanner. "Quick, help me put these packages on the shelves. I'm swamped."

"Sure, Sister Wang." Li Yichen answered and expertly sorted the parcels on the floor onto the shelves according to their numbers.

"Finally done." They worked until past eight that evening. Only when people finally stopped coming to collect parcels did Li Yichen breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness you came. Otherwise, I would've worked myself to death today." Sister Wang handed him a bottle of water.

Li Yichen took it and gulped down a large mouthful. After several hours of work, his throat was parched.

"Little brother, this is for you." Sister Wang took an envelope from behind the counter and handed it to him.

"Sister Wang, what's this?" Li Yichen was confused, and a hint of unease rose in his heart.

"Your wages for this month." There was a complicated expression behind Sister Wang's smile.

Li Yichen hesitantly accepted it and forced an awkward smile. "Sister Wang, it's not the end of the month yet. Why are you...?"

For nearly half a year, he had come here to help almost every day. The pay wasn't much, but it had greatly eased the burden of his living expenses.

"Little brother, don't get the wrong idea." Sister Wang knew what he was thinking and hurriedly explained, "My husband broke his leg in a fall. I need to go back to my hometown to look after him, so I'm planning to transfer the shop to someone else."

"Sister Wang, business is so good here. Can you really bear to give it up?" Li Yichen was briefly tempted, but the thought of his three-digit savings immediately deflated him.

"Even if I can't, what choice do I have? There's always more money to earn. People are what matter most." Sister Wang sighed, then said, "All right, it's getting late. Today's the Ghost Festival. Head back early."

"Okay, Sister Wang. You should head home early too." Li Yichen got on his bicycle, which made noise everywhere except the bell, and rode toward the campus exit.

"Little brother, that's not the way to the dorms!" Sister Wang called after Li Yichen.

"I know. I've still got something to take care of," Li Yichen called back from a distance.

"That little rascal, wandering around on the Ghost Festival. Isn't he afraid of running into a female ghost?" Sister Wang muttered as she locked the shop door.